Into the Hells

by Christopher Johns

  Wimp, I growled back and alighted on my perch. I shifted back out of my owl form, then tried looking at the stone to see if I could spy what I was trying to dig to. I saw something dark but, other than that, nothing that I could try and pull out by hand here.

  I took my earth elemental form and began clawing my way around the ore. I wasn’t focusing on completely clearing it of dirt—just freeing it from its home.

  I dug faster than I thought that I could. It could have been that now there was some space between the vein of ore and the stone itself, or it could have been my embarrassment at having been so close to Vrawn.

  Not that being that close to a woman like her would normally be a bad thing—but fuck, man. I resolved to stay faithful, and the second Maebe is gone, I have her breathing down my neck?

  I took my frustrations at myself out on the stone and relieved another foot of the metal within. I felt the form beginning to wane as fast as the sun on the horizon. It was time to cut through this shit and get back. I brought my clawed fingers against the metal, and it took me scraping well after my elemental form reverted. It was taking so long, and I didn’t dare use any of my real weapons to sever it.

  I cast Stone Weapon and made a battle pick—a larger, deadlier version of a pickaxe that a miner would use and began to hammer away with the sharpened pick portion. The hole I was in was too small for me to use my aspects, so it was the old fashioned way that had to do. It was a little easier, but the stone began to give way after a few swings, and I had to switch sides.

  It took having to summon another two picks in the same manner, but I got through it. It was heavy, ungodly so, but I was able to toss it into my inventory before I leaped down from the side of the mountain, shapeshifting mid-fall and flying the rest of the way down.

  I landed in front of Vrawn and smiled. “I think I’ve got what we need. I don’t know what it is, but I got it. You ready to go back?”

  “Do we need to go immediately?” she asked softly. “I would like to see the stars, if at all possible.”

  A simple request, and with me having finished the nails so soon, I did have the time. Plus, the stars out here were gorgeous. What was the harm in a couple of friends enjoying a scenic view?

  Yeah, yeah. I know. A lot could happen. But maybe this could be how I let her down gently, you know? Let her know what’s up? That I’m not comfortable with doing this without Maebe knowing. Or without me even knowing what I wanted? Yeah. We could look at the stars.

  But that’s it. I am a classy broad, damn it. She hadn’t even hinted at treating me like a real lady.

  “Okay, sure,” I thought for a second, then added, “but not here. I know a place. Let me carry you in the collar again.”

  She smiled and reached out, funneling into the collar again. I sighed, then shifted into my owl form once more and flitted into the air. I rose up until the plateaus of the mountainous ridge beneath me were visible—high above the trees, the view unspoiled.

  I landed and willed Vrawn out of the item around my throat. As she solidified, she glanced at me, then at the stars above us.

  Her mouth worked in silence for a moment, seemingly speechless.

  I smiled despite my earlier reservations. Bringing someone here would have been a nice thing to do if they enjoyed seeing stars. I found myself wondering how Maebe would like the view.

  She was Celestial herself—would the stars reflect along her skin, the way that they did my fur? I looked down at my black fur, the white specks that represented the stars in the heavens all over the sky above. They gathered in spans and galaxies that I didn’t recognize but were still captivating. I raised my gaze to see a star twinkling in the distance, eons having likely passed before the light ever graced these skies. Then it went dark. In the loss, I noted that the lights of the stars around it began to shine brighter in its absence.

  How like us had that been? Losing Balmur, having to get stronger so that we could get him out of the Hells.

  I found myself wondering if we failed here and War won out, how many of these stars would fade as the one had? How many of them would cease to exist, and it would be because we couldn’t hold the line and beat them?

  “You are such a striking figure in the silvered paint of the moon, Master Zeke,” Vrawn’s voice posed, breaking me from my internal dialogue. I looked over, and she was seated against a rocky shelf that had grass growing beneath it. “It is quite inspiring.”

  “Oh?” My left eyebrow raised in response. “How do you mean?”

  “Fur black as night, and eyes of steely blue,

  The face of a fox and a heart that is true.

  Mind well your steps depraved evildoers, minions of War,

  For he who hunts you will ride and search from shore to shore.

  Embodiment of darkness, closed off always and cloaked in gray,

  Stars pulse to life at the edge of his sword, deals with demons hold over him no sway.

  Flee the darkness, weakest foes, minions of War,

  For his justice is swift, you are never safe—no help you can implore.

  Beard of dark flame, stout and strong,

  Axes flash swiftly and sure, seeking what is wrong.

  Mind well the shadows, defilers, minions of War,

  For it is he who strikes when least expected, and you’ll breathe no more.

  Servant of light and mixed blood with love bore,

  His sword and shield will aid, his faith will restore.

  Move swiftly, sinners, minions of War,

  For he is retribution coming, there is nowhere left to hide anymore.

  Children of Dragons, black and green,

  One who is one, and the other on wings unseen.

  Do not close your eyes, cowards, minions of War,

  For they will ensure together, that settled is the score.

  Frigid and cold, nothing can escape his eye,

  Cunning and dashing, his many arrows fly.

  Accept your fate, the hunted, minions of War,

  For his is the bow that will bring the end,

  until thoughts of minions are no longer fore.”

  My fur stood on end as she finished the last stanza of the poem. “Where did that come from?”

  She blinked and shook her head with a small shrug. “Sometimes I have been known to spontaneously burst into poetry when inspired.”

  “Vrawn, there were things that you couldn’t have known in there, things that described my entire party.” I took a step toward her. “How did you know about the beard of dark flame?”

  “I don’t know. These things come to me, and I just speak them. If I don’t, they begin taking over my mind until I do.”

  “This has happened before?” I pressed.

  “Yes, many times.” She looked away suddenly, and I saw a glimmer against her cheek in the moonlight.

  “Fuck,” I whispered before I came to kneel beside her. “Hey, I didn’t mean to press you so hard. It’s just that—I don’t know—the fact that those things were said out loud. It kind of freaked me out a little. I’m not mad.”

  Her bottom lip quivered a bit. “It wasn’t you. It was a memory of the last time this happened.” She took a steadying breath and began anew, “It was four years ago, while I was still with the army. I was a sergeant in my elder brother, Kelvorn’s command. Before a battle, a bit of inspiration struck, and in it…in it, Kelvorn fell, but the battle was won.”

  Something clicked for me then. “You have prophetic moments related to you and others through poetry.”

  “What makes you think that?” There was a look of slight panic on her face.

  “The ‘inspiration’ comes from somewhere else, and what you say happens.” She began wringing her hands together nervously. “And I take it that it wasn’t actually that you were too soft to be in the army that you are no longer there. They probably thought that since you had foretold it—you would know how to prevent it.”

  Tears fell from her eyes now, her attempt to remain stoic gone.
The façade shattered.

  “They put me with him,” she sobbed. “They put me with his guard that day to ensure that I could keep him alive. I watched this giant of a human with a dire bear pelt charge my brothers and sisters-in-arms and defeat them soundly, and when he came to Kelvorn, the two of them fought. Kelvorn won, but a soldier with a bow from the opposing army shot him in the heart as they were fleeing.”

  It took her a moment to collect herself as the memory seemed to sweep over her, flooding the memories back into her mind.

  “Their army was destroyed utterly—the soldiers under Kelvorn’s banner and command were worked into a frenzy over their beloved commander’s demise.

  “They couldn’t forgive me for not knowing how he would die.” Her voice was going a little hoarse, so I sat beside her and pulled her against my chest. I hated it when people cried around me, man. It was the worst. And what she was reliving… fuck.

  “I held him, as the light drained from his eyes—I looked him in the eyes, and he told me that it wasn’t my fault.” A wracking shudder took her body as more tears dropped like a waterfall from her eyes. “I lost my brother and all my friends that day. Mother barely talks to me, and the only person I had left was my sister.”

  I held her there, sobbing into my chest and shoulder, and just listened. I didn’t say anything at first—the pain she was feeling in that moment would have made any kind of comfort I tried to offer seem placating. So I just held her and lightly stroked her head with my fingertips until she began to calm down.

  When her breathing had evened from the hiccups that come with heavy weeping, I squeezed her gently.

  “You know, you have more friends now,” I offered aloud. “You have Giledt, who damn near started a fight with me over your honor. You have me, and you know that I’m not going to treat you differently because of this. And now, you have Vilmas. And she’s a recluse. Hell, it even seems like Rowland respects you.”

  “He’s a nice person,” she sniffled. “He has great taste in alcohol.”

  I laughed, the merriment shaking my body and her head a little. “Yeah, the man has some crazy taste in booze. Just be careful of his homemade stuff. It’ll knock you on your ass.”

  “I could use some of that right now.” She sighed. When she lifted her head from my body, I could see that her cheeks and eyes were puffy from crying.

  “Me too.” I looked into her hazel eyes, the gold sparkling in the moonlit evening and smiled. “You gonna be okay?”

  She nodded and threw her left arm around my shoulder to pull me close against her in a hug. She whispered, “Thank you,” against my neck. I returned her hug in kind.

  Sometimes, you gotta hug it out.

  She lessened her grip around my shoulders, and I relieved mine and went to let go before she pulled my chin toward her face and pressed her lips awkwardly against my muzzle in a gentle, heartfelt kiss.

  I started and stiffened instantly. Her cheeks were a little more red than from the crying, and she looked at me uncertainly.

  “I’m grateful for your affections,” I started. “I really am. I just don’t think I can return them right now, at least not in the way that you want.”

  She looked at the ground for a moment, then back at me with a smile. “Thank you for being honest with me.”

  “Of course.” I felt a small tug on my heartstrings. “It’s not like I don’t find you attractive. I do. Wildly so—I mean, you’re beautiful. It’s just that, I’m very new to this kind of situation, and I’m not sure what is needed. It’s not fair to you, it’s not fair to Maebe, and it isn’t fair to me. You know?”

  “I do.” She seemed crestfallen, her shoulders slumping slightly, but she lifted her chin and smiled softly at me. “I hope I get to meet this woman someday.”

  “She will,” I heard Maebe’s voice from the shadows. I looked behind Vrawn and saw her shadowy form separate from the inky black of the sky. “I had come to tell you that my timeline has been bumped up. I will return in another hour or so my time, so it will likely be tomorrow for you.”

  “Awesome!” I took a quick second to mentally kick myself. “Uh, you do know that—”

  “You did not initiate this, I know. We will speak again when I come.” Her figure came closer to me, hips swaying seductively even as a shade of herself. “Until we meet again, Zeke.”

  The shadows passed through me and dissipated coolly against my fur.

  “Who were you speaking with?” Vrawn asked with evident confusion on her face. Her features seemed to have regained a little composure, but she also looked like she was ready to scrap. Her arms and shoulders were tense, and her eyes darted through the area.

  “Queen Maebe.” My brows furrowed as I tried to think of the meaning behind her words. “She says she will be here tomorrow and that you will meet her. Let’s go home.”

  “Okay.” Vrawn frowned and stood with my help. I took a deep breath, about to teleport us home when I caught the scent of something dead. It was a strong scent.

  “You smell that?” I looked to the Orcish woman, and she frowned, her nose wrinkling a little as she scented the air. It was funny, and I smiled, but her answer made my stomach drop. “I do—and it’s close.”

  We turned toward the wind and began moving closer to the scent. The plateau we were on currently had several paths that led to lower levels and climbable portions of ground to other secluded spots. What caught our attention was on one such slope there was a corpse, just lying there.

  “That’s odd,” Vrawn mumbled as she crouched and moved a little in front of me. She took a stone and flung it accurately, hitting the shoulder with it. Nothing happened. “Suppose someone was attacked up here? No one has been reported missing.”

  I was about to respond when a low, feral growl caught my attention above. Vrawn shoved me aside. “Look out!”

  A severely malnourished mountain lion with half of the face chewed off crashed into the ground between the lieutenant and me, scrambling for purchase on some of the loose stone. Three more corpses began to file up the pathway from below; the one on the ground reached out faster than I thought possible and snatched at Vrawn’s leg.

  She suddenly had a knife in her hand and slid it between the bone and sinew, expertly severing it so that the hand let go, then looked to me. “Behind you!”

  I didn’t bother with a weapon at that moment but cast Aspect of the Ursolon and whipped my now-larger hand into the creature’s face. Its momentum carried it through my attack, but the connection turned it just enough that the mountain lion sailed into one of the undead behind me.

  I turned to see Vrawn pull a naked longsword from her inventory and begin a dance of weapons that looked severely intimidating.

  She parried their clumsy attacks with the dagger in her left hand and sliced off arms and legs with the sword easily.

  The mountain lion had untangled itself from the fallen undead and padded quietly behind Vrawn. I growled low in my throat and rushed forward to grab it by the scruff of the neck. I lifted mightily, and as I did, a flash of metal severed the head of the dead beast from its shoulders then moved on the others.

  Hot damn, she’s great! I thought to myself as I watched her move. I was too far from the others to send for help, and it seemed like we had this.

  The corpse on the ground started to try and grab her again, but I stomped on its head with a satisfying crunch. I finally let myself free. Vrawn sliced and moved around two of the dead, the swiftly rotting corpses of the fallen leaving little evidence of their existence behind save for a dusty residue and no experience. I made a knife with my right hand, pressing my fingers together, and stabbed it straight. My clawed hand speared right through its throat, the spine severed, and it fell limp against my hand.

  I pulled my hand back, and it fell, decomposing as I turned to see Vrawn lash out with her sword and dagger between both of her foes. The sword cut cleanly through the gaping mouth of the undead on her right, and the dagger severed the spinal cord and dropped
the dead fucker.

  “That was a good bit of exercise for the evening, yes?” Vrawn’s dainty tusks flashed in the moonlight as she put her weapons close to her sides, not away but resting her arms.

  I reached out and touched her shoulder, casting Teleport a second later.

  Chapter Four

  We have undead out roaming the forest, I called to the others through our earrings.

  What?! Jaken growled half asleep.

  Muu came awake long enough to say, Shhhh.

  Get. Up! Yohsuke bellowed. Explain, Zeke.

  I filled them in on what happened, the basic bits and not all the emotional bits.

  Tavern in five, James grunted tiredly.

  The others were gathered around a table inside the tavern when Vrawn and I arrived.

  “So we have an undead issue?” Jaken looked the two of us over. We were largely uninjured; I had some scratches but was at full health.

  “It was one small party and a mountain lion,” Vrawn stated. “I don’t think that it is an issue so much as it is a cause for concern. This wall needs to be finished. Sooner rather than later.”

  “I agree,” I grumbled, my thoughts taking me back a little ways to our first real quest here in Brindolla. “You know, it could be the fort.”

  “We killed the lich though, man.” Bokaj shook his head in disbelief.

  “We did.” Jaken nodded.

  “But we didn’t break his phylactery.” I sighed, then sighed again at some of the vacant looks I received. “It’s an item that a lich binds their soul to, and they can use it to come back. So long as the item is safe, so are they.”

  “So what’re we lookin’ for a doll or something?” James yawned loudly after asking.

  “I don’t know, but it will likely either be well hidden or on the lich’s person,” Yohsuke intervened. “I think I remember a game that had a couple liches in it. Finding those things was a bitch.”

  “That all there was?” Muu blinked at us sleepily. “Cause unless we’re going there tomorrow, I’m going to bed.”

  “We’re going as soon as our business here is concluded,” Yohsuke beat me to the punch. “It wouldn’t hurt to investigate, but like Vrawn said, the wall comes first. Get some rest, and let’s kick some ass.”