“Damned Savage,” Maya muttered as she jogged along the side of the slope, carrying her unstrung bow, aiming to outflank the battle proper.

“I’m a hunter. I’m a scout. Not a godsdamned pickup ball, or a crazy…battle junkie.”

Maya jumped over a tall rock as she went, the scrapes along her right side and palms stinging viciously. There goes any rapport I might have had with the giant savage. After that, I think it’s safe to say that she is completely –

“Hello there, little miss.” An unfamiliar voice came from above her. Maya glanced up, her heart hammering in her chest. It was the legend, hanging halfway down the cliff, supported by a gradually unspooling whip in his hand.

“Looks like your team lost you. Not a big surprise what with you being so sm-“

Before the man could finish his evil monologue,a titanic woman made entirely of blood was flung down the cliff at terrifying speeds by a flat bladed sword.

Is that Ella? Maya thought in the instant before the blood giant impacted against the Uleisan Legend.

“Aw, gross!” the whip user shouted as the two of them tumbled down the cliff side.

Now seems like a good time, Maya thought, tugging the broke string off with shaking hands and stringing her spare with every ounce of speed she could muster. She looped the steel bow around her back and bent it over her, snapping the string into place before shrugging it off of her.

The quiver at Maya’s waist only had two arrows left. The tumble down the cliff had thrown most of them out.

Damn.

She snatched an arrow out and jammed it into the rocky soil, hoping it would be enough.

Blessing of Sirfren.

4/8 Bent remaining

The arrow took, it’s wooden shaft swelling and sending roots down into the soil, while branches grew outward and began forming arrow-shaped fruits hanging off of them.

It’ll take a few seconds to finish, so for now, I only have this one, She thought drawing her other arrow and knocking it, waiting for the perfect time to strike.

The two grapplers fell another forty feet, but never out of her sight, which was well enough, Maya supposed. As the blood was wiped off by the tumble and the Legend’s clothes, Maya could tell that it was indeed the savage that had rescued her.

Alright, maybe she’s a little okay.

After maybe ten seconds of grappling, the cherry-red whip wrapped around Ella’s neck and lifted her away from the furious legend, sizzling the blood on her skin and causing her to cry out in pain.

Here we go, Maya thought, whipping through a draw and fire, sending the arrow lancing downhill toward the enemy.

the whip coiled like a living thing to intercept her shot, catching the arrow, which then burst into flame.

Damn!

The Legend sent her a smug smile before tearing one of the glass balls free of his vest and pitching it uphill with all the speed of her own arrow.

Maya dove and curled up behind a rock the size of a dog, shielding her completely from the explosions of glass shards.

Never going to complain about my size again, She thought, inspecting the holes in her leather sleeves.

When she ducked back out from behind the rock, the situation had changed drastically in a couple of seconds. Grant had exploited a moment of distraction to free Ella from the grasp of the man’s whip and was pressuring him with half a dozen blades, forcing him away from the whip that writhed on the rocky ground like a living thing, creating bursts of light as the occasional shrub or insect was immolated.

Ella rushed forward again, engaging the Legend in hand to hand while Grant tried to skewer him.

Behind the two of them, the whip coiled like a snake ready to strike.

“Behind you! Whip!” Maya shouted.

Grant and Ella glanced behind them just before the whip launched itself through the air.

Grant slapped a sword against the whip’s side, knocking it off trajectory, but the Legend exploited the moment of distraction to deliver a devastating punch to Ella’s face befor lunging past her to catch the handle of his weapon.

Then they were back in the same situation as before.

Maya glanced over her shoulder.

The arrow bush was done growing, and although many of the arrows were broken b y glass shrapnel, plenty of them weren’t.

Maya grabbed handful after handful of Bent-grown arrows with stone tips and jammed them into her quiver before turning to face the fight that was raging between the rest of her team and the Legend.

Grant was looking worn down, Ella was looking angry, and the legend seemed to be having fun.

Called shot.

Rapid Shot.

Homing Arrow.

Penetrating shot.

0/8 Bent remaining.

For a fraction of a second, the world slowed down around Maya as she knocked and fired arrow after arrow, playing with the Legend’s automatic defenses, using the area where they were warding off Grant’s blades to lead the length of glass into a position where it couldn’t possibly react.

Arrow after arrow took off from her without conscious effort. Maya couldn’t see or feel her hands, her entire world narrowing down to the Legend who seemed to be frozen in time, battling Ella with a snarl on his face.

When the last arrow cleared her bow and her fingers felt nothing in her quiver, the trance broke.

Downrange, the Uleisan soldier exploded with arrows. The penetrating shot was blocked by his whip, being cut in half, while a single arrow managed to get through the man’s defenses to lodge itself in his shoulder.

Ella lunged forward and punched him in the wound, then tried to knee him in the crotch, recoiling from the red-hot whip that interposed itself.

Grant brought a blade down on the man’s other shoulder and the whip wasn’t fast enough to totally negate the damage, allowing his blade to sink several inches into the man’s flesh.

“Gah!”

The glass balls on the man’s vest turned red and exploded outward, forcing Grant back. Maya watched as thousands of tiny pieces of glass turned orange, then white hot as they swirled around the man’s whip, reforming a significant amount of it’s length.

No, that’s just a patch.

Maya could see that the dark center of the whip ended where her arrow had severed it, meaning that the new length didn’t have nearly the same durability. He was also out of explosives.

They’d dealt a blow, but they needed to present a strong front. Maya grabbed more arrows and immediately knocked one, looking for an opportunity. Without Bent, she was unlikely to land another blow on the man, but he didn’t know that.

“Well,” The Uleisan soldier said, eyeing the arrow shaft still in his shoulder and the three people of wildly different races menacing him.

“I think I’ve had about enough fun for the day. Ladies, Gentleman.” He said, his whip coiling underneath him before the entire man launched down the hill, aiming for the fortress.

“We’ve gotta stop him!” Ella shouted, rushing to follow before the flat side of a sword pushed her back.

“We’ve got to retreat.” Grant said in a somber tone, motioning Maya to join them. “The fort down there definitely saw the skirmish, and there’s no way they’re not sending up their best and brightest to investigate.”

When Maya arrived, six blades laid themselves down on the ground.

“Lie down on the swords,” Grant said, stepping on two of them.

“Why can’t we stand like you?” Maya asked.

“Because I can’t balance someone else when they’re all squirmy. Just lie down and try not to move.”

“Fine,” Maya laid down on two blade, right next to Ella. They both gave a grunt of surprise when the swords lifted them off the ground and then began carrying them downhill at outlandish speed.

“That arrow thing was awesome,” Ella said jovially, seemingly heedless of the chunks of rough stone passing beneath them at a speed that could tear Maya to pieces. “It was like BZZZ! And all of a sudden, arrows everywhere, just pummeling that guy. It’s what gave us the win.”

She clapped Maya on the back, knocking the breath out of her.

Maya wanted to be carried along by Ella’s enthusiasm and return the complements regarding the battle they’d just barely survived, but a nagging questions kept returning to her.

“When are you going to put some clothes on?”

“After I wash off all the blood. No sense washing everything twice.”

***Baroke***

“Nobody builds things with big people in mind,” Baroke said, his spine aching as he crouch-walked through the city sewers.

“You should be thankful I was able to squeeze you through that drain,” Nadia said from behind him. “A godsdamned miracle is what it was.”

“Eh,” Baroke shrugged. If a hole was too small, he could always make the hole bigger. That never seemed to have been a problem, really. With anything.

“Gross.”

“What?”

“You had a lewd look to you just then.”

“You’re standing behind me.” Baroke said, turning to look at the black-haired witch.

“Not necessarily.” Her voice emanated from in front of him. Another Nadia stood at the end of the tunnel.

“This way. That one’s about to disappear. It’s been fifty-eight hours.”

Baroke glanced over his shoulders at the Nadia behind him, who winked before blinking out of existence.

Whatever. Baroke shrugged, turning forward again. If a second Nadia had been able to get to them, that probably meant there was a clear path to go back the way she came.

And getting back means a bath. By all the gods, the smell will haunt me.

Raw sewage was less a smell and more a physical sensation of being punched in the nasal passages by raw stench.

Sure enough, Nadia led him to a manhole in a deserted alley, and then they began making their way toward the mansion.

Baroke left his makeshift bow in the knee-deep awfulness. It had served him well enough, but…it was a crap bow. And that didn’t have anything to do with the foul shit-water soaking the string, either.

Together they made their way back to the mansion, where a third Nadia waved them around the back, where several large tubs full of soapy water waited for them.

In the middle of the desert, it was a kingly welcome.

After about an hour scrubbing every inch of himself and receiving entirely new clothes, Baroke was allowed inside the mansion. Calvin was waiting for him in a wheelchair at the entrance, driven by Nadia. Another Nadia.

That didn’t sit well.

“What the hell happened to you?” Baroke asked. Calvin wasn’t exactly the infirm type. He was as tough as a guar, normally, so Baroke had no idea what could have put him down in the mere two days he’d been gone. “You get poisoned?”

“Nah, rapid cancerous mutation, open heart surgery. Long story. I was asleep for most of it. I’ll be back to full strength in a couple more days.”

“Uhuh,” Baroke said, eyeing the cripple. “Well, I’m going to bed. I just spent a whole day and two nights crawling through a sewer. Which one’s mine?”

“Take mine, it’s the master bedroom.” Calvin said, pointing over his shoulder. “It’s the only one with a big enough bed. We’ll get you a cot set up in the morning. Jinsei needs something to do, anyway.

“Sucker still owes me a bow,” Baroke said, ambling past Calvin, the fading fight-or-flight instinct leaving him feeling more drained than he’d ever been.

“Oh, and don’t go outside right away when you wake up!” Calvin said as Baroke struggled to lift his hand to the door.

“Huh?” he grunted, peering through rapidly clouding eyes at his cripple-friend.

“You’ve got a bounty on your head now.” Calvin said jovially. “For attempting to assassinate the Ilethan ambassador and escaping custody.”

“What about her?” Baroke nodded toward the leather-clad witch.

“Of course not.” Calvin said, aghast. “She’s a princess.”

Nadia frowned. “What?”

The indignity of being saddled with Nadia’s misbehavior welled up and the next thing he knew, Baroke had punched the princess so hard she turned into green mist.

“Ahahahah!” Calvin guffawed, slapping the side of his chair. “Thought you’d want first crack at her. Anyway, I’ll get this sorted out for you, Baroke. I wasn’t aware of it, and I wasn’t able to intercede for you because of my near-death experience, but it’s my responsibility and I’ll make sure it gets fixed, and that Nadia regrets it. Anyway, look at it this way. No matter what happens, you’re not going to be staying here forever, and Uleisan bounties are no better than toilet paper in Gadvera.

“…Thanks.”

“Sleep well.”

Baroke stumbled over to the door, pulled it open, and collapsed into the fine silks of the king-sized bed, losing consciousness before he even heard the door close behind him.

***Calvin***

Chained Spirit

12/15 Bent remaining.

Nadia appeared in front of him, coalescing from the green mist, skeleton first, her arms crossed.

“What in the Abyss was that?” She demanded and the green mist coalesced into flesh. The petulant look on her face tickled Calvin’s funny bone.

“I was just curious.” Calvin said between laughs, waving her off. “Turns out Baroke could have literally punched you to death when you were still alive.”

“Too bad he’s such a soft-headed simpleton.”

“Ehh,” Calvin shrugged. Baroke wasn’t actually stupid. He just specialized in his Body. “Anyway, you’re to stay out of the public eye as well, after that stunt. Say goodbye to parties and terrorizing your brother for the time being.”

“However will I cope?” Nadia said, getting behind his chair and grabbing the handles.

“I don’t care. Let’s go visit Bulad.” Calvin pointed, and Nadia began pushing him toward the workshop.

He located Bulad working on designs to expand the mansion with the other engineers and Jinsei as an advisor. After all, they were unfamiliar with using glass as a building material.

“How’s it going?” Calvin asked.

“Great! Look at this!” Bulad said, the snaggletoothed engineer said, handing him the draft, a complex blueprint of an entire wing attached to the current mansion, enough to house the remaining units of his company.

“There’s even a spot for my chickens.”

Calvin chuckled as Bulad tapped his drafting pencil on the chicken coop. “What is it with you and chickens, Bulad?”

“You try turning refuse into delicious eggs, or making a cake without them.”

“Fair enough,” Calvin said,” handing it back. “I want you to change your measurements to necessitate fifty times as much reinforced glass.”

“That’s…what?” Bulad asked, frowning in disbelief.

Money laundering, is what that is.

“Fifty times as much raw materials. We’re going to make something big.”

“That’s…a lot. Like, most of the available reinforced glass in the city.”

“We’ve got the money for it.” Calvin said, nodding to the wagons full of gold the trade goods would have to be re-sold at a much slower rate, considering they could be traced back to their original owners if they tried to trade with them in bulk.

“O…kay. If that’s what you want.”

“Thanks, Bulad. Once you get the glass, I’ll have the Knick-knacks start setting up the extra wing under your direction.”

“Alright,” Bulad nodded and started breaking up the company into teams to go out and buy in bulk from all the suppliers in the city.

When the news came in that the shipments of Cobalt spines had gone missing, the price would surge. Calvin would generously resell most of the glass he’d acquired back to the suppliers at a modest profit. Then, when the sand pirates found the shipments and began reselling it on the black market, Calvin would reacquire the supplies to expand the mansion for next to nothing.

Or thereabouts.

***Ussein Kabva***

Broke my freaking whip. I paid ten stones for that whip! Ussein complained internally as the fortress bustled around him, the men on high alert. It had been years since a competitor of the Storm Stretch group had reared their heads around the Cobalt mountains.

“Hey,” Ussein said, snagging one of the sergeants hustling by, an older fellow starting to develop a paunch who’d been around long enough to be familiar with almost everything.

“You recognize a tattoo of two wasps, facing each other?” Ussein said, pantomiming it.

“No sir.”

“Agh,” Ussein said, putting his palm over his brow. Three different people with three different nationalities, all working on the same side to rob him? Sounded like bandits, but bandits generally didn’t have Legends, and the old Ilethan with the floating swords was definitely one.

They were a little too lively and well-fed to be bandits.

“Now I gotta report this,” Ussein groaned.

“Where’d you see it?”

“Above a cooch.” Ussein said, taking a swig of Bolesian wine.