Necrotic Love Bite: Plucked
Trees set fire and put themselves out in the same instant in a continuous loop, mesmerizing all who gazed upon the flames. Sometimes the flames were red, sometimes blue. Most often, orange. The source of the flame was none other than a raging phoenix, flapping and floating about. This phoenix had many eyes. But it wasn’t the only creature to have greeted the intruders…
Groups of feral and hairy bipeds emerged; they had duck bills and the top of their heads lacked fur. On its back was a turtle shell. In other words, a kappa. But this kappa had horizontal, rotating eyes which spun around in a circle as if simply a machine meant to imitate a kappa.
Werewolves which looked more like centaurs followed, with eyes stripped along their bodies. Some kind of zombies made of bog water emerged with eyes popping in and out of view. There were skeletons in the back looking to throw down (those had no eyes, but the skeletons resembled many animals at once and its bone structure constantly shifted).
Many others, most of which didn’t belong in the forest (including the legendary blå haj, aka the Swedish Blue Shark) joined their ranks. All surrounding the three vampires.
“Of course,” Fougasse smirked while her voice fried in fright, “we’re not out of the woods, yet. We don’t get a break.”
Maybe it was uncharacteristic of Fougasse to not have such a high and mighty attitude to even being surrounded by monsters of various origin. Doubly uncharacteristic, then, that Kei dusted off what remained of her nice clothes (not that it exposed anywhere important), then looked around.
“We can handle this,” Kei said, listless and with eyes half-open. Fougasse even caught a hint of a yawn. Either that foolish apprentice had no sense of self-preservation or she just didn’t care.
“What do you mean ‘we’? By your own admission, you’re the weakest one here,” Fougasse lectured but even her usual demeanor was replaced with trepidation.
“Yeah, I know,” Kei shrugged.
“Then you’ll be the first to die!” Fougasse stood on her tiptoes and yelled. Kei was unfazed. Neither bang nor whimper.
“Yeah, but you two won’t be. And I’m only the helper, aren’t I?” Kei looked down as if Fougasse was twice as small as she already knew she was. “You two have magic. I could die, or buy you two some time. Or do both. I don’t really know how much change I have on me to buy time with, but at least a few seconds, yeah?”
Fougasse growled and scowled and huffed and puffed and her face turned red as if she was as full of life as the last time she had a life to live. She wanted to say, “that’s all you think you’re worth? Two seconds?” But she knew she didn’t have much time left to bicker: while the creatures all stood in place in their circle around the trio, it was clear by their stances that they were ready to attack at a moment’s notice. Most likely, if she had to guess, the second any of the three fulfilled a certain condition, the creatures would charge toward them: 1) Fougasse, Kei, or Gibassier made a move in any direction. 2) Any of the three vampires (though it barely counted with Kei, apparently) initiated a fight first. Or 3) Any of the three, or all three, made too much noise.
She had her arms crossed and her face in a knot.
“The way I see it, I’m already buying you guys time just by staying calm,” Kei remarked.
“Really? How do you figure?” Fougasse kept her voice low. She knew by now that keeping calm was vital.
“Talking is a free action. Until we’ve called our action, we can talk as much as we like.”
“I fail to comprehend,” Fougasse shook her head and made a, “hmph” sound.
“We can plan, but we can’t make any moves,” Gibassier explained. He had his staff ready and as moronic as he found the whole ordeal, he couldn’t deny that Kei had been an immense help. In some way or other.
“So, got a plan?” Gibassier asked, a smirk across his face. Fougasse had one as well, but she would rather it go unacknowledged.
“I’m glad you asked. I figure you and Fougasse can cast spells on each end while I make a break for it and we can regroup once you two are done slaughtering those monsters,” Kei sounded rather proud of herself.
“That’s terrible,” Fougasse interjected.
“Yeah, you’re right. Do you have a shield spell by any chance? Like a large barrier? Energy field?” Kei suggested.
“I…” Fougasse began to say something like, “of course not. I conjure things and I shoot elemental magic only” until she remembered that she did indeed have an energy shield spell indeed.
“I do,” Fougasse nodded. She looked quite proud indeed.
“Good,” Kei gave a thumbs up. She knew she wasn’t the sharpest tool in the hiker’s backpack, but she had experience with utilizing people. And as undead as they may be, vampires were still a kind of people. Just as easy to take advantage of as any other. In that sense, there was nothing wrong with not knowing any magic spells at all. Really, Kei’s life was bliss even in the worst of times.
Maybe it was tempting fate, but Kei felt so good about the whole ordeal that whatever the ordeal could be called, she didn’t so much as have a “death wish” as much as she wished to be the shooting star that others could wish upon. It was unfortunate that after a good morning’s rest, she’ll forget all about wanting that, as she’ll no longer have need to want that.
Kei knelt down, just like she had the night before. All the creatures huffed and readied their stances. Shuffling began to occur.
“Milady, may I request a spank to high heaven?” Kei asked. Fougasse blushed, and soon Kei would become useful.