Claws raised, teeth bared, it let out a terrible growl and advanced.
Chapter Five
The beast towered over me, a shape of darkness looming out of the twilight gloom.
It flung its head back and let out a ferocious, rattling roar. I felt as though I was caught beneath the flight path of a jet airliner as the the ground shook beneath my feet and made my body tremble. It was like a physical blow hitting me, and I took a step back to keep my balance.
I drew my sword. Even in the gloom, there was a brightness to the blade, the edge glinting as if with some internal light. Though it had only been a month, the grip had become a comforting, familiar thing. Holding it steadied me, grounded me, reminded me of everything I had learned since I came to the Seven Realms.
The beast lunged at me with a claw like the shovel of a JCB tractor, but I dived out of the way, rolled as I landed, and flung one arm out against the ground to break my fall. Then, I was on my feet again, sword raised to deflect the other claw.
The beast hit my blade and knocked me back but left a deep gouge in its own flesh. I expected blood to pour from the wound, but instead, there came a thick ooze of sap that pattered slowly onto the rotting detritus of the forest floor. It smelled of falling leaves and damp earth, making me think of dark evenings and bonfires.
The creature howled and pulled its injured arm back, but it wasn’t going to be deterred. A moment later, it was advancing once more with its footfalls pounding the ground, claws swinging at me in swift succession.
As I raised my sword again, I remembered what Tolin had taught me about the art of swordsmanship, including how to turn away the force of an opponent’s blow. But even with that knowledge, I found myself retreating until my back was against the rough bark of a tree.
A slender figure appeared behind the monster, a staff in her hand. Rather than help me, she ran to a nearby tree and scrambled up. It was amazing to see her in action as she climbed with one hand and held her staff in the other. Fingers and toes found purchase on the tiniest knots in the wood, giving her the holds she needed to shoot up the tree, as lithe as a snake. Twelve feet up, she swung out onto a branch above the monster’s head, a perfect place from which to strike.
Then, she sat down, the staff across her lap.
“Fancy getting in on the action?” I shouted, splinters flying as I fended off more attacks.
“I’d rather see how you fare alone.”
The next time it swung at me, I flung myself forward and down. I scored a gash along the underside of its arm and kept moving, sticky sap bleeding across my back. As my blade came down, it hit the bear in the hip, at a place around the joint where its bark was thinner. This time, the blade cut deeply and splintered woody flesh.
The beast howled again and reared. I rolled forward between its legs and twisted as I landed so that I came up facing its back. I swung the sword and struck the same hip from behind. There was a creak, a groan of strained timber, and the leg gave way before snapping off in a shower of splinters.
The bark bear fell onto its side with one arm flailing as it yowled in pain.
“Sorry,” I said, as I stood over its head. “But you did start it.”
I raised my sword high, then brought it down with all my strength. My blade severed the bark bear’s head in a spray of wood and sap.
“You’re quite the swordsman,” Faryn said. “I must say, I’m impressed.”
She dropped from the branch and landed on the forest floor as casually as if she were stepping off a curb. She bent over and closed the bark bear’s eyes.
“Goodbye, fellow of the forest,” she said. “You fought well.”
From the corner of my eye, I caught a movement like the swaying of branches in the wind, but moving out of sync with the rest of the forest. I turned my gaze to see a wisp, then another, and another. A whole herd of them, their heads bowed as they watched us. One, bolder than the rest, was sniffing at the spot where the bark bear had first attacked me.
“The sap,” Faryn said. “It calls out to them.”
I kept my blade lowered but held out in front of me as I walked slowly toward the wisps. The herd made rustling sounds, and a few backed off around the edges. But the bolder creature looked up from the forest floor, its leafed face twitching as it approached the sap-coated blade.
I kept my calm, walking slowly so as not to scare it off. It took a step toward me, then another, lured in by my “bloody” bait. I waited until it was sniffing at the tip of the sword, then lunged forward, thrusting the blade through its head and into its body.
The rest of the herd ran, footfalls pattering like rain. I didn’t care about them. I dragged my sword out through the chest of the dead creature, revealing the glowing core within.
“Twenty-five.” I turned to Faryn with a grin. “Time for some Augmenting.”
We made a campfire in a clearing and settled down on either side of the flames. Faryn guided me as I absorbed first the final wisp orb into my chest and then, the core of the bark bear. The fire’s light gave Faryn’s face a warm, orange glow that accentuated the beauty of her emerald eyes. They sparkled as she sat beside me and watched me absorb the final wisp core into my chest.
“Now comes the hard part,” she said.
“Chasing down all those wisps wasn’t the hard part?” I
