Chương 97: Push Through

Miriam struck first, attacking with a novel application of Raging Current she had thought of while bouncing on Cormac's back. She'd used it on her arm when punching Caolán Séarlait and it had nearly ripped the limb out of its socket, but now it propelled her vine spears forward like a ballista. She created a spear, switched to Water, then fired, the power of a raging river carrying the spear forward.

It sank into the chest of the closest Crockern with a satisfying thunk, but stopped short of where she had expected it to go. With as much power behind it as she'd added, she expected it to go straight through at least two Crockern. Miriam was confused - were these Crockern higher than Second? Even more confusing is that the Crockern didn't react when the spear went in, and as soon as the spear hit, the vine material began to crumble away, like dry rot.

"By the gods," Eoin snarled.

"They have iron inside them!" That was when the fight began in earnest. Eoin pierced them with dozens of precision mist darts, but the Iron Crockern didn't even acknowledge the injuries. They kept coming, clawing over each other to get at them. Cormac had to step in front of Eoin and fire off punches as the Selkie seemed flabbergasted that his attack had done nothing. This rocked the Crockern back - Cormac's Fourth strength was formidable, even if he was loath to use it.

"Miriam," Eoin said.

"Can you make me a sword?"

"What?"

"A sword! Water isn't good at - look, just make me a vine sword, please?" Eoin's darts focused on one Iron Crockern, disintegrating its head with hundreds of tiny punctures. That seemed to do the trick and its body fell, tripping up its comrades. Miriam had never made a sword before, but it was no harder than her knives - just longer. It resembled a falchion, like those she'd encountered by warriors in the Harada Desert. She tossed it to Eoin while falling back, the Crockern pressing on.

She activated Waterfall, shoving the entire group of enemies back twenty feet, buying them some time.

"Why did you need that?"

"Well, my normal attacks seem to only be effective if I burn a ton of fórsa on one target. So I need something that will allow me to do a different kind of damage. I could make a sword out of Water, but it's hard to do that and also do this." Eoin's water fórsa burst from the hand holding the hilt of the sword and enveloped the wood. It fit like a glass encasing around the weapon, but in the glow of the orbs, Miriam could see the thin edge seemed to be constantly moving.

"What is that technique?" Miriam said in awe. She would need to try that." Bonecutter," Eoin replied.

"Particularly good for sawing clearly through solid things. You should actually be way better at it than me - the River Adept class is perfect for this sort of thing. Anyway. Both of you take a step back - I think I can carve away quite a few." Cormac grinned.

"Care for some Luck Armor?"

"Not familiar with that, but it sounds good. Better hurry!" The Bodac knelt and ripped his golden threads into a web of light in front of him.

"Just jump over my head and through the web." Eoin hesitated.

"Do I really have to jump over your head? Seems… undignified."

"Well, it's either that or I hug you, and this seemed cooler in combat."

"No argument there," Eoin admitted. He jumped and executed a perfect front flip over Cormac, passing through the web. Golden threads wrapped around his body and his eyes glowed golden.

"Oh my! This feels lovely!"

"Go to work!" Cormac said, clearly tired, slumping down on the tunnel floor.

"You're just going to sit there?" Miriam asked.

"He doesn't need us," he replied.

"Watch." Eoin marched forward, the sword held in a reverse grip so that the blade rested against the back of his own arm. He seemed rigid, but somehow at the same time fluid. The first Crockern lunged at him and took a slight step back with his right foot. The Crockern flew by and Eoin's arm came up in a blur, severing its head in one smooth stroke. Even before the first one fell he had engaged the next.

He moved with a fluidity that was familiar, and Miriam finally remembered where she'd first seen it - in Solas's basement, when she was first learning Water Nature forms. This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Eoin's blade would not be denied - even as the iron broke his Water fórsa down into steam he added more.

Unlike Miriam's spears, it had no trouble cutting through the iron-infused skin, and with Cormac's luck on his side he was always in the right place at the right time. Not a single Crockern so much as ruffled his expensive white jacket. When the final one fell, Eoin turned back to Miriam and Cormac.

"You guys didn't feel like pitching in?"

"Hey, I gave you the Luck Armor," Cormac said. Miriam shook her head.

"Eoin… I had no idea. I mean we talk all the time about how strong you are… and I've seen your power, back on the Líadan. But this was… incredible." Eoin walked back to her, stepping gingerly over the bodies.

"Miriam… I've been alive for two thousand years. Even for a Fifth, I'm among the strongest. Believe me when I say I've learned a thing or two in that time. I would think that you among all people would appreciate the results of a lifetime of experience." Tears of frustration stung her eyes.

"And in little more than Ring's-worth of time, you're going to use that experience to kill me."

"Say what now?" Cormac said, sitting up.

"Oh," Eoin said, sighing.

"Yes. I keep forgetting. We're in between a real rock and a hard place, Miriam. If I don't do as King Cianán has ordered he will kill me, which I won't allow. If I don't prepare you as well as I possibly can before that moment, he will also kill me. The point is that I am dead unless I do as he says."

"And I'm dead either way," she sighed.

"You agreed to do what?" Cormac said angrily, standing up. The golden glow faded from Eoin's eyes as Cormac canceled the Luck Armor. Eoin shook his head.

"This is not the time or place to discuss this. We are in great danger from all sides. Just know that you are safe from me until you're ready to enter the Fourth Ring. I promise," he said, to forestall Cormac's interruption.

"I will come clean about everything - as soon as we can be sure we won't die down here ourselves." Miriam let the frustration and the overwhelming sense of doom wash over her - and then wash away. It was reasonable to feel a little fatalistic in the face of seeing Eoin's power… but it was only power and skill. Over the last few months she had learned that she could acquire both if she put her mind to it.

Looking at Eoin's face, the affable smile, the blonde beard and the silly hat that he somehow had not lost in all the commotion, she felt a little sad herself. She had to turn this whole idea around, she realized. It was she who had to kill him before the Fourth Ring. He had helped her so much, and even though his past actions were despicable, and his level of self-preservation was seeming more and more like blatant cowardice, she did feel a sense of camaraderie with him.

Miriam hated the idea that she would have to use him to further his own death, but it would not be the first time she'd had to make that choice. She was in no position to refuse power - whether it came from the man who planned to end her life or not.

"I'll let you train me," she said abruptly.

"What?" Cormac said stupidly. Eoin's eyes narrowed.

"I will let you train me, as your master requires," Miriam said coldly.

"You've been very transparent with me about your situation, so I will return the favor. Understand that I will be using every moment of your instruction to find ways to kill you, when the time comes." For a moment a shadow of fear passed over Eoin's face as he stood in the glare of her resolve. Then it was gone and he bowed gracefully.

"Assuming we survive these tunnels, Miriam, I will give you every chance to learn my weaknesses. Until then, let's press on." Cormac shook his head.

"We're going to talk about this. A lot. Later. Sometimes I feel like I should have stayed living on the streets. It was a lot less stressful."

"Well, luckmaster?" Eoin asked with a grin.

"Can you help us find your friend and then a way out of here? After that Luck Armor I'm even more impressed with your abilities. I'm not sure we even needed the maps." Cormac shrugged, wove some threads and pointed randomly into the dark.

"She's that way. Probably. My fórsa always bumps up when it's about Róise." Eoin paused to inspect the Crocken lying dead at their feet.

"My gods, these things are ghastly. I have the terrible suspicion that we've discovered what happened to the rest of the Crockern in Teilgcheárta." Miriam could feel the sickly cold radiating off of them, even standing feet away.

"You think there are more of these?" Eoin sighed.

"My dear, I think the tunnels are going to be absolutely filled with them." He fished out the shard he'd been regarding earlier.

"I think something has changed. The signature I felt from this stone, the one that was like that which suffused these Crockern? It's no longer the same. I don't know what these stones were supposed to do, but if at one time they were supposed to affect these poor souls, I think they might no longer do so."

"The stones changed?" Miriam asked.

"No. The Crockern did," Eoin pocketed the stone again.

"I would love time to study this phenomena at leisure, but I'm afraid time is what we do not have. I left some drops of Mist along the way behind us, and they've been tripped. I can't tell you if it was more of these, or if it's the Séarlaits. We need to push through and find Róise. And… maybe this Heart of Iron while we're at it." Miriam raised an eyebrow.

"Always after the next fancy gem, huh?" Eoin snorted.

"I'm not the one who lied about breaking Solas's Reel, am I?"

"I thought maybe I could sell it," Miriam said defensively.

"I was broke in a new world, what do you want from me?"

"Maybe just a little introspection," Eoin said archly.

"All right. Mount up on your Bodac, and let's get moving." Miriam rolled her eyes, but hopped again on Cormac's back.

"And he thought a little leapfrog was undignified."