Finally, it stopped raining, we left the Owl House as soon as the drops stopped hissing on the ground, we had a long way ahead of us and Eda wasn't about to waste any second. Sunrise was quite a while ago but Hooty and King were still sleeping, so we left them a note. It all should be just a routine adventure for another powerful magical ingredient. However, there was something I found rather surprising, Eda was against us using Owlbert to get there quicker. Something was bugging her, I just couldn't figure out what it was, she is so cryptic at times...
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Finally, a chance for me to prove my worth. Just as promised, my mother escorted me to the coven's base for training, but instead of training, we've got a mission to once again try to capture the Owl Lady. Surprisingly, this time Lilith was almost sure we will succeed, but not in her usual over-confident way, I think this time she had a viable plan. By noon we were ready for departure, we've already sent scouts to the Owl House so that they provide reinforcements if necessary. With the help of our palismen, we reached our destination in no time. We stood between trees trying to gather some information about what awaited us. To our surprise, there was nothing, literally nothing, just the owl demon-thing.
Lilith commanded the scouts to engage with the doorkeeper while we awaited further development of the situation. The owl tube woke up and started attacking the guards but there was nothing else, did we catch them off guard? Without wasting a second I look at Lilith, she nodded back at me, and together we drew a huge spell circle, casting a powerful sleep spell. We knocked out some of the scouts with it, but mainly we've managed to hit the demon and take him down for now.
"You two, make sure to cast a sleep spell on the owl every 15 minutes, it can't wake up." I commanded two scouts that were standing closest to me.
Taking the rest of our resources we busted inside, but we found no one unless we count this weird small creature sleeping on the sofa. It started waking up, squeaking and stretching
"Who dares to interrupt the King of Demons." Then he spotted us "Ugh, who are you?"
"Where is the Owl Lady and the human?" Lilith asked.
"I won't tell you anything." The creature responded.
"Fine, I will get the information myself." Lilith said, drawing a spell circle and putting the little demon under a sleep spell. She started extracting memories from the creature's head. I have to admit, it surprised me a little bit, usually, Lilith would take such measures but today something was different about her.
"Ah, Eclipse Lake, what do you want from there sister..." she looked at me, "Amity, get ready, we will go after them after we finish securing the perimeter, oh, and send a raven to the castle, we will need some help with extracting the owl demon from the door."
Following Lilith's instructions everything was ready in under 20 minutes, reinforcements coming, the Owl House was secure, and it was time to finally catch our last two fugitives. Once again, me and Lilith got on our staffs and this time without any more assistance we went after the Owl Lady and Luz. Lilith said there was no time to waste and that we can't wait for help, meaning we have to deal with them alone. Anyway, if Lilith has a plan, which I'm certain she has, that shouldn't be much of an issue.
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By noon we were almost there, slowly climbing the slope of the Titan's Knee. I wish we could just hop on Owlbert and get there faster... With each meter, Eda was becoming more nervous, and honestly, I'd had enough of it.
"Eda, tell me, what's going on, I can see that something is troubling you."
"It's nothing Luz, don't worry, I will be fine."
"If it was nothing we would have simply flown on Owlbert directly to the caves. You know you can be honest with me, right?"
"I know, but there are still some things that you don't know about me that I'm not sure I'm willing to share."
"Fine, whenever you're ready, nonetheless, I see it's eating you from the inside, so I would advise this 'ready' to come sooner than later."
The rest of our climb was spent in silence, a silence that I did not enjoy. I respect Eda's decision but surely I do not appreciate her taking such an approach. All of my concerns were suddenly knocked to the back rank of my consciousness when I heard not so distant explosion, followed by two silhouettes ascending from the sky.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't my precious sister and her human sidekick."
Of course, Lilith, exactly what we needed right now...
"Hi Lily, good to see you too, not the best moment though, do you mind coming... maybe tomorrow?"
"Oh Edalyn, we both know it's not the best moment, that is exactly why I'm here today, not yesterday, not tomorrow," Lilith said with a sinister voice. I looked at Eda;
"Eda... What is she talking about."
"Don't worry Luz, we will be fine, I need you to get to the cave and find the Blood. I will handle the rest." Eda said cracking her knuckles and summoning Owlbert to her hand.
No, no, no, I wasn't a huge fan of this plan, definitely not a fan. Splitting up is probably the worst idea right now.
"Eda, I won't leave you alone, you barely handled Lilith and Amity last time."
"Luz..." Eda's sentence was cut short by Lilith's attack.
"Enough of your chit-chat. Surrender sister, you know it's the only way."
"Never." Eda responded, counterattacking Lilith. I also pulled some glyphs and tried to help her but Amity swiftly stopped me. Fine, time for a re-match for the duel, I think she still didn't learn her lesson.
Or maybe she did... The first thing Amity started to do was to focus on my bag with the glyphs, she didn't even give me a chance to breathe, and here I was, barely dodging her recurrent attacks.
Using an invisibility glyph I manage to catch a breath, well, not in a literal sense since I can't breathe while being invisible... Anyway, I used this time to help Eda, planting a fire glyph on Lilith's robes. It worked better than I expected, Lilith was sent up flying and Eda used this opportunity to create a small blizzard and mask our escape.
It certainly wasn't the end of our problems but we should be fine at least for a few minutes.
Eda looked me dead in the eye, "Luz, I know you have some questions now, and I'm sorry I haven't answered them earlier but you will have to trust me. We have to split up, it's the only way. Go to the cave, find the Titan's Blood and we will meet back at the Owl House."
"But-"
"There is no 'but' now, please Luz, do it for me, don't worry, I will be fine, I promise."
I wasn't satisfied with what I got to any degree but Eda was right, no wasn't the time for that. Reluctantly I split up with Eda, watching as she goes the opposite way. I know she wants to protect me, but I don't always need her protection. For now, the only thing I can do is get the blood and hope for the best...
I reach a cave entrance but I hear a familiar voice behind my back. Amity.
"Going somewhere Luz? I don't think so."
"On the contrary, I do think so, my dear Amity." I say, turn around and rush into the cave, I don't know where I'm going but maybe I will be able to lose her.
Well, I forgot she has a palisman, and who would have thought, flying is faster than running.
Unsurprisingly, I didn't get far before I had to dodge Amity's first strike. Actually, when I think of it now, being in a cave is an advantage for me, since now she can't use her staff as efficiently as in an open space.
As I'm being attacked, I slowly fall back deeper into the cave, trying to think of a way to defeat Amity once again, I doubt she will fall for the invisibility trick twice...
I don't know when she finds time to do this but it feels like she was practicing her sword skills. I struggle in close combat more than I used to, that's not a good sign since on longer distances I'm even worse.
Using a glyph, I create a protective shield around me, I need time to think.
"Stop hiding behind shields Luz, it's not honorable."
"Do you think I care about honor now? You have real magic, I don't so don't judge."
"I will break through every shield you make, this one, next one, go on, make even 100 of them. I will get you Luz."
"Don't worry Amity, the shields aren't purely for hiding."
I put ice glyphs on the shield, activating them and making the shield explode, knocking Amity back.
"Ugh, you will pay for this." She grunts.
Her eyes turn to purple for a split second and before I can even process this fact I feel the air being punched out of my lungs. She got a clear shot with her huge abomination gauntlet. Now I am the one, barely leaning against the wall, on the verge of blacking out. I can't see straight but I manage to get my fingers on another shield glyph and cover myself.
"Felt that one, didn't you? Come on, let go of the shields and let's end this."
Amity was breaking through my shields, one by one, just as she promised she will.
Still feeling hazy I reinforce the shield with plant magic, buying myself a few more seconds.
She is strong, too strong, I don't have any idea how to handle it. I can't get arrested though, I promised Eda I will get the blood.
I'm almost out of my shield glyphs but at least I can stand straight once again. I get myself a glyph stick, similar to the one I used during our previous duel. I make myself an ice sword to wield in my second hand and wait for Amity's move.
She finally broke through all the vines covering me, but this time I was waiting. I pushed in front and managed to hit her with my ice sword.
She summoned two abominations to distract me and once again got those annoying gauntlets. I managed to defend myself against her attacks and retreat to another chamber of the cave. This one was different than all the previous ones. It was full of half-transparent stones. Was that Titan's Blood? However, there was no time for me to analyze the environment any further since Amity was right at me.
This time her attacks were more manageable, I think she is slowly getting tired, if I can keep her running for more time maybe I will be able to strike back. I get my last 3 shield glyphs and use them just as all the previous ones, to slow Amity down.
She finally breaks through the shields even though I tried to reinforce them, but I got what I wanted. She is panting, getting more and more tired. Well, I'm also almost out of glyphs but hopefully, I still have enough.
Some of the spell circles she is creating are flickering, I decide this is my time to go in. I adjust my grip on my staff and go full with a counterattack. Amity, being now pushed into defense starts to struggle against me. Sadly, no matter how tired she was she still manage to destroy my weapon with a spell. Well, now we are down to good, old, hand-to-hand combat.
Honestly, I don't remember when was the last time I practiced any martial art... Maybe it wasn't the best idea to bring the duel to such a level. My hesitance gave Amity a chance to catch a breath, and a breath she caught. I'm not that good at fighting, but turns out that she is. Perfect, I got myself into an even worse situation. I draw one of my last glyphs from the bag and make myself an ice shield.
I'm doing my best to block the strikes coming from Amity, now she is using her staff as a weapon and surely, I don't want to test how hard palistrom wood is when it hits a body.
After another ineffective attack, Amity does a quick pirouette and goes for an overhead strike on me, I manage to dodge it but she hits this weird, drop-like rock.
It cracked upon being hit, loudly, and so did the ground. That can't be good... I'm struck by the feeling of weightlessness as both I and Amity fall into the huge ravine that formed below us.
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Here we go, chapter 11 is finished. The first part of the story is slowly coming to an end, I wonder how the 'falling situation' will develop... Anyway, as for more technical notes since I finished my finals I will have more time to write the story now so my plan is to get two chapters per week or in the worst-case scenario 3 chapters per 2 weeks. That's all for now, thank you for reading, and don't forget to leave some feedback in the comments, it's much appreciated.