Outside Influences

Bel didn’t want to step on any toes – or other appendages – so she just drained the essence from the dead nearest to her. That still advanced her two thresholds, to the eigth if her count was correct. She didn’t spare the time to concentrate on the abilities around her cores – hopefully, she would get a free moment to do that later.

She avoided her brother’s gaze as she darted around, but she could feel it like a weight on her back.

She peeked at him from the corner of her eyes and cringed. From his expression, she could tell that James was fed up with waiting for her to break the silence. His eyes were red-rimmed, but Bel couldn’t tell if he was more likely to cry or to shout. Maybe both.

“So you’re just going to ditch us?”

Bel’s lower lip trembled as she looked her brother in the eye, surprised by the sudden surge in emotions that clogged her chest. “I don’t want to, but…”

She roughly ran her forearm across her face, wiping away the forming tears. Leaving is the right thing! Why is this so hard?

“If you don’t want to, then stay! Like Beth said, the Outpost is supposed to be like a huge, inverted fortress. We’ll stay there for a little while, build up our power, and then crush this Ravager guy. He’s just some miniboss bullshit.” James glared at her, and Bel’s vision blurred.

Bel rushed forward to give him a hug. “I’m sorry James. I don’t know what you’ve heard about the Dark Ravager, but he’s nearly a god – or at least closer to a god than we are to him. I can’t stay.” She took a step back. “If I can get back to Satrap then he and Technis can go at it and hopefully leave everyone here alone.”

She looked him in the eyes again. “That’s the closest thing to a win that we can get.”

Bel saw Daran’s feet fidgeting from the corner of her vision. “I’m sure Daran would tell you that they don’t really want to fight the Dark Ravager either.”

“But what that contract from your ritual? And your three patrons? Your mom probably wants you to get help from the people here,” James argued.

Bel laughed. “James, my mom – if mother is truly the right word for someone who puts together life like we would craft a doll – who knows what she wants? The three of them stand for upheaval, chaos, and corporal punishment.” Bel gestured at the empty sands around them. “Maybe they just want to melt everything down. Maybe I’m just an agent of destruction and chaos, James.”

“But Bel–”

“No, James,” she cut him off with a slash of her arm. “You need to stop being my whipping boy. Don’t suffer for me anymore. These troubles belong to me – let me lead them away from you.”

She switched to English and held his head close. “Look, you’ve always dreamed about living your portal fantasy life, right? Now you’ve finally met your ant princess – go out there and start your best magical fantasy life.” She grinned at him. “Have a bunch of healthy ant-children, or whatever, you perv.”

He laughed weakly. “It’s totally natural,” he claimed.

Bel snorted and hugged him tightly.

Then she tore herself away from him and strode over to her riding lizard.

To her surprise, Beth stood in her way.

“Hey kid.” Beth looked away, a rare flash of guilt clouding her expression before she pressed on. “Look, it’s true, when I rescued you it was just because Durak promised that freeing you would lead to my revenge somehow. After I’ve spent time with you, well…”

Beth clapped Bel on the shoulder. “Well, I’d be lying if I said that you haven’t grown on me. I understand why you’re leaving. Stay alive – once I can whip up an army I’m coming after you.”

Bel couldn’t stop a smile from sneaking onto her face. “I’m sorry that we don’t see eye to eye on some things, Beth. And thanks. I know how hard it is for you to say something nice.”

“Ah, shut it.” Beth swept her up in her single arm and squeezed her like she was cracking open a lobster. Bel grunted in pain as she felt her bones creak. She stumbled when Beth finally released her.

Beth reached down to her side and shoved something into Bel’s hands. “Take this. It’s my second favorite dagger. Since I can only handle one at a time now I think you’ll get better use out of it.” She waved the weapon under Bel’s nose. “But if you chip it stabbing a stone or some shit I’ll find you and murder you myself, got it?”

She hugged the long, slender stiletto to her chest.

Beth was always close-lipped about her past, but Bel knew that the weapon had belonged to someone important to her sister who was killed by Technis' priests.

She glanced down at the dagger, her eyes taking in the wave motif on the handle and the pair of small, blue gems set at the ends of the cross guard before looking back into her sister's eyes.

“I'll treasure it,” she promised.

Bel laughed weakly as she accepted the weapon. “Sure, Beth. Thank you. I know how much your weapons mean to you.”

Bel looked up and saw that there was an uncomfortably large crowd gathering. Daran was waving her hands around as she tried to explain things, but Bel figured that she should get going before someone freaked. She wasn’t sure how happy they would be when they learned that the Dark Ravager had attacked because a spirit-blooded person had attracted his attention.

She hopped up onto her lizard and looked at the crowd one more time, finally noticing a lonely figure. “Hey James, can you look out for the scorpion kid for me? He kind of came to my rescue. I’m not going to get a chance to thank him myself.”

James glanced over and nodded. “Yeah. Sure, leave it to me.” He managed to put a smile on his face. “Once I show him how to roll he’ll have to pry the ladies from him carapace with a spatula.”

“Uh… yeah, sure.” Bel grinned and shook her head at her brother’s view of the world. Then she turned to her two wizened companions and gestured at the riding lizard. “Now, how do I operate this thing?”

It was the better part of an hour before Bel adjusted to the riding lizard’s side-to-side gait. The jostling was uncomfortable, but Bel appreciated their fast pace. She knew that she was being silly, but the wind blowing across her face made her feel as though she was making progress.

Progress implied that she was going somewhere, but in reality she knew that her plans were too vague. They were heading vaguely east, back towards the Spine Mountains and the Barrier, but she had no plan after getting there. Bel stared blankly at the horizon, watching for the familiar blue tint that marked the prison around Satrap.

She smiled grimly. She had spent years dreaming of getting out; now that she was out she wanted to get back in. Well, her real goal had been to keep get away from everyone else so she wouldn’t bring down the Dark Ravager’s attention upon a bunch of bystanders. That was probably why Jan and Flann had offered to help her.

The old men weren’t much for conversation at the moment. Jan was concentrating on holding up a denser than usual dome of sand to shield them, not just from the birds above, but also from humanoid observers across the desert. Flann didn’t have anything to do, so the wily fox had promptly fallen asleep. He was snoring slightly, and from time to time his whiskers and tail would twitch like he was having an exciting dream.

Eventually Bel couldn’t take the silence any more. “Hey Jan, am I doing the right thing? Or am I just going to get myself killed for nothing?”

“Hmm?” Jan rubbed his face. “Well, you know my great-granddaughter lives in the Outpost, right? I’d be right pissed if’n you lead the Ravager to ‘er. Simplest thing to do is to just dump you in the river, float you out to sea, an’ hope that the Ravager follows ya.”

Jan chuckled at the thought. Bel didn’t find it humorous.

“Ah, sorry. Just old man humor.” Jan cleared his throat uncomfortably. “Nah, you seem a right good person, I wouldn’t do that to ya. But leavin’ was the right call. These kids, they don’t appreciate that the Dark Ravager never actually got involved in the old fightin’ that their parents and grandparents remember.” He shook his head. “He never much cared about all this.”

The old man gestured out at the nothing in every direction, still barely visible through the thin screen of sand that his ability was holding around them. “The Golden Plains didn’t used to be like this, you know. The name is for the fields of wheat that used to grow here, not this empty expanse of sand.”

Bel looked around, trying to imagine the area as a fertile plain rather than a never-ending desert. “What happened?”

“War. The gods.” Jan shrugged, the tiredness of his long life creeping into his voice. “This was before Durak ascended, and was already a legend when I was a kid, but the impacts will be around forever.”

Jan smushed one of his fists into an open palm. “Durak, the Dark Ravager, and couple other ascendant candidates really went at it. A couple of them died, one of them fled behind the Blue Wall, and Durak killed his way into godhood.” Jan rubbed at his snout, going after an itch. “I really would have expected Durak to come finish things by now. Stories of him never made him seem like one of the patient ones.”

“Wait – Durak, the Dark Ravager, and Technis – they all knew each other?”

“Technis is the one behind the blue wall?” Jan confirmed.

Bel nodded.

“Yeah. They were all around at the same time at least. Bunch of people who were cooperating on their way to ascendance, until they started stabbing one another in the back. Something like that.”

He chuckled. “People don’t stop to write stuff down when they’re runnin’ for their lives, so the stories are a bit muddled.”

“Huh,” Bel nodded. “Interesting. I think I’m supposed to fight Technis.”

Jan’s bushy eyebrows rose slightly. “Why’s that?”

“Because he is guilty and must be punished.”

“Uh… okay kid. If he’s the one who built the blue wall then we’re not a fan either. Ruined our weather forever.”

Bel’s eyes widened. “This is all desert because of the Barrier? Because of Technis?”

“Part of it. Somewhere in there the Dark Ravager figured out how to advance his Path by capturing spirits. There used to be plenty of them – spirits of the water, wind, and soil were commonplace.”

The old meerkat shook his head. “Stories say that spirits were a nuisance, but with a bit of coaxing you could get them to help out. Shift the winds here, purify some ocean water there, whatever. We could have maybe gotten through after the change in weather if they’d still been around, but by the time all the dust settled they were gone from the Golden Plains and every neighboring island.”

“Wow. So you’ve never even seen one?”

“Nah. Flann once – hey Flann! Wake up you old geezer!”

The fox’s eyes snapped open and he looked around. “What? Whadya want? I was sleepin’. Have you gotten us lost again?”

“No, we aren’t lost!”

Jan looked up and corrected the course of his lizard a quarter turn to the right, and the other two followed. The old meerkat cleared his throat. “Back on topic, I was just telling the young lady that you saw a spirit once, right?”

“Ah, yeah, back when I was about a hundred years younger.” He laughed and rubbed his hands over his fuzzy cheeks. “It wasn’t long before one of Ravager’s priests showed up and dragged it away. Why’re you talking about spirits?”

“Just tellin’ her some history. And that’s pretty much it – no more spirits, everyone started starving, and we’re all just a few generations of poor breeding away from turnin’ as dumb as these poor lizards.”

Bel looked at her mount. “Wait, these things aren’t related to humans too, are they?”

Jan laughed and slapped his knee.

“They could be,” Flann pointed out. “Not like we have records.”

Jan snorted. “That’s the Bargainer’s truth. I figure my grandson must have descended from some deepwater eel to be so slimy, but I just can’t prove it.” He laughed bitterly at his own joke.

“That reminds me,” Bel started, “do you know someone named Rikja?”

“Rikja?” Jan looked at her with evident surprise. “She’s another one of my useless grandson’s daughters, but she ran away from the nest years ago. Where’d you run into her, girl?

“Oh.” Bel grimaced. “She was with the Dark Ravager’s people.”

Jan spit angrily and clacked his teeth. “Damn kids! I near died in the war keepin’ us free and now they’re just throwin’ themselves at ’is feet!”

“Now, now, Jan, a couple crooked teeth don’t ruin the bite.”

“Easy for you to say, what with your children all living fat and happy at the Outpost!”

Flann rolled his eyes, but didn’t have a response.

Jan waved a finger at Bel, nose twitching angrily. “If you see that thankless spawn of mine you tell her how disappointed she’s made her great-grandfather!” Then he turned to his friend. “And you, you sly fox, you teach this girl how to deal with a flame mage so she doesn’t get all burned up.”

“Why do I need to do anything?” Flann whined.

Jan sprayed him in the face with a small geyser of sand. “Because I said so!”

A clod of sand hit Bel on the back too. “And don’t you look like this has nothing to do you with, missy! Yer too weak, so we’ll have to train you up a bit. We’ll start with the desert eagles.”

The two old men had her to listen through almost an entire day of advice, old war stories, and unnecessary bird facts before they deemed her ready to fight. Bel was itching for action by then. Instead of jumping into action though, she found herself standing around in the open.

A small cloud of sand a hundred strides from her obscured her companions. “Are you sure they’ll show up?” she shouted.

“A’ course!” came the faint reply.

“But I don’t see anything!”

“Stop talkin’ more lookin’!”

Bel snorted and looked up at the sky again. It was bright and cloudless. Looking too close to the sun made her want to sneeze. Everyone in the Golden Plains had been making such a big deal about these birds, but she was feeling underwhelmed.

“You got two comin’ for ya girl!”

Bel looked back at the sand cloud before a jolt of adrenaline snapped her attention back to the sky. Two of them? Where?

“They don’t fly, girl! Who said they fly?”

Bel hissed in annoyance. They’re birds, of course they fly!

Bel drew her short sword and dagger, Beth’s present in the off hand and her sword in her right. She spun in place, trying to locate her attackers.

“The other one’s to your left!”

Bel’s head pivoted and she saw a cloud of sand rapidly approaching from the indicated direction. She had only a moment before she had to dive to the side. She had an impression of taloned feet digging into the sand before being blasted with a spray of coarse grains as a dark mass tore right past her.

Bel pushed herself to her feet and then realized that the second bird was still coming. She threw her dagger in the vague direction of the oncoming threat as she dove again and rolled across the hot sand.

Somehow, her frantic throw was on target. The bird – a real monster with a wingspan three times Bel’s height, even if it wasn’t flying – twitched to the side to avoid the spinning spike of metal. It aborted its attack and hopped into the air and glided past her with an angry squawk.

Ah, I’ve already thrown Beth’s present into the dirt, just like she told me not to. Bel sucked in a steadying breath. At least I’m still alive.

As it went past her, Bel took in the hunched muscles of the eagle’s shoulders, the big, ugly hooked beak, and talons large enough to impale her. No wonder they made the people of the Golden Plains wary.

The birds had missed with their first attack, but they weren’t deterred. The pair let out indignant cries of frustration, before trotting in circles to come around for another pass. Bel turned to face them as they gathered speed, one slightly behind and the to side of the other.

Bel tried to anticipate their arrival, but they put on an unnatural burst of speed at the last moment; she guessed that they had some ability that allowed for sudden acceleration to snatch up unwary prey. They had abruptly gone from a good ten seconds away to perhaps half that much.

Bel figured that the ability explained why they weren’t flying at her. An ability would push them faster than their body could handle, but it wouldn’t necessarily make it possible for them to maneuver at that speed.

Maybe I can take advantage of that.

Bel planted her feet in the sand, looked the lead eagle in the eyes, and glared. It only twitched for a moment, but that was enough to send it sprawling into the sand. Its body tumbled end over end until it became a mess of wings, claws, and beak hurtling in her direction.

Bel stepped to the side to avoid it–

–and was almost blinded by a flare of light to her side. The other bird, still on track to rip her apart with its hooked beak, had just been roasted by a bolt of intense heat from Flann.

The wing of the lifeless bird still clipped her as it went past, and the force sent her stumbling around like she was doing some manic dance step. When her body stopped spinning she was a little dizzy, but shouts from her foxy savior helped to clear her mind.

“At least handle the first one, lass! It won’t be flyin’ anywhere, but it’s still kickin’!”

The first bird wasn’t quite kicking, but it was certainly alive.

Bel rushed over it. She didn’t hesitate to jump onto the neck of the dazed bird and repeatedly plunge her short sword through its thick plumage and through its throat and vertebrae.

Flann sauntered over to her as she wiped the gore from her weapon. “Well, you coulda done worse. Lucky thing these were a couple of juveniles.”

Bel stared at him. “Seriously?”

He grinned, flashing a toothy smile at her. “Of course! Maybe only two thirds grown, and without the hunting instincts of the adults. Nice trick throwing the first one off though, was that some kind of hypnotic ability? Disturbing sounds? Flashing lights?”

“Uh…”

Bel realized that she had no idea why looking at something with glare made them act the way that it did. “I have no idea,” she admitted. “I just look at them funny.”

Flann flicked his tail with disappointment. “Welp, sounds like we’ve got plenty o’ work to do. Grab yer essence, then we’ll make a nice dinner outta these things.”