Chương 69: Stampede

Miriam Vine Leaped from her tree to where the alligator had landed. It was obscured by the remnants of the jungle canopy and the horde of other animals threading through the rapidly diminishing undergrowth, but with its size it was easy to make out as it twisted through the vegetation. Miriam landed on its back while stabbing a vine spear through the scaly body. After fighting the juggernaut that was Maitiú, it was almost surprising when the spear sank into the scaly flesh. This must be a Second Ring creature.

At the same time, a trio of spears erupted from the lizard's throat; Sol must be firing his fórsalocks from the inside. Regardless, the alligator's jaws stayed locked tight. For the next several seconds Miriam inflicted ghastly damage on the creature. For all that it was easily perforated, the beast did not want to go down. It soaked up wounds like it barely felt anything. Miriam found herself wondering if it had a central nervous system at all. Then the alligator stumbled, and flattened itself on the ground.

Its eyes rolled back and its scales drained to a sallow gray. The mouth flapped open slightly as it died, rattling with its final breath.

"A little help please? I am not that strong," Sol called from inside. Miriam pried open the jaws wide enough for Sol to crawl out. His left arm was mangled, but even as she watched it was stitching itself back together.

"I realized a second ago that I could have gotten out by releasing your fórsa and moving to another Web that the alligator wasn't in, but then you would have thought I had been eaten. So I guess I'm glad I didn't do that."

"What did you do? I was not making a ton of progress up here, but then it just died." Sol pointed at his arm.

"I drained its fórsa. I just activated my self-repair, and it actually drained way faster than any other time. I'll have to remember that." Mirim nodded.

"I hadn't considered you using your drain as a weapon."

"Me either. Well, I had better try to find Róise before the plan gets too far off the rails." Sol took out a Life technique he'd taken from Róise - a Banks of Red Roses and re-absorbed it. He was the only one who could - if anyone else tried doing that with a technique sphere it just activated the technique. He faded instantly as he purges Miriam's fórsa and absorbed Róise's. Miriam looked around.

The giant body of the alligator was actually serving as a bit of a dam, giving her a little protection from the stampede as creatures barrelled around it. There was the first marker she'd pointed out to Sol. She'd best get there and rest a moment to see if she could recover any fórsa. ✧✧✧ Róise wished she were at least a hundred years older. She might have her wings by then and this stampede would be meaningless. As it was, she was making absolutely no headway into getting through.

Her jump as a Fourth was damn impressive, but she couldn't get the height that Miriam could with her Vine Leap. She also couldn't use any techniques. She had only about half of her normal reserves left, and she had a suspicion this stampede wasn't going to be the worst scenario she faced before the shore. So she was carefully navigating her way across what branches she could see in the general direction of where the beasts were going.

"Róise?" She could hear Sol, but didn't see him at first. She finally located him in the complete opposite direction she had been heading. Oye, I've been heading the wrong way! Róise was embarrassed for a moment. She knew what the Scior enchantment did - she just didn't think she'd fall for it so easily.

"Over here Sol! Wait, and I'll come to you." After a few minutes of awkward climbing and dubious leaps onto high branches, Róise reunited with Sol.

"How is Cormac?"

"Sitting in a tree, waiting for me to come back," Sol said with a little laugh.

"It's not going to be easy, but we'll figure it out. I think the stampede only goes another couple hundred yards before most of the creatures have peeled away. Miriam says to head for that tree, and then that vine tangle there. Do you mark them?"

"Yeah, I've got it." Róise sighed deeply, then clapped a hand on Sol's arm.

"Take care of that idiot, will you?" This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"I'll do my best," Sol said, then vanished. Róise shook her head and started to make her way over to the tree with the hard-shelled fruit. It was slow, but traversing the upper jungle was not the hard part. The hard part was pretending she didn't notice the shadow stalking her from one tree behind. Róise recognized it with dread. It was one of those one-eyed rabbits she'd faced outside of Domhain. The smart ones. Was it just being smart enough to see that she had a path through the Scior loop and following?

Or was it hunting her? She had barely survived her last encounters with these things, and that was when she had plenty of fórsa and material replenishments. She would have no hope in a straight-up fight this time. When she reached the tree Sol had marked, she made a decision. She would see just how smart these rabbits were.

"You. Rabbit-thing back there." Róise pointed to where she knew it was hiding, among vines and palm fronds.

"I can find my way through this jungle. I am willing to let you follow me. It's the only hope either of us has of getting out of here. If you attack me, you'll probably kill me. But you'll spend the rest of your life wandering circles in here before the Faelad burns you to ash. Can we agree to a truce?" Out of the shadows a tall rabbit-shaped man emerged. He held a massive two-handed axe in one hand, but it was lowered. He simply regarded Róise silently, then nodded.

"Ok," Róise said.

"But keep your distance. I'm headed to that vine tangle next, after which I will wait for further guidance. Do you understand?" The rabbit man nodded again, then tensed. With one swift movement he hurtled his axe towards Róise, faster than she could even react. There was a shriek as a tentacle cat Róise had not seen stalking through the branches was pinned against the tree with the axe blade.

"Shit," Róise said, almost out of breath from shock. She nodded to the rabbit in gratitude. It just looked at her and nodded back. ✧✧✧"I really hate this," Cormac said to himself. He was perched precariously on the fork of a large tree, watching the frenzy of monsters run past below him. He had activated a technique he'd not had much use for so far called Beneath Your Notice, which was simply a dome woven of golden threads around him.

All it did was make it so that he was lucky enough to not get spotted by someone not specifically looking for him. If he'd been able to use it on Róise she'd be almost invisible. He was just so bored and terrified at the same time. Sol had winked out of existence when it became clear they were going the wrong way - clear to Sol anyway. Cormac had thought everything was fine.

Still, if this was as bad as it was going to be - sitting in a tree while horrific monsters ran in panicked circles around him - he would take it over many other likely alternatives. Honestly, getting up into the tree with his busted leg had been the worst part. Sol reappeared, looking a bit more frazzled than he had when he left.

"You ok, buddy?" Cormac asked, pulling himself to his feet, avoiding putting too much weight on his right knee.

"I was eaten by an alligator, but it's ok now," Sol said.

"You don't say."

"Yeah. So we need to head to that tree. Can you make it?" Cormac's heart sank when he saw the tree Sol was referring to.

"That's so many jumps!" Sol couldn't even really help. Cormac was the Fourth - his was the only jump likely to make it through the worst of the gaps. He would have to carry Sol - a daunting proposition for a one-legged man.

"Here," Sol said, pressing a material fórsa into Cormac's palm.

"It's my last Róisín Dubh. It won't be nearly as good as Róise's, but maybe it can help your knee enough to make it."

"You had this the whole time?" Sol shrugged.

"I thought the chances of needing it to stop a fatal injury were high, so I was trying to save it. But now I think if we don't hurry, the Fáelad will burn us to death, so… judgement call, I guess." Cormac grimaced and pressed the sphere to his knee. After a few moments, his knee was indeed feeling a good bit better. He gestured for Sol to get on his back.

"Oh yeah. That's the stuff. Hop on, backpack!" Sol suddenly looked shocked.

"Damn it. Cormac, I really feel dumb to not consider this before. I don't actually need you to carry me. I'll just purge my fórsa, walk over to the vine tangle over there and climb the tree. Once I'm there I'll use one of your material fórsa spheres again to meet you. There are no monsters here when I'm fórsa-dry."

"Well, I'm happy you healed me anyway. It would have been a real pain getting over there the way my leg was," Cormac said, flexing his knee with a wince.

"Now it'll just be incredibly painful instead of impossible."

"Very well," Sol said, giving a playful salute.

"Captain, I'll see you over there." He vanished. Cormac sighed and began to weave some luck threads to make sure he didn't fall and land on some horrifying creature by mistake. ✧✧✧ Back at the edge of Scior, the fórsa projection of King Cianán absently petted the flank of his pet wolf.

"It's unfair," he pouted.

"That's what you're thinking? Those poor Sidhe trained so hard, and the entire Walk has been upended. They'll never get to know if they could have escaped the island under normal conditions! Pfah! Who cares? This is more fun!" The wolf growled, but the King's hand on its smokey fur glowed a bright white and the beast quieted.

"I do have to agree though that the slow, menacing walk of rampant destruction is getting old. We should change up the pace. A young man might have the time for slow leisure, but an old one has no time to lose! Is that a saying? It will be soon." King Cianán turned again to the wolf and more bright white light enveloped it.

"Run, my boy. Run to the shore and don't look back." The Fáelad howled into the sky and blazed through the jungle at top speeds. King Cianán rubbed his hands together gleefully. It had been a while since he'd had this much fun.

"Oh, I should wake up Maitiú," he said.

"He won't want to miss the finale!"