Regrets of The Fallen (Victis Honor Book 1) (32 page)

Haruka looked up at her after they landed, standing shakily on her feet as her strength quickly returned with Aranea’s spell wearing off. “I know. Thank you.”

Bella smiled at her. “Thank
you
for getting all angry for me.”

Haruka smirked. “I’m glad that flattered you.” Both of them looked over as a scream came from their rescuer, who appeared to be a young woman. Haruka flexed her fists and Bella pulled her sword and shield from her back before both took off towards the two massive arachnids that were threatening the girl.

Far above them Freya grumbled to herself as she was finally able to draw her cutlass and hack through the webbing holding her. “Sure, jus’ leave us behind, we ain’t yer girlfriends.” She looked at the extremely long drop, and then at the three giant spiders moving along the tree towards them, making climbing down impossible. She then looked over to Able, who had just cut himself free with his energy blades. “Willin’ to trust me, Able?”

The young man glanced from her to the giant spiders. “Do I have a choice?”

Freya laughed. “Nope! Drop!” She let go and he did as well, falling behind her. She pulled off her captain’s hat and threw it down before her, where it began to multiply in size. Soon it was big enough for her and Able to land in it and it floated them gently to the ground where they hopped out. It shrank back to size and she set it back on her head as Able shook his.

“You have a lot of tricks.”

“It’s why I’m still alive despite most o’ th’ world’s best efforts.” Freya winked. She looked up at the spiders that were rapidly descending. “Let’s make haste to our dear, abandonin’ friends, shall we?” He nodded and the two of them took off running towards the fighting.

The girl that had aided them – clad in a white cloak with red accents and a wide hood – was busily flinging fire at the giant spiders that converged on her. Two of them managed to fire webbing onto her and pin her in place, approaching with dripping mandibles that looked quite deadly. Haruka suddenly appeared in the air in front of one, slamming a fist into its head to stop its forward momentum. She then kicked off its head and into a forward-flip, bringing her heel down on its head and slamming it to the ground. Isabella appeared in front of the other spider and bashed it upwards with her shield, then cleaved off one of its front legs with her sword. The spider screeched and backed off, spewing venom at her. A sphere of light surrounded her as she raised her shield, deflecting the venom in all directions.

The other spider chose to try the same and spewed venom over Haruka. The monk instantly felt its effects as it seeped into her skin, weakening and slowing her heart to a stop. She simply smirked as she directed her chakra to purge her body of the venom. After a few seconds she was fine and able to dodge the spider’s follow-up attempt to pierce her with a leg. Isabella blocked a similar piercing blow from her spider, cutting off the end of the leg afterwards. She and Haruka then switched over as she blocked a leg that went for Haruka and the monk kicked the other’s head up after it tried to bite the knight.

Meanwhile Freya and Able reached their rescuer. Able used an energy blade to cut the girl free and helped her up as Freya looked from the spiders pursuing them to yell at Bella and Haruka, “We brought friends, guys!”

“Well then take care of them!” Bella shouted back as she narrowly dodged a stinger, the wicked point glancing off her shield. “We’re kind of busy right now!”

“Oh, sure, we’ll
jus’ take care of ‘em ourselves, then.” Freya turned to the other two after glancing back at the three rapidly approaching spiders. “Got any ideas?”

The girl smiled in thanks at Able before brushing herself off. “It shouldn’t be a problem!” She clapped her hands together, spread them out and pushed them forward while whispering something under her breath.

Freya blinked as her pistol and cutlass, still in her hands, suddenly glowed a fiery orange. “What the…”

“I hope you don’t mind, I thought you needed some extra firepower.”

Freya swung her sword and blinked again as it left a trail of flame. Her expression switched to a wicked grin. “Oh, I
like
you.” She turned towards the approaching spiders and began running to meet them. “Let’s not waste any time!”

Able glanced at the girl, who met his eyes before looking to his weapons. “Um, I don’t know how to enchant energy.”

He smirked. “I don’t think it needs it. Just keep throwing fireballs.”

She saluted with a wide smile. “Will do! Charge?”

“Charge.”

Both of them ran to catch up to Freya’s flanks. The pirate captain rushed for the spider in the middle, firing a magic shot at one of its legs and laughing as she noticed flame bursting forth with the shot. The creature’s leg was severed, bringing its head lower and allowing her to leap up onto its back where she hacked away with her cutlass. Able increased his speed as the spider on the left approached, dodging to the right to avoid one leg, and to the left to avoid the other. The head came down and he slid beneath its jaws, coming back to his feet underneath it where he stabbed both blades into its underbelly and continued running. The girl summoned an orb of fire in both hands, flinging one into the air and one at the spider. The spiders were aware now of her magic, so her target leapt to the side, avoiding the fireball she’d launched at him. She grinned and brought her other hand down and the fireball in the air slammed down into the spider’s back, exploding and setting the creature ablaze.

A short distance away, Haruka sprinted around her spider with ridiculous speed, hitting every leg as she passed. Right across from her Isabella did the same, but cleaving every leg she passed. As the Death Marks Haruka left behind exploded, severing each leg, both of their spiders hit the ground. Both women darted away from the thrashing spiders and sprinted towards each other. Bella winked at her as she raised her shield and Haruka leapt onto it, being launched high into the air. Isabella charged herself with power, rushing towards the other spider with increasing speed. At the same time, Haruka twisted in the air and came down in a flaming kick that demolished one spider’s head as Isabella crashed into the other one, her blade driving deep into its head. Both spiders writhed wildly before dying, no longer a threat.

Able had cut open his spider’s stomach and removed several legs, making it more or less defeated. He finally managed to get on its back and climbed his way up the thrashing arachnid to its head, driving an energy blade in to kill it.
Riding the back of hers like a wild bronco, Freya laughed as it bucked and jolted, trying to throw her off. She stabbed her cutlass in for a more secure hold and put her pistol against its head, blasting a hole clear through and bringing it to the ground. Finally, the girl had erected a wall of fire to keep her spider at bay as she chanted, forming a symbol of fire in the air. When it was finally ready, the symbol shattered and lines of flame surrounded the spider, tying around it like a net made of fire. This ‘net’ then constricted and exploded, leaving a scorched corpse behind; the last spider was dead.

Haruka began heading towards the others, glancing at Isabella
, who was still in her golden-haired state; she probably wanted to make sure she remained conscious for the next few minutes. All five of them gathered together and Haruka inspected their rescuer, wondering where she’d come from.

The girl was an elf, just over five feet tall and nineteen Common Age if she spoke the truth. She was a happy-looking girl with crimson hair styled with large curls on either side of her face, but straight and waist-length in the back as was apparent when she lowered her hood. Her eyes were pink in color and she had the slight tan of a traveler. Her appearance was a combination of “pretty” and “cute”, probably a mark of her age. Her cloak, a white one with red accents and designs, was connected in the front by a silver clasp that looked to be expensive. Besides the cloak she wore a sleeveless red cloth vest with a v-cut at the chest and waist. Below that she wore a knee-length pleated skirt of the same color and cloth, and white boots that looked even more expensive than the rest of her clothing.

Given Haruka’s past, she always noticed markings and tattoos more than anything else, as to her they had the most meaning. This girl had one visible: on the back of her left hand was a tattoo of a sun with four tails of fire curving from the center in each direction, probably representing the four cardinal directions. Something else seemed important to her: a brightly-colored red rose that was tucked into a brown wristband with the initials “S.R.A.”

The girl took Haruka’s inspection with a smile, watching as Haruka folded her arms. “You helped us, so you probably aren’t an enemy. So who are you and where did you come from?”

The girl’s grin widened as Haruka spoke. “You aren’t very trusting. But I did just see a creepy woman try to feed you and your friends to giant spiders, so I guess it makes sense. There’s no reason to be so worried, though! You could beat me no problem!”

“I’m not
worried
, just suspicious. Your appearance is very fortunate.”

“Oh, right. Well then, let me give you all the information I can so you’re more trusting.” She folded her arms and changed her expression to an imitation of Haruka’s, mimicking her serious monotone well enough that Isabella burst out laughing, earning a glare from her girlfriend. “My name is Suria Rose Alarius. I never use all that. Parents and old people call me Suri, dates call me Rose, and friends call me Red. I’m from the Imperial City. Like I said, I’m nineteen Common Age. I’m a Mage, in case the whole fireball thing didn’t make it obvious. As to why I’m here, um…” She shrugged. “Out for a walk?”

Despite Bella’s amusement, Haruka simply raised an eyebrow. “Out for a walk dozens of miles from where you live, in a dangerous unknown forest?”

“I like danger?”

“Try again.”

Suria sighed. “Okay, I ran away.”

Bella blinked, suddenly concerned. “You ran away? Why?”

“Nothing
bad
, really. I’d rather not talk about it; just know my parents never read any ‘Choose your own adventure’ books when they were little and think everything needs to be written out for you.”

“Ah…” Haruka tilted her head. “I can relate.”

“Really?”

“My father was behind that situation you just helped us out of.”

“I… Wow.” Suria looked around at the dead spiders. “I
hope
my father would never send giant arachnids after me to get me back. Probably just guards. Or bounty hunters.”

“Well you’re in luck,” Freya said with a grin. “This group already has ‘alf
th’ world comin’ after ‘em, so what’s another pursuit?”

Isabella was silent now, staring at the ground in thought. Haruka looked at her worriedly as Able shrugged. “Yeah, you could come with us. We’re heading south, away from the capitol.”

“That would be nice… I don’t like being alone. I-“ Suria trailed off as Isabella walked away. “Um, is she okay? Does she not want me to come or something?”

Haruka shook her head. “It’s nothing to do with you. I’m going to talk to her.”

As the monk followed the knight, Suria looked at the other two. “You guys aren’t gonna talk to her?”

Freya shrugged. “Haruka’s plenty. They’re together. We’d
jus’ be in th’ way.”

“Oh! Okay. So the one with the mask thing is Haruka?”

Freya laughed. “Oh, right! You don’t know us. Yeah, an’ ‘er girlfriend – th’ glowy one right now – is Isabella. I’m Freya, an’ th’ kid in th’ suit is Able.”

Suria looked at the last one, tilting her head. “I noticed your suit. It’s really rare to see that kind of clothing outside of the Imperial City. Are you from there, too?”

Able nodded. “Sort of. That’s where I got the suit, anyway. I lived there for a while, but I don’t think I’m from there originally.”

“You don’t think?”

“My memory has a lot of holes in it.”

“Ooh, mystery?”

Freya chuckled. “This should be fun.”

IXH

A short distance away in the forest, too far for the others to see or hear, Isabella stopped and sheathed her sword with a sigh. Her power left her and she stumbled as weakness hit her full-force until two solid hands caught her arms from behind, steadying her. She had known Haruka would follow her; of course she had. She turned around to look into concerned green eyes. She wondered what she should say, but it turned out she didn’t have to say it. “This is about Faust’s son, isn’t it?”

Isabella nodded, looking down. “I never thought about him. I can’t believe he’s after me. He was only a baby when I… I didn’t expect him to be working with your father, at all…”

Haruka shrugged. “It doesn’t matter; they’re the same thing. We’ll just keep either of them from getting either of us.”

“But working together they’re so strong…”

“Working together,
we’re
strong.” Haruka gestured behind her. “And we have allies. Freya says her nephew’s mercenary company is two thousand strong. Two thousand! They can’t reach us through that.”

Isabella sighed, looking up at her. “I hope you’re right. I just… I have a really bad feeling about this. And Haruka, I only have a year at most…”