Page 122 of Code Bound
“Winterberry Wine,” he reads out loud. “For twelve hours after drinking, reduce all cold damage by half effect. Four servings.” He looks between the bottle and the Narwhal. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you,” the Narwhal says. “I haven’t had my horn stroked like that in ages.” He shivers. “It was so . . . enthralling.”
It would be weird if it hadn’t paid off.
Locke stores the bottle away in his inventory and then leaps from the boat onto the snowy edge. He makes sure he has his footing beneath him before he reaches back to offer me a hand. I take it and follow him, leaving the boat and the oar behind.
ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED
You survived the frostbit sea. How very clever of you.
REWARD: I suppose you should get some XP for that treacherous journey.
A notification pops up showing my XP bar increasing by ten.
“Fuck yeah, I got ten, too,” Locke says. “Maybe we won’t have to grind too much each time if we can get XP this easily.”
The Narwhal starts waving its horn in the air, as if to say goodbye, so I raise my hand and wave. It was my powers that called him to us, that made it possible for him to save us. A part of me feels a connection because of that. If I focus on it, it’s like a tiny silver thread connecting my chest to his, heart to heart. It’s a strange feeling, one I can’t exactly feel unless I look closer at it. There’s no control there, no overwhelming power, just a gentle friendly awareness. Something tells me that the high Tier I rise, the more that thread will grow.
“Bye, Narwhal!” I call as I pull my hyena mask out and slide it down over my face. Not only do I want to be aware of any threats, but it helps keep the wind chill off my cheeks and nose.
“Bye, Vesper,” he answers, waving his fin out of the water at me in return. “I hope you find your dad!”
I freeze, my eyes on the Narwhal as he giggles and dives beneath the water, disappearing.
Locke turns toward me. “What?”
“I don’t know,” I say, pretending confusion. I’m just glad I have my mask on already to hide my emotions.
“Are you looking for your dad?” Locke asks, his eyes on me.
“I don’t have a dad,” I answer. “And if I did, he never came around. I don’t know what the Narwhal is talking about.”
“Huh,” Locke says. “Weird.”
“About as weird as stroking his horn,” I tease, changing the subject.
“Yeah, well . . .” He grins. “Fucking with you got us a reward, didn’t it?”
“It did,” I laugh, shaking my head. “We should start moving. We’ll need to make quick work if we want to get to the next zone in the next few days. Should we stop at the safehouse in the Broken Caldera?”
“Where your Leech lover is probably waiting for us?” Locke says with raised brows. “Probably best to avoid it.”
“He’s not my—” I stop and glower at him. “Regardless, we’ll need to find somewhere to camp. We won’t be able to last in this climate for long stretches of time, even with the new winterberry wine you got.”
He nods. “Alright. Let’s?—”
A ball of snow comes out of nowhere and slams against Locke’s face so hard, he topples. He gets his feet beneath him quickly and shoots back up, his brows furrowed, his teeth bared in a snarl. “Who the fuck did that?”
There’s snow on his face, clinging to his hair and jacket, and it makes him look cute despite the look on his face.
Another snowball comes from a different direction and hits him on the opposite side, throwing him off balance.
“Alright, that’s it!” Locke snarls, his hammer appearing in his hand. “Come out here and face me like a man, you coward!”
I pull my own blade from my inventory and look around the white expanse, searching for the source. Giggles echo around us just before a snowball flies from behind a tree and hits me square in the chest. I stumble under the force of it.
Locke snarls and barrels toward the tree where the snowball flew from but by the time he gets there, nothing is there. “What the fu?—”
