Book 4: Chapter 25: Imbue Spirit


    The next day, true to her word, Tes led Victor, Va, and Barn—arge, gray-te armored man with long, thick quills for hair and a very ruddyplexion that didn’t do a lot toplement his bulging ck eyes—out of camp before most of the other hunters had begun to wake. Barn wasn’t a talkative fellow, and he seemed grumpy, despite the opportunity Tes was providing for the three of them. They traveled on foot, as usual, and fifteen minutes into their jogging progress, Tes started to urge Victor to cast Berserk.


    “It’s too early, Tes!” he moaned, not looking forward to battling his alter-ego for control.


    “Did you level your Corest night?”


    “No, but I just did yesterday! It’ll likely take a while, don’t you think?”


    “Maybe, but maybe your brutish self will have a hunger for another heart. You still have some, yes?”


    “Yeah . . .”


    “Including the wyrm heart,” she grinned and added, “What a meal that’ll make!”


    Va snorted in amusement, shaking her head, and Victor turned to her, “This funny for you? Must be nice to eat what and when you want with no one badgering you about it!” He was mostly joking; he was d Va was starting to feelfortable enough with him tough a bit at his expense.


    He nced at Barn, saw his glowering face, and how he kept his eyes straight ahead, inhaling and blowing out his air in a steady cadence as they jogged, and said, “What’s up, Barn? You have a bossy woman in your life, too, huh? Irritated that your sister sent you along with us?”


    “Huh,” he replied, then spat to the side into the dusty soil. “Sorry you got stuck babysitting me—Cayle saw me drinking with some of the other huntersst night and probably decided to send me off on runt duty.”


    “Runt duty?” Tesughed, shaking her head. “Your sister did you a big favor, young man.” Victor almostughed at Tes’s tone and choice of words, but he could see Barn’s red cheeks getting redder with irritation. Tes continued, “You’re going to see a lot more action today than the rest of the hunters, especially without a bunch of high-tier experts stealing all the glory.”


    “Really?” Barn gave Tes a second look and raised his weird, prickly eyebrows.


    “Really. We’re off to clear out a night brute nest.” Tes winked at him as his mouth fell open, and he struggled for words, but then she turned back to Victor, “Nice attempt to change the subject, but don’t you think it’s about time you brought out your oversized friend?”


    “Wait;st night I had a thought, and I wanted to ask you something . . .”


    “Just the one?” Va asked, interrupting him, and it took a minute for him to see the joke.


    “What the hell, chica?” he asked, augh bubbling up, unbidden. “You’ve got jokes today! Okay, fair game. No more mister nice guy.” He gave her shoulder a shove as she grinned, then he turned back to Tes, “Anyway, I was wondering, if someone summoned me, do you think it’s possible to summon my abu?”


    “Your grandmother . . . it may be possible. I’m not an expert on that sort of magic, but with your blood, I’m fairly sure a summoning ritual could be made to target a person rted to you. I’m not sure if it can be more specifically targeted. I feel like you were a bit of an unexpected result when summoned; the people who pulled you from your homeworld didn’t seem pleased with you if I recall your tale correctly. Didn’t you say they dumped you into some fighting pits or sold you off . . .”


    “That’s right. But still, they must have had something that tied the spell to me, right?” He nced at Va and said, “Isn’t that what Rellia’s investigator found?”


    “Yes, ‘biological material.’”


    “Likely blood. You didn’t get any answers from the mage responsible?” Tes deftly leaped over a thorny bush as they continued running.


    “No . . . he wasn’t in a talking mood. There’s the guy who hired him, though. What was his name, Va?”


    “Ap’Gravin. Boaegh hadn’t been working with him for a long while, though . . .”


    “Still, that Ap’Gravin dude might have been the one who gave him the blood for summoning me.”


    “Yes, it may be worth pursuing.” Va nodded. “Provided we ever get back to Fanwath.”


    “I would investigate,” Tes nodded, “if you find out what material was used and more about the summoning ritual, you may well be able to do the same for your grandmother. Do you think she’d appreciate it?”


    “I . . .” Victor was about to say that, of course, she’d want toe to a world of magic and be with her grandson, but then he thought about her devotion to the Catholic Church. He thought about all the killing he’d done, and he tried to imagine his grandmother doing anything violent and couldn’t. Would she thrive in a world like this? Did it matter? He could give her treasures to advance her race. He could teach her to cultivate, and, sure, she may never gain a lot of levels, but she’d be alive. “I need to think about it some more, but maybe.”


    “All right. It’s time, Victor, no more stalling. Barn, do you have a movement spell?” Tes held up a hand, and they all slowed to a walk as she spoke.


    “No, but I have a clockwork mount.”


    “Take it out, please. We’re about to pick up the pace.”


    “Right,” Barn stopped and stared into the sky for a moment, wiggling around the fingers of his gauntleted left hand, and then a brass-colored cube appeared in front of him in the dirt. It was about a foot to each side, and when Barn leaned forward and touched it, it began to vibrate and click noisily. It bounced once, then long, thin rods shot out of the four top corners. They writhed in the air for a second, and then the box underwent transformations too fast for Victor’s eyes to follow.


    More, shorter, rods shot out, and it stretched, bounced, and, in less than a minute, a four-limbed mechanical skeleton shaped vaguely like a horse crouched before Barn, steam erupting from ports along its ridged spine, apanied by clicks and whirring sounds.


    “Shit,” Victor said, taking a step back and admiring the weird mount. “Do you have a saddle?”


    “Sure,” Barn said, producing a cushioned, leather seat that he strapped onto the top of the ridged, metallic spine. Several pegs jutted out from the sides of the mount’s “ribs” that he fastened it to.


    “That’s a marvel,” Va said, stepping around the faintly shuddering mechanical horse.


    “Yeah, it’s cool as hell.” Victor reached a hand toward the rune-covered head of the mount and then said, “Safe to touch?”


    “Yep,” Barn nodded, then sprang into his saddle. Victor rested his palm against the metal, wondering if it was hot, but it felt just slightly warm.


    “Is it fast?”


    “Fast enough,” Tes answered for Barn. She turned to Victor and stared pointedly, and he sighed.


    “Fine, here goes.” He cast Berserk, and there ended his rxing morning. Tes, as usual, watched him transform with eager eyes, grinning at his involuntary growl as the red rage filled his vision and his Quinametzin self took in his surroundings. He had a terrible urge to smash the mechanical creature nearby, but Victor held himself in check, and then, as Tes sprang away, suddenly nearly as tall as Victor, he roared and charged after her.


    At some point, Tes had changed her yellow dress for a pale blue one, and her ribboned belt trailed behind her, a shade ofvender that beckoned and taunted Victor over the miles. Va and Barn seemed content to follow several dozen yards behind his brutish, leaping, growling figure as he futilely tried to catch the lithely running woman. Somewhere, in a corner of his mind, Victor’s rational self wondered just how fast Tes could run if she wanted to.


    He tried to remember her dragon form when she’d given him a glimpse. Had she had wings? Yes, he chuckled, and the emotion tranted to a wild, crazedughing from his titanic form—of course, she’d had wings! He almost lost his rage as he imagined flying, soaring through the blue expanse, feeling the wind as it whistled over him . . . Victor shook his head and roared, urging more rage to pump out of his Core and furiously breaking into a sprint up a long, hard-packed hillside.


    They seemed to be following a southwesterly heading, and their journey stretched into the afternoon. Tes didn’t have to stop and urge Victor to release his rage when they arrived; his red-hot Energy had begun to fail several minutes before, and he was running as his usual self, trailing far behind Tes, Barn, and Va. A part of him was irritated; why wasn’t she pausing to let him recover? Then he figured they must be getting close, and she just wanted to get there and wait for him.


    The desert still stretched endlessly around them, but they’d progressed into some low rocky hills for thest dozen miles, and it was at the base of one such hill where Victor finally caught up to the others; they were all sitting on arge red nket. Tes was reclining, back in her more diminutive form, drinking from a crystal sk, and Barn was stuffing his face with a huge, dripping sandwich filled with meat. Va waved to him, then returned to what she’d been doing—writing in her far scribe book.


    “Don’t mind me,” he huffed, leaning over, hands on his knees, purposefully breathing much harder than he needed.


    “Oh, do sit down, Victor,” Tes chuckled. “Why didn’t you eat a heart?” She pressed her lips into a pout as she asked the question, and Victor was struck by how beautiful she was. She had such big, clear eyes, and their greenish-brown irises glittered in the sunlight, and then there were those rosy lips and . . . he shook his head. He knew better; was her appearance even real? She was a dragon under all that beauty, right?


    He grunted and sat down, forcing a frown, and he thought he saw something like approval in Tes’s eyes as she looked away and took another drink from her sk. “Well,” he said, “I’m not going to lie—I forgot about the hearts until I’d already lost my rage, and I’m, well, I’m just not up to eating a raw monster heart when I’m not mad with fury.”


    “I’ll help you remember next time,” she said. “Eat something. Drink. The cave is up yonder among those tumbled boulders.”


    “Okay.” Victor sat across from Tes, next to Va, and dug around in his storage ring until he found some bread, butter, and a bowl of still-steaming noodle soup he’d bought months ago in Gelica.


    “That smells good,” Va said, leaning close to sniff his bowl.


    “You want some?”


    “No, thank you. I don’t like to be full before a battle.”


    “Yeah, I used to be the same when I wrestled. I think that’s mostly because I was worried about making weight, though.”


    “You’re a grappler?” Barn asked around his mouthful of sandwich.


    “Yeah. Well, not as much as I used to be. I’ve be quite fond of fighting with an axe,” he patted Lifedrinker, where he’did her next to him.


    Tes eyed him and the axe and then said, “I’ll make you a proper sling for that axe when we camp tonight.”


    “Really? Thanks, Tes. Yeah, she outgrew the loop I had on my belt . . .”


    “Yes, I’ll make you a shoulder sling so the head rests further up under your arm.”


    “You craft?” Va asked, looking up from her book.


    “Oh, I have a hobby or ten. Speaking of which,” she produced two small vials and tossed one to Barn and one to Va. “Should you find yourselves in dire straits, quaff those.”


    Barn held it up, peering with one bulging, solid ck eye into the milky contents, “What’s it do? Heal?”


    “No, you’ll discorporate for a time and be drawn toward this rod.” Tes held up a rune-covered dull gray rod about a foot long and, reaching back over the edge of the nket, firmly drove it into the hard-packed dirt.


    “Truly?” Va said, her eyes widening. “I don’t think I can afford such a gift, Tes.” She held it toward the woman, and Tes chuckled.


    “Not to worry—I crafted it myself, and I’m hoping you won’t need it. Still, I did promise to help you and Barn; I wouldn’t be much of a mentor if I didn’t give you an escape n before walking into a night brute nest.”


    Victor watched the exchange with an arched eyebrow, waiting for the exnation for why he’d not been offered one of the escape potions, but when none was forting, he just chuckled to himself and took another big spoonful of soup. “I wish it wasn’t so hot out; I was in the mood for soup, but it would be so much better if the weather were chilly.”


    “What about Victor?” Va asked for him, ignoring the small talk about soup.


    “He’s going to bepletely Berserk, and the night brute’s magic will have little effect on him. Speaking of which, Victor, tell me about that ‘Imbue Spirit’ spell again.”


    Victor let go of his spoon and straightened up, looking over the nket at Tes. “I’ve cast it on my armor before. Basically, it takes a little piece of my spirit and puts it into an object. Well, also an individual, ording to the description.”


    “And?”


    “Oh, when I cast it on my armor, I used inspiration-attuned Energy, and it seemed to gain a bit of a will of its own. When I was about to be struck, it was like a ghostly hand reached out and parried.”


    “Truly?” Va seemed impressed, leaning back from her book with wide eyes.


    “But you haven’t cast it upon a person yet?”


    “Nope.”


    “I believe you mentioned you’re able to make Energy attunements other than the three in your Core, yes?”


    “Right, courage and justice.”


    “Courage?” Barn said, an eager note in his voice. “That’lle in handy against night brutes!”


    Tes pped her hands and nodded at Barn. “Exactly! Victor, can you try to imbue Va with a bit of your spirit using courage-attuned Energy?”


    “Imbue me with his spirit? Will he be in control of me?”


    “It says I’ll grant some of my ‘power and will’ to the recipient, not that I’ll gain control of them.”


    “You trust Victor, yes?” Tes asked, locking eyes with Va.


    “Of course . . .” she licked her lips, and Victor felt a little sorry for her being put on the spot like that. “Okay, Victor.”


    “Right. Give me your hand.” He turned his hand, so it rested on his knee, palm up, and waited for Va to ce her much smaller, blue fingers in his. She hesitated at first, but then her brows drew together, and with a determined, perhaps involuntary growl, she reached forward and snatched three of Victor’s fingers in her grip.


    “Careful, Victor, be sure to channel the correct Energy,” Tes said, leaning forward, that familiar, eager gleam in her eyes. Barn brushed the crumbs from his hands and audibly gulped hisst bite, also shifting to watch what happened.


    Victor still held his bowl of soup in his other hand and sighed as he sent it into his storage ring, only half eaten. He closed his eyes, focusing on his Core. His rage-attuned Energy was already nearly full, pulsing balefully, and he smiled at its familiar heat, gently tugging some of the Energy out of it tobine with inspiration, building the weave for courage in his pathways. When it was ready, he mped down hard on his fear attunement, then cast Imbue Spirit.


    The spell took shape and pulled forth more of his two Energies, filling the pattern to bursting with courage, and then he sent it forth into Va. While the Energy flowed out of him into her, he watched, locking his gaze with her seafoam green eyes. He felt her grip tighten on his fingers, saw her shoulders curl forward with tension, and then she pulsed, briefly limned in a golden glow, and her eyes zed with it, the green giving way to brilliant red-gold. Her lips peeled back in a smile, and sheughed.


    Victor knew the spell wasplete, so he let go of her, but Va held on, squeezing his fingers, her eyes still shining with brilliant golden light. “Is this what it feels like to be you?” she asked brightly. “Ancestors! I feel ready to fight anything!” She gave his fingers another squeeze, then let go and hopped to her feet. “I still have control of myself, so that’s good . . .”


    “I believe the spell has imbued you with some of Victor’s will and clearly with courage. You should fare well against the night brutes’ magical attacks. I think because your armor was inert, Victor, your will yed a more . . . active role in its imbuement.” Tes stood and continued, “Can you spare the Energy for a simr boon to Barn?”


    Victor had suffered a brief moment of weakness and nausea just as when he’d cast the spell in the arena, but he felt fine already. “Each casting costs me ten percent of my will and ten percent of my maximum Energy. I should be good . . .”


    “Yes; your will is prodigious, and you’ll be Berserk. I think you’ll be fine.” Tes nodded, then gestured for Barn to move closer to Victor.


    “I feel incredible! This is amazing, Victor; nothing will stop us!” Va had produced her blue sword and moved off to the side, performing the forms of her fighting style against imaginary enemies.


    “d you like it,” Victor said. Then Barn reached out a thick, pinkish-red hand, and Victor grasped it, noting how dense the callouses were on the man’s palm. “Courage again?” he asked Tes.


    “Yes, for this battle. I do wonder, though, what would happen should you use your fear affinity . . .” Tes smiled mischievously as she spoke, and Victor saw a change in the way her eyes glinted as she looked at Barn; it reminded him of a cat ying with a mouse.


    “Uh, please don’t,” Barn said, tugging his hand. Victor held on, though, and shook his head.


    “Tranquilo, hombre.” He gripped tighter then, just as before, he built the pattern for courage and cast his Imbue Spirit spell. Barn’s body, just like Va’s, briefly pulsed with golden Energy, and then his eyes took on the red-gold glow of courage. In Victor’s opinion, it was a massive upgrade from his usual bulging, bug-like eyes. Barn immediately released Victor’s hand and jumped to his feet with a whoop.


    “Outstanding! Let’s crush some enemies!”


    “Get your shield out, Barn,” Tes said, chuckling as she, too, stood. Victor groaned and mbered up, barely making it to his feet before Tes summoned her nket back into storage.


    Victor shook his head, trying to clear it; the mise after casting the second imbue had hit him a lot harder. “Hey! What if I wasn’t ready to . . .”


    “Oh, hush,” Tesughed. “You know you were.”


    “Yeah,” Victor chuckled, “good call.” He stretched, popping his back between his shoulders, trying to y off his sudden fatigue. He knew he’d adjust and didn’t want Tes to think he needed to cancel one of the imbue spells.


    “Okay,” Tes said, looking at her three charges—Va dancing about with her long, blue de flicking through the air, Barn shrugging his arm into the straps of a shield nearly as big as he was, and Victor. “Pick up yourdy axe, Victor, and call forth your titan self; it’s time we plumb the dark depths for glorious battle.”