Chapitre 25: 25. Ren Faces Her Fears
The long-haired woman mounted on the big dragon stood gracefully in her saddle and her voice carried to the ramparts. "Look, Blue, they finally appear. How annoying. If they'd fled like rats we could have ended this immediately."
The slender figure wrapped in violet cloth said something muffled by their mask and, somewhat to Ren's surprise, the long, low figure beside the human stood on its hind legs, laughing like a person.
"What are they?" asked Ren softly.
"Shina has a rain dragon. They're invisible in the sky," said Tora, her voice flat and chilly. "Blue Violet partners with a lionbolt. They fight together. The lionbolt is very intelligent."
Shina raised her voice. "Hail to the fortress of fools! Our Sovereign Lord Kirri Zamaran bid us come and make ourselves known to you, so that you might understand how useless the pathetic protections of the Summoner's Castle are now that you have stolen Lord Kirri's—"
"Eh?" Merlin bellowed, cupping an ear. "I can't hear you! Come closer."
The rain dragon shifted as if to move closer, lifting a foot as Shina reseated herself in clear frustration. But Blue Violet flung out a hand to pause the dragon's movement, and then gave a mocking salute to Merlin. This time when they spoke, their whispery voice seemed to come from the midst of the group on the rampart.
"Heheh, well, you've heard enough. If you decide to surrender before Lord Kirri arrives, we will be merciful."
Startled, Ren looked around, but Jekyll shook his head. "A voice throwing trick only."
"Oh." She frowned, looking down the long narrow wall-walk. Not only could she fall by stumbling a few steps to the left or right, she felt intensely exposed to Shina's bow. It messed with her head. "I need to get down from here."
A too-long beat of silence and Ren glanced up to find Jekyll and Cú having a staredown over her head. Ren shook her head and said to Jekyll, "You didn't want to be this close to me, remember? Everybody go down the way they came up." Her gaze went to Merlin, loitering in the background while looking out the Sovereign lieutenants. Grimly, she said, "Let's get this over with."
Surprise flickered across the mage's face before he quickly covered it with a smile and moved to her, elbowing Jekyll away from her. "Sure thing. Just hold onto me." And he stood absolutely still, without grabbing her, like waiting for attention from a skittish animal.
Honestly, Ren would have rather he'd just grabbed her and jumped again. At least it would have already been over, and she'd be on edgeless ground again. But she could appreciate him learning from mistakes, too. Unless—
"Are you making fun of me?!"
Once again his eyes widened, and then crinkled at the corners. "Well, now I am. Put your arms around my neck and close your eyes, and I'll make it easy for you."
She did it. Thinking would only complicate things. As she slid her arms around his neck, his hands closed around her waist and she shut her eyes. He lifted her what felt like only a few inches from the stonework; a sweet smelling breeze filled her nose with the scent of lilacs, and Merlin set her down again, whispering, "And we're down."
Ren flexed her toes and opened her eyes and to her great surprise, Merlin had said nothing but the truth. She felt better immediately seeing the tall walls rising around her. It was irrational; the archer rode a dragon who could easily fly over the walls, but nonetheless, the currents of fear muddying her thoughts faded away.
As Cú landed behind her and released Tora, she turned to him. "Cú, I want you to go out on your own and talk to them. Try to get a sense of how strong they are without revealing just how strong you are. As for everybody else… I'll make breakfast and we can work on repairing more of the fortress. Reactivating that protective invisibility thing Saber Artoria Alter broke would be golden, even if it's too late in the current circumstances. So would protecting the Great Hall from rain."
***
It was those words 'get a sense of how strong they are' that caused the trouble, Ren decided later. Cú had gone out once immediately in the spirit of polite parley, just to confirm the introductions and that their presence was meant as a kind of intimidation technique. Ren conceded the idea might have worked, if she'd had any story bubbles associated with the names that gave her a reason to be worried. But between Cú Chulainn's legendary Protection from Arrows and his agility, she wasn't intimidated, just curious.
So when Cú, reporting back, had asked permission to go out again later to evaluate their strength, she'd agreed without a second thought.
Always a bad idea, it turned out.
At least, that's what it felt like when Jack appeared in front of her as she was sweeping out one of the mostly undamaged empty rooms and solemnly said, "Cú is fighting the other Summoners, Mommy."
Ren dropped her makeshift broom and ran out of the fortress. The muffled sounds of clashing weapons bounced in from the forest, along with the intensified smells of roasting meat she'd assumed was lunch. A horrifying possibility flashed through her mind and she raced over to where Merlin had been laboriously, according to him, crafting a small door in his flower-covered walls.
The pale wooden door, decorated with strange symbols, stood open now and Merlin leaned against the wall just outside, flowers draping themselves around him like he'd grown there as he watched the skirmish on the far side of the clearing.
Shina sat sideways on her resting dragon, one bare leg crossed over the other as she leaned her chin on her palm: radiating boredom in every way except her rapidly moving eyes as they followed the combatants.
While Ren could see that Cú was fighting both Blue Violet and their lionbolt, all three parties moved too quickly for her to make out more than blurs at first.
"They started slow," said Merlin conversationally. "Neither of them wanting to tip their hand, right? I don't think they realize how fast they're moving right now."
The lionbolt fought on its hind legs, using its front claws much like its Summoner used their knives. Or rather, when the lionbolt was on the ground, it balanced on two legs, but it seemed to spend most of its time leaping around like, well, a tamed bolt of purple lightning.
"Cú's not yet going all out," went on Merlin. "He's maintaining an edge on Blue Violet, just enough to keep the kid working. But the lionbolt is as fast as Cú. Easily. I don't think those claws can get through his armor, but it's keeping him busy and distracted, enough for Blue Violet to bring technique to bear against Cú's raw agility. I'm not convinced the kid doesn't have something else up their sleeve, though. I'd like to say Cú's trying to provoke a demonstration, but honestly I think our Hound is just enjoying himself."
"Why does it smell like lunch out here?" asked Ren, her gaze fixed on the blurs. If she squinted, she could almost make out what was happening.
"Oh, part of Cú's plan. He offered them lunch in exchange for a bit of sparring. Ah, hm. Now what is—"
Ren caught a flash of movement from the corner of her eye and suddenly Cú and Blue Violet sprang apart as three streaks of light passed through where they'd been. No—Blue Violet had been flung backwards as Cú had used them to launch himself away, getting them both out of the path of the three arrows Shina had fired into the midst of the melee.
"Hah," said Shina smugly, lowering her bow. "I thought so. He's just toying with you, Blue. You should be insulted."
The lionbolt laughed again as it flowed over to its master, while Blue stood up. "Instead I'm only hungry." They gave an odd bow to the crouching Cú and walked over to where a sack sat on a rock and pulled out a platter full of roast pig.
Cú stood as well, a nasty smile on his face. "Is that how you normally fight, woman? Firing into other people's battles, risking your own allies?"
Shina snorted. "Risking my own allies? You surely know better than that. Oh, yes if I could have killed you, I would have, but I also would have been sorely disappointed. Are you one of the mirror fusions? Not that it matters. I'll still have the pleasure of watching my lord squash you like a flea."
"Cú!" called Ren, before she could stop herself. They all glanced at her, and then Cú jumped to her side, placing himself between her and the archer and shooing her back inside.
"What were you about, magus, letting her out here?"
"Oh, you mustn't ever rely on me for that, Hound. Not now. She made her wishes quite clear about that," Merlin responded, with a smile that didn't reach his eyes this time.
Ren stepped back through the door, pulling Cú after her. "What was that about?" she demanded.
He grinned and shrugged. "You wanted me to test them. So I did."
Scowling, Ren said, "I didn't want you to—but never mind. Did you learn anything?"
Cú's grin faded. "We both held back, my lady. No—all three of us, the archer most of all. When she is in the sky, I would have you safely under cover."
"But she's confident her lord will be your match," said Ren tartly. "She expects you to exceed her and she doesn't care. I don't like that."
"You worry too much," said Cú bluntly. "You want to do this the hard way, and I'm game for the challenge, but you shouldn't forget there's an easy way too."
"They won't yield before their lord does," said Merlin unexpectedly. "They're both prepared to die just to buy him time, if he asked it. And as Shina demonstrated, they'll interfere, too. If you're expecting the Hound to duel Kirri to a standstill, you'll need to plan around that." The smile Merlin gave Ren was almost cruel in its coldness. "Luckily, you've several options there, including the one in the basement."
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone