Chapter 14: Odds of Survival

Odds of Survival

 

That was when Logan realized he was going to have to take the initiative. Faster than he ever had by half, Logan wove the patterns for Root on three of the demented spider things. The forth, he instead tried to bond with, hoping for the primal fear it caused to send at least one of their enemies retreating.

Instead, it showed almost no reaction, and just raced forward as its brethren began to abdicate their fibrous restraints. As the spider smoothly charged forward, Logan mentally projected, I’ll go right, you go left. and hoped Old Jeremiah would be alright.

 

-Ok.-

 

Suddenly, the spider was in Logan’s face. If he hadn’t been practicing incessantly, he might have fumbled or panicked when it went to crush his head in its mandibles. Instead, both Logan and Remy were able to follow the plan. Less fortunately, Logan quickly realized it had been a shit plan, as now the other spiders were charging at them, and they were split up.

 

“Ye dirty abominations!”

 

Jeremiah roared and suddenly his massive frame was glowing with an internal light. The old man cocked back his paw, and when he swung it a massive bear claw sprung out. The spiritual appendage whistled with devastating potency and the clearing resounded with a loud crack as the attack made contact with the spider’s outer carapace.

 

The twisted spider was driven into the ground by the force of the blow, but still managed to extend its iron mandible as far as it could reach. Which happened to be right into Jeremiah’s stomach.

 

“Aagghhhh, damn you!” The old man bellowed out in rage. The wound was already staining his garments a deep red, and Logan could tell that at least one vital organ had to have been ruptured. Still, Jeremiah formed another Bear Claw and finished the downed opponent.

 

This seemed to make the other demented beasties a little skittish, as they stopped their reckless attack. Logan however, could tell the old man was spent, and teleported over to his side as Jeremiah almost collapsed to one knee.

“Are you ok, do you have some way to heal?” Logan asked Jeremiah as he hooked his arm around the man’s shoulders.

 

“What are ye talking about lad, ye’re 50 years too young to ask me that.” 

 

Although Jeremiah said that, there was a slight wheeze to his breath that made Logan panic. He wasn’t an expert, but he was pretty sure that’s what people sounded like when they had a punctured lung.

 

“Don’t worry, me and Remy have been practicing. Some silly looking spiders aren’t gonna stop us.” Logan tried to radiate confidence as he said it, but it was a thin veneer, and he had no doubt the old man saw right through it.

 

Jeremiah chuckled, although the effort clearly pained him. 

 

“I’m not worried about ye lad. Ye and that Rizzel would be damn hard to catch even for me. Alteep village is right behind us though. They’ll be celebrating the season’s end, and these beasties will tear right through them.” Jeremiah managed to get out, all while keeping his eyes on the spiders.

 

“Ye need to warn them, get Gregor ready for battle. He’s the only one who can fight this many.”

 

Logan didn’t know who Gregor was, but this wasn’t the time for dallying. In his soul sight, he could pick out two more of the spiders, ignoring the clearing altogether racing towards the edge of the Inaug. 

 

Hoping he wasn’t leaving the old man to die, Logan pulled on his teleport blessing. White lines sprung up in front of his eyes, illuminating the path he could take to outpace the twisted spiders.

 

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“You had better stay alive out here, old man.” Logan said as he stepped through reality to 10 meters toward the edge of the Forest, and Alteep village. As Remy joined him momentarily, the duo proceeded to hold nothing back in their dashed dash away from the pursuing spiders.

As Jeremiah watched the young man teleport away, he sighed out loud. Somehow, Logan had become more meaningful to him in only a couple of weeks than he could have imagined. 

 

As a descendant of the elves, Jeremiah had been ostracized from his birth, living out in that cottage beside the Inaug his whole life. The only companion of his early years had been his mother, who had taught him of his ancestors.

 

The elves were the greatest disciples of the Goddess of Life, seventh of the Eight Great Deities, and this role often granted Blessings related to nature. Jeremiah’s was the ability to channel the power of nature through his hands. That’s why when a spider finally overcame its hesitance, Jeremiah wasn’t cowed. 

 

The power of the eldest trees flowed through his forearms, making them as tough as the strongest bark. It was natural that the spider couldn’t penetrate its tough outer layer. Jeremiah only had so much leverage, however. The spider was too large and heavy, simply knocking the old man to the ground, if it couldn’t kill him outright. 

 

Jeremiah wasn’t done yet, though. Channeling Bennett, he smashed a powerful clawed paw into the abomination's weaker underbelly. Its carapace shattered against the force he brought to bear, and Jeremiah pushed it aside. He felt determined to protect Logan, the strangely ignorant young man that had miraculously appeared. His heritage may have prevented him from finding a family, but Logan hadn’t batted an eye.

 

For one of the few times in his life, the old man had felt welcomed and it impassioned him to spend what remained of his life making sure the young man could survive. Nature would have taken its toll on him in the following seasons regardless had fate not run its course.

 

That was why when the spider he had thrown away flopped onto the deformed legs on its back and flung itself once again at Jeremiah, he wound up falling victim. Both his body too old to dodge out of the way, and his mind too ready to accept defeat, and succumb to death’s embrace.

 

Still, another thought of someone else crossed his mind, and he brought down another Bear Claw, finally killing the abomination as it tried to encroach to feast on its prey. Almost a decade now, he had once trained a girl in a similar way to young Logan, and the memory of her brought defiance back to his mentality.

 

The other spiders, perhaps sensing this, skittered around him, and took off in the direction of Alteep. Jeremiah tried to follow, but his wounds were too deep, and too much blood had already drained from his system. He hoped he had done enough for Logan, as he collapsed to the ground.

As Logan and Remy blipped across the terrain of the Forest, they desperately tried to track and stay ahead of the spiders. The unnatural creatures were both quick and sure of foot, navigating the foliage in the muted light.

 

During Logan’s training he had never pushed further than six teleports at a single time, but by the time he was out of the Forest Logan was already at eight uses. Remy had been a bit more efficient, managing to make it out in 7 jumps, but they were both exhausted.

 

-We go.-

 

Yeah, buddy,

 

Logan hoisted the Rizzel onto his shoulder and took off at a run towards Alteep village. Although he hadn’t yet visited, it was easy to locate on the horizon through the prairie grass, if only because there was nothing else present. 

 

After maintaining his full speed for more than a minute, Logan became even more grateful for Jeremiah’s mentorship. If he survived, it would be because the old man had prepared him well for this. And from Jeremiah’s tone, the entire village should get ready, and this Gregor person would need to be at least as prepared as Logan if they wanted a chance.

 

As Logan finally pulled into shouting distance of the village, the spiders finally broke out of the Forest’s treeline. It was all Logan could do to not simply shout out ‘Monster! Monsters!’. Logan held back when he spotted Alteep’s streets filled with folks in varying states of inebriation. As he swore inwardly, Logan just hoped this Gregor fellow was in condition to fight.

 

He didn’t like their odds of survival otherwise.

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