Broken Lands

Sophia dodged sideways again as she worked to reorient the floating blade towards the wolf. She’d already found out that she was, surprisingly, stronger than Amy but she could not afford to get pinned. That was how she lost last time, and Amy was excellent at using her low mass to knock someone over then pinning them with her jaws.

It wasn’t how wolves hunted in the wild, but other than her appearance Amy was not much like a real wolf and this was no hunt. This was a fight and it was clear that Amy had far more experience fighting in her wolf shape than Sophia expected.

Sophia deliberately moved a little slower than her top speed as she fell into a rhythm. Dodge here, sidestep there, wait for Amy to overcommit a little. When it finally happened, Sophia dodged the other direction and pushed her speed with a quick casting of Rush that pushed her entirely out of Amy’s reach. She then took the shot she’d lined up several steps earlier, the one that just needed Amy to not see it coming and not move out of the way. Sophia’s floating blade shone brightly in her MageSight as she threw one Force Bolt at Amy’s head, then another.

Amy tapped the ground twice with her chin before a third Force bolt hit her.

“Did you have to hit her that hard?” Moti frowned at Sophia as he held a strip of wet cloth out to the wolf. It dipped a single drop of an ugly but fortunately scentless brownish-yellow liquid. “Shield recovery tokens are not cheap, even these apprentice-grade tokens without real healing.”

Sophia shrugged at Moti. She wasn’t worried about the price; some things were worth what they cost. The fact that there wasn’t a truly safe training facility and there weren’t very many healers was weird; she wasn’t about to skimp on what precautions there were. “Train like you fight or you’ll fight like you train.”

Sophia didn’t know where the quote came from, but it was true. The fact that there was no way to practice against some kind of illusionary enemy in Casterville bothered her; if she had her choice, they’d be practicing against all of the monsters that were common to the area before they went to fight them for real. Since that wasn’t an option, this was the next best thing. “We’re going to go fight monsters; we need to know how we all fight and how we can work together. I’d rather train in a group with all of you against an opponent, but this is the next best thing. We have Shield and a way to recover it; I’m not going to ignore that.”

What she was ignoring, or at least was trying to ignore, was Amy’s shapeshifting. It looked painful, far more painful than the smooth shift Sophia was used to when she saw her family members change forms. Amy didn’t make any noise as she changed, which probably said as much about how painful it was as screaming would have.

When Amy’s shift finally finished, she climbed to her feet with a wide grin. “Tricky. I like it. Can you manage that with more than one knife at a time?”

“Um,” Sophia started.

Amy grabbed the thin strip of cloth dripping a yellow-brown liquid and tied it around her wrist. Technically, she could hold it if she wanted to, but it needed to be touching her skin if she wanted the best effect. It would slowly recharge her Shield until it dried, but slowly was the correct word; it was less than a point per minute, and once it started it couldn’t be stopped and restarted. There were better ways to recover Shield, but this was apparently the cheapest if you didn’t have a Shield-based healer.

Sophia had tried to cast from the image she could project from an Imbued blade, but it didn’t work. She’d also tried to float just the Imbuement, but that also didn’t work. Neither one felt like it was possible to push into easily, either; they were both well outside whatever parameters the Guide used for the abilities. “I’m not sure. I’d need another blade to test with.”

“Easy,” Amy said with a predatory grin. “Moti, lend her yours. You’re not using it anyway.”

“My knife?” Moti protested. “But it’s my only weapon!”

“It’s just for here, to try out her new ability,” Amy said impatiently. She set her hands on her hips. “If she can, we’ll get her more knives. As many as she can manage, plus one to fight with if she needs to. Maybe two.”

Amy clearly liked knives.

“I can buy my own knives,” Sophia said as she shook her head. “You just need to show me where. Until then … Moti, may I borrow your knife to test with? I’ll return it when we leave the practice area.”

Moti sighed, then pulled his knife and passed it to Sophia hilt-first. He gave Amy a glare, but his heart didn’t really seem to be in it. “Since you asked nicely.”

“Does that make it my turn?” Dav stepped forward with a cocky grin. His attention was on Amy. “I’d lend Sophia my sword, but I think I’ll need it if I want to have a good fight with you.”

Amy seemed to stand a little taller. Sophia wasn’t sure how that worked; she’d already been standing fully upright, hadn’t she? “Absolutely. Don’t think I’m going to go easy on you just because you’re managing the healing.”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Dav stepped into the cordoned off square.

Sophia made her way out, followed by Moti. She’d use the next available space; it looked like there was a range a few dozen feet away designed for everything from arrows to magic. It wasn’t designed for guns, but Sophia suspected it would work anyway; it was clear that archers could be just as deadly here as they were at home.

She didn’t look back immediately. She was certain Amy was shifting again and Sophia did not need that in her nightmares. She’d keep an eye on them once she started testing.

Sophia started with her new Spells. Rush was easy; while it wasn’t identical to any spell she’d used back home, it was similar to several. Force Bolt and Force Blast were also simple, though they were less intuitive in their adjustments. She was going to have to practice if she wanted to do anything but a sphere with Force Blast or change the amount of mana (and therefore the amount of force) in either spell. She tested them both until she was confident in the basics and that she knew what she needed to work on, then moved to the Ability she really wanted to test: Animate Spell Blade.

Sophia tried one thing after another and found the current limits of the Animate Blade abilities. She could only manage to float one blade at a time; trying to pick up the second one meant the first fell. That didn’t feel like something she would be able to fix any time soon, since she couldn’t even make one wiggle without the other becoming unstable, but the fact that she could split it at all meant that she might be able to get a second in the air eventually.

More importantly, she could Animate any blade she was maintaining an Imbuement on. She didn’t actually have one on Dav’s sword at the moment, but she was certain she would be able to pick it up if she did. She didn’t actually know what her maximum range was yet; she couldn’t find it within the confines of the range. It was probably the same distance as however far she could both hold an Imbuement. So far, all Sophia knew was that she hadn’t yet run into a distance limit.

Using the ability on someone else’s weapon was an interesting thought. If she was willing to risk Imbuing an opponent’s weapon, she might be able to affect how it moved even if she couldn’t rip it from their hands. It probably wouldn’t come up any time soon, since she expected to fight monsters, but some monsters used weapons.

At least, they did at home. Sophia didn’t see any reason there wouldn’t be some that did here.

While Sophia tested, Dav and Amy fought. Sophia kept one eye on the fight and had to admit that they were both good. Dav had a huge advantage in strength, oddly enough, but Amy was faster and clearly just as comfortable in her wolf shape as Dav was in his human shape. If Dav managed to connect, Amy yielded. That was how she lost the first time.

The second bout, Amy was more cautious and managed to bite Dav several times. For some reason, each bite left Dav bleeding significantly from injuries that should not have been that bad. He tapped out before he passed out, then sat down with his healing beacon and talked to Amy while his injuries healed. He probably wouldn’t have been injured if he wore his armor, but he’d left it in his room.

Sophia stayed where she was and kept testing. Her latest set of tests were far too interesting to abandon: she’d found out that she could simultaneously cast from her Animated Blade and herself. She couldn’t cast from an Imbued Blade she hadn’t Animated, so the limit of one Animated Blade at a time was a problem, but she could almost double her firepower (and mana cost) by dual-casting.

It took a little longer than a single Ability cast, but far less than two. It had to be the same spell on the same target; anything else gave her a headache that told her it wasn’t something to push at yet. It might be possible when she was more used to casting through an Animated Spell Blade, but for now it was a bad idea.

She definitely needed another knife. If she had the choice, it would be two: one the same as her current blade and one that was longer, almost a sword, with a strong crossguard midway down the blade and a blunt blade above that would let her use it almost like a very short spear if she had to.

No, that was wrong. If she wanted a spear, she should get a spear. She might well do that, but not yet. She’d need a better way to transport additional weaponry first.

The first blade or blades should be light and small, as small as she could get, and balanced for throwing. She should get several of those and use them as her Animated Spell Blades. The size of the blade didn’t matter if she was using magic through it and a light, small blade that was balanced for throwing would let her get it more or less where it needed to be without taking the time and energy to move it after Animating it. She could pick it up from where it landed just as easily, and it might be useful to have some throwing knives.

The second type of blade she’d want at that point was an actual sword, made for someone her height to use with a shield. The additional reach could help and she did know how to use a shield. In cases where the sword was too long, she had her knife. It was too bad she wouldn’t be in a shield wall, with someone to cover her side, but she could make do. A spear might work better if it was her primary means of fighting, but for now a sword was better simply because it was easier to carry.

Sophia headed back to where Amy and Dav were holding their fourth bout. This time, Amy was in her human form, fighting with a wicked pair of short knives that ought to have left her at a worse disadvantage than she seemed to have. Sophia wasn’t sure who won the third bout, but they were both clearly enjoying themselves.