76. Pain: Wiremu

When I came swam back to consciousness, I was in a world of pain. Everything hurt. I was naked, and my hands were bound behind me in metal cuffs. From the burns, I thought the cuffs had been melted into place. Both my legs had been broken, deliberately, to restrict my movement. We were in a cave, but my cuffs were fixed to a metal plate which I was also lying on. The plate was on a wooden cart so I couldn’t touch the rock.

My pain resistance had jumped 10 points, but I still didn’t think it was helping. My heat and fire resistance had also jumped up. The Skills, Granite Shield, Spear and Power Strike have gone to Journeyman level. Regeneration was working hard and was probably the only reason I was awake now. They had removed the arrowhead from my shoulder, but nothing had been bandaged and I had lost a lot of blood.

I reached out through my bond, and Tāoke was healing, and he was heading toward me, but he was a long way away. To put it in human terms, Tāoke was pissed. He was still in his large form as he could move faster that way, although it slowed his healing. Both his Growth and Regeneration had moved to the Apprentice levels, and he was well over three metres long now.

About a half hour later, I finally felt up to raising my head to check my surroundings, hopefully without being seen. It wasn’t a deep cave, and I was at the rear of it. The Archer was at the cave entrance, and she had her leg bandaged and splintered, and from the healing rate, she had taken a potion or something. She was just holding herself, rocking gently and continually weeping. It was a sorrowful sight as she mourned the loss of her bond. I didn’t feel much compassion as this was what they wanted to do to me.

There was a large man there also tending a small cooking fire. He didn’t have any armour on, just a simple shirt and trousers. I guessed this was Lavaman outside his armour. This was confirmed when he reached into the fire to lift the pot out with his bare hands. His Heat and Fire Resistance must be through the roof. He didn’t seem to have any weapons except a belt knife. On closer inspection, it was one of the knives that I had purchased from the Sølv Emporium.

I carefully lay my head back down before I was seen. The world had also started spinning. I needed to wait for an opportunity, or preferably, rescue. Hopefully, Ilaiya had gotten back to Jern and raised the alarm. I wasn’t going to put all my hopes in that, as I knew from when I was that age I had visions of being the rescuing hero. I really hoped Ilaiya was more sensible than I was.

This kidnapping had been thought through. I obviously wasn’t the first live capture they had done, and with an affinity too. The metal plate I was chained to and lying on would stop Granite Spike from penetrating through to the floor. I was pretty sure I could slip the cuffs with the help of Snakeskin oil, but my broken legs were a big problem. It would take Regeneration several days to fix them, assuming they wouldn’t periodically re-break them. They probably would. I would need to wait for an opportunity. At least they seem to want to keep me alive.

I heard Lavaman say, “There is some stew ready. The kid's snake is still out there and probably hunting us. I can smash it easy enough, but I need your Hawk Eyes to find it for me.”

There was a sniff, and the Archer said, “What about the Catkin that got away?”

“We will need to keep moving fast to stay ahead of any pursuit. We will move out as soon as we have eaten, and maybe an hour for me to regain some energy. If you guide me through the night, I can generate enough light to follow. That kid almost ran me right out of energy.” Lavaman replied.

Maybe I made a mistake trying to take out the Archer. If I had kept the dodge game going, I might have had a shot at Lavaman. It was a pretty dangerous dodge game. Anyway, I needed to stop her from going to the aid of the hawk. Even if she didn’t get there in time to save the hawk, she would have been able to take out Tāoke while he was weak. I was just sorry I missed the kill shot with the spear.

“We won’t be moving that fast. Even with the high-grade potion, it will be a few days before my bones knit back together, assuming nothing breaks it again. This job has been cursed from the beginning,” the Archer said.

“Eyes on the prize. We have the prize, now all we need to do is to deliver it relatively undamaged, and Smythe will come through for us. If he dies, we only get the coin.” Lavaman said.

“At this stage, the coin is enough for me. I am tempted to kill him and be done with it all.” The Archer sounded bitter and fed up.

“That is the last resort. I will let you break a few bones when he comes around before we knock him out again. Just don’t kill him or permanently maim him,” Lavaman said. “Make sure you use a club or something as well. If he's anything like me, he will have some Skills that can trigger on touch.”

Damn, I was hoping to Spike her. This was going to get tricky. One arm was only semi-operable with the arrow wound in the shoulder, both legs were broken, and I was chained to a metal plate. In a cart. I assumed the lava man would probably pull the cart as there was no sign of a beast around. What would happen if I disabled the cart? I could Spike the wheels. I really didn’t want to be knocked out again, as there was a good chance I would never wake up.

I tried to focus on making a stone knife, but concentrating was hard. I think I might have to add a concussion to my list of injuries. I failed to make the knife. I tried to make a dart and was successful, but that was the limit of my abilities without a rest. I triggered Snakeskin on the hand and forearm of my only good hand and started oiling it to work it loose. It wasn’t going to be easy. I only had a maximum of an hour before they checked on me and started breaking things. Before then, I needed a hand loose, some weapons and to be able to sit up without the world spinning on me.

It took me fifteen minutes to work for my hand to come loose without wrecking anything. I did lose a lot of scales. I could lift my head without the world spinning, but I didn't want to do anything that might alert them to my being awake. I was really wanting Regeneration to get to Journeyman level so I could tell it to focus on one thing, like my head, instead of spreading its effect over all my injuries. I made a knife and a stone wrap for my thighs to try to stop the bones from moving. I was going to need every bit of energy to out last Lavaman. The longer I could delay, the more likely Tāoke would get here. On the other hand, the longer I delayed, the more energy Lavaman would have. Win or lose, this was going to hurt.

They waited the full hour, obviously expecting me to be still unconscious. It was Lavaman that came to check on me, or maybe he came to start hauling the cart. He definitely had a strength-focused approach to his Attributes. He didn’t have any armour on. It seems like he relied on his Lava Armour which was good for me if he was low on energy. The Archer seemed more mobile and perception based, so the spear I had put in her leg should significantly slow her down.

Before Lavaman got too close, I reached over the side of the cart with my free hand and spiked the cart axle, which broke off the wheel and the cart tipped. Lavaman shouted to the Archer and started making his lava club. I rolled with the tip bringing the steel plate with me. Lucky for me, it wasn’t attached to the cart, but even if it had been, I would have tried to bring the cart as well. This was using the shoulder with the arrow, so the pain was spiking.

I rolled over onto my knees with the steel plate on my back and created a Granite Shield between my back and the steel plate for insulation. The Lava club hit the Steel plate and bounced. Curled tight on my knees, my back took the force. As I only had one hand on the chain, there was enough leeway to bring the arm by my side.

I tried to distract Lavaman by creating a row of spikes now I was on the rock floor. He sensed them and stepped away, and sprayed me with lava. The plate kept the lava off me and I hoped he couldn’t get the lava hot enough to melt the steel. The Granite Shield was only partially successful as an insulator, and my skin and back felt like they were being cooked. I created a Granite Wall to take the Lava for a while. Before it melted. This was a battle of endurance between Lavaman and me. My aim was to keep him so low on energy that he couldn't create his Armour, which would make him vulnerable to Venom.

Archer lady was coming armed with a knife. I couldn’t see Lavaman, but Granite Sense and Hearing Aid could pinpoint the Archer limping forward. Lavaman yelled a warning to her, but it was too late. I Spiked her good foot, but I didn’t just Spike it. I shaped the top of the Granite into a T so she couldn’t just pull her foot off it. Hopefully, I pinned her to the ground to concentrate on Lavaman, who was changing tactics.

Lavaman stopped spewing lava and power smashed what was left of my Granite wall with his club. I assume the club was like my spikes and only needed energy to create it and not to keep it going. He created a tiny lava pool under the Spike, holding the Archer and allowing her to roll away. Hopefully, she is too injured to rejoin the fight, although it did hear her drinking something, which I assume was a potion.

I was a bit busy to do anything else to her as the floor beneath me was turning into lava. This was going to hurt. I created a Granite Shield under me, but I couldn’t stay here. I pushed off the ground as hard as possible with my good arm, using a Power Strike to give it extra strength. That got me to my feet and moving back towards the Lavaman, without putting too much pressure on my broken bones. The bones still ground together as I stepped backwards toward Lavaman. I was trying to pin him with the steel plate, but my momentum was stopped after receiving a Power bash with his club. I think the club broke with the amount of lava that splashed off to the side, but my momentum was stopped, and I had to take a step forward, making my bones grind together and my leg collapse under me. At least I was outside of his lava pit.

The club came at me again. Hopefully, he had to make a new club. This time it came at me from the side. The club broke against the edge of the metal plate and splashed lava all down my side on my bare skin, and it just burned. I triggered Snakeskin to stop the burning, even though it worsened the heat. Then I released Snakeskin as soon as I could. The momentum from the hit tilted the steel plate to the side, half-turning me, and I saw him for the first time. He hadn’t created his lava armour, and I took the opportunity to throw my Venom Imbued knife at his centre of mass. It hit and went into the hilt, but he will have a very high Physical Constitution. I hoped I hit something critical like his lungs, but I couldn't be sure as I was trying to get the steel back between us, causing my wounded shoulder to flare up.

I was at the end of what I could do. The only damage I had done to him was a non-fatal stab wound; even Tabitha survived one of those. The club smashed against the steel and flattened me onto the floor. My mind was a haze of pain. I was battered, broken and burned. I could do no more and basically expected him to finish me off.

I saw his foot enter my vision. Then his other food, but instead of kicking the steel off me to finish me, he seemed to stagger. I felt a pull on the Animal Bond for strength. Tāoke had arrived. I funnelled everything I had left through to him. I hoped I had kept Lavaman out of energy, or Tāoke wouldn’t stand a chance. Then Tāoke was thrown onto the floor beside me. Shit, he was big now. He must be over four metres long.

A lava club came down to smash Tāoke but crashed against his Granite Shield, and then Tāoke spat Venom and launched himself back at lava man with a Power Strike and Strength Boost. I saw Lavaman’s feet stagger. I was getting tunnel vision and was going to lose consciousness soon. There must be something else I could do. While he struggled with Tāoke, I spiked his feet and capped them with a T so he couldn’t pull off. He fell over. Tāoke was wrapped around his neck, with his fangs buried into his shoulder. Lavaman had flaming hands burning Tāoke as he tried to remove him from his neck. I think Tāoke had used Granite Bones to lock his joints, so he was not going anywhere. As Lavaman was on the ground, I put a Granite Spike into his chest before I finally passed out.