Chapter 53 - In the Deafening Silence

As soon as he saw the wind patterns of the first Stormwall show signs of being dispelled, Skyle sent the two arrows he had been aiming on their way. Thankfully, they both struck their target and provided precious seconds to make his retreat.

This position was untenable, and he had no intention of slugging it out with the murderous elf within these caves. After all, Rakasha still waited for him right outside the caves. If anyone could teach this uppity elf some manners, that would be the ancient crystal phoenix.

“Let women deal with crazy women, I say,” Skyle grumbled in his mind.

His hands were still numb from the last time Leena’s windblade had clashed against Moonshadow, and he wasn’t so confident he could do so a third time. Moonshadow itself showed not a single scratch, but his poor, spindly arms were not so fortunate!

Without a care for decorum or pride, Skyle turned tail and ran as quickly as his short little legs could take him. From how long Leena had taken before being able to conjure her second Stormwall, he knew he had at least a couple breaths of time. Though his strength might not be Leena’s match, Skyle had some confidence in his running, especially across treacherous terrain such as these pitch black caves.

Besides, he was fairly certain that the range of his arrows was at least double that of her windblade. That mean that all those straight paths that Leena had selected in order to trap him while remaining outside of his detection range now favored him. At the very least, she would have to maintain her Stormshield the whole time she chased after him, and that should slow her down.

So, plan A was to hoof it back to mother Rakasha like a good little chick and indignantly complain while the ancient phoenix spanked the bad, bad elf until her asscheeks were on fire. Let that be her lesson for being an ungrateful, murderous little wench!

As for plan B, well, he was still working on it.

While he ran, he was careful to regulate his breathing. It would be terrible if he ran out of breath in the middle of the chase because he panicked, no matter how close this latest shave against death had been.

“Two steps, breathe in. Five steps, breathe out. Two steps, breathe in. Five steps, breathe out.”

It was an easy mental exercise his father had taught him for endurance running in the wilderness. It also served the purpose of calming his nerves while he considered plan B.

“Always have a plan B, and plan C, D, E, F..” his father would say. “Trust me, you can never have too many tools, or too many plans.”

Skyle had certainly confirmed the first part of that axiom today. The poison sack arrows had definitely saved his skin today, and he only regretted that he did not have any more of those.

As he kept on running like his tail had caught on fire, Skyle kept shuffling down an endless mental list and hoped he could make it to at least letter E before he even heard a hint of that crazy elf chasing after him.

Sadly, he was to be badly disappointed.

Skyle had barely been running for four minutes when the omnidirectional strip of True Sight he used for long range scouting caught a bundle of wind elemental energy swiftly approaching from his back.

“That’s just not fair,” Skyle moaned in his mind, as Leena’s murderous crimson aura lit up his senses like a great bonfire within the dark confines of the caverns behind him. “How is she moving so fast?”

At maximum range, Skyle could spread out his True Sight up to 300 feet away, even through the solid rock of the cavern system. Although a few twists and turns separated them, he estimated that Leena was no more than three minutes away from this position, and closing the distance fast. At this pace, he had no hope of making it outside before she caught up to him!

The next time he swept his True Sight towards her direction, he realized how she was moving so quickly.

“The lunatic isn’t even using her Stormshield! She must have let her shield down as soon as she realized I was no longer there. Still, I didn’t think she would be so reckless as to ignore the possibility that I might ambush her. Does she truly have a deathwish?”

Sadly, the only way Skyle could call her bluff was if he actually stayed put and shot her.

“Fat chance that would happen. At least one of us doesn’t have a deathwish.” Skyle sighed.

Crazy as she was, this girl was too smart. Skyle was certain that Leena would put up her Stormshield while traversing potential ambush sites. As for the others, she must be confident that she could react in time. It was risky on her part, but it only went to show how determined she was to stop him. As things were now, she would definitely catch up to Skyle well before he could exit the caves.

Well then, it was time for plan B.

It wasn’t that Skyle didn’t have a plan B by now, because he did. It was just that plan B was, on the whole and judging by a Farrow’s rather high and exacting standards, a godawful mess of a plan that he would rather not even touch with a ten foot pole, since it was more liable to get him killed like a fool by his enemy rather than the other way around.

Sadly, as far as plans went, plan A had basically been the basket where all his eggs went. After that, they all pretty much went from bad to worse, until plan E was just a slightly over-complicated way of committing suicide.

So, as the lucky runner up, plan B it would have to be.

Upon arriving to the cavern where he had encountered the fire spider and poison spider, Skyle swiftly set to work. He would only have three, maybe four minutes if Leena was especially careful in deploying her Stormshield.

“Fat chance of that happening,” Skyle snorted to himself. “Three minutes it is, maybe as little as two.”

There was simply not much he could do with so little time, but he still busied himself as best he could.

He spent thirty precious seconds gathering as much of the fire spider’s flammable liquid as he could into the only five hollowhead arrows he had. Next, he used Moonshadow’s bladed tips to shear off a decent chunk of the flint-like fangs.

Moving on to the poison spider, Skyle used his True Sight to scan the monster’s head. He then spent the next twenty seconds swinging Moonshadow over and over at its mouth, until finally he was able to carve open a wide enough hole for his purposes. The final minute of preparations were spent on carefully removing the small sack of acid he had spotted using the True Sight. After bundling it up with some cloth, he put it away with the same care. Immediately upon completing this task, Skyle crept towards the shadows of the cavern entrance and pulled a steelhead arrow from his quiver.

The True Sight told him that he was out of time. Right on cue, the wild, crazy elf had arrived.

Not one to be remiss in greeting old friends, Skyle immediately fired off an arrow the instant before Leena rounded the corner and came into sight. By the time she actually came into view, she had already run into the arrow. Or rather, the arrow ran into the Stormshield she had materialized mere moments ago. As Skyle had expected, Leena was reckless, but not stupid, more’s the pity. She had mapped all these caverns before he arrived, so she knew this particular stretch would offer a perfect opportunity for Skyle to use his superior range to his advantage.

Still, the arrow served its purpose, as it immediately slowed her progress. It seemed 150 feet was still beyond the range for her windblade, since she did not use it to attack him. Relieved, Skyle ducked back into the tunnel while drawing another arrow from his quiver. Leena’s eyes followed him until he moved out of sight, and she seemed to hesitate over an idea.

Not wanting her to get too comfortable, scant moments later Skyle popped back into view just long enough to fire another arrow. It still skittered harmlessly off the Stormshield, but Leena’s eyes narrowed into slits and she nodded her acknowledgement towards Skyle for a point well made.

“That’s right, you better not even think about lowering that Stormshield until you reach this place, or I might pop out at any moment and end this little chase of yours right there and then.” Skyle grinned.

Of course, he would do no such thing. He had started running away again the moment he shot that second arrow, but Leena had no way of knowing that. This suited him just fine, as he had just bought himself another minute or so while he looked for the rest of the components needed for plan B.

This same scene repeated itself two more times, with Leena closing the distance with Stormshield in place and windblade at the ready, while Skyle shot a couple warning shots to slow down her pursuit as much as possible. Unfortunately, Skyle knew there would be no third standoff. Already, Leena had closed the distance enough that the next time they met she would be within range to use her windblade. Without a way to obstruct her vision, Skyle would at most be able to fend off one or two blows from that formidable weapon before being severed from this mortal coil.

Fortunately for him, he had finally found the last parts he needed for plan B. Thus, as Leena rounded the corner to enter a wide cavern filled with razor sharp stalactites hanging precariously from the ceiling, she was met with the sight of Skyle dressed in full battle regalia.

Two mismatched plates of spider shell had been hastily tied in a makeshift fashion around his chest, one in front and the other at the back, in a laughable mockery of a breastplate. A third piece of spider shell had been fitted over Skyle’s head, then also secured into place by a long strip of cloth.

Looking nothing more like a child playing at being a soldier, had the situation not been a desperate struggle between life and death, it would certainly have sent both parties to the floor in hysterical bouts of laughter. As it was, a corner of Leena’s mouth twitched uncontrollably while her eyes gaped in disbelief. Skyle himself did his best to ignore the look, but a deep flush began to color his cheeks.

“So, you have finally decided to resign yourself to your fate and stop running?” Leena stepped into the cavern with easy confidence, the air in front of her rippling with tightly compressed air while above her upturned hand hovered a shimmering disk of wind energy.

“Leena, we don’t have to do this. The Guardian of Sanctuary has sent me here to rescue you, Leon and Emil. We can all leave this place and go home!” Skyle slowly backed away while aiming down the length of the arrow he held nocked on Moonshadow.

“I’m afraid that has no bearing on what must happen here,” Leena replied woodenly.

“Can you at least wait until after we reach Sanctuary? I don’t want to hurt you!”

“That’s a chance I can’t take. I know you can’t understand, but I must fulfill my duty, Skyle. I have no choice.”

“Then neither do I,” Skyle sighed and closed his eyes in sorrow. He truly did not wish to hurt Leena. On some level that he couldn’t fully understand, reading her aura had given him a startling insight into her thought process. He could see both how deeply conflicted she was, and also how strongly her belief in her ideals burned. Such a purity of purpose made it hard for Skyle not to admire her, even though at the moment such a purpose included ending his life. If anything, Skyle found himself wishing he could earn the trust and loyalty of such a stalwart, principled companion.

Though they stood on opposite sides of a deadly battle, Arleena Starbreeze had earned his respect. This worked both ways. While he was loath to hurt her, the moment there was no other alternative, he would do everything in his power to end her threat as efficiently as possible. When he finally opened his eyes again, they were the steel grey eyes of a hunter ready to spill blood.

The first arrow was released without hesitation. It streaked towards Leena in a flash, but without the Far Sight to guide it, the arrow bounced off harmlessly against the windwall. Leena did not even flinch as she kept closing the distance.

“It’s no use Skyle. I promise, I will make it painless.”

Skyle ignored her and shot another arrow while trying to read the wind currents on the Stormshield with his True Sight. The timing proved to be a little better, and though the arrow did penetrate the shield, it was also hopelessly shredded in the process. Only a few fragments fell listlessly to the ground beyond the barrier.

Skyle did not let this faze him. He focused even harder on the Stormshield’s patterns and loosed a third arrow. This time the steel head actually made it through almost intact, piercing through the Stormshield and striking the wall four feet to Leena’s left. It was obviously a huge miss, but just the fact that he had managed to pierce the Stormshield with any real power for the first time made Leena narrow her eyes dangerously.

Still, she had finally reached her Witchblade’s outer range, and it was her turn to attack.

Skyle barely caught the flickering of Leena’s wind aura in time to activate the Far Sight. As soon as he did so, he saw multiple shadows of Leena’s windblade homing in on his location. With barely any time to react, it was all Skyle could do to lift Moonshadow in front of him while propelling himself backwards in an attempt to lessen the shock of impact.

The windblade drew a complex curve through the air as it howled hungrily. Skyle knew for a certainty that if he didn’t have the Far Sight, he would have never been able to follow its movements with the naked eye, let alone attempt to block it. So swift was its passing that it almost seemed to teleport from one point to the next, as though cutting through space itself.

CLAANG!

The force of the clash was such that it lifted Skyle off his feet and left his ears ringing painfully. He only just managed to shift his legs in order to stabilize himself at the last second in order to stay on his feet. Backing away a few steps to recover his balance, his back came to rest upon a thick stalagmite that reached as high as his head.

The windblade was already looping around for another strike, and Skyle wasn’t sure that he’d be able to take it without losing grip on Moonshadow. Already, his hands were getting completely numb! These blows were clearly even stronger than the ones he had taken earlier. Maybe Leena was finally getting serious.

Skyle swiftly turned around and scrambled behind the stalagmite, just barely managing to drag his bow behind him.

Leena continued to walk closer while she swung her arm down in the direction of the stalagmite where Skyle was hiding. The witchblade obediently swung back around and smashed the rock formation with blinding speed. The stalagmite exploded into a shower of rock fragments, but the witchblade hardly even slowed down. As it swept through, there was nothing but empty air behind it.

That was because the very instant the windblade struck, Skyle had decisively stepped out to the side with Moonshadow held out before him. As the stalagmite exploded into shards, a fist-sized fragment stuck Skyle in the ribs and drove all the breath from his lungs as though he had been gut-punched. Thankfully, the improvised spidershell armor absorbed some of the shock, else he might have collapsed to the ground. Swaying unsteadily from the blow, Skyle grit his teeth and lifted the three arrows he had prepared to the string. Though his chest was convulsing in agony, Skyle resolutely pushed the pain away to squeeze his eyes shut and struck the three arrows he held in his hand against the shard of spider fang he had tied to the inside of his other arm.

With a great whoosh, all three hollowhead arrows filled with the fire spider’s oil burst into blinding radiance. Eyes still tightly shut, he locked on to Leena’s aura using the True Sight. Taking one final moment to steady his aim, he fired. Three blazing balls of fire streaked across the darkness and closed in on their target in an instant. All three fiery projectiles struck home, shattering against Leena’s Stormshield. The hollowheads instantly exploded into dozens of fragments, showering the entire length of the wind barrier with a great shower of blinding fire.

Leena cried out in agony while reflexively shielding her eyes, temporarily blinded by the sudden burst of light within the pitch black depths of the cave. She had been using the Fair Folk’s innate gift of low-light vision to great effect. Now it only made her all the more vulnerable to this overwhelming barrage of light.

Skyle coughed weakly, flecks of blood wetting his lips. He cut a pathetic figure as he scrambled to jump out of the way of the next great shower of rocks. At this point, the windblade had gone berserk and was spinning blindly around the room in random circles, crushing anything unfortunate enough to be standing in its way. Several impacts shook Skyle’s thin frame as rocks pelted him like shraphnel, but there was simply nowhere to escape the deadly rain of debris produced by the windblade’s berserk rush.

Squinting against the sudden glare of the fire still burning fiercely on the surface of Leena’s Stormshield, Skyle scrambled on all fours as he repositioned himself as quickly as he could. He knew the next few moments would decide between life and death, and he was determined to not let it slip past his fingers!

Leena was carefully backing away as she began to weave another shield into place. The shield could only cover a 120 degree angle in front of her, thus leaving her sides vulnerable. With two shields, however, she would be able to protect herself so long as she kept backing away. It would be enough to buy her the precious time needed to recover her sight. Meanwhile, the roar of the fire and the constant explosions as her Witchblade smashed pillar after pillar of rock into oblivion filled the room with a cacophony of noise and confusion.

To add to the chaos, Skyle began to fire arrow after arrow at Leena’s shields. She was not able to see yet, but she could feel the terrifying impact of each arrow as it struck her shields from different angles. More alarming still was the fact that more and more arrows were forcefully penetrating her defenses. Each time she heard the unmistakable clash of steel against stone, it seemed to draw closer to her. It was as though Skyle were learning how to shoot past her Stormshield with increased accuracy.

Each time she felt an impact from one of her shields, she could tell its general direction by feel. She would then back away from that direction while unleashing her windblade in indiscriminate attacks. While she held little hope that such an attack would kill Skyle, perhaps it could injure him. At the very least, it might buy her valuable time while she recovered her sight. If she allowed him to get around her shields, she would be dead in an instant, so Leena constantly backed away.

Already, she was able to distinguish vague shapes through the haze of tears that flooded her eyes. In just a few more moments, she would recover enough that she could finally end the chase once and for all.

Skyle began to grow increasingly uneasy as his supply of arrows began to dwindle. He knew this was a race against time, but he was still waiting for the perfect opening to unleash his ace. Until then, he could only keep applying pressure and corralling Leena towards his trap.

This was a waiting game for both sides. One was attempting to buy enough time to recover her sight, while the other was breathlessly awaiting the single opening that would spell life or death in a single instant.

In the end, it seemed fate enjoys its small ironies, as the right moment for both sides just so happened to arrive at the same instant.

Leena’s furious eyes opened wide as she was finally able to clear the tears from her vision and refocus, hunting hungrily for her prey. At the same time, Skyle lifted his bow for the shot he had been waiting for this whole time.

In truth, had Leena been counting the sounds of impact from Skyle’s arrows she would have known nearly half of Skyle’s arrows had failed to strike her Stormshield, and were instead being directed to another important target. However, with all the noise and confusion created by Skyle, doing such a thing would have been next to impossible, even if she was of a mind to do so.

Leena’s expression was one of complete surprise, as the first sight that greeted her when she finally recovered her sight was that of her prey. Skyle was standing not 30 feet away from her, the string of his bow pulled taut and the arrow aiming straight at her. Though at first puzzled, Leena’s expression turned into one of stony determination as she raised an imperious hand to command her Witchblade for what she hoped would be the final blow. Little did she care that Skyle was aiming yet another arrow, for many such had already crashed and failed against her Stormshield.

On the other side of the Stormshield, Skyle met her eyes for a single, timeless instant. That expression, it honestly shook her, because buried within were none of the expected emotions such as fear, despair or hate. Instead, only a profound serenity that ached faintly with sorrow could be seen.

Before she had time to further pursue this line of thought, Skyle raised his bow high above her head, and let loose. The arrow flew nowhere near Leena, but that was alright. Instead, it struck the same target Skyle had been hitting with the last eight arrows that had not struck Leena’s shield. Each successive shot had been placed just slightly off from where the last had landed. With every impact, a barely visible hairline crack would widen just a little further.

This final shot, it struck true on its target and left a visible dent from which a series of hairline fractures spread. Just left of this dent, eight similar mini-craters could be seen in a straight, horizontal line. Webs of small fracture lines spread from each of these dents, forming a perfect semicircle all around the giant stalactite. On the other side of this rock lay a puddle of bubbling liquid, which was all that remained of the acid arrow Skyle had carefully produced from the remains of the poison spider. That shot had been made as soon as Skyle had stepped inside this room, and his every move thereafter had been made in order to place his prey under this massive trap. Having been given plenty of time, the mixture smoked and sizzled as it hungrily chewed into the stalactite’s base. This massive icicle of solid rock rumbled mightily upon receiving Skyle’s final arrow, therefore drawing the disbelieving eyes of the person standing directly underneath.

Leena’s mouth opened in a disbelieving gape as the colossal rock gave one last cry of protest, then detached itself from the roof with a resounding crack. Leena reflexively raised her hand towards the stalactite and her Witchblade obediently soared towards the descending rock.

They met with a thundering crash, spreading a huge shower of rock fragments. Most were only the size of a fist, but many were larger than Leena herself. As the great avalanche of rock descended upon her, Leena abruptly lowered her arms and turned her gaze towards Skyle.

Their eyes met for one timeless instant, and in this final moment they understood one another perfectly.

One was content, and ready.

The other was disconsolate, and woefully unprepared.

“Leena, move!” Skyle cried out hoarsely, stretching his hand out as though he could snatch her from the death she had chosen herself.

Leena only gazed upon Skyle and smiled, and said nothing at all.

Then the whole world came crashing down, and only a deafening silence remained.

The unbearable silence slowly faded, trailed by the heart-rending sobs of a little boy who had won a hard battle, yet lost the war.