TRC - Lord of the Glass Desert Ch. 18

Anika held a trimmed sapling between her spinnerettes, coating the end with sticky silk before jamming the opposite end into the ground. Careful not to touch the webbing herself, Kashka stuck the Reaver's torch to the end of the stick. After a quick glance at the unmoving torches in either direction, the assassin pointed at herself and then at the Reaver's barracks.

"Good luck," whispered the arachne as she picked up the corpse at their feet. She would take both dead Reavers to the edge of the forest and away from the torchlight. Kal also hoped that if they ran across the torches on sticks, other Reavers might just think the men abandoned their patrol at first, giving them more time before raising the alarm.

Kashka nodded before dropping to all fours and silently padding toward the barrack entrance nearby. Other than the slight smell of dried ink, she was very happy with her darker cloak. But that didn't impress her as much as the spider's coloration. In the moonlight, her purple hair turned almost black.

Ignoring the potentially squeaky door, Kashka leapt up to a ventilation hole near the roof. The cat received a faceful of noxious air and immediately let go of the vent's edge, dropping back to the ground. Some of the Reavers were still awake and had built a small fire for light on the building's far side where there were no beds. Something in their campfire's fumes stung her eyes and throat even though the smoke itself was nearly invisible. Taking a deep breath, she jumped again and peeked in only long enough to be sure no Reavers were looking in her direction before crawling through and dropping to the floor.

The bandits set thick poles into the stone floor, four across and running the length of the building up to the small firepit. Along the walls, two hammocks hung between each pole as two more attached to the middle sets. Peering down the length of the building and counting the number of sleeping Reavers, Kashka felt like there were a lot of chances for things to go wrong.

Kashka pulled a vial out of her pouch then removed the stopper and shifted one hand to feline claws. Dipping each one into the vial, she settled her mind and went to work. Like the poison that nearly killed Kal, this concoction contained a strong sleep agent that took effect before the slower-acting poison. Most of these men would die peacefully in their sleep. At most, they might think a bug bit them in the night before quietly passing away. Searching for exposed skin, she moved swiftly among Reavers, lightly pricking the sleeping men with a single claw before dipping them back into the poison.

A bandit near her stirred and grumbled about needing to piss, then threw a leg out of the hammock to get up. Kashka darted over and slipped her dagger under his chin as she did with the patroling men outside. She quickly lifted his leg back into the hammock as his body began spasming in its death throes, thankful that the hammock deadened the sound more than a bed. A couple of the men playing music and chatting around the fire glanced in her direction, but only for a moment. A few seconds later, urine and blood quietly dripped to the floor creating two puddles beneath the hammock.

Dipping her claws into the vial again, Kashka returned to her task.

---

Madge sang a soft lament of the sea as he strummed his guitar. He hated being in this forsaken, land-locked ruin and missed the smell of salty air and the roll of a ship beneath his feet. Unlike a lot of the newer Reavers who didn't understand the significance of the tattoo on their neck, he wore his with pride. He hollered long and loud at Gaboh when he changed their name from The Kraken's Teeth, and it cost him his rank. Now he passed his time with his guitar and his memories of churning seas and wind-filled sails.

His song finally reached its conclusion, and the Reaver opened his eyes to stare in confusion at the men lying around the little fire. The two closest to him were snoring lightly, but the others seemed deathly still.

"You should have kept playing," said a woman's voice next to his ear before a flash of metal in the fading campfire light ended his life.

Kashka lifted the guitar from his hands and placed it in the nearby corner before sending a message over the bond. "I'm done."

---

"She's done. It's our turn," Kal told Anika from his vantage in a tree overlooking the compound. He had to admit the temple looked beautiful in the moonlight as it towered above the rainforest canopy.

Kissing Anika on the cheek, he activated the flight rune pressed against his back.

The spider watched him float up through the canopy for a moment before looking out at the storage building that was her responsibility. The two men on the roof were easily visible in the light of the crescent moon, as were the guards at each corner thanks to Kal's darkvision spell.

As she descended the tree, Anika pulled some of her special hairs from the back of her abdomen. A small rope around her torso held a tiny vial of her venom, which she dipped the tips of the hairs in. As Kashka said, at worst, she was back to where she started, and if they confused the Reavers in some way, it would only help her deal with them. Slowly creeping into position at the forest edge with hairs in hand, she waited for Kal's signal.

---

The mage flew high into the air before coming down directly above the temple. The stillness of Kashka's mind wavered for a moment as two Reavers came looking for the men taking over their patrol. Less than a second later, the cat's disturbing calm returned.

Darkvision made it easy to pick out the archers standing at each of the temple terraces' corners. Something bothered him about the bow-wielding Reavers, but he couldn't place what.

Picking a target on the highest terrace, Kal held an arm out and made the motion as if drawing a bow. A small rune on his vambrace lit up, and a glowing purple arrow appeared in the gap between his hands. With his target still unaware, he loosed the arrow.

The man howled in pain as the arrow drove into his shoulder before stumbling over the terrace edge. His cry of pain ended abruptly as his head struck the stone below.

Kal immediately swung around to the archer on the other side of the temple. The Reaver caught the flicker of color in the sky and looked up. The mage saw the faint red glow of a darkvision spell in the man's eyes as the bolt streaked downward. As the two archers on the top terrace stood wondering why one of their number just tumbled to their death, the familiar sound of an arrow striking its target made them spin toward the temple's opposite side. The Reaver stationed there stood with a bolt of purple light protruding from the head. The bolt vanished and he slowly toppled backwards.

Kal frowned. Of course, they would be using something like darkvision. What good were archers at night if they couldn't see? He shook his head at his own lack of attention.

Over the next few seconds, the mage dropped the two remaining men on the upper level. But those on the lower levels traced the path of his arrows back to him shouting the alarm as Kal felled two more of the bandits. Their first arrows whistled past him moments later. The mage rose higher into the sky, getting out of their range. Unfortunately, it also took the archers out of his spell's range and his next shot vanished before reaching its target. As an afterthought, he began darting around and jerking to the side, pretending they were just barely missing him.

Off to the side, screams of pain rose up from the direction of the storage building only to be cut short a moment later as Anika took care of her part.

The mage paused in confusion as two more men fell, clutching the non-magical arrows sticking from their bodies. He chuckled upon realizing the arrows fell out of the air after being shot from the temple's far side. Neither wound looked lethal, but they were enough to remove the men from the fight. It took about half a minute before the fountain of arrows slowed then nearly stopped as the Reaver's quivers ran dry.

Kal swooped down, dropping back into the spell's range, and loosed two more arrows. Both struck wide and he stared in confusion where they impacted while rising up and out of the bows' range again. He rarely ever missed. But he also never shot an arrow while flying before. Looking closely at where his arrows struck in relation to where he aimed, Kal made some mental adjustments as he prepared for another pass.

As he dropped out of the sky headfirst, Kal watched as the Reaver archers lined up their next shots. Throwing an arm out in front of him, he activated his shield as the archers loosed. A flurry of arrows bounced off the magic barrier. The mage flipped around and took out another two men with magical arrows, then a third running for the stairs at the front of the temple shouting for help. Seeing the archers drawing their bows, he used the Jump spell in his flight rune to jet into the sky once again.

Just under half of the archers were dead or out of the fight, but this was taking too long, and there was still no sign of Tavik or his lieutenants. Kal dove again, this time flashing the shield for a brief moment then darting to the side as the arrows sailed past. However, one Reaver waited him out. The mage grunted in surprise as an arrow struck him in the gut. A cheer rose up from the archers below as he doubled over in the air, grabbing the shaft.

Yanking the arrow free, Kal poured energy into his healing spell and watched as the magic rushed toward the wound. Almost as quickly, the spell spread throughout his body, searching for something else to heal. Holding up the arrow, he saw a tiny drop of blood on the pointed stone tip.

It took everything in his power not to laugh hysterically as he realized their arrows were at the end of their travel and had no power by the time they reached him.

His magic arrows had no such limitations.

Drifting lower, Kal began raining magic bolts down on the archers, ignoring the stinging pricks of the few arrows that reached him. Five more Reavers fell before the rest realized their shots had no effect and fled.

The temple lit up as a fireball streaked toward Kal from the building on top. The archers stopped and cheered as the mage dropped from the sky only to have another of their number die to a glowing, magical arrow in the chest. Kal grunted in annoyance as he powered the fire resistance rune and prepared to retrieve his staff. He hesitated for a moment as the man throwing fire at him rose into the air on jets of fire spouting from the bottom of his boots.

"Keep him occupied for a little bit," sent Kashka with an image of the remaining perimeter patrols running toward the temple. Like the archers, they were cheering on the man shooting fire and looking up to watch the fight, not paying attention to their surroundings.

Somehow, standing beneath an aerial fight where one combatant shoots magical arrows and the other shoots small fireballs didn't seem very intelligent to the mage. Sighing, Kal summoned his shield and batted away the next flaming ball.

His opponent wore brass armor that didn't really cover much. There were the boots that let him fly and matching brass gauntlets, but nothing covered his upper legs or arms except the trousers and tunic he wore beneath. The metal protecting his waist was only there to cover one thing judging by the oversized codpiece. The armor's chestplate looked more decorative than functional, only covering the top half and leaving his midriff bare. The helm was styled like the face of a large cat but was more of a mask than an actual helmet leaving his mouth and the top of his head bare. Overall the armor was very pretty and extremely ornate with all sorts of embossing and inlays. Some of which seemed to help channel magic from the temple to the boots and gloves, from what Kal could see.

The armor might have looked imposing if not for the bits of threadbare, dirty clothing poking out here and there.

The Reaver sucked in a lungful of air and breathed a jet of fire as the boots blasted him toward the mage. Kal darted out of the way using the Jump spell again. When creating the flight rune, he hadn't considered how useful the Jump spell would be in an aerial fight. He had just wanted to look impressive as he shot away the day he left Prentas's tower and never bothered to remove it.

All the man in brass had to do was tilt his head to redirect the stream of fire, but he couldn't see his opponent through the flames, and the fire breath petered out by the time the Reaver reacted. Undoubtedly it would have been an extremely effective weapon in a fight on the ground, but didn't hold up as well against a nimble aerial opponent.

Kal sighed as the edges of the flame warmed him slightly, then summoned his shield to bat away another fireball from the Reaver's gauntlet. "Make it quick. I'm not here to entertain them," he said, responding to another fireball with a poorly aimed arrow.

---

The Reaver couldn't believe that everyone in the barracks was still sleeping as he ran toward the building. A shadow passed in front of him as he reached barrack entrance. His hands clutched at the sudden stinging in his neck as a hard shove on his backside sent him stumbling through the door, where he collapsed beside the embers of the small fire.

The flashes of light from Kal's battle in the sky annoyed Kashka, but the bandits didn't seem to think that anyone else might be attacking alongside the mage. Which made no sense considering Kal had been engaged with the archers at the temple as Anika dealt with the storehouse guards. The cat briefly considered that perhaps they killed the arachne, but that seemed unlikely.

Coming up behind the rearmost bandit, she slipped her dagger between the bones in the back of his neck, severing the spine and angling the blade to puncture his jugular, then guided the dying man's limp body to the ground before quickly moving on to the next. Kal would be upset since they didn't die right away, but it was the best way to take a lot of them out quickly and quietly.

Eventually, one of the men raised the alarm after looking back and seeing the men dying on the ground behind him. A flash from the fight above revealed the assassin. By then enough of the men were actively searching for her to nullify her cloak's protection. The aerial battle forgotten in the face of a more immediate threat, the remaining Reavers drew their weapons and charged the cat-girl. Kashka briefly considered fighting, but the man closest to her began slicing and stabbing at her with surprising speed. By himself, he was no match for the cat, but there looked to be a dozen or more quickly bearing down on her.

Kashka turned and bolted.

Her mind raced, searching for ideas to turn this situation around. Sensing her predicament, Kal tried to help by batting one of his opponent's fireballs toward the mob, but it dissipated before hitting the ground.

Off to one side The cat-girl saw Anika crawl down from the storehouse roof. The arachne raced over to the knocked-out wall for the Reaver's kitchen and dining area. Touching her abdomen to one side, she quickly scuttled to the opening's other side and anchored the strands of silk.

"Kal, lead him to the far side of the temple. I need darkness," Kashka sent the mage. Receiving a mental groan in response, Kal did as asked, letting a fireball nearly hit him before darting away and letting his opponent give chase.

Kashka veered toward the storage building, a move that nearly cost her the tip of her tail as one of the bandits swiped at her with his sword. Even her bond-enhanced night vision had a hard time discerning Anika's silken strands and she hoped that if any of the men chasing her had the darkvision belts it wasn't as powerful as her eyes.

She had seen the archer's glowing eyes through Kal's thoughts but noted the eyes of the men on patrol didn't share that glows. Perhaps there were different kinds of belts specifically for bowmen.

The cat-girl slowed slightly as they approached the hole in the wall, hoping to hold their attention and keep the Reavers from detecting Anika's trap. Bounding into the air, Kashka sailed over the spider silk barrier as the mob of bandits crashed into it. Switching back to human limbs as she landed, the assassin drew her daggers and quickly dispatched the few men quick enough to leap over those ensnared.

Kashka let Kal know he could come back to the front of the temple then leapt back over Anika's silk and the men trapped in it.

"You fly the black flag," she said in Common after remembering something Guard Captain Ibu mentioned about pirates. "If you give no quarter, then you should expect none."

Some Reavers calmly accepted their fate, a few plead for mercy, but most screamed in fear, yelling and thrashing against the sticky web until the cat ended their lives.

As the last of the bandits twitched in their death throes, Kashka leapt up to the storage building's roof and joined Anika watching the fight between Kal and the man in brass armor.

"What is he doing?" the arachne asked, confused by Kal's half-hearted effort.

"Buying us time to deal with those," said Kashka, pointing through the roof at the dead Reavers. Looking up, she said out loud and across the bond, "We're done here."

---

"About time," Kal grumbled, more than happy to banish the fake look of desperation on his face. "Ria, staff," said the mage as his opponent circled around for what would likely be another pass of his fire breath. Kal had completely lost his patience with this Reaver's awful telegraphing and really couldn't understand the man's reason for the unnecessary maneuver before strafing past him. At least it made the attack easy enough to dodge.

The jet of flame spewed from the man's wide-open mouth, but Kal didn't move this time. The sides of the Reaver's mouth drew up, trying to become a triumphant smile as the mage disappeared in the gout of fire. The tip of Kal's spear slipped into his gaping maw and pierced the back of the Reaver's throat. The man glanced down in confusion at the pole protruding from his mouth as the flames dissipated, revealing his opponent completely unharmed. The jets of fire shooting from the man's boots died away as the Reaver's eyes rolled back into his head and his body went limp. The falling man nearly took the spear with him when its tip caught on the backside of the man's helmet. Kal jerked the spear free and the corpse plummeted to the ground

He heard Kashka in his mind. "Dodge."

Kal activated the Jump spell in the flight rune as searing pain lanced across his lower back. The accompanying impact sent him spinning wildly upward as the spell fired.

Kashka gasped as she felt Kal's consciousness flicker in and out. However, Anika bounded off the storeroom roof and shot toward the tumbling mage in long flat leaps that covered an impressive distance in mere seconds. Beneath him, the arachne crouched then hurtled upward. Her legs wrapped around him like prey, but she quickly realized her leap had taken her too high, and grabbing the mage put her in a slow spin as they fell. Panicked, she flailed her back legs only to land on one with a sickening crunch that did nothing to slow her fall. Her abdomen struck the ground, and Anika screamed in pain as its shell cracked.

Kal snapped out of his half-conscious haze to the sound of the arachne's tortured shrieks just before she fell silent.

"Heal her," said Kashka.

While still trying to collect his scattered thoughts, Kal's healing rune lit up and he began pushing the magic into the arachne. The cat-girl followed her order with images of him getting struck by a bolt of blue energy and tumbling out of the air. They then switched to a man in silver armor, similar to that of the man he just killed, floating down the steps of the temple and surrounded by a glowing blue sphere. According to the arachne's description, the scar across his lips indicated this was the leader of the Reavers, Tavik. Kal watched through Kashka's eyes as she sent a volley of throwing knives at the Reaver, only to be intercepted and knocked away by bolts of lightning arcing from his armor to the metal blades.