Chapter 52 - The Witchblade

Skyle shook his head slowly in wonderment, still keeping his eyes warily upon the disk, which continued to hover in the air, not moving forward in the slightest.

“Incredible,” he whispered. “You’re simply superb.”

A long silence followed, during which only the humming of the disk as it spun within easy striking distance of Skyle’s forehead could be heard. It produced a deep, thrumming sound that made Skyle’s skin crawl.

“You don’t wonder how?” Leena’s detached voice finally rang out from quite a distance behind his back, amplified by the cave’s walls.

“I think I already knew, but the most masterful stroke was manipulating my emotions so that I wouldn’t have time to think. Now that I had time to take a couple breaths to think it over, it seems so startlingly obvious. Leon and I had discussed my True Sight’s scouting abilities openly in front of you, and thus you knew you could not hide from me within a certain distance. You probably led me on a merry chase around these caverns, of which you obviously obtained the layout through either your own scouting or your wind element. I even saw the traces of wind element, but thought nothing of it at the moment. Now that I look back on it, each site of battle had a clear line of sight leading away from it to at least a hundred and fifty feet. Thus, you quietly waited for your chance to strike at each one. I’m rather surprised you didn’t do it when I was fighting the three spiders in the other cavern.”

Skyle stopped talking after this, and after another long moment, Leena’s reluctant voice responded.

“Leon’s body began to seize up and needed emergency treatment.”

Skyle’s expression tightened ever so slightly.

“How is he?” he asked, still not daring to turn around.

“I wouldn’t be worrying about anybody else, if I were you,” Leena snapped coldly, and she seemed particularly angry about this for some reason.

“He is my friend,” Skyle replied with as much calm as he could muster.

When no other reply seemed forthcoming, Skyle sighed and began speaking again, still trying to keep as calm and composed as possible.

“You did very well at the last cavern, though I’m not sure if it was intentional. When I saw that Leon’s footsteps had disappeared, I immediately panicked and couldn’t even put two coherent thoughts together. My da always taught me to be calm, to take a deep breath and always think before acting. He would probably die of shame if he knew this was how I.. well, how I met my end.”

Even Skyle had a tough time articulating that last sentence. Still, he let out a deep breath and continued speaking, even as his thoughts were running as hard and fast as he had ever done in his life.

“Seeing as how you have yet to strike the final blow, even though I am at your absolute mercy, perhaps I can earn a little leeway from you.”

“Not a chanc-” Leena’s steely reply was immediate, but Skyle gently interjected.

“I won’t beg for mercy. I know how determined you are, after all. I know it all too well. I only have two questions, and after those, I can at least try to make my peace. That’s not too much to ask, right?”

Another long silence followed, during which Skyle had to force himself not to squirm, even as his brain was furiously pumping blood for all it was worth.

“Ask.” The reply was still cold and divested of any emotions, but finally Skyle could at least relax a little, and let the Far Sight go.

Indeed, this whole time Skyle had been using the Far Sight at less than half second intervals. Each time he only used it for a single glimpse that would tell him whether the disk had moved at all. This way, he had been able to last this long, but already his mental reserves were stretched thin. Now he could finally relax a little while he attempted to find another solution to this deadly trap.

After all, even with the Far Sight, Skyle was not at all confident in being able to avoid this deadly windblade hovering before him. Wind was the swiftest of elements, and Leena was obviously a master at wielding it. One only had to think back to the countless butchered bodies of spiders to get an inkling of her prowess. Although Skyle might be able to read moves ahead of time, it would do him little good if his speed couldn’t match his thoughts.

Thus, Skyle was stalling for time as he both recovered his mental reserves, and also drew a feasible plan.

“First question: why have you finally decided to use the blood crystals?”

“Skyle Farrow, although I must kill you, I have come to respect you. Thus, I will tell you the truth. This much, I can give you. Sacred oaths which I have observed since birth, for over 124 years now, expressly forbid me and my oath-brothers and sisters the use of these foul beast stones. I would rather die first, and even watch my brothers and sisters die right in front of my eyes, before reaching out to this corrupted energy. Indeed, they have already passed on to Goddess’ Embrace, and I was the last survivor. I too was resigned to death, until Leon and you arrived.”

“At first, I had hoped for mere survival, that I may bid my time and regain the strength to continue fulfilling my oath. However, on that fateful night you marked yourself for death. Please know that I do this for wholly unselfish reasons, and indeed against my will. It both grieves me and wounds me deeply to commit this deed, and yet it is absolutely necessary. Know that in death, you serve all of Aeria, and the spirit of the Goddess shall bless your soul.”

“I don’t know whether it is the will of the spirit of the Goddess which allowed me to survive long enough to see your return, but the fact is that Leon lies grievously wounded and I had resigned myself to a quiet death trapped within these caverns. It was only at the last moment that I heard the arrival of the flying beast and the destruction it wrought.”

“Those moments were of deep inner struggle, and you may never understand how difficult the final decision was. All the while, I prayed that you were already dead and I wouldn’t be forced to act. However, at the cusp of death I had to violate my own oaths and go against the very principles which I have striven for my entire life. I took the loathsome crystals, absorbed their essence into my body, and slew the spiders around me. Then, as you say, I crafted these elaborate series of traps. It was all so I may ascertain whether you had truly returned or not, and slay you without fail if you had.”

The cold, ruthless quality of her declaration shook Skyle to the bone. There was no hatred still, just an absolute resolution to carry out her duty, unshaken by pain or shame.

“Rest assured, Skyle Farrow. With my elemental powers restored, I shall do my utmost to see both Leon and Emil safely out of danger. Immediately after that, I too shall follow you into death, for I have disgraced myself and broken my most solemn oaths. As an oathbreaker, I am not even worthy of sharing the same funeral bier as you. Still, my spirit shall strive to make up for this offense.”

“Now, ask your next question and make your peace, Skyle. That is all I can offer here and now.”

Skyle strove to maintain his calm as he weighed his options. It seemed ironic that Leena spoke of the will of the Goddess, when he himself had just come from speaking to one. Not only that, but a divine guardian spirit lay just a handful of minutes away, still awaiting for his return. It had all been so that he might save the lives of his companions. Leon, Emil, and yes, even Leena. He had to wonder if the Goddess had seen any of this coming? Was this the reason for her warning?

Now, having bought as much time as he dared, he must make a gamble if he wished to survive. Sweat-slicked hands tightened over Moonshadow’s grip, showing white knuckles that trembled faintly with constrained energy.

“Damn, all that training and thinking, and this is the best I could do? After surviving an alien army, savage primordial beasts and the touch of a goddess, I’ll be damned if I let a crazy elf girl be the one to get the better of me!” Skyle’s lips twisted into a grim smile, but his eyes shone fiercely. Luckily, Leena stood at his back, for upon reading this expression she would have instantly chosen to strike.

At times, it is such small differences which can decide between life or death.

“Speak now, or forever hold your peace, Skyle Farrow.” Once again, Leena’s ultimatum rang out from behind his shoulder.

“Well, you wanted a piece of my mind? I’ll let you have a piece of my mind, you crazy wench!” Skyle snarled in his mind. Seeing all the pieces in place, he knew the time had come. His True Sight had already been focused into a thin band merely a handspan in width. What Leena didn’t know was that after sufficient mastery in the Far Sight’s third person view, he could not only stretch his range in such a fashion, but also by sweeping such a band he could cover a 360 degree area around himself without the need to use his physical eyes. Already, he had locked in on Leena’s aura, which blazed with a brilliant, resolute blue in spite of the notes of sorrow and pain suffusing its background.

He watched every minute fluctuation of her aura, just as he had done throughout her whole confession. This was why so far he had not attempted to simply explain the situation to Leena and seek arbitration through the Guardian of the Shrine. He could see how obsessed she was on carrying out this execution. Rather than to believe his words and be shaken off course, Skyle believed she would kill him on the spot before further listening to him.

So, Skyle would now speak the words he had carefully crafted together, and Leena’s reaction would determine his next actions.

“You speak of your sacred duties, but your ignorance blinds you as surely as your zeal betrays the true spirit of your oaths! Will you listen to the will of the Guardian of Sanctuary, Arleena Starbreeze Ainfandelsolas of the Sapphire Court?”

“W- what?” Came the hoarse, startled cry of shock from behind his back. “H-How could you possibly know-”

“Ah, Leena..” Skyle sighed inwardly. There was no other choice then. Her aura was already beginning to spike with the same shade of blue, only now the background was bleeding red with alarming swiftness, indicating her killing intent.

Knowing he would never have a better opportunity than now that she was still shaken and distracted, Skyle instantly entered the Far Sight while spinning around in a tight circle, using his heel as a pivot while lowering his head. The split second’s distraction provided by his words had been enough to allow him that much space before the glowing disk of death flared into life and dove towards Skyle’s skull.

Skyle thought that he had given himself plenty of leeway in order to avoid what he expected would be a blindingly fast attack by the windblade. Alas, it was still nowhere near enough. Within the Far Sight’s predictive abilities, he could clearly see a multitude of shadows converging upon his skull. Although it was straightforward enough to pick the correct one - since Leena would waste no time and choose the most direct route to pierce his skull - Skyle’s best attempt to dodge past the windblade’s fierce first strike was simply not fast enough.

Skyle grit his teeth and a wordless howl escaped his lips. His physical eyes did not need to gaze upon the approaching windblade to know its position, such was the wonder of the Far Sight and its third person view. Still, Skyle’s attention was not on the windblade at all, but rather on another object that moved even faster than Skyle’s own body could.

DIIING

The shockingly loud sound of metal being struck by a powerful impact rang painfully in his ears. His arm was forcefully pulled away from his body’s initial trajectory as the hand Skyle used to grasp Moonshadow was shaken into numbness by the impact. As he had hoped, the masterwork weapon did not betray his hopes and firmly repulsed the terrifying windblade, though the force of the clash itself was too tyrannical to cope with his small body.

Flung off his feet by this power of the blow, Skyle had no time to worry about the landing. His body would have to take care of that by itself. Instead, Skyle’s other hand reached for the quiver behind his back, drawing three arrows clutched between thumb, index, middle and ring finger. He focused his entire attention and strength on the selection and positioning of each of these arrows, so that even as his shoulder landed against the ground with a bone-jarring crash, they did not so much as shift a single hair.

Skyle knew he would only have one shot at this before the windblade recovered from the recoil and renewed its assault, so he had to make it count.

Rapidly kneeling on the ground, Moonshadow’s arms were stretched as far as his arms could go. All breath left his lungs with a whoosh as his frantic heart skipped a single beat, and an uncomfortable moisture began to drip from his eyes as he forced the Far Sight to activate at a range he had never attempted before. Multiple shadows flickered in the air, but Skyle’s consciousness dove straight through them, and finally latched on to a distant figure that knelt on the ground, her expression of shock swiftly melting away and becoming one of absolute focus. Leena recovered with alarming speed, casually flicking her hand in front of her. Almost instantly, a semi-transparent mass of thickened air began to swirl in place in front of her.

“This better work!” Skyle snarled in his mind.

Skyle had seen trick shots using multiple arrows before, and so delighted he had been by the skill displayed by these masters, that he had spent countless hours developing such a skill himself. It was completely impractical, of course, as both power and accuracy fell tremendously. Any sane archer in a real combat situation would be able to fire three arrows in quick succession nearly at the same time he would take in order to set up for the triple shot and actually have a hope of striking the target.

However, Skyle truly had no choice and was desperate. He knew wind element wielders were masters of ranged weapons, and were nearly immune to such as well. This was thanks to one of the staples of wind element magic: the Stormshield. Simply put, this was a thick layer of rapidly revolving wind that formed a shield in front of the caster. So violent were such winds that all but the most potent projectiles had no chance of piercing through. Even if they did somehow penetrate the Stormshield, any such missiles would lose all power and be deflected off target.

This constituted a nightmare for Skyle, whose only weapon was a bow and arrow. His opponent, on the other hand, not only had the perfect defense with the Stormshield, she also had the deadly windblade which she could use to attack at her leisure.

The only desperate idea Skyle could come up with was the triple shot. Sadly, Skyle knew that Leena would never give him the time needed to properly line up such a shot. Within the Far Sight, countless shadow windblades were already converging upon his position, indicating that the next attempt on his life was imminent. Running out of time and options, Skyle could only attempt a use of the Far Sight he hadn’t truly tested yet.

Skyle’s bloodshot eyes stared at Leena as though he had become possessed. In truth, it wasn’t Leena he stared at, but rather the impact points of his arrows instead. These needed to be meticulous, and their cargo couldn’t have any accidents on the way. Skyle frantically made adjustments to his shoulders, wrists and fingers, so focused upon his task he forgot to even breathe. Calibrating this vital shot back and forth numerous times in a split second, Skyle’s body entered a strange state in which he could see the impact points changing in real time with each minute adjustment of his body. Not only that, but he could also glimpse the rotation of the wind forces within the Stormshield itself, and for a precious instant could grasp the exact timing and position needed to strike at the weakest points on Leena’s defense!

NOW!

As he finally released this desperate shot, Skyle could see the surprise fade from Leena’s face, turning into a look of condescendence., and by the time Skyle’s arrows were released, complacency and pity could be read upon her expression.

“It’s not over yet, Leena!” Skyle shouted at the top of his lungs. and he leapt to his feet while placing Moonshadow as a shield in front of him and bracing himself for the impact of Leena’s windblade.

“Oh no, this is far from over, you crazy, suicidal twit!”

***

“It’s not over yet, Leena!”

Leena’s brow wrinkled up for a moment, but her confidence did not waver, and instead her eyes followed Skyle’s movement as her hand gestured toward the windblade. It obediently adjusted its course to align with its target as it began to whirl frantically once more. This time, wind began to howl as its spinning motion picked up even more momentum.

”Farewell, Sky-” Leena began, but it was at this moment that the three arrows released by Skyle finally arrived at her Stormshield. From their trajectory, the projectiles would strike in unison at three equidistant places upon the barrier. Strangely, every arrow had been aimed too high and none of them would have been able to strike her even if she had not put up her Stormshield. Leena sighed as she considered that even a genius can make such a mistake when pushed to the edge of desperation.

PEEENG!

RIIP!

From the Stormshield, a series of sharp, metallic pings rang out, immediately followed by dull, tearing sounds. The first had been the steel arrowheads colliding against the tough outer exterior of the Stormshield. The second series of sounds, however, were promptly followed by the splashing of a dark liquid all across the area where each arrow had struck. Leena stared for only a moment, before realizing what had happened and quickly averting her eyes while falling back.

“The dracoling poison sacks! I forgot he made those poison sack arrowheads!”

She had admired Skyle’s ingenuity when she first saw the young boy carefully tying the smallest dracoling poison sacks in his collection to an arrow each. The boy had claimed it was for mass dispersion in case of an emergency, as one can never have too many tools. She had never image he would use to such effect now.

The Stormshield still stood tall, but bent pieces of steel and shattered remnants of the wooden shafts fell to the ground behind it. These had lost all momentum, and were thus harmless. Not so harmless, however, was the deadly mist spreading out within the shield. A few drops even managed to splash behind the shield, and it was this that Leena had been trying to avoid when she quickly retreated. Her quick thinking had spared her the poison, but that had not been Skyle’s aim after all.

“No!” Leena cried out, surprise and dismay equally present in her voice, but it was now too late. The Stormshield was now a murky barrier that obstructed as much of her vision as it did shield her from Skyle’s arrows. Although she could use the wind element to scout out a location, the process of sending out wind elemental probes and receiving information was far too slow to use against a single target, let alone one as slippery as Skyle. It even seemed as though he had somehow recovered full use of his wounded leg!

Her final, dwindling hope of a quick resolution was dashed as a loud metallic crash could be heard in the distance. It came from her windblade, which had followed her last command and had, as she had expected, been once again somehow parried by Skyle using his bow. Just how tough could a bow be, no matter how remarkable its origin? Her windblade could shear through a half inch thick metal alloy shield as though it were paper, yet this unassuming bow in the hands of a farmboy had thwarted the signature attack that had earned her the respectful moniker of “Witchblade” not once, but twice!

I must finish this, no matter what!

Following up on her resolve, Leena advanced while recalling her windblade. The Stormshield hovering before her was still murky and impeded her vision. It did not matter, for she began forming another Stormshield on the spot. This took much of her concentration and even more time, as she was now maintaining three spells at the same time, all of them highly complex on their own right. While a Stormshield could be formed in little time when she could focus solely on that task, in this situation she dared not drop her previous shield. She was certain an enemy as canny as Skyle would be waiting for just such a gap in her defenses, no matter how short. As for her Windblade, it took time and effort to charge its energy, with each hundred cycles bringing more speed and power until it achieved optimum performance. Once at its peak, she was reluctant to dispel it unless absolutely forced to. Thus, she could only juggle these three tasks all at once, while also sending out a wind probe to scout out Skyle’s general location.

Here, Leena was stumped. Would he flee? Would he fight? She did not know, and while her elemental powers gave her a decisive edge on a head-to-head clash, Skyle’s ability to sense and track her movements at a distance gave him a huge advantage in choosing the time and manner of confrontation.

A few moments later, Leena finally finished weaving her second Stormwall. Once it was in place, she let the outer shield collapse, taking with it the odious poison that had obstructed her sight. However, no sooner had the shield started to shimmer out of existance, when two more arrows struck her new shield. Predictably enough, they both exploded into poison clouds, leaving Leena temporarily speechless.

“So devious, now I must weave another Stormwall while he gains valuable time. Still, I refuse to believe he has any more of these poison cloud arrows! Still, I must hunt now in earnest. After all, I thought I’d been cautious enough in laying my trap, yet the proud Witchblade of Light was tricked by a mere boy, barely a teenager!”

How had Skyle found out her full name? It was not a secret, but no one outside of the Fair Folk’s Courts should know it. Furthermore, how did he know of the true meaning of Ashukan D’Ahren? Even within the Sapphire Court, only a select few know of the “Sanctuary of the Shrine of Tears.”

All this had shaken her so badly that she had let her perfect opportunity to complete her mission slip past her.

“No,” Leena sighed within her mind, knowing she could not deceive herself. “It was my fault. At the most important moment, I hesitated and could not execute this kind, innocent child on the spot, as I should have. His only crime is that his talent has drawn the attention of a seed of Shadowblight. He must die for the sake of all Aeria. Why did I still hesitate?”

Once again, she resolved in her heart that she would pay for this murder with her own life. After doing her utmost to place Leon and Emil into safekeeping, she would surrender to the spirit of the Goddess and seek her embrace, that she may cleanse the blot in her heart as an oath-breaker, and atone to Skyle’s soul in the Netherworld.

Having confirmed this, Leena’s heart finally calmed down and all emotion fell away from her like a bright jewel sheds the rain. When the last drops of it had been cleansed from her heart, Leena was gone, and all that remained was the Witchblade of Light, Lightbearer of the Sapphire Court and executioner of the spirit of the Goddess.

It was time for one last kill.