Lost Bloodline 3 - Chapter 21

Chapter 21

It took only a few minutes for Samira to wake after the encounter with the spirits. Koda had no idea why some of them had gone to her instead of to Arthene, and the incarnate spirit did not volunteer any information, either.

Rather than waste time worrying about it, Koda set about sanctifying the cave and consecrating it to Thera. He didn’t want to know what sort of dark potential had been brewing there, but it had been enough that Arthene had said something, so he did what he could.

The surge of power that came from claiming the site coursed through Koda and he felt the spirit of the stonecracker patriarch purr happily as the energy raced down into Koda’s soul to Thera.

A hide colored the same tan and gray as the ghosts materialized at the back of the cave with the stone offering bowl when he was done.

At a nudge from the spirit currently residing within him, Koda collected the skulls of the kittens, handling them with exceeding care as he carried them one by one to the offering bowl and set them within it.

When the last was set within the bowl, Koda felt his instincts rise once more and followed them without hesitation. Using the claws of his right gauntlet, he opened his left palm up and sprinkled his blood over the skulls in the bowl. A flash of ruby fire erupted where the blood met bone and moments later, the bones vanished.

A chorus of joyous sounds resounded through Koda’s soul: chirps, purrs, mews, and yowls for attention. Riding on the back of them was a squeal of joy and disbelief from Thera.

You sent me kittens?!

Koda was fairly certain that Thera was happy to have more company, and he couldn’t help but smirk at the idea of the fuzzy little Pippin being stalked by leopard kittens learning to hunt. The spirit in Koda’s armor made a happy growling noise and settled down once more, emanating contentment for the moment, contentment underlaid with eagerness to get revenge on the trolls.

“Collect what we can,” Arthene ordered from the entrance of the cave when Koda was done.

She’d been holding back the others while Sienna and Calandra looked after Samira. Now that the caracal woman was awake once more, the others crowded into the large cave to survey what lay all around them.

“The teeth are the most important, followed by the claws,” Samira muttered, holding a hand to her head while her ears twitched furiously, as if someone was tickling them. “They are… we have their blessing?”

Koda felt the spirit he carried echoing the sentiment and directed his attention to one side where the largest of the skeletons lay, its skull shattered into a hundred pieces.

“That’s what it feels like to me. That was extremely weird,” Calandra muttered as she flexed her arms and rolled her shoulders like she was settling a cloak into place.

“Koda made a convincing argument to the spirits,” Arthene said, giving Koda a proud smile. “You immediately recognized what was holding them here and addressed it with confidence. You could have bound one or two or sent them all on with force. But you claimed the pack’s loyalty by offering them revenge, and then guaranteed it by sending their children to safety.”

“Safety?” Samira asked in confusion, her ears flicking wildly even as she worked with the others to find the teeth and claws amongst the other bones.

“They are with Thera now,” Koda said simply. The statement made many of those in the cave stiffen, and Samira’s tail thrashed in excitement.

Before the excitable caracal woman could ask, Koda pointed to the altar in the back of the cave. The stone bowl on the hide was simple and easy to miss, but Samira bounded over to it in excitement, kneeling on the hide to inspect the bowl.

“This will make two in our territory! Two altars to give our honor to Thera once more!”

Koda could hear the tears in Samira’s voice before she lapsed into quiet reflection with her head bowed to the bowl. Not wanting to interrupt her, Koda gestured for the others to keep at their work.

Removing the teeth and claws from the ruined bodies was simple enough. Since the spirits’ blessing had been given, the parts came free without a fight. They piled everything into a sack that Hans pulled from his pack until they’d collected all they could.

Arthene was the only one besides Samira to not join in the collecting of the teeth and claws. She instead went over the handful of bones that weren’t entirely destroyed by the trolls' feast, testing each to see if any of them might serve as weapons, too.

Sadly, none of the bones had really survived the massive carnivore’s depredations; the tooth marks in the bone weakened them too much.

“It is too bad,” Arthene sighed, discarding the last of the leg bones that she’d been studying. “It would be quite appropriate to have armed the Silent Plains with such things. They wouldn’t have been as strong as mine, but if Koda were to bless them, then they could carry a measure of the spirit’s power, regardless.”

“Does it work with any such bones?” Samira asked as she rose from her prayer at the altar and skipped over. “The hunters will have the bones from the bison stored away in the village. We use them for many things.”

“It could empower them,” Arthene said with a thoughtful hum, rubbing her chin with one hand. “But not as much as it would these. Koda does not have a bison spirit bound to him yet.”

“Yet?” Koda questioned, hefting the sack of claws and fangs over his shoulder. “Should we clear up the rest of the bones here?”

“No, leave them. They are cleansed by the altar and will cause no problems. Other pilgrims may wish to honor the fallen, and this was their home. It is fitting that their bones rest here,” Arthene asserted.

They departed shortly after, with Sienna and Calandra insisting that they arrange the bones more respectfully than the scattered mess they had been, laying the cracked and damaged skulls out on the edge of the hide by the altar bowl specifically.

When everything was set, their group hurried back out onto the mountainside.

“I’ve experienced it several times now,” Samira muttered as she shaded her eyes and looked up to gauge the time based on the position of the sun. “But it still astonishes me how fast we can move with your blessing, Calandra.”

“Call me Cal,” grumbled the dwarven woman as she made several gestures to weave the spell to boost their travel.

“But I love your name. ‘Calandra’ sounds far more mysterious and appropriate for someone who wields such power. ‘Cal’ sounds like someone who would borrow my bow and return it without caring for the string properly.” Samira wrinkled her nose cutely at that and Calandra blushed.

“It’s just easier, okay?”

“And you like being easier?” Sienna teased their shorter companion, tugging on one of the trio of braids that protruded from under Calandra’s helmet.

“Only for our mate,” Calandra fired back in a deadpan tone. “Maybe for you and the big one too, if you both stop teasing me so damned much!”

“Never,” Arthene declared with a laugh. “It’s far too much fun to tease you, little Calandra. And you enjoy the affection, I know you do.”

Calandra grumbled under her breath about ‘ungrateful wenches’ but she gestured for them to get moving.

Okay, so we found the den and recruited several spirits. What sort of help they’ll be, I don’t know. But this evens the playing field some, Koda thought with a grim smile as their group broke into a jog.

Sienna joined Calandra in easing their way, using a ripple of earth magic to smooth the ground before them so they wouldn’t trip now that they didn’t need to follow the troll’s tracks.

The spirit of the stonecracker patriarch let out a low growl within Koda’s spirit, and while he couldn’t understand it like spoken words, Koda understood the implications.

Now that the field is more even, let's tilt it in our favor. Then we kill some trolls.

<><><>

The group traveled into the night to make it back to the village. They only paused long enough to eat and water the bushes a few times on the trip, with one break to check on the trolls in the cave.

It only took a moment for the trackers amongst their group to confirm that the trolls hadn’t even left the cave yet. That then led to a bit of disgusting joking about having to wash the cave out when they finally finished this, since the trolls smelled like they didn’t understand hygiene or what a latrine was.

Samira bluntly stated that she would happily help cleanse the cave once the trolls were dealt with, because that would mean she survived all this. That cut down the joking as they all remembered the monumental task in front of them.

Arriving back in the village well after sunset, Samira guided them to the larger communal house. While it would be several more days before the hunters arrived back, that would give them time to prepare the village for if the trolls returned. Rather than camping outside the village, the group decided it would be better to just camp inside the borders of the town for security.

They didn’t light a fire in the massive central hearth of the building, instead piling into their bedrolls for warmth and to get some proper sleep. Koda’s mates all crowded in around him happily, and he fell asleep warm and content, with the spirit of the stonecracker patriarch purring happily in his soul as his mates crowded in around them, too.

Waking the next morning, they immediately set about preparing the village and its edges for the trolls.

Sienna and Calandra worked together to trap the path coming down the mountain, assuming the trolls would come down that way when they returned. Sienna dug out deep gopher holes, lining them with dense stone so that any troll who stepped in would trip and likely break an ankle or a leg. It wouldn’t kill one unless they fell off the cliff as a result, but it would slow them down and might lead to some infighting as their fellows capitalized on a moment of weakness.

Arthene worked with Samira to locate the village’s supply of wood for spears. She began mounting the fangs from the stonecracker leopards on them, churning out javelins and spears for the villagers to use with the dense teeth as tips.

Todd, Netta, and Hannah started putting together more of the cheval de frise by hacking down several sturdy trees and using tools in the village to drill holes for sharpened stakes into them. The trolls might simply smash through them or toss them aside, but there was a chance the barricades could block or divert them instead.

Hans and Koda worked to reclaim some of the wreckage from the damaged pens and barns. They used the brawny bull’s knowledge about trusses and supports from working in the mine, combined with Koda’s construction knowledge, to figure out which beams they could take or would need reinforcing to prevent further damage. Any beams taken out were sharpened into massive stakes that they could use to line other traps.

“I’m just worried about all this,” Hans said before bringing the iron axe blade down on the beam they’d been working on to narrow the point further. “What’s to stop these big oafs from just pulling it out of the ground?”

“I was thinking about that,” Koda answered easily as he used the totemic gauntlets to shave the other end of the log down with rapid swipes. It took him far less effort to sharpen the logs, but Hans was the only one save Arthene that could keep up with him on this, so they worked together. “What if we rig them with pits at the base? That way, we can lay the logs flat and bait them into charging, then jump on one end.”

“And hope they just impale themselves? I mean, that is a chance I’d be willing to take. They don’t seem very smart and a spear like this to the guts might even level the playing field!” Hans laughed, banging the head of the axe against the log.

“Provided they don’t just hit it so hard, it snaps. Be ready to get out of the way if it doesn’t slow them down,” Koda warned the big man, getting a nod and a huff from Hans before the bull man went back to his work, trimming the head off the log.

“You think we’ll get a chance to actually rest back home for long after this?” Hans asked after several minutes, only broken by the whack of the axe and grunts of effort.

“I hope so,” Koda sighed, flicking the scraps of wood away with one hand and stretching to pop his back. “I know you miss your lady and I feel guilty that you got roped into this.”

Koda gestured with both hands to indicate the deserted town before looking back to the other man. Hans just shrugged and lined up his axe for another strike.

“We volunteered to come along. Sure, we thought it was a simple hunting trip originally, but I guarantee that we would have come along even if we knew.”

“Yes, but you all have lives and could have simply stayed in town with them. You didn’t have to come chasing after me,” Koda protested again. “I appreciate you and the others coming, never doubt that. But—”

“You don’t want to be the reason one of us doesn’t make it home,” Hans finished, without looking up at Koda. Grimacing, Koda nodded in agreement with the sentiment. “I thought the same when I learned your story, you know that?”

“You what?” Koda blinked in surprise at the other man. Hans didn’t meet his eyes, but nodded.

“You left behind your life to come help us. Sure, it might not have been a good one, but you’ve risked your life nearly every day that you’ve been here for folk you barely know. It’s a hell of a role model to have.”

“I don’t want to be anyone’s role model,” Koda growled, feeling the weight of such a position bearing down on him already.

“Tough shit, Champion,” Hans laughed at him. “You were destined for that fate on the first day here. You calling the hunters to task for hesitating to save the captives, then racing off to handle it yourself? Then continuing to run back and forth doing all you can to protect our village for us? You are lucky that more of the women of the village aren’t throwing themselves at you.”

“I’d have to actually spend time there for that to happen,” Koda replied sourly, getting another grin from the big man.

“I mean, if you want to continue to expand your family, then sure. But you’ve already got an embarrassment of riches in your three mates so far, and a fourth poking about the edges if Samira’s actions are what I think they are.” Hans waggled his eyebrows at Koda as they walked to the next log they were sharpening.

“Samira is even more confusing than my girls. I can’t tell if she just wants to shake me by the ankles until all my stories fall out, or if there’s something else more interesting to her,” Koda grumbled. Hans patted him on the back reassuringly while grinning down at the smaller man, who was magnitudes of power stronger than he was.

“I may not have the number of mates you do, Aegisclaw, but I feel I know women well enough to state that when you are confronted between two complicated factors in a woman, it’s almost always both at once, rather than one. We men are simple beings; we have to be in order to balance out how complicated our women are.”

“Oh, is that why you only have one?” Koda needled back at the snickering bull man.

“No, I’m just smart enough to make sure one complication is fully settled before I try  to add another one!”