Dark Horse

by Jay Swanson

  Chakra reached in and pulled the armor the rest of the way from the stone. A second came after it, the matching piece for his other leg. The sparkling veins swirled again until the wall was flat, and then everything went dark. Everything save for the glow of the topaz and its brothers.

  “Both were hidden in there? I would never have guessed, though it makes sense after last time,” the smallcat said as Chakra hurried to put the armor on. “I wonder if the riddles will change now.”

  He threw the false armor over the cliff as he finished strapping the real pieces on. “What do you mean, change?”

  “Well, every time someone fails at this, the armor is returned to the place it was lost, and a new beast replaces the old.”

  “Every time?” Chakra still struggled to believe this had all happened before.

  “Except last time, apparently. That second piece must have been moved. No one makes it very far. For the men that come this way, you’ve already collected more than I’ve seen.” The smallcat bounded up the side of the wall along cracks Chakra could barely see. “As much as I want to see another riddle, Chakra called Chalk, I hope you succeed. It seems a shame for you to make it this far only to get killed on the next. Which, I’ll say, is unfortunately likely.”

  The smallcat cocked his head again as he looked down at Chakra. Those big eyes disappeared twice as it blinked. “Gods be with you, boy. It only gets worse from here.”

  And with that, the smallcat vanished over the edge of the stone wall. Chakra looked after it for a moment before the topaz flared on his arm, beckoning him to move. Time was short.

  There was a lot for him to think about though as he began walking. Who had been here before, and why? There was supposed to be a lot of magic armor left in the world, what made this set so important? More importantly, who had made this place and how did they do it? These creatures, the riddles. Someone wanted the armor to be accessible, but only just.

  The walk back up to the crossroads seemed like nothing compared to the trek it had been at first light. The cave through which he had arrived looked daunting. It stood dark against the last glimmer of dusk, like the gaping mouth of one of the monsters he had sworn to kill. The darkness of it made him think back on his dream of Melina, on the massive castle that stood abandoned, yet not empty.

  What does it mean...? He shook his head sadly as he turned in place and looked down each of the paths that branched out from here. Why did she jump? She would never. I need to hurry.

  The dusk was fully gone now. The topaz on his arm came to life with the night, and he could sense its strength grow as it reached out and connected with the armor on his legs. The veins of teal that ran throughout the black armor seemed to tingle. He could sense their pleasure. Chakra felt safer somehow, now that the five pieces of armor were growing in their bond. He would need all of the added strength he could get if he was to suffer any more wounds, let alone any more grievous wounds than he already had.

  He had heard of men who wore magic armor to give them strength. Their injuries healed more quickly and they could fight faster and more ferociously. This armor certainly seemed to strengthen him as night fell, and even his wounds seemed to protest less when he moved.

  There was no time to waste. He set forward, knowing there were yet three more pieces of armor to collect, one for his arm, a set of boots, and a helmet. There was no need to point or to guess at his next direction. The topaz guided him by the strangest tug of suggestion now, something deep and innate like the nudging of the soul.

  He walked back down the slope, taken to a path that led off to the left of the one he had already followed. The solitary moon was rising now, illuminating the way so that he could make better time without worrying over each step. The path he took dropped him into more dry rocks. These were far closer and higher, a chasm that wound through deep layers of sediment and blocked out much of the moon.

  Cracks opened in the walls, fissures down which he could have squeezed if he needed, places for him to hide... places for other things to hide as well. Then suddenly the walls disappeared and in front of him stood a broad flat plain of stone. Moonlight glistened off a pool in the center. Around the pool grew thick trees, heavy with green vines and surrounded by dense plant life unlike anything he had seen since he had left the cave. He stopped, unclasping the sword from his back as he became aware of the proximity of more armor.

  The boots... How he knew that specifically escaped him, but he didn't care. Not now. For any moment its protector would make its appearance. He hoped it was another friendly riddle, but he doubted very much he would be so lucky. A sickly-sweet smell hovered over the stone here. Death was not far from this place.

  Chakra studied the pool, the light of the stars reflecting gently off its surface as the moon illuminated its surroundings. The moon... He realized with a shock that the plants responded to its presence and appeared where there were none before. The jungle had turned to a desert with the day, and now the plants were returning to the call of the moon. He had heard of this.

  A low growl broke the silence and came rumbling over the water as the plants across the way began to rustle and part. Out from between the far trees, slant yellow eyes caught the moonlight and shone. The shine preceded a monster whose head resembled that of a wolf, but whose body was of a size and weight to match that of a bear.

  The weight of his father's sword seemed to double in that moment as the wolf-bear sized him up from across the pool. The weave of the hilt stuck to his fingers as he adjusted his grip, the flaking leather pulling at his skin as he began to strafe subconsciously to the left. The monster was doing the same, and soon they were circling the pool, waiting for what, Chakra did not know.

  The monster bore its long teeth. It snarled, and then it jumped. It cleared the twenty feet across the pool in a single bound, coming down on Chakra in a flurry of teeth and claws. He dove to the left, swinging the blade back the way he had come as soon as he gained his feet. But the monster was quick, its massive claws batting the sword away as its teeth snapped in the air. Chakra kept the momentum of its parry and brought the sword around as he spun. The monster recoiled to avoid his strike. It lunged forward instantly to bite him after the sword whistled past.

  Gods it’s fast.

  Chakra brought up his foot awkwardly to kick the monster in the snout, but did little more than propel himself away from it with the power of the monster’s strike. Thrown to the ground, Chakra used his momentum as he slid on his back to kick up and over and get back to his feet. No sooner had he done so did the monster leap forward again, snarling as its claws came up to enfold him.

  He rolled forward, bringing the sword up to gouge its belly. The tip drew blood, but the monster's claws flailed and batted it to the side. Before he could react, its tail whipped down at him and struck him in the side of the head. The hit sent him skidding to his left towards the pool.

  The stars in the sky separated from those flashing in his head as Chakra picked himself up and began to back slowly into the pool. This thing… he blinked to clear his vision. It’s too fast.

  The topaz urged him into the water. He didn't know why he should, but he was learning to obey. The monster followed slowly, though not for any lack of intent. It was calculating. It was sensing his weakness. His breaks and bruises and the difficulty keeping his balance were not hidden from it. He felt like it could see straight through him, and somehow he knew it to be true.

  The moon blazed in its eyes, and with a snarl, it lunged out and above him from the shallows. His foot sunk back then, and he realized why the topaz was leading him deeper. He braced with his front foot, and as the monster came down upon him he shoved backwards into the mud hidden at the pool's center. He lurched back, dropping a foot deeper in the water so that the monster cleared overhead, its attack suddenly and totally overshot. Chakra brought his father's blade up as his foot struck the true bottom. He flexed his arms as the full weight of the monster came down on the tip and forced it up through the thick
layers of skin and muscle that protected its abdomen.

  The bear-wolf roared in pain as it splashed into the water behind him, nearly pulling the sword from his hands as it went. He pulled forward over his head, dragging the blade free and forcing himself back up out of the mud to solid footing. He turned as the bear-wolf thrashed in the water, backing slowly up the bank to dry ground as it faced him in a blind rage.

  The eyes truly glowed of their own accord now, a pure yellow flecked with gold that bored into him with deadly intensity. The hatred there was more than animalistic, and in an instant he understood it better than he had ever imagined possible. He could see what it saw, and he knew its hate.

  It launched itself forward through the water, but faltered as it reached the patch of mud. In that moment Chakra leaped forward. He brought the sword around and down on the head of the beast before it could regain its footing. The ancient steel broke the skull and lodged itself firmly at the crown of its head.

  The bear-wolf convulsed, twisting in a roll that jerked the sword from his hands. Chakra backed away from the flailing claws, but before he could get out of the water it had fallen still. The gentle lapping of water against stone was all that remained of the burning energy that moments before had been directed at his destruction. Peaceful night returned to belie the violence.

  Chakra stood for a moment staring at the beast, unwilling to move to reclaim his sword yet despite the urging of the topaz on his arm. It saw me... The words sounded dumb even in his thoughts, but rang true nonetheless. It saw me, and it hated me.

  This challenged his most base of assumptions, that the creatures were tools, monsters formed to blindly protect a power they themselves were enslaved to. But this monster wasn't just a killing machine, nor was it a harmlessly bored guardian. It had the capacity to truly see and, more terrifying to Chakra, to hate.

  He knelt down and found the sword pinned to the bottom of the pool. He placed his foot on his submerged adversary to give himself the necessary leverage to pull his weapon free. He shook the water from it and stared again at the corpse. What am I doing?

  But the castle came back to him then, the lifeless abode of darkness that threatened to claim Melina in his dreams. He could feel her in his arms, the desire for her growing so suddenly and with such power that he ached. And then she jumped. The image shocked him into motion.

  I'm running out of time.

  He sloshed back out of the water, finding a small path on the far side of the pool. It led through the thick foliage and soon came to a small cage carved of stone. Within it rested a pair of dark black boots. Thin blue veins glowed dully in response to his presence and he smiled to see it. He removed his sopping leather boots and pulled the armor on, the interior soft and well supported against his sole. They were, in fact, the best-fitting boots he had ever worn. He jumped lightly to test them out and smiled, again feeling stronger, lighter, faster.

  I'm coming Melina. He strapped his sword to his back and made for the cave that would lead him to the quarry, another path, and two more pieces of armor. I'm coming.

  - - -

  The cave gave him no reason to hesitate as he returned, its darkness held no threat to ward him off. The power of the topaz on his arm was alive around his entire body now, and he could sense what the old man had told him as if he had known it all along. The stones were alive with magic, feeding off of each other and growing stronger as he gathered them together. They were neither unaware of nor ungrateful for his efforts. He could sense that too. As strange as the sensation was, he was bonding with them as if with long-lost friends.

  In return they were strengthening him, encouraging him, and guiding him with a certainty that surpassed any he had ever possessed of his own. The power the old man had spoken of was real, and became his to command with every passing moment. It meant he could actually accomplish what he had set out to do. It meant he would be able to save Melina should he finish his task in time.

  Time, that word was enough on its own to press him forward with a renewed urgency. The possibility of saving her had become probability, and somehow served to raise the stakes exponentially. Where he had been destined to fail, now failure would strictly lie in his own hands.

  I'll stop her. He made the decision as if it had ever been a question to begin with. I won't ever let her jump. I will not let her die.

  He emerged from the cave into the winding stone, and was soon back in the quarry in the mountains. Around the pool there now stood seven stone statues carved from the walls, three new ones to join the four that had been here the night before. The sight caused him to pause momentarily.

  There was another sense creeping in at the edges of his newfound certainty. The idea that he had embarked on something far greater than himself was growing, on something he did not even begin to understand, and that sensation was decidedly unnerving. But Melina was dying, and there was nothing in the world that mattered if she did.

  I’d kill the world to be with her.

  He hefted his sword subconsciously, fighting the urge to dash to the ruins nearby and see her. He needed to finish this, he knew. She was counting on him. So he turned to his left and made for the central path leaving the quarry.

  This path wound and snaked through stone like the others, but rose steadily onward for what felt like more than a mile without the surrounding walls ever dropping a foot. Soon he began to wonder if he hadn't made some mistake, or if he had missed some nuance to the approach. But then with a breathtaking suddenness, he rose above the stone to find himself surrounded by the mountains on a plane that felt like it rested among the stars. The plateau he was now on was expansive, and ran for another few miles before the path continued up the side of a distant peak. As he stood there a moment it felt as if he could see the stars spinning slowly around him in the sky.

  The wind blew cold here, harsh and sharp in the stark light of the moon. The plateau was gray and white, broken and jagged in texture yet simultaneously flat in every direction. At the center stood a solitary tree, massive and dark against the blaze of the moon. Beyond that, where the path ended up the mountain slope, stood the ruined columns of some ancient hall.

  He shook his head free of the involuntary awe in which he found himself. I have no time to gawk, he thought. I need to end this now. He began walking forward, his vigor renewed in the broad expanse between the mountains. Had he not still feared being caught off guard, he would have taken off running in that very moment. That tree, he knew innately, held the next piece of armor he sought: the rerebraces for his upper arms. The topaz on his forearm urged him forward, as eager to be reunited with its lost brother as he was to complete their power and save Melina.

  The tree grew steadily before Chakra until it towered over him, the massive trunk a pillar of strength with no bows of which to speak for the first fifty feet. It was magnificent. Then the topaz flared to life on his arm.

  His next step was nearly swept out from under him as the stone cracked and began to shift. He stopped to catch his balance as the ground began to carry him. He looked up as he stabilized, and saw that the ground before him and behind him was gliding past. Glistening veins in the stone came to life in long lines that encircled and crossed under the tree.

  He jumped inside of the ring, the ground behind him stopping as soon as he did so. Chakra looked around at the glowing designs. It’s a circle, he realized. There’s a circle around the tree that moves.

  He hopped back onto the patch of ground he had stood upon, and instantly the ground began to slide in the same direction it had before. He stood there, watching as the tree appeared to rotate steadily before him, the stars in the sky streaking in the distance.

  What am I supposed to do?

  He looked around, trying to make out the different designs in the ground before him. Numerous lines crossed from one side of the circle to the other, while some remained completely in one section or the other. He looked up at the tree. No better way to get a view of it, he thought.

  It
took him what felt like an age to climb the tall bare trunk of the tree, but his strength was no longer his own. The armor on his legs gripped the wood like it was made for it, and the bark was rough enough that he could find plenty of handholds. Soon he was high enough to reach a thick branch on which to pull himself up.

  His head spun as he looked down. I don’t think I’ve ever been so high. He gripped the tree instinctively. What is it?

  There below him were a few clear patterns, but each of the three circular layers was broken from the others. They’re supposed to be aligned, he realized. He followed the bigger lines from the tree, trying to match them in his mind to their broken counterparts farther out. Then he saw it.

  The sun. He smiled. It’s supposed to be the sun.

  He swung down to the tree, resisting gravity enough with his boots to control his descent but not enough to keep him from sliding. As he hit the massive root beneath him, the boots glistened, absorbing the impact and spreading it out and up into his armor.

  Chakra ran to the mobile circle between the stable two. I don’t have time to waste.

  He kept his focus farther out as the circle rotated, seeing the proper alignment pass once with the inner circle before feeling confident in his guess. On the second pass he jumped back, the rotating circle stopping with a clack. The conjoined lines flared white, and then he was thrown to the ground.

  Chakra rolled to his feet fearing a trap, but realized the outer layer was rotating now. I wondered how this part would work. He waited again, seeing the proper alignment come around and jumping back once more to stop it in the correct place.

  There was another loud clack of stone snapping into place as the lines shone a brilliant white. And then, as the light died down, symbols appeared in the sun’s rays.

  He couldn’t help but smile. This is far easier than the riddles. Too bad the smallcat isn’t here to see me figure it out, I bet he’d enjoy it. Chakra walked forward to inspect the symbols. Famous stars, he realized. And constellations.