Growth

The night was long and loud and violent but their tent held strong. Clare actually found the sounds of the storm comforting and slept well through the night until the new sounds arose first thing in the morning. Explosions.

Clare rubbed her eyes and looked out from the tent entrance as the others stirred behind her. The sun had yet to rise. Rain stung her face as it flew sideways in the powerful winds. Twigs and leaves joined the assault on her face. Clare could make out the base well enough through the downpour but there were occasional flashes and the steady orange lights of fires.

The others joined Clare.

“What’s going on down there?” Rachel asked.

“Is it… under attack?” David wondered.

“Look!” Alice pointed out to sea. There was a boat in the bay, a destroyer, and it was letting the base have it.

“We have to help!” Clare shouted.

“No! We’re safe up here. We should wait and see how this plays out.”

“Yeah, those are Protectors down there, not just some helpless villagers,” David said.

“But those are explosions,” Max argued. “They found some real pre-Growth firepower.”

Rachel patted the hide covering their heads. “Even this stuff can’t handle explosions.”

“All the more reason to wait. We aren’t wearing that thing, just using it to block rain. We’d be worse off down there.”

The sounds of combat carried up to the group on the wind.

“They must have men on the ground,” Alice said.

“Who?”

“It has to be the Crusaders.”

“How did those tree-hugging freaks get a battleship on their side?”

“We never should have stolen Primal,” Clare muttered to Alice.

“They were looking for an excuse, any excuse, to start their war. Any little spark would have started this wildfire,” Alice replied. “If it wasn’t us, there would have been something else within the month.”

Another explosion.

“Well I’m putting the fire out.” Clare grabbed her axe and ran into the storm. Alice grabbed her claws and followed.

The others called after them.

“Hey!”

“It’s dangerous!”

The women ignored them, or at least Clare did.

“We don’t have armor, you know,” Alice shouted over the wind.

“When did we ever?”

Alice smiled.

The women reached the burning base in no time, though it would have been quicker without the wind pushing against them. The siege was slow and steady. Plenty of buildings were aflame. While they could hear people, the women did not see a single Protector. They continued up the street as damaged buildings crumbled and shells continued to hammer new targets.

Finally, a Crusader suddenly appeared with a simple rebar as a weapon. He let out a battle cry and charged, only to be slain by Clare’s axe.

Another appeared but something else killed it: another Protector. The women ran to him.

“Hey! What’s going on?” Alice screamed into his ear.

“It was a surprise attack,” the Protector responded. He was winded but otherwise uninjured.

“Tell us what you know.”

He looked the women up and down.

“Initiates should not be here. You should wait outside the gate.”

Alice got right in the man’s face. “We are still Protectors. Tell us the plan.”

The Protector grinned. “That’s the spirit. Crusaders started hitting buildings as their men waited in the street for us to come out in confusion. The ambush was well planned but we are pushing them back to the docks. If you want to fight, then fight.” He took off.

So did the women. As they moved forward on their guard, blurry figures danced in and out of their visions. The cries of battle surrounded them and yet there was no one to strike.

A spearhead flew right at Clare’s head. She ducked just in time. A Crusader charged after it with a sword. Clare barely got her axe up in time to block the attack. Alice joined in and slew the Crusader.

“Thanks,” Clare said to Alice. They smiled at each other but Clare’s joy was brief because of a realization. “It’s our eyes. They can spot us in the rain because of them.”

“Clever bastards.”

As if on cue, two more attacked. Clare blocked a machete but her axe slipped from her grasp. She kicked her attacker away and pulled it from the mud in time to block again. One hand kept the axe on the defense and Clare’s other punched the attacker below the ribs. The air left his lungs and Clare counter-attacked with a pommel to his face followed by a blade to the skull. Alice’s opponent met an equally gruesome fate.

“These aren’t good fighting conditions,” Clare said.

“You got that right.”

They were looking through the rain, fully on guard. They had found the battle but their enemy was ghosts. Both Clare and Alice nearly struck allies but disaster was averted when they saw the golden eyes in time. It did make it easier to identify Crusaders, and there were plenty of them.

One in particular was fast. He wielded two daggers that simply outmaneuvered Clare’s heavy axe. She was getting nicked all over her body, barely able to parry the quick blows. Then there was the strike that was certain to end Clare’s life. She swung and missed and the Crusader had her where he wanted her. Alice’s claws intercepted the killing blow just in time.

The two fast fighters had it out as Clare focused on protecting Alice’s rear. Alice’s claws could keep up with the daggers but her victory was not without injury. She slit her opponent’s throat at the cost of slash marks up and down her arms.

The wind and rain abruptly cleared away. The eye of the storm was over them.

Blood.

Death.

Havoc.

War.

The battlefield was as bloodier than the women expected it to be even with the rain. Fighting continued despite the weather’s respite. Though greatly outnumbered, the tide of battle shifted in favor of the Protectors, who could land more accurate and therefore lethal blows on their less armored opponents. The destroyer had ceased firing lest it hit its own men.

Four Crusaders attacked. Clare put all of her strength into a wide swing that cut through the weapons and flesh alike of two Crusaders. She turned to help Alice, who was stuck dodging her attackers. She slashed one’s eyes out as Clare killed the other.

More attacked, then even more. They were countless and unfortunately, mostly very young. Clare and Alice were killing teenagers, teenagers that only knew violence. Clare grew angrier.

A woman’s voice: “You!”

Clare spotted a very familiar Crusader, Dianne. She was better equipped this time with some rather fearsome, thicker armor. She was scowling but that only fueled Clare’s mounting anger. Blood trickled down her blades with the rain.

“Are you two absolutely retarded? You must have known I was just going to keep hunting you down if you let me go, right?”

“We won’t make that mistake anymore,” Clare said.

“Kick her ass, Clare,” Alice said from behind. “I’ll watch your back.” She turned away to monitor the immediate area.

Clare dashed forward, Dianne doing the same. But rather than attack Clare, Dianne slipped around the swinging axe and went right for Alice’s unprotected back. Clare had no time to properly react and Dianne’s sword slid through Alice’s abdomen and stuck out her chest. Alice went still and Dianne laughed.

“Who’s watching your back, then?” Dianne said into Alice’s ear. She looked over her shoulder at wide eyed Clare. She jerked her sword from Alice’s chest, or tried to. Dianne looked back. Alice had a literal death grip on the blade. She swung her free hand around and slashed Dianne across her midsection. Dianne screamed, clutched her wound, and pulled her sword from Alice’s chest as she stumbled away into the cover of rainfall. Alice lost her footing and fell facedown into the bloody mud.

Clare ran to Alice, turned her over, and started wiping the mess from Alice’s face.

“I’m here. I’m here, Alice.” The tears started to fall.

Alice caressed Clare’s cheek. “It’s alright. I don’t think she hit any organs. I’m going to take a nap. You come back, okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll be back.”

Alice smiled and closed her eyes. Clare froze up with Alice’s head in her lap. She remained that way for a time before laying Alice under some cover. She then grabbed her axe, stood, and turned in the direction Dianne had fled. Clare charged through the howling hurricane. Crusader after Crusader impeded her attack but each was met with a gruesome end. Skulls split. Limbs severed. Torsos slashed open and guts spilled into the mud.

Clare reached the docks. Even through the rain she spotted Dianne on a boat heading for the destroyer. Clare looked around to find anything to use to pursue her but was at a loss. She slammed her axe into the pier in frustration.

A motor drew near. Amaris flew over a wave on a jet ski and halted in the water in front of Clare. “Need a lift?” she yelled against the winds.

Clare did not know what this thing was but she did not hesitate to jump on and grab Amaris' waist. Amaris hit the gas and pursued Dianne through the treacherous waves in a masterful fashion, avoiding having their ride flipped over and lost to the seas.

“What are you doing here?” Clare shouted.

“A good master always supports her apprentice!”

"What the hell is this thing?"

"Jet ski. The best relic I ever recovered!"

They reached the destroyer. Dianne’s escape boat had already been lifted to the deck.

“Not to worry!” Amaris revealed a Protector grappler gun and held it up for Clare.

Clare gladly accepted it and aimed into the wind. With impeccable accuracy, she fired and the wind blew the hook so that it latched onto the railing of the deck.

“Nice shot! Give ’em hell,” Amaris said. “I can’t stay here waiting, though. Good luck, Clare.”

“Thank you, Amaris.”

Clare strapped her axe to her back and began her ascent as Amaris drove off to safety. The climb was rough but nothing Clare couldn’t fight through. The wind pushed and slammed her against the metal sides of the ship several times but Clare climbed and climbed until she reached the rail and pulled herself over. She unstrapped the axe and scanned the deck.

The guns continued to fire. Deckhands were running to and fro. One spotted Clare and raised the alarm. Clare smiled as Crusaders attacked. She slew them as they came. After her fifth kill, she started to laugh. But she stifled herself and though about how doing that creeps Alice out.

When the deck was cleared, Clare moved on to each gun. The Crusaders within were shocked that a Protector had made it onboard, and each was defenseless when Clare attacked. The deck soon fell silent, save for the battering wind and rain. Clare moved inside.

The crew were only able to attack Clare one on one in the narrow corridors within. This made it easy. In her fury, Clare’s powerful strikes cleaved Crusaders in half, dismembered limbs, and caused overall mayhem. The bloody slaughter continued as Clare moved on in her hunt.

Eventually, as far as Clare could tell, the massacre below deck was over. She moved back upwards to the deck and looked for other areas in which Dianne could be hiding. She thought of Captain Rogers’ tanker and decided to go up into the pilot house. Opening the very first door revealed what Clare so desperately wanted to find.

“You!” Dianne yelled. She was being treated in a chair in the corner. “Kill her!” she ordered the crew. They attacked and met their ends just as the many before them did. Dianne’s attendant was the last to go, leaving the two women alone.

“Pick up your swords,” Clare demanded.

Dianne stood and readied her weapons. “You’re exhausted. I can tell.”

“I’ll never be too tired to kick your ass.”

Clare swung horizontally. Dianne blocked with both swords but the impact pushed her against the wall. Clare swung again vertically, trying to get Dianne right down the middle. Dianne dodged to the side and lashed out at Clare, cutting her along her shoulder with one sword and her flank with the other. Clare grunted at the pain but kicked Dianne in the chest, pushing her against the ship’s wheel. The destroyer began to turn.

Dianne recovered and attacked again, twirling around like a cyclone. Clare blocked a few strikes and then struck Dianne’s midsection with a parry. It was a blunt strike that winded her enough for her to drop a sword. Clare kicked it away and swung her axe again. Dianne deflected the blow but lost her other sword in the process. She was surprised to see Clare drop her own weapon and raised her fists.

“Fighting fair?” Dianne huffed.

“I didn’t think you’d heard of it.” In reality, Clare was glad to drop the mass of metal.

Dianne mustered her strength and took a fighting stance. Clare attacked first with a kick. Dianne redirected Clare’s leg and went with a straight punch at Clare’s face. Clare took the hit but countered with an uppercut that forced Dianne to face the ceiling. She recovered and hit with a hook the Clare again endured. But she retaliated with a hook of her own.

The women traded several more blows like this until in one motion, Dianne slipped a hand behind her back and stabbed at Clare with a dagger. Clare moved just enough for the dagger to avoid serious areas and took the attack in her shoulder. Dianne tried to pull it out and attack again but Clare grabbed Dianne’s hand and held her in place. While Dianne focused on releasing her dagger, Clare drew her own and aimed for Dianne’s throat. Dianne raised her hand in time for the blade to stab through it. Though the blade was in her hand, Dianne clenched her fingers around Clare’s hand, refusing to let her go.

They were frozen in a deadlock, both trying to free their weapons. Blood trickled down off their bodies and pooled at their feet. Clare noticed it. She kicked at the inside of Dianne’s foot, causing the Crusader to slip on her own blood. In that instant, Clare was able to free her dagger and run it across Dianne’s throat. As if that weren’t enough, she attacked again by slamming the blade through her chest and into her heart. Dianne fell.

Clare leaned against the console beside the ship wheel to catch her breath. Something was wrong. She looked at the puddles of blood on the floor and noticed them all trickling to one side of the room. She then looked outside at the storm. The ship had turned perpendicular to the oncoming waves. Even Clare, a novice to the world, knew that that was bad.

She grabbed the wheel and tried to turn the massive vessel but was too late. A mighty wave crashed against the side of the destroyer. It was strong enough to cause Clare to lose her footing and fall over. Her axe was sliding across the floor but Clare got a hold of it and strapped it to her back. As she stood and grabbed the wheel again, another wave hit. The destroyer was knocked onto its side and began to capsize.

“Ah, fuck,” she said to herself. She watched the corpses roll across the floor and pile up against the wall. Clare climbed up the various consoles and bolted down object of the cabin until she was able to reach a door to the outside, a door that was now above her head.

Clare was almost blasted away by the wind as she climbed out. The destroyer continued to sink. All Clare could think to do was hold onto the rail and wait. She saw her slain Crusaders slide off the deck and into the water below.

But then a miracle. The destroyer struck something, rumbled, and stayed put aside from impacting waves. The vessel had run aground on its side. Clare noticed that it was providing a barrier against the worst waves. The water was still tumultuous, but Clare saw that a lifeboat would be able to get her ashore in one piece.

She climbed down the destroyer to where she remembered Dianne being hoisted up onto the deck and found the boat. It was already in the water but still tied to the destroyer. Clare got in and started slashing ropes, freeing the boat.

Then she paused.

“How does thing go?” she wondered.

She had the motor in front of her, a foreign relic created long before the Growth, restored and put back to good use. Like a child or a curious animal, she started poking and prodding it all over until she discovered the pull string. It was the only lead she had. She gave it a few jerks and the motor started up! Clare lowered its propeller into the water and smiled, very confident and proud of herself. The lifeboat shot forward toward shore.

But didn’t stop.

Clare braced for impact when the boat slammed into the dock and sent her flying out of it. Her head hit the pier, and she lost consciousness.

When Clare awoke, it was over.

She had been moved from the dock to a large tent out of the now-softer rain. She was on a cot with bandages over her worst wounds. And she was sore. When she tried to sit up, it felt like her own body wanted her to quit and lie back down. But she endured the pain and sat up on the side of the cot. A Protector approached her.

“Hey,” she said. “How are you feeling?”

“Bad.”

The Protector smiled. “It’s better than dead. A real doctor would tell you something good but I’m no doctor. I bandaged your wounds but that’s about it.”

“Thank you. It’s way better than nothing.”

“That’s what I keep telling people. Can you stand?”

Clare gave it a shot and succeeded. “I take it we won?”

“We sure did! We’re stacking their bodies and rounding up prisoners. Now, not to rush you, but there are more heavily wounded that need that cot.”

“It’s all yours.” Clare looked around. There were about twenty Protectors in this tent, none of whom she recognized. She went outside.

There were many more tents lined up, all full of Protectors. Even more were running in and out of the tents, carrying supplies or helping wherever they could. Clare limped along, trying to stay out of everyone’s way while checking tents for Alice as she moved along. A waving arm snagged Clare’s attention. It was Rachel. Clare wanted to run but could only hobble over to her.

“God, we were worried sick about you!” Rachel said.

“Where’s Alice?” Clare said immediately.

“Gee, it’s good to see you alive too.” Rachel pointed inside the tent. “She’s recovering, Clare.”

“Thanks. And I am glad you’re alive.”

Clare found Alice on a cot with bandages over her wounds. She was asleep. Clare wanted nothing more than to shake Alice awake but she managed to get her feelings under control and sat on the foot of the cot.

Rachel, Max, and David walked over. Clare looked up at them and then jumped up to embrace them all in a big group hug. They hugged her right back.

“We love you too,” Max said.

“Did you join the battle?” Clare asked. “I’m sorry we just ran off like that.”

“Trust me, we wanted to follow you,” Rachel started.

“But you didn’t have a dragon claw shoved through your shoulder,” David added.

“We still have our own recovering to do but we’ve been helping out as best we can,” Max said.

“I’ll help, too,” Clare said. “I’m sure there’s something even I can do around here.”

The three shared looks at each other. Rachel spoke up. “Clare, you look like shit. Just stay here.” The boys chuckled behind her.

Clare smirked. “I was actually hoping you’d say that.”

They said quick goodbyes and Rachel’s group went back to work. Clare sighed and looked back at her friend as she dozed. Part of Clare wanted to pass out beside her but she wasn’t sleepy. She looked around at the Protectors around her. The ones with the more serious injuries were without their armor. The Crusaders’ ambush plan was by no means a bad idea. Clare sighed and looked back at Alice.

“Wake up, already,” she whispered. “Please.”

“No. Go away.”

“Alice?”

“Why are all of you so loud?” Alice said, keeping her eyes closed. Clare laughed and shook Alice’s leg. Alice halfheartedly kicked at Clare. “Yeah, I’m alive.” She finally opened her eyes and smiled at Clare.

Clare smiled back, but began to tear up. “I really thought you were going to die,” she admitted.

“I told you all she got was some meat.”

“Yeah, but…”

“Shush. I’m fine. You look worse off than me. Did you get her?”

Clare straightened her back and grinned triumphantly. “The enemy general has been slain!” she announced.

“I shouldn’t ask, but how’d you do it?”

Clare ran a finger across her throat.

“What is it with you and slitting throats?”

“They’re soft and easy.”

“I gotta tell you, Clare. When we were first wandering around in the forest, I never thought you’d make it as a Protector. You were… weak. But now look at you. You blew every expectation out of the water.”

“Calvin and Raven trained us too well.”

The Protectors healed. When they were strong enough, a mere two days later, they helped in the effort to rebuild the base. The Crusader corpses were piled and burned while the prisoners were locked away in the prison. Most of the injured Protectors made full recoveries, but the dead were laid to rest in individual graves on the nearby hillside.

Clare and Alice took a break from construction and walked down to the docks. Clare was describing to Alice the events on the destroyer, perhaps with a little too much graphic detail, when Amaris crept up behind the two and squeezed between them.

“Hello!” she announced cheerfully. “How’s my apprentice feeling today?”

“I’m better.”

“Who’s this?” Alice asked.

“I am Clare’s master, Amaris.”

Alice unintentionally looked Amaris over several times before offering her hand. “Hey,” she said as Amaris shook it. Amaris muttered an “oh!” as she did so.

“This is Alice,” Clare said.

Alice cleared her head and asked, “What’s this about being Clare’s master?”

“I’m a master trapper, you see, and Clare here is my future apprentice. I’m going to teach her my ways.”

Clare sighed.

“Master trapper?”

“Yes, indeed.” Amaris set her hands on her hips. “How long have you two travelled together?” she asked.

“A couple weeks,” Clare answered.

“Fuck, it’s only been that long?”

“In that short time, you've developed the most intense bond I've ever felt.”

“What?”

Amaris grabbed Alice’s hand again. “Yes, I feel it within you. You and Clare must hunt together. I can teach you as well, if you so desire.”

“You do know how crazy you sound, right?” Alice said.

“But,” Clare said, "Imagine how much better we could fight if we master traps.”

“Finally coming around, I see.” Amaris looked pleased.

“If Clare's in, then so am I,” Alice answered.

“It is settled then. Adios! I’ll be in touch.” She brought her hand down and disappeared in black smoke. Alice ran circles around the area looking for where she could have sneaked off to, but her search was fruitless."

“She showed me that same trick on Captain Rogers’ boat,” Clare said. “It has me stumped.”

“Me too,” Alice admitted.

Several days later, a tanker sailed to the base and a large force of Protectors poured out, all armed to the teeth. Clare and Alice watched them from their new hangout spot on a small pier. Clare spotted Calvin in the group, for he stood a head taller than everyone else. Raven was harder to spot but was right by his side. Clare was smacking Alice’s arm while she tried to point them out.

“I see them! I see them! God!” She managed to grab Clare’s hand and hold it down. “Spaz.”

An orange blur shot out of the crowd, flew around the docks, and sprinted at Clare and Alice.

“Todd!” Clare screamed.

The fox leapt into the women’s waiting arms and began frantically licking the two. “We were so worried! You have no idea!”

The two were too busy cuddling their furry friend to notice that the Master herself had found them. When they finally noticed her, Clare and Alice shot up to their feet.

“It seems I ruined the moment,” she sighed. “Settle down, girls. I may be called ‘Master’ but I am no owner of slaves. You owe me no salute.”

The two relaxed. “What are you doing here?” Clare asked.

“You sent a message about knowing the location of the Crusader headquarters and their leader. Should I have stayed home?”

“I guess not.”

“A report stated that the enemy destroyer capsized and the green-eyed Protector was found on the shore in one of its lifeboats. You’ve been busy, Clare.”

Clare scratched behind her head. “Oh, it was nothing.”

“We have further need of the two of you. The Crusaders started this war, so we are going to finish it. As of today, I’m promoting the two of you to Braves, and you will lead your fellow Protectors into battle. You know more about the Crusaders and their base than anyone else.”

The women were shocked.

“And I won’t accept objections. You two are ready for this. Now... we go to war.”