THE ASCENDANCY - The Cliffside Ambush - Day 3

  "I'm gonna send her down again," Yumi said to Tanya as they lay prone on the forest floor, trying their best to conceal themselves. They'd made their way back across the river in a different direction than they had the previous day with Gavin. Deep in the forest. they'd come to what could only be described as some kind of crevice that seemed gouged right out of the terrain in front of them. They were barely able to make out the details of the feature, but it formed a natural clearing in the vegetation, as the ground was more stone and gravel in this area.

  They'd been making their way down quietly, following the crevice across the terrain but trying their best to stay concealed. Before they'd left, ARi had given Yumi a tiny sample of tin that represented almost the entire amount she'd been able to find so far within the established territory. It was enough to show the little water drake, and I was pretty sure the little drake understood that they were trying to find more.

  "Yumi, are you ever gonna give your little drake a name? You've named everything else."

  Yumi looked back at Tanya with a bewildered look. "She already has a name. I haven't figured out what it is yet."

  Yumi had said it in a way that made perfect sense, like Tanya should've known that already. But Tanya knew better than to take the bait.

  Yumi pet her little drake. "All right, girl, go do your thing, and see if you can find Mama some tin."

  The little drake sprinted out, down across the clearing, and moved down into the crevice. "I think maybe we can move and try it at least two more times, but after that we're gonna have to head back. It's gonna get dark soon."

  "Yeah, I know. I hope we find some soon, though. Everybody else has got these powers and abilities and I haven't been able to use mine at all. I'm starting to feel like--"

  Before Yumi could finish her sentence, the tree behind the girls exploded into splinters as another reflective blur slammed into the ground right behind where Tanya was lying.

  "Whoa, shit!" The girls jumped up and bolted, sprinting as fast as they could, dodging and weaving through the obstacles on the forest floor. Yumi kept trying to look behind her, freaking out, knowing they were running away from her little drake.

  "Run! She'll be fine!" Tanya screamed. "We won't! We gotta get out of here!"

  Another reflective dart slammed into a tree, blasting shards of material into the side of Tanya's face. She winced in pain, but both girls kept running as fast as they could. Another dart slammed into the ground on Tanya's side again, forcing them to change direction.

  "Tanya, they're trying to herd us!" Yumi screamed.

  "I know, goddammit, Yumi--what do you want me to do about it?" Tanya shouted back.

  Another dart slammed into a tree on Yumi's side before both girls ran into another grassy clearing. On the other side of the clearing, three Nox Reapers de-cloaked, blocking their path forward. When the girls staggered to a stop and turned to run back into the forest, another de-cloaked behind them.

  "SHIT!" Yumi screamed.

  Before the girls had a chance to react, the closest Reaper was already upon them. It reached down and grabbed Yumi by her throat and raised her three feet off the ground, her legs dangling. She choked and gagged as she tried to scream in terror.

  Without hesitation, Tanya cast a Necrotic Bolt at full strength right into the Reaper's face. To her surprise, it dropped Yumi and lashed out at its own face as its carapace and flesh instantly started melting. It fell back, staggering, and hit the ground.

  Tanya ran to Yumi, who still couldn't breathe, and grabbed her neck as she started to heal her. She looked up, expecting the other Reapers to already be on them. But as she looked across the clearing she watched Bishop jump out of the tree line and attack the largest Reaper. His motions were fluid and he seemed to be on the Reaper's back, shifting to the front, stabbing and clawing violently, ravaging it.

  At the same time, the other two Reapers found two kobold rogues on their backs, seemingly from nowhere, as the little kobolds repeatedly stabbed the Reapers in the gaps of their carapace armor over and over with their daggers. One of the Reapers managed to throw one of the kobolds off as the other rogue was able to get a couple more stabs in before bounding off on his own, grabbing his fellow kobold, and dragging him back into the tree line and into shelter.

  The larger Reaper had thrown Bishop off as well. Bishop lay on the ground seemingly broken, unable to move on his own. The large Reaper was holding one of his arms up to his face, and pointed with the other in the direction of the girls as the other two Reapers staggered and sluggishly moved toward them.

  Tanya threw another bolt, this one not as powerful as the last, but it hit one of the Reaper's center mass. It staggered, and fell to its knees, before collapsing onto the ground. Surprised that her bolt had been that effective weak as it'd been, she watched as the other Reaper staggered as well before it collapsed. Some kind of weird foam seemed to cough and ooze from its face.

  Yumi, now able to breathe on her own with a little bit of healing from Tanya to her neck, knelt next to her as Tanya stood up and pointed at the last Reaper. "You son of a bitch, I'll kill you," she said as she started toward the alien.

  The Reaper, seeing the Earth girl approaching and angry--knowing she was capable of throwing those bolts--took three staggered steps back and summoned another dart, throwing it Tanya's way. Tanya dodged the projectile and continued toward the Reaper.

  Before she could get close enough, one of the kobold rogues came back out of the tree line, jumped on the back of the Reaper, and once again began stabbing and slashing at the alien as it screamed and began spewing the same substance from its face, trying to grab at the little kobold. Tanya charged in, and kicked the Reaper square in the face. It staggered back and collapsed to the ground, seemingly choking on whatever was coming out of it.

  The little kobold hopped down and ran over as if checking on Tanya, holding up the little daggers to show her. He carefully slid the Poison Lace Daggers back into their sheath and went into the tree line to help the other little rogue make it back out to the others.

  Barely able to talk, Yumi's voice was hoarse as she kept screaming, "Fuck! What the fuck?"

  Tanya ran back over to Yumi. "I'm out of energy--you're gonna have to hold still. Be still, okay? I know it hurts; I'll fix it, but you have to be still."

  Both kobolds were now at the girls' side as well. One of them looked to be severely injured. Still panicked and barely able to talk, Tanya reached out toward the little injured kobold. "Jack, what did the disgusting bug thing do to you? Did he hurt you?"

  Even injured, both kobolds seemed to worry over Yumi, who was now sitting up but still on the ground. Tanya barked at the kobolds, "Watch her. I have to go check on Bishop. There could be more of those things."

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  She ran back over and found the familiar on his side. One of his limbs was missing, and he looked severely damaged. "Oh boy, Gavin's gonna be pissed." She reached down and was surprised to find that she could actually carry the familiar and brought him back over to the others.

  Realizing the irony, Tanya took a deep breath. "All right, lady--suck it up," she told herself.

  After she brought Bishop over to Yumi and the two rogues, she marched over and touched the carapace on the closest Reaper. When the window popped up, she accepted and moved on to loot the others. She finally made her way back to the first Reaper, the one she'd hit with a full-strength bolt, and when she looked down at its corpse she turned to the side and threw up. The necrotic damage had damn near made the thing dissolve in on itself. It was putrid and awful. She finally managed to get close enough to touch it--and accepted the loot window.

  Sometime later, after Tanya's energy reserve had a chance to recharge, she reached down to place her hand on Yumi's throat. Yumi stopped her, grabbed her hand, and instead placed it on the injured kobold.

  "Yumi, are you sure?"

  "I am. Heal him. Please," she pleaded.

  The little kobold's chest glowed under Tanya's hand as she repaired the damage. "I want to try something. Yumi, don't move," Tanya said.

  The little kobold was healed, and with her casting still active she lifted her hand from the kobold's chest and placed it on Yumi's throat. Every nerve tingled, and it felt like something tiny was crawling all over her. She closed her eyes and winced, but found it much easier to breathe and talk when Tanya finally pulled her hand back.

  Tanya slumped down onto the ground, exhausted, again completely draining her energy reserves and her stamina.

  "Thank you, Tanya," Yumi said. "Thank all of you, and poor Bishop."

  "All right, Tanya. Stay here. I'm gonna see if I can find something we can make a stretcher with, and let's see if we can get Bishop back home, okay?"

  Both of the rogues got up to follow Yumi, but Yumi turned. "Sawyer, stay with Tanya, please." The little rogue acknowledged her and sat back down next to Tanya.

  Later that night, the door on the front of the den pushed open as one of my rogues rushed in, chirping and panicking and freaking out. I had no idea what he was talking about, but it was clear he needed me to follow him.

  Kyle and I wasted no time. I didn't bother grabbing any other gear. I grabbed one of the spears, and we bolted out the door and followed the little rogue all the way down past the boundary, now well and inside the treeline. Near the shallow crossing in the river, Kyle and I saw Tanya and Yumi and the other little rogue trying to make their way across the water, carrying what looked like a makeshift stretcher. I realized instantly that it was Bishop on the stretcher. At some point the little water drake had caught up to them as well and was looking up at me with huge worried eyes as he nuzzled Bishop's unmoving body.

  Kyle and I ran down and met the girls in the water as we took the stretcher from them. They looked like hell. We made our way back across our boundary, and the weight on the stretcher disappeared as Bishop's body was absorbed and ARi's projection faded into place beside me.

  "It'll be okay, Gav. I have everything I need to fix him."

  We quietly moved back inside, and I let the girls situate themselves at the table. Tanya looked distraught, her head buried in her arms, and Yumi looked extremely anxious.

  "What the hell happened to you guys?" I asked softly.

  Yumi looked up at Kyle and me with a tired grin. "I'll tell you what happened. Tanya's a badass." She reached over and pried Tanya's hand out from over her head, holding it tight. ARi's projection had disappeared once we'd stepped into the den, and she stood at the end of the table seemingly reading a window. Her eyes almost glazed over before her focus snapped back to attention. She looked down at the girls. "Are you kidding me?" she said.

  Yumi's smile grew even bigger. ARi snapped a projected window on the wall at the back of the table.

  [SYSTEM WINDOW] COMBAT REPORT

  Outcome: Victory - 4 hostile Nox Reapers eliminated.

  Tanya Ramirez, Level 4, killed Level 4 Nox Reaper using Negative-Charge Reaper’s-Coil.

  Tanya Ramirez, Level 4, killed Level 4 Nox Reaper using Negative-Charge Reaper’s-Coil.

  Kobold-Rogue Jack, Level 2, killed Level 3 Nox Reaper using Poisoned-Daggers.

  Kobold-Rogue Sawyer, Level 3, killed Level 6 Nox Reaper using Poisoned-Daggers. Assisted by Bishop and Tanya Ramirez.

  "Holy shit, Tanya, it was supposed to be a scouting mission. You guys were supposed to be looking for tin." I snapped.

  "Gavin, the whole thing was a trap. They were waiting for us," Yumi snapped back. "They had set up an ambush, and when we tried to run they herded us like cattle for the slaughter."

  "Gavin," ARi interrupted. "I got what’s left of Bishop’s memory. It looks like they caught the Reaper’s trail and followed it as it doubled back toward the forest."

  Tanya sat up and pulled herself together. "You guys, they literally waited till they thought they could pick us off. I think they’ve been watching us for a while."

  "What happened with the one that got attacked by the raptors?" I asked.

  "Honestly, I think they got attacked by raptors," Tanya said. "They probably didn’t even know we were up on the hill watching them. But they weren’t aimlessly wandering around in the forest when that happened."

  "ARi, is there any way of knowing how many of them are left?"

  "Gav, their team’s going to have the same participation restrictions as we did. One AI guide and up to eight participants for a total of nine. We have four confirmed dead that tried to attack our girls, and the one that you looted after the raptor attack. That means we potentially could have up to three more Reapers, plus their AI."

  "Or it could only be their AI left," Kyle cut in. "God, I hate this. How are we supposed to know?"

  Okay, I took a deep breath to calm myself down. Kyle sat next to Tanya, talking quietly with her, his hand on her shoulder.

  "Seriously though, Gav," Yumi cut in. "Tanya whooped their asses. She would have gotten full credit for Sawyer's kill too if the little guy hadn't gotten to it a couple of seconds before her." She marched up to that thing and kicked it in the face. Although it was hard for it to try and dodge her with Sawyer on his back, plunging those daggers in and out like a damn sewing machine."

  I turned and looked at ARi. "What did you put on those daggers?"

  "That venom you got off the Reaper," she said. "When Tanya got the skill shard, that Reaper skill did extra damage to Reapers. I thought maybe the venom might be the same. Unfortunately, I used all that we had left, though."

  Tanya sat up, pulling her face out of her arms, and took a big breath. She looked exhausted. She waved her hand over the table and four more ampules appeared.

  "ARi, this time don’t use the poison directly from the ampule. I’m going to help you thin it down a bit. The poison killed those things in less than a minute, and I bet we can make this go a lot farther."

  "Listen," I said. "I’m glad you guys are okay. I’m sorry, maybe I should have come with you too."

  "No offense, Gav," Yumi said, "but if you would have been there you’d have been another useless person that Tanya would have had to heal."

  "Tanya interrupted quickly. "Yumi, you are not useless. There’s nothing you could have done. That thing easily could have reached over and grabbed me by the throat instead. We got lucky. They took their shot, and they paid for it."

  "Listen, Yumi," Tanya said. "I came into this with the same mindset and perspective that you did about all of this violence. I’m done with that now. I’m not gonna hesitate. I won't hesitate," she said again, reaching out to grab Yumi's hand.

  The water drake jumped onto the table, made its way on four legs over to Yumi, and in its front legs it held and dropped a shiny piece of ore.

  "Well, it looks like your mission was a success." ARi said.

  Yumi looked up to ARi, "Is it tin?"

  "It is. We’ll have to get more. Let's send the constructs out this time, though," ARi said with a smile.

  "Good," Yumi said with an even bigger grin. "Because I’m not going back out there until I have my little murder bots."

  "ARi, how long before Bishop can be respawned?" I asked.

  "It’s going to take the rest of the day, Gav."

  "Will he be, you know, the same?"

  "I don’t know, Gav. I think so, though. And he’s probably going to be leveled up too."

  "Good. I bet the kobolds will be, too."

  "Gav, what those guys did today --" Tanya broke in.

  "I know, Tanya. I’m gonna let them choose their own paths, I’ve decided. But we’ll sit down with them tomorrow, okay? Why don’t you guys go take a hot shower and get some rest."