Dauntless

by Thomas G. Atwood Jr.

  “Well, well. This is a pleasant reunion. It’s so great to see you again.” She scowled as Aidan sprinted beside me. “You’re not invited.” She flicked her finger in Aidan’s direction, and energy flung him back. He flew with blinding speed as the spell tossed him toward the entrance of the mine. I put the sword’s blade to her throat, snarling as it pressed against her skin.

  “You have to stop killing my lieutenants. This is going to be a recruiting nightmare,” she grumbled, staring at the blade.

  “Let him go,” I hissed.

  “No,” she replied, raising an eyebrow as she smirked at me.

  “Do it.”

  “Or what? You’ll kill me?” She chuckled as she looked into my eyes. “How many men have you killed, dearie?”

  “A few, thanks to your loving instruction.”

  Morrigan scoffed, rolling her eyes at the statement. “Please. I forced you to kill them. That’s nothing. I’m asking how many times have you gazed into someone’s eyes, felt nothing, and took their life. Killing a vampire is nothing, it’s snuffing out the life of a pest.”

  “I killed your flunkey, didn’t I?”

  “Killing in combat is a trivial thing. Executing a defenseless opponent is something different. Tell me, do you have the stomach for it? Do you have the iron will to—”

  I swung the sword with all my strength, and Morrigan’s eyes went wide as she tumbled backward. A thin trace of blood marred her skin, and she glared at me.

  “I’m sorry, were you going to say something? Because I have errands to do, get a haircut, swing by the gym, save the world, you know how it is.”

  “I misjudged you. Good girl, I’m impressed.”

  “Well, the way I see it, if I deal with you two, I save a few thousand lives. I call that a fair trade where I’m from.”

  “Well, all you have to do is deal with us. Come on, give Mommy a hug.”

  I rushed over; my blade leveled at Morrigan’s chest. She stared at me, a grin on her face as she rubbed her fingertips together. My blade was less than an inch from her when I felt a blast of force on my back. I tumbled as Morrigan stepped to the side. I fell, collapsing in the dust and dirt of the mine. She cocked her head at me, and I hurled myself again. I kept attacking, but she always tossed me away at the last second, sending me tumbling to the ground. I pushed myself up, panting as she sauntered toward me.

  “You know, most people think of magical combat in terms of force versus force. Mages hurling lightning bolts, chunks of ice and cars at each other. It’s so vulgar. I see it more like Judo. I don’t need to be stronger than you,” she said as my sword arced toward her neck. A blast of red energy hit the sword at the last second. The force tore the weapon from my grip and sent it sliding across the dirt.

  “I need to control where your power goes,” she finished, her lips curling into a cruel grin.

  “Fascinating,” I snarled. I grabbed a chain and swung it like a whip at her. She was always a step out of reach, a mere inch from the chain. She stood there, mocking me. She never made a move, never grabbed a weapon. She slapped me hard, a cruel grin on her face. I glared in rage and humiliation, but she smiled as I stood there, panting as the last traces of strength left me. My arms felt like lead weights, and my feet dragged as I tried to keep up.

  “You can’t beat me,” she said, her powers sending me tumbling into the dirt yet again.

  “I don’t need to,” I spat back. I grabbed a solid rock and hurled it like a softball. The weapon arched toward Drake as he strapped himself into the iron structure in the middle of the room. His eyes widened in terror as it sped toward him. A red cloud surrounded the weapon, stopping it at the last second. Morrigan smirked, her hand outstretched at the rock. The rock lay suspended in mid-air, and I raced into Morrigan. I slammed my elbow into her stomach and rammed my knee into her as she doubled over.

  “You know, I took a few classes of Judo during the summer,” I said as I slammed my foot into her ribs. She tumbled at the impact, rolling in the dust. “I learned something. You shouldn’t get distracted during a match.” Morrigan jumped to her feet, her cheeks beet red as she scowled at me. She reached for her coat and snarled as she slid a finger through a hole in its leather.

  “You tore my jacket,” she snarled. “Do you have any idea what I had to do to get this?”

  “Wow. I’m not sorry,” I snapped back as I stormed over to her.

  She stretched her arm out and the chains I was wielding earlier lifted into the air. They crashed into me and hit me with an agonizing crack. Pain blasted down my neck as I fell to my knees. The weapon wrapped itself around me like a serpent. They bore down, causing my ribs to scream in pain. I struggled to draw in each breath against the squeezing restraints as she sent me floating. A large hook on the far side of the room looped through the chains and left me suspended. Morrigan smirked in satisfaction as she dusted herself off.

  “Sit a spell,” Morrigan said as I struggled against the chains. “Well, I’m proud of myself. I scored the entire collection.”

  “What about the fairy kid?” Drake asked as workers slid him into a massive, steel coffin. He fit his arms through twin hold on the sides. The workers pricked a needle in them and skittered across the floor, arranging a series of plastic tubing.

  “What about him?” she snapped. “That spell should toss him a few miles away. He’ll be lucky if he doesn’t get thrown off the side of a mountain.”

  “And if he comes back?”

  “I will deal with that if it happens. Shut up,” she said, pulling the bloodstone from her jacket. “This is going to hurt.” She walked over to Drake and drove the bloodstone into his forehead. Drake bellowed in pain as the sound of bone cracking echoed through the room. His skin split open, and blood ran down his face in rivulets. Morrigan gave him a gentle pat on the cheek as workers pulled on chains attached to the coffin. They suspended the mewling Drake in the air, so he was hanging above the dozens of captives in chains. Each prisoner stared up at him, watching in mixed horror and curiosity.

  “Stop whining!” Morrigan commanded. “Within a few seconds, these pitiful creature’s souls will be bound to you, and you will become stronger than you ever dreamed. I would hope that’s worth a gaping head wound.”

  “Are you…you sure you did this right?” Drake whimpered.

  “Yes, I’m sure I did this right,” Morrigan spat back. “You’re the one who reproduced the ritual, for God’s sake. If you didn’t screw up, the spell will tear their souls, and yours, from their bodies. The spell will bind them until they are one. After that, they will transform into the army you need.”

  “Then why aren’t you doing it?”

  “I’m not going to let some gutter soul taint mine, are you crazy? Bleed him.” The workers nodded and in a few seconds dark, crimson blood came dripping down the plastic tubes. The workers ran in a fever, sticking each of the captives with a similar device. The prisoners stared in horror as drip by drip Drake’s blood seeped into their veins.

  “Mistress, he may not have enough blood for all the captives,” one of the workers said as arching, scarlet lightning began filling the room. The room filled with a rancid scent and each of the captives fell back in their cages. Their eyes rolled back in their heads, leaving cloudy white orbs in their place. Drake began howling in pain as the lightning struck him. Morrigan glanced up, tapping her foot as she watched.

  “Mistress, he may-”

  “I heard you the first time,” Morrigan snapped.

  “If we bleed him dry before everything is in place-”

  “Then he dies. I’m aware of that. Keep working.”

  “He’s your son,” the worker protested, his eyes opening in shock as
he stared at her. His jaw dropped for a second as a moment of humanity crept across the slavish face.

  “I know that. Back to work or his death won’t be the one you have to worry about.” The neutral expression returned to the worker, who ran back and rejoined the throng. The electricity began to build up, and the cracking energy rose like a claw from the ground. Kat glanced my direction; worry etched across her face as she struggled to slip through her restraints.

  “Kacey, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…” she started, but her voice broke, and she hung her head.

  “It’s not over yet,” I returned, smiling with confidence I didn’t feel. The captive’s steel cages exploded open, and their skin stretched and burst open like an overfilled balloon. A spectral skeleton, surrounded by a blazing white aura, emerged from each. It flew through the room and raced toward the suspended coffin. Each one slammed into it with a deafening thud and disappeared. When the final one slammed into it, the steel container toppled to the ground, splitting open.

  Drake stepped out, booming with manic laughter. Every inch of his skin cracked and warped. Glowing blue liquid rolled down his face in a perpetual stream. His nails had twisted into ebon claws that jutted out from his fingers and clicked together. His teeth turned into fangs, and his open mouth revealed another two rows of the razor sharp teeth. His body stank like a corpse, a vile, odious stench that twisted my stomach as he walked closer.

  “That’s great,” I grimaced. “Okay, Kat If you have any mojo left, we could use it. We need a storm.”

  “I can’t. The chains have my hands pinned.”

  “So?”

  “So without them I can’t control what I’m doing. I can’t control how powerful the storm is, I can’t direct it, it would be chaos. It would be as dangerous to us as it would be to them. I can’t!”

  “We are out of options.”

  “The last time I did that, people died. I can’t…I can’t risk doing that to any of you.”

  “Kat, listen to me,” I said turning my head toward her. “I trust you.”

  Kat let out a long breath as her eyes became midnight black. I glanced back down at the floor and saw dozens of skeletons clattering out of the ground. The bones cracked and twisted, breaking until bleached white powder covered the floors. The creatures grew to massive size, and a feral howl escaped from them. Their flesh reformed in an instant with mud-covered scales crawling over their bodies. Their jaws extended like an alligator’s, and a massive bulk of muscle surrounded them. Razor sharp blades erupted along their skin, and needle-like teeth emerged in their mouths. Each one let out a feral howl, eyes gleaming with the thrill of the hunt as they swarmed around Drake.

  “This would be a good time!” I shouted over the din.

  “I’m working on it,” Kat muttered from behind gritted teeth. Rain began pattering from the sky, causing the beasts to stare upward. The rain intensified until it began to flood the floor. Gray clouds erupted across the cave, and howling wind swirled and churned around us. A gust caught me, lifting me from the hook and sending me tumbling to the ground. I winced in pain as I slipped through the chains. The howling wind and pouring rain muffled my feet as I grabbed a steel rod and snuck behind Morrigan. I swung the weapon with all my strength, and it impacted into Morrigan with a dull thud.

  “You have no idea how satisfying that was,” I said as she fell, groaning, to the floor. Kat and Dad fell to the ground, shrugging off the chains that Morrigan was too distracted to deal with. I walked over to the sarcophagus that trapped Ripper. I pulled with all my strength, mystical energy burning like wildfire in my arms. The rock cracked and shattered open as I cast the lid aside. Ripper fell to his knees, coughing as he stood up. One of the creatures snarled and pounced at me. Kat sent him tumbling away with a blast of wind. Electricity crackled and sparked around her hands, gathering into a brilliant ball of blue energy. The ball arched from her hands, slamming into the creature with a massive peal of thunder.

  It didn’t even blink.

  “Run,” I said as my jaw fell open in surprise as Kat backed away, her eyes wide and breathing ragged.

  “Good call,” Kat returned as we all shambled toward the entrance. I beamed as I saw Aidan panting as he walked up. We burst toward the passageway as Morrigan screamed in frustration. She pulled herself up and glared as she wiped the blood off her neck.

  “Kacey!” she howled, glaring at me. “Defiance has its price.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” I said, turning my back on her and racing out. I slowed to a stop as I saw Aidan’s eyes grow as wide as dinner plates and his mouth fall open in horror.

  “Kacey, look out!” he screamed, hurling himself toward me.

  I span and saw a massive ball of flame arcing toward my back. The white hot orb hissed, and a molten dagger was visible in the center of it. I froze as the weapon raced closer to me. Aidan tackled me out of the way, sending me tumbling into the dirt as the spell slammed into his back. I howled in anguish as I watched the weapon throw brilliant crimson mist into the air. He collapsed to the ground, still and quiet as I ran over to him. I held him in my arms as blood trailed from his lips.

  “Aidan,” I pleaded as he closed his eyes. “Come on. We have to get you out.”

  “Kacey…,” he trailed off as he squeezed my hand. His eyes closed as his body went limp in my arms. I ripped off my shirt in mad desperation, pressing it to the wound as the crimson liquid spilled onto my hands. I wrapped the wound, my heart falling as the man who saved my life, the man I loved, drifted away from me.

  Chapter 26

  The snarling of the monsters felt like it was a million miles away. Nothing mattered at that moment, not the slavering creatures that swarmed us, not the threat they posed to the city, not even Drake and Morrigan. The one thing that mattered was the still, unmoving body that lay in my arms. I held Aidan, hoping he’d open his eyes, wake up, and that this was all some awful dream. I’d wake up, and he’d be climbing the tree outside my room. He’d give me the warm, gleaming smile he always reserved for me and wrapped me in his arms until all my fears melted away.

  The wet, sticky blood that covered my hands assured me it was real. I wanted the monsters to come, to rip me apart until there was nothing left. I failed him. He was the only man I’d ever loved, and I failed him. If I hadn’t hesitated, if I moved faster, if I’d somehow managed to take Morrigan out, she wouldn’t have been able to hurt Aidan. He’d be right here beside me, saving the city alongside me. I felt a chill in the air as a solid wall of ice came between Drake’s army and us. I glanced up to see my dad standing over me, a line of white, freezing powder streaming from his hand as the wall appeared. Dad knelt beside Aidan, inspecting him.

  “He’s alive,” Dad said, causing my eyes to dart toward him. Dad lay his hand on Aidan’s chest and set two fingers against his neck. “His breathing’s shallow and his pulse is weak, but he’s still alive.”

  “How…he’s…what?” I stammered. Dad snapped his fingers in front of my face as he lifted Aidan.

  “Kacey! Kiddo, snap out of it. We need to hurry; he won’t be with us long if we don’t move. Come on, give me a hand.”

  Dad conjured a solid block of ice in the vague shape of a stretcher. I lay Aidan on it, and we raced him out of the cave. We moved in a blind panic. We ignored the rocks that littered the ground and the tricky steps, all in a mad dash to try and get Aidan in time. We emerged from the mine with the crisp, cool air of a Colorado winter greeting us. I pointed at the helicopter, and we ran toward it, sliding Aidan in the back as the pilot shouted protests.

  “What…Who…what’s going on?”

  “Palmer United Hospital,” I commanded as Ripper and Dad filed inside. “Take us there.”

  “Lady, I wasn’t hired
by you. I have a client and-” He let out a quick shout of pain as Ripper grabbed his shoulder from behind.

  “The lady gave you a request,” he growled, causing all color to leave the man’s face. The helicopter burst into the air, darting toward the hospital at breakneck speed. Ripper grabbed the radio and adjusted something I didn’t recognize.

  “Palmer Hospital, we have a stabbing victim we’re bringing in. He’s in critical condition and will need immediate care.” A few seconds passed before the radio filled with static, and a voice spoke behind the cracking of the radio.

  “This is Palmer United. Rodger that, we’ll have an emergency team waiting on the helipad. Who is this?”

  “We can discuss that when we arrive. Time is a factor.” He set the handset back on the radio and lay back in his seat. In a few minutes, the gleaming lights of the city replaced the tree-laden landscape. Every nerve I had was on edge as the helicopter touched down on the helipad, and a crew of doctors raced over. They grabbed Aidan from the chopper and set him on a stretcher. They barked orders to each other and rattled off an endless series of terminology as they rolled him down the walkway. A man with a stethoscope walked over to us.

  “My name is Doctor Parker,” he said, smiling at us as he stroked a razor thin goatee. He gave a warm smile as he flipped through a clipboard. “Can someone tell us what happened?”

  “He…he was…” I started, but I couldn’t get the words out. I couldn’t breathe, let alone speak.

  “He was stabbed,” Ripper replied, setting a hand on my shoulder.

  “Can you be more specific?”

  “I’m afraid not.”

  “Are you his family?”

  “We’re his friends.”

  “Okay, we’re going to get him into surgery right away. You’re lucky; we had an OR vacant right as you called. They’re ready to operate this second.”

  “We have security concerns,” Ripper said, causing the doctor to raise an eyebrow.