by Sam Ryder
Vrill’s and Eve’s life meters were higher than everyone else’s, a full six hundred each. Mine was at eight hundred these days. The Three goddesses should have full meters at one thousand, but without their hearts they’d dropped precariously low, except for Airiel’s, which was finally headed back up in the right direction. Beat’s, I was happy to see, was at a solid four hundred, while each of her Warriors were sitting at a smidge under two hundred.
That could all change in a hurry if we were attacked.
When we stopped, those with torches placed them in a large circle, creating an area of illumination in which we would fight if the monsters came. If not, we would hang out for a while and then head back inside the ward shields at first light.
I watched for any movement on the ground or in the air near the mountains. Nothing.
Not a damn thi—
Wait.
I didn’t see anything, but my superb senses were firing. And if the monsters weren’t coming across the land or through the air, there was only one other possibility. They were coming through the ground. Which meant one thing and one thing alone:
Vostra.
The many-mouthed burrowers were the most horrid of the retinue of horrifying monsters at the Morgoss’s disposal.
Although I cringed at the thought of seeing them again, I knew it was also a blessing in disguise. I wouldn’t need to reveal my ability to see in the dark to anyone if this was the only enemy we faced tonight. I could instead chalk up the early warning I gave to having felt the earth moving beneath my feet. Which I did, the tremble growing by the second even though none of the others, even Eve and Vrill, showed any signs of feeling the earthquake-like sensation yet.
“Prepare yourselves!” I shouted. “Vostraaaaa!” I shouted the name of the monster in a deep roar from the back of my throat. The great thing about our current group of Warriors was that they were well-trained and no longer forced to fight. Being here was their choice. It made them more reliable and all the fiercer on the battlefield. Because of this, they didn’t need to be told twice, drawing their various weapons and moving around so the creatures beneath the ground couldn’t get a bead on their location.
My mind, which was also more capable of processing numerous thoughts simultaneously now that I was a Demigod, took in all the information—the placement of the Warriors, the various tremors through my feet—and I made the decision to use my gifts to help the group, even if it meant ‘undermining’ Beat and Millania, who were shouting out orders and trying to get their troops into formation.
“Grab the torches and move the circle!” I shouted, gesturing wildly. “This way! This way!”
The Warriors, as well trained as they were, looked right at their leaders, Beat and Millania. I was proud of them for that, even if time was of the essence, the tremors growing to the point where everyone in the group would be able to feel them now.
Millania and Beat looked at each other and then made a silent decision. “Listen to Ryder,” Beat said. “Move. Move!”
It was a spectacle to behold, as each Warrior reclaimed their respective demon torch and repositioned where I indicated.
And not a moment too late, the Vostra exploding throughout the area we’d just been. Several of them emerged from the ground, spraying rocks and dirt around them as they appeared on the fringes of the circle of light. I could see all the Vostra, even those outside of the light.
There were dozens.
This was not good. Normally the Vostra came in small groups, but apparently the two remaining Morgoss had managed to summon a large group from the underworld, which meant their power wasn’t waning, despite having lost one of their trio.
“Hold steady!” Beat reminded her troops. Breaking formation was a cardinal sin amongst Warriors. I’d done it once and it had cost one of our own their life. Overcoming the regret and guilt had been a major hurdle for me back then, but I had also learned my lesson.
The Vostra didn’t creep into the circle of demon light like bandits. No, they charged in with snapping teeth from their many mouths, rampaging toward us with reckless abandon. They were driven by their insatiable carnal desire to spill blood and shatter bones. Had this been my first Black, I might’ve lost it and turned tail and run. As it was, this was par for the course on Tor.
“Prepare!” Beat yelled, and each of the Warriors raised their shields and tightened their grips on their weapons.
The moment the Vostra fell upon our group, it was like a hurricane meeting an avalanche meeting a tornado, a flurry of snapping teeth and slashing claws and inhuman growls of tortured souls.
I hit the first Vostra, who tried to take off my hand, with a powerful hammer blow to the head. There was a whooomp! and flash of light and the monster was rocked back, crashing into two of his buddies, who went sprawling, mouth-infested arms and legs akimbo. My blood received a shot of adrenaline from my system and rushed through my veins as if a long-dammed reservoir had been breached.
For those of you who have not experienced real, live combat, let me tell you, it’s like nothing else you could imagine. The intensity is off the charts, because though you can’t focus on it or you’ll go crazy, in the back of your mind you’re always thinking about the fact that your next breath, the next beat of your heart, could be your last. So you give into training and reflex and that survival instinct that we are all born with even if we aren’t aware of it until we’re in a life or death situation.
Having cleared a path through our enemies with a single blow, I turned toward Beat to see if her squad needed my assistance. They did, badly. Though Beat was an impressive warrior in her own right, she was leading the greener Warriors in our group while Millania, the newer Protector, was responsible for the more experienced fighters. I leapt into action, swatting away the snapping arm of a Vostra that was trying to bite a white-fur-covered newb from the distant planet of Askander. The furry fellow (or was it a female? Who could tell?) offered a small bow and then deftly danced to the right to slash the leg of another Vostra that Beat was holding at bay with her recently upgraded spear. The spear’s blade was so sharp it could cut a blade of grass in half on the thin side.
While the furry critter slashed the back of the creature’s ankle, she punctured it through the middle with the spear, ripping the weapon back out with authority. Its many jaws still snapping, the monster fell, eating only dirt as it shuddered and died. Beat’s eyes met mine and her lips curled slightly. I could almost read her mind. Just like old times, Ryder.
It was funny, the first time we met was in the Circle. I’d helped her and then she’d abandoned me to be rescued by Vrill. Since then we’d been BFFs.
Yep, I thought back. Just like old times, Beatrice.
Don’t call me Beatrice. I hate it.
Okay Beatrice.
Yeah, most of the unspoken conversation was probably in my own head, but I amused myself by pretending she was thinking the exact same thing. Meanwhile, the battle had intensified once again as several more Vostra erupted from the ground, this time right under our feet. A second wave. It was the first time I’d ever seen them organize anything like it. The many-mouthed monsters didn’t have strategy, not usually. No, they were driven by bloodlust. It had to be orchestrated by their masters, the Morgoss.
I watched helplessly as the white furry critter was ravaged by several mouths at once, his cringeworthy cries fading as blood matted his snow-colored coat. His life meter went from a solid one-fifty to zero in two seconds flat. Shit. We were losing.
For the most part, the best way to fight the Vostra was to go full tilt from start to finish and hope they died quicker than you. But now they’d changed the equation, and maybe we needed to adapt too. Plus, our situation had changed. I realized the Vostra were avoiding me now—something about my glowing hammer perhaps. It gave me a spare moment to think, to consider. To my right, Millania’s group was faring far better than Beat’s, their experience shining through. Even when the Vostra reinforcements had arrived, they’d weathe
red the attack, diving away and then attacking once more.
Part of it had to do with Vrill and her dragon, who were devastating any monsters who got within reach of Mrizandr’s spiked tail. The other part had to do with Eve, who moved like lightning, slashing open throats and hacking off limbs with a short sword. Somehow Vrill and Eve had managed to stay out of each other’s way thus far. Millania was doing her thing with her trident too, using the three-pronged weapon to inflict plenty of damage.
I realized what had happened. Beat, being Beat, had overcompensated for the fact that she was the more experienced of the two Protectors. Although I wasn’t present for it, I could picture how the conversation would’ve gone:
Beat: I’ll take the newbs.
Millania: You sure?
Beat: Yeah. Ryder can come with me too, but you take the dragon lady and her faithful steed and Eve. Sound good?
Millania: ….
Beat: Good, let’s do it! (claps hands)
“Vrill!” I shouted, her head jerking in my direction instantly.
“Beat needs help!”
Of course, Beat heard me, too, and immediately shouted, “We’re good!” grunting as she impaled another monster on her spear.
Vrill, however, could make her own decisions, and with the massive dragon beneath her, somehow got the message to her ‘faithful steed’. The dragon bounded off the ground, powerful wings pumping at its sides and blasting us with hot air. It released a roar that seemed to shake my very bones as it swooped overhead.
The only problem with having a dinosaur-sized dragon on your side was the issue of space. Within the lighted circle, there simply wasn’t much of it, and there was always a risk of friendly fire anytime Mrizandr, well, breathed fire, or swung that mighty spiked tail of his.
“Retreat!” I shouted, which was something we didn’t say often. Retreating generally meant trouble, because then the monsters could wail on the ward shields surrounding the goddesses’ stronghold. And, as I’d learned firsthand, a breach in the shields meant we’d be quickly overrun. Game, checkmate, match.
But I didn’t mean to retreat behind our ward shields. No, I just meant back the hell up and make room for the giant fucking dragon that was trying to land amidst our enemies. To get my point across, I leapt into the fray, shoving Beat back with one hand and slamming my hammer into the ground with the other. The earth shook as light shot forth. It naturally made Beat’s Warriors recoil and shield their eyes, while the Vostra gnashed their teeth in my general direction. I ran in the other direction, not out of fear, but because that giant fucking dragon was coming down fast and hard. I dove free, tackling another of Beat’s Warriors in the process, rolling over twice before coming to rest, getting an upside-down view of Mrizandr just as he unleashed a gout of fire while simultaneously sweeping his long tail. Three of the spikes landed direct blows, skewering a trio of Vostra who were still shocked by the blast of light my hammer had released. The fire coursed over the rest of the monsters, sizzling their flesh and making them scream from a hundred unsatisfied mouths.
The battle was over shortly thereafter. Damn, it was nice having a dragon on our side.
Beat was less thankful. “Dammit, Ryder, we had it under control.”
“I know,” I said.
“Then why did you—”
“I was bored, and tired. The dragon was the easiest way to end the battle quickly.” I faked a yawn. “I’m ready to hit the hay. You?”
“You’re managing me, aren’t you?” my friend said, narrowing her eyes.
“Yup.”
“Bastard.”
“I’ve been called worse. Hell, you’ve called me worse. Anyway, you’re not some cocky Warrior now, you’re a Protector. You don’t get to fight with your heart anymore.”
“Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black?”
“Maybe,” I said. “But I like to think I balance my emotions pretty well these days. Look, Beat, I’m not going to apologize for messing with your half of the battle. I’m always going to help you, no matter what. I just want you alive. Your pride can hump a pig for all I care.”
“That’s a…unique…way of putting it.”
I chuckled. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure where the words had come from. “Let’s regroup. There’s still a fair bit of Black left.”
It was true. The Black had been getting longer ever since I’d arrived on Tor, something to do with a new dark magic the Morgoss had been conjuring. Lately, ever since we killed one of their evil trio, the time had stabilized somewhat, but still…the Black lasted way too long these days.
Thankfully, the Vostra were our only enemies on this night. Despite the new manner in which they’d attacked, I sensed it was more of a halfhearted effort by their masters than anything else. An attempt at distracting us while they continued to prepare for the real attack, which would involve some kind of monsters created from shadows and fire, summoned from the foulest depths of the underworld. Or at least that’s what Vrill had told us, the information gleaned when she was still under the Morgoss’s control, her mind tethered to them by black magic. In a moment of weakness, they’d revealed their nefarious plans to her, so now we knew.
Which meant we needed to get ahead of them before it was too late.
When the Black was over and the first rays of the Bronze time began to creep over the horizon, we started for home. We’d only lost one Warrior, the white-furred creature from Askander. As a war general, that would be considered a great result. As a human who valued life, it was another blow to my heart. The little guy was carried between two of Beat’s Warriors and would be burned back at camp. Burying him would require too much energy and the ground on Tor was hard and filled with rocks.
I walked back with Vrill. As soon as the last Vostra was dead, Vrill had slid off Mrizandr and the dragon had launched itself into the air to go hunt fresh game. According to Vrill, it had no problem killing monsters but didn’t have a taste for them. “Futhermucker,” I said under my breath.
“What?” Vrill asked, crinkling her nose in that familiar way she always did when I said something from Earth that would make little sense to her.
“It’s something we used to say as kids so we wouldn’t get in trouble for swearing. The principal—that’s like the person in charge of the educational facility—heard me say it and gave me detention anyway.”
“Detention?”
I sighed. I’d been away from Vrill for long enough to forget that I needed to do a better job of explaining certain Earth-isms. “Misbehaving kids were sent there to sit in silence when the other kids got to go home. Anyway, it’s not important. I complained to the principal that I hadn’t even sworn, so it wasn’t fair that he gave me detention. He said regardless of the exact word, my intention was the same either way. I had intended to swear, even if I hadn’t actually sworn. Make sense?”
“Yes, my people think that way too. But what does that have to do with us?”
I tried to line up my thoughts, which was much easier now that I’d been upgraded. “While what my principal said made sense, I don’t think intention is enough here. You can intend to do good but still do evil. That was the trap that the Three and Eve had fallen into. They believed the ends would justify the means, but that’s not really true. The ends aren’t worth a damn thing if the means aren’t just.”
“So saying ‘futhermucker’ shouldn’t get you in trouble?” Vrill interpreted.
I chuckled. “Something like that. After I got detention, I figured I might as well just say what I meant to say. So from then on I always just said ‘motherfucker’.”
Vrill crinkled her nose again, but this time in curiosity. “As in one who has sex with their own mother?”
I laughed. “I never really thought about it but yes? I guess so. That’s pretty gross. I’d rather punch myself in the face repeatedly than even see my mother naked. We say some pretty weird shit on Earth, but that doesn’t change the lesson I learned. We can’t keep talking about preparing for the Morg
oss invasion and uniting the people of Tor against them. It’s time to finally do it.”
“Having sex with your mother isn’t necessarily gross,” Vrill said.
It took me a second to register what she’d said because it was the last thing I expected. I was about to ask her what the hell she was talking about, but was interrupted by another voice:
“What about Minertha’s heart?” Eve said, having pulled up on my opposite side. “You said you know where it’s located. Shouldn’t that be a priority?”
Just loud enough for both of us to hear, Vrill said, “Futhermucker,” which might’ve been funny if not for the fact that I knew she wouldn’t mind killing her Seeker counterpart. It was a weird situation to be in, pincered between these two women, both of whom I’d had sex with on multiple occasions. It was the weirdest, and only, love triangle I’d ever been involved in.
The truth was, I’d considered the decision from all angles. Given what Airiel could do for us now that she’d recovered her heart, it was tempting to try to restore Minertha to her previous glory too. Hell, it could be enough to turn the tide in the war. And yet it was a huge risk. We could lose everything and still not recover the goddess’s heart. No, we needed to bide our time and do the right thing for everyone. “First we need to grow our numbers,” I said. “Forge alliances with any other tribes who are willing. Get creative in our approach.”
In the past, this would be the point where Eve would argue with me like a lawyer trying to convince a jury that the sky wasn’t blue but purple. But that was the old Eve. The new Eve said, “Okay. I can live with that. What do you need me to do?”
Vrill rolled her eyes. Clearly, she wasn’t buying it. But I was, because I had been there when Eve had ‘died’. That changes a person. “What you do best: Recruit new Warriors.”
“I wouldn’t call what she did ‘recruiting’,” Vrill offered.