“Would you rather risk a tough fight or guarantee failure?” I asked.
“Tough fight,” Vesma said.
“Looks like I’m outvoted this time,” Kegohr said with a smile. “All right, then.”
Vesma stood to my right, her fists level with her chest. Kegohr towered over my left shoulder, his furry hands gripping the two-handed mace that had killed more than a handful of sprites.
As the steady whispers and a few half-hearted cheers from the other initiate teams reached my ears, I wondered if the rest of the class would join us at the mouth of the cave. If they did, it would undo the advantage we had gained. But it seemed that most of them shared Kegohr’s worry. They held back, still positioned behind their lures at the edge of the slope while they waited for the sprites to come to them.
A patter of small feet came out of the cave, and the bright fire that marked the joints of ember sprite bodies glowed in the darkness. One first, then another, and another, until a small crowd of them was edging toward us.
I flung the lure into the cave. As it clattered on the ground, the sprites let out a collective hiss, but still, they held back.
“Come and get it.” I tugged slowly on the cord and drew the lure back toward me. The object was a glowing teardrop against the smoke-blackened ground, and the sprites stared at it hungrily.
A sprite broke into a run to reach the lure before it got away, and the others rushed after him. The round creatures tumbled over each other as they tried to be the first to the bait. I guided their movements by adjusting the direction I swung the lure, and they followed after it without hesitation.
“Now!” I yelled at my teammates.
Kegohr plowed through the pursuing sprites, and they tumbled in all directions like bowling pins. They soon recovered and leapt onto him like they’d done to me earlier. Vesma rushed to help him, every kick and punch well-timed and powerful. I continued using the lure as a distraction so that the pair could gain some easy kills. The sprites seemed far more interested in the potential prize than the guild initiates attacking them, and I thought this would be a simple task.
And it probably would have been, except one particularly speedy sprite grabbed the lure and tore it apart with its claws. With the item rendered ineffective, the rest of the creatures turned their attention on us.
I dropped the lure’s cord and drew my sword before a sprite sprang at me. I shoved the flat of my blade between its jaws and delivered an elbow to its cranium. It released my blade and fell to the ground, but it didn’t stay down. The creature latched onto my leg and buried its teeth in my thigh. The pain was like fire flashing through my veins, but I used meditative techniques to focus my attention away from sensation and into will.
I punched down with the pommel of my sword, and there was a crunch as the creature’s skull cracked open. The sprite’s jaw widened, its grip slackened, and it fell to the ground, dead. My sword pommel had succeeded where my elbow had failed.
I raised my blade as another sprite leapt at me, and this time, I was fully prepared. The creature’s black flesh hissed as my blade sliced through its abdomen. The two halves tumbled through the air and rolled along the ground. A pair of sprites stared at the truncated corpse and squealed before they both fled toward the cave. I lifted my left palm, channeled Vigor through my wood pathways, and activated Stinging Palm. A volley of wooden splinters shot through the air and punctured the sprites as they fled. The wood burned up almost immediately on impact, but it was enough to slow their retreat. I sprinted to meet them as they continued their flight into the cave. Before they could cross the threshold, I cut them down.
I glanced back and saw that none of the other initiate teams had decided to venture this close to the cave’s entrance. They simply watched as Kegohr, Vesma, and I battled. Some were re-enacting my Stinging Palm technique, and I wondered how many of them had ever seen anyone channel wood before.
Well, I was happy to give them a show. My teammates, however, looked like they needed my help.
Kegohr yelled in frustration as three sprites latched onto his back. He tried to reach over his shoulder to grab them, but they evaded his grasp. I was about to help him when he suddenly wheeled around and threw himself against the walls of the cave. Three consecutive bashes against the stone forced the sprites to release their hold, and he crushed their heads with three swift stomps.
Vesma let out a dry gasp as a sprite wrapped its arms around her neck. She sank to her knees, gasped for breath, and scrambled to pry the beast from her body. I rushed to her and grabbed hold of the creature’s arms and yanked hard. It squealed as it came loose from around Vesma, then lunged at me. The sprite’s teeth gnashed as it tried to bite me, but I still had a good grip on its arms. I swung with all my strength and slammed it into the cave wall. There was a crack, and it went limp.
Kegohr seized the last of the sprites, flung it hard into the ground, and stamped on it with his clawed foot. It died in a spray of ash and sparks.
“How many?” Vesma rubbed her neck.
We cut the cores from the bodies and counted them as we went.
“Including the ones we got outside, that’s 24,” I said.
“Not bad, not bad,” Kegohr said. “Another two each, and we’ll all have Flame Shield.”
I looked out at the rest of the class, who were still waiting. Some
