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[Skill-Eater] Chapter 128: Fireside
🕑 Added 2024-10-21 17:01:00 +0000 UTCEdge soon learned that another advantage of traveling with an experienced hunting team was that their knowledge of the Ivory Plains far exceeded his own.
They knew this terrain inside and out, minus the changes that the anomaly had wrought, including the best spots to take shelter along the roadways. Violet and Trapper stopped to confer, then took the next turn when the road forked.
Half an hour later, he found himself standing at the base of some giant rocks formed from a pale pink mineral. They weren’t as prominent as the Guide’s Fingers, but still topped off over a hundred feet above his head.
Trapper led them around the perimeter, to an opening that was hard to spot from the trailside. The cavern was big enough to hold the crew with room to spare, including Blue and the wagon. The enclosure had a sandy floor that was reasonably comfortable, and it didn’t have any residents other than a few harmless serpents.
By the time that everyone was inside, the storm was almost on top of them. Edge could feel the pressure dropping deep within his ear. Hear the roar of thunder all around him. This time, the clouds were the normal gray color, instead of the bluish ones that accompanied a seeker storm. So far, living storms don’t seem to be appearing more often than normal. I was just unlucky before.
While Trapper set some alarms to guard the approach to their location, Jumo and Riller got a fire going. Edge stood guard while Sasha helped Violet unstrap Blue and shove the wagon against the wall. Then they all gathered by the cavern’s mouth to watch the stormfront roll in.
A few minutes later, the rain began to fall. It started off as a gentle patter, which transitioned into a heavy downpour over the next half hour. It grew even more intense not long after. The wind rose until it was shrieking across the grasslands, bending the ivory stalks down to touch the soil below.
The gale-swept deluge was heavy enough that Edge doubted he could have endured it without being blown away. Thank the gods that I wasn’t alone out here this time. Getting caught in that would have been awful, even without the living lightning.
“It should pass us by before morning,” Riller said. He trusted the man’s judgement, although he had no idea how Riller could tell.
Trapper walked over to Violet and helped her unload the tents from the bed of the wagon. Edge lent them a hand, and when everything was unpacked, the crew’s leader turned to the others and said, “We still have a few hours before sunset. We should use this opportunity to rest up and prepare ourselves for the ordeal to come. We will enter the padamas’s territory sometime late tomorrow afternoon. After that, sleep might be in short supply for a while.”
It was good advice, but since it was too early to pass out, everyone began relaxing in other ways, taking the weight off their feet while they watched the storm raging outside. There wasn’t a need for a lookout, not with the intensity of the downpour and the devices Trapper had set.
The crew sat down to enjoy each other’s company. Edge spent some time talking to each of them, getting to know them better. But he mostly observed, curious to see how the team interacted when they weren’t on the road and didn’t have to watch their backs. He stretched out and got in some strength training while taking in the hunters’ antics.
Riller and Jumo were having a blast, playing a game they that called Reflex versus Speed. It was a complex version of the slaps game that Earth children play. The men took alternating turns, swapping between two roles they called the striker and the defender.
The defender would place their hands in various configurations, determined by rules that Edge hadn’t quite figured out. He could tell that there was betting involved, and that some positions were worth more Credits on a successful hit.
Meanwhile, the striker put their hands behind their back and announced the start of the round. Once it began, the defender waited until the striker moved to attack, then tried to pull their hands out of the way in time. If the defender was successful, Credits changed hands, and the men swapped roles. If not, the striker got paid and then took another turn.
Edge watched the pair exchange a series of lightning-quick slaps, laughing at their colorful banter and creative cursing. He was impressed that Riller could keep up, considering that he was uncored while Jumo was mid stage-one. Jumo was faster, but Riller had amazing reflexes and an impeccable sense of timing.
I suppose it makes sense. Jumo probably put his attribute points into other places. After witnessing another few rounds, Edge decided that Riller was naturally better at the game. That he wasn’t just relying on his body, he was actively anticipating Jumo’s moves, giving him an extra fraction of a second to get out of the way.
Edge eventually got bored, and moved over to where the women were sitting around the fire. Violet had placed her bedroll down beside Blue, who was curled up in front of the firepit. The quartermaster was stretched out with her head resting against the beast’s belly, getting some nuzzles and face licks in while enjoying the warmth of the blaze. It was a touching scene, reminding Edge that Blue was just as much a part of the crew as he was.
Sasha and Trapper invited him to take a seat beside them and went out of their way to include him in their conversation. It turned out that they had been talking about their old lives. The people they had left behind on coming to Ord. Wondering how they were doing, and how they had reacted to the news that the hunters weren’t coming home. At least not anytime soon or in their original bodies.
Edge didn’t know what would happen if a puppet left Ord, since it had never happened as far as he knew. He supposed that if there was enough magic in the environment, their bodies would function like normal. Although their magicytes were bound to generate slower, since Ord had the highest concentration of any discovered planet.
It was an interesting topic, and he added what little he could, sharing a bit about his relationship with his mother as they watched the hypnotic dance of the flames.
