Chapter 53: Price
“Tulland!” Necia screamed as the bolt curved upward. Tulland had known that hunter-class arrows could do that. Their arrows could change directions midair and make life unpleasant for their prey. He also knew that there was only so much resistance frail flesh could put up against that kind of sharp, fast-moving pressure. Tulland just hadn’t expected to ever be on the prey’s side of the experience. Before he could blink, the bolt flew the final few inches and hit its mark.
Necia shoved the gasping Tulland behind her as she shifted to her battle-form, destroying the top of the door as she rose to her full, strong, vitality-and-strength class glory. Her sword was out in a flash of light, leveled in the direction of the bolt as she advanced forward.
Dying on the floor, Tulland was surprised how little the bolt hurt. He supposed getting hit in the heart might come with that kind of mercy, a sort of painless shock to ease one’s passing. There was less blood than he might have thought too. And also just less everything, somehow, almost like he hadn’t been shot at all.
“Oh, calm your idiot hindquarters down. It was a warning shot.” Licht walked out of the darkness, dodging to the side of Necia’s reflexive sword-thrust with a light agility beyond anything Tulland had seen from anyone but the evil rogue-class that had attacked him and Necia. “New people.”
At a gesture from Licht, both Necia’s and Tulland’s eyes rose to the frame of the door, where the crossbow bolt had thudded into wood instead of Tulland’s chest.
“But he gasped like he got hit!” Necia turned to Tulland, who was sitting up. “You gasped!”
“Your little boyfriend is probably just a bit easier to startle than you’d expect. Although I can’t blame him too much. I did put a lot of speed on that one.” The man glanced at his crossbow with affection before crossing over to where Tulland had fallen to retrieve his arrow. “And of course my arrowhead shattered. Great. Just my luck.”
“Just out of curiosity, why did you call me her boyfriend?” Tulland sat up and started brushing the dust off his clothes, trying to look as dignified as he could under the circumstances. “Not that I’m not, just wondering if any particular sign gave it away.”
“You are asking for the clearest indication? It was probably when she tried to pin me to the studs of my own house for so much as scratching you. It would have worked, too, if she were a little faster. You’re a scary one, girl.”