Cricket

24

Beings in the Dark

Scorpion held his blade out straight at eye level. Once, the ratling had brought the sword to the surface, and it had actually grown more visible in the fog. Likely due to small amounts of condensation he could not perceive at the time.

The haze of Sheol was not the same. His own eye could make out no hint of the sword. Bale's eye, however, perceived the enchanted adamantite easily—for which the ratling was thankful.

He closed his eyes, and still perceived everything around him, though he could not see, per se. With his eyesl closed, he turned, then reached out to touch a stone wall to confirm its presence.

Scorpion could even sense the walls behind him. A peculiar feeling, especially since he couldn't perceive them with his eyes open. In a way, it reminded him of stars in the night sky—they could only be seen in darkness.

He opened his eyes. And though the sensation behind him faded, he still sensed another ratling's approach. No, not a ratling—a changeling. His keen senses detected her nearly silent motion, followed by a scent somewhere between a female ratling and... he had trouble placing it. Not kin, and not prey. And not unpleasant.

A cold blade wrapped around his throat.

Scorpion scowled and grabbed Spindle's wrist so quickly with Bale's claw that the changeling tripped and nearly dropped her knife.

Scorpion rose to his full height and lifted the changeling into the air. Despite her own impressive size, Spindle hung helplessly above the ground—her own, coiled tail barely skimming the cobblestone.

Rather than an interrogation, the ratling stared coldly into her eyes. Spindle squirmed and made two slashes against his violet arm with her dagger, leaving tiny nicks that instantly began to close. Finally, she dropped the dagger, caught it in her tail, then used one of her dangling feet to ram it into his upper thigh.

The ratling grimaced, then roared, more in irritation than pain, tossing her roughly, although a bit mercifully, back into a pile of rubble.

Spindle glared back, wide-eyed, and fumbled for the fallen dagger, but almost instantly Scorpion was upon her, pinning her down with his forearm at her throat, the invisible sword still in its grip. A flick of his tail sent the dagger spinning out of her reach.

He snarled. "Don't make me kill you!"

In response, the changeling slowly opened her mouth, as if mesmerized, and took a long, deep breath as her tail wrapped sensually around his own.

"What the hell is wrong with you!" Scorpion pushed off of the rocks and landed softly a few feet away. "Are you insane?"

Spindle still lay against the broken rocks, her defenses completely down, making no effort to stand, while Scorpion pulled the dagger from his thigh, He flipped it to an offensive position, nearly crushing the hilt with Bale's strength, when a sudden scream rose from nearby, reverberating strangely through the empty streets.

Scorpion rushed into the alley in time to see an azaeri warrior's head slam into the ground, denting his flimsy helm, just before he was dragged out of sight by an unseen foe.

Without looking back, Scorpion dashed to the soldier's aid. Before he rounded the corner, two other spearmen came into view, backing up and making quick, erratic stabs to keep something at bay.

The ratling closed his eyes, sensing only a nondescript blob of motion around the corner. And as he honed in, he noticed similar sources around the camp—a sort of vague, formless energy. Even the motions felt surging and unpredictable, like a tide.

When he caught up to the other warriors, he leapt out recklessly before them, gripping Spindle's now bent dagger before his face.

But with his eyes now open, he saw nothing. Or... almost nothing—a void moving. It lurched to the side with a slurp, then once again toward him.

Quickly, the ratling realized that the assailant was in fact an amorphous blob—a mass of black slime, as thick as tar, bubbling and oozing forward.

It covered large stretches of terrain in short, violent bursts.

He stepped aside as a column of slime suddenly shot toward him, like a frog's tongue, and slapped it near the base. However, the dagger could only tear about six inches deep, and before he even struck a second time, the laceration suctioned back together with a wet slap.

Scorpion hopped back, as the extended tongue of tar plopped to the ground sizzling, and the creature adjusted for another strike. Across the camp, Scorpion heard the wail of another soldier.

The slime slowly retracted its tonguelike appendage, while two more shot out from one of its random bulges. Scorpion lunged in this time, timing his dodge to make full use of the creature's slow recovery time. He made several quick slashes, severing one large chunk that plopped on the ground and wriggled as it flattened. Then he hacked at the remaining tentacle with his sword, abandoning his dagger in the slime. It disappeared almost instantly inside of the tar with a slurp, and then the ratling sensed another attack.

Rather than dodging, this time, he plunged his claw into the quivering lump about to discharge and ripped a fist-sized lump free.

He retreated several paces, while the black ooze in his claw began to crawl up his arm.

Meanwhile, the larger mass inched forward, reclaiming the severed limb with a gulp.

The ratling squeezed the slime in his palm, which only seemed to redistribute the bulge. Meanwhile the two spearmen intercepted the larger blob while he collected his wits.

"Slugs! Slugs!" the disembodied voice of Bax rang from nearby, as the invisible gnome ran in Scorpion's direction. Scorpion focused and perceived a tiny blurry form where the voice originated. Bale's eye twitched, and then the gnome came into focus.

"Don't drop that!" Bax said to the ratling.

Scorpion, however, reminded of the slime oozing up his arm, instantly splattered the tarry slime on the ground with three violent snaps of his elbow, then began to scrape the residue free with his opposite wrist.

"We need to do some tests!"

"Test it on the ground," the ratling retorted. And to his surprise, the gnome ran up to the bubbling puddle, leaning in dangerously close as he opened his pack.

The lump on the ground quivered, and Scorpion yanked Bax out of the way just before it vaulted toward the gnome's open mouth.

Scorpion started to place Bax back down, but thought better of it, and pulled him several yards away before carefully setting him on his feet. The motion caused the pointed, purple hat to fly from the gnome's head, where it dissolved into nothing before rematerializing on his head.

"What were you doing?" The ratling asked with a growl.

"It's not susceptive to... er, that is... we have to..."

Scorpion growled again more loudly.

"You can't kill it with that!" Rather than pointing to one of Scorpion's weapons, Bax made a grand gesture that incorporated the ratling's entire arsenal.

"You didn't answer my question."

"Well, I have some chemicals."

"What?" Scorpion spat.

"Chemi..." the gnome froze and dumbed it down. "Magic potions."

Bax pulled a very small vial from his pouch and shook it next to his ear. "Can you see what color that is?"

"What?"

"My whole pouch is a bit invisible at the moment, but I thought that eye of yours—"

"No," Scorpion replied impatiently, "I just sense that it's there."

"Well, it didn't swish, so it's thick. Would you describe it as more viscous or tacky?"

"That's a stupid question!"

"It is not!" Bax returned, indignantly.

The slime came dangerously close, and Scorpion readied his sword and claw, as he drew a dagger with his tail, but then Cricket rushed in from behind with an incredible flurry of slashes, splaying it open. The outer flesh of the ooze was slightly tougher than the insides, which gave it a look a bit like a hacked up cucumber. Cricket circled around with another set of slashes until small chunks began to fall off. For a moment, it seemed he might cut off pieces faster than it reformed, but then he jumped back breathless.

"Keep hitting it!" He yelled to Scorpion.

The ratling hesitated.

"We're working on a plan!" Bax shouted encouragingly, as he stooped over a—very tiny this time—secluded piece of tar on the ground. By this point, his invisibility potion had begun to wear off, and he was at least half visible.

The gnome popped the cork from his bottle and shook a drop of a thick, honey-like substance from the bottle onto the shred of slime. It had no effect, except the substance was almost immediately absorbed by the slime, which made it slightly faster and less dense. Though still harmless in size, it crept eagerly toward the gnome.

"Viscous," the gnome announced bitterly. He didn't seem at all alarmed by the proximity, but rather fished out another vial—this time a white powder, and sprinkled some on the slime, now climbing the toe of his boot. It instantly sizzled and shrunk to nothing more than a stain.

"Aha! Should have tried that one first! Just common salt, really. I keep it just in case. You know... for slugs. Anti-slug potion!"

"These aren't slugs!" Scorpion yelled.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"Debatable."

"Everything's debatable if you're arguing with a moron!"

"I have found that to be true," Bax said thoughtfully, missing the nuance.

"Hold on!"

"Oydd," Cricket thought, loudly enough for the others to hear, "Is that you?"

As if in response, Oydd's voice resonated from the shadows, speaking a single word of magic, and the slime ignited from the inside. A red hot glow began to grow in the slime's core, forcing Cricket to leap back, covering his face. A moment later, the slime burst open and into flames, splattering all over the ground.

It squealed and smoked as it deflated.

Oydd appeared some distance away through the gloom.

"Behind you!"

Scorpion turned from the spectacle to see a second, smaller slime inching up from the rear, with three arrows slowly sinking into it.

Oydd aimed the tip of his staff toward it, and without even a word of magic, a white bolt shot from his staff so quickly it pierced the slime and charred the stone behind it. Oydd fired again, this time a larger, slower bolt, that blasted the slime open from the front and charred it almost to ash.

"Oh..." Bax said disappointed. "That's more effective than my plan. I only had..." he shook the empty vial and sighed. "Well frankly, I was going to have to scrape the salt I already used from my boot."

"They're attracted to heat," Oydd explained. "So they're rendered impotent by fire."

"What are they?" Scorpion asked.

"Some denizen of the underworld. Who knows."

Cricket jumped in. "Maybe they're bigger versions of those worms we found."

"The parasites?" Oydd clarified. "If my hypothesis is correct, they are unrelated."

"What's your theory!" Bax asked, excited.

"Well, I am still observing, but these slimes seem perfectly suited to hunt and multiply in this environment. The parasites... did not."

"You think they're new?" Cricket asked.

"Oh... yes," Oydd said surprised. "That is my current theory."

Scorpion interrupted. "Where are the others?" He stared down at the charred smaller slime as the remnants dissolved into a pool of ash and tar, revealing the already half-digested skull of an azaeri.

The rudra looked back the way he had come. "Safe for now. Jeshu's hammer... actually, the hammer alone is almost enough, but freezing them proved effective. Head back to the center of the square."

"It's a circle," Bax objected.

"A square just means... never mind. Head that way. I'm still collecting stragglers."

Cricket began to argue, and Scorpion decided to head off on his own again. Bax, however, had other ideas. The gnome huffed and puffed at full gallop to keep up with the ratling's trot, and when he began to fall behind, he quaffed another vial from his pouch in one gulp and suddenly began to outpace the ratling's—albeit lazy—pace.

Scorpion considered running ahead, but sighed in resignation and slowed to allow the gnome a more comfortable trek.

Bax grinned and paused long enough to take a few deep breaths, his stubby hands on his knees, before giving the ratling a quick thumbs up by way of communication.

Then he began to stare off into the shadows as they walked, while Scorpion dreaded the impending conversation. The ratling decided rather to initiate a conversation on his own terms and lay his anxiety to rest.

"Can you make heat?"

"I can make things look very hot!"

"No, you said something about being able to make real fire."

"I can make real smoke," Bax reminded him. "Not fire."

"Can you make a little heat?" Scorpion pressed.

"Oh, interesting. Let me see. Can I make heat... No. Have I made heat in the past? Yes."

"How does that make sense?"

Bax made a long, almost pained sound in his throat as he struggled to answer. After a ridiculous wait, and not until Jeshu came into view did the gnome reply.

"Best I can guess is... I'm wrong?"

"About which one," Scorpion growled.

"Well how would I know? I'll have to do some tests."

Ahead, Jeshu swung his hammer at a massive, encroaching slime, splattering half of it, while the other half almost immediately froze in place. He swung again and the frozen slime shattered into a million shards.

Scorpion took a deep breath. "You said you did it in the past. What did you do in the past?"

"I..." Bax squirmed. "I made it a little warm."

"How warm."

Bax thought. "Balmy?" Despite the unimpressive claim, the gnome's tone hinted at exaggeration. "But you have to understand, it was mid-April, so..."

Scorpion's eye twitched, and he shook his head in annoyance.

"And a temperate climate, if you're... um... factoring—"

Another scream came from ahead. Scorpion recognized Ja'hek's voice, though he had never heard her scream before. Though the azaeri's voice cracked almost comically, it still sent a shiver clear to the tip of his tail.

A tendril of thick slime gripped the commander's leg, and yanked her from her feet. Scorpion hurried ahead, but Jeshu was far closer and he brought his hammer down to split the tarry limb with such ferocity that the explosion of frost made it halfway up the azaeri's leg before she wrenched herself free with a crack, leaving half her calf behind.

Jesh only had time to give her a horrified, concerned look before swinging again to finish the slime.

The azaeri commander let out a piercing, though muffled caw, and tried to rise but momentarily blacked out, crashing back to the ground.

Scorpion rushed to her side, tearing the strap from his satchel, but when he reached her, he found the stump of her leg so frigid that it would not bleed until it thawed.

Regardless, the ratling stooped and tied the strap around her remaining calf like a belt. However, her leg was too small for the current holes, so he bit into the leather with one of his crooked fangs, then managed to buckle it quite tightly.

He stood protectively over the commander until Jeshu returned to treat her.

"I'm so sorry..." he said, a grave look on his face. "That was reckless."

"Reckless is the safest way to fight," Scorpion exaggerated. "Who knows what would have happened if you weren't there."

Still, the druid's eyes began to tear up as he did what little he could.

"How about this?" Bax cried out.

Scorpion and Jeshu turned to see a smaller slime, made of magma, splurting and smoking along. Jeshu flinched at the sight of the creature, but Scorpion placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Is it hot?"

"It's gotta be, right?" The gnome leaned over and stuck his finger into the illusion. This time Scorpion flinched, but a moment later the disappointed gnome withdrew his hand and stuck a couple fingers in his mouth. "Well, it's... lukewarm."

"Warmer than the surrounding air?" Jeshu asked, catching on to the scheme.

"Well, no, but you have to calculate psychological factors."

Out of the corner of his eye, Scorpion caught Spindle sneaking past him toward the rest of the soldiers, but he ignored her.

Ja'hek opened her eyes, happening to face the cracked remains of her foot. A gold-tinted greave still protruded from the ice.

She reached out for Jeshu's administering hand, to pat it gently, but the lines of worry on his face only deepened.

Down the road where they had just come, a sudden bright flame blazed through the gloom, and soon the rudra could be seen walking side by side with the insect, along with three female soldiers.

Cricket waved, and shouted out. "They're not magic!"

No one bothered to ask for clarification until they were much closer.

"I hit one with a khopesh. I thought, maybe, since they were black like my clones... but they're made of something else."

Oydd saw the commander's wound, and quickly looked to her face, only to see a grim expression.

"We won't leave you behind."

Ja'hek stared back with a steely glaze, as if to defy him, but the rudra only doubled down. "I forbid it."

Oddly, this seemed to sadden the azaeri warrior, and she looked upon her remaining troops with something akin to remorse.

"Bax, is this slime yours?" Oydd asked, indicating the magma slime.

"Oh, yes. Do you like it? Tell me if you think it's warm."

"Didn't you say you could make smoke?" Cricket said.

"Well, I..."

"Bax, though I don't quite understand your illusions," Oydd interjected, "That sounds like true manifestation. Have you ever been able to make anything else real?"

Bax sighed fondly. "Memories, Oydd. Memories."

"Anything that wasn't a trick of the senses?"

"An odd way to think of memories, but... yes."

Breeching his usual decorum in an effort to save time, Oydd reached out to the gnome's mind unsolicited, and began to mutter to himself as if flipping through the pages of a book. "There. I see. Your spells actually use a very small amount of mana. I'm curious what you could do with..." Oydd did not finish expressing his thought, but rather closed his eyes and the violet lobe within his cranium began to pulse.

"Try using this."

"You never give me any magic!" Cricket whined. "It's—"

"It would tear you to pieces!" Oydd snipped. "And I have... once. Once out of concern when you were making too many clones."

"Oh..." Cricket still looked a bit miffed, though he turned away.

"Bax?" Scorpion prodded.

"Yes?"

"Do you... feel anything?"

Oydd answered for him smugly, "I assure you he does."

"I feel a bit... feathery."

"That's not a feeling," Scorpion hissed.

"It is," Bax said, a little hurt. "Like... you know how you normally go down? Well, I feel like going up!"

Bax stood. The others watched him keenly, unsure if he were speaking literally or metaphorically.

Bax sniffed the air, then kicked the ground with his boots and pounded on his chest, attempting to convey some unknown emotion. Then he locked his fingers and cracked his knuckles, and a very faint wind picked up.

It was so brief, the others were uncertain if the gnome were responsible, until he looked from face to face, clearly expecting his audience to be more impressed.

"Well, that's it for now," he said, dusting his leggings, as if to wipe off the wind. "But that's good, right? That's, er... manifestation?"

After a short silence, Scorpion spoke up. "You were supposed to make the slime hot."

"I was? Why?"

Jeshu answered calmly, "To draw the black ones away."

Oydd frowned. "I'm going to give you a little more mana, and this time, see if you can produce a little heat. Jeshu is able to maintain it, if you and I are able to produce it." Oydd looked to Jeshu for confirmation, and the druid nodded.

Scorpion watched impatiently as the three magic-users stood about doing seemingly nothing. Just when he was about to sit down and clean his sword, he sensed another presence out in the gloom—this one much more powerful than the slimes. Like the slimes, it seemed composed of something fluid, though not formless, and its energy was not aimless but profoundly focused. The entity was far more dense than the slimes, and somehow darker. Scorpion closed his eyes, still learning how to utilize Bale's keen perception, but his instincts only burned in fear! Soon he sensed a second, and then a third being.

They moved straight for the weary group with an intense, almost hungry excitement. In spite of himself, the hairs on the back of Scorpion's neck began to stand on end. Scorpion gripped his sword tightly, but looked to Cricket before shouting out an alarm, wondering if the insect also sensed them.

Cricket smiled, and waved at the forms appearing in the darkness. "Hey! My clones are back!"