6The canyon was barren and stretched on for miles and miles. It was hours before the sun disappeared over the top of the canyon wall. Once it did, and the shadows began to get very long, the entire atmosphere around them began to change. Everything started getting dark, and April observed that Jinsing was growing increasingly nervous. A nervous guide wasn't necessarily a good thing, but it could have just been the girl's temperament. She'd probably never been to the bottom of the canyon before, or really anywhere without her father nearby, so some frayed nerves were most likely normal. Though, it would be imprudent not to make sure it wasn't something more.
"What lives in this canyon?"
Jinsing almost jumped out of her skin, startled by April's voice. The swordswoman hadn't spoken for hours, and now she was asking this question while evening was descending on them. Everything had Jinsing on edge right now, but as for what lived in the canyon... "U-um... I don't know? I don't think very much... cause... ya know, there ain't much plants, right? Smaller things need plants, bigger things eat smaller things, n' if there ain't any of the smaller ones then there ain't any of the bigger ones... right?"
So this girl knew a thing or two about ecology, of all things, or at least she had a good enough head on her shoulders to figure out the simple basics. That was interesting. More importantly, nothing of significance lived in the canyon. That was to be expected, really, but somehow it still surprised her. Surely it would be a good place for bandits or robbers to hide out. Or some crazy monsters. That's what April was interested in. Monsters. It wasn't like a dream of hers to fight monsters or anything, but she did want to challenge herself with some savage beast. She wanted to know what she could fight.
Of course, all of that hinged on anything one could consider a 'monster' actually existing. She didn't really know what might or might not be around for real. Actually, she had a hard time thinking of anything other than large versions and land-dwelling versions of the things she already knew. Maybe some kind of mix... She had closed her eyes, thinking of what wild creatures could be out there waiting for her, and a smile crept onto her face at the thought of a giant centipede with a shark's head. "Yeah... maybe tentacles too."
Jinsing whirled around. "Tentacles?!"
April snapped out of her musing and looked around surprised. "What? Oh." She shook her head. "I was thinking of something else."
Frowning, Jinsing turned and continued walking. She didn't want to think about it, whatever it was. She wanted out of this situation as quickly as possible. But, looking ahead, the canyon seemed to just go on forever... she narrowed her eyes at the passage ahead of her, even as the light faded bit by bit. Unless she was mistaken, it looked like the canyon actually was coming to its end. Unfortunately, it was an abrupt end, from what she could see, and if they wanted out it would be a steep climb up an unstable incline.
"Fuck."
April stopped in her tracks. "What?" She wasn't sure what the robber girl had said.
"Erm..." Jinsing was stuck deciding if she wanted to try climbing the collapsed walls ahead of them. "I think... gettin' outta here might be harder than I thought."
Looking up ahead, April grimaced. "That looks like it will fall apart if we attempt to cl-" She stopped, glaring at a spot near the top of the rocks. "Someone is climbing it."
Jinsing looked back at her, taking a moment to really figure out what she'd said. She turned back to the pile of rubble, squinting so she could see whatever April had spotted. Sure enough, somewhere close to the top of the unstable heap of stone was a small figure moving around. They weren't moving carefully either, dashing and leaping across gaps between boulders, over crevasses that threatened to swallow up anyone who fell down. Jinsing was pretty sure her father would have shouted at her for days if she'd ever tried a stunt like what was on display in front of her.
On the other hand, April was analyzing the movements of this stranger. They were obviously highly mobile, so she suspected they might try to outmaneuver her for an attack. She closed her eyes, thinking of how she would deal with them, and listening for movement around her. Jinsing had moved to behind cover, hiding from sight, assuming the stranger hadn't already seen them. It wasn't long before April heard the movement she was waiting for, but it didn't sound quite like she'd been expecting. She could feel the rumbling as the ground in front of her began to shift and part, stones twice her height rolling aside like pebbles.
April opened her eyes. Rising out of the ground was a hulking wiry form, held together by some invisible force. It was bones. There were no muscles, and gone were the sinew and flesh and skin. Three skulls stared down at her from the ends of three skeletal necks, all attached to one spine and rib cage. The frame of two long-gone wings raised up behind its back as its bony tail swiped back and forth, crashing against the sides of the canyon.
"What... what is this?" Instead of any sort of answer, all April got was the piercing shrill scream Jinsing made as she ran the opposite direction as fast as her legs could carry her. Although it annoyed her to be abandoned here, April couldn't really blame the girl. This monster was... exactly what she'd wanted. She didn't understand why it was a skeleton, or what kind of creature had three heads and a pair of wings, or where it had come from in the first place, but it was definitely a giant monster. That was exactly what she had been hoping for. It just irked her that it had only appeared after she'd spotted someone else she wanted to challenge.
The center head of the bone monster lunged forward, slamming down against the ground where April had been standing. It certainly would have crushed her if she hadn't leapt to the side. The left head lunged to do the same, so April darted forward towards the body of the beast. It would be more able to crush her with its feet and body there, but those clearly had less speed behind them than its heads. For some reason, it seemed confused when she was no longer clearly in front of it, unable to see her beneath its own rib cage. Gripping her sword, she slashed across the beast's legs, only to find that while her blade cut straight through the bone, sand from the ground poured into the gap to rebuild it. The monster lifted its foot, bringing it down right over her, forcing her to dive out of the way.
Landing face first in the dust, April pushed herself up and was about to turn back to the skeletal beast when she saw the person from before, the one who had been climbing the rock slide. They had climbed along the side of the canyon and were perched precariously on a tiny ledge, their hands outstretched towards the bone monster. A short mop of bright orange hair marked them among the yellowy brown stone of the canyon, their darker skin tone and dirty clothes helping them to blend into their surroundings. Curiously, April noted their ears were strangely long and came to a point.
They noticed April only a few moments after she'd noticed them. "Bone Golem! Attack!"
The three monster skulls bore down on April immediately, aiming to crash into her and crush her against the wall of the canyon. She leapt straight up as two of the heads buried themselves into the ground where she had been only a second ago, driving her sword into the rock wall to keep from falling back down. The third head snaked up towards her quickly, opening its gaping maw in the hopes that it could end the fight right then. April had a different plan in mind.
Twisting around and pulling her sword free, April threw her weapon at the person who was clearly commanding this Bone Golem. She began to drop, and found herself engulfed in the Bone Golem's jaws in an instant. Her sword flew through the air, hitting the rock ledge and destroying it, knocking her foe off their perch to fall to the canyon floor. Coughing blood, they slowly got back to their feet and looked to see what had become of the swordswoman. Their eyes went wide in horror when they saw April in the mouth of the Bone Golem, holding the beast's jaws open.
"How... how can you be so strong?!"
April opened one eye, struggling to keep the monster from trapping her inside its mouth as she answered. "Trust me, it's not as easy as it looks."
They growled angrily, shouting at the Bone Golem. "Crush her! Crush her now!"
April felt her arms threatening to give out as the toothed maw redoubled its efforts to end her life. Twisting her body, she managed to get her feet on either side of its mouth, adding to the power with which she could fight back. It would give her some more time, but more importantly, she could use her arms for something else, even if only for a moment. She gripped two of the larger teeth in the monster's mouth and broke them off, hurling them through the air towards the Bone Golem's master.
They screamed in surprise as the first flying fang grazed them, opening up a shallow cut on their arm, then they screamed again, but in pain, as the second fang buried itself into their leg. They glared up at April in agonized rage, about to give the Bone Golem another command when a April broke off a third tooth and flung it. The projectile dug into their shoulder, splattering dark blood on the ground behind them. Staggering back, they clutched their shoulder and fell to one knee. They glared up at April, even as she broke off a fourth tooth, then they fell over onto their side and passed out.
The Bone Golem stopped its onslaught, allowing April to pry her way free. She dropped down to the ground and walked over to her fallen foe. She had suspected it was a woman, and now that she was closer she could see for sure. She glanced behind her to see the Bone Golem crumbling to dust and disappearing back into the ground. The fight was well over. She retrieved her sword and went to pick up her unconscious and defeated enemy, only to see that the teeth she'd hit them with had also disintegrated, leaving the wounds open and bleeding. Unless April did something quick, they would die, and there were a great many questions that needed answering.
Gila woke up with a start. She was surprised to find herself waking up at all, after all that had happened. As her senses returned to her, she became aware of a strange sensation covering her entire body. She tried to sit up, only to find that a great weight was keeping her down. Blinking her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness around her, she looked around. She was still in the canyon, from the looks of it, so what was keeping her down. She looked down at her body, only to see... nothing. Panic started setting in. Was she somehow still alive, separated from her body? What sort of dark necromantic magic was this? Who could possibly be capable of this sort of horror?
"You'd better have some kind of healing magic or something."
Alarms went off in Gila's head. That was the voice of the swordswoman she'd fought earlier. The one who defeated her Bone Golem. "Who are you? What have you done to me?" She stepped into view in front of Gila, and Gila felt an increased pressure on what felt like her body. She'd heard of phantom limbs before, but this was on a whole other level. "What do you want from me?"
April knelt down and leaned in close, glaring into Gila's eyes. "You're not dead. Not yet. If you can heal yourself, you should do it quickly. I buried you in the ground to stop the bleeding."
That made some sense, at least. Gila tried to calm her mind, so she could focus. "Okay, okay... I need my hands free."
April wasted no time digging her hands into the dirt and pulling Gila out, dropping her onto the ground. Gila sat up, feeling her lifeblood leaking out of her shoulder. Her leg was just as bad, but in a less bad place, so she focused on her shoulder first. The sand and dirt that was stuck in the wound came out, drawn to her hand. Dropping the dirt to the ground, she placed her hand over the wound and held it for a time. When she took her hand away, the hole was covered up by a darker skin than the rest of her body. It looked rough and stiff, but it held her together. She went on to repeat the process on her leg.
Sitting down across from Gila, April watched her carefully. "So it is magic."
Gila looked up. "Yes. I know real magic."
"How?"
"How else does one learn to control the forces of nature?" Gila turned her attention back to her injuries, leaving a short quip. "You outsmart them."
Outsmarting nature? April was silent for a while, trying to process how that could be done. "Can anyone do it? What you did before?"
"No." Gila almost laughed. "It takes years of study just to make it look like you know magic. Real magic requires a level of study most people are not even capable of. A few lucky ones are born with magic, and some are given magic, but they usually take it for granted and can never reach the level of power a true wizard like me can achieve."
April nodded, only sort of understanding. "Alright." She stood up. "Come on. I need to get to the nearest town, and you chased off my guide. So now you're going to be my guide."