NOVEL NEXT 48: The Mounting Frustrations
“Are we sure this is the place?” Bellamy asked.
The great marble ruins lay spread out before them. While the tides of time took some of the many structures along them on their endless march, the stone the buildings were constructed of appeared fresh out of the quarry. It was almost blinding how much light bounced off and into the skies above, something they caught only a fraction of as the three women laid low upon a cliff overlooking the witch’s supposed hideout.
“That chimera said as much.” Ashara grumbled as she stood, brushing her clothes from the dirt she had just laid in, “Eldura’s always been a bit of a slut when it comes to stuff as gaudy as this, so I’ll bet dinner this is the spot!”
Sara stood up alongside the witch, “You never make dinner anyways.” She flexed her new hand, still getting accustomed to having four functional limbs once again. “So what’s the plan, witch? Are we just going to strut in and kick her ass?”
“Not sure!” The tiny witch shrugged.
“Oh, come the fuck on!” Sara’s voice echoed down into the trees below, “You were talking like you were big fucking shit when you dragged me all the way out here!”
Bellamy agreed, joining in on the frustration, “Right! And the lack of trust simply because this person held me while I was in my inert state gave you supposed grounds to mistrust me!”
As the two monsters whinged and whined over their closest to human counterpart, Ashara’s gaze returned once more to the witch’s keep. Judging from what they had seen on the nearly week-long journey, Eldura must have been preparing for their arrival.
She surely had a familiar or creature bound to her that noticed when they arrived in Altenheim. But between those and the altered monsters they encountered on the way to her hold, their fighting force would be no match for the onomancer with this much preparation. Not without Ashara’s own intervention or…
“Sarakiel.”
The tiny witch interrupted the gripes of her two fellow travelers, “I know I have not done much to deserve your trust, but I want to form a familiar’s pact with you once again.”
Sara looked down at her former master. Her face carried a wide range of emotions, the most considerable of which was exhaustion. “Why?”
The question was simple.
The answer was not.
“You’re just gonna have to trust me, Sare-bear.” Ashara had tried her best to hide the desperation in her voice, but some of her pleading still slipped through. “Just know it’s going to be considerably important when we have to face off against Eldura.”
Raising her natural hand to her mouth, she looked to be weighing the options, “That’s not good enough. We’re friends, right? Friends don’t hide shit like this.”
The witch sighed. Why did she have to pick the soul of a grizzled war vet instead of something like a puppy? “It’ll grant you more power.”
“Really…” Squirming underneath her, hopefully future, familiar’s gaze, Ashara watched as the trust left Sara’s face, “More power, how?”
Bellamy shook her head, a third party that had only mucked up the work she had already put into her prized project, “You are being quite vague, you know…”
“It- It’ll…” The small woman looked to the skies for answers. Nothing answered this time, thankfully, “It’ll give you access to my magic!” Ashara tried her best to smile through the interrogation.
A moment passed before Sara finally moved again, “Which is what kind of magicks, exactly?”
“Ugh… Never mind!”
With the negotiation failing almost as quickly as it started, Ashara held onto her hat before jumping off the cliff. Pouting on the way down, she caught herself with a levitation spell at the last second, which brought her gently back down to the ground. Sara would probably flip out before jumping herself, bringing her and the slime to catch up.
After a few minutes however, no one had followed her.
“I can’t fucking stand that bitch!” Sara’s voice once again reverberated back to the two of them atop the cliff once more. “She cries and moans and groans about how she has no friends when she treats them like this!”
Bellamy had seen this show far too many times now.
The two of them were lucky she was such a gentlema- err, woman- to not address the situation directly and see if there was anything simply airing out their grievances would solve.
“Well…” The slime had to gently interject, lest her new compatriot would fall into one of her typical tirades, “Mayhaps she has a reason to keep those secrets from you? I cannot imagine they are something only someone with less than her expertise would understand in the severity they most likely deserve.”
Sara huffed. “Well, she could at least clue me into why she is fucking trying to get me to sign my life back over to her! Fucking bitch just wants me to feed her mana!”
“I don’t think that’s how-” Bellamy stopped herself. A different discussion for a different time. “Well, thankfully, she is quite a bad liar. We can simply keep persistently asking her what you could receive in return until we reach something that sounds like the truth.”
The succubus finally seemed to be as if she were calming down. After a few more moments of simmering, she nodded in agreement, “Right. That makes sense.”
“Of course it does.” Looking once more at the great ruins that lay in the distance, Bellamy turned around again, “I apologize, I keep asking, but between everything going on, I am having a hard time understanding; why are we in the middle of a jungle again?”
Unusually warm to the touch, Sara pinched the bridge of her nose with her new hand, “I…” She sighed, tearing herself away from falling back into complaining about Ashara, “The witch wants to ‘get even’ with another witch. The one who gave me your core and removed my crest.”
Bellamy tried her best to keep up, but even the greatest genius could only make sense of what little was presented before them, “Right. That must mean you are quite important to her, then.”
“I guess!” Sara shouted while throwing both arms up, “I’m just not sure if she’s using me or genuinely just stupid enough to not know how to treat people right!”
The slime shimmied around uncomfortably. She had lost quite a bit of mass during her confrontation with the burning man, but it seemed to not bother her, “Perhaps it is both?”
“What do you mean?”
Bellamy’s tone carried an air of both suggestion and hypothesis, a confusing mix as to guessing what the witch’s greater schemes might carry. “Well, it may be that she does have some greater machinations, most of which I alluded to earlier as being too complex to explain to you in detail, but she may just lack the social nuance to properly convey such a notion to you.”
Sara shook her head, “I mean, I’m not exactly the brightest either, but I at least know how to describe orders to someone I am putting them through.”
“Sure, but that was built over many years, correct?” The slime shrugged, stabbing at what little she knows of Sara’s history.
“I guess…” Sara relented.
“So perhaps our friend does require the trust she requested in order to ensure we can meet the hazard before us head on.”
It was getting late. The sun began to sink behind the ruins, the bright white light reflected off the stone now a shimmering yellow. Seemingly made of gold, the collection of structures were both inviting and discouraging.
“Why are you so trusting of the witch?” Sara asked. Bellamy’s naivety reminded her of the new recruits that came to every battle; fresh faced, starry eyed and filled with aspirations of being a hero. Something lost at the end of that same battle either along with their life or their puerility.
“Simply put…” The slime gave a nervous chuckle, “What other choice is there?”
Eldura stood in the great chamber in the heart of her home. She had been waiting for, almost relishing, in Ashara’s retaliation.
“The so-called Sage, The Archivist, will not live to see tomorrow.”
She spoke before those that could understand her. Beasts she had given intelligence to joined in attendance, eager to defend their master from this interloper.
“Be forewarned, however, she is quite powerful, as one befitting the title of Sage. It is currently unknown which form of magicks she wields, so those who are able to identify and grant me such information will be rewarded generously.”
If she had to place a number on those listening, it would be around fifty or so. An even greater number estimated to be around five times as much were posted at various points around the remnants of the Archaic research hall. How fitting for the greatest Onomancer alive.
“In addition to The Archivist, there is the dragon succubus Sarakiel and an awakened slime in her party. The two monsters are considered a low-level threat as neither have formed a pact with their witch.”
Eldura grinned, nearly concluding her briefing, “If one brings me the succubus, preferably alive, they will be rewarded as well. Personally, I am quite curious as to what someone like this Sage sees in her and bear her true name, allowing for any manipulation of this monster, if necessary.”
The intelligent beasts murmured amongst themselves, speculating as to what may be of interest about a succubus. They were uncommon, but not entirely unheard of. Few have even had encounters with strange mimics that wished to feast upon their mana from their simpler days.
“I wish you all the best of luck on defending our home from these invaders.”
Stepping away from the crowd, the witch rubbed her forehead. Speaking publicly was easily her least favorite activity, but was necessary to spread information to those that needed it. “Finally, I can kick that stupid Ashara’s ass. That’ll show her for thinking she’s ‘queen of the witches’ or something!”
A chill suddenly filled the air.
He wanted to speak with her.
Taking the opportunity to retire to her room, Eldura sat on her pristinely made bed. “Alright C’thugua, what is it?”
Before her, a void of inky black emanated out of a point in space. Almost appearing as a black puddle it flowed from the point before fading into the aether once more, “Ah, my precious Eldura…” The deep voice echoed despite being projected into the tiny room, “I have caught word that our favorite friend Ashara will be arriving by the morning?”
“That’s what my spies are telling me.” The hawk nosed witch was always wary of her lisp, but that more than doubled when around the devil, “I have already made plans as for how to deal with her.”
“And that’s by using that… thing Asphodel lent to you?”
The extra dimensional being even seemed unnerved by what her lover had provided. What was wrong with it? “If I have to. I’d rather leave the monster unharmed, if able.”
“My dear…” C’thugua appeared to be choosing his words carefully, “I’d advise you not to call upon that creature altogether… Only the twisted imaginations of those that can experience fear would even dare to make something as… Interesting as that.”
Eldura nodded. Seems like they both wanted to hand back what was lent to her as healthy as she had gotten it. “Do you have any info you are allowed to give me about Ashara?”
The ink puddle appeared unchanging, she awaited what her devil had to offer until he finally spoke up, “Unfortunately not, dear… Somehow, even though I would not be able to tell you if I could, it appears she has evaded even me. It’s quite frustrating, frankly.”
The witch bit her lip.
“We’re just gonna have to wing it, then.”
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