Feral Mage 3: Chapter 21

Bryce watched as the Quill Wyvern tore the leg from a sea elf guard, the man screaming as he tried to drag himself away. Only for the monster to pin him with its claws before tearing away his other one.

The abomination was lying in a bloody wriggling mess, and the guards, both sea elves and puppets, were torn apart and being swarmed by Carrion Fairies. The monsters had only needed seconds to take out the force that Charlotte had used to assault the home of a Duke.

Bryce approached the feasting Wyvern with his Manticore and Primal Troll Aspects active. Unlike when he fought it on the narrow bridge, this time they were on a road with a wooded area on one side and a small meadow on the other, giving Bryce plenty of room to maneuver. Something the Manticore Aspect specialized in.

The Wyvern’s eyes locked on him, and Bryce saw its wings quickly flex, launching several quills at him. He dove behind a large tree, the quills striking the ground where he had been moments ago. Tightening his grip on his sword, Bryce raced from behind the tree, trying to close the distance between himself and the Wyvern.

Carrion Fairies flew at him, but his sword sliced through them, and the swarms struggled to keep pace with him. The Wyvern’s jaws snapped out toward him as he neared, Bryce feeling the wind from the bite as he dodged and delivered a blow to the Wyvern’s face. His blade cut a deep groove right next to the creature’s eye.

Damn it, I missed!

He had hoped to take out one of its eyes. This fight would be much easier if he had a blind spot to take advantage of. The Wyvern’s tail whipped toward him, forcing Bryce to roll along the ground. Quills shot from it at him, and he felt one strike his leg. When he stopped rolling, he pulled the quill free and dodged again as the Wyvern tried to bite off his head. This time, he slid under the creature and attempted to drive his sword up to where he suspected its heart was located, only for the Carrion Fairies to swarm from the wound on its chest and attack him.

He had barely pierced the monster’s skin with his weapon when the Fairies swarmed him like angry bees and forced him to abandon the blade and flee, his claws and strength crushing those that managed to get to him before they could burrow into his body. His sword was still buried in the Wyvern’s skin when he gained some distance, the beast roaring in fury as the Carrion Fairies swarmed the new wound.

Bryce frantically looked for a new blade among the carnage that had been Charlotte’s guards. He spotted a spear as the Wyvern charged at him, its wings spreading as if to launch another volley of spikes at him.

“Shit,” he swore as he raced for the spear in the hands of a dead sea elf guard.

As his hands closed around the weapon, he heard the Wyvern roar. Spinning, Bryce turned and aimed the spear at the monster, expecting it to be right behind him and hoping his Primal Troll Aspect would heal him quickly enough to move if it sent the volley of spikes at him.

Instead, the Wyvern was further away from him than he expected, an arrow sticking out of its eye. He looked to the edge of the woods and saw Vex drawing another arrow before launching it at the monster. This one struck beside the other, and the beast roared once more before turning to face the wolfgirl.

“Vex!” Bryce yelled.

He raced after the monster that was charging at his lover. His mind was grasping for a way to stop it before it got to her.

Damn it! Run Vex!

She stood there at the forest’s edge, calmly drawing her bow and sending another arrow at the charging beast. She fired three more, all striking near the same place on the Wyvern.

“Janna! Now!” Vex yelled.

Bryce saw something glow bright red on the cluster of arrows sticking out of the Wyvern. A glow that was very familiar to him.

Mana crystals?

The thought had just entered his mind when an explosion of fire erupted from where the arrows were, knocking the Wyvern to the ground and stopping its charge. As it cried out in pain, Janna and Callie rushed from the woods, weapons drawn. Despite still being in her dress, Callie charged the Wyvern. Her blade cut into the webbing of its right wing before the Carrion Fairies tried to swarm her.

As if waiting for the parasites' attack on Callie, Janna slashed her naginata in the air at them, its blade glowing orange. A stream of fire shot from the weapon, cooking many of the flying little monsters and forcing the rest to flee from Callie.

He couldn’t help but smile at his girls’ teamwork as he closed in on the Wyvern. Figuring Vex’s stunt with the mana crystal arrows had taken out one of the monster’s eyes, Bryce approached the other side as the creature tried to right itself. It glared at him with its remaining reptilian eye as Bryce thrust the spear at it. The weapon struck true, and the Wyvern lashed about in pain, forcing Bryce to release the spear.

“Take cover!” Bryce yelled to the girls. “It’s going to get desperate!”

Vex immediately ducked behind a tree, while Callie and Janna raced for the woodline. He turned and ran to where Charlotte lay unconscious, scooping the sea elf up in his arms and rushing to the nearest tree for cover. He dropped her to the ground once there and peeked around the trunk as he canceled his Manticore Aspect to watch the now blind Wyvern. He still kept his Primal Troll Aspect active. He wasn’t dropping that around the Wyvern or Charlotte, at least not until he had her tied up.

The Wyvern roared as it thrashed about, trying to find those who attacked it. He saw it try to beat its wings, but the one Callie had cut the webbing on failed to catch the air, and it remained on the ground. After the failed attempt by the beast to flee, Bryce heard a rattling sound echo throughout the woods and meadow as the creature’s tail and wings shook. A warning about what was coming. He leaned back behind the tree as the first volley of quills shot forth. Unlike the other times the monster had used this attack, it wasn’t trying to conserve its quills. Volley after volley fired from it, the bone spikes stabbing the ground and trees in the creature’s desperate last bid to live. When the rain of spikes finally stopped, Bryce pulled on his Pale Queen Aspect and stepped from the tree.

The beast was now naked of its namesake, and Bryce could see the toll the Carrion Fairies had taken on its body. Without its quills, the creature looked emaciated. He felt a tinge of pity for the Wyvern. Sure, it was more than a match for Charlotte’s guards and the abomination, but it was a shell of what it should have been.

This was a pack animal without its pack, alone in a strange land, struggling to survive while being eaten alive. Ciarra was right. He needed to grant it the mercy of death.

Bryce whistled, drawing the monster’s attention toward him. It let out a roar as it charged in the direction of the sound. He dashed forward to meet it. As the two of them neared each other, Bryce slid under the Wyvern, lunging and gripping his sword still embedded in the monster’s chest. He pushed up using the strength of the Primal Troll while the chitin gauntlets of the Pale Queen formed ice along the blade. The beast thrashed around once more, trying to dislodge him, but the blade was now too deep, and the ice held it in place. He did his best to hold on, pushing more of the Pale Queen’s Ice Magic into the blade. Carrion Fairies buzzed around him, with more pouring out of the monster’s festering wound.

“You put up a hell of a fight,” Bryce said, feeling his throat become cold. “Now rest.”

He released his Ice Breath at the festering wound, the Carrion Fairies freezing and dropping to the ground. He kept the breath going until he froze all of the ones flying around him. When he noticed the Wyvern’s legs quiver, as it let out a pathetic growl, he released the blade and backed away from the monster. The beast dropped to the ground a moment later, its body shivering and breathing labored.

Bryce knew the fight was over. This was merely the death throes of the beast, its heart and a good portion of its blood now frozen by his magic. He watched until its body finally became still before he pulled out his knife.

“Everyone okay?” he yelled, looking toward the forest’s edge.

Vex, Janna, Callie, and even Thea and Omelet stepped out from the woodline and started walking toward him.

“Yes,” Vex answered.

He smiled at the wolfgirl before he approached the Wyvern’s corpse and cut a large slice of meat from its wing. Holding the bloody meat in his hand, he pointed to the tree where he had left the sea elf.

“Princess Charlotte is behind that tree. She’s trouble, and I’m pretty sure a cleric,” he said, looking at the girls. “Tie her up and gag her. We’ll have a lot of questions for her, as I’m sure the Duke will.”

Vex frowned at the tree and spoke in her native language.

“We arrived too early. Should have waited for the Wyvern to eat the Princess,” she said in beastkin.

Bryce smirked at his lover’s words before he took the first bite of the Quill Wyvern. He felt its essence gather in his body, and he continued to eat more and more of the raw flesh. When his gut was full and he doubted he could take another bite, he knelt beside the corpse and focused on drawing the essence out. As he did, the world turned black.

Bryce found himself sitting on a stone throne in what appeared to be a prison, with cells sealed with iron bars along the walls. He looked around as memories of what this place was slowly came back to him. He saw the giant statue of Ciarra behind his throne, then spotted the Manticore resting in one of the cells.

This is my soul.

He stood up from the stone seat and began walking past the cells, where he saw the Pale Queen and the Primal Troll. One cell was filling with wisps of black smoke that were slowly taking the shape of the Quill Wyvern. Bryce stopped and watched as the creature took shape, then turned and looked at the end of the room, where an oak door covered in carvings of monsters stood.

“I guess she wants a meeting,” he said to himself before approaching the door.

When he opened it, he found himself standing in a ruined castle with a pitch black sky above. He gave it a sparing glance before focusing on the woman sitting before him. The moment his gaze met Ciarra’s, fear filled his body, and his legs gave out, forcing him to kneel before her.

A humorous laugh escaped the Goddess.

“You’ve grown more used to my presence, but my gaze is still too much for you,” Ciarra said as she stood from the throne and approached him.

Bryce tried to fight against the sensation of fear that was forcing him to kneel, but the best he could muster was looking up at her. Ciarra’s smile grew at his effort, and he felt her hand reach out to play with his hair.

“You’ve done well, my Champion,” she said, her fingers running along his scalp. “I’m pleased with you.”

Bryce recalled how those same fingers had sliced open his back not long ago—the fickled nature of the Goddess he was forced to serve.

“Then why am I here?” he growled.

Ciarra’s fingers left his scalp, and she moved to sit once more upon her throne. She rested her chin on the hand that she had been using to toy with him a moment earlier as she watched him.

“The Champion of the God of Fate has seen fit to mock my children. I do not take this slight lightly,” Ciarra answered, her tone dark. “As my champion, I want you to bring my retribution to this fool.”