Relic: Spear

by Ben Zackheim

  I wanted to ask him about the visions I’d been having. My loss of memory, of self — it was all wearing me down. But I knew the dwarf wouldn’t know the answer. He might have some nuggets of info to dig up, but he’d told me what I needed to know.

  It wasn’t the ah-ha moment I’d been looking for. Or maybe it was. Maybe I just didn’t take into account that the ah-ha moment would actually be much more like an “AAAAAAAAAAH!” moment.

  Chapter 41

  I felt like I’d run a marathon.

  Who knew that news could burn calories? It was a good thing we’d eaten a big meal.

  I’d tapped myself out. I knew there were more questions to ask, but I couldn’t take any more. It would have to wait. We had a job to do. It was time to find my partner and that damn spear.

  “We need to get going,” I said. I stood, but my legs didn’t feel up to it. I had to lean on the table.

  Everyone looked up at me with exhausted eyes.

  “Don’t yeh think we should rest a little before we jump into a Merlin trap?” Alix asked.

  “We don’t have time to rest. We’ve already wasted enough time on this history lesson.”

  Ronin groaned and stood. “Fine. I’ll go get the demon.”

  “No, I’ll go.” I walked out of the room before she could argue.

  I walked and thought and tried as hard as I could to not feel. Feeling would distract me. Feeling would infect my thoughts. I needed to be clear-headed. Not angry. Not angry at being a pawn in some game.

  A game of my own making?

  If I was some kind of embodiment of Odin’s humanity, then that meant I was a pawn in my own game.

  “FUCK!” I yelled. I hit the wall with the side of my fist. Stupid move. Hurt like hell. But the pain distracted me from thinking too much. Mission accomplished.

  If we were lucky enough to find Rebel, and if she didn’t kill me while I tried to explain myself to her, then I’d lean on her for advice.

  It would be like old times.

  That made me smirk. Haha. Old times.

  Those days were gone.

  I found myself outside the library doors. I heard Lucas talking to someone on the other side. I took a deep breath and decided I wouldn’t tell him about being a god. That kind of news could be, how do I put it, distracting. He needed to focus on translating the scroll.

  I pushed the doors open and walked in.

  Lucas was laying down on the table on his back. His long nose drooped toward his chin. It swayed back and forth as he mumbled to himself.

  “Lucas?”

  He didn’t answer.

  “You okay, buddy?”

  The demon turned his head quickly to look at me. After a moment, he smiled. “Just resting the back,” he said. But his voice was weak. I could see he was struggling with something more than back pain.

  “Any progress?” I asked.

  “It’s a tough business, isn’t it, sir?” he asked, as if he hadn’t heard me.

  I nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, it sure is, buddy.” I kept my tone light, conversational. I didn’t know why the librarian was so frazzled, but I didn’t want to take the chance that my stressed-out ass would throw him over the edge. “It’s worth it, though, right?”

  I sounded like I was walking on egg shells, and Lucas sensed it. He frowned at me. “You don’t have to worry about me, sir. I’m fine. I’m just thinking.”

  “What are you thinking?”

  “I’m thinking this is too big for all of us, sir.”

  “I’ve been told that my whole life, Lucas.”

  “Not by me you haven’t. This…” He sat up quickly and waved an arm over the scroll. “This is too big for anyone.”

  “Why do you say that?” He hopped off the table and sighed. “Lucas. Talk to me. We need to get the spear, but I want to understand as much as I can first.”

  He made an odd sound, as if he were choking. But he was laughing deep from his demon belly within two seconds. I crossed my arms and tamped down the urge to kick his tiny ass across the reference shelves.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “I know what you mean. I’ve spent centuries trying to understand everything I could. It’s what makes me the best librarian in any realm.” He side-eyed me to see my response. I nodded in agreement. I didn’t know why he needed the ego-stroking at that particular moment. But I found out the reason soon enough.

  “I know what the scroll says. I know what it is for. I know what it means. But I… I don’t know what it means. Do you understand?”

  I got worried again. “I don’t understand, no.”

  “I know what the spells are. I know what they’re for. It’s laid out as clearly as a map. But even with all of that, I cannot comprehend the meaning of it.”

  “I see. Could you tell me what it says first? Maybe we can talk it through.”

  “Yes,” he said. His face lit up. “Yes, you are good at that. I remember now. I do believe I went too deep into my analytical mind, sir. I’m okay. Really I am. You can put away your concerned expression.”

  “Great,” I said, as I took a seat in a grand chair near the entrance.

  He twirled a chair around to face me and climbed up.

  “The scroll starts with a spell that seems to eliminate choice. It’s a powerful spell and dangerous if any subsequent spells summon forces outside of your control. You can probably see how that would…”

  The room went red.

  My vision was filled with the blood in my veins. Or was it the fury in my heart?

  Kane Arkwright had been pulled into another one of his fucking episodes.

  One last sliver of my conscious brain knew that this one was going to be a doozy. I had just enough time to hope that I didn’t hurt my friend, like I’d hurt Rebel.

  Then I was somewhere else altogether.

  Chapter 42

  I clenched the sceptre of Was in my left hand.

  I clenched the spear of Odin in my right.

  Before me was a cliff’s edge, about 20 yards ahead.

  Merlin was a giant. He rose over the edge of the cliff and loomed over me. His arms were the size of buildings. They slowly crossed as he took me in with a disapproving stare, like a parent sizing up the kid for punishment.

  The only thing more impressive was the sword in his hand.

  The wizard held Excalibur.

  The scene became so still I assumed it was a photograph, a moment in time on display for deities who just so happened to be passing through whatever realm this was.

  The blue sky behind Merlin was dotted with clouds, unmoved by any wind. The silence strengthened the sense of stillness.

  I gripped the spear tighter and heard my leather gloves squeak from the strain.

  The giant wizard’s voice fell from the skies like a distant thunderclap. “If you abandon us now, you abandon peace.”

  I glanced over my shoulder to make sure he was speaking to me. He was. I didn’t know what to say.

  “Did you hear me?” Merlin asked. The thunder was a bit louder now — agitated, you could say.

  I nodded.

  After a moment, he frowned and dispensed with the gentle thunder. “Then what say you, Odin? Don’t stand there like damned shrubbery!”

  The ground under my feet shook so hard I almost lost my balance.

  It was at that moment I realized I wasn’t in a dream. I was in a moment in time, most likely the distant past, and I’d entered the conversation in the middle.

  I was someone else, but I was also myself.

  I was Odin. I was Kane. I was my father. I was the small ghost boy who wanted his body back. I was everything and everyone, all at once, and I was on someone else’s amusement ride. I was a god who didn’t know what to do next.

  I felt the world waiting for a decision. Its fate was in my hands. It was the same feeling I’d had in the dining hall as I realized I was about to find out my true identity.

  With all of the confusion clouding my brain, there was one thing I knew for certain.
Merlin wouldn’t do anything until I spoke. He was hanging on my words. He had no control over the moment, and that would drive him nuts within a few seconds.

  I didn’t have much time to squirm out of this apocalyptic pickle.

  What was the decision he wanted me to make?

  Who was I abandoning? Merlin, certainly. But who else? Kane’s memories swept over me and I heard Skyler’s voice. It was back in Egypt where he’d told me Merlin, Odin, and Isis had once been allies. They worked together to keep the vampires at bay and to destroy Set. Tabitha had told me they’d followed Merlin’s plan until it failed.

  Was I supposed to make a different decision?

  Kane, you fuckpod.

  The words in my head weren’t soft, but they slid in gently. The voice was high-pitched, pained. It barely registered.

  I knew who it was.

  The voice came again. Louder this time.

  What the hell did you do now, Arkwright? Where am I?

  Merlin’s eyes went wide as he faded away. I was being pulled out of the vision.

  The joy I felt grounded me. It wasn’t Odin’s joy. It was Kane’s joy.

  I hit the back of my chair in Freya’s library so hard I smacked my head and saw stars.

  Lucas stared at me, breathless. I could tell he’d been shaking me.

  “Sir! You were having one of your…”

  “Shut up, Lucas!” If I didn’t focus, I’d forget everything. I didn’t want to lose the moment.

  What happened? There was Merlin. A giant Merlin. He was an asshole. I had the spear in one hand. I had the sceptre in the other. I had leather gloves. The wizard called me Odin.

  I glanced up at the demon who was wringing his hands, brows furrowed. I smiled. “She called me a fuckpod!”

  “Who did, sir?”

  “Rebel! Rebel spoke to me!”

  Chapter 43

  I bet we looked like hell.

  Lucas and I barged into the dining hall. Me with my brain of jello, trying to keep my feet under me, and Lucas with the scroll bunched up in his arms and trailing behind him. The blue light from the spells still glowed bright.

  Alix ran to us. “What the devil happened to you two?”

  Ronin threw her hands up. “We let you do one task by yourself, and you come back looking like you took a whiskey bath!”

  I held up my hand to shut her up. “Rebel spoke to me.”

  “What? How? You have been drinking, haven’t you?”

  “The Comm Spell, Ronin. She spoke to me with the comm. It was quick. It was…”

  “What did she say?”

  “I’m thinking! Hold on! She wasn’t happy. I remember that.”

  “She doesn’t enjoy getting her skull shot? Such a bitch.”

  “She called me ass-bubble, maybe? Fuckpod?”

  Ronin nodded. “Good ones.”

  “She asked me something like, ‘What have you done now?’”

  “So she knows you shot her,” Ronin said. “That’s not good. Okay, cut it out. Why did your eyes just get so big, Kane? You’re freaking me out.”

  “Rebel asked me where she was.”

  “Then she doesn’t know that Merlin is keeping her prisoner.”

  I shook my head. “Maybe not. I think she just woke up. I’ll reach out to her.”

  I activated the Comm Spell.

  Rebel!

  Ronin slapped me.

  “What the fuck, Ronin?”

  “Do not use the comm, you idiot! What if Merlin can listen in?”

  I wanted to argue. Hell, I wanted to slap her back. But she was right. I sat down and tried to settle. I closed my eyes and gathered my thoughts.

  It was hard to concentrate when the only thing I could think about was how Rebel had not just responded to me over the comm.

  Had I dreamed her voice?

  Was Ronin right? Had Merlin shut the comm down?

  “We need to find her,” I said, with more than a hint of desperation.

  “No shit,” Ronin growled. “Open the portal, already.”

  I met Alix’s eyes. “We’re going to triangulate, okay?” He nodded once. “You say the spear is west of here, so we’re going west. I’m going to swap us into London’s Spirit HQ. It’ll be ripe with vamps. Any problems with that?”

  Lucas stepped up to me, hands behind his back. “Sir, I’d like to stay here and continue my work with the scroll. This is my area of expertise, and perhaps…”

  “Fine. As long as Freya is okay with that, I’m okay with it.”

  Freya was nowhere to be seen, but we knew she was listening, so we waited. After a moment of silence I said, “I want the mutt to stay here with you. He’ll watch your back while you focus.”

  The dog whined and Lucas protested. “But, sir.”

  “You get all wobbly and stupid when you translate, Lucas. You’re vulnerable. The work you’re doing is too important. No debate. You can reach me on the comm if you need me. Figure out what that scroll says. It sounds like you’re onto something big.”

  The demon sighed and gave a small nod. He walked toward the hallway, but the mutt didn’t move.

  “Go on. Follow him, boy.” No movement. “Follow the little guy. See? Over there. Go on, boy!” Nothing. He just stared at me with his mouth open just enough to let his tongue plop out. “Dude, come on!”

  The dog jumped up and turned in the air. His massive tail knocked into the long dining table, sending it sliding across the room like a hockey puck.

  “DUDE! DUDE! DUDE!” he said. Or barked. Or some combination of the two. He bent his chin down to the floor, but kept his butt up in the air. His wagging tail made Ronin’s hair blow around.

  “Come on, Dude,” Lucas said. Dude whined, but followed him.

  I watched them leave the room. The dog had its tail between its legs. Lucas would have had his tail between his legs, too, if he hadn’t lost it in a nasty fight with a werewolf back in 1923.

  I smiled a little to comfort Dude, but he mistook my smile for weakness. He panted and started to run back into the room. “Go on!” I yelled. He whined again and turned to go, following Lucas down the long hall to the library.

  I felt like shit. But it was the right thing to do.

  Ronin, arms crossed, stood in judgment over me. “So are you going to open the damned…”

  I cut her off by opening the Swap Portal between us. She peeked around the edge of it, frowning. I smiled back.

  “Ladies first,” I said, gesturing to the portal.

  She stepped in. A vampire swapped into the room in her place, as expected. I re-deaded the hell out of him with a shot to the temple. I cleaned off the miscellaneous matter covering my jacket, then gestured for Alix to walk through. He seemed nervous.

  “First time?” I asked.

  “It’s a Solo Spell, Kane. Yer the only one with the Portals.”

  “Yeah?” I asked, remembering my fight with Osiris/Bonehead in Valhalla. He had a Vault Portal with one damn big arsenal. “I have some stories to tell you then, dwarf. Go on. I’ll be right behind you. Your girlfriend probably needs your help with some hemogoblins right about now.”

  He took a deep breath and jumped into the portal as if he was diving into a swimming pool. I remembered I’d done the same thing when I first used it. The sensation of remembering something from my distant past felt good. Then I got to shoot another swapped vampire in the face, which made me feel even better.

  Sometimes it’s the little things, you know?

  I sat in the dining hall alone, but not alone. I got the feeling that every move I made from that moment on would be seen, monitored analyzed. In fact, I was pretty damn sure I’d never be alone again. The gods were watching. I just had to try to stay one step ahead of them.

  “Freya, dear,” I said to the empty room.

  “Yes?” she answered, suddenly sitting right next to me. I smiled at her. It was my best try at charm. I probably looked like a ghoul smirking at a princess, but it would have to do.

  “W
e need to talk about Odin,” I said.

  “Yes, we do.” She put her hand on mine. “Soon.”

  “Don’t do anything stupid,” I said.

  “My beautiful man, my wielder of the sceptre, I will try to make you proud.”

  “Watch over my friend Lucas. Protect him. His work is the key to ending this chaos.”

  Freya looked at me as if she felt sorry for me. She leaned toward me and kissed my forehead.

  “Kiss vampire ass, Kane Arkwright.”

  “I think you mean, kick. Kick ass.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry.”

  “I didn’t know gods blushed.”

  “Silly. You blush all the time.”

  I blinked hard, trying to process the moment.

  Then I stood and stepped into the portal.

  Chapter 44

  I swapped into a hellhole.

  The last time I’d been in London HQ, it was an offshoot of the London Underground. The famous arches and brick walls had been solid, buttressed with iron beams that could hold up the world. I’d met Chester the centaur there. He ran the place. He was a tough one to figure out, just like all the rest of his kind.

  Poor Chester’s Spirit HQ was in ruins.

  The walls around us had collapsed, leaving hills of red brick all around us.

  I glanced back through the Swap Portal to make sure the vamp I’d swapped with was re-deaded. I squinted into the floating circle to try to make out the scene back in Paris. It was like watching a big blurry TV. but it was clear enough for me to see Freya jam a fist upward and through the vampire’s jowls. She yanked her arm free, pulling the guy’s face off as she did so.

  The portal closed.

  Well, I guess Freya had things under control. It took a lot to make my stomach turn, but that moment was one for the history books.

  I looked around the room and recognized enough of it to make a good guess. “We’re in the Main Hall,” I said.

  “I don’t think anyone’s home,” Alix whispered.

  We stood still for a moment. The silence was absolute. All I could hear was my breath and the breath of my team.

  “Something’s here with us,” I whispered.