66. [Uicha] Grasping Hands

Uicha de Orak, Wildcard of the 5th Renown, representing The Forgotten One, for whom life is a trial

Milena Russi, Duelist of the 11th Renown, Merchant’s Bay, knows a treasure when she sees one

Curse de Mou, Ocean Master of the 9th Renown, the Flamingo Islands, waiting on that harpoon

Akoni de Emasyn, Captain of the Dartmyth, and his crew, keeping to a safe distance

The merchant gellezza Mastermind and an unnamed vessel carrying the Gen’bi

***

10 Trollove, 61 AW

Aboard the Dartmyth, Central Sea

140 days until the next Granting

Uicha yanked his arm away from the grasping hand of the merchant champion and stumbled backward, bumping into a wall—a wall that shouldn’t have been there.

The world had gone very still and Uicha did not really understand why. Across the water, a swollen tentacle swung downward toward the Mastermind in a terrible slow motion arc. Another of the octopus’ appendages coiled through the middle decks, snapping wood and crushing men. Their screams and the steady whooshing of waves reached Uicha's ears in a low, distorted moan. The air felt oddly stagnant. Despite being out in the open, Uicha had not felt this enclosed since he'd been trapped in the hold of Ahmed Roh's boat. 

Nearby, Curse de Mou had gone frozen like a statue as he watched the destruction of the Mastermind. Beside him, Captain Akoni made to turn toward Uicha, progressing only an inch with every ten breaths Uicha took. 

“Or maybe the better question is: what are you?”

Only Milena Russi moved at the same speed as Uicha. Her voice sounded clear—sharp, even. She had popped back to her feet, bent slightly like her ribs were injured, squinting at him. The dark welts across her body had begun to fade thanks to her [Recovery+], but she still slumped from her unsuccessful bout with the gellezza-sized octopus. 

“What did you do to them?” he asked.

Uicha reached toward Akoni. An invisible force rebuffed his hand. Vaguely, he became aware of a shimmer in the air, an arcane boundary that cut off the rest of the deck. He and Milena stood within an oval that encompassed an empty space on the deck.  

“I didn’t do anything to them,” she replied. “Just us. You should consider yourself lucky, islander. Not many who join me here are guaranteed to live.”

Uicha scanned Milena's Ink again, noting the symbol for [Private Arena] which had faded since he last looked her over. She had created a sequestered area for them to do battle—or, perhaps less desirable in Uicha’s opinion, for them to talk. As he studied Milena’s Ink, she sized him up in the same way. Hurriedly, he buttoned his shirt up, though the gesture felt futile at this point. Milena snorted.

“No way for your friends to interrupt, and no escape for you until I decide it,” she continued. “Questions, then. Where did you get so much Liar’s Ink, guppy? How did you take mine? How did you get it to replace…?”

Milena gestured toward the empty box at Uicha’s throat, which he had no chance to cover. He stared back at her stubbornly, his mouth tightly shut. She took a step forward, bending at the waist to peer at his chest.

“Come on, don’t be shy. You must be a brave one to slather so much of that shit on you. Let me admire you,” she said. “Let me…”

For a split second, Milena’s eyes glazed over. Her head cocked sharply and she sucked in a breath, then recoiled.

“I can [Assess] you,” she said. “That only works on champions. Only works on Ink that’s permanent. How—how did you make it that way? It can’t be.”

Milena licked her thumb and reached toward Uicha. He slapped her hand down and took a step back, needing to circle outward from the barrier to put some distance between them.

“Ow,” Milena said. She tossed her wet hair behind her head, eyeing him hungrily. “How did you do it? The islanders of all fucking people—I can’t believe it. What’s the Forgotten One? What does it mean to be [Disloyal]?”

Uicha didn’t know what to say under the bombardment of questions. He registered the gleam in her eyes—gods, but he was tired of people looking at him that way.

“Let me out of this thing,” he said, mostly succeeding at keeping his voice cold and even.

“You don’t sound like a flamingo, do you?” Milena responded. “You don’t strut around like one, either. Gods, the look on your face. Stiff-lipped, sure, but all confusion in those watery eyes. You’re barely even a man. Are you a man?”

Milena pouted as she said this, working a thumb under the shoulder strap of her sunwear to adjust herself. Bruised and battered as she was, Uicha’s eyes still tracked Milena’s finger as it traveled down her chest.   

In that moment, she lunged for him.

Milena had her hand on Uicha's scimitar before he could react. [Speed+] and [Agility+] made her faster than Uicha, and him so easily distracted. Luckily, he still had some [Telekinesis] to even things up. As she tried to rip his sword loose from his scabbard, he held it tight with his mind. For a moment, her momentum brought them chest-to-chest. Milena put all her strength behind one last tug and lost her grip. She staggered backward, shaking out her hands.

“Well,” she said. “Well, well, well. Aren't you a find?”

Uicha turned his head. Across the water, merchant sailors were being dragged from the decks of the Mastermind, their broken bodies disappearing into the frothy churn around the octopus. 

“While you bother me, your people are getting killed,” he said.

“Only seconds pass for them while we chat. Nothing I could do for them in seconds.” Milena shrugged. “And, there's a man over there—well, he's not exactly a man. Regardless, I wouldn't mind seeing him drown. It'll inconvenience him in a way that amuses me.”

“Inconvenience him…? And the others?” Uicha shook his head. This woman spoke a different language from him.

“Chasing Ink is a dangerous job. That’s why we have to pay those sailors so much. At least, I think we pay them well. I don’t keep the books, personally. Do you like money, red one? I could buy you a villa if you’d just answer my questions.”

Captain Akoni had finished his turn toward Uicha and, through the shimmer at the edges of the private arena, Uicha could see the lines of concern etched in the man's face. The captain raised his hands to press against the invisible wall, but made no progress. 

“The Magelab performed experiments on me, and the islanders rescued me,” Uicha said. “I’ll tell you more if you let me go.”

Milena tapped her toes on the deck as she considered his words. “That sounds like mostly a lie, but it’s a beginning, at least. The start of a trustful relationship between us.”

“Sure,” Uicha said.

“That sounds like a lie, too.” She turned away from him—Uicha was relieved to feel unpinned by her gaze—and finally observed the chaos created by the surfaced octopus. “Oh, yes. That is bad. If the monster’s softened up too much, I might not be able to collect the reward.”

She snapped her fingers and Uicha staggered as the world came back to life. For a moment, everything felt sped up—the wind whipping over him, waves crashing, screams and wood snapping from across the water. Captain Akoni grabbed Uicha by the arm to steady him. 

“What did she do to you, little brother?”

“Nothing,” Uicha said, clearing his head with a shake. “She's all talk.”

Milena either didn't hear him or didn't care about his comment. She swayed to where Curse still stood at the railing, standing beside her fellow champion to watch as a tentacle swiped across the listing Mastermind. 

“Aha,” Curse said. “If it isn't the oily bitch who roasted my best canoe.”

Milena curtseyed. “You should’ve warned us about what was down there. You can't have expected to kill that thing by yourself.”

“As if you would've stopped to listen, eh?” Curse puffed out his chest, his feathered caftan rustling. “You merchants, always so suspicious. Shoot first, take advice later.”

Milena wrinkled her nose and peeked over the side of the ship. “Are those dead bodies looking at us?”

“My friends await instructions,” Curse said. He waved a hand at the Mastermind. “Looks like they will have much company at the bottom soon, eh?”

Milena drummed her fingers on the railing. “How can anyone say we are not a generous people? Look how my loyal crew makes this trial easier for us all.”

As she spoke, Uicha watched the octopus drag two merchant sailors under the water, thrusting them down in her grip and holding them there. He could not believe how these champions chatted as people were killed not a half mile away. Were they all like this? The four champions of Ambergran had been chasing glory when his parents died, Battar Crodd had made a game of killing an entire village, and the less he thought of Ahmed Roh the better. Sara Free had been kind, at least, but then her faction existed in part to undermine the power of the Granting. 

 All of the bolt-throwers on the side of the Mastermind facing the octopus had gone dark. One of the monster's tentacles had been chunked half away and another charred to stiff uselessness, but these injuries had only made the octopus angrier. The Mastermind endeavored to turn in order to use the other half of its armaments. However, its decks were smashed and collapsing, and the octopus clung close to it, as if it might leverage the massive ship onto its side. How many would die if the whole ship got overturned?

Uicha would not just stand around and watch. He used [Summon Gargoyle] and Parrot II appeared at his feet.

Captain Akoni leapt backward, drawing his sword. “By the tides!”

The mastiff-sized stone monster did not react to Akoni—he seemed to sense the captain was a friend. Instead, Parrot II flexed its leathery wings and tilted its head toward Uicha, awaiting instructions.

“Sorry,” Uicha said hurriedly to the captain. Then, he turned to Parrot II and pointed toward the Mastermind. “Go kill that octopus.”

If Uicha hadn’t known better, he might have thought he read skepticism in the empty-eyed, beaked face of his summoned companion. All the same, the gargoyle took to the air with a great flapping of its wings, talons scratching the deck as it pushed off.

“I suppose that’s our cue,” Curse said as the gargoyle’s shadow passed over him. Without further word, he leapt over the side of the Dartmyth. He landed with a light splash on the ocean’s surface, his [Water Walking] preventing him from sinking. Curse took off at a run toward the octopus, his haggard collection of corpses swimming along in his wake.

“An unfair advantage,” muttered Milena.

Sheppa—breathless and wide-eyed—arrived to the bow holding the harpoon Curse had requested. “He forgot—”

“Perfect, thank you,” Milena said, snatching the weapon away from the ship’s medic. She flashed Akoni a girlish smile. “Captain, I don’t suppose you might bring your ship closer.”

“Absolutely not,” he replied.

“Fine,” Milena said. “Have it your way.”

“Wait—” Uicha said, starting forward as he remembered Milena’s Ink.

Too late. She cupped her hands around her mouth and shrieked across the expanse. “Come on, you eight-armed whore! Come to me!”

The words carried, infused with arcane energy. She had used [Taunt]. Immediately, the monstrous octopus lost interest in dismantling the Mastermind.  After disentangling her limbs from the gellezza, the octopus streaked in their direction—a dark blue, gelatinous globe rolling across the ocean surface, tentacles flowing out behind her like streamers. Torrents of water kicked up on either side of the beast as she picked up speed, the pulsing swim matching Uicha’s heartbeat.

“Look at that,” Milena said. “Fast when she’s angry, isn’t she?”

“What did you do?” Akoni asked. He did not wait for a response, but spun toward the navigator’s perch. “Chamberly! Get the anchor up and bring us around!”

“Chamberly!” Milena echoed the captain, twirling her harpoon over her head in a showy motion. “Keep us right where we are, my love!”

The navigator stared dumbly at Milena, his arms hanging limp at his sides. She had used [Dazzling Flourish], which the navigator appeared powerless to resist.

“Merchant scum,” growled Akoni as he took off, racing toward the Dartmyth’s controls. 

“We need to let her get close if we’re going to kill her, don’t we?” Milena said. “Why make such a fuss about it?”

Uicha considered using the last of his [Telekinesis] to swipe Milena off the deck. He could cast her out into the ocean like a game of fetch with the octopus. He held back, though, worried that tapping out his Ink would leave him vulnerable. Instead, he kept his eyes forward, teeth gritted, as Parrot II reached the surging octopus.

The gargoyle pulled its wings in tight and dropped like a stone from a catapult, carving directly into the other monster’s bulbous head. Taken by surprise, the octopus flailed in response, then sank. Parrot II beat its wings in desperation, but was dragged under with the octopus.

“Probably not the best environment for a creature made of stone,” Milena commented. “Good show, anyway.”

The octopus resurfaced a moment later—closer to the Dartmyth now—leaking a trail of dark blue ichor into the water. Distantly, Uicha sensed his gargoyle sinking deeper and deeper, with no hope of rejoining the fight.

“You see, she has to come for me direct,” Milena said. “We’d be in real trouble if she could smarten up and go under the boat. You’re welcome for that.”

“Are you going to do anything?” Uicha asked. “Besides stand here are narrate?”

Milena smiled, hefting the harpoon over her shoulder to test its weight. “In a bit,” she said. “There’s enough Ink to go around on that big bitch. It’s polite to let everyone have their share.”

The giant octopus had closed enough that Uicha could now see the veins of Ink that slithered across her sapphire flesh. He could also see the damage that had already been done to the creature—the rents in her head from his gargoyle’s claws, the ruined tentacles. He felt a pang of sympathy. What had this octopus been doing before the gods marked her and sent these champions in pursuit? Living a quiet life at the bottom of the ocean, bothering no one? And now, against her will, she had been made sport.

Uicha could understand how that might feel.

Curse and his drowned were the next to meet the charging octopus. As Curse walked upon the water, his approach didn’t take the monster by surprise like the gargoyle’s had. The octopus rotated to meet him—spinning forward now instead of surging—her tentacles thrashing like spokes on a wheel. Two of the drowned were ensnared and crushed, while a third was plucked up between two tentacles and ripped in half. The other undead clambered onto the octopus’ dome-shaped head, pulling and ripping at her wounds.

When one of the tentacles slapped down at Curse, he used [Jump+] to burst upward from the ocean’s surface, then hooked the tentacle with an [Energy Tether] from above. Reeling himself in along the rope of glowing magic, Curse landed on the back of the tentacle and pressed his hands into the monster’s flesh. Now, Uicha had a chance to see the [Life Drain] ability that Curse had attempted to use on him. The deep ocean coloring of the octopus tentacle bled away and the limb turned grayish, withering beneath Curse’s touch.

As the first tentacle began to disintegrate, another snaked around Curse’s body and hoisted him skyward. Luckily—for the monster—the ocean master’s arms were pinned to his sides. Even under this assault, the octopus continued ceaselessly toward the Dartmyth.

Uicha glanced to the right, detecting movement from the Gen’bi boat. He had nearly forgotten about the third ship, which had so far done nothing to aid in the fight against the octopus. Now, a glittering whirlwind rose from the ship’s deck, the funnel directed toward the tentacle holding Curse. Ripping winds laden with sand particulates left hundreds of slashing cuts across the tentacle, although the whirlwind broke away when it reached Curse.

“Lavenna,” muttered Milena. “I wasn’t supposed to let her get any. But then, seeing how she fights might be a worthy trade, no?”

The name meant nothing to Uicha, but as he watched the twisting winds rise above the octopus, they came together into the shape of a woman. He was sure that she was the Gen’bi who had waved to him—tall, red-haired, with a black hat that miraculously stayed secure as she fell through the air. Lavenna used what looked like a slingshot to fire marble-sized projectiles into the top of the octopus’ head, bursts of blue exploding with each hit—and the head of one drowned splitting from a miss. The octopus tossed Curse’s body in her direction, but Lavenna simply transformed back into a cutting gust of wind, swarming about the remaining tentacles.

“Right, we better hurry up,” Milena said. “Here’s what we’ll do. I am going to [Open Weak Point] on that sorry cow and throw this harpoon. Then, you’ll put that [Telekinesis] of yours to work, make sure I hit the target. Easy, right?”

Despite the efforts of the champions, the octopus still came forward in a thrashing and gory mass. Surely, if not driven by Milena’s [Taunt], the beast would have retreated. This was beyond all reason. Uicha has seen enough.

“Ready?” Milena asked.

“Yes.”

Uicha activated [Ice Mastery].

He threw all of his power behind the attack, hoping that it would be enough to make it quick. In truth, Uicha wasn’t sure exactly what would happen until it was already happening. The surface of the ocean crackled and hissed as an ice floe expanded across it, the thick block trapping the octopus and the drowned still clinging her head. The whirlwind—Lavenna—rose above the freeze, returning with haste to the Gen’bi ship.

Uicha squeezed his fist and the ice contracted like a vice. Within the block, the octopus exploded, vivid sprays of blue and black hanging suspended like some work of art. The tentacles, severed from the head, sank beneath the water, while Uicha’s cube floated atop the surface.

The ocean suddenly seemed very quiet. Next to Uicha, Milena went still.

Tendrils of black Ink wormed their way through cracks in the ice. One curled toward Curse, who stood atop the water staring, and another toward the Gen’bi ship. But the largest coil of Ink flowed toward Uicha.

He took an involuntary step back, uncertain of what might happen when the Ink touched his skin. Yet, an encouraging heat from his crimson runes told him not to resist. The Ink squirmed through the open air and sought the symbol on Uicha’s throat, pooling and pulsing there, inside the empty box.

And then, the Ink dried and turned to ash. Unthinkingly, Uicha reached up and brushed it away.

“Oh, you rotten little shit,” Milena said. “That was for us. That—”

Uicha made a backhand motion. With the last of his [Telekinesis], he sent Milena pin-wheeling into the ocean. He turned to look up at Captain Akoni—standing at the Dartmyth’s wheel and staring down at him.

“Captain?” Uicha asked. “Can we resume our journey?”

Akoni obeyed immediately.