Relic: Spear

by Ben Zackheim

  “You dreamed of Tabitha?”

  “Don’t get any ideas, pervert. It wasn’t a dream. I think she worked her way into my consciousness.”

  “Did you feed on her blood, too?”

  “It’s nothing like that. She didn’t have control over me. She just helped me wake up.”

  “That makes sense.” Rebel’s glance begged for me to elaborate. “I mean, assuming she’s right about her fate. Tabitha’s acting like she wants to die. So, if you and I are destined to kill her, then she’d do anything in her power to bring you back. That’s the prophecy, right?” Rebel let out a dismissive chuckle. “I’m just thinking out loud here. I didn’t say I believe it.” Her forced smile faded slowly. Suddenly, her fingernails seemed to deserve her attention.

  “How powerful is she?” Rebel asked.

  “If I had to guess, I’d say Tabitha tops them all.”

  “Really? Why?”

  “She’s the Queen of Vampires. She put the vampires to sleep 1000 years ago. And she’s Isis, the Egyptian goddess of life, for fuck sake. Her fingerprints are just everywhere.”

  “Don’t forget she also conspired with Loki and Merlin to stop the undead apocalypse. How did that work out?”

  “True. She’s not unbeatable. But I think she’s laying low right now. She let Set shoot his load back in Set’s Wound. He’s probably still recovering. His forces started losing ground right after that fight. Now he has an uprising in his ranks. He’s on his heels. She’s fresh. She’s smart. Why are you smiling at me?”

  “She’s hot. You forgot that part.”

  “I just didn’t say it out loud, but I was thinking it.”

  “Good job keeping it to yourself.”

  “What do you care?” I asked, smiling. I’d meant it in jest but it came out wrong. Some things never changed. She didn’t smile back.

  The uncomfortable silence was broken by her heavy sigh.

  The expression on her face was unreadable.

  Chapter 54

  “You think the twins are okay?” Rebel asked.

  “It’s going to take more than a house coming down on their heads to kill them. I hope they don’t test us.” I held the spear in my hand.

  Rebel put her hand over the flame in the fireplace.

  She jerked her head. “Come on, Kane. Let’s get the party started.”

  “First of all,” I said as I sat next to her and put my hand over the fire, “you’re not going anywhere. You’ve been in a coma. We have the spear. And I have a few dozen things to fill you in on.” The burning pain in my palm made me shut my mouth. The donut platform started to ease down. I pulled my hand out of harm’s way and Rebel took it in hers so she could heal me.

  “We’ll have time to catch up on more later,” she said. “Listen to me, partner. I don’t know if I was in a coma, or under a spell. But I can tell you I heard a lot while I was in slumberland.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like Merlin’s hatred of you. He sat by my bed one night. I knew he was there. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. He took my hand and told me how much he hated you.”

  “I killed his wife, Rebel. I don’t blame the guy.”

  “It wasn’t just that. Actually, I don’t think he even mentioned his wife. He blames you for everything. The vampires waking up, Set ending the world. He…” She stopped and touched the wound on her forehead.

  “What is it?”

  “He even blames you for his life. I don’t know what he meant by it. But he talked about pain, and humanity, and magic. I can’t make sense of it. But I can make sense of his anger. I felt it in that room. I heard it in his voice. You have the most powerful wizard in history plotting your death, Kane. He’ll stop at nothing.”

  “Thanks for the backstabbing, assholes,” Ronin said as she bent down and emerged from her glass prison.

  “Did we have to let her out?” I mumbled.

  “I heard that, triple nuts.”

  “She doesn’t put any thought into her insults, does she?” I asked Rebel.

  “She doesn’t put thought into anything.”

  “So you’re a relic-hunting duo, and a comedy duo now,” Ronin said. “Impressive. That the spear?”

  I held it up. “This is it.”

  She inspected it. “Doesn’t look like all that.”

  I pulled it away from her reach. “It’s enough.”

  Ronin clapped her hands loudly. “So what now? I feel like shooting someone!”

  “Will you please calm down?” I yelled. “We’re trying to figure things out here.”

  “There’s no more thinking to be done, Kane,” Rebel said, letting go of my now-healed hand. “We have to go after Merlin. Fast. He’s weak. You guys scared him. You might have even hurt him. We need to take the fight to him.”

  I couldn’t argue with that. I had my partner back. I had the spear that seemed to be a key weapon in the war. I had more answers than I could handle. But I did have a question. “Why does Merlin want the spear?”

  Rebel leaned back in the chair. After a moment, she met my stare. “I think he wants to destroy it. I can’t remember. It’s tied to you somehow. Maybe he thought it was a good idea to kill you with it. I don’t know, it’s all a jumble. It’s like his anger for the spear matches his anger at you.”

  “Somehow, he found out about my house’s safe,” I said. “And he must have known that only you and I could open it without triggering the security system and blowing the whole mansion up.”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, that may have been my fault.”

  I looked at her sideways. “What do you mean?”

  “He’s Merlin, Kane. He could have extracted what I knew about the spear — its location, everything. He could have used a half-dozen spells, and I wouldn’t even remember it.”

  “That’s a comforting thought,” Ronin contributed.

  Rebel stood. “That’s why we need to get going.”

  A rumbling from the other side of the library door shut down the conversation fast.

  “Your sweet little twins woke up,” House said. “I’d say you have about twenty seconds before I get to watch all three of you die.”

  “You could just bring the library down on their heads, House,” I said, joking.

  “I like the library more than all of you combined.”

  “Okay, team,” I said as I opened the Swap Portal. “That’s our cue.”

  Ronin walked up to the portal, ready for a fight. She almost stepped in, but stopped short and asked, “Where are we going?”

  “Merlin’s Cave,” I said, then I shoved her through.

  Chapter 55

  The scent of salt air reminded me of better times.

  I wasn’t a big ocean guy, but I’d had my share of fun getting sand and salt in my ass crack. The last time I’d been on the ocean’s edge I was with a new girlfriend. Kelly was her name. Beautiful girl with eyes big enough to see through me. She knew it wouldn’t go very far but she didn’t care. I did what she wanted us to do, went where she wanted to go.

  Rebel had the brilliant idea of a double-date at the beach. Me and Kelly. Her and some guy. Dave, or Doug, or something. All I remember was that he had no idea what he was in for when it came to Rebel.

  The date started well enough. Everyone was polite, cracked a few jokes. Doug tried his hand at humor but, apparently, he hadn’t heard a joke since his fraternity days.

  Something happened a couple of hours in.

  We’d chowed down our meal and inhaled some colorful drinks, so we decided to walk on the beach. I held Kelly’s hand and we strolled ahead of Rebel and her man. Kelly talked about college and looking for a job. Her mother had voted for a politician she didn’t like. She did some heavy venting while the sun set. I tuned out her conversation for a moment to hear what Doug or Dave or Dan was talking about. Whatever it was, it was very impressive to him. I picked up the words ‘401k’, and ‘Mercedes’.

  We reached an isolated part of the beach just as the day turned t
o night. I spotted a couple of guys walking toward us in suits. Not exactly beach material, but to each their own, right?

  But then one of them smiled.

  I didn’t like that smile.

  I held up my hand so Rebel could see it. I made a fist and raised my pinky.

  Our signal for vampires.

  The two vamps ran at us playfully. The idiots didn’t know who we were. They thought they’d feast on a foursome and brag to their buddies later.

  I ducked down to tie my shoe.

  Rebel leaped over me. I caught a view of her fingernails sparkling in the moonlight like distant waves on the sea. She practically slashed the head off of the first hemogoblin. She got ready to take out the second one.

  “Hey!” I yelled. She raised her arms in the air and ducked under the second vamp’s wild swing.

  I pulled my Glock from the Vault Portal and re-deaded him before he could swing at my partner again.

  Rebel and I stood next to each other, trying to catch our breath. When we looked around for our dates, we spotted them both running down the beach in the other direction.

  “Shit,” I said. “I liked her.”

  Rebel nodded. “She liked you. The other you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean? What other me?” I slipped the Glock back into the portal and closed it up.

  “The fake you.” She smiled and walked ahead of me.

  I emerged from the memory and breathed in the apocalypse’s clean ocean air. Rebel walked through the wild grass ahead of me. It was high noon but the sun barely lifted the temperature above freezing. Behind me, Ronin took the rear. Guns drawn, of course.

  I’d swapped us into the right area, but we were about 5 miles from the tourist trap called Merlin’s Cave. It was a bit of a shot in the dark to look for Merlin there, but not by much. Spirit always aimed two satellites at the cave because it had often shown massive spikes in energy and magic.

  Merlin was there.

  And he was waiting for us.

  The cave would be protected by enough spells to choke a troll. We’d have to work our asses off to even step inside.

  The leisurely walk had been a nice break. It had given me time to think. Rebel didn’t want to talk, so I let her be alone. I had to give her space. I wanted to fill her in on everything. I needed to fill her in on everything. Thinking about recent events overwhelmed me. I couldn’t make sense of any of it. I needed to bounce ideas off of my best friend.

  But she was pretty clear she needed to get her thoughts together, too. So what choice did I have but to watch her walk on the beach twenty yards ahead?

  We finally reached the cave. Its massive round shape cut deep into the cliff below Tintagel Castle. It looked like a huge mouth screaming. The blue water was pulling back as the tide went out. It left a pristine patch of beach with smooth sand glistening in the sunlight.

  Every step we took toward the cave felt heavy, dangerous. Rebel waited for me and Ronin to catch up.

  “What do you think?” she asked me.

  Without a word, I opened my Vault Portal and reached inside for the sceptre and the spear.

  “This is what I think,” I said, smiling.

  But Merlin’s attack came from the inside out.

  Suddenly, all three of us keeled over in pain from his spell. The wizard was going to take us out before we even had a chance to take a step into his home.

  I’d always wondered why Magicists went into hand-to-hand combat as much as they did. It seemed like a waste of time and energy. Why not just hide and boil your enemy from a distance? I’d asked Rebel once or twice or a thousand times before. She’d either wave me off, roll her eyes, or tell me to fuck off.

  Apparently, Merlin felt the same way I did, so who was fucking off now?

  It sucked that we were going to die with pulverized guts, but it felt good to kick the bucket while being right about something. I’d take it. I take my victories where I can.

  The pain wasn’t a burning one. The searing jolt flooded from my heart and seemed to leave an iron weight on my veins, as it retreated like a tide pulling away. It was a little bit like eating a cannonball. Or crapping one out. Maybe both at the same time?

  Ronin was the only one able to scream in pain, but she did a good enough job for all of us. The sound tore through my head, adding a searing agony to my ears just in case my heart’s cannonball turd wasn’t uncomfortable enough.

  I felt someone push me down to the ground. Liquid poured over my face and ran down my throat.

  And then the agony was gone.

  Just like that.

  I didn’t even feel a lingering discomfort. My body felt normal. The gentle sounds of the ocean waves settled back into my head.

  “What in the fuck was that?” Ronin asked.

  She helped me get to my feet and pulled a little bit too hard, launching me toward the blue sky. At the top of my flying arc I heard her holler “Sorry Kane” before I hit the beach and slid a few yards.

  As I stood up, I realized that the liquid I’d felt on my face before Merlin’s spell broke wasn’t water.

  “Rebel!” I yelled. I marched at her with maybe a little bit too much piss in my vinegar.

  My partner had her back to me. I saw her head sag. She knew I’d figured it out.

  “I had to,” Rebel said, sounding exhausted and penitent.

  “Had to what?” Ronin asked, her confusion laced through every word.

  I sensed I wasn’t being fair but I let my rant pour forth. “You need that stuff!”

  “Well, now you can live to die another day, Kane. How does one o’clock sound?” She glanced at an imaginary watch on her wrist. “Does one sound like a good time to die?”

  Ronin stepped between us and held out her arms to get our attention. “What are you two blabbing about?”

  “Rebel fed us some of Skyler’s potion,” I said. “It’s precious. She should have saved it.”

  “Yeah?” Ronin yelled. “What’s the potion do? Make you a bigger asshole than usual? She saved your life, genius. Settle down.”

  Rebel got a kick out of that. She tried to give her sister a high five, but they remembered they hated each other and pulled back.

  Ronin nodded her head. Slowly at first, and then with more verve as she thought it over. “Yeah. I see what you mean now. I feel fantastic! Strong! Healthy!”

  “Horny,” Rebel said, pointing her thumb down at my crotch.

  “Hey,” I said. “This is on you, Rebel. Deal with it.”

  “I think I could handle that,” she said, glancing downward.

  “How long does this potion last?” Ronin asked.

  Her sister shrugged. “No way to tell.”

  “Then we’d better get going while the going is strong. And rock hard.”

  “You’re right,” I said. Rebel sucked in a deep breath. She exhaled, reaching her hands high above her head as she walked ahead of us toward the cave, her red hair glistening in the sun.

  Damn, I was horny.

  Ronin shot me a quizzical look and I shrugged. I’d never seen my partner raise her hands straight over her head for a spell before. As Rebel entered the darkness of the cave, she lowered her arms slowly, and a white glow flowed from the side of her torso, weaving through the air with the slight ocean breeze.

  The spell expanded and wrapped around us like a cloud.

  I didn’t know if it was the potion she’d poured down our gullets, or the misty spell she’d cast, but something made me feel invulnerable at that moment.

  “Wicked,” Ronin said with a toothy grin.

  I agreed.

  Chapter 56

  “Merlin!” Ronin yelled.

  The echo roared around the cave like a call to battle. The woman was ready to roll. As usual, she was too caught up in the moment. She didn’t have the experience with the serum that Rebel and I did. Ronin had always been a loose cannon. With the serum in her, she’d be a loose nuke.

  I hoped the effect wouldn’t wear off at an ino
pportune time. It had a tendency to do that.

  Rebel glanced over her shoulder. “Shut up, sister. Don’t let the power get to your head.”

  Ronin chuckled. “Too late.” She lifted a pebble from the sand and crushed it between her fingers.

  I heard a faint sound from the dusky cave light ahead of us. I raised the sceptre, realized there was no way to aim it like a Glock, and lowered it again.

  Something moved in my field of vision. Whatever it was, it was tiny. I realized the noise was the sound of skittering feet.

  “A mouse, maybe?” Ronin muttered.

  I didn’t let my guard down. I wasn’t going to take any chances. We were in Merlin’s cave. The unfriendliest place on the planet.

  “Don’t shoot!” a high-pitched voice hissed from somewhere up ahead.

  “Show yourself,” I said.

  A small figure stumbled into view, his tiny feet splashing in the shallow veins of sea water lining the sandy floor. His hands were up, but I knew enough about pixies to know that raised hands meant nothing. They can cast some of their most wicked spells with their hands high.

  “Please, Mr. Arkwright, don’t use the sceptre of Was on me.”

  “Tell me what you’re doing here, pixie.”

  Rebel scoffed. “You have to ask? These pixies follow you everywhere, Arkwright.”

  She was right. The pixies had taken a liking to me since I’d stolen Excalibur and Mjölnir from under the vampires’ noses. Pixies were big on hero worship, and I’d been their chosen hero for a few months. It had come in handy up until then, but I was also keenly aware of how fickle pixies could be.

  A hero one day. A pariah the next.

  The pixie slowly let his hands settle down to his side. “I’m here to warn you, Kane Arkwright. You must know that there is danger ahead.”

  “No shit,” Rebel said.

  “More danger than you know, Kane Arkwright’s partner.”