Curselock

Chapter 74: Island

The first fleck of this season’s snow fell just past noon on the opening day of the herbalism competition. The boys were wandering around the island, completely oblivious to the single snowflake. It fell silently, drifting through the slight breeze like a dandelion’s seed finding a new location to grow. It landed on the leaf of some bizarre red plant, where the magically heated flower melted it instantly.

It was nearly six minutes later that the boys found the plant. But by then, dozens of snowflakes had fallen.

“Ahhh,” Jude purred with his hands out, reaching toward the heat-producing plant like it was a blazing campfire. The heat did little to give the berserker reprieve, the cold being much more substantial than he had anticipated.

So, when Leland cut the base of the plant’s stem with a small knife, Jude’s eyebrows danced in betrayal.

“Hey!” he snipped, only to be silenced by an annoyed glare.

“Don’t get mad at us because you didn’t dress warm enough. If I remember correctly, you said,” Leland cleared his throat and put on a mocking tone, “’a true warrior doesn’t get cold on the battlefield!’”

Jude’s face fell, but then, like a phoenix rising, smirked. “This isn’t hardly a battlefield, we are just picking herbs!”

Glenny and Leland looked from their friend’s triumphant smile to each other. The rogue said, “Sure proved us wrong, huh.”

Jude’s smile preened.

Jude’s smile fell.

Leland didn’t let up. “But once we start fighting, then surely he’s going to warm up.”

Jude hesitated, but eventually smiled.

The mage continued, “Although, it's been half-a-day and we haven’t seen one thing to fight. Unless you count those owls that just took off when we neared.”

Raising his hands in surrender, Jude said, “Alright, alright. I get it. I should have brought a thicker coat.”

And like a rehearsed duet, Leland and Glenny looked at each other, set their packs down, and dug through them. Leland returned with wool gloves, Glenny with a heavy long-sleeve shirt. They both thrust the items to Jude.

“Were you two waiting for me to say I was wrong before giving me these?” Jude asked, receiving two idle shrugs. “Gee thanks.”

With the freed spot in his bag, Leland slipped the heat producing flower into the pocket along with the pair of gloves he was wearing. If anything, he’d have a nice hand-warmer in a few minutes.

With that herb settled, the boys continued through the island forest. Over the course of the next hour, more snow fell, enough for the boys to make comments on. While celebrating the first snowfall wasn’t something any of them cared to do, it was always nice to see the white dust. Their hometown was significantly south, making snow this time of year near impossible.

That didn’t mean snow wasn’t known to their town. In fact, the boys had several shared memories of snowball fights and snow angels over the years. Simply seeing the snow in a different setting was quite eye opening for all three. They’d already come so far in such a short amount of time. This time last year they were at home day dreaming of adventures such as the one they were currently on.

Except for Jude. He only dreamed of killing monsters and hard fought battles. He wasn’t the type to care for exploration and seeing natural wonders.

Still, the wonders the team faced on the island were something special. From the many, many distinct and magical types of herbs to the unusual wildlife, they had seen enough oddities to truly acknowledge they were somewhere special. The island, cultivated by Frostford’s patron Guardian Spirit Beast, was enough to implant a new snow-memory beside the others.

It wasn’t until the group decided to rest and eat dinner that trouble found them. Or rather, smelled them.

Uncovering themselves from the dense foliage, two obsidian black panthers stalked toward the group. As they walked, their front claws extended with blue ice and encased their already deadly claws. Soon the cats unleashed their full magical might, calling attention to themselves a moment before they pounced.

The sudden blare of magic made each of the boys react in different ways. Glenny, sitting at their small fire facing the surprise attack, reacted first and without recourse. He rushed to his feet, hitting a pure sprint before disappearing within the cloak and turning invisible. He strode straight over the fire, not even feeling the embers against his boots.

Jude reacted next, spinning to the attack with open arms. A muscled beast, clad in icy armor, flew through the air. They collided, one an iron wall, the other a sharp dagger. Claws sank into his skin, the pain only fueling his anger. Without ceremony or worry, Jude rotated the panther with his enhanced strength, and body slammed it to the frozen ground.

Leland reacted last. He turned in reaction with the others, yet he never moved from where he stood. Instead, a faded blue magical bubble appeared around the young warlock, originating from his protective necklace. The panther collided with the aegis, like a bug against a windshield. It crumpled under its own force, giving Leland enough time to whistle.

“Maul,” he commanded, summoning a murder of ethereal crows. They appeared on the nearby tree branch for a fleeting moment before bombarding the beast.

Leland’s next curse came in right after the previous, and for a heartbeat, he could feel raw instinct from the panther. Their connection severed just in time for Glenny’s twin crimson red spikes to embed themselves into the monster’s ribs. It stopped squirming a few seconds later, but the crows and Glenny had already moved to help Jude.

The berserker stumbled back after rolling around in the dirt with the first panther. He hastily got to his feet, although the battle was already won.

Glenny slipped out of invisibility, having already made the creature’s corpse a pincushion. The crows also flew to nearby branches, watching, waiting.

“You okay there, Jude?” Leland asked, stepping forward and removing his ring of regeneration.

Jude, for what it was worth, looked like hell. Covered in blood and loose dirt, wearing two shirts now shredded into ribbons, and grimacing as if holding back a cracking dam wall. He muttered rushed and muted numbers, counting as high as his Legacy would allow. Slowly his breathing became level and his rage died down.

Accepting Leland’s ring, Jude said, “Yeah.”

The others looked at each other before finding more important things to do. Glenny turned invisible and confirmed their safety. Leland shuffled through his pack, pulling out a sewing kit and another shirt.

“Do I need to sew up a wound as well as those shirts? Regeneration only goes so far,” he asked, finding Jude staring at the panthers.

Jude shook his head, and lifted an arm. Across his side and chest were ten claw marks in the form of red streaks. “They aren’t deep, no. I should be good.”

Leland nodded and signaled for Jude to remove his shirt. A few minutes later, the bleeding stopped and washable bandages found themselves around the berserker’s torso. A new long sleeve shirt replaced the old.

Glenny returned not long after. “I think we are safe from monsters, but we aren’t safe from that.” He pointed straight up, through the canopy.

Above was brooding gray swirls and rapid winds. Once pointed out, the howling wind made itself known to the trio. The trees were doing a good job blocking most of the windshear, but it was obvious what was coming.

“A blizzard?” Jude asked.

Leland nodded his head. “Not a natural one, however. See how the clouds are swirling into themselves? Classic evidence of magical involvement.”

Knowing the answer already, Glenny still felt the need to ask. “What does that mean?”

“It means, someone is doing something very illegal here.”

Weather magic, while used by some towns and cities as a means to mass-water crops with a rain spell, was highly illegal when permission wasn’t given by the local government.

“Maybe Frostford just really wants a good snowfall for their festival?” Jude asked.

Shaking his head, Leland said, “Blizzard spells are highly illegal. Unless most of the town’s leadership wanted to risk going to jail for a chunk of their lives, this is not them.”

“What do we do then?” Glenny asked.

“Find shelter, I guess. Unless we want to call it and quit the competition.”

Jude and Glenny looked at Leland like he was dumb. “With the chance of a parasitic staff? No way.”

Leland gave them a soft smile. “Alright. We are going to need to find a cave or something like that.”

Like a lightning bolt, Glenny shot off, turning invisible and rushing through the forest. Jude and Leland followed as quickly as they could.

All across the island, the adventurers participating in the competition looked to the sky in confusion. Those that understood the implications of such weather sought shelter, those that didn’t simply trudged on and collected more points.

In fact, all teams were relatively near each other when it came to who had the most points. All except one team of four. They had other prizes to capture. Alive, preferably.

And they had just picked up a scent.

Soon, under the cover of the blizzard, they would have free reign to do whatever they wanted.