"The Gathering" - Chapter 15

Clashings

We had decided to set up camp earlier than usual, sighting the oncoming heavy bank of dark clouds Wanda had pointed out earlier in the day moving in from the west.

I had finished unrolling our bedding and laying out the condiments for our meal, while Nikki had just returned from tending to the horses. Vincent had managed to evade the chores by the expedient excuse of gathering firewood. I made a mental note to put a stop to future evasions. How to go about it, I’ll worry later. Nikki made short work of starting a fire, years of practice making it all seem o easy.

Vincent now was sprawled leisurely before the fire, rolling a cigarette. One was already tucked behind his ear. That one he’s rolling had better be for me. He had his short sword and small whetstone in front of him.

Nikki suddenly straightened from where he was sitting in front of the fire he had started.

“Hold on,” he said, bringing Vincent and I to a stop. His eyes flashed immediately and he turned towards me. “They’re in danger!” he hissed urgently.

“Who?” Vincent asked, partially in rhetoric. “The girls?”

“Of course, the girls, you idiot!” Nikki snarled as he got up and reached for his sword belt lying on his travelling backpack. His scimitar—his favoured weapon—and a brace of wicked looking daggers glinted in the flickering light of our campfire as he belted them on.

The vehemence in his voice jarred me into movement. I patted the weapons belt on my hip; my slender hafted mace was still in its loop on my belt. I shouldered Wanda’s crossbow and a pack of bolts, swearing against her carelessness in having left them, remembering all she had in terms of weapons are two small daggers. To my left, Vincent hefted his short sword and slid it into its sheath.

“Wait for us,” he tossed at Nikki’s retreating back, moving towards me.

Nikki ignored Vincent as he ran towards where his horse was tethered and --surprisingly for a man his size--gracefully swung himself onto the saddle. He tugged on the reins, turning his horse around and spurred it towards the direction Wanda had taken when she had left us hours ago.

Vincent tugged at my hands, pulling me to my feet where I was frozen in uncertainty. “Come,” I think Rupert could carry both of us.”

That twisted humour jarred me into movement. “You named your horse Rupert?” I asked as I followed him to the back of the wagon. Vincent passed me two small rods, while he looped a bandoleer of throwing daggers around his torso. “Lightrods,” he offered at my uncomprehending look. “Torches will fizzle out in the rain.” He looked up from the short sword he had looped onto his belt and nodded at his horse. “Let’s just say it wasn’t one of my more sterling moments.” he quipped as he clambered onto his mount. “You can ride at the back.”

I looked back at our half-set camp. “What about our belongings?” Even to my ears it sounded asinine. I shook my head as I grabbed his offered hand and climbed onto the horse behind him.

Vincent motioned with his right hand, whispering something in a sibilant language. Our camp, the untended utensils and even the wagon and the horse tethered to it faded from sight, as if water had been spilt onto a freshly painted watercolour.

“Eden taught me that spell,” he offered by way of explanation as he urged his horse into a canter.

The canter slowly turned into a ground-eating gallop as I perched myself behind him, holding on for dear life as the mighty black stallion galloped towards the direction Nikki had taken. The dying light of the dusk still provided sufficient illumination, the plains turned into a burnished light green patina of bronze as the golden light of the sun was caught by the late spring grasses of the plains.

“There’s Nikolai,” Vincent said, his voice almost lost in the thunder of the hooves.

The evening light slowly faded into the dark blue gloom of early night, compounded by the heavy rain clouds. A drop of water landed on the back of my neck.

“It’s starting to rain!” I shouted into his ear. I saw him nod and he urged his horse faster.

Thunder clapped overhead, the clouds lighting up as lightning flashed. It threw the darkening plains into stark relief of white and black. I could see Nikki in front. I reached mentally towards him.

Is it …I couldn’t finish the thought.

Too late? Nikki’s mental voice came. The slight echo accompanying it told me he’s letting Vincent hear the conversation.

I see it! Vincent said, practically shouting into our mind link. He threw an image of what he had picked up from his clairvoyant talents into the shared link.

Leathery wings like a bat, a hairless body clad only in rough leather breeches and clawed hands. The face--eyes soulless pits of night, set deep in a death’s head. Jagged teeth with no lips--

A reaver, Nikki stated flatly. A small spark of emotion flared in my mind, a signal of his deep hatred before it was quelled. I felt him shutting off and withdrawing from our mind link.

I had managed to pick up little bits of knowledge from our time when the three of them had spent countless days in instructing us about this world and its inhabitants but I never came across any mention of the name Nikki had used with such virulent distaste.

A flare of light flashed in front of us, lighting what seemed a small copse of ash several hundred feet in front of us.

There! I pointed out to Vincent, replaying the vision in his mind.

I see it, he acknowledged. You’d better mind-link with me, Jas. he continued to advise.

Why?

It’s dark, and you don’t have night-vision.

I did as he requested, submerging my consciousness and his into a gestalt composite; his portion of the mind that governs sight, vision and corresponding translations thereof and my own mental link ready to capture Wanda and Eden once they’re within range of Vincent’s automatic clairvoyant sight.

The world immediately sprang into clarity in my eyes. Every exquisite detail of the land in twilight around us still retained its washes of Prussian blue and white starkness when bathed in intermittent lightning flashes but it was given depth and added detailing by Vincent’s sight which remained unaffected by the surroundings. The plains became cast now in gradients of blue and white, with differing weight and texture to define them.

Above the clashes of thunder and the now heavy lashings of rain I could hear a shriek piercing the night. It was a shriek of rage and madness all combined in one--one that strikes terror even in the hearts of grown men; I could feel my stomach hurling around, and it was not contributed by the jostling of the infernal galloping speed Vincent had set.

There was a sound akin to the deafening detonation of ten thunders, followed by another shriek. At the periphery of my mind, I could detect the familiar crystalline patterns of Eden’s thoughts and I grabbed at it with my power, melding her vision into the gestalt.

Jasper! I could feel her exultation and at the same time saw through her eyes what she and Wanda were facing. Seeing her, I melded Wanda into our gestalt, planting mental reassurances into her mind as her vision shifted into the same quality as Vincent’s.

The reaver’s back was turnerd towards Eden, its attention was focused on my sister. The pattering droplets brought her protective force field into view, the droplets bouncing off of the dome surrounding her. Her doublet was scuffed and grass-stained but I could see no traces of injury save some scrapes on her elbows and knees.

The reaver made a leap for her, smashing into her forcefield. My psychic senses could actually feel the protective barrier concave from the force of the creature’s impact.

I could feel Eden’s mind spark with powerful thoughts, even as images of runes—symbols and formulas of magical power—flashed through our shared mind link. There was a moment’s pause—which I knew in the real world is only a fraction of a second—before the spell took effect.

The witch pointed and a crackling arc of electricity shot down from the dark clouds above. It struck the reaver on its side, scoring a deep furrow and setting the haphazard bonds of cloth that made up its attire on fire.

I could feel the familiar touch of Nikki’s mind as he rejoined our mind-link. Jasper, I’ll need you to hold the link.

Why? I asked, despite myself.

I’m going to hammer this thing’s mind to a pulp, and I need every single ounce of concentration I can muster. He explained. There was a pause before he snapped, Don’t argue with me!

Sir! Yes, sir! I retorted. I could feel Vincent’s mirth—however inappropriate considering our situation—flooding the background of our mind-link.

I shifted my mind towards the battle with the reaver. I could feel Nikki nearing the copse, where Eden and Wanda had cannily positioned themselves on opposing sides of the reaver. I could see earlier how the witch would attack with magical lightning bolts called down from the rain-heavy clouds when its distracted by my sister but how could Wanda mount any assault when it’s going after Eden? I discounted my sister’s facility with inventive profanity as highly unlikely.

I got my answer moments later when I saw the reaver stumbling to its knees. Was that …? my thoughts trailed off  as I focused on seeing through Wanda’s eyes and mind. I could feel the flare of Wanda’s thoughts as she willed her force field to elongate forcefully into a battering ram to hammer at the reaver’s legs.

Eden then followed up with another bolt of lightning. The creature shrieked in fury.

I felt a thread of worry flashed in Eden’s mind. She had not prepared many offensive spells for the day, and she had already winnowed down her list to only two other options.

Vincent’s mind flared urgently, Save your spells! his mental voice barked through the mind-link, even as his line of vision suddenly banked out as if seeing from a bird’s eye view. I could see the two of us on a horse galloping, only another five-hundred metres away while Nikki had already reached them.

I could feel Eden’s screaming towards my sister through the mind-link, simultaneously calling down another bolt of lightning towards the creature. This time the reaver managed to evade the deadly arc, leaving the bolt to hit into the ground leaving the smell of charred loam and burnt ozone. “Hit him again!” she repeated.

Through the droplets of rain pattering on the edges of her force field, I could see it change form. From elongated force field shifted into a spatula-like shape. I could almost feel Vincent trying to contain his laughter at the irony of the humour until the force field came down forcefully on the reaver, flattening it into the ground. It was joined by another lightning bolt Eden had called down, leaving the reaver staggering to its feet.

Nikki had already reached them, unsheathing his scimitar and a dagger in an effortlessly smooth movement. An overhand cast sent the dagger spinning and thudding into its back, near the kidneys. The reaver turned, only to meet whiplike slashes to its face from Nikki’s scimitar. The muscular blonde danced nimbly clear from the reaver’s clumsily clutching claws and fired a mental thrust with his telepathic powers.

This shriek this time carried an undertone of fear.

I reached out tentatively with my mind, just a minute brush with its thoughts. Images of carnage, murder and destruction flooded me in a massive wave and I almost retched at the images and such primal bloodlust echoing through its mind. Only the rigid mental blocks Nikki had tirelessly drilled into me kept the wave away, but not before I almost stumbled off of Rupert. Only Vincent’s fast reflexes kept me from falling off. At such speed we’re galloping I have no illusions on what would happen to me had I fallen wrongly; I’d be lucky to sustain broken bones.

Nikki had manage to score another—albeit minor—hit, rending one leathery section of its wings torn. Eden’s lightning bolt missed again, but Wanda’s improvised battering ram towards its side sent it spinning on its feet facing Nikki’s scimitar which scored a shallow gash on its chest when the telepath managed to duck under its massive reach.

An alarm flashed through Vincent, jumping towards Nikki. With the ease and automatic response of people who had worked well and seamlessly together, Nikki translated Vincent’s warning correctly.

The massive blonde dropped to his knees, as the reaver’s bat-like wings closed in an embrace designed to trap him. Pushing back with one foot, he slid outwards from the deadly cocoon, as his scimitar swept upwards along its massive thighs.

The shriek of pain the reaver emitted if possible trebled as this new injury almost incapacitated it. The trace of fear had now increased and the cumulative injuries are starting to make their presence known by its disjointed movements. My empathic talents picked up on that pain. Bracing myself, I hurled my mind down the narrow avenue this new emotion opened up.

Speeding along flares of thoughts and emotions in the creature’s mind—pain, fear and hunger—I immersed my mind in the background of its thoughts. Once I reached the epicenter of the maelstrom that churned within, I mentally reached into the part of its mind that governed its senses. As each senses quivered with assorted stimuli and I blanketed it with a thick cocoon of numbness. Each quiver of stimuli received is like a thrumming string on a harp that I quelled mentally, rendering them inert and still.

And I slowly shut them down.

One by one.

I started with its sense of touch. Several seconds later, its sense of smell.

In the real world, thanks to our gestalt mind-link I could see the reaver starting to sense something is amiss. It started to sniff at the air, disbelief worming its way through its mind as Nikki’s telepathic assault hammered inwards. Vincent had reached the copse, lightrods flaring and shedding additional light in the rain-soaked twilight. The reaver reared back in pain, clutching its head as Nikki’s assault rendered it insensible. Vincent took adavnatge of the exposed torso by plunging his short sword in its abdomen and gave it a twist and a jerk upwards. The reaver’s left arm swatted at him but the clairvoyant’s sharp senses and reflexes had him rolling safely away before the blow managed to connect. Eden followed up the advantage with another lightning called down.

It flapped its wings, futilely trying to fly away but with its sense of touch gone it couldn’t translate if the flapping sails of leathery membrane had found purchase. Vincent jumped onto its back, jamming one of his throwing daggers into its exposed ear canal. At the same time, Nikki’s expert swordsmanship sliced its hamstrings before the blonde danced away. As Vincent vaulted away in a graceful back-flip, Wanda’s improvised battering ram got him squarely in the back.

Ensconced partially as I was in the reaver’s mind, even with its sense of touch dulled, I could feel the effects of the blade going in its ears—not deep enough to lacerate the sensitive brain tissue; the crippling tumble of being hamstrung; but Wanda’s attack—hurled with such force, amplified by her rage and desperation—shattered its spine.

It tumbled onto the ground, splayed at an impossible angle.

“Die, bastard,” Eden hissed as she called down the last volleys of lightning bolts to strike twice more.

The resulting heap of burnt flesh and leathery membrane smoldered for a while, before the rain dispersed of the embers into nothingness.

Overhead, the sky flashed again with thunder, leaving the five of us in the rain-lashed night.