Dark Horse

by Jay Swanson

  “Why do I need armor?” Chakra didn't understand. “How will this heal Melina?”

  “The armor is an ancient magic,” the old man said as if that were enough. Chakra's blank stare said that it wasn't. “When unified it gives the wearer an unimaginable amount of power. If you can gather it all, I can instruct you on how to save her life.”

  “Can it... can it bring her back to life if I don't succeed in time?”

  “No boy, it can't. There's no power on earth that can resurrect the dead.” He turned and walked over to Melina.

  Chakra followed, holding her hand one last time before tucking it safely under the blanket and against her side. To his surprise, her eyes fluttered open.

  “Chalk,” she coughed. “What's happening?”

  “Lina!” He grabbed her hand again. “I'm here, Lina.”

  “Where are we?” The words were so weak he could barely hear them, but she was speaking.

  “In the mountains, Lina.” He cupped her face in his hand. Hope rose in him. “I'm going to make you well.”

  “I'm...” She coughed, her eyes closing. “So lost, Chalk. It’s so dark.”

  “Just hold on, Lina.” He placed her hand gently under the blanket again. “I'm coming for you.”

  Chakra brushed her hair down with his fingers, the blue topaz sparkling with the touch as if aware of his feelings for her. He looked at it for a moment, a strange mixture of fear and hope fighting for dominance in his chest. It sparkled again.

  That’s right, he thought. We’re going to save her. Then he looked up at the woods doctor. “Where do I start?”

  - - -

  “Be aware of time,” the woods doctor said. They walked along a broken path through vast living quarters that led out of the back of the castle. “The places in which you will find yourself will warp your perception of it. You know already that your window is small, but it will be made even smaller by daylight. The magic of that topaz will only guide you at night, and you will feel its strength and presence wane as the sun rises.”

  “You said it would get stronger as I pieced the set together,” Chakra said.

  The woods doctor stepped over an open threshold and exited the castle. Chakra followed out into the moonslight. They crossed what had once been well guided and maintained creeks through the garden, walking over broken bridges and slanted stepping stones. The vines that grew over the walls and the wild overgrowth of the garden made it feel as though the castle had never been behind them to begin with.

  It’s all so forlorn, Chakra thought. This place is one for ghosts.

  “It will get stronger, but you won't be able to gather enough pieces to guard against the first sunrise, and by the second it won't matter.” The woods doctor led him out of the garden and to a stretch of bare stone. The ground came to a sudden drop that circled around and away from them. It looked like a quarry. Water from one of the streams above fell into the deep pit from over the edge of the nearest cliff, forming a pool at its center. Still, the whole thing felt contained, quiet, and entirely lifeless.

  They walked down the worn steps carved from the walls of the quarry. The mountains loomed overhead to drown out the stars. Before them three paths opened into the mountains across the pool. Then Chakra realized that one of the shadows above was not a mountain peak at all, but the curving stone of the quarry reaching out over them as if to provide some oversized platform from which swimmers could dive.

  “These paths before you lead to your goals. Down each rests at least two of the pieces you seek, each guarded by its own protector. You must complete your task before the second sunrise, or you will lose your beloved.”

  The woods doctor looked up at Chakra as he finished, dropping his serious tone as he smiled. “I'll take care of her, boy. Don't worry.”

  - - -

  Chakra looked around the pool before checking to be sure his father's sword and the bag of food were still strapped to his back. There were two statues carved out of the wall across the way. A tall knight in full armor holding his sword as its tip rested on the ground, and some noble scholar in long flowing robes with a staff in one hand. Between the statues and Chakra, shooting out from the bank of the pool, stood the three paths cut straight through the rock. Each wound off into the wall of the quarry, making their way up and out beyond where he could see.

  But which path should I take to start? He looked from one to the next. There was little to differentiate between them.

  He guessed it didn't much matter, so as he walked along the pool he took the first right into the stone wall he came to. The passageway was narrow, the walls rising straight up above his head where he could see the open sky. It was carved out of the stone at a winding curve so that it eventually brought him back around to the mountain that had been on his right as they entered the quarry. Except that the mountain was nowhere to be seen. As the path rose above the walls he found himself surrounded by thick foliage, trees arching overhead and tall ferns growing up as if to hem him in. The path came to the top of a small rise before it split into a myriad of directions.

  Blue light reflected off of the broad leaves next to him, and he realized that the topaz on his arm was glowing. He raised his hand to look at it, the gemstone brightening suddenly. It dimmed just as fast before he brought it to a full stop. Chakra furrowed his brow as he studied it for a moment, then he began to point along the nearest path. Nothing happened, so he moved his arm to point along the next. The topaz steadily flared to life until it burned brilliantly.

  “Well, I guess you know what you want,” he said as the topaz began to dim. “Let's see if you're right.”

  Of the paths available, the one the topaz chose ran down and through the jungle he now found himself in. The temperature was warm, as if summer had rolled in during his walk to take the place of fall. As the trees thinned out in a small clearing he realized that the distant landscape looked nothing like the foothills and dramatic mountains he expected to see. The horizon was dominated by monstrous trees, the air hot and thick.

  The path he was on led through another clearing, though the ground cover was so tall that he found it difficult to think of it as a clearing. It soon dove back into the trees farther on.

  Yawning against the night, Chakra shook his head and forced himself to focus. He had no idea where he was going, nor what he would have to do once this trail came to its end, but he didn't want to be caught off guard because he was tired. He came around another bend to find that the trail went on straight ahead for quite a distance. He could see through the rows of trees for a long ways on, though the moon had a difficult time penetrating the massive canopy overhead.

  Moon. He stopped short and looked up. There's only one in the sky.

  They were entering the season of light, the one time in the year both moons entered their full phases at the same time and crossed the sky simultaneously. Where did Aura go?

  Blue reflected at him from the fern on his left. Suddenly the topaz flared as something came crashing through the underbrush and careened into him. There was a snarl as he was knocked over. He shouted in surprise. A furred monster hit him in the shoulder and sent him tumbling before he could roll to his feet.

  It took him a moment to gain his bearings. What was that? He shook his head. Where the path was he couldn't tell, and whatever had attacked him was gone.

  He drew his father’s sword. The dull scraping noise it made as it left its sheath was muffled by the foliage. The fern on his left shook as something came running through it, low and aiming at his feet. He kicked at it, startled by its sudden reappearance, and was rewarded with a raspy squeal as his foot connected with its face. He swung down with his sword, but the thing had disappeared back into the surrounding plants before the blade struck the ground.

  Where’d it go? Chakra turned in place, searching for his assailant, but the plants had gone still again.

  Whatever it was, it hadn't been much bigger or heavier than a small sack of grain. Though it must have claws, he realize
d as he looked at his leg. There were tears in his pant leg, and it looked like he was probably bleeding. He couldn't feel it yet in any case; the adrenaline was too fresh.

  The topaz began to glow immediately before he heard a snarl and the rustling of the underbrush. He spun in the direction of the noise, leading with his sword this time as the monster came flying up and at him. His strike was early, slashing a fern whose decimated leaves burst out in every direction as a brown blur erupted through them. He brought his shoulder around and into the monster. He knocked it down but was thrown off balance in the process. He could see it now as it recovered from the blow in a patch of moonlight. The thing looked every bit like a badger, except its legs were longer and more agile.

  The old man was right, Chakra thought with a rush. It's unlike anything I've ever seen.

  Before he could resume his attack, the badger-cat threw itself at his legs. It clawed and bit, making him twist and spin in an effort to knock it back. Chakra’s heart was racing for his mouth.

  Finally Chakra brought up a knee to knock it to the ground and swung his sword in an arc in front of his knees to cut at it. The blade struck, slicing through a layer of skin and drawing out a scream. The monster rushed off into the foliage, but this time Chakra could hear it go the entire way. It curved back around and came flying at him, screaming the most high-pitched horror he had ever heard.

  He swung up at it, but it got over the strike and slammed into the side of his head, knocking him about as he flung up his arms to ensure it didn't hang on. He poised himself for the attack he knew would follow, and thrust his sword forward as soon as the badger-cat emerged. This time his aim was dead on, the tip of the blade puncturing its throat and sliding easily into its chest on its own momentum.

  The monster came to a halt on his sword, forcing him to lower it with a muffled thunk into the vines on the ground. Its teeth rested just above the metal, its face caught in a permanent snarl. That, he thought, was terrifying.

  He placed his foot on its now silent grimace, and hauled the notched blade free of its victim. He took a moment to look at it in the darkness, smaller in appearance now that it was dead. The topaz glowed as he wiped the blade clean. Somehow he knew it wanted him to go back to the path. He found it easily enough, the trail of destruction in the plants clear enough to follow even in the half-light of the obscured moon.

  That was still strange to him. He had heard fanciful stories of ages past, before there were two moons. As if such things were possible.

  The topaz glowed, silently guiding him farther along as his heart rate returned to normal. In spite of the fear, that had been surprisingly easy. The path dipped briefly before coming up to a low pile of gray stones that had a few plants growing up from between them. On top of the pile and strangled by vines sat a black cuirass. Fixed in the very center of the chest piece was a gently glowing blue topaz.

  Chakra hesitated, unwilling to believe that it had been so easy to overcome the monster that had been promised to stand in his way. If that had been it, and if the rest were like it, then he could get the entire set completed in no time.

  I don't dare hope that to be true. He cut at the vines with his sword, then sheathed it and picked up the leather cuirass. The vines fell away, revealing the metal platework that made up the majority of the armor's surface.

  What kind of place is this anyways? With one moon and monsters I've never even heard of.

  The two gems shone brightly as they were brought together, then settled into a faint glow as he opened the clasps along the side of the cuirass. He stuck his arm and head through their respective holes before latching it all back together. It took him a second to get it firmly fitted, but the pressure of the black armor on his chest was welcome, comforting in its own way.

  Time to find the next little stepping stone, he thought with a smirk, and set back onto the trail to find the next monster. I’m coming, Melina. I’m coming quick.

  - - -

  Aims could sleep anywhere. It was one of those capabilities that frustrated his friends, even though he was only half-aware he could do it. He always slept soundly, and he never dreamed. It was one of the things he secretly credited his ability with the bow to: a well-honed skill came from a sound mind. Nothing made the mind sound better than rest. He always wondered if there was something more to it than that, but he never followed those questions far for fear of what he might find. The world was unpleasant enough as it was.

  He had gone home not long after Chakra had run out to find Melina, but he refused to lie down. The fact that he would just fall asleep as soon as his head hit the mattress left him standing in his family’s room for hours. There was a weight to the flippancy of sleeping. His father’s drunken snoring reminded him of that loudly.

  What kind of a man does that make me if I won't even mourn the death of a friend before I fall asleep?

  He knew a normal person wouldn't even be able to sleep with such things clouding the horizon. They would stay awake thinking, grieving, wishing they could fall asleep. How he could do just that bothered him. So he stood, staring down at his ratty bed in the half-light of the rising moons, trying to hold back the tears building up and the pain in his chest as he thought about Melina. There was no fighting it.

  But there was no fighting sleep either. The weight of his eyelids and the onset of a headache began to wear him down. He had to sleep. And so he tossed himself in bed and let sweet oblivion take him.

  That was when the dreams came.

  There was a field. Suddenly he was among tall grasses wavering gently in a breeze he could not feel. The sky was white, brilliant, and only slowly did clouds take form and the blue return. Flowers were budding among the grass, pink at their center and blood red at the edges.

  The smithy's field...

  Then Chakra was there. Running. He saw something he was looking for and broke into a sprint. The world shook with his footsteps, the grass parted like fabric tearing around him. Chakra was running for Aims. They were ten.

  “Help!” Aims could hear himself scream from the trees that now rose ahead of his sprinting friend. “Someone!”

  The tree cat... Aims realized with a rush to the heart and a knot in his stomach. The animal that had almost killed him that summer. Hurry Chakra!

  Chakra ran into the forest head-long, carving knife in hand, heedless of anything but Aims' plight. “Aims!” Chakra yelled. “Hold on, Aims!”

  He burst into a clearing. Along it ran the gully, whose bed ran dry two summers out of three. And at its edge was Aims.

  “Chakra!” Aims' eyes were so wide they could be seen clearly from across the clearing. “CHAKRA!”

  The tree cat wrapped itself around him and pulled him into the grass. Tree cats weren't much larger than dogs, but they were more than any boy ten summers old could handle. Chakra burst forward again, and Aims could see inside his head. There was no fear for himself, not a care for his own safety. All that consumed Chakra was a burning fear for his friend. “Aims!”

  Chakra took long strides, pumping his legs so hard his feet were bruising. “AIMS!”

  The only sounds coming from ahead were intermingled screams. One a boy, fighting to live. The other a cat, fighting to kill. Chakra came upon them so suddenly he almost lost the initiative, but something kicked in at that moment. Something Aims had only learned to appreciate about Chakra later in their friendship. Chakra was a killer.

  Chakra dove as quickly as his feet could leave the ground, ramming the carving knife into the cat before it knew he was there. It screeched in pain, and rolled to swat at Chakra as he tumbled over and past.

  Aims was weak, broken. He could see his own body in the grass below, bleeding and weeping and on the verge of death. Did I really look so frail?

  “Come on then!” Chakra shouted at the cat, working to keep its attention. There was fear creeping in at the edges now, Aims saw. Fear for himself, finally, but not in the way he'd expect. Chakra feared that if he died, Aims would have no one to prot
ect him. There would be no saving him. As if in his own head, he heard Chakra's thoughts as he stared the cat in the eyes. If I die, you're going with me.

  The cat strafed slowly, knife sticking out of its ribs and drawing a steady pulse of blood. It growled, then lunged forward. It took two steps before jumping, tackling Chakra head on and wrapping itself around him like a steel trap. The edge of the gully was close, Aims realized, too close. But Chakra had known that, and as the cat ripped into him and the momentum carried him off his feet, Chakra pushed off the ground to twist.

  The two went over the edge.

  As the ground disappeared beneath them and the long drop to the rocky riverbed appeared, the cat released its grip in terror. That was when Chakra held on. Not so fast, his voice echoed in Aims' ears.

  The cat clawed and fought to push away from him, but Chakra held on. The fall went quickly, no matter how slow it felt as Aims watched his friend plummet thirty feet. The impact was sickening. The cat's back broke as Chakra was knocked unconscious, the two of them separating as everything went black.

  Aims could see Chakra again, lying on the gully floor the way Aims was lying in the grass. Alive. Both of them, alive, and all because Melina had gone for help. When the cat had dropped from the trees she had run for help, screaming as Aims was knocked down and mauled. The first person to see her running had been Chakra. He was the first one to arrive by almost five minutes.

  Those five minutes would have killed Aims.