Into the Hells

by Christopher Johns

  I lifted my axe and activated Cleave as I brought the weapon down as close to the trunk as possible.

  I crashed straight through it, and the limb fell. I immediately cast Regrowth on the tree and patted it affectionately. It was a cool tree.

  Not like I was gonna try to hug it.

  I cast Regrowth on the limb as well. It was the size of a staff, just about as tall as the king, and the top was a large knot about the size of a small melon.

  “Now what?” He raised his eyebrows in challenge.

  “Now you practice with it until you get a feel for it, and then I beat your ass for doubting me.” He looked taken aback, so I grinned and added a slight bow with, “Your Majesty.”

  I felt a thrill that I couldn’t quite place and stepped to the left as the newly made weapon cracked into the floor where my head had been.

  I looked up to see the king smiling. “I’ll make you eat those words.”

  “Well, let’s make that a little sturdier, and then we can start for real, eh?” I held a hand out, and Telfino slapped the weapon into my hand.

  I used some mithral shavings to strengthen it, and I also added some increased damage to it. If he decided he liked blunt weapons, I’d try to get him a better staff or whatever weapon he chose.

  I tossed the weapon back to him, and we began to spar. Once he got the hang of the weapon, he began to try and get fancy with it, and I ended up slapping him with the side of Magus Bane hard enough to send him crashing into the tree.

  “Ow,” he groaned pitiably.

  “Get fancy when you’re better with the weapon, Highness.” I offered him a hand up.

  He took it, and as he stood, he clobbered me in the stomach with it and bounced away from me.

  “Little… shit,” I grumbled.

  “That was a low blow, Zeke, forgive me.” He chuckled. “Will you show me how to use a weapon like this without ‘beating my ass?’”

  “Yup. Sure thing,” I grunted as I stood to my feet.

  After that, he and I spent a couple hours practicing while I offered him pointers on fighting with a two-handed weapon. The fundamentals were the same. Make sure you beat someone’s face with the big end and use momentum to help yourself when crushing your enemies. Then we went over overhead, horizontal, and diagonal swings and how to properly use his hips when swinging so he could smack an enemy with his full strength.

  By the end of it, we were both tired enough to just fall straight to sleep and meditation. It was nice to be able to help him some more. Him being able to defend himself without having to rely solely on magic was important.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Zeke!” the king called urgently.

  I launched myself out of the bed. I had fallen asleep with my great axe in hand and began to look wildly around for a target to whack.

  The king looked at me, halfway through fastening a silver and gold robe over his lithe figure and soft leather armor.

  “If you don’t hurry, we will be late.” He tossed me an apple, and I gobbled it up greedily with a muttered thanks. I deposited Magus Bane into my inventory and kept lookout while he dressed. Before he finished, I jabbed his hand with a claw. Blood but no different.

  “I will be immeasurably grateful when you do not have to do that,” Telfino muttered.

  “Me too.” I tossed the apple core into my inventory to save the seeds for later. I’d try experimenting with growing plants.

  You know, Druid stuff.

  You guys in position? I called to the others.

  Unfortunately, grumbled Muu. The sun isn’t even up yet. These people and their damn early mornings. Bokaj, Jaken, and James are here too. We have the high ground, and we’re not visible—I don’t think.

  Balmur chuckled into our heads. You aren’t. I snuck through and cast invisibility on you guys while you were speaking. I’m on my way back to the ceremony. The place looks great, by the way.

  Thanks, buddy. I turned to the king. “They’re set.”

  I’m with the guards outside the king’s doorway now, Yohsuke advised a second before a knock sounded at the door.

  “Let us go then,” Telfino spoke, his demeanor shifting more regal than it had been. He picked up the staff that he had used to practice and began to step with it as if it were a walking stick.

  Kayda, watch over him. The bird in her parrot sized form fluttered over to land on his shoulder affectionately.

  I nodded and shifted into my owl form then flitted to a limb above the doorway so that I could see the others as they gathered on either side of the king.

  As they left, I ducked out the door as one guard closed it and fluttered along slowly.

  The procession moved quickly, attempting to get the king to the ceremony as swiftly as they safely could.

  They were down the hall and out into the pre-dawn light of day in a little under seven minutes.

  Got eyes on the king. Zeke has overwatch, Balmur informed the others. I’m standing by for Questis.

  The others remained quiet just in case, but Muu finally responded, ‘K.

  Dork.

  The king made his way with his guard unobstructed to a large plot of circular ground that looked to have been freshly tilled and watered by the dew of the night air.

  Soon, elves began to crowd the area, lining up with fists clenched in front of them as they looked to their king.

  Questis is on the move, Balmur advised.

  I watched from a perch on a nearby roof as the festivities unfolded. With the sun still a little ways off, the people began to file around the plot, starting on the inside of the garden. They would place a seed, cover it, and it would sprout a little. Then the next. Hundreds of elves moved in and out in a single file line in mere moments; it seemed that a representative of each home was sent forth. Smart.

  Almost like an intricate dance. They would bustle forward, do their business, and hustle away to watch. As the light from the east filtered through the clouds, the last of the line was dwindling and there stood Questis. Waiting.

  When it was his turn, Questis brought a pine cone forth and lovingly planted it as the sun crested the side of the valley.

  The sunlight streamed in, and as we watch, the elves swayed to a prayer, and all kinds of flowers began to grow rapidly. Small sapling trees budded, bushes, roses flared, and petals burst out of buds. An army of floral beauties blooming in full glory to the Mother’s majesty and love for these people, but the plant that Questis planted, the pine cone, grew and grew.

  The tree grew until it was full sized, and the growth surpassed all the other growths in the garden. Just as planned. It began to glow with a golden, then green, then purple light.

  As the crowd watched in wonder, Telfino stepped toward the tree and pressed his palm on to the bark, closing his eyes.

  The king opened his eyes. “Druid Questis! Come forward.”

  The Druid stepped closer to the king.

  “Beloved by Mother Nature, strengthened by her favor, go forth to the orchard to the tree tied with ribbon so that she may speak with you her will for this season.” King Telfino looked proudly to his people. “Our prayers are lifted and our bounty returns! Her love has not forsaken us!”

  The elves cheered wildly! Families hugged each other, some folks wept with joy, others jealousy, but their spirits were lifted.

  “Guard, escort our beloved to the orchard,” Telfino pointed to Yohsuke in the front, “and you, stay with him while he prays so that he is unbothered. Escort him to me when he is finished.”

  As the guards filed away, I took note of some people leaving the celebration, but they didn’t seem to be heading toward the orchard. They were heading into homes. Not too suspicious, I didn’t think.

  The guards, eager to please their king and get back to the festivities that had begun—lively music and food were beginning to sprout from different places among the crowd—walked swiftly with Questis to the orchard. Once they arrived, I watched as they left him with a nod, and Yohsuke escorte
d him further into the orchard.

  Yohsuke sounded into our heads, See something, say something. Don’t be shy about it, boys.

  Yup, Bokaj, Muu, and Jaken answered.

  Something from downwind of me smells like lilacs, James advised. I’ll keep an eye out, but it feels weird.

  I had no clue where he was, but I wasn’t going to abandon my post to go check out a scent that could be almost anything. I mean, hundreds of plants did literally just bloom in close proximity. It could be anything

  I scanned the area, checking in with Kayda. The king was fine.

  Moving on the tree, Balmur whispered.

  Yohsuke stopped just outside the clearing that the tree was in. It was the largest and looked the most well-kept of all the trees in the orchard. Thick, juicy-looking fruits that I didn’t recognize grew on it, and around the base of the trunk was a large, purple ribbon.

  Balmur, tell Questis that he needs to actually pray, just in case anyone is watching to lend it credibility, Jaken broadcasted.

  Questis knelt in front of the large tree, closed his eyes, and began to mouth words.

  I settled on a branch in the leaves above him, within easy touching distance of a large piece of fruit. It was purple and green and looked to be almost orange-like in shape, but it was the size of a soccer ball. Wild fruits these.

  We sat there for a time, periodically checking in with each other. After half an hour, we began to grow weary of waiting, wondering if somehow the trap had been a failed plot. After the first hour, we knew that if they hadn’t come yet, they weren’t going to.

  Alright, guys. Balmur, have Questis pack it in, and let’s get back to the king. Yohsuke sighed.

  Wait! I smell it again—lilacs. It’s closer now. Stronger, James butted in.

  Tmont smells it too, Bokaj added.

  I closed my owl eyes and began to cast my senses into the world around me, into the plants and trees; the tree I was perched on felt odd. Like there were two life forces inside it.

  I opened my eyes in time to see a large dryad step from the tree and gestured grandly. “Your prayers have been heard, beloved of the Mother.”

  The scent of lilacs grew stronger, and I knew that dryad was a fake instantly. The last dryads we had spoken with spoke only in Druidic.

  I pecked the stem of the fruit as it spoke.

  “Come with me, and I will take you to her bosom so that she may know you better.” The thing motioned behind it, and a portal opened to the left of the tree from my position.

  Got bodies coming from the south and the east. Slowly. Bokaj counted aloud to us, Seven not including the dryad.

  Balmur echoed his count. And there’s no telling where this portal goes to or if more bodies aren’t coming. Bo—pick a couple off.

  Got it, the Ranger answered grimly.

  I finally finished packing through the piece of fruit and brushed it aside as it fell so it would fall behind the creature below me. It looked behind it, then up and saw me.

  “Ho-ho hoot.” I ruffled my feathers and flitted off in time for Questis to stand up and step back.

  The quiet of the orchard shattered as Jaken, Muu, and James stepped out as if from nowhere to the side of it, and it growled.

  “You dare interfere with what Mother Nature has planned for her chosen?” It motioned toward Questis who seemed as fed up as I did.

  One is gone. Bokaj made him go poof. I uh… made another one gone too. Balmur tried to hide his killing someone with that, but we knew. That was okay.

  “Tell us who you work for, and we won’t kill you,” James offered politely.

  The dryad’s wooden features screwed up as if in anger and outrage. “I am a dryad! I speak for the Mother in her wisdom!”

  The scent of lilacs grew stronger, and the portal began to flicker slightly.

  “Go through now, beloved!” the dryad tried to order. I looked from my new spot into the tree line and saw several high elves with weapons that sparkled and glittered in the light. One of them went down, hard, as Balmur dropped from a tree and on to his back, his daggers slicing cleanly into the arteries there.

  A wild look on his face, he stepped back into the shadows, but one of the elves had seen him.

  In Sylvan, she barked, “Portal Dofilnarr, now!”

  An arrow struck her in the chest, and she was gone in a flash of blurred light. I didn’t know where the Ranger had hidden the trap anchors, but it was close.

  Time to end this.

  I flew up into the sky above the dryad, trying to avoid detection, but it didn’t happen.

  “Kill them and take him now!” the dryad screeched as he reached down and tried to snatch Questis up in his wooden arms.

  “Option two has always been my favorite!” Muu growled and pulled out his hammer.

  An arrow and a spell whizzed at me, and the owl hooted, Duck! I rolled off the branch beside me as I flew and shifted into my fox-man form as I fell. I gripped Magus Bane from my inventory and dropped on to dryad, knocking it to the ground with a cracking thud against the bark-like flesh.

  “Fake dryad mother fucker.” I whipped my axe into its side, then snarled and slashed down at it with my right hand, raking it a little, but the effect was instant.

  A shiver ran along it, and for a single second, I was staring at some kind of gelatinous, horrifying monster from a game that I had played at home recently.

  It hissed, “Fool!” as it shoved me away in my startled stupor.

  I fell and tried to roll from the fall into a stance, but an Elven kidnapper barreled into me, shanking me in the ribs. I grunted, and a pulse of something entered my body, immediately making me feel queasy.

  The Elf moved on toward my friends, and I cast Purify on myself before I cast Snare on him. Purify took 200 MP—fuck me, what the hell had that been?

  He stopped in his tracks, and a lightning arrow hit him the same time as my axe on my next swing. It clipped him as he spasmed wildly, so I used the momentum of my swing, shifted my legs around a little further, and activated Cleave. The bastard’s head sloughed off and on to the ground with a meaty thunk.

  A panicked image from Kayda showed me a scene that I dreaded. The king, who had since retired from some of the festivities, had been on his way back to the palace when his guard turned a corner and turned on him. They had been kidnappers as well.

  The king! I howled at the others. Balmur, collar—get ready! You guys take care of these assholes. Don’t. Die!

  Shut the fuck up and go already! Yohsuke ordered. He was dancing between two of the kidnappers with his weapon drawn, parrying blows and slashing in return.

  I darted closer to Balmur and guided his hand to the collar, pulling him in before taking off as an owl in a desperate flight to assist Telfino.

  I saw lightning crackling from the sky and heard Kayda’s screech of anger.

  I crested the small huts and homes to see that the fight was going manageable. They hadn’t managed to make off with the king, but they were trying. There were eight of them, and they all sported those sparkly weapons. I dove from the sky and whipped into a barrel roll, raking my claws across one of the kidnapper’s eyes.

  I shifted mid-roll and let Balmur out with a snarl of, “Kill the guards, and mind their weapons.”

  “Happy to oblige.” He set off to his grizzly task as I smashed a foot into one of their chests.

  “You gonna start swinging that staff or what, Majesty?” I asked as the young king struggled to free himself from one of the guard’s grasp.

  “Just help me already!” he grunted. The attacker was clearly stronger than he was, so I stepped forward, casting Aspect of the Ursolon on myself.

  I had gained a little mana on the flight over but still lost the two hundred for the spell. I took my axe and smacked the butt of it into the captor’s face, breaking her nose and loosening her grip.

  Telfino ducked out of her grasp and walloped her over the head once, then whipped his weapon behind her kneecap and yanked, popping the kne
e brutally out of place as she fell with a gasp of pain.

  All of the sudden, Balmur was just there, his dagger finding a home in her temple. “Good job, Highness.”

  Telfino looked like he was about to hurl, but he sucked it up and turned.

  I looked on and noted that some of the others had begun to try and surround the three of us. Two of them laid dead, Balmur having taken care of them brutally but efficiently.

  I felt that same thrill through my body that I had the other night and stepped to the left in time to dodge a sword that would have likely severed my spine. I whipped Magus Bane around and slashed at the Elf, but they parried, directing the weapon over their head and ducked under it.

  That fucker. I activated Feather Axe, and the weapon in my hand began to weave faster in our dance.

  “Behind you!” A clap of thunder drowned out the king as Kayda zapped the kidnapper behind me, and I elbowed him in the throat savagely. I took a slice on the arm for it, my health falling by eight percent and then another percent as whatever poison or buff they used took effect.

  Then I felt a relief as healing energy enervated me, and I began to growl low in my chest as the kidnappers realized what I knew—we had a healer here.

  I reached out, touched the one behind me, and cast Lightning Bolt, then Winter’s Blade in rapid succession, killing him, I hoped, and then I refocused on the person in front of me, currently trying to stab me.

  Their sword danced in around the haft of my axe and slid along my metal right hand before I let go and tried to snatch it from their hand. Their hood was over their face, so I couldn’t see who they were, but their swordsmanship was on point.

  A dagger appeared in front of their face, the head having whipped back in the nick of time to avoid the projectile.

  “Damn it,” Balmur cursed. I cast Void Shield as he turned from an enemy to try and go to it. Two swords whipped into the shield, shattering it, but he was able to take control of his fight once more. My mana was even closer to bottoming out. If this kept going, I would have to begin drawing on the mana from Mage’s Well.

  A clawed foot snatched my attacker by the shoulder and lifted them, whoever it was, screaming into the air. Then I heard an earth-shattering explosion in the distance toward my friends.