Chapter 9

Ivey glanced at him curiously. “The Parkers.”

“Are there any other penthouse guys?”

Ivey once more was focused out the window. “It’s hard…” she trailed off. “I think they’re going to escape.”

“What? Parkers?”

“No, the three that got off the roof.”

Daniel concentrated once more on the scene outside. The monster had finished eating and was strolling around the roof. He noticed that at least one car had been casually flipped over and then another almost split in half after being struck by a casual tail swing.

He could see why Ivey thought they might escape as the beast was moving aimlessly. Its tail flashed out and knocked a third car flying. It rolled four times like you would see in an action movie after a high-speed crash.

“It’s so powerful.”

Ivey said nothing as they watched it move around the carpark. It was not focusing on the area the three others had gone over the side. “The Parkers are difficult,” Ivey said finally. “All five of them are combat oriented and capable. They instantly became the second strongest force after us. Worse, the dad seems like the type who likes to be in charge.”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

“Sometimes your instincts are not terrible. All I can suggest is to keep them busy. Put them on the front lines. Don’t give them time to gain additional allies and if any of us have to die make sure it’s one of them.”

Daniel smacked his club on the floor. It sounded like the concrete cracked. Ivey looked at him with alarm. “That thing is out there and we’re talking politics.”

“Getting the politics right is the only way we beat that.”

She grabbed his arm instinctively. The lizard was running and when it moved like that, it was like it transformed it from a sloth into a cheetah. Six strides and then it leapt off the top car park unfazed by the multistorey drop. Five stories and it had not even hesitated. Then it was hidden from view because of the buildings in the way. That couple of seconds when it had moved and revealed its true glory were already a fading memory. His brain failing to comprehend what he had witnessed. They watched, but it did not re-emerge. It was gone. Sort of… they knew it was still out there.

Waiting.

The people who had been caught must have been unlucky. It was only a little after dawn and they had probably braved the outside, hoping that the transition from night to day as being a safe time to explore. Then they had run into that.

Next to him Ivey pointed.

His eyes followed her finger. She was pointing beyond the tourist area to where there were family homes and closer to the bay. An enormous creature was moving across the road, clearly visible even if it was over a kilometre away.

He could see that it was six legged. “Everywhere,” Daniel groaned. “We need to get one of the non-combatants to record what’s out there.”

“We already do.” Ivey informed him. She punched his arm. “And if you paid attention, you would have known that.”

“You’re right.” Daniel threw one more look at the carpark, the broken car where the tail had sent it tumbling. “Did you see how fast that lizard moved?”

“I have,” Ivey said carefully. “But you haven’t.”

“But…”

Her hand touched his shoulder, stilling his protest. “Just then, it barely got out of second gear.” She breathed in deeply her eyes closed as she relived a memory and subconsciously she bit her bottom lip. “It goes a lot faster than that. I will not claim as fast as a bullet, but?” She shuddered. “Anyway, from what we can tell we are luckily right on the edge of its territory.”

Daniel looked around. Their view stretched from the CBD and then to the far left was the ocean. Between him and the city was the Yarra. If he squinted, he could sort of see the glint of water through some gaps in the skyline. That must be its range because, as strong as it was, he did not think it would cross the river. Apparently crossing small bodies of water was dangerous let alone a stretch of river over fifty metres across.

“Nope.” Ivey told him. She used her hand and arm to draw a line that included only a sixth of their view on the far right and the carpark. “That’s as close as its got to the ocean. It’s territory is,” she waved behind her. “To the south and east.”

Daniel tried to imagine that on a map. Depending on the creature’s exact range, there might be no way to get to the outer suburbs without braving, river, ocean or going deeper into its territory. A lizard that he had thought possessed explosive speed, but he had apparently only witnessed the equivalent of it breaking into a brisk walk. “That’s not ideal.”

“Yes, it’s as bad as you’re thinking. All the way from St Kilda to the CBD. How good is your local geography?”

“Good enough to know that means we’re screwed.”

“Fucked every day to Sunday.”

Daniel looked at Ivey in surprise at her language.

“What? It was appropriate.”

“Can we cross the Yarra, travel west then north?”

Ivey shook her head. “First rule of fight, Alpha. Don’t go near deep water.”

“Is it now?” That statement was not a complete surprise he had after all heard other people saying it.

“Should be.”

“You think we need to kill big purple?”

Ivey looked thoughtful. “We might sneak by it or if there’s a bridge intact go over the Yarra.”

“But?”

“We won’t know till we try. With spotters, safe houses and a couple of people at a time…”

“Or we kill it.” Daniel patted his club

“Or we seize some buildings further away from its territory and build a community till we’re strong enough to dream about hurting it’s little claw.”

“Have to get out of here first. A problem for tomorrow. In the meantime, let’s make sure someone is tracking it.”

“Yes, master.” She said teasingly.

“Fuck you.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Maybe later.”

“I’m getting really mixed signals here.”

“No, you’re not.” She patted him on the bum. “We’re friends.”

“Without benefits.”

“Yes.” she said, exasperated. “Go seduce Tamara.”

“She’s got a boyfriend.”

Ivey stopped and looked at him incredulously. “I’ve been in your head.”

“I try not to cut other guys’ lunch.”

“Try?”

“It was once, and he wasn’t a mate. I still felt like shit.”

“Jayden’s not a mate to you, either.”

“True.”

Ivey looked really uncertain. “Before we go upstairs, we need to talk about Jayden.”

Daniel stopped talking with alarm bells going off. He remembered how she had reacted last night. “What about him?”

“I’ve been in your head.” Ivey was nodding in the way people did when they wanted you to agree with something without saying the offensive comment or plan out loud.

“You believe me now?”

“It’s hard not to in the circumstances.”

“Any thoughts?”

Ivey hands anxiously clenched together. “Even having experienced what you have, I still want to jump and defend him.”

“I felt that too.”

“Unnatural.”

“You have no idea. The struggle in my brain is nothing like what you had. Priscilla protected you more than you realised.”

“I’m not imagining it.”

“No, you’re definitely not.”

“Kill him?” Daniel watched Ivey’s face as emotions ran over the top of them. Horror, hope, anger, resignation.

“No.” Her hands were clenched into fists. “I don’t think he’s a bad person.”

Daniel walked away to give space between them. “Ivey, is that you or him speaking.”

More emotions flirted across her features. Her eyes went unfocused. She bit her bottom lip. “That’s hard. I can’t explain properly. If I hadn’t been in your head… If you had just told me.” Her eyes shut in response to an internal struggle. “But you didn’t tell me! It was more. I felt your emotions and experienced your inner thoughts. Despite all that, I want to reject the notion. I’m fixated on the idea that he’s normal, a good guy, who wants the best for all of us.”

“Ivey, is that him or you?”

“Him!” she snapped at him. “But also me. We can’t go around killing people.”

“That’s not what you said with Beau.”

“He tried to kill me.” Then Ivey froze and took some deep breaths. “Anyway, that’s not why we want to give him slack it’s because my interface likes him.”

“Can you trust your interface?”

“What?” she looked at him in confusion. “Of course, we’ve only got this far because of him. Why would you suggest?” Her eyes widened. “Tamara?”

Daniel did the smallest of nods. Tamara had recounted the conversation she had with Ivey. In it, the fact that Ivey’s interface was problematic had been confirmed.

Jarringly, Ivey’s eyes went unfocused.

“Yes, you can trust my interface.” Ivey said while shaking her head slightly as she talked.

Then no, Daniel thought, interpreting the body signal.

“At least for the important things.” Ivey’s shake turned into a nod.

Untrustworthy for smaller things but reliable for bigger issues. That was interesting to know.

“Is Jayden important?”

“Yes,” she nodded. “Take Priscilla and confront him before you kill him. If you get him on your side, then even if Parker wants to take you out, he’ll fail.”

“Play enemies against each other?”

“No,” Ivey said her eyes going hard. “If you have an enemy, you kill them.” She smiled sweetly, and he knew she was not just talking about the Parkers but that wording was the closest to a blessing he would ever receive.

Chapter 10

Daniel’s tummy growled.

“I feel the same.” Ivey said. “We should go for breakfast.”

“Liar.”

“No, I do. I’m starving because morning exercise builds an appetite. But I’m a lady, so my stomach doesn’t growl.”

Daniel laughed. “Let’s go.”

On the way, he gathered the seed weapons he had created while Ivey examined the moth traps. When his hands touched Tamara’s staff, it was clear that the process had worked.

Thank god, he had been worried that the first three produced were flukes. With excitement, he reached for the next weapon. This was an axe designed for two handed use. The difference between this weapon and Tamara’s staff was heart breaking. It was dead and he could feel the cores dormant within it, a hard mass of energy separate from the wood design. Curiously, he picked up Tamara’s staff again and assessed it in the same way. The whole thing was wood. The cores he had inserted had vanished, and it felt while not sapient that it was now more than wood.

With a sigh, he decided to systematically check each weapon and in order of the time he had spent on them. He eyed Ivey’s staff and with trepidation poked it.

Relief flooded through him. It had the same feel as the other staff. Confident now, he poked each of the remaining weapons in turn. The mace he had devoted the third most time to was unresponsive. Of the three bows, only one thrummed with the distributed power. Daniel picked up the last weapon a spear and almost sighed at the warmth that greeted his touch.

The why and how his process remained a mystery. Why Ivey’s and Tamara’s worked had to be related to the effort he had put into both. The failure of the shield was a mystery, as he had spent a significant amount of that versus the spear, which had been almost an afterthought but had been successful. The spear gave Daniel the most hope because, unlike the other weapons that had worked he had only put a single hulk core within it. Success did not depend on quantity of materials but on?

That was the question and after he had answered it he was confident that within a week he could arm everyone with a sapient seed weapon.

For now, he had four functional. Daniel remembered how his club could absorb new cores to get stronger and maybe he could give the successful weapons another quick boost.

The best material available was the moth cores and while they were useless to him from the perspective of granting him magic, they were powerful, complicated magical objects. The very complexity that stopped him from using them would probably be beneficial with in the sapient seed weapons. He hurried over to his backpack grabbed a core and pressed it against the solid spear in his hand.

The wood failed to respond when the core was pressed against it. The resistance was minimal and Daniel knew he could force his way through it, but whatever life already existed within the object did not want the moth core. Daniel thought about his own weapon and decided not to force things.

He pulled the core back and then plant magic helped the spear to close the slightly marred surface he had left. Then, reverentially, he placed the spear off to the side. Given its improved nature, it did not deserve to be tossed into the general weapons pile.

“What are you doing?”

He flashed Ivey a smile and grabbed the magical staff he had created for her. When forging this, he had tried to keep a focus of healing magic in his mind. He did not know if it worked or helped, but it was all he could do.

This time, before using his magic he pressed the core up against the wood surface. Passively offering it up to it. There was a wary acceptance with no excitement from the weapon. His club resting on his lap to allow him to use both hands stirred. The wood to skin contact on his knee provided an avenue for it to interact with him and it requested magic.

It wanted to help.

Daniel accepted the offer and power flowed into it and one of the criss crossing vines untangled and reached across to touch the second weapon. The club asked for more magic and curious about what it was doing Daniel granted it all the power it needed. The wood under where he held the core opened up and the rock sunk slightly into the staff. There was resistance and just like in battle he felt the request from his club. Increase the pressure. With his thumb he pressed harder and slowly it sank into the reluctant wood until it was three quarters in and then with a slurp it was sucked in and vanished.

“Nice,” he whispered before fishing out another core from his backpack. This time, he touched it to a spot about ten centimetres below where the first core had been inserted.

No. The thought throbbed from his club, and a moment later he felt a similar determination from the staff.

“Not yet, or not at all?”

The staff did not respond but the emotions in the club moderated and he got an image back of Daniel swallowing the lightning bugs’ cores, then doing some fun bashing and then the blackout fit that followed. The club did not have the language for it, but Daniel understand its intention. At a minimum, the weapon needed to digest what it had consumed before getting more.

Daniel put the core down on the floor next to him. He had not got the sense from his club that it would be a long wait.

“What are you doing?” Ivey repeated.

“Trying to make the seed weapons stronger.” His attention was laser focused on where he had pressed in the core. That area was sparking with power. The wood in the spot became discoloured and was shifting around like custard on a slow boil. Wood flowing up from the bottom of the pot and the top layer sinking. More power flowed from him to the club and then to the staff. The wood shivered and then the core he had inserted was forced out. It was misshapen and changed. “What? Partially digested?”

Daniel went to poke the rejected piece, but Ivey crouched down next to him and grabbed the deformed cone before he could poke it.

She examined it thoughtfully. “Hm,” Ivey held out a hand in expectation. Daniel lifted the staff to hand it across, but she shook his head. “The other Core.”

“Sure,” he picked up the one he had put on the carpet and handed it to her.

A ball of light floated up from her and she held the two cores up to make the most use of it. “Fascinating.” She rolled them in her fingers in order to see them from different angles. Her face scrunched up and Daniel saw a spark of magic go from her fingers into the core. She seemed to be dissatisfied with the result. Then her expression went vacant as she consulted her interface.

“Spent,” she declared and then threw the damaged core into the pile of moth remnants that he had built up between each trap cycle. “From what I can guess.” She wrinkled her nose at the guess word clearly not appreciating having to use it. “The corrupted life magic part was extracted out. Ruined the rest of it, but.” She looked significantly at the weapon. “I assume it got something from the process. Does it want another?”

Daniel offered, and there was reluctant acceptance again. The same emotion that he had prior to killing Marco if he was being self-reflective. He had not wanted to swing the club but knew he had to do the duty. The staff felt the same about the core.

The stone inserted more easily than the first one. This time Daniel did not pull his hand back but kept it on the new weapon and made his energy passively available to the staff. It did not use his power directly instead it was funnelled via his club.

Once more, the surface of the staff shifted and seethed around where the core had inserted. The disturbing movement continued for around thirty seconds, and then it pulsed and spat out a core that was smaller than the first one.

Ivey snatched it up and assessed it like she had the first time before throwing it onto the trash pile. “Same.” She informed him.

Daniel grabbed a third and he could feel the weapon pulling away. “No more.” His maker’s mark appeared on the spear and he thought about whether he should name it. Ideas flicked around in his brain and then he focused on one that felt appropriate. It was his prerogative to name as the crafter and not the eventual owner. The name he had selected printed itself down the side of the weapon.

He admired what he had created. It looked amazing, and he had put a lot of both energy and materials in it. “This is for you.” Daniel said and handed Ivey the staff.

She took it and her eyes went unfocused. “Oh my god it worked. Thank you! Best breakup gift ever.”

Daniel smiled sadly at that comment.

“Don’t look like that. You knew it wasn’t going to work and now you’ve got a wing woman for life.” She winked at him.

Daniel had flashbacks of when his sister and female friends had played matchmaker. “That’s really unnecessary.”

Ivey laughed at his expression and then held up the staff. “This is amazing.” She titled it to look at it from different angles and admired the flourishes he had included in the form. There were no metal or massive gems to provide it with a magical flavour, but it still looked like a wizard’s staff. He had been imagining a cleric when he had created it, and it was a simple design. Long thin shaft that finished in a diamond shaped head that felt like it should have contained a prominent crystal but instead there was distinct silvery coloured wood that sort of created the same effect but not quite.

Overall, it both looked and felt magical.

“And?”

“And what?” she poked her tongue out at him. “I accept. I’ll use it.”

“What is it? What does it do?”

Ivey’s eyes went unfocused. “Let me read the description to you. Solid well-crafted weapon that will be an effective tool for bludgeoning bugs to death.”

“What?”

“That’s what it says.”

Daniel was stunned, perplexed, baffled… surely it was more powerful than that… His magic had not failed. How was such a mundane outcome possible after all that work? The cores he had put in had definitely vanished. He had felt how different the staff had been. It had even communicated details around the core he was offering.

Ivey burst into laughter. “You should have seen your face.”

Daniel’s eyes snapped open. Then he smiled ruefully. “Yep, you got me. What does it do?”

She managed to stop laughing for a moment. “Life Tinker, a sapient seed level one magical staff that has bonded with me. At the current levels grants a moderate improvement in healing spells primarily by aiding multitasking and actively directing the healing to where it is most needed by the patients improving efficiency of cast spell. In addition, it can create blood teethers every twenty seconds but is currently only able to have one active.”

“Blood teether sounds ominous.” He said while thinking of the two moth cores he had inserted into the club.

“Yes, that was from the moth cores so I guess… Well done.” She admitted in her grudging sort of way which he had learnt to interpret as Ivey being Ivey. She was not particularly verbose with her praise. “It’s an extra ability the weapon wouldn’t usually get.” She caught his excited look. “I know where your mind is going. That core method won’t work anymore now that it’s bonded to me. You’ll have to do it prior to gifting them. Which is…” She shrugged. “Probably not recommended because the nascent seed can’t direct the energy appropriately. You’ll get it random abilities that might actually weaken the weapon.”

“Does the blood–”

“Weaken?” she interrupted. “Luckily no. The blood teether is actually great. It drains life energy from whoever it connects to and gives it to me. Nothing too dramatically. Like if we tied up a feral it would take ten minutes for the tether to kill them.”

“Every bit helps.”

“Yes it does, but at these low levels its damage and healing is frankly useless. The blood teether, however, also creates intense pain and may stun a creature that it latches on to. It also probably synergises with another of my abilities.” She stopped talking and did not elaborate any further. “Its great and I love it.” She hugged the weapon passionately.

“You like?”

“It’s okay.”

Daniel considered what she had told him. On face value, the blood teether core functionality did not seem very useful if it would take ten minutes to kill something. Those secondary effects were the exact opposite. Intense pain and stun could provide great crowd control or a distraction in a fight. “What’s its range?”

“Only three metres, but I’m expecting that to grow as it levels.”

“That’s not that bad,” Daniel told her while working through scenarios where she could use it. “It’s long enough to be used from behind front-line fighters. If I’m fighting a zombie–”

“Feral.”

“Zombie,” Daniel continued unperturbed. “And your tether lands a stun on it even for a half a second that will completely change the fight. I would have killed or badly injured it before it could react.”

Ivey nodded and then waved at his pile of weapons. “How many of these are seed weapons?”

“Three others.” Daniel grabbed the bow and offered the moth core to it. The weapon rejected it instantly. He was not too surprised. After all, it seemed like the cores were hard for the weapons to absorb.

Finally, he seized the wizards’ staff created for Tamara. It was both more solid and elaborate than Ivey’s.

“That’s nice,” Ivey cooed. Daniel looked at her suspiciously, but she ignored him while she studied what he had made.

With a shrug, he repeated the process that he had done with Life Tinker. He held it with one hand and offered it a moth core by placing it up against the wood. Like with Ivey’s staff, his club insisted that it was included.

There was no rejection instead there was a sense of anticipation. Was this because when he had created it he had an image of Tamara in his mind, a spell caster who used multiple different magic types? Or something more fundamental, like the weapon thought of itself as an instrument of death and was more into killing than Life Tinker whose primary function was healing.

Daniel pressed the core against the wood. A large amount of his mana got sucked out of him into his club and then into the weapon they were trying to improve, and the wood swallowed the core almost instantly.

“You know you can’t buy her?”

“I thought women liked expensive gifts.”

“Point.”

“Plus, I’m not trying to buy her. Even if I was not interested in her, I would make this for her. She’s sort of critical to our success.”

“Dave’s been pretty important, too.”

“I’ve already got one for him.” Daniel looked doubtfully at the mace that had failed weapons.

“But it’s not a sapient seed.” Ivey pointed out.

“Yet,” Daniel interrupted. “However, it’s close. Trust me, I put as much effort into his as I have your two.”

“Sure.” She shot him a knowing look.

“I’m not trying to buy her.”

The weapon accepted another core.

“No, I was only teasing.” Daniel knew how she thought and wasn’t convinced at all by her attempt to walk back the jibe.

“I’m not.” Daniel muttered as he worked.

They watched in disbelief as the weapon absorbed a third then a fourth core.

“Tamara’s weapon’s greedy.”

The emotions he was getting from the staff was that it was full. He offered a fifth core, but it was refused.

“Anyway, I didn’t actually say this was for Tamara.”

Ivey snorted. “You didn’t have to. That’s clearly for a female magic user and If I didn’t have Life Tinker, then maybe,” her tone changed sounding less confident. “It might have been for me, but,” she stroked her magic staff happily.

“There are other female casters.”

“Really? Name one.”

“Miss Parker.”

Ivey burst out laughing at that. “It’s okay, I’m not jealous I have Life Tinker, and it’s way better for me than whatever that weapon is.”

“Mystical Explosion,” Daniel muttered as the words printed on the staff.

“Pretty,” Ivey said. “You even did love hearts instead of dots above the i’s.”

“Shut up.”

“You’re falling harder aren’t you. I mean, since the situation between me and you was resolved.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“Yesterday there were two of us and now I’m out of the equation. She has become more prominent.”

“That’s not true.”

“Want to bet?” Ivey held out her hands like she did when they created a connection.

“No.”

She laughed at him. “This is going to be so fun.” She had not dropped her hands.

“I thought you said you were planning on being my wing woman.”

“Don’t worry I’ll help. But I’m going to have some fun in the meantime.” Ivey stood up from her crouched position. “What now?”

Daniel gathered the seed weapons and a couple of the currently dead weapons as well.

“Can you help?” He waved at the failed experiments. Ivey gathered the rest, and they went up the stairs.