Chương 10: The Altered Boar

Branches struck Roy's shoulders as he ran. The girl's scream had come from deeper in the eastern woods, beyond the trees they had worked among throughout the day. He had no idea what waited there. A hunting accident? A fallen tree? Something worse? He had sent Kindle to warn the others, but every stride carried him farther from the farm and deeper into a situation he had entered without so much as a knife. That realization arrived too late to turn back, so Roy scanned the ground as he ran.

Fallen branches crowded the spaces between the trees, exposed now where Nimbus had absorbed patches of snow during the day. Most were too thin, too rotten, or tangled beneath roots. Then he saw one thick enough to grip with both hands. He snatched it from the path without stopping. Several strides later, he stooped and seized a sharp stone protruding from the frozen earth. The branch was crooked, but the heartwood remained sound. The stone possessed a narrow edge and enough length to serve as a point.

A crude spear would be better than nothing. Roy pressed the stone against the thicker end of the branch and reached for Basic Transmutation. The wood twisted beneath his fingers, but it was happening too slowly. Fibers bent around the stone by fractions. Bark peeled away. The shaft straightened, but each change required attention he could barely spare while leaping roots and ducking branches.

"Faster," Roy muttered. The transmutation continued at its usual pace. The distant woods remained silent, which frightened him more than another scream would have. Roy pushed harder. He forced more Weave into the branch, not carefully or efficiently, but with the same reckless demand that had once left him unconscious on the cottage floor. His reserve pulled against him, resisting the sudden pressure. A golden message appeared across his vision. [New Skill Acquired: Battle Transmutation] [Activate Skill?] Roy did not slow.

"Yes." The branch convulsed in his grip. Wood wrapped the stone point in an instant, sealing it into the shaft. Knots compressed. The crooked length snapped straight, its surface hardening beneath Roy's fingers until the improvised weapon became something he could thrust without expecting it to break. The process took seconds, but it also tore a far greater portion from his reserve than the work deserved. Roy nearly stumbled.

He caught himself against a tree, spear scraping across the bark, then pushed onward before he could examine what the new skill had cost him. The trees thinned ahead. A broken cry reached him—half sob, half gasp–as Roy burst into the clearing. Two teenagers lay near its far edge. A girl had fallen backward in the snowless patch beneath an old pine. She was perhaps fifteen, with tangled blond hair and green eyes stretched wide with terror.

Both hands were locked around the shoulders of a boy who resembled her closely enough that the relationship was immediate. He was slightly older, taller and broader, but his face carried the same shape and the same pale hair. He was barely conscious. Blood soaked one sleeve from shoulder to wrist. A gash tore across his upper arm, deep enough that Roy could see more red than cloth.

Dark stains spread across his coat where he had struck the ground, and one leg bent at an awkward angle beneath him—not broken, perhaps, but unable to bear weight. The girl dragged him backward by inches, but something moved between them and the trees. At first glance it was a wild boar, until it stepped into the light. The creature stood nearly as large as Shale. Its shoulders rose into a hump armored by overlapping plates that had forced their way through coarse black hair. Jagged ridges ran along its spine.

Its tusks had lengthened into hornlike curves marked by faint prismatic veins, and its eyes burned with unnatural light. The shape remained recognizably animal. Everything layered over it did not. [Altered Boar — Health: 100%] No class. No explanation. Only a name that confirmed the obvious without making it understandable. Roy ran between the creature and the teenagers, causing the boar to halt. Its hooves dug into the earth.

Prismatic light shifted beneath the scales along its shoulders as it assessed the spear, Roy, and the wounded boy behind him. Roy lowered the stone point. He knew enough hunting to understand how little that knowledge helped. Boars were dangerous even at their natural size. They charged low, turned quickly, and continued fighting through injuries that would stop other animals. The spear gave him reach, but he had never faced something capable of looking him in the eye without lifting its head.

Behind him, the girl asked, "Who are you?"

"Later."

"My brother—""I know." Roy did not look away from the boar.

"Scream again." She stared at him.

"What?"

"My family is coming. Scream so they can find us." Her first attempt came out as a broken breath. The boar's ears seem to twitch in response.

"Again," Roy repeated.

"As loud as you can." The girl filled her lungs and fully let loose. Her scream split the clearing, causing birds to explode from the nearby branches. The boar's head snapped toward her, and Roy understood at once that it had recognized what they were doing. It charged. Roy had expected speed, but not for the creature to cross half the clearing before his body could shift weight. He threw himself sideways. One tusk passed close enough to tug at his coat.

The boar skidded, tore a trench through frozen earth, and turned with impossible agility for something so large. Roy landed on one knee. The spear remained in his hands, but he had no chance of setting it properly before the next charge. He pressed his free palm to the ground and reactivated his Battle Transmutation. The soil beneath his fingers buckled. Frozen earth compressed, lifted, and fused into a single mass. Stones dragged upward from below, grinding together as the barrier rose between Roy and the boar.

The wall formed tall enough to hide all three of them and wide enough to cover one side of the clearing. The boar struck it headfirst with enough impact to shake the ground. Cracks raced through the wall, and Roy felt the force travel through his palm into his shoulder. The barrier managed to hold. The boar staggered backward, snorting steam and prismatic mist. Roy pulled his hand from the ground, and the clearing immediately tilted. His stomach lurched, and sound became distant for several breaths.

He checked his status. [Weave Reserve: 11%.]"Wonderful," he whispered. The girl stared at the wall.

"You're awakened!" Roy braced one hand against it until the dizziness eased enough for him to stand.

"Yes."

"Can you kill it?" He laughed once, without humor.

"That was my only useful trick." The boar moved beyond the edge of the wall. It had understood the barrier, so it began to circle, searching for the open side. Roy backed toward the teenagers. The girl had stopped dragging her brother, either from exhaustion or because the sight of Roy's wall had given her hope he did not deserve.

"What is your name?" Roy asked.

"Talia."

"Can he move?"

"No." The boy groaned faintly. Talia tightened her grip on his coat.

"Garrick. Stay awake." The boar cleared the wall's edge. Roy placed himself in front of them again. He tried to set the spear as Orion would have, the point angled toward the center of the creature's mass, but his hands shook from the Weave drain. The boar lowered its head. Roy knew the weapon would not stop it, but he held it anyway as the creature's hooves struck the earth in a rapid thunder. Roy tried to adjust the spear point, but his vision blurred at the edges.

A golden distortion flashed in front of him as Orion appeared between one heartbeat and the next. One instant Roy faced the boar alone; the next, his eldest brother stood directly before him with one hand already closing around the spear shaft. Orion tore the weapon from Roy's grip. He shifted sideways as the boar reached them, planted one foot, and drove the spear forward with both hands. The stone point struck behind the creature's shoulder.

Wood groaned, and Orion's full strength carried the weapon through a gap in the scaled hide. The impact forced the creature off its line, sending its charge past Roy and Talia rather than through them. The entire spear remained lodged in its body. The boar slid several yards, recovered, and turned. A thin line of blood darkened the hair beneath the wound, but the creature only looked mildly irritated. Roy focused through the dizziness.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. [Altered Boar — Health: 99%.] Orion saw his expression.

"What?"

"You removed one percent." Orion looked toward the spear protruding from the creature's side, suddenly realizing the gravity of their situation. The spear remained buried as the boar shook itself, yet the altered plates seemed to have closed around the shaft, holding it in place while preventing the wound from widening. Roy stared at Orion's hands. His brother had driven a stone-tipped branch into a creature nearly as large as Shale and changed the direction of its charge through strength alone.

Even after weeks of watching Orion carry beams and move loads no ordinary man could manage, the sight felt absurd.

"You did that barehanded," Roy said.

"You raised a wall from the ground."

"That is different."

"Yes," Orion replied.

"Yours was useful." The boar pawed the earth. Orion looked over one shoulder. His gaze passed over Roy, Talia, and Garrick in a single assessment.

"You can walk?" Roy nodded, even though it was only partially true. Orion moved to Garrick and lifted the wounded boy carefully from the ground. Garrick gave a weak cry as his injured arm shifted, then sagged against Orion's chest.

"Keep the wall between you and the boar," Orion ordered.

"Move when it moves!" Talia caught Roy beneath one arm as she stood. He almost protested until he realized the weakness is his knees. Together, they edged toward the barrier. Orion followed with Garrick in both arms, never taking his eyes from the creature. The boar began circling again. Roy tried to match its movement, but the wall seemed to sway before him. His foot caught on a root. Talia tightened her grip, yet both of them stumbled before they could reach the barrier's protection.

The boar saw the opening; its glowing eyes fixed on Roy. Then the earth erupted beneath it. Shale burst from the ground under the creature's flank, striking with enough force to lift the boar clear of the earth. The altered beast rolled sideways through brush and snow, tearing the spear free as it crashed several yards away. Shale landed where it had stood, dirt pouring from his scales. For one proud moment, he raised his head.

He then dropped straight into the earth and vanished before the creature could fully recover. Nimbus moved between the trunks with Aurelia seated along the broad curve of her back. Her serpentine body flowed through the air without touching the ground, fins pressed close to avoid branches. She banked into the clearing and stopped above the churned earth. Aurelia took in the scene at once. Orion carrying Garrick, Roy leaning heavily against Talia, and the boar hauling itself upright.

"Shale!" she called. A ridge of moving earth curved away from the creature, carrying the Burrowback safely out of the line between Nimbus and the boar. Aurelia's expression hardened.

"Nimbus," she said, "maximum pressure. Center mass." The Cloudbelly opened her mouth and fired. The stream did not resemble the warm flow she had used to fill the bathing basin or the careful spray that had cleaned the cottage. It emerged as a narrow, solid line. The water crossed the clearing too quickly for Roy's eye to follow. It struck the boar's torso with a sharp crack, passed through scaled hide, flesh, and bone, then carved a deep channel into the earth behind it.

For a heartbeat, the creature remained standing. Then Nimbus tilted upward, using the stream to cleave the beast completely in half. The line through its body looked almost too clean to understand. Then the front half collapsed, with the rear following separately. Nimbus closed her mouth. Silence settled over the clearing as Roy stared at the divided carcass. Aurelia had given the command without hesitation.

Nimbus hovered beside her, rounded fins fluttering, her expression as bright and eager as when she had demonstrated warm bathwater. The same creature that had cuddled Aurelia and Kindle had cut a monster in half from across the clearing. Nimbus had shrunk slightly, which was the only sign the act had cost her anything. The altered boar began to change. Prismatic vapor seeped from the scales along its shoulders. The ridges across its spine softened into colored steam.

Light escaped from its eyes and tusks, drifting upward in twisting strands that shone with every color before fading into the winter air. The plated hide disappeared beneath coarse black hair, and the immense body contracted until the two halves belonged to an ordinary wild boar. Roy focused again. [Wild Boar — Deceased.] No explanation accompanied the change. Nimbus lowered herself as Aurelia slid from her back. She ran directly toward Garrick while sparing Roy one glance.

Her expression promised a later conversation. Roy lifted one hand.

"Him first." Aurelia's attention shifted immediately.

"Put him down carefully." Orion knelt and lowered Garrick onto the ground. Talia dropped beside her brother, but Aurelia moved with a certainty that left no room for interference. She touched the boy's uninjured shoulder, then pressed two fingers near his throat. A golden status appeared within her sight. Roy could not see the words, but Aurelia's face told him enough. She tore away the ruined sleeve. The tusk wound had opened much of Garrick's upper arm.

Blood continued to pulse through Talia's earlier attempts to bind it. Aurelia's private screen flickered into view as she shared it. [Condition: Critical — Severe Blood Loss.] Talia made a strangled sound.

"He is alive," Aurelia said.

"I need cloth." She reached for the hem of her own skirt before anyone could respond. With one hard pull, she tore away a broad strip of fabric. She folded it, wrapped it above the gash, and tightened it into a tourniquet using a short length of branch. Garrick groaned as she did so.

"That is good," Aurelia said.

"He can still feel it." Golden light gathered around her hands. It spread in faint threads across the torn fabric and into Garrick's arm. The wound did not close, but the bleeding slowed. Some color returned to his lips. Aurelia's hair fell across her face as she worked. She caught it with one bloodstained hand, tied it back, and leaned closer. She said, "Open your eyes." His eyelids fluttered. Green eyes found her with difficulty.

"What is your name?" Aurelia asked.

"Garrick."

"Good. Stay with me." His gaze drifted over her face. The fear in it softened into confused wonder.

"I can't die yet," he whispered.

"You are not going to."

"You're beautiful." Roy's exhaustion did not prevent him from frowning. Across from him, Orion's expression went flat. Garrick continued as though neither existed.

"You must be an angel. Sent to help me pass."

"I am not an angel," Aurelia said.

"I can't go." His voice weakened.

"Talia needs me." Aurelia tightened her hand around his.

"Then stay." Garrick tried to answer, but his eyes closed before he could. Talia lunged forward.

"Garrick?"

"He is breathing," Aurelia assured her.

"His condition is stable enough to move, but we need to get him warm." Talia pressed both hands over her mouth. For several moments, no one spoke. Roy lowered himself against the hardened earth wall before his legs decided for him. It still stood despite the cracks spreading from the boar's impact, a crooked monument to eleven percent remaining Weave and very poor judgment. Aurelia returned to checking Garrick's injuries. Talia wiped her face with one sleeve.

"My name is Talia."

"We heard," Roy said. She looked at him as if only now remembering that he had entered first.

"We were going to Bellhaven," she said.

"We thought the main road would be safer, but the snow covered the markers. Garrick wanted to cut through the trees."

"Why are you traveling in winter?" Orion asked. Talia's expression emptied. The change was immediate enough that Roy recognized it as practice rather than calm.

"Our parents died a few months ago." Aurelia's hands continued moving over Garrick's bandages, but her shoulders stiffened. Talia spoke in the same flat tone.

"Three men came after the blizzard. They wanted food and anything they could sell. Father fought them. Mother tried to get us out through the back." Roy felt cold settle beneath his coat.

"One of the men was hurt," Talia continued.

"His arm or shoulder. He could barely use it, and he kept blaming the others. They killed our parents anyway." Three men, one wounded, just after a blizzard. Orion's face changed first. Talia noticed.

"What?"

"They came here," Aurelia said quietly.

"Before the storm ended." Talia looked between them. Orion stared toward the two halves of the boar without seeing either.

"I injured one," he said.

"They took Aurelia. I stopped them and let them leave."

"You defended your family."

"And sent them toward yours."

"You didn't know."

"I should have considered it."

"There is nothing for you to apologize for." Orion's voice remained direct.

"Your parents are dead because I decided fleeing was enough."

"No." Talia's numbness cracked for the first time.

"They are dead because those men killed them." Orion did not argue, but he also did not accept it. Roy looked away as he thought back. He had been awake by then, weak but capable of speaking. He had watched the bandits flee and felt only relief that Aurelia remained alive. He had not asked where desperate men would go next. Orion had made the decision, but Roy had accepted it without thought. That meant the failure belonged to more than one of them.

"How did you survive after?" Aurelia asked. Talia's gaze returned to Garrick.

"We stayed. The house was damaged, but part of it still held heat. We had what they left behind. Garrick hunted when he could."

"Until the supplies ran out," Roy said. Talia nodded. Orion rose and lifted Garrick into his arms again.

"We are going home." Talia's gaze moved toward Nimbus and Shale. The two drakes had approached the reverted carcass. Shale sniffed one half while Nimbus hovered above the other, both pressing closer whenever the other discovered a new scent. Talia stepped nearer to her brother.

"Are those things safe?"

"Shale," Orion called. The Burrowback froze with his nose inches from the boar.

"Nimbus." The Cloudbelly stiffened in midair. Both turned toward him with the guilty stillness of children caught stealing food. Aurelia laughed softly despite the blood covering her hands.

"They are safe," she told Talia.

"You are safe with us." Talia did not answer, but some of the tension left her shoulders. She gathered one travel pack while Aurelia took the other. Roy pushed away from the wall before anyone could offer him help. The clearing shifted beneath his feet, but it steadied after a moment.

"I can walk," he insisted.

"No one asked," Aurelia replied.

"You were about to."

"I was deciding how loudly to yell at you."

"Save your strength." Her look promised she intended to do exactly that. Orion adjusted Garrick carefully against his chest. Talia remained at his side, watching her brother's face and every movement Orion made. They began the walk back through the trees. At Orion's command, Shale seized the boar's carcass and dragged it behind them, leaving a dark trail across the winter ground. Nimbus moved beside Aurelia, lowered enough that the girl could rest one hand against her pale-blue scales. Roy followed slowly.

The altered creature was dead, and Garrick still breathed. The cottage waited beyond the trees, warm and solid, with Kindle guarding the hearth. For the first time in months, Talia and Garrick were no longer alone. Whatever else had entered their woods could wait until morning.