by Rory Surtain
I sure hoped that was its skull breaking and not my arm again.
It staggered and toppled sideways just as demons three and four were lunging at me, angling in from the left and right. I’d taken too long with demon number two and lost the initiative. I threw my axe into the body of the nearest, a wolf-man full of claws and teeth, hoping to slow it down before the other beast could close, momentarily disarming myself in the process. It was time to see if Sentinel Glenn was right about my fang.
I drew my dagger and readied myself as the fourth, a goat-faced Hellion, charged forward in a rage, its twisted horns leveled at me. Dodging left, I avoided its intended collision with my torso and countered with an overhand strike, bringing the fang down hard. Demons are built of sterner stuff, but the tooth punched right through its forehead like a burning knife through water. I say ‘burning’ because smoke poured from the hole in the beast’s head as it collapsed.
I roared in defiance as energy and anger filled me. The remaining demons staggered to a halt, racked with confusion and fear. The injured wolf-man hesitated, and I spun back, putting it down with two sharp stabs to its skull. Its claws raked my chest as it fell, but it was a failing effort, and my underlying chain-mail armor seemed to hold.
Four down, four to go.
I wore the blood of their newly dead brethren and wielded the fang of a killer. Sensing the growing panic of the last four demons, I darted into their midst. At that moment, Jacka and Havens arrived, hitting them from behind. Their Sentinel axes set upon the last two Hellions in the line while my fang punched another madly growling wolf beast between its red glowing eyes. It toppled backward to the ground, leaving us just one hissing fiend.
The final demon, a tall, jagged mantis-shaped creature, fought wildly, jumping and slashing hard at my eyes, trying to use its claws and extended reach to hold me back. I could sense when its need to flee finally took hold, and I moved further left to cut it off. A figure in black raced in from behind it, and a black blade slashed across the demon’s legs, severing vital joints. I hopped back as the lesser demon stumbled to the ground, thrashing at my feet. Moments later, it lost both arms, and then its head, and I stood face to face with its bane.
The girl before me held a wicked-looking sword, exotic and black, with a slight angle to its blade. Her black leather armor had been slashed open in several places, and spent blood dripped down her arms. She looked surprised as I sheathed my blade, stepping back further to give her room. I felt in her such an emptiness, almost like death. She was completely drained, both physically and emotionally. And yet, she had fought back.
Jacka and Havens approached from the left, and I waved at them to hold off.
“Who are you?” I asked.
She swayed, whispering a sad reply, “You are not my sister,” and then she collapsed. The hillside was suddenly still.
Jacka grabbed me and looked me over for wounds. My leather armor was covered in blood and shredded across my chest, but the chain-mail beneath had done its job. My thick vambrace was dented, and my left arm ached. We were all wearing plenty of blood, but none of it seemed to be ours.
Havens went about checking the demons, while Jacka and I examined the girl. She was unconscious, her breathing weak. The wounds that Jacka could see didn’t look too life-threatening. The ones that I could sense were another story. I gathered up her sword and looped her sheath across my back. It was heavier than I expected.
“She’s not fully human,” Jacka said. “Looks like a dark elf, but her ears aren’t sharp enough, and she’s built more like a human. She must be a half-breed and an outcast. The perfect target for a hunting party of demons in these mountains. It’s amazing that she survives.”
At that moment, Havens approached, a sad look in his tired eyes. He returned my axe, and he handed Jacka a gold coin.
“I found that on the leader of the bunch,” said Pika. “I’d know it anywhere. It was Drake’s lucky coin. He never went out on patrol without it.”
It struck Jacka then at what we had just done on that perfect Summer night. We had avenged the Sentinel’s earlier tragic loss and taken down an incredibly dangerous threat to the region.
He turned to me, “Ara, how did you know that they were there? We can barely see them moving at fifty yards in the dark, and yet you noticed them a mile away.”
“They were loud,” was all I would say. The beasts were raging loud. I pointed to the girl. “Help me carry her. We won’t leave her out here for the wolves.”
We reversed our path, returning past Drake’s Rock, hoping to avoid another fight and wanting to get the injured girl to a doctor as soon as we could. Havens carried a small pouch full of rotting demon ears as proof of our success. It turns out the Vigil pays a hefty reward for each demon slain. We took turns carrying the girl, and in our worn state, we made slow but steady progress.
A pair of mounted Scouts working the first day shift found us as we were trudging southward through the Gap. We handed them the injured girl and sent them riding ahead to the castle. Jacka had given them a few quiet words and flashed them the gold coin. That was all they needed to make haste homeward.
The sun was well up by the time we reached the Berykholt castle gates, and I could hear the raucous sounds of training in the distance. We were met by Captain Glenn, along with Sergeant Corbin and Warden Hartwell himself. I waited for Jacka to report. It was his patrol, and we were late to return.
Jacka spoke in a tired voice, “Eight, Sergeant.” His voice shook. “And this,” he said as he handed over Drake’s coin.
Drake had been Corbin’s Second and his best friend in the Order. They had begun their Order careers as recruits together fifteen years before. It was easy to track all the emotions that ran across the Sergeant’s face as he stared at the coin.
After a long pause, Havens stepped in, “We traded some Sentinel steel for it.” Havens handed Corbin the pouch full of ears. “Jacka and I each slew one. Ara killed five on his own.”
A firm slap on the back greeted me. “Ara, you’re late for your first recruit training session this morning,” said Glenn.
“Don’t I know it, Captain. Nobody warned me where a bit of carousing with these two Scouts would end up,” I replied. “Say, Doctor Loeb wouldn’t happen to be busy right now, would he?”
“As a matter of fact, he has a patient under his care right now, in our keep. Dawn Shift Patrol carried in a victim of a demon attack this morning. Why do you ask?” he replied with a knowing smile.
“She killed the eighth. I’d like to go check on her if I may.”
“Sure thing,” he said. “Have Doctor Loeb examine you as well. Just make sure to catch up with all of us later this morning, and Vigil Snow. He’ll want to speak with you too about the encounter.”
I waved to Jacka and Havens and headed off to the keep, hoping to find another survivor of my first Scout patrol.
Bar Sinister
Cycle of unreality
“Lis-Xiana, that Bitch. She takes the meaning of Exile to a whole new level of Hell.”
On my left sat Rei-Seeck. She still hadn’t said a single word to anyone in the place. She was working on a savory Demon Mule that I had placed before her.
Always start the night with a kick.
From my right, Memet spoke into the gloom of his nearly empty glass, “How Rei-Seeck came to dwell in our Cimmerian desert dive is still to be discerned. The rumors of the Cycle outrun me.”
“But why worry? Death has already arrived,” I pointed out the obvious.
“Certainly, but who will she take when she leaves?” Memet asked.
“Leave? She just got here. And the Cycle is young. Let’s have another round.”
Chapter 8
Blood-strewn
Barely stepping inside the keep, I ran into Lynda Snow as she was coming downstairs for breakfast. She froze, noting my ugly, blood-strewn appearance, or perhaps the wretched smell. The blood wasn’t mine, but possession is nine-tenths of the law. I winced at he
r shock and her loss of appetite.
“Ara, what happened to you?!? Are you alright?” she said, looking startled. I had a feeling her father rarely returned home wearing his work.
“Lynda, sorry. I’m alright, mostly. I just got back from a night patrol with the Scouts that began quietly and ended with quite a fight. I’d better get cleaned up,” I said, ducking my head. I remembered how fine she looked the night before at dinner, and here I stood, ruining her breakfast.
“Maybe we could head into town together later this week?” she chipped in, changing the subject to something lighter.
“You bet. It looks like I could use some new clothes now,” I replied, before running up the stairs.
Reaching my shared living room, I saw Doctor Loeb coming out of one of the extra bedrooms with a pair of young women that were dressed in gray like Sentinel recruits.
He gave me the once over and checked my left arm for any damage. I had a nice dent in my left vambrace, and my forearm was black and blue. Loeb didn’t think that it was broken again, but it was starting to feel like it. He suggested that I use my old sling to take some of the pressure off the arm.
Loeb introduced me to his young recruits. Their names were Helen and Drew, and they were both in their late teens. They were assisting the doctor as part of their medical training. They helped me shed the rest of my armor while I quizzed Loeb.
“Doctor, how is the girl? Did she wake up?”
“She awoke quite agitated. After calming her down, I gave her something to help her sleep. She’s lost some blood, but of more concern, she appears to be utterly exhausted. She must have been on the run for quite some time. She’s a half-breed dark-elf. Rare. I only know of one other. Dark elves are not a race to suffer impurities.”
“Did you find out her name?” I asked.
“Her name is Raven. She seems to be about your age, though in her condition, it’s tough to be sure. Helen and Drew are here for the important task of watching over her day and night. Get yourself cleaned up and dressed. We will let you know if anything changes.”
“Doctor, you need to know that she killed one of the demons before she collapsed, took it clean apart with this black blade of hers. That puts her on our side.”
I wanted to make sure he knew that she was a priority to me.
Hesitating a moment, Loeb gave me a nod. “Go get cleaned up and see to your armor. We’ll have much to discuss later with Vigil Snow.”
After bathing and a fresh set of clothes, I looked in on Raven. She was still asleep, but I felt reassured, seeing Helen sitting at her side. I asked Helen about her wounds. They weren’t viewed as life-threatening but had required some stitching by Doctor Loeb. I asked her to let me know as soon as anything changed. Then I hit up the kitchen for a late breakfast and made a short visit to the armorer to knock out the dent in my vambrace.
The Sentinel Armorer was the same one that had kitted me out back in Lockrun, a man by the name of Nickols. He recognized the thick vambrace and asked what caused the dent. When I told him that it was a demon’s nose, he laughed before he realized that I was serious. Nickols was able to pound out the dent and handed it back, almost good as new. He promised to find something a bit sturdier now that he realized I would be using it as a weapon and not just a brace.
I had a long list of visits to make, starting with the Scouts in the North Tower. Upon reaching the tower’s second floor, I found four Scouts scattered around the common room working on their armor. Sentinel Havens was snoring heavily in the corner. It must have been a rough night.
“Excuse me, is Sentinel Corbin still up?” I asked the nearest man. His bright gray eyes placed him in his early thirties, while the marble gray beard and bald head made him look at least ten years older. He must be one of the Day Shift Patrol getting ready to roll out in the afternoon.
“And who might you be recruit? Don’t you have some training to attend?” he replied, playing the role of an old-timer to perfection. These men had much to be proud of in their commitment and work against a dangerous enemy. It was that same pride that led them out of the castle each day on patrol. I wasn’t about to argue with his assessment. Heck, he was right.
“I do, Sentinel, but Captain Glenn excused me from recruit training this morning to take care of some other business.”
I wasn’t going to give him a nail on which to hang me but hoped the Captain’s name would speed things up a bit.
“Sergeant Corbin is up on the third floor, but he’s busy with his Second. Why don’t you come back later, lad, once you’ve completed your training and gained a few scars.”
I had a feeling this sort of conversation wouldn’t be my last with the veteran Sentinels.
The four Sentinels had paused in their work, chuckling, and waiting for me to bugger off. The snoring in the corner had stopped. I felt a rising wave of anger coming from that direction.
“Sentinel, I’d love to show you my scars, but Vigil Snow has told me to keep my shirt on. Plus, I don’t even know your name,” I said, mock fanning myself with my right hand.
“Ara, his name is Duncan, and he’s Corbin’s Third, leader of the day patrols. If he had a lick of sense, he’d send you on your way upstairs so I could get some sleep,” Havens intoned.
Duncan and the rest of his crew were dead silent as I left, heading up to the third floor. It seemed like they might have heard my name before.
I was met with a warm greeting from Corbin and Jacka. The whole Scout cadre had already been briefed on the details of last night. That might have explained the high-strung attitudes from the group below and their stunned silence as they realized who I was.
“Anything you need from me, Sergeant?” I asked.
“Ha, Ara, I was just going to ask you the same.”
“Well, I could use a new set of leathers and perhaps a formal introduction to the rest of your team.”
“Certainly, I’ll supply both before you leave here this morning. I’ve seen to it that the Warden will be rewarding you for your five kills. They are already confirmed and in the Order’s books. We don’t do this for the money, Ara, but we take the rewards with the risk. The Crown knows the value of our work and provides for us well.”
“Thank you. Will Sentinel Jacka be heading out tonight?” I asked, eager to accompany him again.
“No, I’m giving the night shifts a break. I think a bit of drinking and celebration is in order. One more thing, Ara,” Corbin said, reaching into his pocket and handing me a small black half-moon pin. “This is for you. Wear it proudly above your left breast as a member of the Sentinel Scouts.”
I finished up the morning with the Scouts by getting introduced to the rest of their dozen members, including Sentinel Mott Duncan. Things went much better the second time around. Rewards aside, killing five Hellions at once certainly buys a lot of respect.
I headed back to the keep wanting to track down Vigil Snow and found him up in his living room, enjoying some free time with his daughters.
“Please excuse my intrusion, Vigil.”
“Come on in, Ara. We’ve been expecting you. I spoke with Glenn and Loeb earlier. You’ve only been here for two days and are already making your mark. At least with the Sentinel Scouts, I see,” Snow replied, eyeing my new half-moon insignia.
After sending his daughters out to find Warden Hartwell, he quizzed me further about the events of last night. Vigil Snow was still surprised at the number of demons encountered. It was a full hunting party, not a band of stragglers. It was evident that they were using the caves to mask their presence and having some success at ambushing their victims. There was great concern that even more significant numbers could be assembled underground nearby.
“We wiped them all out, no survivors, leaving the bodies to rot, so I'm hoping that will give the fiends notice that this area is off-limits,” I said. “Which brings me to my next topic. I was hoping to get your view on the matter, um, as it relates to the girl we rescued.”
“You can confirm
she fought and killed the last demon?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“Yes, I can confirm it. We all saw it. She was quite capable with that blade of hers, even in her vastly weakened condition,” I replied.
“Good to know. If the girl recovers, she might have a future with us,” said Snow.
“I’m concerned about her future and her well-being. I don’t want a repeat of how I was treated in Lockrun. That won’t be allowed,” I stated, maybe a bit too forcefully.
“I see,” said Snow, noting the ice in my voice.
With his clear sight, he had to see the truth in my words. I wasn’t bluffing.
“The girl is my responsibility, at least until she recovers and can make her own choices, and even then, she won’t be claimed by the Order as I was,” I reaffirmed.
At that moment, Lynda arrived with Warden Hartwell, and the topic quickly changed to the tactics and decisions of the past night. Lynda stayed to listen in, her curiosity getting the better of her.
Hartwell began, “Our standing mode of operation is never to engage a larger demonic force. While our Sentinels are well trained, they are too easily overwhelmed by the demons’ speed and ferocity. The Scouts know this. Being outnumbered, what lead you to attack the hunting party in the middle of the night across broken ground?”
“The decision was simple: to protect the girl, without hesitation,” I answered. “If I had waited or been more cautious in my approach, she would have been caught and butchered. Sensing that the demons were entirely focused on their failing prey, I expected to flank them, and with enough surprise, even up the odds before they knew what had hit them.
“Once we had engaged, my biggest concern was making sure that none escaped. I didn’t want any word getting back to potential reinforcements in the area.”
Hartwell continued his grilling of me, “And you committed my Scouts with what you perceived of the situation from almost a mile away?”