Them watched the scene before him in shock. He glanced at Pollyanna--expecting the old woman to intervene and protect Taylor--but she was merely crossing her arms and watching with a blank expression.
I thought it was her job to intervene and protect the Arrozans
? Pete commented.
Them wondered what the ancient warrior’s thought process was, but he had the more pressing concern of helping Taylor on his mind.
He knew from seeing her on the dream plains just how much her magic could sting.
The fairy girl was sizzling with dark fire as she lay on her stomach from being knocked over by her dwarven opponent.
Them dashed to her side and put a hand on her back. “Are you okay, Taylor?”
Taylor was groaning furiously as she jaggedly rose to her feet. Maruka watched her with a raised eyebrow. “I-I suggest everyone stand back. Arrozans can get very angry very quickly.”
“Disgust!” Taylor screamed.
However, no black fire was cast from her fingers--the man was preventing her. Taylor cried in frustration.
“I’ll kill you all!” Taylor yelled.
“Disgust! Disgust! Disg—”
Them grabbed her arm fearfully. “Taylor, calm down! You know how powerful your magic is—it’s perfectly fine when we’re dreaming, but you could really hurt someone out here!”
Taylor knocked him away from her with a spurt of black fire. “Shut up! I am an Arrozan! I am not your lover or friend! You know as well as I do that you are merely company to me and nothing else!”
Taylor rose a clenched fist—a fist pulsing with black fire.
Pete dashed in front of Them and pulsed with a brilliant white light which caused Taylor to stumble backwards before she could unleash a flare of deadly magic. Taylor screamed and her hands turned black by how much magic was pooling in them--but Maruka seized her wrist and clamped a silvery bracelet upon it.
The black magic retracted back into Taylor’s body, and she gasped in shock.
She tried to get the bracelet off, but it wouldn’t budge an inch. She clawed at it with panicked gasps until her skin bled. “No, no, no! What is this horrid thing!”
Maruka smirked. “A gamayunian piece of technology that prevents the use of magic. I… Added my own touch to it, which is why it works. It can be removed by no one except me. We were warned ahead of time that the last member of the Arrozan family would be arriving here soon, so I worked tirelessly to get this bracelet working.”
Taylor was in disbelief. No! Nothing can contain Arrozan magic. Nothing!
Taylor tearfully collapsed on her knees. “No…”
Them wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “Come on, Taylor, there are other ways to fight. It’ll be okay.”
“Get off of me!” Taylor shoved him away.
The whole room was watching the scene with intrigue—Them could hear them whispering about Taylor.
“That truly is the last member of the Arrozan family? I thought she was a man, not a woman?” One commented.
“Who cares? The Arrozans are guilty of heinous crimes. I doubt anyone would care if this girl went missing, and now that her powers have been taken away…”
Them worried about Taylor. He glanced over at Pollyanna again, but the old woman was examining her nails and seemed callously uncaring of Taylor’s plight. Them gave the fairy girl an encouraging smile. “Taylor, waifs are weak creatures, too. We would be hard pressed to beat any other species in armed combat—that’s why we’re so proficient with bows! I can teach you to use one—”
Taylor was weeping and not paying attention. She brushed past Them and was heading for the exit, but Maruka called to her, “y-you can leave, but you’ll be far behind in skill if you miss out on a training session.”
Taylor shook with shock and tried to conjure black fire from her fingers, but she could feel it being stopped and bottled up in her finger tips—unable to move past them.
She was devastated. She marched out of the room.
Pete watched her go and frowned.
I never approved of you pining over someone so unstable, but I have to admit that I feel sorry for her. She’ll be in trouble if she misses out on this lesson.
Them nodded sullenly. “Poor thing…”
Maruka waved Them over.
Them trudged up to the human—still glancing at Taylor who was slowly receding into the distance—and made a face at the black-eyed man. He wanted to curse the odd-looking human out and tell him he was awful for treating a lady such a way, but he withheld.
“You said you use a bow, correct? That’s very smart of you. Waifs are horribly outmatched in strength, so it’s good for them not to have to engage with their enemies in close quarters. Do you have any magical capabilities?” Maruka asked.
Them looked downtrodden, but answered, “no. None that would be useful.”
Maruka nodded. “That’s okay. Grab a bow. I want to show you all something.”
Them obeyed and grabbed a bow from the rack on his left.
Maruka turned around and grabbed the handle on the door behind him. He twisted the knob and revealed a chest large enough to contain a human being within.
He threw the lid open on the box and pulled out something that made the room gasp and reel in fear.
A shadowy doppelganger stood before them.
Maruka shoved the creature toward the recruits and let them gaze upon it for a moment.
Them stepped back in fear with the rest of the room at how disturbing and uncanny the creature was.
It was a translucent, smoky shadow in the shape of a tall Astral Elf with a flame burning where its heart should have been.
It had no fine details in its face; no eyes, no nose, no lines or wrinkles—just blank blackness. The outline of its shadowy hair waved about even though there was no wind to speak of in the room. It was chained up, and Maruka was holding the end of its chain—pulling it back as it shrieked and dashed at all of recruits in the room.
Them was frozen in fear, but he forced a smirk in a moment when he reminded himself that the creature could not harm him while it was tied up. “So this is a doppelganger? This is what we average folk are kept safe from…”
Maruka nodded and his black eyes locked with the strong dwarf who he had disarmed earlier. “Y-you—the dwarf—please grab that barrel on your left.”
The dwarf grabbed the barrel and felt and heard water sloshing within it as he dragged it to the middle of the room.
Them waited for further instructions patiently.
Maruka cleared his throat and said, “dip the arrowhead into the barrel and fire it at the flaming heart.”
Them did so—he submerged the arrow head and then pulled back on the bowstring with surprising strength for one his size.
The sound of the weapon being pulled taut was always music to his ears.
He released the arrow and it sang through the air—lodging itself into the shadowy creature’s fiery heart. The creature shrieked and tore the arrow from its heart and then dragged its feet toward Them with all its might. Maruka, who was being dragged by the strong and tall doppelganger, shouted to Them, “shoot it again!”
Them readied another arrow and fired it.
It buried itself into the shadow creature’s neck and its head was severed.
The creature melted into a pile of black sludge and then dissipated in a poof of black smoke.
Maruka smiled. “Nice aim, waif. That’s how you kill a doppelganger; you put out the flame and then you can kill them as easily as you would any mortal creature. That’s why archers have such a pivotal role to play in taking down the doppelgangers; all you need to do is dampen your arrows and fire them into the heart of a doppelganger, and then a soldier can finish them easily. It’s too bad the Arrozan girl missed out on that, huh?”
Them frowned deeply.
Poor Taylor
…
“Maruka,” said a female elf. “When are we expected to help with the fighting?”
“Right now, you would just be a nuisance. However, as w-w-w-we explained to you, a varying amount of doppelgangers appear each day and night, and we need as many people as possible to replace the already-fallen recruits. We will train you for three days, and then you will be expected to fight.” Maruka answered.
Taylor is going to be in trouble…
Pete murmured worriedly.
Them nodded. He thought to himself,
I’ll visit her later. I have to make sure she knows the basics.