A Soldier's Life
chapter-88

The manticore’s voice was guttural, as I would expect from its flat ogre-shaped face. He was not talking to me, but Maveith was speaking in a language I could not understand. It was a few harsh phrases before Maveith responded in the same language. Two exchanged words, and my grip got sweaty on my hilt. The smaller manticore was lying down in misery, and I think Maveith’s first arrow did more damage than I thought.

His arrows were as thick as my thumb and longer than my arm. It must have penetrated the chest cavity, and the arrowhead had done serious damage. On the other hand, the arrow he had shot into the adult male had barely penetrated six inches and was already ripped out by its maw. My pilum had entered through a much softer part of the hide. Standing next to the goliath, I asked, “What are you two so chatty about?”

Maveith said another phrase in the harsh language and then addressed me, “It speaks the language of the stone giants, not very well, but it has some grasp on the speech. They were a mated pair from Stone Mountain Island. A half dozen of their kind were summoned by a mage and released north of here to cause havoc. It recognizes my race and is trying to bargain for it’s life, knowing we honor our word. It is offering its treasure if you heal it and its child.”

Lyonis was moaning near his cabin door, trying to pull himself inside and unable to fight. A manticore quill was in his shoulder and another one in his hip. The manticore ground its sharp, angular teeth in impatience and discomfort. I could tell movement was difficult for it with the long pilum piercing it. Maybe it couldn’t fly. Its body would ungulate in flight, and, like its suffering offspring, the long rod of the pilum was just too painful. The beast looked at its mate and spoke again.

When it finished, Mavieth asked, “It thinks you poisoned its mate and is worried you poisoned it as well.”

I exhaled, “Yeah, let us go with that.” Maveith looked at me sidelong, not taking his eyes off the creature twenty feet away.

Maveith spoke slowly, “How did you kill the female?”

“I gave her indigestion,” I quipped. The female was on her side, leaking a steady flow of blood from her mouth. I asked seriously, “Are you going to be able to kill the male? I am all out of aces.”

There was silence, and I figured Maveith was trying to puzzle out what I meant by aces. He slowly spoke, “The potion gave me my movement, but I think the manticore could reach us before I pulled my bow again.”

“Stall for time then. Keep asking him about his treasure. What is in it? Where is it? How long to reach it,” I instructed Maveith. It would take me about two hours to accumulate enough aether to open my dimensional storage again. When I could do that, then I could kill the monstrosity. As it stood now, the large adult manticore could rush and maybe kill both of us.

Maveith had recovered slightly with the lesser potion but was still hindered, “I will see what I can do.” He began an extensive back-and-forth with the beast while Lyonis got himself inside his cabin and closed the door. I doubted Lyonis was going to be saving us. The young manticore was frothing blood now, and I guessed the lungs were filling with blood. With time, the blood should drown him. The manticore, seeing its offspring struggling, started to get impatient.

I do not know what triggered it, but the manticore charged. Maveith was ready and barely got an arrow off, but it was a leg strike, not the chest. I swung my own blade. I targeted the head but misjudged the speed of the lunge. I hit the shoulder, and I was flung backward as it plowed into both of us. The manticore was focused on Maveith but did have the presence to whip its tail at me as I tumbled away.

I was fortunate only to take a single quill in my shoulder. As I tumbled, the quill worked its way free, but not before tearing muscle and flesh and dosing me with its poison. It felt like a horse had kicked me, and the burning in my shoulder spread, making it difficult to move my right arm. I gained my feet and rushed to help the Maveith.

Maveith was trapped under the creature, which was raking him with his claws. Maveith was stabbing with a small skinning knife, causing the beast to bleed freely down onto him. Maveith grunted, and the manticore growled and roared in ferocious combat. The rage and fury of the beast did not allow it to see me coming again at it.

I targeted the back of the neck with as powerful a swing as I could with my good arm. I cut the hide and connected it solidly with bone, but it was not strong enough to break the bone to reach the spinal cord. My second swing was met with a paw swipe that tore the blade from my hand and broke my wrist. The distraction of my attack gave Maveith room to jam one of his arrows under the jaw and up into the brain.

The thick arrow did not snap as it disappeared into the head. Mavieth twisted and grabbed a second to repeat the action. The manticore was alive but could not focus as Maveith added a third arrow to the collection. He pulled himself away from the creature that was swooning on its feet. Its ugly face showed confusion. Maveith took his club and, with a two-handed overhead swing, brought it down on the beast’s neck.

A large crack told me the goliath had shattered the spine and killed it. Both heaving for air we watched as the creature slowly toppled. The ground thudded from its impact as it was easily over a thousand pounds. Maveith was heaving deep breaths and had multiple claw marks bleeding freely on his chest. When the manticore’s chest stopped inflating, he looked over at me.

“Well, Eryk. Looks like we won.” He fell to his knees. I went to him, one of my arms was painful to use from the poison, and the other had a broken wrist. “Help me inside. I need to lie down briefly, and we should check on Lyonis.”

I assisted Maveith, and he leaned on me a little heavily. He had to weigh more than three hundred pounds. The door was barred shut, and it took Lyonis a few minutes to open it, “We won?” He asked in disbelief.

“Maveith crushed the beast’s spine. It is dead. I will go make sure after we get Maveith on the table to rest,” I explained. Maveith was laid out, and Lyonis used red aloe on the wounds to prevent infection. It looked like he was going to live.

“I am going to make sure they are all dead,” I told the two, but Mavieth was already off in dreamland, and Lyonis was having difficulty standing.

I reached the male manticore and watched it intently, making sure it was still. I didn’t have to open my dimensional space to retrieve items completely. However, I had to wait ten more minutes before I had enough aether to produce the essence collecter. I placed it on the creature and had to wait another minute for some aether to activate it.

The familiar blue wisps formed and congealed into a major glossy black sphere of essence. If I was not mistaken, the channeling attribute. It determined how fast aether was restored to an aether core. I eagerly did the female next after, getting a second major glossy black essence.

I approached the young manticore, but it was still breathing foamy red blood. I moved and sat on a log to watch it and wait for it to expire. I was in no rush. I would have preferred to put it out of its misery, but one wrist was broken, and my other shoulder burned in pain. I also wanted to conserve my aether, so there was no healing for the moment. I popped one of the large black pearls into my mouth.

A chilly feeling extended from my stomach and kept going past my body, into my surroundings. I felt like I was momentarily experiencing an out-of-body experience, and then my senses snapped back. I realized I was feeling the aether in the environment, just briefly. I did not feel any different after the sensation passed, and continued my death watch on the young manticore. The beast finally expired as the sun was setting. It had held on for hours, forcing itself to breathe. I stood, walked over the creature, and stabbed it in the ribs with my sword. There was no reaction as the blade slipped between the ribs.

I set the collecter and activated it. The blue wisps seemed thinner and uncertain as they collected in the center of the collector. A minor essence eventually formed, but it was not black. It was azure blue with white swirls. It was a magic affinity. I smiled as I moved both essences to my dimensional space for later consideration.

With the last creature confirmed dead, I could start using my aether to heal. I focused on my shoulder first. The poison had damaged my muscles, and I needed to repair them first. I had recovered a fair amount of aether in waiting for the manticore to die. I closed the wound, the scab flaking off and showing new skin, and then repaired the muscles. I did as Larita told me and just focused on what needed healing. After I was done, I tested the arm and was happy with my healing.

Next was the wrist. It was swollen so much that my hand looked like a club. I felt out the bone with my healing senses, and it took a lot more aether than I thought it would to set and meld the bone together. I tested and then reinforced the healing again, using all my aether. The swelling was already diminishing, but it was going to take time.

I returned to the cabin to find both wardens sleeping, Maveith on the table and Lyonis in his bed. I set a chair by the window to listen to the night insects and owls. I, too, soon fell asleep.