Nanowrimo Day 24
I've had a good Thanksgiving, though obviously it hasn't been too beneficial to my Nano wordcount.
This time they came upon another of what they'd come to calling a "nest" of obia. Gathered together, twenty or thirty obia, maybe even more, all together. When they were that close, it made them smarter, but it also made them easier targets.
This nest was particularly big; perhaps fifty obia clustered there. It was difficult to tell, though; they were all piled up in a lump together, as if clustering around some hidden treasure.
"We've got to disrupt it," Brittany whispered. "I'll explain later, but if we let them keep doing what they're doing now... well, it'll be really, really bad."
"It's not like you needed to tell us that," Tamara grinned. She pulled her swords.
"I'll give you cover," Midori said, scurrying up the nearest tree. She did it almost effortlessly, and Tamara wondered for a moment whether this was part of her powers or one of her original skills. "Okay, the rest of you spread out. I'll be shooting from this position, so they'll be looking here first."
"Sure thing." Tamara headed to the left, circling around but always keeping the obia in view. Not that this was difficult. Usually somewhere in this process, the obia noticed that they were there, but the nest this time didn't really seem to react. Weird, Tamara thought. But maybe they were getting better at hiding or something.
Midori started loosing arrows, and the obia finally lurched. Tamara jumped out then, waving her swords and running at the obia. They extruded a number of appendages meant to deal with her, but she dodged or ducked or lopped off every single one.
When she reached the outside layer of the nest (for lack of a better word), she couldn't see a single heart within view. Had they somehow moved them all deeper?
"How far are we supposed to hack into this thing?" she yelled to whoever was listening. Candace was the one who replied.
"I don't know, but it looks pretty messy. Brittany, can you get them to shiver apart or something?"
"I'll see what I can do," Brittany said.
The rhythm of her drum, which had been in the usual defensive cadence, changed suddenly. It sounded more jagged and rough, irregular, beats always coming at the worst possible time. Tamara knew that she and the other Warriors were resistant to it (probably), but she was starting to feel like her teeth were sliding out of her mouth, like her nails were falling out of her hands.
"STOP!" someone was yelling. "Stop stop stop!" Was it her?
Brittany's drum beat was working on the obia, though. What had been a mound was slowly decoalescing into a pile, obia sliding this way and that, flailing as they flowed past Tamara's feet. She skewered the ones near her, but didn't dare move any further, not when it felt like her bones were going to slide out of her skin.
The beat stopped, finally, leaving the clearing in complete silence. Tamara took a deep breath, and touched her tongue to her teeth experimentally. They didn't seem to be loose.
That was enough for her. The enemy was clearly still stunned, and though they couldn't put up much of a fight, Tamara's heart still sang every time she stabbed into an obia's heart. She and Candace moved around the clearing, killing each one, with Midori picking off any that seemed to be a threat to them.
Yin popped up pretty much as soon as the battle was over, but Ammu took it much harder than he had. She hadn't seen the Warriors in a serious fight before, and apparently it had been pretty traumatic to her.
Even so, she claimed that she still wanted to go with them. And Yin agreed that she was indispensable. So Candace was dispatched to help her calm down, while Brittany talked to Yin to confirm where they were going to be going next.
"About two weeks, in this world. That's about four or five days, in our world. That should be long enough to reach the capital city."
This time they came upon another of what they'd come to calling a "nest" of obia. Gathered together, twenty or thirty obia, maybe even more, all together. When they were that close, it made them smarter, but it also made them easier targets.
This nest was particularly big; perhaps fifty obia clustered there. It was difficult to tell, though; they were all piled up in a lump together, as if clustering around some hidden treasure.
"We've got to disrupt it," Brittany whispered. "I'll explain later, but if we let them keep doing what they're doing now... well, it'll be really, really bad."
"It's not like you needed to tell us that," Tamara grinned. She pulled her swords.
"I'll give you cover," Midori said, scurrying up the nearest tree. She did it almost effortlessly, and Tamara wondered for a moment whether this was part of her powers or one of her original skills. "Okay, the rest of you spread out. I'll be shooting from this position, so they'll be looking here first."
"Sure thing." Tamara headed to the left, circling around but always keeping the obia in view. Not that this was difficult. Usually somewhere in this process, the obia noticed that they were there, but the nest this time didn't really seem to react. Weird, Tamara thought. But maybe they were getting better at hiding or something.
Midori started loosing arrows, and the obia finally lurched. Tamara jumped out then, waving her swords and running at the obia. They extruded a number of appendages meant to deal with her, but she dodged or ducked or lopped off every single one.
When she reached the outside layer of the nest (for lack of a better word), she couldn't see a single heart within view. Had they somehow moved them all deeper?
"How far are we supposed to hack into this thing?" she yelled to whoever was listening. Candace was the one who replied.
"I don't know, but it looks pretty messy. Brittany, can you get them to shiver apart or something?"
"I'll see what I can do," Brittany said.
The rhythm of her drum, which had been in the usual defensive cadence, changed suddenly. It sounded more jagged and rough, irregular, beats always coming at the worst possible time. Tamara knew that she and the other Warriors were resistant to it (probably), but she was starting to feel like her teeth were sliding out of her mouth, like her nails were falling out of her hands.
"STOP!" someone was yelling. "Stop stop stop!" Was it her?
Brittany's drum beat was working on the obia, though. What had been a mound was slowly decoalescing into a pile, obia sliding this way and that, flailing as they flowed past Tamara's feet. She skewered the ones near her, but didn't dare move any further, not when it felt like her bones were going to slide out of her skin.
The beat stopped, finally, leaving the clearing in complete silence. Tamara took a deep breath, and touched her tongue to her teeth experimentally. They didn't seem to be loose.
That was enough for her. The enemy was clearly still stunned, and though they couldn't put up much of a fight, Tamara's heart still sang every time she stabbed into an obia's heart. She and Candace moved around the clearing, killing each one, with Midori picking off any that seemed to be a threat to them.
Yin popped up pretty much as soon as the battle was over, but Ammu took it much harder than he had. She hadn't seen the Warriors in a serious fight before, and apparently it had been pretty traumatic to her.
Even so, she claimed that she still wanted to go with them. And Yin agreed that she was indispensable. So Candace was dispatched to help her calm down, while Brittany talked to Yin to confirm where they were going to be going next.
"About two weeks, in this world. That's about four or five days, in our world. That should be long enough to reach the capital city."