by Ren Ryder
And I wasn’t ready to lay down and die for the sins of my past.
Fin burned with crimson mana. “I know everything, Kal, and I plan to get my revenge, one way or another. You should know I didn’t fight my way back from the Otherworld to let bygones be bygones. You fae are the enemy.”
“You’re going to die here, alone,” Samantha hissed.
Sammie’s eyes flooded with darkness as she brought her crimson mana to the fore. Her staff glowed red and a beam of fire lashed out from the tip, moving like a snake.
“I don’t think so,” Bell said, summoning a wind wall in front of us.
The fire whipped back and forth but couldn’t penetrate Bell’s defenses. That was where Fin came in. He charged us, shattering the wind working with his lowered shoulder. He landed a clean hit on me, sending me flying. I crashed into a stall twenty feet away, my head ringing and thoughts sluggish.
But I’d survived a direct hit from Fin.
“Man, that guy packs a punch.” I stood up shakily, feeling like the earth was moving beneath my feet. “I don’t need to fight you guys to stop this.”
“You don’t have a choice but to fight,” Samantha said.
Sammie raised her staff. A dozen orbs of fire formed above the shining ruby. She tipped the staff in my direction and the orbs shot off towards me like cannonballs.
I dragged a huge swath of mana out of my source by force, shoving it into the confines of my body. Strength flooded my limbs and my senses returned to me right before the fiery orbs converged over me. I could feel the heat across my body and the flames starting to burn my hair to a crisp. Turning sideways, I reduced my profile and took the hit on my left side, covering my head with an arm.
I got burned.
The marketplace was a tinderbox waiting for a spark, and Sammie’s fire set it alight. The stalls started to catch fire, the flames leaping from one stall to the next, again and again. Soon the whole place would be in flames.
Drawing my sword, I sprinted straight at Fin. He rushed me head-on with nothing but his natural stone jewelry for protection. I swung my sword straight at his torso, putting all my strength and momentum behind the strike.
Fin blocked my sword with a bejeweled forearm, then stepped inside my range and wrapped his right hand around my neck. Bell swooped down and bit savagely into the big guy, but he didn’t even flinch. The veins of my neck bulging, I gasped for air as Fin’s fingers constricted around my throat.
The bones of my neck crunched together.
I swung my sword again, aiming for the legs. Fin dropped me and stepped out of range before the blow could land. Falling to my knees, I choked and gasped for air.
Bell flew over to my side, licking her lips. “Kinda different, but not as gross as I thought it would be.”
I ripped off the left sleeve of my shirt, which had caught fire, and stamped it out on the ground. “We’re taking the first chance we get to escape,” I told her.
Bell made a face. “Running from this isn’t going to change anything, Kal. You need to stand and fight.”
I rubbed the sweat off my forehead with my left forearm. “Easy for you to say, that Fin’s a monster and Sammie is a powerful mage besides.”
Bell scoffed. “We’re all monsters here. Let’s show them the difference between us. Stop holding back and fight!”
Bell’s words reverberated inside me.
A wall of flaming shadows swept out from Sammie’s staff and hit me square in the chest. I slid back ten feet under its force, and the flames started eating away at my shirt. I ripped away more of the fabric until all I was left standing in was my cloak and trousers.
Fin moved into striking range and struck out with a series of furious blows. I dodged and wove through the attacks, knowing a single misstep could mean my head. Neither of the siblings intended to give me space to prepare a counterattack.
Clenching my fist, I fed bits of mana into my sword as I dodged a flaming missile and bowed backwards to avoid a sharp left hook.
“Bell, distract her.”
Switching my grip on the pommel, I held my sword point-down as a cyclone of wind ripped out of the blade.
“You got it,” Bell tore off with a dangerous look in her eyes, flying straight for Sammie.
Fin burst forth with another wave of crimson mana, and his eyes went bloodshot as his veins pulsed beneath his skin. He roared in challenge. I blinked and he was right in my face, coming in with a feint followed by a lightning-fast punch.
I ripped my sword upwards to meet it. The flat of my blade met Fin’s fist, sending out a shockwave of wind and power in all directions. Both of us slid backwards from the force of each respective blow.
Fin shook out his meaty fist, staring at his raw, bleeding knuckles.
Bell was locked in a tense magical battle, meeting fire with wind. My sylph companion fought valiantly, but I hadn’t intended for her to fight Sammie on equal terms.
“Blaise, Ash, Coal!” I screamed out for the winged hounds at the top of my lungs.
As if they had been waiting for my command, the chimeras rushed into the fight, nipping at Sammie’s heels. Sammie was forced to summon a protective wall of fire to keep the hounds at bay. Forced to fight on multiple fronts, the advantage tipped back towards Bell.
Fin’s eyes tracked the change in the battle.
I snapped the fingers of my left hand to get his attention. “Over here, big guy— your fight’s with me, or did you forget?”
I watched Fin give into his berserker’s rage. His eyes went flat and his muscles swelled in size. He snorted and sniffed the air like a wild beast, pawing at the ground with his back foot like he had become a bull.
“Well that taunt was super effective,” I said, dodging to one side as Fin charged past me.
Fin crashed into a row of stalls, absolutely shredding them to bits. He crouched down, slipped his fingers between the cracks in the stone pavement then ripped a whole segment of the sidewalk up. Muscles bulging, he raised the stone slab above his head then threw the whole thing.
“Oh no,” I said as the slab sailed through the air straight at me.
Crouching, I hopped into the air, then leapt off the stone midair, flipped over the obstacle and landed beside Fin on the other side. Fin lashed out like a wild beast, and though I was able to get my sword up to block his first blow, they just kept coming. My sword flew out of my numb hands and pinged off the ground, landing several meters away.
Tearing off my cloak, I spun it around and acted like a matador, fanning Fin’s rage with the rippling fabric. He took the bait and charged through the rippling material to try and tackle me about the waist, but I wasn’t there anymore. I leapt straight up as my cloak caught Fin about the upper torso, wrapping around his face and upper body like a boa constrictor.
I sent a surge of mana through the sigil on my chest, then shot a blast of wind into the air above me, sending me straight down like a loosed arrow. Landing on the big guy’s neck, I heard an audible crack as something gave. Fin fell to the ground senseless, beaten.
Heaving a great sigh of relief, I crouched down beside Fin and poked him in the back a few times. He writhed on the ground and I could hear his muffled screaming, but he wasn’t able to get back up to fight.
Turning my attention to Sammie, I coldly analyzed the ongoing battle. Sammie was holding her own against multiple attackers, beating off the chimeras with her staff and sending out big orbs of fire to menace Bell. The dogs looked beaten and on their last legs, and Bell was covered with sweat.
Bell’s wind spears and daggers were getting burned up before they could reach Sammie’s flesh. For now the battle remained a precarious stalemate, with Sammie unable to finish off any one of her weary adversaries despite standing unharmed in the midst of it all.
I walked over to where my sword had landed and picked it up. Holding it in both hands, a cold realization dawned on me: right now, while she was distracted, I had the perfect opportunity to kill Sammie.
A black pall fell over my heart.
I fed an influx of mana into my sword, letting the wind rage around it in a cyclone before I compressed it into a sharp spectral blade. Setting my feet and taking my stance, I poured even more mana into the sigil on my chest, staining myself silver.
My head pounded, full of competing inner voices. Snarling, I put a lid on my inner turmoil and steeled my heart for what I planned to do.
Flashing across the intervening distance, I raised my sword high to strike.
“Please, no,” Fin’s muffled plea rang out.
Fin’s words cut through the noise in my head just as my sword started swinging down.
“I don’t have anything more to lose,” Fin finished.
I diverted my sword at the last instant, slicing the ruby affixed to Sammie’s staff in half. Breathing hard, I looked Sammie dead in the eyes, staring into those deep pools of emerald green I used to know so well.
My hands were shaking so hard I slashed my ankle open on accident. I looked down to assess the damage. Fortunately for me it was just a flesh wound.
“Kal, watch out!” Bell screamed.
Sammie lunged forward and gave me a bearhug. My collarbone fractured and cold waves of pain flowed through my body. I shivered, holding tight to Sammie, my first real hug in a long time.
“Why— won’t— you— just— DIE!” Sammie punctuated her words by jabbing her cursed dagger ever deeper into my body.
I lifted my left hand, ignoring the shooting pain that went through me, and patted her on the head. “I’m sorry Sammie, but I decided I can’t let you be the one that kills me.”
She twisted the dagger sharply and forced it out the other side of my body. “You don’t get to decide that. I’m the one who decides— me!” Sammie screamed.
An odd sensation plagued me, it was like my life force, my source, and my very soul were being drained out of me the longer I was in contact with the cursed dagger. A chill spread through my body, freezing over my innards and taking away the pain of living. It was rather comforting.
I rubbed Sammie’s pack with my free hand. “You can’t get back what’s been lost by taking from others, Sammie. Turn back, before it’s too late.”
“You want to me to take advice from you. From you,” Sammie devolved into hysterical laughter. Eventually, she sobered, and said, “You might have gotten stronger, but you’ll never be able to defeat the Duke. He gets what he wants, he always has. There’s no stopping him.”
“You just sit back and watch. I’ll stop him, if it’s the last thing I do,” I promised.
I broke Sammie’s hold over me and stepped back out of range. Her grasping fingers naturally took her cursed dagger along for the ride, ripping it out of my flesh.
I sheathed my sword and turned my back on Sammie. She could’ve attacked me then, but she didn’t. Walking over to Fin, I stripped my cloak off him and threw it back around my own shoulders. The big guy gasped for breath rolled onto his back, staring listless at the clouds above.
“Come on pups, follow me,” I commanded.
The chimeras growled at Sammie, then whined at me, lowered their heads and pattered over to my side. None of the winged hounds were badly hurt, but their lolling tongues made it clear how exhausted they were.
“I agree with the doggies, this is big dumb,” Bell said, nodding to herself.
I shrugged. The marketplace was going up in flames, which made it my second arson in the past couple days. Well, at least I wasn’t personally responsible for setting this fire.
“Ah, damn that hurts.” I bent over, rubbing my chest. “I think I cracked some ribs.”
“You’d think you’d be more concerned about the hole in your shoulder, but what do I know,” Bell said, and sniffed.
My left arm was covered in third-degree burns and welts seeping with puss. The skin writhed and boiled as it worked to heal itself. “I think I’m gonna hurl,” I said, then bent over and puked my guts out.
Fin grabbed my ankle as I stood and strode past him. I stared blankly at the meaty palm wrapped around my limb, then I kicked loose of his hold and stepped out of his range.
“Let’s get out of here, Bell. We have a monster to beat and a coup to stop.”
Chapter Fifteen
I didn’t make it more than twenty paces beyond the marketplace before I was surrounded by The Watch. Ostensibly they were assisting the fire brigade in keeping civilians away from the blaze, but I knew the Duke had his claws in their ranks. I made quite the scene when I emerged from the fire, bleeding and shirtless. The chimeras dogging my steps caused an uproar among the lookie-loos gathered around to observe the spectacle.
“Halt!” a Watchman commanded. “We have you surrounded. Whatever evil machinations you’re up to, this is the end of them.”
I guffawed. “Pfft, wow, you really got me with that one. Because you Watchmen are paragons of justice, right?” I couldn’t help it, I shook with laughter.
“He’s cracked in the head, sir.”
“Weapons up. Fire on my command,” the Watchmen’s leader said.
“Another step and you’re a goner!” one man yelled, his pistol aimed straight at me.
“Hold your fire! I said on my command!”
I held up a hand to forestall the score of trigger-happy men. “It’s just, how can you say that with a straight face? I guess as long as the Duke keeps you flush with money and high on laplace, you could care less what he gets up to, isn’t that right?”
“Shut your mouth! You don’t know who’re you’re talking to—” a green recruit motioned towards his leader, “this is Pike, commander of The Watch. He protects the people of New London from monsters like you.”
One of the Watchmen looked around nervously. “Boss, we got lots of eyes on us.”
While the crowd of citizens was shrinking away, most of their eyes were glued to the scene. A contingent of imperial guards shouldered their way to the forefront. At their helm was a man I knew all too well, Neil, sub-captain of the enforcers.
I decided to take my opportunity to grandstand. “Spread the word people! Duke Regulus Maddox is the one flooding your streets with monsters, and tonight he plans to kill the emperor and take the throne for himself!”
Everyone gasped, common citizens, Watchmen, and imperial guards alike.
Neil stepped forward to confront Pike, flashing his badge for all to see. “We’ll take it from here, commander. This man will be taken into custody by the enforcers. My people will oversee the containment of this fire. You would do well to have your men return to their posts."
Pike went pale and backed off, looking like he’d seen a ghost. “Tch. Whatever. String him up good for me.”
Neil smiled, thin-lipped. “Don’t worry, the enforcers will see to it that justice is done.”
The imperial guards spread out to cordon off the area, pushing back the onlookers to a safe distance. A baker’s dozen men came to surround me and the winged hounds, blocking the rest of the area from view.
Neil edged his way through the wall of guards to speak to me. “I told you I didn’t want to clean up your messes. What is this?”
“Looks like a mess,” Bell chimed in.
“I found the lab,” I told the enforcer, and watched his eyes light up. “But the Duke wasn’t there, and the monsters had been moved. I released the so-called ingredients from their cages and got all the information you need from the deranged mind behind the making of all these monsters— Doctor Hargath.”
Neil’s eyes flashed like finished steel. “And where is this Doctor Hargath?”
I shrugged. “He’s down in the Under, where I found the lab. You can have a look if you like, when the fire’s burnt out. Not much left of him to interrogate though, Bell already had a go with him.”
“You made some bold claims,” Neil said, tracking back to my earlier comment. “Can you back them up?”
I nodded. “Maddox is done working from the shadows. He’s staging an attack from his mansion tonight. It
’s the best opportunity you’ll have to connect him to Ouroboros.”
Neil clenched his fists. “If that’s true, this is the perfect opportunity for the enforcers to act.”
“That’s what I thought too,” I said.
“Okay, cuff him,” Neil ordered, and the wall of men moved to take me into custody.
I backed up, hands raised. “What?”
Neil raised an eyebrow. “Don’t resist, you’ll just make things harder than they have to be. I need you to say your piece to the captain so we can assemble a strike team for the Duke’s mansion.”
“I don’t see why I need to be restrained for that.” I whistled to the chimeras. “Get out of here, find somewhere safe.”
The winged hounds leapt into the air and beat their wings furiously to take to the skies. A few guardsmen drew their pistols to take aim at the fleeing chimeras, but Neil stopped them from firing.
“Leave them, they’re no threat to us,” Neil said.
“But Neil—”
“That’s sub-captain to you,” Neil corrected. “You heard me, that was an order,” the enforcer said, then turned to me. “How’d you manage to get those monsters under your control?” Neil asked.
“Trade secret,” I shrugged. “Okay, I’m ready to go now. Let’s move this along.” I motioned to the imperial guardsmen inching closer, drawing the net closed around me.
“Are you sure this is a good idea, Kal?” Bell whispered into my ear.
I sighed. “No, I’m not sure at all.”
I let the imperial guard restrain me without a fight. Someone grabbed my arms and put them behind my back, then slapped a pair of cuffs on me. I winced as the iron seared into my skin, reigniting the pain from my old manacle scars.
“Hey, not so tight!” I hissed.
I shouldn’t have said anything. Someone swept my feet out from under me and took me to the ground. I expelled a lungful of air, wheezing as one man drove an elbow into the back of my neck.
It was hard to accept my position as a prisoner when I was the one who did all the work to uncover the Duke’s plot. I stretched my back, rubbing against the uncomfortable metal chair. I was in an interrogation room in enforcer HQ, chained to the table. Bell was in a little birdcage hung from a hook on the wall, staring daggers at everybody in the room.