Chapter 42: I’ll Come Back To You
As they walked, Calista stood close to Sam and said in a whisper, "Are we really doing this? I mean, Valanta is hot, but are we really gonna get involved in a civil war for her?"
Sam turned around lightning-fast and pommeled Brion’s head with the hilt of his katana, knocking the prince out cold. "We’re not getting involved, and neither is he," Sam said with a grin.
"What... What was that for?" Gabrielle asked.
"He’s gonna get himself killed. I want you three to take him back to the Emerald Draconis and keep an eye on him. Gabbie, I know you have some herbal potions you can make to keep him in a deep slumber until we get back to Braska. Please do so," Sam commanded.
"What are you gonna do?" Lazula asked.
"I’m going to apprehend Sylar," he proclaimed. "Please make an extra batch of sleep potion for him too."
Calista smiled. "So you’re not gonna kill him?"
Sam sighed. "Not if I can help it."
"Should we have the ship ready to depart when you get back?" Lazula inquired.
Sam nodded. "Hopefully we can get the fuck out of here before it gets too bad."
"Brion probably won’t be happy that you left without aiding in the war," Gabrielle pointed out.
Sam shrugged. "Fuck him. It’s my choice, not his. And if he tries to lock his mother in the dungeon back in Braska, I’ll just have to use a little aggressive negotiation to get what I am owed."
He then thought for a moment. "But I need you to promise - if waiting becomes too dangerous, leave without me."
Calista immediately shook her head. "We’re not gonna leave you!"
"It’s not up for debate," Sam said sternly. "That’s an order from your Captain. If things get too dicey, you get Brion back to Braska. I’ll find a different ship and meet you there if it comes to that."
Calista’s eyes began filling with tears as she hugged him. "You better get back to the ship before we leave."
"I’ll certainly try my best," Sam replied.
"Not good enough!" Calista said, almost weeping. "You have to promise! When we thought you’d died back in Ravager’s Roost, my heart shattered... I can’t go through that again. I can’t, Sam! I can’t!" As she finished those words, she was lightly punching Sam’s chest in frustration.
"I’ll come back to you, okay?" He pulled her back into a hug, holding her tightly. "I promise. I promise, okay?"
They held each other for a long moment, and then she stepped back and nodded.
"I promise all three of you, I’ll come back," he insisted.
Everyone looked around at each other for a moment and then nodded. Gabbie had been training to strengthen her vines over the previous few weeks while they were en route to Nexus City, so she was able to use them to create a stretcher for the unconscious Brion. Lazula used her storm magic to create a draft underneath the stretcher so that it was floating, and then Calista cloaked the girls and the stretcher so they were all invisible.
Once Sam saw them vanish from sight, he ran into an alley way and did a series of wall jumps back and forth all the way up so he could run along the rooftops looking for Sylar. He channeled his Mana as he ran and jumped over each gap between buildings. To anyone looking up from the street, they would have just seen a blur of movement through the night sky as Sam rushed by.
He roof-hopped for a while, and then finally spotted the white hair of Sylar running through a thin alleyway below. Sam summoned his green katana and then used his Mana to boost himself and power up his Aura as he jumped off the roof, spinning like a corkscrew within a tornado of emerald flames, aimed directly at the drow.
Sylar sensed Sam coming, and spun around just in time to counter his katana with an ice shield. Sam then kicked off the shield to jump back up into the air and spun himself forward with his blade like a flaming, spinning circle saw, cutting his way down through the ice shield.
Sylar growled and threw his hands out in front of himself, using blasts of icy wind to push himself backwards several feet, just barely avoiding Sam’s sword.
As soon as Sam hit the ground, he rolled out of the spin and rushed forward at the drow again. They repeated that song and dance a few times, with Sylar continually using ice shields to block Sam’s katana and then blasting out of the way with icy wind.
But one of the times, Sylar did not dodge, taking the full force of Sam’s katana from above. The drow grinned as his head was split open, after which the ice clone exploded into dozens of icy tentacles that wrapped around Sam’s throat, limbs, and torso.
"You’re not the only one who uses clones," Sylar said with a grin. He was leaning against a wall nearby with his arms crossed.
Sam smirked despite being choked by a tentacle, and then opened his mouth and fired out three massive green fireballs at the drow.
"You think mere dragonfire on its own is a match for me?" Sylar shook his head and held up a hand. "How pathetic."
The drow summoned icy mist from his palm to dispel the fireballs, but at the last second, each one shifted into a clone of Sam with their own katanas.
"What the fuck?! AARRGGHHH!!" Sylar shrieked out as two of the blades lopped off each of his hands, the third pressed to his throat.
The clone in the tentacles vanished, and the real Sam walked out from the shadows. "Bet you didn’t expect my clones to make their own clones. By the way, I saved Brion after you left him to die. Despite that, he still loves you. He asked me not to kill you. Will you come quietly?"
"You may have taken my hands, but that does not mean I am beaten!" Sylar cried out as his severed hands jumped to life on their own, began flying through the air, and grasped onto the throats of the two clones that had lopped them off. They choked the clones so hard that both clones vanished.
"Ew, that’s gross!" Sam said in disgust as the two hands then took out the third clone that had the blade to Sylar’s throat.
"You cannot possibly fathom the true scope of my power!" The drow cried out as hands snapped back onto his arms and healed instantly.
Regenerative healing even with severed body parts? Sam thought to himself. Well, fuck. This fight just got a lot more interesting...