Next chapter of MSDT.
Previous chapters here.
-but i can only give-
"...This is it," Gerik says, out of the blue and to no one in particular.
"What's 'it,' Gerik?" Innes asks.
"The Demon King. We've all got our sacred weapons--all we have to do is get across the room and then fight him."
Weapons don't make everything, is what he doesn't say. They've all been training for this, to the point where Amelia is used to fighting on horseback and on foot, where Ewan can wield light magic and staves as well as anima, where Ross can kill a run-of-the-mill gargoyle in two blows (one if he's lucky), and where Gerik has taken up axes.
A silver one gleams in his hand.
And they start.
-
This battle is harder than it looks. Sure, the monsters aren't exactly bounty hunters--even the dragon zombies are surprisingly slow once you get over that fearful sort of jolt in your stomach--but they're everywhere, and the unit's getting worn out.
And even if they're fine, their weapons aren't because there's only so many times you can hit things before something breaks.
The second dragon zombie is Gerik's last victim before the silver axe reaches its limit, so he throws the splintered shaft away and gets a tomahawk out. A wight advances on him, fleshless bones clicking like beads as it raises its lance to strike.
He dodges the first blow, but a gorgon's stare catches his eye even as he smashes the wight's skull.
So he stops and tries to look away (they can't do anything if you don't look back) but already there's dark magic seeping into his skin and muscle and bone--
And thunder comes from the temple's clear stone sky. The gorgon shrieks as it dies, burning in one single absolute strike.
Saleh.
-
"I was lucky," Saleh tells him after coming over from... where? "Bolting is hard to pinpoint."
It sounds like what it is: bulky, and unwieldy like regret.
"Thanks, Saleh."
-
After the first spectacular hit, Saleh uses a normal thunder tome and Gerik notices something.
Is his hair lighter than normal? He doesn't know how it's possible, being in an old stone temple with average to dim light; but there they are, bits of light weaving in and out through Saleh's cloud-grey hair like fireflies.
He looks like the storm god.
"Y'know Saleh, there's sparks in your hair from all the thunder."
A stifled noise; was that a laugh?
"No one's... bothered to tell me before."
He reaches out to ruffle Saleh's hair; would that shake the sparks out?
Strike.
"Ow--!" White heat bursts up his arm and something jolts in his chest, and if it weren't for his fair magic resistance he'd probably have fried like a pine in the desert.
"Gerik?" Saleh asks, and he is not a storm god anymore.
"I'm fine--just got shocked." He looks at his hand and sees a blistered, reddened palm. "It stings a little, but it's too small to waste my elixir on."
But Saleh looks at him, and it's that look so Gerik waits.
Saleh doesn't get his staff ready, though. Just reaches out with two fingers and heals him, like the healers do when someone gets a scrape or dislocates something.
These are the things that the others don't see.
-
Note: The sparks bit was from Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic. One of the characters, Tris, is a weather-witch and she can literally throw lightning around like spears. I found it interesting that sparks gathered in her hair after a while, and it tended to scare people, so I lightened it a bit for Saleh and Gerik.
Crossposted to
fe_fiction.</lj>
-but i can only give-
"...This is it," Gerik says, out of the blue and to no one in particular.
"What's 'it,' Gerik?" Innes asks.
"The Demon King. We've all got our sacred weapons--all we have to do is get across the room and then fight him."
Weapons don't make everything, is what he doesn't say. They've all been training for this, to the point where Amelia is used to fighting on horseback and on foot, where Ewan can wield light magic and staves as well as anima, where Ross can kill a run-of-the-mill gargoyle in two blows (one if he's lucky), and where Gerik has taken up axes.
A silver one gleams in his hand.
And they start.
-
This battle is harder than it looks. Sure, the monsters aren't exactly bounty hunters--even the dragon zombies are surprisingly slow once you get over that fearful sort of jolt in your stomach--but they're everywhere, and the unit's getting worn out.
And even if they're fine, their weapons aren't because there's only so many times you can hit things before something breaks.
The second dragon zombie is Gerik's last victim before the silver axe reaches its limit, so he throws the splintered shaft away and gets a tomahawk out. A wight advances on him, fleshless bones clicking like beads as it raises its lance to strike.
He dodges the first blow, but a gorgon's stare catches his eye even as he smashes the wight's skull.
So he stops and tries to look away (they can't do anything if you don't look back) but already there's dark magic seeping into his skin and muscle and bone--
And thunder comes from the temple's clear stone sky. The gorgon shrieks as it dies, burning in one single absolute strike.
Saleh.
-
"I was lucky," Saleh tells him after coming over from... where? "Bolting is hard to pinpoint."
It sounds like what it is: bulky, and unwieldy like regret.
"Thanks, Saleh."
-
After the first spectacular hit, Saleh uses a normal thunder tome and Gerik notices something.
Is his hair lighter than normal? He doesn't know how it's possible, being in an old stone temple with average to dim light; but there they are, bits of light weaving in and out through Saleh's cloud-grey hair like fireflies.
He looks like the storm god.
"Y'know Saleh, there's sparks in your hair from all the thunder."
A stifled noise; was that a laugh?
"No one's... bothered to tell me before."
He reaches out to ruffle Saleh's hair; would that shake the sparks out?
Strike.
"Ow--!" White heat bursts up his arm and something jolts in his chest, and if it weren't for his fair magic resistance he'd probably have fried like a pine in the desert.
"Gerik?" Saleh asks, and he is not a storm god anymore.
"I'm fine--just got shocked." He looks at his hand and sees a blistered, reddened palm. "It stings a little, but it's too small to waste my elixir on."
But Saleh looks at him, and it's that look so Gerik waits.
Saleh doesn't get his staff ready, though. Just reaches out with two fingers and heals him, like the healers do when someone gets a scrape or dislocates something.
These are the things that the others don't see.
-
Note: The sparks bit was from Tamora Pierce's Circle of Magic. One of the characters, Tris, is a weather-witch and she can literally throw lightning around like spears. I found it interesting that sparks gathered in her hair after a while, and it tended to scare people, so I lightened it a bit for Saleh and Gerik.
Crossposted to
fe_fiction.</lj>