“I have judged your defenses woefully inadequate. This place needs to be beefed up. My daughter is being targeted by demons and if I got as far as I did, they won’t have any trouble.”
Settling In
An earthquake tore through the prison. Potion vials rattled, dust shook free from the walls, one of the runes providing light failed.
Eva snapped the treatise on necromancy shut with a barely restrained sigh.
“Any sign of them stopping for the night?” Eva asked. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep like this.”
“I think they’re trying to kill each other.” Juliana just shook her head. Apparently, this was business as usual. “‘Accidentally,'” she added in air quotes.
“You don’t sound too concerned about it, girl.”
“Please,” Juliana said with a laugh. “My mom was kicking Arachne’s ass
Eva shook her head. “Arachne was gaining ground. She’s got the stamina and strength to continue even under a barrage of rock.”
“Even if she got close, mom could have just blinked away. Arachne can’t win.”
“That would only last until Arachne figured out a tell. Then she’d chuck a rock in the path and your mom would be down and out.”
Devon hummed while scratching his beard. “She steps backwards. Without looking. It might be difficult to tell for sure.”
“The difference between blinking and stepping?”
He shrugged. “Damned if I know. I didn’t have a fancy school teaching me the proper ways of things. But the endurance issue is more pressing for the mom than any sudden attacks. Arachne could wear her down until she can’t keep up. Endurance isn’t even a concept to it.”
Juliana turned to Devon with a sad shake of her head. “My mother’s been a fighter for a long time. She keeps herself in shape. I mean, look at her–”
“Trust me, girl. I am.”
An elbow found its way into Devon’s side. Or tried to anyway. He slipped off to one side. Juliana’s elbow passed harmlessly through his empty sleeve.
“Hey, you’re the one who told me to watch her.”
“That’s my mother and she is happily married.”
“Now you’re jumping to conclusions.”
“What I was trying to say,” Juliana said with a huff, “is that she’s strong. They’ve been fighting nonstop for five hours and they’re still going. More than that, she knows her limits. She’ll disengage and blink away if she thinks she’s getting tired.”
Devon opened his mouth to argue further, but Shalise cut him off.
“Well, I think they’re having fun.”
Everyone looked at her. Slowly, Eva glanced at Devon and Juliana. They returned the look.
A moment later and the women’s ward was full of laughter.
“W-what are you laughing at? Look, they’re smiling!”
Eva set her book on the table and stepped straight to the freshly repaired window. Genoa had the decency to repair the women’s ward with her earth magic. Someone of her caliber could apparently manipulate glass.
It wasn’t perfect, but it was much better than a giant hole in the building. She said she would spend some time reinforcing the entire structure over the course of her stay.
Being able to step again was like a breath of cool, fresh air. It was such a pleasant feeling. Eva couldn’t believe she made do without stepping for so long. Of course, she was a bit rusty. She had tried to step as soon as their little meeting with Genoa ended.
While her step had succeeded in that it moved her from where she was to where she wanted to be, it failed in other ways. Namely, she had left behind all of her clothes. Right in front of Juliana’s parents. Eva didn’t care half as much about being naked in front of them as she did about failing her stepping in front of them.
Eva shook her head and focused. Blink failures were in the past. Besides, she had figured out what went wrong quick enough. It was like riding a bicycle.
The battle raged on outside. Two titans fought, tearing the land to shreds.
If Genoa hadn’t promised to not only fix the ground but also reinforce the walls and buildings, Eva would have activated the wards again.
Arachne had adopted a new strategy for dealing with Genoa. Rather than brute forcing all the debris, she opted for the avoidance method. Her extra limbs wrapped around her chest as she danced and weaved over sand traps, holes, and flying rocks. A leg would dart out to catch her if Genoa managed to knock her unsteady or catch her over a hole.
Occasionally, a fireball would come in her direction, but Arachne headbutted those away like they were balloons.
Genoa adapted to deal with Arachne’s increased mobility by doing exactly as Juliana said. She blinked here, there, and everywhere. The rate at which she managed attacks was enviable on its own. Blinking every few seconds between the attacks just gave Eva a sick feeling in her stomach.
If Eva tried the same, she’d wind up vomiting everything within seconds.
