Framework of the Frontier, page 14
Metal clinked stone with a spark. The hit reverberated in William’s bones. A sizeable chip fell off the golem and left a huge crack, but its eye rotated to face William and flashed with arcane intelligence.
“Back off!” Rajza shouted.
William saw the swing coming, but could not avoid the wide tree trunk-like arm on such slippery ground. God shield me from—
Pain.
The swing caught him mid-chant, hurling him through the air. He heard Ember’s frantic voice before the cold splash of water silenced the world.
Beneath him swam alien creatures the size of cats. William felt a tug of alien disgust and a growing sense of fear for the others above water. Adrenaline kicked. He re-emerged to see Rajza stepping away from the golem’s swipes.
The miarii shouted at William, “Get your ass over here quick! Pour the water on!”
“Will, are you okay?” Ember’s eyes were wide with worry.
“I’m fine.” William swam towards the golem. “Keep it busy Rajza.”
Now that he had a second to look at it, the golem’s movements seemed unnatural. It paused erratically mid-motion and its body twitched as if there were tumors attempting to break out through the stone.
Climbing up the shore, William put his hammer into his belt and uncorked his waterskin. He waited for a step, looking for the perfect opportunity.
Rajza hissed at him when a swing of a stone arm nearly flattened him. “Hurry the fuck up!”
William repeated the blessing of strength and jumped. He landed on the golem’s shoulders and poured water in. The eye rotated inside its stone head to stare right at him, but it did not strike him. Instead, intricate patterns of light flickered within the crystal eye. The air began to smell of ozone.
“Run It’s shooting magic!” Ember shouted.
In a panicked scramble, William dove back into the lake. Through the lens of a disturbed surface, William saw a beam of bright pink energy firing from the golem’s eye. Resurfacing, he saw the beam had decapitated one of the waterfall statues. A cow sized stone head rolled into the lake with a huge splosh.
Rajza scaled the golem and brought his arcane gadget to its neck. Arctic whiteness exploded in a puff of mist. The miarii hopped back as the golem tilted.
Stone cracked. Its head fell off, though the eye continued to move. The cracked stone grew into tiny leg-tendrils. William was back ashore by then to hack them off.
Rajza cursed as he submerged his hand into the lake. “Gods. I need a glove for this.”
“Get it now, cover up the eye,” Ember instructed from the bushes.
William looked warily at the lake. “Any sign of the siren?”
“Nu-uh. Not yet.”
Reassured, William knelt at the shore and reached into the water to luck some leaves to cover the eye with. When he was up to his shoulder in the cool pool, he noticed something — a long shadow distorted by the waves. It swam towards him, and swam fast.
“William! Watch out!” Ember’s arrow flew past William’s shoulder and into the water, but it missed the creature.
“I see it. It’s here. Get ready everyone!” William stood and pulled out his hammer as it shot out from underwater.
A blanket of unbroken water coated the surface of a pale slender humanoid of vaguely feminine shape, though water made it hard to see. Faintly illuminated spring-green lines covered her body in symmetric swirls beginning from the bright green eyes.
“Careful, she’s magic—”
A dull thud cut off Ember’s warning. Her eyes glazed over as she collapsed on the ground. Dread spidered up William’s spine.
The siren dipped beneath water again before jumping out onto the surface some distance from William. Water fell off of her sleek glistening skin as fins and flaps collapsed, withdrawing into her body. She held her head high and regarded them with a haughty frown as her eyes focused on Rajza, who charged at her with a sword.
William launched into a charge, snapping an irritated command at the woods. “Nevija, Raia! Come out and help!”
He repeated blessings of will, fortitude, and strength. Four left.
Rajza ducked his head in a sudden jerk. “It’s a mind blaster! Don’t let it get a lock-on—”
The miarii ragdolled on the shore, rolling down to the siren’s webbed toes. She wrinkled her nose, taking a step back before turning her wide eyes to William. A droning sound began to grow in his head, quickly intensifying, overwhelming everything else, but before it could William dropped down, ducking as Rajza had.
The sound cut off.
William swung at her head.
Her eyes darted to the hammerhead. Where it should’ve hit her, the steel instead met a pearlescent shimmering harder than even the golem — some kind of invisible wall. She looked at him.
Fuck.
William jerked his head away to escape the droning sound, rolling behind a fallen pillar. “It would be a good time to show up now Nevija!”
No answer, not from the kitties. An eerily lyrical voice of a woman spoke. “They are wise to flee. I would be much obliged if you peasant rabble would allow me to be. Begone now and I may allow you to do so with your lives.”
“They’re alive?” William spun out from under the pillar, circling the siren with hammer in hand, waiting for the droning sound. He felt the blessings flicker out, but didn’t dare to re-do them yet.
The woman regarded William with regal annoyance matching her tone. Only now did he realize that she was nude. Those glowing patterns of green had faded from her ivory white skin. It glistened, as if an oil coated her from her small perky breasts to the narrow waist and down to her womanly hips and shapely legs. A thick three foot tail drooped behind her rear and through her hair stood wide open frilled gills, which matched the red of her nipples and smooth hairless sex. Wet short hair partially concealed thin eyebrows that seemed to have been born in a sharp ‘I don’t approve of you’-angle. She was, in many ways, an absolute beauty.
Shame you gotta go down.
“They live, for now. Discard your possessions and prostrate yourself before me and you may be allowed to depart safely with them.” She tracked his movements, staying on her tiptoes. “Consider the offer carefully, surfacer.”
“Oh, I do consider it.” William swallowed.
Whenever she used her droning mind blast thingy or telekinesis to stop the hammer, it was with her eyes focusing on the target. Her power seemed to have a visual limitation. She was focusing on Rajza before attacking William. So the limit is one target at a time?
She crossed her arms. “I see you have finished considering. You may begin with the appropriate surrendering rituals now.”
He threw the hammer at her.
As expected, her eyes focused on it and the throw was blocked, but it left an opening. William tackled her on the rocks and rushed to recite the blessings of strength and will.
Slippery as she was, covered in some kind of oily mucus, her attempts to wrestle were weak. William pinned her face to the ground. Sharp fins flared out all over her body as she screeched, scratching, but causing no real pain. Snarling, she revealed sharp teeth as her gaze focused on him in another mental attack.
This time, he didn’t hear the droning.
Things simply slowed down and made less sense. The feeling of her skin and air and stone blurred with smells and smells of her and the lake and earth and those smells mixed with the blib-blub of water and the yips of monkeys. William began to taste adrenaline on his tongue and feel sweat pounding through his veins. Thoughts became harder to separate from action, and William could not understand why he was holding down a beautiful woman. Why was he fighting at all or in a fantasy world to begin with? He wasn’t—
Before the delirium could set in William pressed a hand over the girl’s eyes. His brain snapped out of it.
She made a strange undulating hiss, attempting to claw and bite at him.
William pressed her wrists against the ground and put his weight on her torso, keeping a hand on her eyes. “Can’t use your powers without seeing me, huh.”
“Insolent surface peasant, you will not have the advantage over me so easily!” Her tail and legs struggled wildly.
A droning sound began to slowly grow in his head, but subsided when William moved his head. “Aha, so seeing only makes it easier to target, is that it?” It began to intensify again, but William kept moving his head as she confirmed his hypothesis. “Give up. I can keep this up all day.”
He did need to find a way to restrain her though. William looked to the woods. Still no sign of the kitties… Hope nothing happened to them.
There weren’t many options left. He let go of the siren’s eyes. Before she could manifest her mind blast he pressed a dagger against her throat.
She froze up.
“Alright, we have two ways to do this. Either we sit here with a blade against you until my allies get back, or you behave yourself long enough for me to tie you up. Which will it be?”
She scowled at him. “Ha! I have crushed their consciousness. They will not stir for many many hours.”
“Guess that means I’ll be sitting here for many many hours,” William said, a grin on his lips. “I don’t necessarily mind, but… well, you are a naked woman and I a mortal man. I’m not gonna get gropier than necessary in keeping you under control, but I can’t promise I won’t sport a hard-on after wrestling you for a couple of hours.“
Her expression blanked. She closed her legs and covered up her snatch with the tip of her tail as a rather visible flush began to grow on her pale cheeks. A distress grew in her eyes as her lips and nose began to twitch angrily. “Impudent peasant. The gall you have to suggest such disrespectful handling of a royal… You… You…” She drew a deep breath and gave him a death-stare. “Very well. I opt for bondage.”
“Excellent choice, your highness. Now, I understand you may be a big shot, in whatever siren kingdom you come from, but up here I am a Ranger of the law.” William nearly chuckled at himself. He hadn’t even finished the Ranger’s rulebook and here he was talking big like he was an old timer.
“Siren?!” Her aghast gasp managed to find a new depth in sounding offended. “I am no lowly siren. I am Rulu Ekh R’lyeh, an aboleth princess and no mere reef-born servant.”
“And I’m William Adams, a human and the Ranger of Nastall. Aboleth or siren, you’re under arrest. Now, try not to misbehave. I’m gonna take the knife off your neck—”
The moment he lifted the steel William felt the droning in his head.
C’mon bitch, you’re only hurting yourself here… He managed to avoid the mind blast and blind her. The grappling struggle to bind Rulu continued for many labored huffs. In the end, he had one securely hogtied, blindfolded, and gagged aboleth girl on her tummy next to the unconscious Ember and Rajza. It seemed to have calmed her. William avoided looking too closely at her struggles, feeling like a criminal for the pervy images going through his head.
“Nevija! Raia! Come back!” He shouted at the woods. “Where the fuck have they gone…” Glancing into the lake, William spotted the golem head walking on the bottom with tiny stone legs. “Fuck…There goes our free key into the Maze.”
“Good job mister Ranger,” said the soft voice of Nevija. “Looks like you’ve set-up the perfect outcome.”
Raia trailed her, followed by three more figures. The most striking was a short bulky diving suit crafted from crab-plates inscribed with round dot-like runes. Behind the rounded glassy windows of the former grab’s eye-sockets floated an ethereal creature with feminine features formed of multiple overlapping layers of bioluminescent jelly-fish veils. The other two new strangers were a man and woman, both half naked muscular tritons with several thin spears on their back. A black symbol of some kind of tentacle creature was branded at their hips.
“What the hell Nevija?” William could not restrain the annoyance in his voice. “Where were you and who are these supposed to be? I could’ve used help.”
“Ranger of Nastall, meet Aggaloth Ekh Ur’liuh, a generous benefactor of ours who helps extend R’lyeh’s reach to the surface through the outpost to our West.” Nevja gestured to the walking fish-tank.
A low humming voice echoed through the pink-rimmed ceramic plates, “It is my sincere wish to establish a long and mutually beneficial relationship with you, William of Nastall. We have much to gain from co-operating on these distant frontiers, forgotten by our nations.” Her wide shining eyes gave William bad vibes.
Rulu shouted muffled protests against her gag, squirming furiously.
Nevija’s tail swirled to match her wink. “Sharp kitty ears heard of your money troubles mister Ranger. What do you say, if for today you write down that the troublemaker of Palace Falls escaped your grasp. How sad. But, quite fortunate that you happened to come upon a bag of thirty black pearls.”
“Not black pearls. Depth pearls, purest and blackest of all the seas,” said Aggoloth.
William shook his head, growing increasingly wary. It was obvious Nevija and Raia had played him, again. They were obviously no strangers to betrayal and bribery. If things did escalate though, the odds didn’t look good. No way was he going to take the bribe, but considering this was a foreign agent, William wanted to appear polite. “I need to think about this. I’ve no concept of these currencies. I barely know what a clinker is worth.”
“Thirty depth pearls. That’s gotta be four to ten stamps depending who you sell the pearls to and buy the stamps from.” Nevija calculated with a finger to her lips.
Rulu was trying to flop on the stone, fleeing towards the pool like a landed seal. William crouched by her and placed a hand on top of her shoulders. Her whimpers began to take a pleading tone, a desperate tone.
This does not feel right.
“She is a wanted criminal of another empire,” Nevija shrugged, like it was an obvious fact to be pointed out.
Rulu screamed something along the lines of, ‘untrue lies’ into her gag. William was inclined to believe her.
He exhaled, frowning with disappointment. “Listen Nevija, the lake clearly wasn’t poisoned. I’ve already eaten one portion of your bullshit, so I’d rather not have another helping right off the bat. Maybe it’s best we head back to Nastall to sort this out. I’ll keep Rulu restrained and hear your side of the story with some proof.”
“Show him,” said Aggaloth.
A triton opened one leather bag to reveal orbs of enchantingly perfect iridescent blackness, each an inch across.
William gestured for them to put the bag away. “No. I don’t mean proof of the money. I mean her crimes. I’m new to this, but I’m not too hot on the idea of sentencing anyone to unknown fates at the mercy of medieval undersea empires without hearing both sides first. She did say that she’s a princess. I don’t want to fuck myself by making an enemy of a whole empire here.”
“Very well.” Nevija sighed through a forlorn pout as she brushed her tail. “Let us do this your way, mister Ranger.”
From the corner of his eye, William spotted metal glimmering in the sunlight, flying at him.
13
William caught Raia’s dart with his backpack. She slipped another into her blowgun. The tritons pointed their bony white spears at William, while Aggoloth closed her bag of pearls.
William picked up his hammer. “Hold up, wait! We can talk about this.”
“We already did. The consensus was to give you a chance to be reasonable, or become merchandize.” Nevija began throwing quick daggers at his legs.
William brushed them aside with his backpack and swung at her when she was about to close. Nevija avoided his strikes with feline grace, ignoring William on a straight sprint for Ember and Rajza. He tossed the bag at her to buy time and took a gamble, removing Rulu’s blindfold. “Help me and I’ll get you out of this.”
Her eyes glared at him for a split second before jumping to the female triton, snapping the woman into a limp sack of unconscious meat. He had no time to untie her. William picked the tied up aboleth from the ropes. She groaned in protest, but wrapped her tail around his arm to hold on tight.
Ember and Rajza lay behind him and the enemies stood ahead. Wielding Rulu and his warhammer, William felt a moment of grin-inducing confidence.
It was two to four, but the advantage was his.
With aggressive swings of his hammer he forced the male triton and Nevaja backward. Rulu shouted something against her gag that William could not make out. Instead, he pointed Rulu at their enemies, forcing them to duck out of the way. The jellyfish in diving armor fell on her face when she tried to find cover.
“Do not be wary of harming her! She will not perish easily,” shouted Aggoloth, struggling to stand.
As if on cue the triton threw his spear at William. He jerked sideways, avoided it, but lost his footing on the slippery shore. Rulu hit the ground in an ugly smack, whimpering.
“Fuck, sorry I’ll—”
Nevija was in his face. He leaned back from her blade, parried and backpedaled on the ground, lifting up the bruised aboleth princess at the miarii, but Rulu could only be pointed at one enemy at a time. The barrage of darts and stabs forced William to step into the lake.
A spear cut through the bubbles obscuring his vision. William struggled backwards into the submerged hall, putting distance between them and the attackers. When he found a pillar to climb on, William’s eyes widened and he realized he’d lost.
“Drop the hammer.” Nevija held a knife to Ember’s throat.
Rulu’s face came up. Though bound, she swam fine with her tail. When her eyes locked on Nevija she slashed a quick cut on Ember’s arm and snapped, “And get her to stop or she dies. Now!”
“No! Rulu, stop. Don’t attack them, please.” William guts sank like blocks of lead. He dropped the hammer and raised his arms.
Rulu glared at him, her gills flared and big lime shaded eyes narrowed. Her teeth dug into the rope between them as she spat words, which were likely well deserved insults at him.
