Demi Heroes

by Andrew Lynch

  The group was stunned for a second as they boggled at the skill involved, and then marvelled at their good fortune. Was that even possible? Certainly they'd never seen anything so perfect before.

  They all sprawled on the floor, barely able to contain their nervous, life affirming laughs. Even Jess joined in.

  They didn’t have long, and they knew that Moxar mustn’t see them. They slowly, quietly got to their feet. They crept to the wall of the perfectly circular throne room, and made their way over to where Moxar fought Malum, in the fight to free a God and save the world.

  Chapter 19

  Lucian drew next to the opening - which if he had to guess, at one point had been a secret door that had been Moxarred - and peered round.

  A jagged cave with no magma lighting, and a large bulge against the far wall. Shards of reflective metals were dotted around on the walls that amplified the light. The light was produced by something in the middle of the room. A figure lying on a rock plinth glowed with a brilliant, golden light. It seemed too bright to look at, bright enough to fill the entire room in its warmth, but when Lucian did, unadvisedly, look directly at it, it was as if the light could tell, and dimmed itself for his eyes only.

  God Mercy. Lucian had never seen a God before. They hadn’t left their plateau in generations. If certain legends could be believed, then their newfound solidarity was a blessing.

  It was hard to tell with him - hmm, Lucian wasn’t sure if Gods had genders or not - lying down, but God Mercy seemed like a giant. Not a literal giant of course, those lived on the Eastern continent outside the Empire, but certainly rather large as Human standards went, easily dwarfing the likes of Moxar and Gar.

  The rest of the room was plain, uncut rock, not the carefully curated selection of shiny minerals found in the rest of the castle. There were four stalactites hanging from the ceiling, reaching all the way to God Mercy, and Lucian couldn’t be sure at this distance, but they seemed to plunge into him. There were also stalagmites dotting the area, but these were currently being used as makeshift weapons in the fight.

  Blue and red lights illuminated one corner of the room with brilliant flashes.

  Moxar’s axe, Sharfaas, was meeting the God-power infused mace of Malum. Sparks of magical energy showered over the two combatants with every swing, and close up the flashes of light must have been blinding. Lucian looked straight at one clash and was left with an after image floating in his vision.

  It was imperative that they stayed out of everyone’s way. Moxar couldn’t know they were there, so the group couldn’t risk more than a single head looking round the corner to make sure things hadn’t gone wrong.

  This led to a lot of questions and complaints as naturally everyone wanted to know what was happening. Complaints like, ‘Oi, I wanna look!’ Followed by a vigorous arm shaking.

  ‘If you wish to delegate your vigil to me, I suppose I would not complain.’

  ‘Me watch.’

  Lucian decided that, as the leader, and definitely the most observant and tactically minded of the group, he should continue watching. He waved all comments away.

  The two fighters continued to exchange blows, the two powerful weapons being swung shockingly fast for their size. Okay, not shockingly fast for the people wielding them, but Lucian felt that even Gar would have trouble swinging those weapons at all, let alone fast.

  The fight took them whirling around the room in a complicated dance that almost seemed choreographed. Their heightened senses and experience allowed them to predict an attack before it happened. Two great weapon masters, at the height of their powers, facing off against an equal. Possibly for the first time in their lives, they each found they were matched in their skill at arms.

  Sure, Moxar had tangled with monsters and magic countless times before. But Malum seemed a true counterpart. Lithe and agile, a mixture of dull stone and shiny flint covering his body in an armour he could strengthen or dissipate at will.

  Of course, Malum had the power of a God flowing through him. Lucian wasn’t sure he had believed a God’s power could be syphoned until he saw the subdued God lying there. Presumably the stalactites stabbing into the God acted as a conduit to enhance Malum’s natural power over rock.

  But Lucian realised that the battle before him had a purpose. Moxar wasn’t trying to strike Malum. Yes, he was attacking with the vigour one would expect, but only because a good offence is the best defence.

  Finally there was a reprieve from the back and forth of the fight. Moxar managed to get behind Malum in a spinning move of extraordinary skill, and tripped Malum. Instead of going for the killing blow, Moxar turned and ran towards God Mercy, Sharfaas held high. But he directed his blow not at the God, but at Malum’s connection to the power source. The stalactites.

  Moxar’s aim was true, and Malum still lay on the floor, too far away to intervene.

  Malum’s arm stretched out, his hand grasping at the air in front of him. In symmetry with his hand, a wall of stone shot out from the dais upon which God Mercy lay, and blocked Moxar’s attack. It shattered in the process, but it had done its work.

  Lucian realised he had been holding his breath and tensing his whole body. He relaxed and breathed again. He ignored the exasperated sighs and tuts from his group at not being able to see the spectacle.

  Malum rose before Moxar could recover, and the stalemate continued, neither warrior able to best the other.

  Lucian sat back and allowed the others their fair turn. He found himself exhausted. Not physically, despite the traversing of the castle, but emotionally from the drama he just witnessed. He wondered how Moxar could stand it.

  Even Malum must be tense. Although evil villains did have a tendency to be sociopaths, so perhaps not.

  As the others crowded round the entrance, oohing and aahing at the fight, Lucian began to fear that without help, Moxar wouldn’t survive. They were evenly matched now, yes, and of course Moxar had the stamina of an entire army to call upon, but he couldn’t keep it up. He would tire eventually. Malum would give in only when the Gods tired.

  Lucian wondered how, perhaps, his group could provide an edge. Could they distract Malum? Not without distracting Moxar too, no.

  Could they actually help in the fight? It would cost them their lives. Maybe it would be enough, to give their lives to save the world. Throw-away characters in Moxar’s story.

  But this wasn’t about the machinations of the Company. This was real.

  Hold on. The Company wouldn’t let the villain win. Well, Lucian didn’t put it past them, as the majesty of the story of the fall of Moxar would be beyond anything they'd done before - but not here. Because the world would end too. That would damage profits.

  And in this equal match of physical prowess, the one backed by a God would win.

  Lucian was sure he was forgetting something...

  ‘Oh my Gods, we forget to open the door!’ Lucian gasped.

  The group looked at him. ‘Door?’ Gar asked.

  ‘Yes! We were supposed to open a door to let one of Moxar’s allies in.’

  Jess’ eyes widened, remembering. ‘No. Not exactly. Towards the end of a Quest, even the Company cannot know exactly what will happen. But you are right, we are supposed to allow someone to help him.’

  ‘Xly’dia?’ Gar suggested.

  ‘No, no, he was never mentioned anywhere. He was a wild card.’ Lucian thought of the possibilities. There was only one real contender, but why would she be here?

  ‘sha’Laria?’ he asked the group.

  They all took a moment to think. They mumbled that technically it was possible, they guessed, but Moxar’s love, one of the most powerful Magi in the Empire, hadn’t been mentioned on the Quest documents. To them at least.

  ‘It never said on the assignments. But also, I don’t see where she’d get in, especially since we just blocked the only entrance,’ Lucian said.

  They all looked around wildly.

  Lucian knew that the place was already too
overloaded with magical energy, what with being stood right next to a God and in a giant castle summoned by a mysterious cult, so Jess wouldn’t be able to detect sha’Laria.

  A grunt more agonised than the ordinary strains of throwing a giant weapon around sounded from the God room. The group all peered back in.

  Moxar was on his knees, hand over his face. Malum’s rock mask was covered in blood. Moxar’s blood. A swift headbutt after Moxar had gotten too close. An underhanded, no skill, trick.

  That could be all Malum needed to turn the tide of the fight. Moxar was now weakened.

  ‘Whatever we do, we need to do it fast,’ Lucian said. ‘Wait... it just said to let Moxar’s allies in. Or was it out? They mean a fellow Hero, right? Maybe... maybe they mean us?’

  The group instantly shook their heads. ‘You’ve been on about being a Hero for a while now,’ Khleb said. ‘Real subtle like. But why? You know what happens to people that try to be a Hero when they aren’t? They die.’

  Ahh Khleb, master of staying in his place. Happy with his lot in life. A fan of the status quo. Lucian also realised that he was left without his hatchet - it was still lodged in a guard’s face. Just his bow left. Maybe that was all Moxar needed. An arrow through the eye would slow even a God-infused villain. Lucian unslung his bow, and drew an arrow.

  Gar, Jess, and Khleb all pinned him to the wall. A big meaty, dark finger was in his face.

  ‘No.’

  Lucian did always appreciate the direct route.

  ‘We not Hero.’ Good old Gar, giving it to Lucian straight right from the start. ‘Don’t want to die.’ A practical man. ‘Don’t want you to die.’ He didn’t speak often, but he made some solid arguments when he did.

  ‘All right, all right.’ Lucian raised his hands to wave the group off. ‘I may have gotten carried away. Sorry.’

  They released him slowly. They were happier once he slung his bow over his back again.

  They looked back in on Moxar. The light show continued, red and blue mixing with the Golden aura. Sparks were showering everything around the Hero and dissipating after skittering along the floor.

  But Moxar was on the defensive now, backing away with every blow. No opportunity for a counter attack. And then the sign that he was truly weakening. Malum tried to start a monologue. The group couldn’t hear it, but that was never a good sign. Orchestrating the trick the Hero had up his sleeve to turn everything around at the last second, was the group’s job. They hadn’t done it, it couldn’t happen, Moxar would fall.

  The dance around the room continued, and as they approached the rear wall, Lucian saw something new. The large bulge in the wall. He had thought nothing of the natural rock formation, why would he? But the clash of red and blue shone a new light on the situation.

  It was a silhouette of a dreamily and superbly proportioned woman.

  ‘Anyone else see that?’ Lucian asked.

  No one knew what he was talking about.

  ‘She’s on the far side of the room. In the rock! Imprisoned.’

  No one else saw it, and their faces clearly showed that for some reason they didn’t instantly trust his observational skills. Time to take charge. ‘I don’t care if you saw it or not, here’s the plan.’

  ‘Lucian, we should wait for a—' Jess began.

  ‘We act now, or we lose a great Hero. Maybe even hand the world over to evil.’

  ‘Boss, there’s no point throwing ourselves into a room with two—' Khleb tried.

  Lucian grabbed Khleb by the shoulder. ‘I’m going in there. I may need you. Are you there for me?’

  ‘It’s not about—'

  ‘Are you there for me?’ Lucian shouted.

  ‘Look, I don’t want my wages docked for getting Moxar killed as much as the next guy, but—'

  ‘Are you there for me?’ Lucian asked, urgently this time, his voice pleading.

  ‘No. Not risking my life for this. I’m out.’ And Khleb turned to go. It was mainly symbolic, as there was no way out, but his point was made.

  ‘This is your chance. Join me. Prove that we’re both Heroes.’

  ‘I don’t need to prove anything. I already know I’m not a Hero.’

  ‘But you could—’

  ‘No! Heroes are cut from a different cloth. Made of something different. Something better than us. And you can always tell when someone is a Hero.’

  Lucian remembered how the Company “made” their Heroes. No, Khleb was wrong. Anyone could be a Hero. ‘You can’t tell when someone is a Hero. It’s up to you.’

  ‘What kind of generic bollocks is that? Trite. And worst of all, wrong! Heroes have things like bizarre hairstyles, and romance subplots.’

  ‘What are you talkin…’ Lucian thought about it for a second. Khleb was right. Moxar had sha’Laria. Then he remembered her. ‘You’re right. And I do have a romance subplot! Lily! And so do you. You have a harem of romance. And I’m sure Jess and Gar do too, right?’

  Gar nodded enthusiastically, and Jess replied, ‘No, Lucian, I have depth.’

  ‘That was just an example!’ Khleb shouted. ‘Just because you like a girl doesn’t mean you’re a Hero. No. I’m not stupid enough to go in there.’

  Lucian gave up on the lost cause - time was running out. He looked to Gar and Jess. Together they said, unbidden, ‘I’m here for you!’

  ‘Let’s hope two out of three can save the world,’ Lucian said. ‘To the far side of the room, let’s go!’

  They rushed into the room, staying low. Perhaps one God or another was watching over their passage and helping them - although Lucian remembered glumly that couldn’t be the case, as the location of God Mercy was shielded from the other Gods. That’s what started this whole Quest. They were on their own, divine intervention be damned.

  In all fairness though, the Gods didn’t actually ever care about mortal affairs, so this was nothing new.

  They could all fit behind the first, surprisingly still intact, lump of stalagmite. From there, Lucian broke cover to the next, and the chain started. Lucian, then Jess, then Gar.

  The third stalactite had become a brief centrepiece for the battle and its best days were well and truly behind it. Lucian could barely hide behind it sideways. After he had moved on, he looked back and saw the comical sight of Gar trying to fit behind it. Like an archer trying to hide behind his bow.

  Lucian would have had a good chuckle to himself over this, if a deafening crash and blinding lights hadn’t, well, deafened and blinded him. At least for a few seconds.

  When his vision returned, Malum had pushed Moxar into the rock Lucian was hiding behind.

  The axe and maul came into view, and clashed. The sparks from both weapons flew into his face. The raw magic burned as it touched his skin. Like fiery embers, or boiling hot wax, it hit his face and instantly cooled. Lucian covered his face with his hands, gritting his teeth to stop from crying out.

  Once the shock of the magical burn was gone, Lucian opened his eyes, and felt as though he could see everything a little bit more clearly. Had his vision improved? He also found new reserves of energy, and a boundless enthusiasm. He’d never been touched by raw magic before. He could get used to this. He felt... extra alive!

  Then the pain returned. Small specks all over his face, like little red hot needles. The sizable rock he was hiding behind shifted. That was probably bad.

  From behind the rock, Lucian could see the glow of the weapons, and could see Malum making a wide sweep with his rock maul. Moxar dived out of the way, but Lucian wasn’t nearly as fast. He stood there, seeing it coming, yet unable to move.

  The maul smashed through the stalactite with ease, crushing it to rubble. Lucian felt the wind from the maul as it passed him, almost pulling him off balance. And the two Heroes continued their fight, moving around the room.

  The maul couldn’t have been more than a hair’s breadth from touching him!

  He started grabbing himself to make sure he hadn’t lost a limb. All five still there. He look
ed down, and could see no large open wounds on his chest. Couldn’t have been all bad then, he supposed. Hmm... it was odd that he was looking at his chest and not his shirt...

  Lucian had found in the past, that if you focused too much on what could have happened, you’d probably get lost down that particular rabbit hole. Getting lost in the past was dangerous, because it meant you missed the present. For example, right now, Lucian was, effectively, just standing fully exposed in the middle of the room, now that his cover had been destroyed.

  Lucian chose not to consider just how close a call that had been, and instead enjoyed the much cooler option of going shirtless, because it was a bit stuffy at the bottom of a subtercastle, as it turned out.

  Also, he managed to get his wits about him fast enough to drop into the lowest crouch his now very shaky legs could manage, and make his way over to the last bit of cover, right next to the trapped figure of, hopefully, sha’Laria. He hoped. Otherwise this would all seem rather silly, and maybe Khleb had the right idea.

  If there was one thing he’d learned in his years of command, it was that people in this line of work weren’t entirely averse to risking their lives. It took a certain type of person to get into this game at all. But risking their lives for no point, or a wrong guess... even if Malum didn’t kill them all, Lucian wouldn’t be making it back out of this place.

  Lucian had appreciated his moment of repose as the rest of the minor magical haze wore off. He felt more able to focus now. Yes, very focused. The room seemed to be shaking. Was Malum doing that? Talons were gripping his shoulders. Why was a bird down here? Silly birds. Always getting places they shouldn’t.

  Something hit him so hard he quickly found the room was on its side. Silly room. No, not silly room. Now that he thought about it, the room was probably the right way up. If he had to guess, it would be him that was on his side.

  The world snapped back into focus. His vision returned to its normal dimness. Difficult to describe, as it was still being lit by the incandescence of a God, but Lucian decided he needed to ask some questions about magic abuse when they got out of this.