Chương 77: Chapter 76 - Gems

Atzi woke up in the afternoon, excited. She carefully dressed in her best outfit, and then headed out the southern gate. Cory was leaning against a wall, wearing a simple leather dress. Atzi ran towards her, waving.

"Hey!"

"So where is this?" Cory asked.

"North. At least at the north gate, but we wanna go further, probably? There are three mages and two guards." Atzi described them from what she remembered of their appearances. Cory hummed.

"Those guards might be more dangerous than the mages, if they only sent two." Atzi shrugged.

"No-one really attentive, though, if they let a chicken eat that many gems, right?"

"How many gems?" Cory asked.

"Some? I don't know exactly. At least ten." Because that was how many Octavia had told her the chicken ate.

"Do you have a plan already?"

"Um... well... I haven't gotten all the details, so I hadn't figured anything out. I usually just wing that stuff..."

"Then we should hurry so we can observe it and make a plan. Come on!" Cory grabbed Atzi's clawed hand and pulled her along as they made their way around the outside of the city. This is great. Wow, I should just steal the book and give it to her directly every time. Cory let go of her clawed hand after a few minutes, but Atzi still felt like this was her best loop yet. It's just like the old days, when she was showing me the ropes… She sighed in contentment as they made their way north.

- They were just past the northern gate of the city. The road stretched out ahead of them toward the hills.

"It's gonna come along this road. We should head further up to see it in advance," Atzi said.

"Okay!" Cory cheerfully walked forward. After a time, they spotted a cart cresting a hill in the distance.

"There it is!" Atzi whispered frantically. Cory dived into a nearby bush, and Atzi followed after her.

"The initiate there is called Octavia. I think the other two were called… Phyllis and Weston." Atzi said. Only Weston, the serious-looking mage, was riding the cart, directing the horses forward. Octavia and Phyllis, along with the two guards, walked with the cart. It was moving slowly, and everyone was keeping a vigilant lookout. As the cart drew closer, Atzi noticed a chicken walk out of a bush on the opposite side of the road. It strutted towards the approaching cart. The gem-eating chicken!

"There it is!" Atzi frantically whispered to Cory.

"It's gonna eat a load of gems." The chicken drifted more to the side of the road, before it then wandered up to Octavia, and started clucking at her feet. It pecked at her shoe. Octavia looked left, right, and then back down at the chicken. She smiled and picked it up, cradling it while making cooing noises. Everyone ignored this except Weston, who looked over with an expression of aghast disbelief. Yet, he said nothing.

"Did you train this chicken...?" Cory asked.

"Eh? What do you mean?"

"It just acts so… like it knows what it's doing." Cory pointed towards the chicken. When Octavia stroked it, it would preen and cluck appreciatively. When she was distracted, it would stare directly towards the back of the cart. Distracted by the chicken, Octavia was slowly drifting further back. Atzi found that very strange.

"Huh. I guess it does. You... think it knows it's gonna eat a bunch of gems? The mages are gonna kill it when they find out, though."

"I know what it looks like when someone is on a job. That chicken is on a job," Cory said confidently.

"Then who sent it?" Atzi asked.

"I have no idea. Maybe another mage?"

"Maybe." Atzi thought about it, confused.

"But it just eats the gems and gets killed. It doesn't steal them." Cory shrugged.

"It doesn't matter as long as whoever owns it isn't going to show up. Anyway, if we want to get the gems before the chicken, we need a plan..." Atzi nodded.

"Something to keep the mages occupied while the other person sneaks in."

"One of us could pretend it's our lost chicken," Cory suggested.

"I could sneak in if you think you could pull that off? I'm better at sneaking around than lying."

"Damn it, I'm not dressed for looking the part of 'farmer girl.' Let's swap clothes." My clothes don't look like farmer clothes, Atzi wanted to protest. And then she realized. That meant Cory would be taking off her clothes.

"Y-you mean get naked here?" If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

"... You're not wearing underwear?" Cory asked, giving Atzi a judging look. The comment stung. Atzi didn't want to appear like a loser in front of Cory. She swallowed.

"It's easier for getting undressed and going to bed!" It was less embarrassing than admitting she'd gotten too used to wearing ratty clothes. Cory shook her head.

"Well, whatever, I'll just turn away." Then she did so. Atzi undressed, covering up her lower half with her tail, and handed over her clothes. Cory took them, and set them down. Then she stripped off her leather dress. Because she was turned away, Atzi couldn't get a full look at her, but she still appreciated Cory's lithe yet muscular figure. Her eyes trailed down the several scars on Cory's back. Then she realized she was still naked and grabbed Cory's leather dress.

As she was about to put it on, she realized Cory was still turned away… Atzi sniffed her dress. Smells like Cory, she thought happily, before slipping it on. Cory got dressed and turned back around.

"Okay. Sorry about this outfit, by the way." She slapped some mud on the pants and shirt. Atzi laughed awkwardly.

"It's fine... it's no big deal..." It's the nice clothes I bought for myself. Oh well. I can wash them. Cory nodded, then wandered out from the bush, towards the cart.

"Oi, moi chicken!" Cory shouted in a terrible impression of a rural farmer. The guards unsheathed their swords.

"Oi, don't want no trouble! Just gimme back my chicken!" Cory stepped forwards, with no apparent heed to the danger. The mage driving the cart reigned the horses to stop. The guards moved forwards, weapons still drawn. Atzi realized- because her clothes had a hole for her tail, that meant Cory had a big open space in the back of her pants! She snuck closer for a look, only to then further realize that Cory was giving her an opening, and that she shouldn't waste it.

She slinked further, before emerging from the bushes behind the cart. Then she, ever carefully, crept through the back.

"Thanks! I'm glad I have my chicken back!" she heard Cory say. She had only seconds to get the gems and get away. There were three crates covered by tarps. One crate looked older, another had a slightly damp tarp, and the last one was metal instead of wood. Metal makes the most sense. Fire gems must be hot. They'd burn wood. Atzi reached under the tarp, into the crate. Her claws closed around several hot stones. She pulled back a clawful of seven shiny red gems. Fire gems. But she had to leave. Immediately.

She hopped out the back-"Thief!" Before she could do anything, one of the guards was already charging towards her, weapon raised. The chanting of mages filled the air. Cory tossed the chicken directly at the other guard.

"Run!" She shouted, dashing towards the bushes. The guard was already too close to Atzi, so she bolted in the opposite direction, around the cart. She saw Weston stomp his foot, and suddenly Atzi's clawed feet sunk into the earth like it was mud. So she did the only thing she could think of at the moment. She stuffed the seven gems into her mouth, and tried to swallow. It wasn't smooth, almost choking her, before they suddenly dissolved into a hot liquid down her throat.

She felt suddenly full of energy, tens- hundreds- millions times more than when she put on the Braneki's heated armor. It was like she could do anything. Would do everything. The guard reached her, close enough to strike.

"I can explain!" Atzi shouted. Her thoughts were on fire, spinning out into a thousand half-formed ideas of excuses to make. The guard paused for a moment, looking towards Weston and Octavia.

"She ate the gems!" Octavia shouted back.

"Sostra is going to be destroyed! The Star sent me to stop this! The Star sees the future!" Weston clenched his fist.

"She'll absorb the gems! Cut her open! Now!"

"... Ah, crap." The guard's blade swiped across her side. Even in the pain, she felt fully focused. She saw a beam of white energy shoot out from the other side of the cart, and then Cory flew backwards, slamming against the ground.

"Cory!" Atzi used her newfound energy to pull harder. She ripped her legs free from the earth. The guard took another swing at her. Atzi ducked under the strike, running around his side. She reflexively drew her dagger, spinning around and parrying his next strike. Her dagger went flying from her clawed hand, and the guard swung his blade once more. Atzi ducked backwards under the strike. Her clawed hands impacted the ground, and she transitioned into a backflip. She pushed, flinging herself back into the cart.

Just three more fire gems, then I'll get magic, and I can beat them! Hold on, Cory! Atzi surged towards the metal crate, thrusting her arm down, claws ripping through the tarp. She pulled back more fire gems and ate them. Atzi could feel power burst through her. Like she could burn down anything. Long wisps of fire shot out the sides of her mouth, turning to smoke. This is how I get out of this! Unstoppable power! Then she heard Cory scream. Atzi leapt out the back of the cart, ready to save Cory.

Burn the guard and mages. Show off her true power. A blade met her neck. Atzi felt incredible pain. The surroundings became a blur as everything seemed to spin. Then she didn't feel pain at all. Then she realized a few things. First, her energy was quickly fading. Second, her head was separated from her body. Most importantly, Cory lay facedown in a pool of blood. -"Cory..." Atzi lamented within the void. She wasn't used to the pain of dying, but she was even less used to watching Cory die. It was her fault.

It was always her fault. Paulina was right. The void swallowed her sobbing. But Cory wasn't dead. She would be back, again, as soon as Atzi woke up. Reminding herself of this helped her stop crying. I just can't recruit her for the gems again. When she composed herself, she looked over at the Saintess. The goddess was hugging herself, trembling.

"That power. It felt…" She looked at Atzi.

"Amazing."

"It did." Atzi nodded.

"I can't feel that power any more, though. Is that just because we're in this place, or…?" The Saintess shook her head.

"It's gone." Just my luck. All that and I don't even get to keep the power. Just to be sure, she tried to see if she could do anything like summon fire, concentrating until her head hurt. But nothing happened. Atzi sighed. She looked back at the Saintess and said, "I just need to get my claws on them without getting caught."

"Please. Please do." The Saintess sighed too. It was more distant, rippling through the void like a stone tossed in a swamp.

"Nothing has ever felt so right to me..."

"You think if I eat enough gems, you'll get your memories back?" Atzi asked.

"Maybe. I don't know."

"Cthargictha apparently has a bunch. But no idea where." Though the energy from the gems was gone, she still had countless ideas running through her head. A bunch of things she was curious about, but never followed up on. She was going to try them all. The Saintess faded away.

"Out! Out!" Atzi woke up with a grin.