home

search

B3 - Chapter 12: Ambush

  


  [Terry]: Stop! There’s an ambush fifty feet ahead!

  He was gratified to see the group halt in place, their heads on a swivel. Lupe took five steps back, summoning blood with frantic pulls on her aura.

  


  [Tajo]: Where are you? Get with the group or we’ll leave you behind.

  Terry forced in a deep breath before responding.

  


  [Terry]: We scouted ahead. We’re looking at six archers preparing to ambush you the moment you pass them.

  To his surprise, Tajo started forward again, his twin swords held ready.

  “What is that idiot doing?” he muttered.

  


  [Ellie]: Hey, idiot. Terry wants to know what you’re doing.

  He cast her a surprised look and she shrugged casually, a pleased smile on her face.

  


  [Tajo]: Tell that coward that I’m a Duelist. I can literally catch arrows with my teeth. Six archers is a warm up for me. Just hang back while José and I deal with this.

  


  [Ellie]: And what if there’s another six in the cliff we can’t see? Can you catch twelve arrows with your teeth?

  Terry’s eyebrows rose in surprise. He hadn’t thought of another group being beneath them.

  


  [Terry]: Ellie’s right. We should regroup and make a plan.

  He was about to type more, when Tajo burst forward in a flash of movement. José’s summon moved to follow at a gallop, a loud cry echoing from its chest.

  The archers perked up at the sound, drawing arrows to their bows. Aura pinged distantly against his senses—coming from the archers across the ravine.

  And six more pings from directly below them.

  As the aura stirred, he saw the visible effect gather around the nocked arrows—rushing wind congealing around the shafts and tips with a potent force.

  “The arrows are enhanced!” he gasped.

  Ellie raised her eyebrows as if to say, ‘duh!’

  He ignored her sarcastic expression, standing upright. “We have to help them.”

  She sighed dramatically, rising beside him. “Can you get me close? I might be able to disable one or two.”

  He didn’t question her, though he was more than a little doubtful of the claim. But he also saw a chance to create some distance between the two of them so that he could employ more of his own powerset to even the odds.

  “Yeah, I’ll get you to one of the pockets below us.”

  She nodded, rolling her shoulders in anticipation before bending her knees in a crouch.

  He reached below, feeling the six pockets of space as naturally as if he was looking at them with his own eyes. With a flex of aura, he cut a portal to the nearest one, and Ellie leaped through without a moment’s hesitation.

  With a thought, he gave her a return portal, then created his own, opening it behind a second enemy. At the same time, he melted his bracelet and formed it into a thin, six-inch blade.

  As he stepped through the second portal, he found one of the beast-men flipping around to turn his magical arrow on Terry.

  His telekinesis-controlled dagger was faster, stabbing through the air to impale the creature’s chest. It struck with enough force to launch it out of the tiny alcove, sending it tumbling to the ravine floor below. With a flex of aura, he liquefied the dagger once more so as to not catch the eye of his group, and pulled the liquid silver back as discreetly as he could.

  Below, Tajo was approaching from the ground just as three wind-empowered arrows launched toward him. Even from a distance, Terry could feel the dense aura compacted into the arrows and he couldn’t help but watch in morbid curiosity as they reached Tajo at the same moment.

  The C-ranked Duelist timed his leap perfectly, flipping into the air over the three in-flight arrows. His swords slashed in a blink, cutting two of them mid-shaft. Terry nodded appreciatively at the maneuver, waiting expectantly for the third arrow to dash against the ground below.

  Instead, it seemed to shift mid-air, altering its trajectory as it did its own flip to come around at Tajo’s back.

  The Duelist had already dismissed the threat, racing toward the far cliff to ascend for the archers. Which meant he didn’t see the magical arrow arcing toward his back.

  “Behind you!” Terry called out.

  Tajo glanced around, a contemptuous look on his face when his eyes found Terry—only to widen as they also found the arrow he thought he’d dealt with coming for him as fast as a bullet.

  His feet were flat, his heels planted from his turn. It was obvious he wouldn’t have time for another flip maneuver. Terry didn’t think, instead acting on instinct.

  Space parted in an instant—a portal no bigger across than his hand catching the arrow only half a foot from Tajo’s chest. The exit portal was already materializing, just above one of the beast-man’s heads.

  The arrow struck the archer with the impact of a falling anvil, smashing it to the ground in a spray of blood and brains.

  Tajo studied the mini-portal before him, his eyes wide in utter surprise, before finding Terry across the ravine.

  Without so much as a nod of appreciation, the Duelist was back on the hunt—with a fair bit more caution this time around.

  Terry turned his thoughts from the man, passing back through his portal to arrive at the top of the bluff. Ellie was there, leaning over the edge to watch the fight. When she heard Terry return, she cast him a confusing look—a mix of surprise and reassessment, perhaps?

  He too studied her with a hint of surprise. How had she managed to take out one of the beast-men?

  There was no time for interrogations; he cut two more portals down into the alcoves below, and to Ellie’s credit, she didn’t need any prompting, leaping through one of them with no hesitation.

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  He went through the second portal a moment later, finding another beast-man archer mid-turn. There was no arrow nocked, indicating it had already loosed it, so it was simple enough for Terry to form his silver dagger once more and skewer the beast.

  As it tumbled below, he withdrew his dagger and studied the ongoing battle.

  Despite his miscalculation and brash arrogance, Tajo was a terror on the battlefield. His swords de-summoned at will as he scaled the cliffs like a lizard, before resummoning them to skewer his target. Whenever an arrow came for him, he struck it from the air or leaped over it entirely, always making sure it crashed harmlessly against the stone so it couldn’t chase his back.

  José’s hippo summons was useless in the fight, roaring and throwing itself futilely at the cliffs below as magical arrows smashed against its armored back.

  To her credit, Lupe had finally brought her element to bear, using it with devastating effect on the archers occupied with Tajo’s approach.

  Seeing that nobody was in immediate danger, he returned to the top of the cliff where he found Ellie.

  Another two portals cut through space without a word and as they separated, he found himself face-to-face with another beast-man. This one had discarded his bow, a forearm-length dagger already lunging toward Terry.

  His heart skipped a beat, but he kept a cool head and activated his telekinesis—stopping not only the incoming dagger, but the beast-man’s entire lunge. It struggled against his aura’s hold, viciously snapping its teeth as it tried and failed to break out.

  Now that he had a moment to examine the creature, it was obvious it wasn’t anywhere near the peak of the C-rank. Its physique was probably high Ds and Terry’s magic was more than up to the task of freezing it in place completely.

  There was a part of him—a small part—that recoiled at the idea of slaying this completely immobile creature. But there were at least a dozen of the things and if he didn’t take them out, they were going to take him out.

  His silver dagger speared the frozen beast-man, almost casually, before he released his hold on its limbs. Rather than fly back as the others had, it collapsed to the ground piteously, taking a handful of breaths to die.

  Its wheezing gasps echoed in his ears and he forced himself away, passing through his return portal once more.

  Ellie was there again, her eyes briefly flicking to Terry before returning to stare down at the ravine.

  “There’s three more. I think sword-boys got it.”

  Terry nodded, grateful he didn’t have to execute anymore of the creatures—at least not yet.

  This was an aspect he hadn’t truly considered before entering the rift. How real were these creatures? Were they sentient or basically animals? How many would he have to kill before the rift’s end?

  He didn’t consider himself squeamish, and had no trouble slaying sanguine by the dozens when needed. But that had always been out of necessity—kill or be killed.

  And sure, these creatures were trying to kill them, but what bothered him was that they had been placed there—practically staged—by a System. Were they poor animals plucked from their homes in some sort of cosmic culling, or had they been created from some System’s imagination as fodder for their Awakened’s climb to power?

  He forced those troubling thoughts from his mind with a shake of his head; there were no answers to be gleaned here and spiraling over the possibilities was pointless.

  It was either him or the creatures, and he knew which he would pick when push came to shove.

  “Should we head down?” he found himself asking Ellie. He didn’t know why, but he just wanted someone to tell him what to do for the moment.

  She shrugged. “I don’t know, guess so.” Thumbing below, she snorted. “Judging from sword-boys face, he isn’t too pleased with our assistance.”

  Terry groaned, closing his eyes.

  “Does he look murderous?” he asked, partially as a joke, partially because he didn’t feel like fighting another Duelist.

  She made a show of looking down before waving her hand in a fifty-fifty gesture.

  He snorted humorously, then opened a portal leading below. “Well, let’s go get this over with.”

  As the two of them appeared in the ravine below, Lupe and José’s eyes flipped between Tajo and them, as if waiting to see who to stand behind.

  Tajo didn’t disappoint, stalking toward them with a snarl.

  “What the hell was that?” he demanded, hardened eyes finding them.

  “Can you be more specific?” Ellie asked with an air of innocence. “I’m not sure if you’re talking about us saving your life the first time or the second time.”

  Terry gave the girl an appraising look, happy to let her take the lead.

  Tajo’s mouth gaped open in shock, before his eyes narrowed. “Saved my life?” His tone was incredulous. “You two compromised the whole rift with your American Cowboy routine!”

  Ellie laughed dismissively, shaking her head. “I’m not sure what about scouting ahead is so American Cowboy.” She looked toward Terry with mock confusion. “I think that’s just called simple due diligence.”

  Tajo looked fit to burst, but José stepped into the mix, his massive hippo summons drawing everyone’s eye.

  “I think you’re both right.” He looked between the two groups with a pleading expression. “If we scouted ahead better, we could have staged our own ambush.” Tajo bristled, but José looked toward Terry and Ellie. “And if you stayed with us, our Traveler could have intercepted every single arrow and portaled our damage dealer directly into the fray.”

  “Yeah,” Lupe chimed in, though her voice was quiet and timid. “We really should stick together.”

  “So which is it?” Ellie asked, her tone full of sarcasm. She nodded toward Terry. “Is he useless or the ultimate defensive option? Make up your mind.”

  Tajo crossed his arms defiantly. “He’s useless—” He cut his eyes aggressively toward Terry. “—if he isn’t with the group.”

  Ellie opened her mouth to retort, but Terry was fed up with the circular argument.

  “Enough.” She cast him a surprised look and he simply shook his head. “This is pointless. We should make a plan together, but there’s no reason for us to be glued at the hip. It just makes sense for someone to scout ahead. Then, we can set up our own ambush, together.” He ignored Tajo’s fiery stare, turning in question toward Lupe, José, and finally Ellie. “Agreed?”

  Ellie simply smiled, while José and Lupe turned to each other before nodding agreement.

  Tajo, finding himself outnumbered, huffed impatiently and turned to go.

  “Fine, whatever. Let’s just go. The clock is ticking.”

  Finding the shade of an olive branch in the man’s words, he adopted a charitable tone. “Lead the way, then.”

  Tajo took off without another word, his eyes unmistakably ranging across the cliff walls now.

  When they passed beyond the ambush point, Tajo turned toward Terry with a dismissive look. “Well? Go scout then. Tell us what you see.”

  Terry resisted the urge to roll his eyes, instead nodding agreeably before opening a portal to the top of the cliffs.

  It wasn’t exactly the way he had hoped his first rift would go, but at least they were making progress.

  As he crouched on the cliff edge a half mile from the original ambush, he counted the enemies that he could currently see, even as he opened a tiny pinprick portal to view the cliff side directly below him.

  


  [Terry]: I count twenty enemies. Twelve archers like before and eight with swords and shields. The ravine narrows right before their hiding spot, funneling us into a chokepoint.

  As he waited for the others to respond, he considered the best plan to deal with the more numerous group.

  He didn’t see much possibility of a stealth attack. The ambushers on the opposite of the ravine could see their counterparts; the first strike would have the alarm rising instantly. Perhaps if he went invisible and quietly took out the archers one at a time, he could make some progress before they noticed. But that would require him to reveal more of his powerset, which he didn’t think was necessary.

  Despite Tajo’s annoying attitude, he was quite a force on the battlefield when backed up by the others.

  There was no reason they couldn’t just take this ambush head on.

  A private message came in from Ellie as he waited.

  


  [Ellie]: Tajo seems interested in simply throwing himself at the enemy. I say we let him.

  


  [Terry]: I’m coming back.

  As he portaled back where he’d left them, he saw Tajo trudging a hundred feet ahead, José talking at his back while Lupe was halfway between them, watching for Terry’s arrival yet not wanting to lose sight of Tajo either.

  Ellie was at his shoulder almost instantly, talking directly into his ear.

  “Should we let him die?”

  He involuntarily flinched—at her uncomfortable closeness or the brutal nature of her words, he wasn’t sure.

  “No, Ellie, we don’t let our teammates die.” He watched José and Tajo turn a corner in the canyon, Lupe casting them one more look before following out of sight. “Come on.”

  He cut through space, forming a portal slightly ahead of where they would be. Ellie let out a disappointed aww before the two of them stepped through the portal.

  They were now ahead of the others, watching them approach with varying expressions. José was behind Tajo’s shoulder and gave Terry a ‘I tried’ type of look. Lupe seemed desperate just to keep the Duelist within range to protect them.

  As for Tajo, he cast first Terry, then Ellie, dismissive looks. The mannequin target followed like an automaton at Tajo’s side.

  “About time,” he muttered as he approached.

  “Can you stop a second so we can discuss the plan?” Terry asked, a hint of exasperation touching his voice.

  Tajo chopped his hand through the air like it was one of his swords. “We’re on a time limit. And the faster we get this done, the better the rewards.” That was news to Terry and he stopped the man with a hand on his arm as Tajo went to move past him.

  “I didn’t know that.”

  The Duelist eyed Terry’s hand with obvious threat. Terry released him, but didn’t lower his gaze or make any sort of apologetic gesture.

  “Will you take a breath so we can get on the same page?” Terry shook his head, scanning the others before turning back to Tajo. “We can move faster if we’re not always talking past each other.”

  Tajo crossed his arms, lifting his chin up to meet Terry’s eyes.

  “Then speak.”

  Terry took a deep breath, forcing the annoyance back down. “Listen, you’re fast, and really deadly with those swords—” Tajo narrowed his eyes, as if waiting for the ‘but.’ Terry ignored the skeptical look, pushing through. “—and with my portals, we can clear out these guys in under a minute, I’m sure of it. So let’s decide on an order of targets so we’re on the same page. That’s all I’m asking.”

  Tajo shook his head, but didn’t walk away. “Fine, gringo. I’d probably deal with them easy enough on my own. But I’ll take a minute to listen so you’ll stop buzzing in my ear.”

  Over Tajo’s shoulder, Terry’s eyes locked on José hippo, Roca, and a smile touched his face.

  “Okay, here’s what I’m thinking…”

Recommended Popular Novels