Marissa
turned and sprinted to the trunk of the closest tree before the ground started to shake. By the time Jacob's scrawl's flame had reached shoulder-height she was halfway up the tree. Jacob wondered at her tactics in his own mind, but it wouldn't do to question her now. This was a test, after all... not a lesson. He backed away to his own side of the clearing as the fire died back into the ground. Beneath the scrawl, the earth continued to pulse. In seconds the head of Jacob's Delve broke through to the surface. Its snout came up first, followed by the face. The ears were pasted back against the scalp with wet earth. Now the shoulders broke free, their sinewy muscles rippling beneath the black fur.
Jacob glanced up the tree to gauge his student's reaction. Yes, there was fear there, but not uncontrolled fear. Marissa was already trying to gauge a weakness in the Delve. He looked back down and saw that the beast had broken completely free of the earth. The Delve shook its mighty head, throwing mud and sweat for yards. The black eyes focused for a moment...
The Delve leaped straight towards Marissa's perch, its size enabling it to get to her branch in half a dozen strides. Before it got there, Marissa was up into the air, jumping, somersaulting, twisting... she landed squarely a dozen feet within the clearing. The tree she'd been in bent under the Delve's weight, and then broke. The beast clutched the wide trunk with its claws and rode the tree to the ground. It then turned, and
roared
as it started back to where Marissa stood.
The girl stood with her Pouch in one hand and her own silver lighter in the other. As the Delve approached, it slowed only a little as its eyes took in what she held in her hands. As a rule, most Delves weren't the smartest beings, but they were aware enough to take in their prey and analyze the best attack. That analyzing included perceiving what sort of defense mechanisms their prey was capable of. Of course, it wasn't quite that detailed in a Delve's mind, it was just instinct. Jacob watched, wondering why Marissa wasn't taking advantage of the beast's hesitance. It took him a moment to realize that she was actually
waiting
for the Delve to charge. But why? Throwing a Delve took time, and in the four seconds or so it was going to take the beast to cover the distance between it and her, there wasn't going to be enough.
The Delve charged.
The rites of control lingered on Jacob's lips. If he had to call off his cast he'd only have a fraction of a second.
Marissa was finally moving, though, at first it wasn't apparent what she was actually doing. Her foot kicked and danced in front of her on the ground while her fingers moved to extract something from the Pouch. What happened next happened in a blur: Marissa's words were lost under the roar of Jacob's Delve. Her left hand swung down, the flame of the lighter it held burned orange. The Delve reached out, clawing and snapping its jaws.
The first word of the control rite was out of Jacob's mouth before he pulled back. Marissa jumped straight up into the air. The Delve landed where she was only a moment before and found itself in the midst of a casting fire. At most, the beast was annoyed at the flames, but the shaking beneath its feet kept its attention. While the Delve was diverted, Marissa landed a short distance away. At once her Scint was unsheathed. She began to perform another cast just as her first Delve broke through the ground beneath Jacob's.
Smaller in size but quicker in movement, Marissa's Delve attacked the other. If it was alone in its battle it would have been unsuccessful, but soon the ground gave birth to Marissa's second creation and it, too, joined in the fray. It took only minutes for the two of them to decimate Jacob's cast. Their task finished, the two Delves stood in the center of the clearing, panting, bleeding and waiting for orders.
Marissa had crouched at the far end of the clearing, her Delving tools at the ready in case she needed to throw another cast. Now she looked to Jacob with eyes that questioned whether or not the test was over. He nodded that it was. With a few rites of control spoken, Marissa sent her Delves back into the ground.
"Where did you learn to post with your foot?" Jacob crossed to her while giving the bloodstained grass in the center of the clearing a wide berth.
She heaved in a few hard breaths before answering. "I taught myself." Marissa stood, drawing herself to her full height to look her Teacher in the eye.
He wanted to congratulate her. He wanted to tell her that posting a scrawl with her foot was something he'd never seen or heard of before... but he didn't. Now was not the time for praise. Jacob wanted his student feeling overwhelmed and unprepared. He wanted her on edge. "Go back to the house. Clean up and get some rest."
Marissa nodded. "Yes, Teacher." She turned and left the clearing.
|
"The Delve shook its mighty head, throwing mud and sweat for yards."
"Marissa was up into the air, jumping, somersaulting, twisting..."
 |
