The Legend of Black Eyes 133 Fairies and Children

Although I could see his blurred face right next to mine, his voice was distant. I blinked, rubbed my eye and my ringing ears. My vision was finally clearing. My ears, however, wouldn't stop ringing.

"You could have at least warned me," I said, reproachfully.

Even my own voice sounded muffled in my head. I tried to get up. Excruciating pain soared through my left leg and right arm.

"You're hurt," Nag said.

"Yeah, no shit!" I barked at him. "Are they dead?" I asked.

"We have a head to take away with us," he said. "I'm not hurt, in case you were wondering."

"Glad to hear it," I said through gritted teeth. "Will you help me up?"

Nag supported me to the river bank, in which I cleaned my wounds and washed those creatures' blood off my face. My ears had stopped ringing by then.

"I'm sorry Myles," Nag told me after he helped bandage my wounds. "It was the only way to get rid of them. Had I warned you, they would have prepared."

***

Let's back up a little bit, shall we?

When Nag and I realized we weren't dealing with nymphs, we decided to fight. The creatures realized they could no longer deceive us, so they revealed their true form. That's when trouble began. They were some kind of fish insects. Their bodies were covered in bluish scales. Their eyes resembled those of a fly. They had two sets of wings that buzzed loudly as they flew around us.

If that was the only feature they shared, we could have come out on top. The monsters also had sharp teeth and claws. Their overly large mouths spewed corroding acid. One misstep and we could have died. Luckily, Nag could use magic, and he started immediately with a fire spell.

Imagine our surprise when the fish insect things summoned the water from the lake to counter Nag's spell. Two monsters flew at me then. I did what I do best. I drew my sword and swung at them. That was, by far, the most pleasant surprise I had all day. The weapon answered my will better than any I have ever had.

I decapitated the first two quite quickly. Then a swarm surrounded me.  I managed, by sheer dumb luck and an unfading will to survive, to evade their sharp claws, deadly bites, and corroding acid. My sword met some of their claws and cut through them like butter. I was happier than ever as I caused a bloodbath in there.

All of my initial happiness and excitement vanished as we heard a deafening screech from the rock at the lake. Weeds, large and sticky looking, broke the lake's surface. All monsters cleared the way, flew behind the rock and stopped their onslaught. Nag tried hurling fireballs at the thing that was forming by then, to no avail. Every fire ball was met with water.

Minutes later, the weeds interlocked to form a gigantic horse, three times the size of a regular one. It neighed in a ghastly voice, beat its hooves against the water surface then galloped our way. The other fish insects followed suit.

I looked at Nag then, whose face showed utter fear and horror.

"It's a kelpie," he told me. "Another fairy we Children cannot fight."

I remembered what the banshee had done to Boon Jeema. I understood Nag's dismal expression.

"I'll deal with it," I said. "You take care of the others."

Nag nodded. I ran to meet the galloping kelpie. I didn't know where to begin or even how. I knew I had to keep it away from my friend, whose skin would melt at its merest touch. The sword he had given me was stronger than most too. The horse's hooves met my weapon as soon as we faced each other.

One blow was enough to send me flying ten feet away. If I hadn't blocked, I would've been long dead. My sword, however, flew to the side as I helplessly rolled on the wet grass. More fish insect swarmed me by then. The horse had switched its attention to Nag, who was in no better situation.

I fumbled in my belt strap for a sharp weapon, anything that could get me out of this. My hand found the golden knife I had kept after defeating the banshee. It wasn't much, but it was effective against fairies. My concern, at that time however, was not the kelpie, but the dozen fish insects buzzing around me.

They'd noticed I had lost my sword and dived at me. The first one bit my shoulder off with its razor sharp teeth. Another pierced my leg with its claws. I screamed as they toyed with me. The one biting me kept wriggling its ugly head from one side to the other. The one who had just pierced my leg decided to enlarge the wound by moving its claw in slow, circular motions.

Nag was struggling against another swarm as the kelpie approached him rapidly. I saw the Child of the Forest swing and punch the creatures away. He drew his staff and pointed it at the air.

He was ready to release some spell, but the kelpie was dangerously close then. It took all the energy I had to hurl the knife at the gigantic horse. I didn't need to have precise aim then. The creature was bigger than most. The knife rotated in the air then landed on the beast's hind leg. I heard it scream, then Nag released his spell. Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

"Evorto!"

Explosions ensued. My body was propelled in the air. I fell to my back and everything became dark. When I came to, Nag was standing before me. Which bring us back to the present moment.

***

After I cleaned my wounds and bandaged them, Nag and I walked back to the village. He had made a crutch for me from a branch he broke.

"What spell did you use against them?" I asked.

"It's an annihilation one," he said. "It's a family inheritance. Every family head gets one after the previous one dies."

"Can you teach it to me?" I asked.

"You can't even deal with simple spells," Nag scoffed. "You'll have to wait for me to die too, even if I taught it to you. Only one caster can use it at a time."

"That sounds mighty complicated," I said.

"That's magic," Nag replied. "Never try to understand it, or you'll go mad. Learn to adapt to it. You'll only get better with practice."

"Why didn't the spell hit me?" I asked. "I saw it destroy others, reduce them to dust."

"Check your Essence," Nag suggested.

I did as I was told.

'You almost killed me there Stalwart,' Eva said immediately after I pictured my Conduits with my inner eye.

'I didn't know you were awake," I said.

'I had just recovered,' she scolded. 'To think I was looking forward to talking to you tonight.'

'About what?' I asked.

'Later,' she dismissively said. 'It took everything I had to protect you from that spell. You're really helpless, Stalwart.'

'Thanks for saving my life,' I said, 'again.'

'Don't mention it,' she said. 'Make sure you take care of those injuries.'

I opened my eye. Nag had waited for me to inspect the damage and give him a detailed report.

"I thought I was a goner," Nag said. "It was the only spell I could think of."

His voice had an apologetic ring to it. I nodded at the Child of the Forest and asked him to never speak of this again. We were both fine, we miraculously survived a fairy's attack. We kept walking through the woods. The village wasn't too far off. We had about half an hour walking distance to reach it.

"Fairies used to terrorize my people," Nag said, breaking the silence. "Before humans arrived, we were at constant war. We lived in the woods, they lived near water. Our fights were mainly for water, and tribe leaders were appointed because they could kill those damned creatures."

"How many fairies remain in this world today?" I asked.

"Too goddamn many," Nag replied, resentful. "Humans found a great ally in fairies. Some of them made pacts with them. Fairies became their familiars, taught them about magic, but humans were smarter, more vicious. They enslaved the fairies, changed the nature of the familiar pact."

"How did they manage that?" I asked.

"Don't you ever wonder why we use a different language to cast spells?" Nag asked.

"I guess it was the language of magic," I said. "I never really thought about it beyond that."

"You're not far off from the truth," he said. "We use this language to talk to nature. It's the only language Mother Nature understands. The elements respond to it quickly. If they recognize you as the spell caster, the spell's strength may vary depending on your affinity to each element, and of course the season. Your ancestors spoke that language fluently. They used it to change the nature of magic in these lands."

"You've lost me at elements," I said.

"You'll understand it better when you use it," Nag said. "We should find you an element you're most likely to get familiar with."

"I agree," I said. "But let's leave this until I recover, shall we?"

"Will you go see the mayor tonight?" Nag asked, changing the subject.

"I need to have a little chat with the man, yes," I replied. "He should also see the sorry state I'm in. This contract is worth much more than two gold coins."

"I hope you get to haggle something out of him," he said.

"Why don't you come with?" I asked. "He might soften up after seeing your big scary face."

"I don't think I should be seen near the mayor's office," Nag said. "People were whispering nasty threats to me yesterday."

As if on cue, the bushes around us rustled. In the darkening woods, we saw six villagers emerge. Jenkins the tanner was among them.

Chapter end