13: That Thing You Do

Sword at the ready, Sevei bent low and crept toward the disturbance. He moved slowly. It was hard to be quiet in armor.

He reached the clearing around one of the swimming holes and found a man lying face down on the bank, dressed in plain clothes and no armor. The sword loosely grasped in his limp hand was of Loranarian make. Sevei knelt beside the man and rolled him over onto his back. The front of his tunic was gone, and his chest and neck were a burnt mess, the oozing flesh covered in dirt, but still sizzling and emitting an acrid odor. He wasn't dead yet, but he would be in another few minutes.

Sudden movement at the side of the clearing drew Sevei's attention as a pale form rose out of a mass of shrubbery. Sevei's heart leapt, and he startled to attention before recognizing Urskatha.

He emerged from the underbrush wearing a chillingly venomous expression - and nothing else at all.

He scowled at Sevei, raised both hands, and then a stream of blue lightning erupted from his palms, arcing with a thunderous crack into the trees on the other side of the clearing.

Sevei's heart seemed to stop beating, the breath catching in his lungs as his chest went cold. The sounds of wood splitting and shattering and of a human voice crying out in pain sounded behind him, but he could not take his eyes away from Urskatha.

The Alchemist's body had gone rigidly taut, powerful muscles swelling and palpitating beneath his skin. His jaw clenched with effort, his brow furrowed in an expression of cold determination. As the ethereal energy blazed from his hands, setting the dusk alight, the air all around the clearing crackled with ominous force. The light cast sinister shadows across Urskatha's features. The blue of the energy mingled with the green of his eyes, turning them from emerald to tourmaline and causing them to glow like an animal's eyeshine as his untied platinum hair whipped wildly around his face.

The sight was majestic. It brought to mind tales of the Gods in ancient lore, bringing the pure, inescapable, destructive forces of nature down upon those who displeased them. For the first time in his life, Sevei knew what the word 'awe' truly meant.

The lightning ceased as abruptly as it had appeared. A light gurgle came from the throat of the dying Loranarian. In the same moment, Urskatha wavered on his feet and dropped to his knees behind the shrubbery. Sevei snapped out of his trance. He snatched up the Loranarian sword from the ground and darted to Urskatha's side.

“Are you alright?” he asked, his heart in a panic as he reached out to Urskatha. “Are you hurt?”

Urskatha was breathing heavily, but Sevei couldn't see any injury on him. Urskatha shook his head.

“I'm fine,” he said shortly, moving back from Sevei with a wary expression. He pulled a branch of the underbrush across his naked body.

Sevei's eyes narrowed ruefully. “Please,” he said. “Who has time to think about that right now? How many are there?” He peered through the leaves. There was nothing to see in the fast-approaching nightfall.

“Three,” Urskatha answered. “Well, two. I got one. It sounded like I just got another as well.”

“I like those odds,” Sevei said. He tossed the Loranarian sword onto the ground beside Urskatha. “I'll go have a look. Yanek's gone to raise the alarm, so others should arrive shortly.”

“Great,” Urskatha said, pulling his leaves closer.

“You know, this is exactly why we don't come down here at night,” Sevei retorted. “You really need to avoid me this badly?” He turned to leave their cover with a low, breathy laugh. “You stay put here and cover me with that... thing you do,” he said over his shoulder. “I'll be back.”

He crept out into the now-silent clearing. He was fairly certain he'd seen a couple of boots strewn several feet apart from one another near the water, so he went that way and almost tripped over one of them. As luck would have it, the boot was tangled in a pair of black trousers, although both were soaking wet. Keeping his eyes and ears on alert, he shook the water out of the boot, wrung the trousers out the best he could, stuffed them into the boot and lobbed both over Urskatha's shrub. Moving slowly along the water's edge, he came across the other boot. He raised his arm and tossed it.

Just as the boot left his hand and went sailing through the air, a man burst out of the treeline behind him. One mighty swing of his sword tore right through Sevei's maille and bit into his side. The sudden shock of pain flooded Sevei's body, bringing with it a surge of fury, but as he turned to meet his assailant, the clearing lit up once again with the electric aura of ethereal energy and Sevei was hit in the back with what felt like a rampant horse slamming its hooves into him. He swept his sword in a clumsy upward arc, catching the intruder across the throat, before he collapsed onto his hands and knees, gasping for the breath that had been knocked out of him.

“Vei!” Urskatha's voice rang out with anxious agitation.

Chaos descended upon the riverside then, as Valeskan soldiers poured into the clearing bringing tumultuous pandemonium.

“Vei!” Yanek knelt beside him, a hand on his back.

Sevei waved him off. “It's not that bad,” he wheezed, his lungs hitching in disagreement. “I think we got them all... just a scouting party.”

“Fan out!” Yanek ordered loudly. “Make sure it's all clear.” He hooked an arm under Sevei's shoulder and hauled him to his feet, pulling his arm across his shoulders once he was standing. “Let's get you to the medics.”

Sevei pressed a hand to his side and felt the gushing wetness within the tear in his maille. Wincing, he looked back to see Urskatha standing in the clearing, still shirtless but now wearing his sodden trousers and boots as well as a penitently hesitant expression. Sevei gave him a sincere nod, followed by a comically lustful grin as he hobbled off into the darkness, leaning heavily on his trusty Second.