Chapter 56: The End of the Orphan Crew

"Six tent rolls, rations.. rope, pans, water sack.. and the stone is still in the pillar,” Spike mumbles to himself as the orphan crew prepares to leave their mountain top camp, “newbie, the pack’s ready,” Spike calls over his shoulder from a crouched position.

Sio walks over and slings the pack onto his back.

“Got it,” he says flatly.

Spike nods and walks to the dying fire where Celeste and Seira are sitting.

“I think we take the safe route, Seira,” he says seriously.

Seira looks up and frowns.

“You really don’t trust us to make it across the flat lands?” she asks, “your goal is a few days' hike away, but the safer route will take over a week..” she adds softly.

Spike sighs and hangs his head.

“There are no camps in the flat lands.. there shouldn’t be many monsters, but we’ll never have the whole group at full strength unless we can sleep with a barrier around us,” he says.

Seira jumps to her feet.

“But we don’t know where the barrier camps are!” she protests, “we’ll be stretching our supplies thin and have to rely on Sio’s hunting if we get slowed down at all – which is likely if we’re wandering around looking for stone pillars,” Seira adds and crosses her arms.

“I’m more comfortable with those risks,” Spike replies calmly, “if we keep our strength, then we won’t be stopped – no matter how long it takes.”

Celeste places a hand on Seira’s back.

“Spike made his decision - we shouldn’t argue,” she interjects.

“Fine,” Seira says to concede, “but I’ll be complaining if we have to sleep in trees,” she adds and walks away towards the edge of camp.

Spike watches her leave before turning to Celeste.

“Do you agree with her?” Spike asks.

“It’s possible to die on either route,” Celeste says gently, “but your mission, and the church’s mission, are on both routes. So I really don’t care,” she adds with a shrug.

“Ha, thanks, Celeste,” Spike says with a chuckle, then walks to a stone pillar and pulls the barrier spell stone from it. He waves the scattered group over to him.

“We don’t have the exact locations of camps past this mountain, but we’ll be heading southeast through a mix of mountains and forests before turning west toward the center of the continent,” Spike says. “It’ll take at least a week, and there will be powerful monsters.. so everyone needs to stay sharp,” he adds.

Celeste drifts toward Sio and gives him a light nudge.

“Pay attention,” she whispers.

Sio’s eyes fly open, and he nods aggressively.

“We’re with ya, Spike, just lead the way!” Norman shouts and raises his fist.

The ground shakes.

“Back to back!” Spike yells, and everyone forms a circle with their backs to each other.

Celeste and Seira watch the trail they climbed up from. Norman and Jack face down the mountain westward, while Sio and Spike face the rising sun to the east.

“SPIKE!” Sio yells and lunges in front of him.

An army of lizards scampers up from the eastern face of the mountain and blocks out the sun. They lock eyes on the adventurers and pour magic from their webbed feet as they kick off the ground and rocket ahead. The first flies directly into Sio.

“”GUH””

The impact lifts Sio from his feet, sending him backwards into Spike. The entangled adventurers crash into Norman’s left side, then careen down the western face of the mountain.

“FUCK! MY ARM!”

“SPIKE!”

“SIO!”

Norman, Seira, and Celeste freeze from pain and shock. Jack jumps in front of them and raises his shield.

“FOCUS!” he screams as lizard skulls crash into his shield over and over. Purple blood ricochets from his shield like a spoon held under a faucet. Droplets pepper his face and start melting his skin.

“ARHGHH,” he groans and bends his knees to absorb the onslaught.

Celeste gathers magic to form a large fireball overhead while directing the others.

“Seira, you need to heal Norman,” she shouts, “I’ll take out as many as I can,” she adds as she shoots a car sized fire ball into the lizard swarm.

“Give me your arm, Norman!” Seira yells and reaches for Norman’s left arm.

“AAHAG,” he cries, “IT’S FUCKED.”

Seira holds his left arm up by the elbow, but the entire forearm dips and bends like a pool noodle. Sweat rolls down her face as she looks up at Norman.

“I-I can’t heal this..” she stutters as her hands start to tremble.

Norman pulls his arm back as tears start streaming down his cheeks.

“Focus.. on healing.. from their blood..” he pants. 

Norman pulls the shield from his back and sets it on the ground in front of him. There are two handles on the inside of it - the first he normally sticks his forearm through, and the second he normally holds with his hand. Norman jams his disfigured forearm inside both handles until his elbow hits the left one. He reaches down with his good arm and starts bending the broken arm.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHG,” he screams and ties his left arm around the right shield handle. Sweat and tears fall from his face, but he rises to his feet. Jack’s hair is smoking and burning from lizard blood, and Celeste is firing a barrage of fire magic.

“I’ll cover Celeste – go heal Jack!” Norman yells to Seira. He jumps out in front of Celeste, whose cloak and hat are smoldering.

Seira obediently positions herself behind Jack and starts healing him. Vision in his left eye is gone, and most of the skin on his face and head is melted. She puts her all into healing and restores his eye before stopping to conserve energy.

“ACk- thanks, Seira!” Jack shouts.

Celeste peppers the incoming lizards with fireballs while Norman absorbs impact after impact through his ruined shield arm. Each clash shocks Norman’s system to the point he wants to throw up and cry, but he stands firm.

The lizards’ kamikaze run at the adventurers slows. A hundred have splattered themselves on Jack and Norman’s shields while Celeste torched just as many.

“HAA.. HEE..” Celeste pants and removes her smoking cloak and hat. She reveals curves that rival the mountain she stands on and dark undergarments that hardly cover her intimate areas.

Norman is on one knee in front of her, trembling like a leaf and sweating profusely.

“Are you alright, Norman?” Celeste asks as her breathing slows.

“J-just.. fine..” he croaks without turning around.

“Seira, can you look at Norman again?” Celeste asks.

“Yea I-“ a lizard clips Seira and rips her right hand off, “GAHHHHH,” she cries.

“SEIRA!” Celeste screams, and Jack moves to cover her with his shield. Another wave of lizards is coming up the mountain.

“With.. without healer…die..” Norman groans and removes a small green gem from beneath his armor, “ta-take care.. brother..” he mumbles and pulls magic from the stone. His body radiates with magic as the whites of his eyes fill with blood.

“RAAAAHHHH!” He screams and slams his right hand into the ground. Magic flows into the mountain, and a wall of stone breaks through the surface. It grows and spreads until it’s 10 meters high and 20 meters wide. Norman slumps forward, leaking blood from his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.

“Br-brother,” Jack jumps to his side and rolls him over, but Norman is too still to be alive. Celeste holds Seira in her arms as Seira closes her wound with healing magic. She looks up and sees Jack kneeling next to Norman’s magic-radiating body.

“We still need you, Jack,” Celeste calls to him.

Jack closes his brother’s eyelids and bows his head for a moment before standing and walking to the girls. He nods and takes a knee beside them.

“We need to go down the mountain and look for Spike and Sio,” Celeste says calmly, “if Seira can heal Sio, then he can heal Spike.”

Seira nods through her wincing.

“H-he’s good with bones..” she mumbles, “if Norman could’ve held out..”

But Jack shakes his head.

“He wanted to try using a relic before he died, and he did, so be happy for him,” Jack says flatly, “he stole that gem as a kid.. I bet it drove him crazy never using it,” he adds.

“Norman always had sticky fingers,” Celeste replies with a smirk.

BANG

“Wha- the wall,” Jack says and turns to face his brother’s earth wall.

“The lizards must be slamming into it..” Celeste says, “We need to move.”

BANG

All three rise.

BANG

Chunks of the stone wall scatter and pelt the adventurers. A dark green creature the size of a house bursts through it.

“N-no,” Celeste whispers as blood drains from her face, “a bufo fortis.”

She gathers all her remaining magic as she shouts to Seira and Jack.

“Find the others and run!” she yells and turns her magic into a fireball the same size as the giant scaled frog. The fire slams into the creature and turns into a puff of smoke without causing a lick of damage.

Celeste’s legs shake and her face crumples. The frog shoots out a dark purple tongue that wraps around her.

“GUH AHHHG!” she cries, and her skin starts melting on contact with the tongue, “RUNNN!!” she screams as the frog pulls its tongue back, swallowing Celeste.

Jack throws a shaking and crying Seira over his shoulder and bolts for the western mountain face. Lizards rocket at him, but he stays a step ahead by putting all his strength into this run.

BANG

“AHHK”

Jack collides with an invisible wall and falls backward, dropping Seira. Seira crawls to Jack’s side and gets to her knees. Jack’s holding his forehead and bleeding from it profusely.

“I’ll heal it.. just hang on,” Seira says through ragged breaths.

Jack opens his eyes and sees Seira dripping sweat, but he also sees determination in her eyes. He looks around and feels a gentle wind blow against his face.

“Jack..” Seira whispers.

Jack closes his eyes, then reopens them in Seira’s direction. Blood is flowing from her mouth, and her eyes are glazed over. A lizard is lodged in her torso, its webbed feet are slapping against her back, and pushing to get itself unstuck from the girl.

“SEIRA!” Jack shouts and jumps to his feet. He pulls his sword to slice at the lizard when another slams his raised arm and shatters it.

“GAHH,” he screams and looks at the limp, useless arm. His armor starts smoking, and he can’t move his left arm. Jack looks down and sees the same frog tongue that killed Celeste wrapped around his body. He struggles and twists, but he barely moves at all. His armor melts away, and the corrosive tongue reaches Jack’s skin.

“AAAHHHG,” he cries, but the tongue wraps around him tighter, making his eyes nearly bulge from their sockets. Jack puts all his might into his legs and kicks off the ground. He lurches forward, then is ripped backward into the frog’s mouth.