Chapter 143: THE BOUNTY
The next men arrived by the east channel two nights later.
Aiden was awake when their punt appeared between the reeds.
Five men stepped onto the bank and spread out before approaching the camp. Two carried weighted nets. One held a long catch-pole with an iron loop at the end. Another kept a chain wrapped around one fist.
A Clampback paced at the end of the chain. The beast stood low on four thick legs, with slate-grey hide, a broad wedge-shaped head, and shoulders wider than Aiden's chest. Its front claws were blunt and heavy rather than sharp, built to pin something down.
Capture crews used Clampbacks for exactly that. Once a Clampback pinned something, it usually stayed down.
This one ignored Miasma and Nyx. Its small black eyes stayed fixed on Aiden.
These men had brought equipment designed to capture beasts alive.
Well. The next ones really didn't come for the salt.
Cinder rose from her stone. She looked at him, and the fire beneath her coat brightened.
"Wait until they commit."
Cinder growled.
"I know. They're very considerate for showing up."
The growl continued.
"You're fighting. I promised."
Cinder stayed on the stone.
Miasma moved into the reeds on Aiden's left. Nyx disappeared into the shelter's shadow.
The five men crossed the bank toward the camp. The two netters kept several paces between them. The catch-pole man watched Aiden's hands. The handler kept the Clampback behind the others.
The fifth man carried no capture tool. He stood in the center and directed the others with hand signals.
Aiden attacked before they finished closing in.
Miasma charged from the reeds and hit the leader from the side. Her spines pierced his thigh.
He shouted and stumbled.
One of the netters reached for her. Miasma ducked under his hand and bit his wrist.
"Venom!"
The other netter already had his net open.
He threw it over Miasma.
The weights struck the mud around her. The mesh dropped across her back and snagged on her spines. Miasma tried to turn, but the net tightened around her legs.
She bit through one rope and pushed her head through the gap.
The bitten man stamped the loose mesh into the mud and closed the opening.
Right. These ones know what they're doing.
Aiden grimaced as the catch-pole man rushed him. Better deal with him first than move in the middle of their formation.
The iron loop swept toward his neck.
He Shadow Stepped behind the man and caught the pole near the iron head. Acid Weave hissed against the metal.
The catcher yanked the pole back. The iron had started to soften, but Aiden hadn't held it long enough to melt through.
Then the Clampback hit him in the ribs. Aiden lost the pole and slammed into the mud.
The beast followed him down. One foreleg pinned his right arm to his chest while its weight held the rest of him flat.
Its jaws opened beside his face.
Aiden struggled to breathe and, panicked, he pressed his free palm against its shoulder and triggered Solar Plexus.
The Clampback cried out and jumped back.
"Hold him!"
The handler snapped the chain.
The beast stopped retreating. It shook once, then charged Aiden again.
I preferred the idiots.
Across the camp, the leader and the uninjured netter grabbed Miasma's net and dragged her toward the channel.
Miasma dug her claws into the mud and even as they kept pulling her, she stayed calm.
A second later, Nyx Shadow Stepped onto the netter's shoulder and covered his eyes in darkness.
He shouted and dropped the net.
The leader yelled for the bitten man. He grabbed the loose edge with his good hand and took the netter's place.
Nyx tried to reach them again. The two men moved to the side of the net opposite Nyx, keeping Miasma between them as they dragged her toward the channel.
Aiden shoved at the Clampback. It barely moved.
His Shadow Step was still on cooldown. The catch-pole man had recovered too. He circled behind the Clampback with the damaged pole ready in both hands.
Miasma was almost at the water.
You're not taking her.
Aiden looked at Cinder.
She was still beside her stone because he had told her to wait. Fire ran brighter beneath her coat. She had rationed every serious burst since they reached the fen. Now Miasma was in a net and a capture beast had Aiden on the ground.
There was nothing left to save the fire for.
"Go!"
Flames covered Cinder's coat. She bolted, a line of dancing fire splitting the camp.
The Clampback jumped away from Aiden before she reached it. The handler tried to pull it back into position, but the chain heated in his hands. He dropped the glowing metal with a curse.
Cinder ignored them and ran to Miasma. She towered over her, growling.
The two men dragging the net released it and backed away.
Cinder burned through the ropes over Miasma's back. She kept the flame narrow. The cords blackened and snapped without touching Miasma.
Miasma crawled free.
Cinder turned toward the capture crew.
The leader still tried.
"Spread! Net the fire beast!"
The uninjured netter threw his second net.
The ropes caught fire before the net reached Cinder. The burning mesh collapsed into the mud, and the metal weights struck the ground around her.
The catch-pole man tried next. He thrust the iron loop toward her from several paces away. The wood started smoking in his hands. The iron loop glowed red.
He dropped it with a yelp.
"Clampback! Hold her!"
The beast charged with its loose chain dragging through the mud.
It hit Cinder low and drove her one step sideways.
Cinder turned on it.
The Clampback held its ground.
For a moment.
Then Cinder howled.
Fire danced across her body and climbed above the reeds in a roaring column. Her howl drove a wave of heat across the camp.
The blast threw the Clampback through the mud and knocked the men behind it off their feet. Fire swept across the abandoned capture gear behind them. Nets vanished into flame. The catch-pole burned where it lay, and the water along the bank hissed into steam.
The Clampback struggled back onto its feet. Its hide was smoking.
The handler shouted another command.
The beast didn't charge again. Neither did anyone else.
There you are.
Cinder advanced.
The crew ran.
The handler sprinted for the channel, and the Clampback ran ahead. The catch-pole man and both netters ran after them.
Cinder began to chase after them.
"Enough. Let them go."
She stopped.
The four men disappeared between the reeds.
Fire still covered Cinder, but it had already fallen from the blaze she'd released a moment earlier. Chasing them would burn more of the reserves the fen replaced so slowly.
And if these men made it back, they could tell the next crew exactly what had happened.
The leader hadn't made it far. The wound in his thigh slowed him. Nyx appeared between him and the channel.
He turned away from her.
Miasma blocked him from the other side.
The leader stumbled backward and stepped into one of Cinder's burning nets.
His coat caught fire. He screamed and dropped into the mud, rolling to smother the flames.
Cinder watched him with her teeth bared.
Aiden started toward the leader and stopped.
Three punts had gathered at the channel. The forager stood in the nearest one with bundles of cut marsh plants at her feet. Her broad-tailed working beast floated beside the hull. Two other locals had stopped behind her.
Cinder's fire had climbed well above the reeds. Anyone working nearby could have seen it.
The leader screamed again behind him.
He could leave him there.
He didn't.
He walked through Cinder's fire.
Flames covered his boots and coat without leaving a mark. He crossed the burning ground, grabbed the leader by the collar, and dragged him out.
Then he put out the man's coat with his bare hands.
Nobody on the water spoke.
The forager finally broke the silence.
"Fire doesn't touch him."
One of the locals stared at Aiden.
"I can see that."
Wonderful. That's going downriver.
Aiden checked the leader. He was alive.
He brought water and clean cloth from the shelter and treated the burns while the three locals watched from the channel.
Cinder stayed beside him. Her fire had dropped hard. The bright blaze was gone, leaving a much lower burn beneath her coat.
Aiden tied off the last bandage.
"You wanted a real fight."
Cinder growled.
"You got one."
Another growl.
Aiden looked at the burned nets, the ruined catch-pole, and the trail the Clampback's chain had cut through the mud.
"Fine. You were just getting started."
Miasma finished pulling the damaged ropes from her spines and walked over to Cinder. She leaned against her front leg and Cinder nudged her once.
The forager eventually pushed her punt back into the channel and left. The other two locals followed.
Let that story travel.
The first men had only heard about the bounty from a broker. This crew had come to collect it. Aiden searched the leader and found a folded commission inside his coat, sealed with wax.
A House seal was pressed deep into the wax.