SPIRIT BLOOD

Chapter 5

"Can you two close the damn thing so we can leave?" called the guy with the map, which he'd traded for a shortsword that he now awkwardly clutched to his chest. "That spirit is still around, you know? I really just wanna--"

"Boss!" called one of the fighters, standing up and waving a hand at Arden. "We found, uh, well you should probably come look."

Arden glanced at Lira, shrugged, and walked over.

She followed him.

"What is it?" asked Arden, right as Lira spotted it.

Blood, spattered up the side of the tree.

Not only blood, but traps. Spiritsteel traps. A long cord was wrapped twice around the tree, attached to a harness that Lira had seen far too many times. Designed to wrap around a spirit's chest and lock around their necks, the inward-facing spiritsteel spikes that lined it ensured any spirit unfortunate to be placed in one couldn't wriggle their way out alive.

This was a large harness, big enough that even Shari would have been able to slip through, but judging by the white-blue blood dried on the tips of the spikes, the harness had indeed been used.

Lira pulled out her hunting knife and set about dismantling it.

Arden was a little slower on the uptake. "What the hell is this?"

"What does it look like, Arden?" muttered Lira, stabbing the tip of her knife through a key joint and pushing her weight on top of it to break it.

"I'll give you a hint, kid," said the fighter. He jerked his chin towards Lira. "Imagine her beast trapped in it, I can give you a demonstration if--"

Lira threw one of the spiritsteel spikes at him. It hit him on the cheek and drew blood.

"One more," she snarled, standing up with her knife in hand as he smeared crimson across his cheek. Arden tried to grab her arm but she shook him off. "Give me one more reason, because third time's the time that I really lose my patience."

"I forgot your beast was more civilised than you," the fighter said with a sneer. His hand went to his sword. "Maybe I should put you in the trap instead, see how long--"

"There's more blood over here!" one of the spirit mages called from a few metres away, oblivious to how close Lira was to adding one more individual's blood to the scene. They paused, then muttered a curse. "And, uh, what was possibly a bit of leg. Or maybe it's an arm."

The other fighter, who at least knew how to keep his mouth shut, grabbed the annoying one by the shoulder and pushed him away, whispering in voices too low for Lira to make out as they walked a little further into the trees.

"Lira," said Arden with a sigh. "You can't just attack people."

"He threatened Shari," said Lira, finishing off the trap. "Twice. And you're letting him. Does he say things like that about Arin?"

"He hasn't actually said he's going to hurt her yet," said Arden. "He hasn't done anything--"

"No, but by the time he does, Shari's dead and it's too late," said Lira. "You can't wait around and just react to people like him. You have to stop them before they do anything in the first place."

"And what do you mean by 'stop them', exactly?"

"Whatever it needs to mean at the time." Lira stood up and kicked the now-useless pieces of the trap a little further away from each other. "At least whoever tried to trap this spirit got what they deserved. There's human blood around."

"Lira, you..." Arden trailed off as she turned her back on him. After a few moments, he relented. "It was a full moon last night. Whoever tried... this," he said, gesturing around, "Was kinda dumb."

"I could have been here last night," muttered Lira, stepping over a claw mark as she walked back over to the Rupture. "I was in the town nearby, but with the storm and the moon, I thought it might be better to wait."

"It's not your fault someone trapped a spirit, Lira," Arden said, surprisingly softly.

She ignored him and drew one of her smaller daggers from her belts. "Sooner we close this, the better. You wanna do it, or shall I?"

He paused, running a hand through his hair. "You do it, you've always been better at seals. I'll keep an eye on the others." He gave her a small smile. "And Shari, of course."

"Fine."

Arden walked away, leaving Lira to close the Rupture.

The process wasn't hard, but it did involve blood magic. Lira pulled her right glove off and crouched by the edge of the crater, rolling up her sleeve. She scrunched up her nose as she dragged the tip of her dagger in a thin line down her bicep. Blood welled as she flexed her arm, and after swiping a gloved left finger across it, she drew the blood seal straight onto the melted rock around the Rupture.

The seal began to glow. Small, crimson flecks of light drifted towards the Rupture, absorbed into its dark, mirrored centre.

Lira walked around to the opposite side and repeated the process. The larger the Rupture, the more seals it needed around it to close. Smaller Ruptures took three. If she had to guess, this one would probably take five, if not six.

She sighed. At least this seal was simple. Two opposite, curved lines that ran through each other and a dash through the centre: 'Close'.

As she started on her third seal, Lira noticed something odd: a dried blood seal on the crater rock. Though some of the lines had been rubbed out, its complexity was apparent, not to mention its size. Her Close seals could fit on her palm with room to spare. The dried blood seal was bigger than her entire hand, fingers included.

She glanced up at Arden, intending to call him over before dismissing the idea.

Get the Rupture closed first, then worry about conspiracy theories.

When her fourth seal completed, the Rupture finally began to shrink.

"One more," she muttered to no one in particular, grimacing at the blood smeared over her bicep as she flexed it one last time.

As she drew one of the curved lines, the tingle in her left arm flared, not yet painful but a whole lot more uncomfortable than before.

Lira hesitated, hand on the hilt of her hunting knife as she turned to scan the treeline behind her.

She couldn't see Shari. Couldn't see Arin, or either of the fighters. The mages stood near the map-guy, paying zero attention to anything around them. Arden was at least doing as he'd promised, but--

From somewhere in the forest, Arin screeched a warning.

Lira cursed, turning her attention back to the seal. One more. She went to swipe her finger over her bicep again, but her left arm felt sluggish. It wouldn't lift more than a few centimetres, which meant--

"Arden!" she called out. He turned his attention towards her. "The spirit can--"

She didn't finish her sentence before the blue light erupted between the trees. The tingle in her arm exploded into lightning, leaving it hanging completely useless by her side as the primal spirit that had been stalking them emerged from the Wilds and charged straight at Arden.

*+*+*+*

A/N - Pissed off spirit vs Arden, round one, fight! 

Aiming for daily updates atm, which means chapters might be a little shorter than my other books. Still almost 2k each, so we'll see how long until that goes out the window :D

Pls throw motivation in the form of comments/votes if daily updates are what you want :D