Chương 90: An Ear for an Ear

I couldn't see Jerzy, but I knew he'd cast some kind of holding spell on me. The more I struggled, the less I was able to move.

"So that's what you were using," Irena said, knocking the revolver out of my hand with her staff. She looked me up and down.

"Only one?"

"No, I have two, actually," I said. She used her staff to pat me down.

"Where is it?"

"It's a secret." Irena sighed.

"I tire of this. Maybe you'll tell me after I take your ear? It's only fair, since you took mine."

"Look," I said.

"If you hadn't moved, you'd still have your ear. It's your own fault." She scowled.

"My own… No. It's your fault."

"Nuh uh. It's your fault." Her expression went flat and she nodded.

"I see what you're trying to do. You're trying to buy time, thinking maybe you'll be able to get free somehow. Well, it won't work, because you're just too damn annoying, and because you are so damn annoying, I'm going to kill you right now. Goodbye, Hecate." Irena's eyes became like thunderstorms. She raised her staff and it started glowing gold. Lightning crackled along the shaft. I could smell the air change. I still couldn't move, so I was probably going to die.

I'd expected to feel scared or angry, but instead I felt an extreme sense of calm wash over me. If I was going to die, I might as well be annoying till the end.

"You were going to kill me anyway," I said. She looked startled for a moment.

"I—Yes—" I stuck out my tongue and blew a raspberry. Her eyes widened and her expression turned into one of pure anger. She screamed at the top of her lungs and brought the staff down, only to be interrupted by Jerzy gagging behind her. The hold broke and I blinked out of the way. Her staff hit the floor and it exploded, wood flying everywhere. Before I could look to see what happened to Jerzy, I got smashed through the wall next to the door by a gigantic flaming boulder which pinned me to the ground.

I looked to my left and saw Kasia surrounded by three more inquisitors. I couldn't tell at first glance if one of them was a scriptor, or get an idea of their classes, since I was busy being flattened by a rock and all. Their heads immediately snapped to me, which made sense, considering my unsubtle arrival. My [Mana Shield], and thus my Mana, was draining due to me being crushed. Unfortunately the flames didn't last long and hadn't set me on fire, meaning no buffs for me, just one giant rock slowly crushing me.

Kasia gasped.

"Hecate!" I weakly raised my hand.

"Kasia," I rasped. Then I activated [Clean Entry] and shot the inquisitor closest to her, right in his surprised face. Mana surged back into me, an invigorating feeling. I used [Blink] to get out of my precarious position and reappeared behind another inquisitor. He took a [Clean Entry] to the back of the skull. [You have gained 1 level.] [You have gained 1 skill point.] [You have gained 3 stat points.] I blinked behind the third one, preparing to do the same, but he slashed his sword back at me and managed to catch my pistol, sending it flying. While still in midair, I willed it back to me, causing it to turn into a silvery liquid and curve back toward me. The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. I had to [Blink] again to avoid another slash, which put more distance between me and the revolver. He turned his attention to Kasia and jumped at her, sword glowing blue.

In a desperate attempt to create space between them, I used [Flame Breath]. He couldn't stop his momentum and jumped straight into it, setting himself ablaze. He roared then spun around impossibly fast—definitely a skill—and the flames vanished. That bought my pistol enough time to return to my hand, and I fired a [Clean Entry] at his heart. He dodged it, but not cleanly. The shot tore into his shoulder, blowing a sizeable chunk out of it. He dropped his sword and rolled in the sand, spraying blood everywhere.

As he got on one knee he raised his good hand and something hit me in the back, sending me stumbling forward. He made another hand gesture and sand blew in my face, blinding me. This son of a bitch was fighting dirty! The sound of a sword scraping along the sand caught my attention and I instinctively rolled out of the way. Focusing through [Mēnē's Watchful Eye] it was clear he had just picked it up, and hadn't struck yet.

Desperate, I tried to wipe the sand out of my eyes, but the inquisitor was coming straight for me. I tried another [Flame Breath], but he walked right through it. Most of the sand was gone now, but my vision was still blurry. At the same time, I imagined it was hard for him to see through the flames as well. He was slashing wildly, and I stumbled back until I tripped on something and fell. He did his spinning move again, and I took that split second to [Blink] behind him.

The flames were extinguished right as [Clean Entry] blew his head clean off.

"You alright?" I asked Kasia.

"Hec—" she said, but I couldn't hear the rest on account of a lightning-infused staff slamming into my ear, once again sending me flying. [Mana Shield] was quickly becoming my favorite skill. Now I'm no math genius, but it felt like it had saved my life about a million times already. My mother telling me to put points into Barrier suddenly also made a lot more sense. There was simply no way to avoid getting hit all of the time.

As I was skidding face-first through the dirt, I wondered if Irena had hit me in the ear on purpose, and this was some kind of perverse payback. I couldn't believe she was still upset about that, especially since it had been her own fault. When I finally came to a stop, I rolled onto my back and took a deep breath.

"I feel like you—" Irena rudely interrupted me by screaming, "SHUT UP! SHUT! UP!" and slamming her staff down, forcing me to roll clear again. The ground where I'd been exploded, and the shockwave tossed me a few feet. I scrambled upright, panting.

"Irena, please, my ear is still ringing. Could you not scream so loud? You're making it worse." Irena, being the unreasonable person she was, only screamed louder. Her screams had turned high-pitched now, reminding me of my first encounter with Sebek in the swamp. Was this one of their hidden strategies? If they couldn't beat you, they at least tried to give you tinnitus, making it easier for future inquisitors to finish you off? Even her mana felt like it was trying to attack me now, coming at me in jagged waves.

"Why won't you shut up?!" she shrieked. I ducked a horizontal swing that nearly took my head off and made my hair stand up.

"I'm just saying, Irena, if you keep this up, your throat is going to be as sore as my ear. We're both suffering here. A wise viwa once told me us girls have to look out for each other. I feel like we're only hurting each other. I hurt your ear, then you hurt my ear, but now you're hurting my hair. Don't you think you're taking it a bit too far?"

"I WILL PULL YOUR FUCKING TONGUE OUT!" Irena screamed.

"I feel like you're not hearing what I'm saying. You still have one working ear, so you have no excuse to be acting like this." She came at me again, wildly swinging, lightning arcing off her. She was still screaming, but her breathing had grown heavy. She was running out of steam. I dodged a couple more heavy strikes. Each one slower than the last. After one final heavy-handed strike she stumbled and dropped to one knee, struggling for breath, leaning on her staff. I raised my revolver and aimed it at her head.

She stared at me with venom in her eyes.

"Bitch," she spat. I stuck my tongue out and blew another raspberry, then shot her in the face. [You have gained 1 level.] [You have gained 1 skill upgrade point.] [You have gained 3 stat points.] Right at that moment Vasil flew past me and landed in the dirt. My eyes flicked to where he'd come from, and saw the chuckler and Jerzy step out of the door. Bogumir was right behind them. They were looking pretty annoyed themselves. Vasil must have kept them busy somehow.

I fired a quick [Clean Entry] at Jerzy's head, but he raised his hand and my bullet stopped a couple of inches from his nose. Fucking bullshit.