Stronger Together chapter 88 (Patreon)

Barb arrived a few hours later, we went over the plan just the four  of us as best I knew it and discussed battle tactics. Barb was in prime  fighting shape after her healing bath same as I was, and every one of us  went over the details of our new spells and tricks in preparation for  the big fight. We talked for a few hours and finally the sun started to  set. It was time to set out for one of the biggest battles we'd ever  faced. I faced the forest, staring out into the darkening tree line as I  imagined what tonight would bring.

The  wizards were the first to arrive, Harry and Ebenezar showing up the  earliest, presumably because their style of wizardry leaned a bit more  into quick and dirty combat magic than the other two. Come to think of  it I didn't even know what Liberty could do aside from being council  level. I knew Joe could shapeshift like a grand champ, though against  this particular enemy I wasn't sure he would be good enough to keep up.  This might be the same Skinwalker he fought in turn coat but it had  gotten a major upgrade.

River  got back just after the sun started to set, pretty much appearing out  of the trees like a fucking ghost. He popped up behind us so quietly  only Kara seemed aware he was there. Seeing Cinder squeak and fall over  in the snow in shock was honestly one of the funniest things I've ever  witnessed. He grinned down at his student "Acceptance, little one. It's  impossible to be ready for everything, but if you're ready for anything,  nothing will ever catch you off guard. Accept what comes in whatever  form it may take with no preconceptions."

Cinder  stood up and gave a deep nod. "Of course teacher. Did you find where we  need to go? I know we have Dresden's tracking potion but I have faith  you managed to identify the beast's lair without the need for such crude  tools. Did you speak to the water babies again?" It was heatwarming to  hear Cinder show such faith in her mentor. She seemed certain that he  could handle whatever problems came his way, and it made me wonder  exactly how strong River was. He must have impressed her in training  immensely.

Even  River had his limits though, and the Sasquatch shook his head  patiently. "Sadly not, little one, I found the mountain we need but I  couldn't get too close without alerting the enemy. The whole area is  crisscrossed with wards and protections. I can get us through them but  I'll only be able to circumvent them for a short time, so I returned to  retrieve the rest of our party. Happily the defenses are active, the  monster must be inside for them to be raised, so we can say for sure  it's there." Cinder gave an understanding nod, taking her teachers words  in stride and accepting their wisdom at face value.

I  actually felt better knowing there were defenses to get around.  Something as old and canny as the Skinwalker being caught completely  unaware in the open had seemed like a dangerously naive idea to bank on  no matter what the water babies said. Knowing that he had made  preparations for his safety in his lair was a huge relief. It definitely  alleviated some of my worries about this being an obvious trap. I mean,  it could still be a very subtle trap, but at least I didn't feel like  Wile E. Coyote about to spring an ambush on the roadrunner.

We  set off into the forest with River leading as he gave us a run down on  the mountain. "It's not too far from here. Aside from the active  defenses it has a strong aura of faith around it. The Pawapicts were not  being misleading when the mentioned that it was a holy place. That  helps in some ways and hurts in others. The enemy will be stronger there  and his energy will not wane, but I can use the blessing way to bind  him to that place and create a fixed point that will enable us to end  him. Normally even that would be impossible, but if I invoke the aid of  the spirit of this place we can slay it once and for all."

That  was another huge load off my mind. Not the part where the super  powerful ancient hate beast we were going to ambush was going to have  unlimited energy when we faced it obviously, but knowing we had a shot  at really killing the damn thing. If this was the same one from turn  coat (and I couldn't imagine there were that many of the damn things  around, especially with a bunch of them apparently locked up on  Demonreach) killing it would massively change the way things happened  during that time, assuming we didn't head off the whole thing.

I  was still trying to figure out how to bust Peabody without screwing  myself. Mixing myself up with the council any more than I had to was the  last thing I wanted. This operation was one of Ebenezars so it would be  off book, but if I started getting more involved with the bastards word  was going to get out, especially since I knew Peabody wasn't the only  black council mole, and I didn't know who the other one actually was.

I  jerked myself back to the present, I needed to focus. My mind tended to  wander but this wasn't something I could half ass. I pulled my  lightning aspect around me a bit. Not enough to make the journey seem  too long or unbearable but enough that I could crank it to full if I  needed to. After a week of training I still had much lower Aura reserves  than Yang and definitely lower than Cinder, but with twice as much to  pull on using my aspects was less of a strain, even when I had them  cranked up high.

River  led us quietly through the woods, and I was in awe of how connected he  was to nature. We followed in his footsteps and somehow his footsteps  lead us between every stick and pine needle. Not even a whisper of a  branch could be heard if I wasn't literally doing this myself I would  assume it was magic, but River Shoulders was just so in touch with  nature that even mimicking him was letting us surpass veteran woodsmen.  He led us around trees and through creek beds and between streams. It  seemed like an hour tops even for my enhanced perception of time, before  he stopped us with a hand held up.

Expecting  we might have arrived I looked around for a mountain and saw nothing, I  was about to speak up when Joe laid his hand on my shoulder. I looked  back at the old man and he just smiled and shook his head, gesturing for  me to wait. River had his eyes closed and I could feel...something. I  wanted to say it was magic, but at the same time it wasn't. Like someone  was touching the life force around us, tapping into the magic inherent  in the world without pulling or shaping it. River suddenly felt like  PART of the forest.

I  activated my magic eye spell, expecting to see the magical equivalent  of a laser grid but what I saw was...confusing. The magic was like the  stuff River was using, I could see power swirled into the colors of the  forest, weaving in and out of trees and rocks and dirt. It wasn't  anything as purposeful or specific as a spell, it was like Jackson  Pollock painted on a landscape and accidentally created some kind of  complex fractal design. It looked like almost a natural part of the  world, like the security system evolved into what it was over millennia.

I  gasped involuntarily at the sight and Joe's hand, still on my shoulder,  tightened a bit, shaking me from my reverie. I heard his patient, stoic  voice behind me "I understand. Seeing the forest way can be  intimidating. The creature is skilled, this is as beautiful an example  of such a craft as i have ever seen. It's almost wrong that something so  sick and twisted can possess the ability to create such beauty. It  helps to remember it used the foundations already laid down in this  place by the holy men who called it home."

He  was right, it was almost blasphemous that this vision of natural beauty  had been crafted by such a sickness of the world. Somehow it made me  angry, and my desire to kill the Skinwalker increased. I felt the  desperate need to kill the thing and cleanse his taint from this  masterpiece. Like I could redeem it with his blood. I saw my resolve  echoed on Joe's face when I turned to look at him and we exchanged a  nod. That thing wasn't walking away tonight. Either it was going down or  we were.

River  was still standing with his eyes closed at the edge of the patchwork  spell weaving. I still had the magic eye active and he was slowly  blending his own sorcery into the world in the same natural way. I saw  him push the magic out and shift it slowly, almost letting it flow on  its own with so little guidance it barely seemed to count. As the power  seeped into the world it lapped at the energy in the weaving, slowly  licking away at it as it ebbed and flowed. The world subtly shifted in  an almost natural way and slowly, the working in front of us began to  change.

Like a  high speed reel of an ice age the landscape of the magic around the  spot River stood. It was like watching centuries pass in moments as the  world seemed to reshape around him, and River began to walk. He took  slow steps at first, not opening his eyes, almost exploratory, one step  forward, wait a minute, another step. The energy around him began to  build, flowing into the world faster, but he'd done something different.  He wasn't pushing it anymore, he'd structured the magic so it was  feeding itself. As he stepped forward the speed increased but the magic  was being pulled out of him.

His  steps got faster and surer, never too quick but as we walked the magic  changed faster. We followed in his steps like before, and this time I  could feel actually magic cloaking us. Like we were becoming part of  this working he was using to split the Skinwalkers defenses, like we  were one with the world. We walked for what could have been hours or  days or seconds, we lost all sense of time, we became like the passing  of the ages, like the moving of glaciers or the tumbling of mountains.

And  then we weren't. It was all over. We were just standing together in an  empty field. The forest, the magic, even my spell were all just gone. We  were alone in the waving grass in a clearing at the base of a huge  mountain. The tree line started again at the base but around us was just  empty space and the slight sound of wind over the long meadow grass. We  all gasped and doubled over sweating. I hadn't realized during the trip  how much pressure I was under in there. Everyone looked like they'd run  a damn marathon.

River  turned to us, his fur matted with sweat and his body sagging and gave  us a wide grin. "We avoided the enemy's detection. His protections were  vast and incredibly intricate but I managed to circumvent them. We must  be victorious tonight, for I won't be able to do it again, nor even get  us back out. Our only path from here is victory. On that note, we must  contact our final ally, and hope she will look kindly on us." He looked  gravely at us all "It is time to summon the Genius Loci, we will need  her to end this once and for all."