Kim's Swords

Kim was pretty sure these creatures were harpies, though the mythology about them that she was aware of only had them as female, so the ones that looked more male, as in lack of breasts, made Kim wonder if these were something else entirely or if the mythology was wrong.

Either way, she could tell that while Elin's magic had repelled a good number of them, they were still approaching and weren't going to change their minds about bothering both her and Elin.

Kim gripped her short sword tightly in her right hand. She would have liked to have drawn her bastard sword, but when she had cut it out of the Aquis' body after he'd been killed, the blade had turned a bluish-purple. She wasn't sure if that was merely an effect of having been plunged into the fire dragon's chest, but she wasn't going to take a chance with it until she could get Elmo to check it.

Which was part of the reason she was so driven to find both Elmo and Jonas. The other reason was one she felt but couldn't identify. Almost like she didn't want to lose Jonas 'again' despite not having any memory of having encountered Jonas before. She tried not to think about it too much, since it just tended to give her a headache when she tried.

Kim was satisfied with Elin's attempts to whittle down the harpies' numbers, but she couldn't help but worry that the numbers of these creatures would be too much for her on her own. Or at least too much for her to handle while also keeping them from attacking Elin. If she was by herself, she was confident that she'd have been able to deal with all of them, including the ones that had already fled or been killed by Elin's magic.

As the harpies got close enough, Kim swung her sword at the nearest one even as Elin's Sacred Flare erupted among the group again, making Kim feel like some of her hair was probably getting singed from the closeness of the fire. Not that she cared too much about that in this world.

When her sword bit into the harpies, she felt satisfied that her blade cut through them just like most any other creature. There wasn't any scales to limit how deep she'd be able to cut, like Aquis had had before he burst into flames as a fire dragon, even if he was as he had indicated with his last breath an incomplete fire dragon. One that wasn't a true fire dragon just yet.

Even the feathers felt like they were more of an annoyance as she slashed into the birds, killing each one with each swing of her sword. Kim was pretty sure that their bones were as hollow as a real birds, which made cutting through them that much easier.

Their claws scratched at her armor, not able to penetrate through her, no matter how they screeched and glared at her. Their hatred very clear, even though she didn't really understand if it was directed at her personally for some reason, if they held a grudge against all humans, or if this was solely related to Elin's massacring them before they were even in range to attack.

Kim couldn't help but feel surprised at how easy these creatures were to defeat. They seemed like berserkers, attacking with no thought to their own safety. Not even trying to dodge Kim's strikes.

When she had a brief moment in the fight, she could see with a quick glance that they harpies hadn't even bothered to go after Elin. They were so focused on Kim herself, that she couldn't help but wonder if she was the only thing that existed as far as they were concerned right then. Especially since Elin was just standing there, looking rather indecisive.

Which Kim could understand. If Elin used any of her spells to attack, there was a chance that the spell would miss and hit Kim instead. Not that she cared really. She was confident that it wouldn't disrupt her ability to defeat these harpies, even as they almost seemed to fight each other for a chance to rake their claws against her armor in an ineffective manner.

One thing Kim was very confident about was the fact that these creatures weren't very intelligent. Or if they were, then it was being suppressed by something that Kim didn't understand. Nor did she really care at that moment. All she was worried about was stopping those that were attacking her and to keep them from going after Elin.

When she finally felt the last one fall to her blade, Kim wasn't surprised to find that she was drenched in sweat. The afternoon sun was well past the canyon wall, leaving both Elin and Kim in shade, which felt a little refreshing with how much of a sweat she'd worked up in that fight.

"Are you okay?" Elin asked.

"They didn't get to me," Kim said, her mind wandering as to why the harpies had attacked in the first place. She wasn't completely sure that's what Elin was really asking, but hoped it was.

They'd already passed through this area already on their way to where they had encountered Aquis again, so she was pretty sure it wasn't because the harpies considered this their territory or something like that. "Their claws merely scratched my armor."

Elin let out a deep breath, sounding very relieved. "I wasn't sure what else I could do," she said, making Kim wonder what was going through that girl's mind.

While she hadn't really known much of what went on in Elin's mind, she at least had an inkling of it. However, now Elin seemed to look at Kim a little differently. She wasn't sure what had changed, or when, just that there was a change. Not that she was too worried about it. It wasn't like either of them had been seriously injured by that attack.

Kim merely looked around, wondering if there was anything to really take note of here. While there wasn't anything really noteworthy at the moment, she couldn't help but notice a kind of round shadow on the other side of the canyon, almost to the top. It didn't seem to be affected by the position on the sun, but it did look like it might be a kind of cave, although it was too distant to see how deep it might go, if it was a cave.

If they backtracked to get to one of the natural stone bridges to cross, it would take them a couple of days and Kim couldn't say if that was something they really should do. Not only could she not be sure that it was in fact a cave, but it was at least twenty feet above the highest ledge below the top of the canyon.

Since there wasn't anything that could be done about it right then, Kim pushed it out of her mind. She didn't need to worry about something that might be nothing, nor did she need to waste their time for something that could very well be a complete waste of time.

So, she started continuing along the same path, pushing the possible cave out of her mind. Since it wasn't something she could take a closer look to verify, she wanted to be sure that it didn't bother her. If it did, then she knew that it would only be a matter of time before she took the time to find out if it was significant or not. She knew the chances were against that, but at the same time, she knew that her mind wouldn't let her alone if she dwelled on it.

"Uh, Kim?" a voice startled Kim out of her thoughts. She looked around frantically, her heart feeling like it was ready to pop out of her chest on it's own. After a minute, she realized it was Elin who had spoken. Either it was a subject she was uncomfortable with or Kim's reaction had made her uneasy about whatever it was that she wanted to say. If not both.

"Go on," Kim urged, feeling a little guilty at making Elin hesitant about whatever it was that she had wanted to say.

"Uh…" Elin hesitated for a minute before shaking her head and looking at Kim, her eyes blazing her determination to say whatever was on her mind. "Why did you draw your short sword? Wouldn't you bastard sword have been longer?"

Kim merely blinked in response at Elin. She wasn't sure what her choice of weaponry had to do with why Elin had felt concerned enough to say something, but she also didn't want to push her lover away over something as simple as that.

"Well, you know how I had to cut it out of the dragon's body, right?" Kim asked, feeling like she should walk Elin through her reasons rather than just giving a short, simple answer.

Elin nodded, not saying anything, though her eyes kept their intense look.

"When I got the sword out, it had changed color," Kim finished. "I wasn't sure if there were any changes or what they might be, so I planned on not using it until I can get Elmo to check it. Just in case something had changed that might not be good for my health."

"Why didn't you say anything?" Elin asked, sounding like this was the sort of thing they shared all the time.

Kim looked away as she shook her head. "I didn't see the point," she answered simply. "I don't share much with others when it's not needed, and this wasn't something I thought that I needed to share with anyone."

"Do you still like me?" Elin asked, startling Kim.

"Wha- why would you ask that?" Kim asked, not sure what she should say. Nor did she understand where that came from.

"Because you haven't acted like it," Elin muttered so quietly that Kim almost didn't hear it. "You just kept pushing us to look faster and didn't even think that we should slow down."

Kim was at a loss for what to say. Had she really been like that?