Kaia the Argent Wing

We got permission to go on the trip, but then we spent four days waiting for ‘Silver’ to show up so she could be asked to help. Silver, of course, did not show up. The Captain was hesitant to let us go when I didn’t show up as Silver, especially over “some stone bricks for a forge”. When we mentioned that we might need those bricks for defences, other buildings down the line, or any other crafting project that needed stone, he reluctantly agreed.

So, after a day's preparation where we stocked up on river bread, jerky, and dried tato pucks, we were ready. As for gear, we had three small tents between us, some small and therefore relatively low-powered portable wards, and an assortment of other necessary camping supplies.

In the group were Chloe, Ollie, Camillo, Immie, Alec, Scott, and of course, me. I was in Kaia form, and a little worried about it. What if the situation called for Silver? Chloe didn't know, and I was so terrified of how she'd react to the revelation that her two newest friends were the same person. I didn't have my personal axe, either—Just a regular squeel axe on my hip, a knife strapped under my vambrace, and my crossbow on my back.

Our route would take us along the ridgeline, curving through the near section of the Castle Woodland until we left and popped out where the small lifestyle plots of land began.

We were waiting at the gate chatting and planning while Ollie took one last quick bathroom break. Chloe was standing a little off to the side, despite our efforts to get her to join in on the conversation.

“I just had a thought,” Alec said, looking alarmed. “What if the forest erased the quarry? It goes pretty far into the hills.”

Everyone paused, sharing his alarm, but then I shook my head. “Nah. The forest is in a sort of wedge shape, at least as far as we can see. The Quarry is off to the side more.”

“Phew, okay,” Alec said, going back to staring past the sawmill. Our small veggie patch was clinging to life out there, tended by a small team of people.

The sawmill was actually being operated by the big steam engine today, because Charles wanted to test out how it'd work. It looked like he was missing, though— what the fuck.

“Hey!” I called, dropping my pack as I began to sprint for the sawmill. “Stop! All of you, stop whatever the fuck you're doing right the fuck now!”

I was seeing red. How were these people so fucking stupid? Absolute smooth-brained robots! It'd taken me all of two seconds to see what was happening and consequently, how it could go wrong.

The saw blade had jammed inside a log, probably because they were pushing the log too hard against it, and they were trying to dislodge it. Problem was, our makeshift clutch had automatically stopped further power from the steam engine, preventing any damage that might've occurred when the shaft couldn't spin properly. These Darwin Award hopefuls had forgotten to hit the manual disengage, however, so as soon as they got the log unstuck…

Thankfully, they stopped when I started shouting. Case, the middle aged guy who'd apparently been leading the efforts, scowled and stomped over to meet me. “Stop your crying, kid, and stop swearing—”

I shoved him to the ground, startling everyone around us. Standing over him, I clenched and unclenched my fists. They shook with the effort.

“Yeah, nah, mate. You dumb fucking cunt, the clutch is only automatically disengaged. What do you think was gonna happen when that thing got loose again?” I asked, sucking in ragged, furious breaths.

“Start working again, dum—” he started, but stopped when he saw my fist unclench and reach for my blade.

Stopping myself, and taking a deep breath that very much didn't help calm me down, I instead pointed a finger at the currently jammed log. “Look at where Vivian is right now.”

He followed my instructions, and sure enough, Vivian, Case’s own damn sister, was upside down underneath the log run, where she’d used the crankshaft as leverage to kick up at the log. It was pretty obvious that as soon as the saw could move again, the crank shaft would crush her against the log run, throw her into the saw blade, or probably both as it released its pent up energy. Oh, and let's not forget that the entire machine was built with storm materials, while she probably had a toughness of zero. It would not be pretty.

“Our healers are good,” I said in a voice that shook with anger and frustration, “But they aren't good enough to sew someone back together after they've been unzipped from crotch to belly button.”

Vivian's face went white, and she quickly scrambled out from under the machine to pull the lever on the clutch.

Charles appeared a moment after, shaking his head with an expression that very much matched mine. He stared down at Case. “Caught enough of that to know what's happening. I can't even take a piss without y'all fuckin’ something up while I'm gone, huh?”

“I'll let you take it from here, boss,” I said, nodding to Charles as I spun on my heel. He nodded back, and as I left, I heard him rev up for the mother of all ass chewings.

My friends were all staring at me as I got back to them. Those who'd known me since forever were grinning widely, while Chloe just looked shocked.

She was the first to speak. “What… was that? I've never seen you blow up like that— oh, and where the fuck did that weird accent come from?”

Oh. Crap.

Scotty burst out laughing, and while pointing at me, explained, “Her parents are from New Zealand. She doesn't get extra angry like that much, but when she does she starts to sound like that. Saw her dad get really angry one time, he sounded exactly like that.”

“Is… where is New Zealand?” Chloe asked, still staring at me with big confused eyes. “It sounds like Europe—”

I clenched my teeth, closed my eyes, and began counting upwards from one.

“—Or not…?” She corrected herself hastily.

“It's south-east of Australia,” I said evenly. “Two big islands and a bunch of smaller ones.”

Then I gave Scotty a piercing stare, “Oh, and I won't be forgetting that you just compared me to my father.”

The rest of our party arrived while I was still grumpy, but we made tracks regardless of my mood. Very quickly, Chloe sidled up beside me. “Hey, how did you do that?”

“Do what?” I asked, brushing snow off the top of my boot before it melted down into my sock.

“You pushed that guy over inside the wards,” she said, gesturing back towards the gates.

My eyes widened. Oh shit. “Uh… I don't know.”

“Maybe he pissed Cynath off, somehow,” she muttered thoughtfully.

“It's a mystery,” I replied, and left it at that.

We made it to the woodlands with little issue—The scorpions had learned that this was our territory—and headed inward. The day was darker than usual, so the shadows under the trees were deep as night. It lent an eerie air to a place that had become familiar recently.

Rather than go deeper to find the tower, we veered left and soon, we'd exited the woodlands again. We stepped out into the lifestyle plot of some rich wannabe farmers, and immediately saw signs of conflict. There were blasted and shredded scorpion corpses everywhere. Turning to look back into the woods, I wondered— had this been Brielle's crew? They were certainly heavy on the magical artillery side of things.

“Someone knows their business,” Camillo said, breaking the silence.

“The bodies look like they've been here a while,” I said, kneeling to poke one with a knife. “The good spikes and plates were harvested after. I'm leaning towards the Bandoners because they would've been exploring this area around when these critters died.”

“Yeah, maybe,” he agreed thoughtfully.

A snap sounded from the direction of the woodland, and instantly my eyes were on the woodline we'd just left. What… did I see a shadow move? It was so hard to tell—the light was piss-poor.

“Other side!” Chloe suddenly called, and a hex bag was already leaving her fingers.

I turned just in time to see it land in the snow, where it grabbed all available material in front of it and shoved it upwards into a loose barrier three yards wide and two tall.

Pulling my crossbow off my back, I began to crank it. My prototype crossbow had been augmented so that I couldn't pull it without the assistance of the crank, which meant that it could throw bolts with enough force to punch through a foot of unaugmented concrete. Back in the day, it would've had enough power to rival a ballista.

A scorpion skittered around the barrier as I fitted a bolt into place, but Immie and her knives got there first, and she effortlessly stabbed and slashed until the monster fell, already butchered. Her dissection class was… horrifying.

I heard another sound from the woods, and this time when I looked, I saw multiple scorpions rushing us. Raising my weapon, I sighted and waited for the outlines of two enemies to overlap.

My crossbow leapt forward with a thud as I pulled the trigger, and in the same instant, I heard two rapidfire wet cracks as it punched clean through the first one's thorax and out again to bury itself in the second one.

There were more, but my friends would hold the line long enough for me to reload, so I began cranking again. Goddess, I loved this crossbow, but it took an age to reload. Unlike Tess and her new bow, which she could draw and fire reliably in about five seconds.

We were engaged on two different fronts now, and the scorpions being the scorpions, they opened up a third. I almost didn’t see the smaller, camouflaged variant as it rushed me, keeping low to better avoid notice. My reaction times were slightly less than normal, and when I stumbled back in an attempt to get out of the way, I was sure I’d be hit.

Instead, Chloe was there, a hex bag held firm in her left hand while she pointed with her dagger in the other. A dark green bolt of energy lashed out once, twice, three times, obliterating the monster in a spray of crustacean gore.

“Chloe!” I breathed, surprised. She flicked me a shining smile, and my heart just about stopped. It was such a… a genuine, no-mask smile.

Before I could even hope to gather my wits after that, another scorpion made a rush for me, as if the bastards were sensing that I was flustered. For the third time, Chloe stopped the attack cold with another triple blast of power. Each time she used it, I noticed, the hex bag she had in her hand faded into dust. Huh, so some of her hexes just needed the reagents?

Wait a second!

“You’re protecting me!” I accused her, although it was more of a playful accusation.

She grinned again, and my heart fluttered again. “Of course, babygirl! You’re so small and protectable, what else am I supposed to do?”

I gaped at her, stunned speechless. Babygirl?! Was she flirting? This was flirting, right? Oh gosh, I felt way too warm. I let out a strangled, breathless squeak.

Chloe looked kinda surprised at herself too, judging by the way her cheeks flared and she slammed her habitual scowl back in place. “Keep reloading. We’re fighting, Kaia.”

“Right, right,” I muttered, beginning to crank my crossbow again. Holy hell, that ‘babygirl’ threw me. Why did she call me that? Maybe I should ask after the fight was done? No, that'd be awkward. Probably best not to say anything…