ELDRITCH NIGHT (Rough Draft)

Chapter Sixteen: Night Turns to Day

Tiller and I stood on a raised concrete platform that was overlooking the river. I was covered in sweat, and my arms and head hung down loosely in exhaustion. Tiller looked little better, bent over with his hands on his knees and gasping for breath.

"You doing all right there, old man?" I yelled.

"I seem to remember landing more shots than you did." He said, pausing between words to suck in breaths. "And I'm two years older than you, tops."

"I just needed to hit you once, your puny..."

"Enough, both of you save your breath." We both stopped and looked up.

Catayla sat on a railing, one leg hanging loosely over the edge with the other pulled up to her chest. She looked like any casual movement could send her toppling over the rail and into the rocks and water below. Behind her the sun was beginning to set beneath clouds dyed crimson and orange. It was an image that made her seem both regal and bored.

When Tiller and I had approached Catayla for tips on how to increase skills she surprised us by insisting on training us herself. That was three days ago. Three days of twelve-hour training sessions under a grueling tyrant. If we weren't sparring with each other, we spent every minute of that time engaging in calisthenics that I was sure had been developed as part of an advanced level torture program.

At first, I wasn't sure why she had agreed to train us, but now I suspected that this was her idea of entertainment. After we had arrived the scout had spent the first two days in closed door negotiations with the leadership of New Charleston, but now she had little to do but to wait for a reply from her superiors. While waiting she would torture a couple of locals to keep the tedium at bay.

"Good," she said. "Tiller you've already got a solid grasp on how to lead your shots but try aiming a little lower when your opponent is evading. The concussive effect of your shots can trip them up even on a miss."

With a twist she launched herself from her perch sending herself several meters forward until, with a flip and a perfect landing, she was standing between Tiller and myself. She turned to look at me before continuing.

"Finn, you still need to put in more effort. Never stop moving against an opponent like Tiller. His ranged attacks are quicker than yours and they interrupt your casting, but you refuse to close the gap. Try taking him up close and you neutralize one of his only advantages against you."

We both nodded and walked back to our places across from each other.

"Again."

We both reacted in an instant.

Tiller rapidly began firing his revolver at me. I was charging towards him in a zig-zag pattern, but prior experience had taught me that he could hit a moving target almost as easily as a stationary one. I flung myself to the side and activated my mana shield. I was able to dodge the first bullet by anticipating when he would fire, but two more shots followed it hitting me square in the chest. Each shot exploded in a flash of blue energy, the concussive force of the two blasts causing me to stumble backwards.

I dropped and hit the ground rolling, but Tiller was ready, already sending two more bullets into the ground right where my feet had been. The blast knocked me to the side, but I was quickly on my feet and rapidly closed half the distance between us.

I knew Tiller only had one more shot. After that he could still fire bullets made of pure mana, but they didn't have the same stopping power as physical rounds. Perhaps two-thirds at the most. He also lacked the high level of mana to keep up such a barrage for long.

I baited him by beginning to cast arcane missile, an attack I knew he had trouble with. The swarm of self-correcting shots was almost impossible for him to fully dodge.