ShipTeaser

  Back at the mansion, we were once mreeted by the butler-weasel and the maids. Risha and Velna had remai the mansion while we were dealing with the Trees, a fact that Hyath never missed an opportunity to hold over them. Yeah well, I do feel sorry for her maids, a little anyway, but it’s hard to care about those who so obviously hate me.

  The butler of course asked us if he could notify Shaeraggo we were here, and we once more deed, although this time he was expeg our refusal, so he merely left a touch huffily, after bowing to Shaeu.

  “All right, final pnning session.” I said, and everyone nodded. We ehe dining room after stashing our equipment and protective suits in one of the ging rooms. Risha and Velna, along with several other maids, brought us out wine and snacks, as well as a rge barrel of ale for. They had also mao find him a rger seat from somewhere, so he looked less ridiculous sitting at the table with us.

  Ign the stant prickle of disy premonitions of immi danger were geing, I took a sip of the Faerie Wine, sciously dropping my defeo the alcohol usiher Healing, so the potent, warming effects hit me almost instantly. Yeah, this is great. Now I finally get drunk again when I socialise with my old friends from Uni or share a few with Shaeu. Still, o overdo it, we’ll be going into battle shortly. “Right, we’ve saved Asha and a couple of the Trees. A shame about the other Tree, but we did the best we could. Now that is out the way, we return to our initial pn of purging the Myids from around the Shrine of Clear Refles aaking it.”

  “Grul is pleased. Grul hungers for crushing the fungi!” he gurgled, haviied half his barrel. His ck of table manners seemed to be causing the maids who were bringing in the main meal some disfort. One was eyeing him particurly bitterly, so noticeably that it rovoking Hyath, who stood, scowling, her silver-violet eyes fshing.

  “Good servants dooo not frown sooo at guests of the master and mistress!” She snapped, radiating a menag aura, darkness seeming to fill the room around her like a living smog. “You are tinually insooolent, quite uing of a maid”

  I made a move to stop Hyath, but Shaeu grabbed my arm, shaking her head. “I am finding it hard not-not to chastise them myself.” She said, her own amber gaze hard. “I have told them many-many times to show you the proper respect as my husband and true love, yet they do not-not learn.”

  The now-terrified maid stumbled, dropping the rge, covered ptter she was holding. It hit the floor with a loud g, the silver dome boung off, spilling the rge roasted birds covered in a brilliant yellow gravy onto the carpet, soiling it. The other two maids stepped back, but luckily mao keep hold of their own burdens. As the lid rolled around, Hyath gestured, and I had a horrible terror of what she was about to do, as nature energy fred around her, visible to the naked eye.

  “Hyath, I uand that you are-are angry, but as their mistress, it is surely my duty to disciplihem. You are upsetting Akio, do not-not make the same mistakes as they do!”

  At that the aura around Hyath died down, and the horrific biological attack she was surely about to jure died off around her. “Sooorry, Hyath is a bad servant.” She started g, her mood as wildly mercurial as ever. “But I hate tooo see them disrespect master and mistress sooo!”

  “I get it, I do. But you ’t use those spores carelessly. Don’t give in to the darkness inside you. I’d hate to lose you, but if you ’t be trusted not to lose trol, then I fear… I might have to take a.” I pulled her into a hug, and she flushed, skin turning crimson, only g harder.

  “Yes, this is also my fault.” Shaeu shook her head. “I have tried to put my foolish past aside, and my maids are a sad-sad reminder of my failures. Therefore I have not-not been as firm with then as I should have been.” She turo the shame-faced maid, who was biting at her lips, a thin trickle of blood leaking into her tawny fur. “Fetch the other maids and the butler. This is as good-good a time as any to finally address this mess.”

  “Your will, princess.” The maid said, scuttling out.

  “Never a dull moment with you, is there?” Ixitt ribbed me, as I held the still g Hyath, though somehow one of her hands had mao get inside my clothes and was roaming very… intimately.

  “Stop that.” I rapped her on the head gently. “I’m serious. You have a deadly gift now, you ’t misuse it, or else I’ll have to take responsibility!” At my words, Hyath chose to take it in a misleading way, but I could see in her eyes she uood, even through her deep anger. Once more I reflected on the cruel treatment Hyath must have suffered uhe Unseelie that had ed her so. Perhaps teag Hyath such a deadly biological art was foolish, but I want to trust her, and help her recover from her traumas. Besides, it’s the best way to win…

  As the maids assembled, Velna, Risha and the rest lining up, the butler, still in his rather ailcoat, at their head, Shaeu stood and stepped forwards, careful not to tread in the mess soaking into the carpet. I could smell it now, rid pu, full of citrussy tones, and my stomach rumbled. Damn, a waste of a good meal, that smelt pretty damn nice.

  “I have spoken about this before, but perhaps I have not-not been clear.” Shaeu decred boldly. “We go back a long way, do we not-not?” She addressed her maids, who nodded slowly. As I observed then, Hyath still in my arms, I noticed a variety of emotions on their faces. Velna looked sad, Risha angry, some of them fused, and the one who had nearly been murdered by Hyath over her insolence had a sour and frustrated mien.

  The butler, who had not been one of her prior servants, but was Shaeraggo’s, merely stood aside, listening. Risha decided to reply, cautious, as if she was wary of a further scolding. “Indeed, princess. We have cared for you since you were young-young, a small, adorable child. That is why it pains us so, seeing you having besmirched your bloodlines by dallying with a mortal.”

  “That’s right!” the sour maid cried, stamping her foot, earning anrowl from Hyath. At that she quailed back, befathering her resolve. “You should be proud and strong, like your father, brothers and sister-sister! The only way to prove yourself is to be arrogant, imperious, make them accept you!”

  “That is right-right!” another maid agreed. “Do you know how hard it is to watch this?”

  “Uh…” Velna said then, looking down at the floor, unsure. “… princess, you not tell us? Why have you ged? We do not uand it-it.”

  “Is that not-not obvious?” she sighed. “I ged because it was that or meet my end.” She shrugged. “I do not-not bme you for your encements, f to help me grow into the princess you believed I should be, arrogant and proud like my sister. But there is one great differeween my sister and I.”

  “Your blood does not matter…” Velna began, but Shaeu scoffed, barking a ugh, cutting her off.

  “Of course it does not-not. Akio said it best to me, long-long ago now. Two royal bloodlines bined are surely just as noble, if not-not more so, than one! I shall never be ashamed of my mother and her proud lineage. Even if it is not-not Seelie, it is a part of me! No, you are all too shallow, and hence I was as well. The difference is ability.”

  I think I get it. I’ve heard of her sister Shaeranna from her tales, apparently she’s a fierce warrior and a master of the spear, having sin many Unseelie in past battles.

  “But princess, you are the daughter of Prince Shaetanao…” Velna tinued.

  “So?” Shaeu shook her head, amber locks casg. The fact that she was usually in her human form probably frustrated her maids to no end, seemiher an insult to her heritage or a sop to me, but really, I loved Shaeu, so if she was more fortable in weaselkin form, I’d have no problem with it. Except in bed, I guess. I’m still not a furry!

  “While I am justifiably proud of my bloodline, just-just as I was wounded deeply when I was sndered and mocked unfairly, the whispers delivered where I could-could always hear them, it is also unfair to blindly praise me simply for being.” She took a deep breath, trying to put her painful past behind her. “I was weak and pathetipared to my sister, my brothers, even many of the weaselkin who made up fathers’ forces. All encing my sense of self-importance did was lead-lead me to ruin, riling up those who had cause to scheme against my father and f him and my siblings into a painful choice that no-no doubt hurt them cruelly. I feel sorry for them, that they had-had to abandon me, after spending so long-long coddli must have been hard.”

  “But if you did not show your royal pedigree, you would have been looked down on-on!” Risha decred, stamping her foot in annoyance, which made Hyath stiffen in my arms, but I rubbed her back, keeping her calm.

  “Yes, perhaps. No, you are indeed correct.” Shaeu ceded with a sigh. “But would that have led to a worse-worse fate than now?”

  At that Velna opened her mouth to protest, only to shut it quietly, eyes going vat as she thought about it. Several other maids looked angry at that, but others exged long, meaningful looks.

  “Were I able to speak to my foolish past self, I would have advised her to be modest, kind and quietly fident, knowing that one-one day, I would meet the other half of my soul, the full moon to my new moon. My Akio.” She turo me, smiling brilliantly, and my heart skipped a beat. So damn adorable. Yeah, that day Shaeu accepted my offer to surrender was the day my new life truly began, not that day Ortlinde visited me. Without Shaeu I’d have been killed by now, I have no doubt, and even if not, Eri and I might never have worked out our differences, Aiko would still be suffering…

  “Akio taught me how to truly-truly be a princess, what that meant. Lessons I should have learnt as a child. Others tried to teach me, such as Master Ulfurid my sister, even dear idiot brother Shaeraggo, and oldest brother Shaetourach. But as, I did not-not listen, for my ears were filled with tales of my own worth-worth and importance. From you.” she looked at her maids, and most of them looked down or away, biting on lips nervously or with aails shing.

  “The past is done.” Shaeu decred. “I am sid tired of menting over it-it. So let me be pin. Thanks to my love for Akio, we have grown stronger, and now I - proudly and truthfully decre myself to be a proud princess of the Seelie. Even so, it is not-not enough for me. Pride is baked into me, and will never-never leave me. That is the burden I bear, from my childhood with all of you. So heed me well. I, Shaeu Tu Shae Dannan, and my chosen husband, Oshiro Moonstone Akiht hero of the moon-moon, he who was always destio walk with me, together we shall defeat the Myids and recim the Spring of Clear Refles. Only then-then will I have fulfilled my role as a princess of the Seelie.”

  Her gaze had captivated them, and Ixitt and Hyath were looking oranced by her dynamic poise. “So, my maids, I have some-some fondness left for you, as you were my true panions who cared for me when I was but-but a foolish child, who told me I was worth something even as others sndered me, even if your words-words were what fuelled my foolish delusions of grandeur. So I will be blunt. I have tolerated your disrespect towards Akio, but not-not any longer! If you have no wish to serve him as you do me, theurn to Shaeraggo!”

  At that Velna curtsied deeply, before bowing to me, her expression serious. “I apologise, sort of the princess.” She spoke softly. “I have-have been a fool too, I see. The ges in the princess were fusing to me, and I bmed you.” she looked up at me, and for once I saw some genuine uanding in her eyes. “Perhaps we focused too-too mu what the princess should have been, rather than what would make her happy.” She turned back to Shaeu then. “I will stay-stay. I am your maid, I should never have been separated from you!”

  “I wele you if you are to serve properly. But I will warm masters’ bed, nooot you!” Hyath giggled, earning another series of thwacks on the head.

  “Good. And the rest of you?” Shaeu’s steely amber gaze brooked no dissent. “Be warned, I am deadly serious. If I am to go-go into desperate battle, I want this mansion to be a home where we - rex, without being bothered by your disrespect.”

  “I uand. I too am sorry.” The angry maid apologised, bowing to me as Velna had. Risha followed her in capituting, and one by ohe maids were defeated, promising to improve. Lastly, Shaeu turo the butler, who hadly hidden his disapproval of me, but then he had also always done as I asked without mupint.

  “As for you, I uand you desire Shaeraggo to know I am here. I would first-first wish to triumph here, drive out the Myids, so that he be proud of me. After all…” Shaeu turned bae, satisfied and refreshed, having finally got all of her exasperation with her maids off her chest. “… what little sister would not want to look good in front of her brother, right-right?”

  At that I ughed, as she was definitely copying Aiko there. The butler-weasel ceded the point, and with that he set the maids to ing up the mess.

  “I shall make you more dinner.” The maid that had caused the initial otion promised, and Hyath jumped out of my arms.

  “I shall assist yooou! Hyath is sorry I tried to murder yooou! Don’t be a bad servant like Hyath!”

  “No, there’s no need…” the maid said, a fsh of annoyance crossing her features. “You are also a guest here, leave it to us-us.”

  “Nooo, I insist! Hyath is a maid as well!”

  “In fact, Hyath will be my head maid, should she succeed iask for Akio.” Shaeu promised.

  “Wait, her? Head maid?” Displeasure was visible on several faces, but after the warning from Shaeu, they acquiesced.

  “Well, now that is settled, shall we tinue?” I asked, and everyone nodded, Grulgor rumbling with ughter at the spectacle, Ixitt smiling wryly, eager to get down to business…

  ********

  “You’ve reached level five. That ainless.” I smiled at Ixitt as he snapped off another volley of small projectiles against a Myid Ranger, outmatg the arrows and blowing it apart in a welter of spores.

  “Excellent. I do feel stronger and faster. My mind seems clearer as well. Just more proof I made the right choice accepting your patronage.” Ixitt replied. “So, what now?”

  “As we discussed at dinner, when we finally mao get ohat wasn’t tossed on the floor, anyway, now you oversee Hyath as she tests her spores on the captive ps.” We had brought some wires and s from our Territory, so Shaeu wouldn’t be forced to relinquish her pinwheels, redug her offense. “We’ve repced the Degraded Kobolds, so the aim is to get her spores to be harmless to them, but lethal against the Myids and their pnt minions. Though to be ho I’ll settle for just lethal to the Myids, we have our protective gear after all.”

  “I uand. It will be fasating to dot her progress, and perhaps harness it myself in various ons. Perhaps bullets and shells that tain her lethal spores? Intriguing.” Ixitt mused, tail shiedly.

  “Sure, just… keep safe and help her get it done, if you .” I k ically difficult task, but Hyath had experiend exposure to the spores, so if anyone could with help from our expnations, she could. “As for us…” I looked at Shaeu and Grulgor, who were eager for battle. “We are going to try and kill as many Myids as we , especially Noble ones. If we pee deep into their Territory we might eveh some of their hidden cards as well. The more we know, the better our ces.”

  “Grul will enjoy smashing, breaking and crushing them!” he decred, and Shaeu was even smiling at his usual belligerence. Yeah, they have bee closer. That’s good.

  “All right then. In that case, we go deeper!” I cried out, and we charged through the wilderness. I could feel the fortunate winds Shaeu had summoned blowing around me, and occasionally I would get a feeling to take a certain dire through the trees, or my feet would stumble over an exposed root despite my great agility, and I would find glittering treasures, Etherites ripe for the taking. I’ve found a green and several yellows already. Nice! Although wly, the feeling of great fortune I was experieng was being banced by the prig of my Fht. The feeling had seesawed up and down in the mansion, dropping for a while, which puzzled me, but now it was growing stronger once more. Is it due to our strategy against the Myids, or is something going to g with Hyath’s experiments? No, we are taking every possible precaution… putting that aside, I turned my attention back to the matter at hand, as I didn’t want to be distracted, which could lead to careless mistakes.

  Obviously ether was still a , despite our new gains from the Trees, but I inteo keep these Etherites on me, in case I needed emergency boosts, just like with the blue one. And when we upgrade our Silos to Rank 3, I think I’ll add aherite Silo to one of them…

  We raced rapidly into the denser heart of Myid-held Territory, more than five miles from the Fae Stohat marked the safety of the Seelie Court….

  ********

  I swung my Twin Fangs, one bde sshing through the sword-arm one Myid warrior was wielding, while my other parried another pair of sshes on my fnk. The ground underfoot was treacherous with deg fungal matter, as oer another I slew the Warriors that engaged me. It was like a dance, my senses w at high iy, predig their movements by the subtle twitg of their arms and legs.

  A much bulkier Myid attacked from my blind spot, the Myid Champion, a Noble Dark Fae who led this rge group of warriors, a tall, lean Myid covered ihery fungal armour and wielding an arm-bde that was as tall as I was, trying to use the sacrifice of its fellows as a way to strike me down.

  “I don’t think so.” I said, the Fang that had cut through the Myid sword suddenly reversing dire and decapitating it, space sshed open too. My muscles twitched, legs moving instinctively, and both Fangs were crossed in front of me, blog the heavy blow. My arms and legs braced, and it was the Champion that was thrown baormally, I’d attack with a ter, but… somehow I feel that isn’t right. Instead I dropped low, and with two tight, trolled swings, the Champion fell, legless, my bdes then swooping down to finish the job.

  I levelled up a while ag this mad dance. I wonder how close I am to another…

  Still surrounded, I moved with a bination of instind rapid thought, closing in and making my blows t where possible, and where it wasn’t I defended, keeping stable band wide perception of the battlefield arou was as if all the beatings I had taken from Ulfuric, all the training and studying, was starting to coalesce, my prior bad habits that I had picked up in my self-taught cribbing from the i and YouTube videos finally sloughing away, leaving the solid fus Ulfuric had taught me shining through, like a diamond buried in cy.

  I don’t think Motoko-san will be able to criticise me for being rough and crude anymore. Parry, using the minimum of movement, and kick out, breaking the bance of the oppo. The other hand to deflect a ssh, using the momentum t up my other arm, striking a fatal ssh to the throat of the enemy. Switch footwork and move to attack, overwhelming the enemy with a volley of precise blows. Glide to the side to dodge a charge, a si to the vitals, finishing another oppo. Ssh. Cut. Parry. Strike.

  As I moved through a series of ging bat forms, the Warriors melted away in front of me, most of them sin, the air thick with the stench of dead fungus and choking spores. Unwilling to let them retreat I called upoal wind, and jade bdes sshed out, the edges dense and vibrating, slig through them, ether scattering, which I greedily grabbed.

  I could hear Grulgor r and heavy explosions as his massive metal mace pulverised the tide of foes. A pinwheel flew past my face, trailing the taut bluesteel wire that danced with green and yellow energies, cutting through a dozen oppos. Shaeu’s sed was dang, cutting apart Rangers and ‘Mahat strayed too close.

  A group of Myid Pikers charged through the trees, supported by several of the hedgehog artillery. Their arms had grown together into a series of elongated poles, tipped with hard, jagged spikes, red and purple and dripping with acrid venom that smoked as it made tact with the air. On seeing them, I found myself grinning, eager to ehem on their own terms. Swords would be a disadvantage, best to fight rah range. I sheathed the Twin Fangs and pulled out my spear, elling a bination of elements into it. Darting forward, I slid betweehicket of venomous spikes, using the solid shaft of my spear to deflect theirs, thrusting precisely, motions flowing and smooth. My memories of Ulfurid his own spear-work blended with the times I had watched Motoko-san and Natsumi-san with the Tsumura teiques.

  Set the distance. A precise thrust. Turn and block. A sed thrust. Defleing blows and terattack. Another pinpoint stab. Use the haft of the spear to shatter an arm. Drop back while striking…

  Myids were dying, and I started mixing ial attacks, rapidly sweeping them away. My movements had bee elegant and deadly, barely any wasted motion, and my Eye bzed amber, advising me I had improved once more, bat skills that would take years of hard training to learn in a dojo being mine.

  Your Skills, Sword Teique, Spear Teique and bat Teique have all advao Rank 5. Due to reag a full uanding of the basic teiques of martial bat and crafting a body capable of applying them, the fuals solidifying, and having gained insight of how best to use these fuals in battle, you have reached a bottleneck, the first wall, and to grow further you will o learn an advayle, or craft your own, finding that which is beyond the mundane. Your ability to apply what you have learo other ons and bat arts has increased, and the more different ons and styles of martial arts you master, the deeper the depths of your uanding of the martial path will grow.

  My mind was clear, and I moved in an almost-meditative state, alternatiween sword, spear, brutal attacks with my fists, elbows a, aating elemental attacks. With Grulgor r in enraged fury to one side, and Shaeu, her pinwheels dang, surrounded by rains of fme and whirling cyes of bded winds oher, we drove back the Myids, felling them one-by-oil we had carried the day, the air around us thick with death…