TRC - Searching for the Sky Ch. 28

Kal looked back at a very stunned Sera, "That answers one of our questions about your heritage." Turning back to the armored snake-woman he set his stance and wrung the staff in his hands in anticipation. "Before we do this, what are you called?"

"If you are wondering what I am then Father called me a 'sword maiden.' My design was inspired by images he saw of a six-armed demon as well as those of some eastern deities. I was created to defend Father's tower from those not susceptible to my sisters' wiles. As for my name, I am called Senshu." Her blades spun and wove among each other in a beautiful yet terrifying ballet for a moment before she settled into her own battle stance.

Clearing his mind, Kal centered himself. With Ikuno he had to worry about two arms and two legs. If Senshu only had four arms he could probably manage just from experience. But those two extras were going to change things a lot, as was her ability to hold a longsword in each one. He briefly wondered if Falma would be jealous.

Drawing power from his natural reserves, Kal activated the strength and speed runes. That was also going to be a problem. His flight earlier drained all four of his crystals, all he had left were his internal stores of magic, and those were running low. He should have thought of that before accepting the sword maiden's challenge, but it was too late to worry about it now. The mage scowled at his complacency, he had gotten too used to having all the magic power he needed or wanted.

Senshu took that moment to strike, making Kal throw himself backward to avoid the points of all six blades. The mage noted with relief that she was significantly slower than the serpents on Sera's head. Had the sword maiden been able to move that quickly, this fight would already be over.

The swords dove in after him one at a time. She was fast, but not unmanageably so and he quickly fell into a rhythm of batting the blades away. With the help of the speed and strength runes he was keeping up, but the woman was keeping him on his heels and pressing in every time he stepped back. He was never going to defeat her like this.

Changing her pattern, Senshu began attacking with two swords at once. This actually helped Kal as he was able to deflect both blades easily with the staff and there was more time between strikes. When he stopped giving ground, the sword maiden added in another blade. Now it was only two attacks coming at him, but he found himself jerking to one side or the other to avoid the third sword. He used this chance to angle away from where the girls were standing next to the forest edge. The mage also hoped that maybe he could somehow use the pit Senshu came out of to his advantage, though he had no idea how just yet.

"Kal I need something from Ria!" yelled Sera.

"Do it, Ria!" he called back.

The sword maiden turned her head slightly without taking her eyes off Kal. "Attack me and you shall become a target as well," she called out to the gorgon. "From your posture, I doubt—" Senshu jerked back as a round-bottomed flask came sailing at her.

The woman held up a sword to block the potion but at the last moment moved the blade backward. The girls and mage had little time to stare in wonder as the sword maiden stalled the motion of the flask without breaking it. With a flick of her wrist, she sent the bottle streaking back at Sera.

"No!" screamed Graff throwing herself in front of the projectile. Slamming into her chest, the bottle broke, coating her front in the sundew's fluid. The rabbit-girl had enough time to smirk at Senshu before collapsing in front of the shocked gorgon.

"Ria, the processed one! Sera, over my head!" yelled Kal stepping in, going on the offensive.

"Poisons and sleeping potions don't work on Father's creations," said the sword maiden as she easily batted away the end of his staff.

"Kal!" Sera yelled, lobbing another flask with clear liquid towards the combatants.

"Naginata," said the mage. Pushing his dwindling magic into the speed rune, he hopped back then jumped forward, placing himself above the potion's path.

Senshu brought up all six blades and held them sideways, forming them into a wall of metal in front of her body.

As he jumped, Kal activated his boots and one foot came down on what felt like an invisible platform. Swinging the wide, partially-formed blade of the polearm as though paddling backwards in a canoe, he smashed the bottle sailing below him, flinging its contents all over Senshu's bare arms and stomach.

The sword maiden's eyes widened as her swords clattered to the ground and she began tipping forward. Kal darted forward in another burst of speed, dropping his staff so he could catch the snake-woman. Pumping the last of his power into his strength rune, he began laying her over on her side, so she didn't fall on the pile of swords in front of her.

As the rune sputtered and died, Kal managed to hold her up for a fraction of a second before his knees buckled. Falling onto his back, he barely managed to keep her head from landing squarely in his groin. Getting headbutted in the balls was no way to celebrate a victory, especially when the person doing the headbutting is wearing a metal helmet

Panting from the exertion, he laid back on the road and looked over to see Velt and Sera standing over Graff.

"Is she alright?"

"Other than some cuts from shards of the bottle she seems to be okay," answered Velt.

"Thank goodness." Propping himself up on his elbows, he looked down at the sword maiden's head still lying in his lap. Carefully, he maneuvered her so she was looking at him and not face down in his crotch. He tried raising her visor, but it wouldn't budge. No sooner did he take his hand away then it moved upward on its own. "Since you are incapacitated, I'm claiming victory. Blink once for yes, twice for no."

After a moment's thought, the sword maiden's eyes closed and reopened once. A few seconds later she began shrinking to her original size as her hair turned from silver back to auburn. Off to the side, six flashes signaled the dismissal of the magic swords.

Kal looked up at the sky. "And this was only the first challenge."

---

"Her scales are so pretty," said Sera, running a hand over Senshu's lower body.

"I agree but you should probably ask first before touching her," said Kal. He chuckled as the gorgon jerked her hand away. Before Sera could open her mouth, the sword maiden's armor, other than her helmet, melted away, drawing into her body much like Gerda and the other golem's rocks did. "I guess that was your answer."

Looking over at Velt and Graff, he saw the vixen sitting in the grass on the side of the road with the doe pulled into her lap. Though they were turned so he couldn't see her hands, he was pretty sure from the movements of the fox-girl's body that Velt was making the rabbit-girl's temporary paralysis as pleasurable as possible. She certainly deserved it for protecting Sera like that. Depending on the nature of the second challenge, they might have to camp out and let his magic recharge before attempting it. If that was the case, maybe he could thank her more intimately later.

"Kal, come over here for a moment, please?" asked Sera, waving him over while looking down into the pit.

He rose from where he was sitting next to Senshu's torso and joined the gorgon. Earlier he took care of Graff's minor injuries from the shattered bottle but ran himself out of magic again. The few cuts on the sword maiden's arms and lower torso were little more than nicks, but since she wasn't interested in killing him and had admitted defeat, he felt it was his duty to tend to her wounds as well. Unfortunately, his ability to absorb magic from his environment seemed... muted. Even the four crystals in his pouch were having difficulty recharging. Nearly a half an hour had gone by since healing Graff and he wasn't quite to the point where he could activate the rune and heal up the six-armed woman.

Sera pointed at the bottom of the pit as he approached, "What do you make of it?"

Down below, the bottom of the pit was filled with small mounds made of stone.

Kal suppressed a laugh thinking that it looked as though the earth had goosebumps. The mage shook his head, "I don't know, we'll have to ask Senshu when the paralysis wears off."

"They used to be spikes," said the sword maiden from behind them. Kal and Sera both spun around, the mage nearly stepping back and falling into the pit, to see the silver lamia roll onto her back. Each set of hands intertwined their fingers before flipping palm-out and stretching her arms above her. She then let the bottom sets flop to the ground beside her while the top two slipped under her head. "Sundew nectar. I should have noticed the rabbit's eyes didn't close when she fell." She tilted her head to look at him, "Good play, but with the rabbit and your snake-woman getting involved, I worry that it will make the final challenge more difficult, assuming you make it that far." Her eyes shifted to Sera, "What exactly are you? Your eyes are that of a basilisk, but I've met basilisk-girls before and none of them have the serpents on their head. You can turn people to stone with your gaze, right?"

Sera nodded, "My gaze freezes them in place, but I have to bite them before they turn to stone." Opening her mouth impossibly wide for a human, the gorgon's fangs folded out from the roof of her mouth.

"Interesting, definitely not a basilisk. But that should have been obvious, the basilisk-girls I met had dull green scales, not the pretty emerald like yours." She turned back to Kal, "The next challenge is one of wisdom, you won't be needing magic for it as using divination spells will be an automatic failure."

Kal sighed, "We may as well get on with it."

"She may not have attacked me, but your rabbit friend took part in the fight. We should wait until she is up and moving."

Kal and Sera stepped over and sat down next to the silver lamia.

"If the last time is any indication, she still has a few minutes," said Kal.

"You test your concoctions on your companions?"

"She offered. After I was done with my observations I had to make the experience pleasurable for her."

Senshu looked over at Velt and Graff, "She must trust you to allow herself to be put in that state. Though the pleasure part is... intriguing." Turning back she extended a hand toward Kal with her middle arm on that side. Cautiously taking it, he let her tug him over before she placed his palm on her bare breast. Closing her eyes she sighed in contentment, "When I spoke of some who have not had a man in decades I was also speaking of myself. I had nearly forgotten how much I missed the touch of a man."

The rune on Kal's back pulsed and the few shallow cuts from their fight quickly healed over.

"Thank you," said the sword maiden. Her expression turned sultry as Kal's hand began kneading the soft flesh beneath it, "If your lovers don't object, I would be happy to spend our time waiting in other ways."

"Tempting as that is, I'll have to pass. Perhaps when I'm done with these challenges. Also, Sera is my only lover of the three, the other two are their own couple."

"Are you sure? I hardly believe that she would have been so protective without some kind of feelings, if not for you than for her," she said nodding toward Sera. The gorgon's eyes widened and her head whipped up to stare over at Velt and Graff, her face a mixture of emotions. Paying no attention to Sera, the silver lamia sighed, "If you are so determined then I should not have started anything," she said, removing his hand, "No one has survived Kit's test since Father and not only do you have your own test but must now bear that of your friends as well."

"By 'Kit' I'm guessing you mean Kithana."

She stared at him for a long moment. "You are full of surprises, mage," she said as she rolled over, something that took a moment with the length and bulk of her body. "Your name is Kal correct?"

"Yes."

She lifted herself upright, her lower body coiling around where her feet would be were she human. She seemed to struggle with her thoughts for a moment then suddenly blurted out, "Don't let your magic recharge."

"In a test of magic, it seems foolish to—"

"Senshu! Do not tell him such things!" came a voice from near the tree line making them all turn to look in the direction of the newcomer.

"What are you doing here Molo?"

To Kal, the woman striding toward the sword maiden looked a lot like a tailless Silma as far as her shape. Like the salamander she was bald but Kal immediately got the impression that this was normal for her. The woman's front was a pale white that suddenly switched to bright blue along her sides, inner arms, and inner thighs. Her back and the outsides of her arms and legs were vibrant green except for her hands and oddly elongated feet which were bright orange. The woman's skin shimmered and reflected light in a way that made it look wet and had the texture of a full-body leather suit that was a size too small. For all of Molo's bright colors, her most striking feature was her unusually large bright red eyes with cat-like pupils slitted in the sunlight as she took them all in.

There was something else that looked off about the woman, but it wasn't until she turned her head to look at Velt and Graff that he realized she didn't have any ears. Instead, flat discs matching her coloration were set into the side of her head where ears would normally be.

"Nobody came down the path, so I came looking for you. Here I find you throwing yourself at the human and giving him hints," she said, waving a webbed hand at the sword maiden's state of undress.

"We are allowed to have our fun before Kit gets ahold of him."

"Not until after they pass the challenge!"

Senshu just looked at the frog girl.

"He... beat you?"

"Yes, he struck me unexpectedly with a paralysis potion then stayed by my side to make sure I was alright once I conceded the fight. He even used the last of his magic to heal my wounds."

"He wounded you?!"

Senshu nodded.

Thinking of the tiny nicks he had healed, Kal looked up at six-armed lamia and received a stern glance in return. The message was clear: keep quiet.

"If he won then... then... I need to go prepare!" said the frog-girl. Turning away, she began running down the path in a strange hopping gait.

The sword maiden looked down at Kal once she left, "Molo may look harmless, but she can change to look like any type of frog in existence. Some of those are extremely poisonous, touching her while wearing those skins will kill you in minutes."

"So, I just need to stay away from her?"

"It won't be that simple, but I will let you find out for yourself. I've said too much already."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" After Molo's arrival, he was convinced she was trying to help him with her advice. However, he was going to need some magic before following after the frog-girl. It was possible he might fail, but with the cure poison rune on his back at least it wouldn't kill him.

"I can't tell you. But what I can say is that Molo has a flare for the dramatic."

"With those colors, I'm not surprised."

Further conversation was interrupted by the Graff screaming as she came hard on the vixen's fingers, begging Velt not to stop.

"Looks like it's time to get moving again," said Kal as the doe laid back against the fox's chest, catching her breath. A moment later he saw Ria flit up to Graff's shoulder and nuzzle the doe's cheek. He had been starting to wonder where the sprite had gone off to.

"Seems like an odd thing to be doing given the situation," said the sword maiden. She looked over at Kal and smiled, "Not that I would have complained had you done something similar to me."

"She got the original fluid which also contains an aphrodisiac. I removed that effect along with the gooey consistency from the one I splashed you with."

"The 'processed' one?"

"Yep." Concentrating, Kal pulled the meager power the mana crystals had collected into himself. Sighing, he shook his head, "I guess that will have to work. Graff. Velt. As soon as you two are ready we are heading on to the next challenge."

Sera walked over as the vixen lifted Graff onto her feet then held out a hand to the fox. With a screech of surprise they were both suddenly tumbling backwards as Sera yanked Velt up so quickly she crashed into the gorgon.

The vixen jumped to her feet clutching her shoulder. "What the hell was that for!" she yelled. "Were you trying to rip my arm off? You damn near succeeded!"

Sera sat on the ground switching between apologetic looks at Velt and staring at her hands in wonder.

Kal came over and sent a small pulse of healing magic into the vixen's shoulder. "Just strained," he said, watching as the magic found the places it needed to heal, "nothing dislocated or torn." He turned and glared at the gorgon, "What just happened Sera?"

"My strength is back," she answered, "Velt I'm so sorry. I had no idea that was going to happen."

"You jerked me off the ground like you were trying to set a fishing hook, how could you not know?" snapped the vixen.

"Peace, Velt. When I met her she was extremely strong, but it faded the longer we were away from her cave. Or maybe because we were further away. I'm not sure."

"What was so special about her damn cave?" grumbled the fox-girl as she stretched and rotated her shoulder.

"It was a vein of mithril ore."

"Ah," said Senshu coming up behind them, "then I might be the cause."

Kal's eyes about popped out of his head, "Your scales are mithril?!"

"My scales? No," she tapped her helmet, "but this is."

Kal turned back to Sera, "It seems likely your strength is tied to your proximity to mithril. That means we may need to stop in the dwarven kingdom again on our way back and see what wearable trinkets I can find for you. But, let's worry about that once these challenges are done."

Once the gorgon got up and dusted herself off, human, gorgon, fox, and rabbit all made their way further down the path.

Senshu watched for a moment with a sad smile before quietly gliding across the ground after them.

---

The sword maiden wasn't exaggerating when she said Molo had a flair for drama. Pops sounded along the road in front of them, blanketing the area in purple smoke. As the wind cleared the air it revealed the frog-girl shrouded in a black cloak.

"Hear me!" cried out the woman in the cloak. Her voice was unusually loud and had a strange echo to it.

"Is this really necessary Molo? You've already seen them, and they know who you are," said Senshu, coming up from behind.

The frog girl looked up, her eyes begging, "Oh please, I haven't said it for such a long time."

The sword maiden sighed, "All right, but don't expect a big reaction."

"No, no, no, of course not!" Pulling the hood to her cloak down she held her arms out to each side. "I shall be the one to administer the trial... of wisdom!"

The party stood and stared at the odd frog-girl.

"Couldn't get someone to shake the sheet of metal?" asked Senshu, stifling a laugh.

Raising her head again, Molo glared at the six-armed lamia, "It's been sitting out here in the woods for half a century. The fucking thing rusted away!"

"Has it been that long?"

The frog-girl shrugged, "I don't know, I stopped keeping track. Let's get on with this." She held out one of her webbed hands toward Kal, "Give me your hand."

The lamia nudged Sera, "You too snake-girl."

"Leave Sera out of it," said Kal hurriedly. "If I fail there is no need for more than one of us to die. Since you will erase her memory of this place, killing her wouldn't serve any purpose." He wasn't going to mention that he only had enough magic for a single cure poison spell after fixing Velt's shoulder.