390 days until the Arkon Shield falls

It was a two-hour hike to the foothills north of the Outpost. The sisters believed the intervening region to be safe—relatively safe, anyway. It didn’t stop the pair from jogging off to scout ahead though.

After the sisters disappeared over the horizon, Tara turned to the rest of us. “Alright, let’s get moving. We have to hurry if we’re going to make it back in time for the old lady’s conference.” I nodded, and the four of us set off north.

We crossed through the settlement’s northern outskirts without encountering anyone. Most of the Outpost’s activity seemed to be concentrated either in the west, near the river shore, or to the east in the camp.

I paused as we reached the Outpost’s northern boundary. Little more than an open trench marked it. It seemed that work had not even begun on the wall on this side of the settlement, which made sense. Fortifying the western perimeter against the murluks attacks had to be the commander’s priority.

We crossed over into the countryside beyond with little ceremony. The flat, open plains were unexpectedly pleasant. Travelling in a single file—at Tara’s insistence—we waded through the knee-high grass.

The plains’ entire expanse was spotted with blooming flowers as far as the eye could see. And other than the many small birds winging through the air, it had no wildlife to speak of. It is beautiful, I marvelled. Mum would have been happy here, I couldn’t help thinking. I shooed away the thought. Beauty could be dangerous too, I reminded myself. Who knew what lay beneath?

On guard against being lulled into a false sense of complacency, I spent the few first minutes scanning the horizon, but as time went by and no threat presented itself, I relaxed. Deciding to trust the two sisters to forewarn us of danger, I turned my attention inwards. It was time to give further consideration to my magic.

The Trials Infopedia had been insistent that all the magic Disciplines could be self-taught without the aid of any spellbooks or trainers, albeit with great difficulty. Given the situation with the murluks, I had not risked trying to do so with dragon and life magic.

But if I could train the other magic Disciplines on my own—to the Trainee rank at least—it would save me a great many Tokens.

Reaching within myself, I drew mana into my mind and shaped it into a rudimentary construct of fire, or what I thought was the spellform of fire. With my fire magic Discipline only at level one, my understanding of it was crude—at best.

I started with fire magic, for obvious reasons. It was my hope that its similarity to dragon magic would make training the Discipline much easier. I willed the spellform in my mind into being, but it refused to materialise.

It’s not quite right, I thought. Let’s try this.

Time sped by as I toyed, twisted, and turned the mana construct, letting instinct and intuition guide me.

At one point, I sensed Tara speaking to me. For a split-second, I tore my attention away from the intriguing puzzle in my mind and let awareness of my surroundings seep back. But seeing as we were neither in danger or at the foothills yet, I waved off her question and returned to my study of the magic within me.

When the pieces in my mind finally began to slip into place, and my rudimentary understanding of fire expanded, the concepts I had been grappling with suddenly seemed so simple and self-explanatory that I was left wondering why they had taken me so long to grasp.

Your skill in fire magic has advanced to: level 2.

I smiled, pleased by my achievement. Now to do it again.

I had started to dive back into the depths of my mind, when I felt Tara shaking me with what seemed like unnecessary violence. “Jamie, goddamn wake up!”

Shocked out of my trance, I surfaced back into the present and looked around. A series of hills began a few yards in front of me. Marching off into the distance in ever-increasing heights, the hill’s rounded tops eventually expanded into the sheer rockfaces and jagged peaks of the mountain that edged the horizon.

“Oh,” I said in surprise. “We’re here.”

Tara smacked the back of my head. Hard. “We’ve been here for the last twenty minutes, you idiot! We had all but given up on you waking and were about to head back to the Outpost. Are you alright?”

I blinked. “Twenty minutes? Really?” I peered into her eyes. They were strained with worry. “Sorry, I was training,” I said as contritely as I could manage. Reaching up, I rubbed the back of my head. It hurt.

“Training?” Tara asked with narrowed eyes.

“My magic,” I said, though I didn’t elaborate further. “But I am ready to continue.” I looked behind me. The others were sitting down, resting while they waited for me and Tara to finish. “We can go on now.”

“You sure you’re alright to continue?”

“I’m fine,” I said, waving off Tara’s concern. Stepping forward, I led the way into the hills.

✽✽✽

Tara did not let me stay in the lead, of course. But my gesture served its purpose, and a few minutes later the six of us were deep into the hills.

In stark constant to the green and vibrant plains, the hills were mostly dusty shale and rock. The sparse vegetation was uniformly brown and seemed to cling desperately to the unwelcoming soil.

We moved cautiously through the rolling hills. Made wary by Cassandra’s tale, all six of us were on guard. When a roar shook the air, I jumped.

The others froze. “Mountain lion,” murmured Laura.

“Will it attack?” I asked.

“Likely not,” she responded. “It’s no match for the six of us.”

“How far to the spiders’ warren?” asked Tara.

Cassandra pointed north. “The entrance is maybe thirty minutes that way. But I can’t be sure. We were never able to get close enough to pinpoint its location.” She paused. “We should ready ourselves for an ambush.”

“Alright, everyone, weapons in hand and eyes sharp,” Tara ordered. “From here on, we move in strict formation. No one break ranks.” Her eyes settled on me as she added, “For any reason.”

We resumed our advance into the hills with Tara out front, the hunters and myself protected in the centre, and John and Michael bringing up the rear. With the possibility of an ambush high, the hills loomed even more ominously to my mind. Behind every boulder and in every shadowed slope, I imagined enemies. I rubbed sweaty palms dry. Where would the attack come from?

Despite my anxiety, the next thirty minutes passed without incident. If Cassandra is right, we must almost be at the warren’s entrance, I thought, beginning to believe we would reach it without mishap.

A slight shift in the sand to my right caught my eye. What was that? I wondered. But I didn’t look, hesitant to take my eyes off the hills leaning down balefully.

We were in a particularly narrow pass between the hills. Despite the sun overhead, the overlooking slopes cast long shadows across the ground. It was an ideal spot for an ambush and I, like the others, anxiously scanned the surroundings, studying every nook and cranny for hidden enemies.

But the ground underfoot was safe. Wasn’t it?

The sand twitched again and, no longer able to ignore the movement, I darted a quick look at the ground. My eyes widened as realisation struck. “Watch out—”

My cry came too late.

From either side of us, two blurred shapes burst out of the ground and leapt onto the party in a shower of dirt. It’s the spiders, I despaired. Despite our care, we had still been caught off guard.

Michael managed only a half-strangled cry before he disappeared beneath the giant spider attacking from the left. John on the right was quicker, and managed to raise his spear in time for the leaping monster to skewer itself on the sharpened stick.

I swung left, rushing to Michael’s aid. The spider was stabbing down with its razor-sharp limbs on the downed spearman. Before the spider—the size of a large dog—could turn my way, I slapped my hand onto one prickly leg and unleashed flare.

The raging inferno boiled out of me and directly into the creature. The spider shrieked, and its brown skin turned an angry red at the point of contact. To my immense relief, none of the flames spread out of the creature to endanger Michael lying helpless on the ground.

Behind me, I sensed the three women converge on the second spider. Pinned by John, it made for an easier target. But before I could get a sense of how the others were faring, my foe dug out its other limbs from Michael and struck at me instead.

I tried to dodge the incoming attacks, but since I was hampered by my need to keep my right hand firmly clasped onto the spider, I was unable to duck out of the way.

The forest of limbs descended upon me, each sharper than any murluk spear. I clenched my jaw to cut off the shriek that threatened to erupt as the attacks bit through my armour and into my torso.

Aaargh, that hurts, I swore. I rode the pain and refused to let go of the leg I held trapped. I bashed once at the spider with my shield, then ducked my head behind its meagre shelter as the spider struck again in retaliation.

I rode the second wave of attacks better. Using my shield, I managed to fend off at least half the spider’s limbs while I continued to pour ravenous dragonfire directly into its body.

Already I could tell my dragonfire was not as effective against the spider as it had been with the murluks. A murluk would have been ash by now. The spider, though, was still very much alive.

But I was already committed, and I dared not loosen my grip on the monster. Doing that would expose Michael to my flames, and I still couldn’t control it well enough to be certain it wouldn’t burn him, not when he lay so close.

The spider battered me with its limbs for a third time, and even though I foiled half its attacks, those that got through shredded my armour with laughable ease. Grim-faced, I ignored the rivulets of red spreading across my torso and held on.

As I had hoped, eventually the white-hot fury of my dragonfire proved too much for my foe to endure and it turned to flee. No you don’t, I thought. I wasn’t going to let it go that easily. I tightened my grip around its leg and hung on.

The spider yanked hard at its leg, desperate to free itself. I smiled a bloody grin and wrapped my left arm around it as well. The creature had already lost. It just didn’t know it yet.

It only took a few more seconds.

Then, inevitably, the spider collapsed in on itself and its life drained away. A Trials message floated into view.

You have gained in experience and are now a: level 13 Trainee.

I rolled onto my back and cackled, the sound more than a little disturbing. For a moment, it was all I could do to lie still while my chest heaved and I gasped for breath.

I was a mess. Again. My health hung dangerously low and my armour had been cut to ribbons. Not to mention I seemed to be bathed in blood, much of it my own.

At a cut-off cry from nearby, I lifted my head. The others were still battling the second spider. The creature remained pinned on the end of John’s spear. While it struggled to escape, Tara danced around its waving limbs and struck at will.

Firing arrows at point-blank range, Laura and Cassandra were doing their own fair share of damage, while John manoeuvred his long spear to make sure the spider couldn’t escape.

They seemed to have matters well in hand, I thought. Summoning my mana once again, I cast lay hands on myself. Under the spell’s touch, my wounds closed over. I rose to my feet, still a bit unsteady from the blood loss but otherwise hale. I limped over to Michael.

The spearman lay unmoving, and for a moment I feared the worst. But his chest moved up and down. He was alive. I heaved a sigh of relief and inspected his body carefully.

Despite his comatose state, Michael had sustained very little damage. Unlike me, I thought, chuckling. I had come far too close to dying.

On his neck, Michael bore twin puncture wounds. He’s been paralysed, I realised. Setting my hands to his torso, I healed Michael of his few injuries. Lay hands failed to remove the paralysing effect of the spider’s bite though.

I scratched my head worriedly. Would Michael be alright? Had the spider’s toxins done more than paralyse him?

“Jamie, are you alright?” asked Tara, running up to me.

I turned around to face her. “Yeah.” I gestured down at my blood-streaked body and tattered armour. “It looks much worse than it is.” Or it did so now anyway.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I shouldn’t have left you to tackle that spider on your own. But I saw you take hold of it… and after how you handled the murluks… I thought—I thought…”

“It’s alright, Tara,” I said, stopping her flow of words. “You made the right call. I got the better of the damned thing—eventually.” Beyond Tara, I spied the carcass of the second dead spider and John limping over to join us. “Need healing, John?”

The big man smiled. “Please.”

I set my hands on the lieutenant and healed him. His injuries weren’t bad either. It seemed I had borne the brunt of the damage in the battle. You’re not a damn tank, Jamie, I berated myself.

I realised that, if in future I wasn’t more careful, I would kill myself with flare.

Now, wouldn’t that be funny.

✽✽✽

Much to everyone’s relief, Michael recovered from the spider’s bite a little later, though his face was as pale as a sheet. It turned out, he had seen and heard everything. The paralysis had locked his limbs in place, but left his mind unaffected.

I spent the time lying on my back, recuperating while the other four inspected the two corpses. The spider I had burned hadn’t turned to ash as the murluks had. The murluks’ own vulnerability to fire had probably been responsible for that, magnifying the damage they sustained manyfold.

John and Tara had turned over one of the corpses on its back. The spider seemed to weigh very little. Laura and Cassandra were inspecting the corpse, running their hands over its limbs and scrutinising its skin with their eyes less than a few inches away. The pair even went so far as to sniff the darn creature.

I scratched my head in bemusement. What are they up to? Curious, I rose to my feet and joined them. “What are you doing, Cassandra?”

The redhead flicked her eyes away for an instant from the spider to glance at me. “Call me Cass,” she said. “We’re inspecting it with anatomy.”

Anatomy was a combat Discipline that advanced analyse, increasing the degree of information it provided, including a creature’s strength and weaknesses. It provided other benefits too and could supposedly reveal an enemy’s vulnerable areas in real-time during combat. How, I was not quite sure. “Doesn’t the spider have to be alive for you to use the skill?”

“No,” she said, sitting back on her haunches. “In fact, it is much easier to apply it this way. My skill in the Discipline is still too low for success to be certain on living enemies.”

“You find out anything?” asked Tara.

“It has a paralysing bite,” said Laura. She forced open the spider’s mouth and gestured to the two mandibles protruding out. “But we already knew that. The bite itself does minimal damage, and the paralysis will wear off after about a minute. But the effect can be reapplied with repeated bites. It’s how the spiders consume their prey, I imagine.”

Beside me, I felt Michael shudder. I sympathised. Being eaten alive would not be a good way to go.

Laura rubbed her hands across the creature’s patterned torso. “The spider’s skin is tough and resistant to piercing, but its bones are light. Crushing weapons will be the most effective against them.”

I pulled out my sheathed club. “Like this?” At Laura’s nod, I handed over the weapon to Tara. She would make better use of it than I could.

Tara nodded at me gratefully. “Anything useful we can harvest from the creatures?” she asked the two hunters.

“There is still some silk in this one’s spinnerets,” Cassandra answered. “And the skin will be useful too.”

Michael and John saw to it. Joining them, I used analyse on the dead spiders.

The target is a level 30 brown spider scout. It has no Magic, meagre Resilience, is gifted with Might, and has low Craft.

The spider’s meagre Resilience explained its low health pool and why I had been able to kill it, even though it was far beyond my own level.

Staring thoughtfully at the corpse, I began inspecting it just like I had seen the two sisters do.

You have uncovered a brown spider Technique: paralysing bite. Your skill in anatomy has advanced to: level 2.

It worked, I thought happily. I would have to make sure to similarly inspect any other slain foes in future.

“Jamie! Stop playing with the bodies,” Tara shouted irritably. “Let’s get moving, and everyone make sure you watch the damn ground. Let’s not fall for the same trick twice.”