The Duelist

by Eric Vall

  On the one hand, Zoie was drop dead sexy, and the second I saw her, I was sure she came straight from every one of my wildest comic book fantasies.

  At first, I thought she needed me only to rush in and protect her from dangerous men and beasts alike. It was true I was useful and needed when she was being dragged through the streets, or swarmed by demons, but the more time I spent around her, I realized she also needed protecting in other ways.

  This world’s social structure seemed very oppressive for someone like Zoie. Actually, I gathered so far this world was oppressive to pretty much everyone who wasn’t a part of “Club Asher.”

  In any feudal caste system, basic necessities for living were usually controlled and provided by the higher powers that be. If the lords and landowners were gracious, everybody usually got by just fine. If they were power hungry and tyrannical, however, it made for a hard life filled with cruelty.

  I didn’t have any knowledge about the other isles that made up Aventoll, and the impression I got from the ram-lord Duelist of Nata Isle was too short for me to really form an opinion. But from the brief snatches I managed to piece together through our conversations, I got the picture Zoie at least had been shown very little compassion in her life, if any at all.

  And if I was very lucky and played my cards just right, she might let me be the person to change all that. Who knew how long I would be stuck here anyway? It wasn’t like I had a whole lot going on for me back home. At least here, I had more of a purpose than replacing watch batteries.

  At least here, in this beautiful, bizarre, and sometimes terrifying world, someone actually needed me.

  Zoie gave me one of those shy half-smiles as she drew her hand back from where it was still lightly carding through my hair.

  “Hello,” I said to this ethereal beauty, and I tried not to make it obvious how short of breath she made me at every multifaceted turn. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

  “Why are your eyes sore?” she puzzled and tilted her head in that little endearing way she did.

  “Never mind,” I chuckled as I sat up in the bed so I could face her properly. “What time is it?”

  “It is midday,” she answered.

  “Really?” I asked and looked out the window. The drapes were still drawn aside from earlier, and I could see that same velvet sky spangled with the silver moon and bright stars.

  “Yesterday, you experienced Aventoll’s longest day,” Zoie said with a little mysterious smile, “and today you will get to experience the longest night. Come, I want to show you something.”

  “Okay,” I said and let her lead me out of the room by the hand. The day and night thing really threw my internal clock off, but I didn’t really have time to think about that as I was being led along by this beautiful creature.

  We were silent as we traversed the corridors, but there was a low buzz of excitement in the air between us. It was almost like we were children sneaking around when we shouldn’t be, and I turned it into a sort of game when I heard Jenner’s short tell-tale footsteps.

  “Quick!” I whispered and pulled Zoie behind a dusty tapestry.

  We pressed close together trying to keep our snickering laughter from giving away our positions, and we layered our hands-on top of the lantern to try to smother the light. For a second, the footsteps stopped in the hall right in front of our secret alcove, and we both held our breaths. I could feel her heart pounding just as hard as mine, and I brought my finger up to my lips with a playful grin.

  Finally, Jenner continued on down the hall, and we both breathed out in relief.

  “Why were we hiding from Jenner?” Zoie whispered now that the footsteps were far enough away, but she didn’t seem in a hurry to leave our nice little cuddle.

  Neither was I, really.

  “Because it’s fun,” I chuckled.

  “Fun,” she repeated as if the idea was completely foreign to her.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Didn’t you ever play any games when you were younger? Like Hide and Seek?”

  “We were trained in stealth tactics, and all of us were required to participate in field exercises regularly,” she replied matter-of-factly.

  “I--wait, wow, really?” I asked, and I was momentarily distracted by how disheartening that sounded. “No, I meant, did you ever play any games when you were a child? Like with other children, just because you could.”

  Zoie thought for a moment as she tapped her fingers against the lantern still cradled in both of our palms.

  “When I was very small,” she began, “I would play Catch and Chase with the other kits in the village. Is that what you mean?”

  “Yeah, exactly,” I said. “How do you play Catch and Chase?”

  Zoie then gave me a mischievous smirk that was dead sexy, and I suddenly felt the temperature behind the tapestry heat up a notch.

  “One person initiates the chase,” she said in her low smoky voice as she pressed even closer to me, “and the other tries to catch them.”

  “How do you initiate the chase?” I rasped. I could feel all the blood in my head flowing south when I saw her pupils dilate, and my heart increased its tempo like a snare drum on a roll.

  “Like this,” she said and brought my head down toward hers. Just when I thought she was going to kiss me, she instead leaned up and gently nibbled at my earlobe with her teeth.

  I was rock hard in seconds.

  “Dammmnnmn, girl.” I exhaled shakily, and one of Zoie’s sharp canines nipped at the soft skin of my ear again. It was pleasurable in the way that it was just on the knife’s edge of being painful. If there wasn’t a wall behind me, I probably would have folded to the ground like an ironing board.

  Just when I was on the verge of forgetting my own name, Zoie pulled back, and the rush of cold air where her body had been was like being doused by an icy bucket of water.

  That maddening smirk was back on her face, and it only grew wider due to the fact I was probably gaping at her like an idiot.

  “Catch me,” she taunted, and before I had a chance to even react, she twirled out of the tapestry.

  “Wow. She’s amazing.” I coughed from all the dust that shook loose from the ancient fabric, but I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.

  I managed to untangle myself from the fucking death curtain just as I saw the light of Zoie’s lantern disappear around a corner, so like the name of the game implied, I gave chase.

  And boy, did she lead me on a merry chase indeed.

  Zoie seemed to take me all over the manor, and as fun as it was, I soon caught on there was a method to her madness. She was teaching me the layout of the manor as we played tag like middle schoolers, and it was like she was teasing me for having to be escorted back to my room last night like some wilting maiden.

  “Do you need a map?” Her voice confirmed my suspicions as I chased her down the main staircase that seemed to be the heart of the manor.

  “You’re in so much trouble when I catch you!” I called out and then jumped the last three steps onto the ground floor.

  Her only reply was a low laugh as she led me down the passage to the weapons cache, but my Duelist Stone glowed under my shirt, and the sconces lit the way as I closed the distance between us bit by bit.

  Actually, I had a feeling she was letting me gain on her, and if she really wanted to give me the slip, she would have done so ages ago. Her footfalls were nearly silent, whereas my big-ass flippers made loud slapping noises as I ran down each stair. In fact, the only reason I was able to follow her for this long was because she kept hold of the lantern. Without its guiding light, I had no doubt she would have soundlessly disappeared into the shadows, and I would probably still be up on the third floor chasing my tail instead of hers.

  I reminded myself to ask her for stealth pointers later.

  The door at the far end of the cache had just closed when I burst outside into the north courtyard with the stone garden.

  “Where are you, kitty cat?” I said to mysel
f as I looked around for my prey.

  The garden was a simple design of hedgerow and decorative standing stones that reminded me of the altar-like thing when I woke up on the smaller island. When I ran through the garden the first time, on my way to the east fields, I didn’t really notice anything special about it other than it was overgrown like the rest of the estate.

  Now, though, I could see what the artist intended by it.

  For one, it was pleasantly symmetrical. Everything on the left side of the white-stoned path complimented the right side. If the left side had peach rose-looking hedges, then the right side had blue ones. Two matching pools of water were surrounded by eight obelisk structures exactly, and each stone had those strange-yet-familiar etchings. Identical marble walls with crawling ivy bracketed the garden on either side like book ends, and I could see there was some sort of mural depicted on each one.

  I spotted Zoie as she raised the lantern to look at the mural on the left wall. There was something sobering about her expression that called for seriousness, and I approached quietly to preserve the atmosphere.

  We both observed the mural in silence.

  From what I understood, the mural showed an artist’s concept of Aventoll. The main backdrop was a blue ocean, and in the center a chain of eight green shapes were arranged in a near-perfect circle.

  Above the archipelago was an image of a beautiful woman with locks of golden hair swirling around her. She held a golden sun clasped in both hands over her heart, and as she hovered above Aventoll, a continuous stream of tears flowed from her closed eyes.

  “Long ago,” Zoie began in her low timbre, “this world was a sunless wasteland full of violent creatures. Desperate and dying, the people cried out for salvation, and the Goddess heard them. With her tears, Mercedes poured out the ocean and drowned the scourge that hunted her people. And then, with her own heart, she gave us a sun so life could flourish out of the darkness.”

  I didn’t feel like she was done, so I kept my mouth shut as I studied the somber cat-woman.

  Zoie’s hand came up to touch the gold sun, and then she trailed her fingertips down the Goddess’ tears. “The last of her tears were the most bitter, and she cried them down upon the isles and turned the rivers and streams salty with the reminder of her sacrifice.”

  She glanced at me to make sure I was following along, and then she took my hand and led me back to the center in between the two gardens.

  A simple post was mounted in the middle of the white-stoned path, and Zoie hung the rock lantern on the hook at the top.

  “But then the Moon became jealous,” she continued, and we both watched the orangey-pink light sway in the light breeze. “The denizens of Aventoll had parties and celebrations for the Goddess and her Sun and forgot all about the time when He was their only light. So, He created a new scourge to terrorize Aventoll’s people.”

  “The demons,” I said, and Zoie nodded her head.

  “Over one hundred seasons ago, the Moon turned red with rage after the people celebrated their Longest Day of Sun,” she said. “Deep in the earth, at the bottom of the ocean, He brought the Demon Tide. They came every night the Moon glowed red, and no matter how hard the people fought, the demons proved to be indestructible. Even if they were cut down, they simply absorbed back into the earth only to be reborn again the next time.”

  My wife took my hand again and brought me over to the right side of the garden.

  The mural on this wall was nearly identical to the left one, with only small differences. This time, Aventoll was painted at night instead of during the day. The ocean was a dark purple studded with stars, and the Goddess Mercedes had her sky-blue eyes open. In her hands, she replaced the golden sun with a silver one and held it high above her head. She was still crying, but this time her teardrops took on the shape of fish as they swam around Aventoll.

  “Mercedes saw her people were suffering yet again, and she sent her children to feed off the scourge that came from the sea,” Zoie said as she pointed to the fish. “But the people needed a way to defend themselves from the scourge on land, and so the Goddess sent her final shield called Bhraya.”

  As if the very heavens were waiting for her cue, a light appeared in the sky and added a gentle blue radiance to the atmosphere.

  “What is that?” I asked. At first, it looked like a star, but then it pulsed distantly like a blue gas flame, and I suddenly knew what it was. “It’s a comet.”

  “Bhraya came to us on the Day of the Longest Night,” Zoie said as she nodded her head. “When it passed overhead, it rained down upon Aventoll the power to vanquish the scourge. Those who were blessed were able to channel her power with the light from Bhraya. These men became the first Ashers appointed with the sacred task of purging the demons from Aventoll.”

  Zoie touched the Stone that rested against my heart, and I looked down and saw it was glowing a gentle blue kind of like when it lit up in the weapons cache. Only, instead of the muted white of the cache, this light was icier to match the comet in the sky.

  “How often does the moon turn red?” I asked and examined the sky again. The moon looked a little sinister now that Zoie filled me in on the history of Aventoll. I was just waiting for it to change into the eerie blood-red color, but it just hung in the sky like any other moon.

  “Last night was the first time in over seventy-five seasons,” Zoie said. Her voice was steady like always, but I could see a trace of worry in the tightness around her mouth and jaw.

  “Oh,” I said.

  “Now, do you understand why I am worried?” she asked and peered into my face.

  “Yeah, seventy plus years is kind of a big deal,” I answered.

  “Not just that,” she said and brought the Stone up to examine it again. “What you did with Dagmar gave you a Duelist Title, but when you killed the herald demon, you became an Asher by right.”

  “And now because I possess a demon’s core, there might be people who are angry about it, or might want to challenge me,” I theorized.

  “Exactly so.” She nodded. “Not only are you one of Mercedes’ children, but you have been recognized as one of her most blessed in the way your Stone glows brighter as the Bhraya approaches.”

  I studied the Stone against my chest. The shield thing etched onto its face made a little more sense after Zoie’s explanation, and the three fish that circled it actually looked like they were swimming due to the soft bluish light from within.

  “You know, it’s funny,” I said with a little laugh, “but I think I met one of Mercedes’ sacred fish-children the first time I got here.”

  “What do you mean?” Zoie asked as she tilted her head.

  “Well, when I ‘traveled’ here, I had to swim to this island,” I explained. “Then one of those giant fish in the ocean started fucking with me.”

  Zoie’s face turned even more pale under the light of the moon, and I knew I did that saying-too-much thing again.

  She brought a hand up to her mouth. “You saw a Sacred Fish?”

  “Let me guess,” I snorted. “No one’s ever been blessed or special enough to see one, right?”

  Zoie blinked at me with her hand still pressed against her lips. A high rosy color flushed her cheeks as her eyes filled up with moisture, but before I had a chance to think I seriously upset her, she blurted out a string of those chiming giggles and butted her head into my chest.

  “What?” I asked with a slow smile. I had a feeling I was being left out of the joke, but I didn’t really care because it was nice to see her truly laugh.

  “You are something I do not have words for, Alex Brightwood,” Zoie said when she settled down.

  I pulled her closer into my arms so I could admire the feel of her warm strong body and the way the heavenly comet glittered in her indigo eyes.

  “Seriously, though,” I said and brushed some of her hair behind her ear. “I know this has been a lot for you, too. We barely know each other, and I’m not sure what exactly any of this means,
or what my part in everything is yet. I just don’t ever want you to be afraid of me. No matter what, I will always just be Alex.”

  “That is why I could never fear you,” she murmured, and then she pulled me down into a sweet kiss. “And thank you.”

  “For what?” I asked.

  “Dagmar,” she said simply.

  “I’d do it again in a heartbeat,” I replied, and I meant it down to my core.

  “Ahem,” a voice shattered our private little bubble and made both Zoie and me jump apart.

  Jenner was standing above the garden in the courtyard with his arms folded across his chest and one eyebrow arched, and I couldn’t get over how much his stern attitude intimidated me even though he looked like a cuddly teddy bear.

  Arvid was also standing next to him with his usual slow blinks and vague smile, and in his big shaggy arms was a bunch of blue fabric.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Jenner said, not sounding sorry at all, “but Blue Night is wearing on, and we have much to prepare. Ms. Zoie, I believe Arvid has something of interest to you.”

  “Zoooiee,” Arvid agreed, and then he raised the bundle up a little higher in his arms.

  Zoie gasped a little and walked up the steps to join them. “Is that my dress?”

  “Zoooiee,” Arvid confirmed.

  “I thought Dagmar sold it,” she said, and the fragile hope in her voice made me wish I could kill the bastard all over again.

  “I took the liberty of, ah, setting it aside when you came to stay with us,” Jenner said.

  “Thank you,” Zoie breathed and closed her eyes for a brief moment. “It was my mother’s.”

  “I thought it would be nice to have on hand, is all,” Jenner said and waved away her gratitude as if what he did for her was nothing. “Now, go on, child. The Bhraya’s eclipse will be upon us in a few hours.”

  With one last glance at me, Zoie took Arvid’s arm and walked with him back to the manor. I watched her steps bounce a little in her excitement, and I put my hands into my pockets as a feeling of contentment washed over me at the sight.