3.22. Stronger Together

As I crept towards the occupied tent, there was only the sound of the wind chimes hanging from the nearby bridges. The cul-de-sac was otherwise empty. Not a soul moved other than Aslishtei and the representatives from the Healer’s Lodge.

I heard them arguing only once I came closer

Vorkut’s voice was peevish. “And I said, there’s been no change to their condition. Until we know more, these homes must remain closed to visitors, or else we risk spreading whatever this disease is to the rest of the city. There’s a good chance it was something in the food, but I’m not willing to take the risk, and neither I’d wager would the land knight.”

“And as I’ve told you,” Aslishtei said, “there’s a chance it’s a talent at work. A murderer—”

“A chance? You’d risk the city for a chance?”

Aslishtei’s beak clacked in frustration. “The symptoms are exactly the same as those described to me by the hunters involved.”

“Ah, hunters. How fortuitous to have consulted with experts in the matter.” The sarcasm turned into anger as he banged a fist against the chair’s armrest. “It is I who is the expert, and it is under my authority as an elder of the Healer’s Lodge that I forbid you or anyone else from entering these buildings!”

After a moment, his expression turned conciliatory. “I am not unsympathetic. I understand the torment of standing helplessly by, and it is that torment which I am stopping from spreading.”

“If it is an illness, then I will lock myself up with the others. Just let me inside. There are lives at stake.”

“Which is why I say no. No one will enter.”

I’d gotten to about five yards from the tent, and was just about to creep onto the riser, when a flutter of wings passed by my ear. For a moment, my heartrate spiked from the sudden reminder of being swarmed by cutter hawks, but it was just Aslishtei’s red songbird coming back to perch on her shoulder.

Her posture was already taut from arguing with Vorkut, but she tensed even more after listening to the songbird’s chirping. “There can be only one reason why you’re here.”

“Of course,” Vorkut said. “The welfare of the city is my and my lodge’s only concern.”

“Close your flapping mouth,” she spit out. “I’m not talking to you, fool.”

“How dare you—” Voorkut gasped when Aslishtei unhooked the two hoops at her side. “You wouldn’t."

“Don’t tempt me, but no these aren’t for you.” Her head turned slightly to the side, her crow’s eyes flicking to catch sight of me. “He’s here, isn’t he? Your Borba.”

“In the building directly behind you—the one with the vines engraved around the door. He’s at the fourth-floor window farthest from the main street, watching us.”

“Ah, that confirms it’s not an illness.” Aslishtei gestured and the blue songbird flew out from one of the hoops, darting up and over the rooftops. “I’ve called for the soldiers.”

“I wish you hadn’t done that,” I said. “He’ll run again—”

“If he does, I’ll track him,” she said, and then it was the red songbirds turn to fly off. He took a position high above us, flying in circles.

“You didn’t let me finish. He’ll run again or he’ll take hostages.”

Aslishtei’s voice was fierce. “I saw what your Borba did to that girl. My assumption was that my kin would suffer the same fate. If not for the chance this fool of a healer was right, I would’ve already stormed the building myself.”

“He’s not mine, nor anyone else’s. Borba’s given up the ties that bound us as brothers. And we don’t know if your kin are dead. He’s kept some of his victims alive to use as—” I struggled to come up with a translation for ‘battery’— “a holding tank for qi.”

Well, those were trees, but she didn’t need to know that.

I continued: “If we go in quiet, and take him by surprise, we can kill him before he drains them to death. The longer we wait, though, the weaker they’ll get and the quicker they’ll run dry.”

Her spirit was hard to read, but at least she seemed to be considering helping my team.

“And if our attack doesn’t work out,” I said, “then you can still track him. You won’t lose anything you wouldn’t have already lost.”

“What do you need from me?”

I breathed a little easier. We were short on time, but needed— “Information. Is there more than one way up to the fourth floor?”

“No, a wide spiral staircase leads up to the leisteila, and that’s all.”

“I don’t know the word.”

“A leisteila is special area for visitors. It is an open space with rugs, cushions, and small tables for small intimate gatherings and conversation. We will be doing it a disservice by fighting there, but the family will understand.”

“If my team approaches from the bridges, can you hold the staircase to keep Borba from fleeing? Just in case.”

“I am a magician of some renown,” Aslishtei said with pride.

“And finally, do the people living in the building have access to qi spells or abilities?”

“Peltwei talents tend towards magic, so it’s likely.”

“You don’t know? I thought you were kin.”

“All the peltwei are kin, some closer than others.”

Well, hell, magic was a wild card that I’d hoped to avoid.

There was always the chance he’d mark someone and gain new abilities, Yuki said. Who knows what he picked up from Wusta.

“We’ll just have to adapt,” I said. “Give my team time to get into position, then storm away from this tent, like you’ve had enough of the healers, like you’re not going to let anything stop you—”

Vorkut cleared his throat. “It will look more realistic if we send someone after her. Makul’s bodyguard will do, and he will help protect the honored magician. It is the least our lodge can do to erase the threat posed by this rogue hunter.”

Okay, so Rulus was Markut’s bodyguard, which meant he wasn’t an assassin, or at least probably not. Argh, we really don’t have time for all this. We needed to act soon. Who knew what kind of internal timeline Borba was operating from?

Aslishtei eyed the bodyguard. She must’ve had the same thought as me, because she said, “Fine. He and Krees together should be enough to ensure my safety.”

Neither Makul or Rulus looked particularly happy with this development, but the master healer nodded. “We are honored to be of service.”

“All right,” I said, taking back control of the conversation. “We have a plan: Once you’re in the building, climb up to the fourth floor, making noise as necessary and calling out to your kin, so that Borba’s paying attention to you and not us. Be ready for us to strike. The signal—”

“I’ll send my Little Red to you when I’m ready.”

“Right. When we see Little Red, we’ll attack. You’ll hear our Spiral Pierce spell—they’re loud—and then start your own assault.”

Her doubled voice made her sound ominous: “My power will tear him apart.”

There was nothing else to say after that, so I made my way back to my team to report on what I’d learned. The response was frowns all around, but we couldn’t exactly spend a lot of time refining the plan. We’d just have to roll with events as they happened.

Once everyone was fully Camouflaged again, we snuck to the entrances of the buildings adjacent to the one Borba was in. People kept their doors unlocked during the day, and these were no different. Borba’s sight lines to our locations were bad, so we were able to slip inside without issue.

Inside, we moved quickly through an entryway that looked like it doubled as a mudroom into a large room furnished with polished wood and the usual carpets and cushions. A couple of peltwei sat together, murmuring, while a third stood at window looking out at the street. He turned to see why the door had swung open ‘on its own,’ but Mumu led the two of us whisper quiet across the carpet to a staircase at the back.

The stairs opened onto to a kitchen on the second floor where a servant stood over a simmering pot. Up we went again, and on the third floor a meeting was taking place around a large table. The group listened as one of their number—her feathers faded to gray—urged them to be patient. Around the room, three oil paintings hung on the walls, each a different view of the same mountain rising alone above a lake.

The fourth floor was completely occupied by the leisteila, the massive space extending to the building’s outer walls. The furnishings seemed simple at first glance—primarily in wheaty tans and forest greens—but I recognized the telltale shimmer of silk on the cushions. No people, though, or art.

The doors to the bridges were open, letting a strong breeze blow through. We made our way to the one leading to Borba’s location. The music of the wind chimes was louder here, so we moved quickly, right up until the doorway. Carefully, we peeked around the jamb: the door at the other side of the bridge was closed.

We crept out into the open, the chimes’ music all around us, the wind tugging at our clothes and hair. There was a thin decorative railing on each side. It’d likely keep Teila or me from falling, but someone like Tegen? It didn’t look like it.

Mumu gently pushed on the opposite door, but shook her head. The hinges were on the inside, so the door should’ve opened inward.

“Locked,” she signed.

“How do we open?”

“Bear’s Strength. Both of us. Then kick.”

The lock didn’t look particularly sturdy, but it probably didn’t need to be—people generally didn’t build bridges to people they didn’t trust.

I got into position, enchanted my spear with qi and mana, and working as quickly-carefully-steadily as possible, applied poison to the spearhead. My heart beat fast, and I licked my lips. My mind raced—conjuring plans and discarding them just as quickly—while inside me, Yuki already had Iron Heart and Dog’s Agility spinning. The qi rushed through me, the two spells warming me up in spite of the chill wind.

Next to me, Mumu looked like she was ready to murder the door.

The wait was terrible, dragging on and on; the tension thick. I forced myself to take deep breaths, and reminded myself not to tunnel—to stay aware of my surroundings and not just hyperfocus on Borba.

A songbird flew past—the red smearing—and Mumu and I burst into action. I cast Bear Strength, slowing the spell to match her timing, and we kicked the door. The bolt broke, and wood splintered.

Across the room, a door flew off its hinges, followed immediately by the crack crack of two Spiral Pierce spells.

Borba was already moving. One arrow smashed through the shutter of the window where he’d been standing. The other took him in the shoulder with a meaty thunk. It didn’t penetrate, though, and didn’t keep him from grabbing a spear that’d been leaning beside him. Where it’d come from was unknown.

A quick glance told me there were more spears spread around the room. There were also people laying on the ground in the room’s center—a row of them moaning and listless.

Fourteen, Yuki said, the qi is gone from two.

Dog’s Agility rocketed me at Borba, and Bear’s Strength powered my spear. As fast as I was, though, Mumu flew, her spear’s point gleaming as it caught the light from the window. Borba barely deflected it, turned, and batted aside Tegen’s strike at his rear. I came in low, and thrust my spear into his hip.

It felt like trying to push a dowel through a solid piece of leather.

Waves of qi emanated from Borba’s body. I recognized the flavors from the Hunter’s Lodge, but there was a taste of Wusta too, and the tang of something else—maybe multiple somethings.

I let Bear’s Strength go to cast Spiral Pierce in its stead. The qi spun, but Borba cleared the area around him with his spear. Lightning quick, I shot a Spark at him, but the bastard just grinned when the electricity crackled against his chest.

Saliva spilled from his mouth; his eyes burned with hatred. The man that he’d once been was gone.

Suddenly, a stream of cutter hawks raked him as they flew past, like the teeth of a chainsaw. Then, they turned to swarm him, their claws and beaks attempting to rend his flesh. Their attacks left angry scratches, but didn’t draw blood. He was, however, forced to protect his eyes, which let Mumu thrust at him unimpeded.

She hit him square in the solar plexus, but even with Spiral Pierce, his body resisted the damage. It was like fighting the King of the Forest all over again.

Another of the peltwei has lost their qi, Yuki said.

Under the dried blood and stink, Borba had started the fight lanky, but his muscles steadily filled as the fight progressed. Suddenly, he reversed his spear—faster than before—nicking Mumu as it swept past her. The rusty red glow of his qi shot down the length of the haft and spread onto her forearm.

We had to keep him on the defensive, and end the fight quickly. A battle of attrition favored him too much.

Tegen struck Borba’s arm to break it, but his spear rebounded. I went for the hip again, and it shoved Borba off balance. Mumu used the gap in his defense to aim for the soft flesh of his neck. Her Spiral Pierce missed, but both Haol and Teila shots thunked against his back. Borba growled, and threw himself at them, only to be slammed to the ground by Tegen’s spear.

Borba scrambled to get up and away, but Tegen fell on his legs, wrapping around them with the full power of his Bear’s Strength to keep him on the ground. Our opponent’s spear smashed across Tegen’s head, and the shaft snapped from the strength of the blow. Borba discarded the now-useless spear, and he clawed at Tegen’s head and shoulders directly—the rusty glow of qi spreading.

Mumu’s spear rose and fell again and again like a piledriver. On the other side of him, I abandoned my own spear, pulled a stiletto, and stabbed at his hand, wrist, elbow, and armpit. He tried to ward us off, but the cutter hawks harried him. I caught a couple of nicks from Borba’s claws on my own hands, but Yuki was ready for his qi. The moment it tried to invade my meridians, they ate it up.

Haol and Teila joined us with their spears. They thrust at him, shoved him, kept him on the ground, distracted, raging, frustrated. Suddenly, I was thrown back and went tumbling. All of us were. We’d been hit with a blast of... air?

Borba stood up and laughed, a stutter of hisses and hiccups.

Mumu appeared tired but determined, the glow of Borba’s qi lingering on her arm. Tegen, meanwhile, looked like he’d lost ten pounds. He picked himself up, though, and threw himself at Borba in an attempt to grapple him to the ground again, only to be throw back by another blast. This one had been directed, like a firehose spewing air instead of water.

It had to be some kind of qi spell or ability, because I didn’t sense any mana in it.

Well, two could play the air magic game. I charged Borba, but this time cast Air Shield. The rune came to mind lightning quick, and the mana felt cool as it sped through my running-hot meridians. A circle of dense air formed in front of me, and my spell deflected his, catching him by surprise—enough to leap at him at stab him in the neck. His flesh resisted, and I wasn’t able to gouge out his jugular.

From behind, Tegen tackled him, and all three of us went down in a tumble of Dog’s Agility-fueled bodies. I never stopped trying to stab Borba in the neck; he ducked his head to protect it and reached to poke out my eyes with his thumbs, but a pair of hands grabbed onto his arms to hold him back. A spear slid into place to lock his arms behind his head.

Borba bucked and fought to get free. He was stronger than anyone of us, but not stronger than all of us together. We got him prone with his head unprotected. I pulled my second stiletto, cast Spiral Pierce on one, Yuki cast the spell on the second, and I drove them both into his eyes. They burst like squished grapes.

Borba screamed bloody murder then. He cursed us all, and the bucking grew fierce. I was thrown from his chest, but kept my grip on my knives. I was just about to rush back in when I spotted a giant snake.

It... she was just like I’d remembered—at least a foot wide and mottled black and green.  She moved slowly, but that may have been the Dog’s Agility talking.

Plan changed, I ran to join Haol and Teila in locking down Borba’s arms. Both were sweating something fierce, sucking in lungfuls of air, as their strength and technique were contested by Borba. I joined Teila’s side and fought to hold him down.

When the snake finally arrived, she began the slow process of wrapping around Borba, beginning with his head and arms and working her way down until she had him all wrapped up.

It looked like it was safe to let go of Borba’s arms, so I did and picked up my stilettos again. There were gaps in the snake’s constriction I could stab through, or maybe I could use one like a chisel and punch through an eye socket to the brain? At the other side of him, Mumu and Tegen were attempting to saw off his feet with their knives.

I got into position and waited for Borba’s eye sockets to become visible. The snake’s body slid as it tightened all along his body, and his bones creaked under the pressure. No breaks that I could hear, though, and the effort to sever his feet wasn’t working either. There was blood at least, but the ligaments refused to be cut.

A blast of air escaped from between the snake’s coils, but he held on. Then, there was another, stronger blast, which once more didn’t budge the snake. A gap opened, exposing Borba’s left socket, and I jammed a stiletto into place before it could close. A quick Spiral Pierce, and I slammed my palm onto the hilt like hammer.

The bone ground under the stiletto’s tip, but it didn’t break through. I readied another Pierce, let Iron Heart go, and then cast Ram’s head onto my hand. I hadn’t had much opportunity to practice the spell—I’d ‘bought’ it from the lodge along with the all the rest of the apprentice-level ones available to me—but Yuki had enough of it down to help guide the qi where it needed to go. I was so focused on the fight, I forgot to enchant the stiletto, but Yuki remembered for me, using their own qi and mana to do it.

My palm felt like a sledgehammer pounding into the stiletto’s hilt. Bang! The wooden hilt fractured under the blow, even with it enchanted. The Spiral Pierce triggered, but the bone still didn’t break.

What did happen was that the snake’s body began to expand. That’s what it looked like at first, and the sight momentarily confused me, but it was actually Borba’s body growing thicker. At the same time, the nearby peltwei cried out in pain, and both Tegen and Mumu gasped as the rusty qi clinging to their bodies intensified. Especially Tegen, he dropped his knife and clutched his face, as if in great agony.

Damn, damn, damn.

The hilt on my stiletto was gone, and I couldn’t risk another Ram’s Head-powered strike for fear of spearing my hand on the knife’s tang.

Yuki’s fear for our friends’ safety spiked through me. More than anyone, they’d seen what Borba’s Siphon could do to its victims. Let us go, maybe we can stop him.

He’s dusk; can you get through?

Yuki’s response a feeling of intense determination. Their tendrils sprouted along the tops of my hands and crawled the length of the stiletto down into the eye socket, only to be met by frustration. They couldn’t penetrate through the natural qi barrier all creatures possessed.

What about the nostrils?

Working on it!

They needed Borba’s qi disrupted, so I grabbed my other stiletto and readied another Ram’s Head. I hated to ruin another hilt, but it had to be done. Bang! The bone behind the eye socket held, and another knife was temporarily ruined.

Meanwhile, Yuki had made it into the nasal cavity, but my effort hadn’t helped. They couldn’t penetrate the membrane there, so they headed to the lungs next.

That smell! The scent!

In the moment, I wasn’t sure who said what, but both Yuki and I recognized it immediately—Body Burner, the spell Inleio had used in the fight against the kalihchi bear.

One of the peltwei screamed, then his doubled voice cut off partway, letting the rest of his breath hiss out like a deflating balloon. The next one in line began to shriek, but he only lasted a handful of seconds longer.

Oh my god, oh my god. You have to stop him, Yuki. He’s killing them; he’ll kill Mumu and Tegen too. I looked towards the peltwei and saw that they were arranged by age, and it was the oldest ones who’d stopped breathing.

They really were a battery, and Borba had methodically organized them that way. A third voice began to scream in pain. I would’ve told Mumu and Tegen to run, but we’d already seen that distance had no effect on Siphon.

I ran towards Tegen and put my hands on his shoulders.

“Help Mumu first,” he said, the words curt and no nonsense. He tried to shove me away, so that he could hack at Borba’s feet unimpeded, but I refused to let go.

Yuki, guide me.

And they did, splitting their attention between finding a way into Borba’s meridians and helping me undue the Siphon on Tegen. Instantly, my mouth flooded with the bitter-hateful-bloody taste of Borba's qi. I gagged and my stomach heaved, but I hold onto Tegen for dear life, for his life.

Yuki and I didn’t merge—we needed them to be able to operate separately—but we were like glove and hand in searching out where the Siphon had hooked into Tegen. Swiftly-steadily-carefully, I slipped the barbs loose, trying my damnedest to not tear his meridians as I went.

Meanwhile, inside Borba’s lungs was a chaotic battlefield of energies clashing, as the qi he’d stolen from the people he’d marked conflicted. Yuki was forced to dodge to keep their qi body from getting injured.

Suddenly, two peltwei screamed at once, and Borba pushed the snake away enough for him to Dog’s Agility shift into a better position, one with more leverage. Then, he pushed the coils farther, exposing his body. He was now twice as thick as before, and the qi rolled off of him in waves.

Another two voices screamed—four in total, sounding like eight.

Yuki was buffeted by the energies shearing through Borba’s body, yet they continued to probe for an entry. My own struggle against his qi was just as frustratingly slow. Tegen wasn’t being drained like the peltwei, yet I could literally feel him weakening under my hands. Haol and Teila thrust their spears at Borba’s belly, but neither attack pierced his skin.

Then, from out of nowhere, Aslishtei’s voice whispered in my ear: “Danger, danger, area attack, clear to at least a saqilm.”

My team reacted instantly, jumping back the required eight and half feet. I was a beat slower—surprised to find Tegen gone from in front of me—but Aslishtei had been generous with her warning. He had plenty of time to grab me and get us out of the way of a stream of butterflies with mottled green and black wings.

A gray dust fell from their wings, and where they touched the snake’s body, the body was eaten away as if by acid. Even so, the snake fought even harder to contain Borba, and Borba shrieked like his soul was being torn in half when the gray dust fell on him. What was left of his clothes dissolved, as did his skin to expose the muscle underneath. His face melted, the flesh turning into a grey sludge that slid down the sides of his skull.

Then, the butterflies vanished one-by-one, and the last of the dust settled. The snake continued to fight, but it had been gravely injured.

Once more Aslishtei whispered in my ear: “Attack finished. Count five before resuming.”

After what I’d seen, I planned to count to ten. Not the rest of my team, though—they’d readied their spears, Spiral Pierce swirling around the hafts, and charged in exactly at the count of five, even Tegen. While I’d watched mesmerized, he’d also gotten ready.

“Not the lungs,” I yelled, and saw Haol shift the angle of his attack just in time.

His spear pierced through Borba’s solar plexus, right next to Mumu’s. Both Tegen and Teila went for the hips. Then, I rushed to catch up, and had the satisfaction of seeing my spear pierce through Borba’s neck.

An air burst threw us away, but the damage was done. The concerted attacks had been enough to weaken Borba significantly. Yuki, glorious Yuki, cut through the lung to slip into Borba’s meridians.

The monster tried to stand, but couldn’t get his body to do what he wanted with our spears embedded. He howled like a dying animal, and he grew even thicker, as more of the peltwei were drained.

Borba air burst after air burst to keep us away. At the same time, he scooted backward towards the closest bridge. We kept pace with him, out of reach of his claws. My team had their knives in hand, but I was unarmed, so I grabbed one of the spears that had been propped up along the walls.

Yuki hurried, slashing indiscriminately as they dashed through his meridians, but the conflicting qi was even worse inside his system. Borba was able to make it to the door outside before Yuki could finally reach the three dantians. Each was a nightmare of black and bloody qi, like three large cancerous masses taking over his body.

They were a riot of air, bone, and nature qi. Yuki cut through them all, straight down the center of each dantian. Then they spun, their qi tendrils like scythes, to separate the dantians from the meridians.

Borba deflated, and slipped onto his back. He tried to get back to sitting, but his arms would no longer hold him up. Haol got around him to pin them down, and the rest of moved in with our knives.

My team was out of qi. Still, their strikes were all deadly—kidney, carotid artery, and femoral artery. As for me, I had plenty of qi left for Spiral Pierce and Bear’s Strength. I drove the spear’s point into the empty socket, through the bone, and into the brain.

Borba shuddered. Incredibly, he tried to reach up towards the spear, and managed to grab hold of the shaft. Then, with one last shake, he went still.

“Quick,” Mumu said, her voice hoarse. “Grab his light before he turns.”

Teila was the closest to his chest, and her hands shook as she cut into it. A dark dust billowed out of the wound, which caused her to grimace when she reached through it. A tense couple of seconds passed as she felt around inside... and then relief as she pulled out a bloody core the size of a walnut.

Yuki’s voice was exhausted. Come get us, we don’t want to eat any more of this.

I let the spear go, and sat beside Borba’s head until Yuki could make their way out of his body. I noticed then that the Siphon on Mumu and Tegen hadn’t dissipated, so I dragged myself over to them to clear it away.

As Yuki and I worked, no one moved. My team just sat beside the body as they recovered from the fight—from having to put down someone who’d once been a brother of the hunt. Teila sobbed quietly, while Tegen sighed repeatedly. Haol and Mumu held hands.

We’d done it. Borba was dead.