NOVEL WEB Ch. 24 Game of Sound (Devin)
No matter how hard Devin pressed his hands against the sides of his head he just couldn’t prevent the noise from overwhelming his senses. He couldn’t think coherently. His throat hurt, but it was only due to the reverberations in his chest that Devin was able to tell that he was screaming as loud as he could. Just as he reached the threshold of unconsciousness, Devin saw Cecilia lift her hands from around her ears and shout something back at the large insectoid chasme hovering above the party though her words were lost to the unending drone of noise.
All at once the world fell silent. Devin gasped and felt his thoughts return to normal. His vision sharpened and he rolled up from the ground to his knees in one swift motion. Glancing around Devin spotted a nearly translucent bubble that extended twenty feet around the party, centralized on Cecilia. The insect above flexed forward as if trying to intensify the sound it had just been producing, but nothing reached Devin’s deaf ears.
This has to be some sort of sound canceling magic that the princess cast. Devin thought as he grabbed his fallen sword from the dirt and rose to his feet.
The insect must have had the exact same thought as it darted forward towards the recovering princess. Devin opened his mouth to activate his skill to force the chasme to change targets, but no sound came out. Devin lurched forward, ashamed that he so quickly forgot that his skills required a verbal component to work.
I’m not going to make it. Devin winced as the large demonic insect flew faster than Devin could sprint towards the vulnerable princess.
A flash of steel jolted passed Devin’s head and sent him ducking to his right. It took him a moment to realize that Kaitlyn had realized neither of them could make it to Cecilia in time and had thrown her sword at the enemy. The bodyguard’s aim prove true and her long sharp blade pierced straight through one of the creature’s wings. It flinched and dropped down, crashing into the dirt inches away from Cecilia. The princess scrambled backwards and sent a rapid series of energy bolts directly into the writhing insect.
She’s able to cast her magic without sound. Devin noted. I know she used verbal incantations before so this has to be a difficult skill she’s worked on in the past. I’ll have to get her to teach me how to do that.
Whatever the bubble of silence was it had to have taken a lot of Cecilia’s energy and concentration to maintain. Devin could see the strain on the princess’ face and noticed that the attacks she was shooting out lacked the power and pinpoint accuracy he’d seen from her previously. That wasn’t to say that the princess’ attacks had done nothing, no her magical bolts mixed with Kaitlyn’s sword buried in the creature’s clear wing had clearly weakened the attacker. Sickly green blood spurted out of its wounds, bubbling against the grass nearby.
The chasme managed to regain its footing and dodged the next series of bolts sent its way. Kaitlyn’s blade kept it on the ground but the bugger was quicker than Devin thought it had any right to be. It darted along the road, eyes fixated on Cecilia as she continued to scoot backwards away from it. Devin lifted his shield and threw himself between her and the creature just in the nick of time. Its long needle-like nose pierced through the top of Devin’s shield and released a spray of acidic poison over his shoulder. The silent battle made it hard to tell if any had reached the princess, but Devin couldn’t spare a moment to look back and check.
Kaitlyn appeared from the side and made a grab at her sword still lodged in the creature’s wing while it was busy trying to free itself from Devin’s shield. Determined to give Kaitlyn enough time, Devin dropped his own blade, reached around the side of his shield, and held the insect’s large head as hard as he could against it. It writhed and bucked against Devin’s grip, but Devin grit his teeth and held it trapped in place. Kaitlyn finally managed to free her sword, ripping straight out of the chasme’s wing causing it to bellow in pain. She ducked under its mangled appendage and drove her weapon deep into its abdomen.
Wait, I could hear that? Devin felt his heart stop as he realized the bubble of silence had evaporated around them.
The chasm took advantage of his momentary distraction to rip itself free from the shield and knock Kaitlyn away with one of its powerful pincer-like arms. When it made impact with Kaitlyn, Devin felt something flip on inside of him. His new skill. The one that Eros had told him would activate if an ally were struck near him in a fight. Now that the silence was gone Devin could make use of his skills once again. The chasm reared up, the droning noise starting up once again as it too realized the silent bubble no longer impeded its best ability.
Devin gripped his shield tightly and swung it with his whole body weight. “Vindicta!”
His shield glowed with a faint pinkish aura. Devin felt his muscles whip the shield around and forward far quicker and with more strength than he could ever muster on his own. The shield struck the pommel of Kaitlyn’s sword squarely with a resounding gong-like smack. The force of the strike drove the sword straight through the creature’s thick abdomen. It must have struck something vital because the chasme fell limp in an instant and collapsed to the ground without another sound. Devin grinned and let out a victorious shout, but it was cut short by a gut wrenching sob behind him.
“Cecilia!”
Devin turned to see Kaitlyn scrambling over to the collapsed princess. Her once regal face was coated in poison, burned, and frighteningly pale. The spray of poison that had flown over Devin’s shoulders had evidently struck the princess directly in her face.
That would explain where the silence bubble went. Devin realized somberly.
The princess was still breathing, fortunately, but from how rapid and shallow those breaths were Devin couldn’t tell how much longer she could hold on.
“You’re okay! You’re okay.” Kaitlyn had a steady stream of panicked tears rolling down her cheeks as she gently lifted the princess’ head off of the ground and held it to her chest.
Cecilia gasped and opened her eyes. She tried weakly to talk, but Kaitlyn hushed her.
“Don’t say anything. Don’t say anything. You just need to rest. You need to rest.” Kaitlyn’s shoulders shook. “Please rest. You’ll be okay. Please be okay.”
Devin rushed over and crouched next to her. “What do we do Kaitlyn? How do we help Cecilia?”
Kaitlyn didn’t look at him as she continued to cradle the princess’ head. “Shhh. Please be okay. Please be okay.”
Cecilia whispered something, but it was too soft for Devin to hear. He leaned down so his ear was directly next to the princess’ mouth.
“...Fevel…”
Devin jerked up. “Fevel. The capital?”
Cecilia couldn’t muster a response. He turned back to the broken Kaitlyn.
“The princess said Fevel. What does she mean? Does she want to be taken there?” Devin asked her.
Kaitlyn blinked hard and Devin could see some sanity return to her eyes.
“It wasn’t injected.” She mumbled.
‘
“What wasn’t?”
Kailtyn glanced down at Cecilia’s face. “The poison. If the chasme injected her directly she would be… gone in minutes. Maybe… Maybe we still have time. Time to get help in Fevel.”
Kaitlyn straightened at once and looked around wildly.
“My horse! Get my horse!”
Devin spotted the trio of horses a fair distance away. They must have fled after the noise that knocked them down vanished. He sprinted over to the trio and managed to calm Kaitlyn’s spooked horse enough to snag its reins. Just as he returned he heard Kaitlyn shout out.
“No! Forget those people. The road is safe now. We have to get you to help!”
Devin looked down and could see determination on the pale princess’ face. She desperately tried to speak again but she coughed heavily to the side instead. Green saliva oozed sickly from the corner of her mouth.
Kaitlyn’s eyes burned fiercely. “I won’t let you die.”
“What’s going on?” Devin asked breathlessly.
Kaitlyn wiped the corner of her eye and sniffed. “The princess is trying to order me to go escort the refugees from the fortress. She seems to think the lives of a few hundred peasants is more than-”
“I’ll go.” Devin interjected.
Kaitlyn turned to look at him with narrow eyes and gritted teeth. “You’ll what?”
“We’ll split up.” Devin quickly explained. “You’ll take the princess as fast as you can to get aid and I’ll travel back to help evacuate the civilians.”
The anger in Kaitlyn’s face faded and she glanced back down at Cecilia.
“Is that… okay your highness?”
Cecilia coughed again but nodded weakly.
“Be… safe.” She managed to croak out to Devin.
Devin nodded and helped Kaitlyn lift the princess off of the ground and onto the horse.
“Ride fast.” Devin urged Kaitlyn as he watched how limply the princess sat in the saddle in front of her bodyguard.
“She won’t die.” Kaitlyn said with steel in her voice.
She dug her heels into the sides of her horse. Her mount cried out fiercely and bolted off down the road leaving a trail of kicked up dust in her wake. Devin watched them go for a bit before he sighed heavily and set off to retrieve the two remaining horses in the distance.
Almost subconsciously he reached a hand to his chest and patted one of the interior pockets. He felt the comforting lump that signaled the white rose hadn’t fallen out during combat. Devin reached in and retrieved the flower. He had been afraid that it would be squashed after being forced into that confining pocket but the rose was just as perfect as it had been before. He smiled and placed it gently back.
Devin was glad it was close.
He needed it to be close.
