by Logan Knight
“Are they intelligent?” I asked. “Can they be reasoned with? Is there any chance we can turn it loose without it coming after one of us?”
“They are intelligent,” Nadia confirmed, “but they are without feelings. They care nothing for those they harm. We are cattle to them, and their method of hunting is most disturbing.
“They disguise themselves to look like things a man might find attractive or alluring. They can speak. They say things to gain your trust in a voice you recognize.
“It is said they will enter a village and, after selecting which person they want to eat, lure their victim away. They can appear as a parent to a child. Or as an old woman in need of help to a strong man of good heart. Or, as a child, lost and scared, to a mother who can do nothing other than hold the creature.”
Nadia began to slowly walk around the tree the soldier was tied to. When she emerged from the other side, she gave me a wink to let me know she was playing with him.
She squatted down in front of the man and brought her face within a few inches of his. The soldier visibly relaxed as he gazed into her beautiful, pale blue eyes.
“Perhaps this man is a doppelganger,” Nadia said. “Perhaps when we release him, he will return to eat one of us. Maybe we should not take the chance, and we should slay him here. He looks at me like he sees me as a meal.”
“No,” the man whispered, his voice on the edge of panic. “I’m not the creature! I’m not! I’m just a person! A man!”
Nadia stared hard at him for a full minute. I didn’t think the soldier could look more afraid, but her stare brought him to a level of fright I’d never seen in anyone else before. I didn’t think he’d be undressing her with his eyes anymore after that encounter.
“Doppelgangers cannot be reasoned with,” Nadia said, standing. “They are hunters and destroyers. They are intelligent enough to mimic the looks and sounds of others. We are nothing more than food.
“Mother said a doppelganger might stalk its prey for days or months before striking. A child might go to bed, only to be woken by its brother or sister. The doppelganger would tell the child a convincing story and lure them into the woods. It would then devour them with its many teeth.
“The risk is too great. We must destroy the creature. But there is something else.”
Nadia paced for several seconds, hands behind her back as she stared at the ground. “They are difficult to kill, though I do not remember why. My people had captured one and enclosed it in a cage to study and learn from it. It would lash out with its hands, and it would try to bite them. It was feral and evil. My people tried to kill the creature. They stabbed it with spears and fired arrows at it, but it lived. It was taken into the woods, but it would howl and snarl into the night. It would have died of starvation had my father not discovered how to kill it. I do not remember what he said.”
Then she turned to the man tied to the tree. “How is the creature bound?”
“It’s chained,” he said. “Big, heavy chains hanging from its wrists.”
“These chains must remain in place until the creature is dead,” Nadia said to me. Her tone and expression were stern. I’d never seen her so serious.
“They will be,” I said. “No matter what it takes, we’ll kill it.”
“I can go now, right?” the soldier asked.
“Not just yet,” I said. I reached out, grabbed hold of his amulet, and broke the chain, ripping it from his neck. He still looked the same, if a bit more worried.
“The soldiers will be heading down to the beach before the tide comes in?” I asked.
“Yes,” he said, nodding vigorously. “Everyone will gather on the beach sooner, though. The hooded thing will come down from the fortress soon. If you let me go, I’ll head south. I’ll run until I can’t run anymore. You’ll never see me again.”
“Why hasn’t anyone come to look for you?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” the soldier admitted. “Sometimes people run, but they usually get caught. Maybe they thought I ran? If you leave the amulet behind where they can find it, I don’t think they’ll come looking for me. Once they find that, they’ll think I got eaten by something. Rub it on the side of my head and put some blood on it. That way, it’ll be convincing. I can go now, right? The information I told you was valuable enough to let me live, right?”
“If it was,” I said, “I’ll come back here and untie you. But I can’t risk you telling any of the other soldiers what we’re up to, so for now, you have to stay here.”
“In the dark?” the man said, looking around. “What if a wild creature comes by and wants to eat me?”
“Kick it,” Nadia said.
I placed the tip of the dagger to the man’s mouth to keep him from talking and to make it clear I wanted silence. Then I spent the next minute cutting fabric from his undershirt to make a gag, which I applied to his mouth and around his head.
“Like I said,” I whispered into his ear. “If what you told us was the truth, I’ll be back to untie you.”
The man whimpered but made no other sounds.
“Maybe we should try the amulet,” Nadia said, eyeing the gold in my hand.
“I’ve thought about that,” I said, “but it seems too easy.”
I closed my fingers around the magical charm and opened my mind to its powers. It felt active, like the bat-shaped amulets from the prison did at night. But there was something else there, too. It was a sinister, intelligent kind of feeling. It was dark and angry and reminded me of my encounter with Ru’Hijan.
“It’s a good idea,” I said, “but I don’t think we should try it. In fact, I know we shouldn’t. I can sense Ru’Hijan within the amulet. Maybe it’s because he created it, or maybe he uses it to influence his followers. Putting it on might expose us to his control. It’s not worth the risk.”
When I moved to cut the cords from around the guard’s wrists, Nadia touched my hand and looked into my eyes.
“If you allow him to live, he may betray us,” she said. “A traitor once is a traitor twice. He cannot be trusted.”
“One way or another,” I said, “this will be over before he can warn too many people. If you see him after this, kill him.”
Nadia moved to the front of the tree and waved a blade under the soldier’s nose. “Reese is a powerful mage,” she whispered, “and I will not have you betray him. I swear if I see you after this, I will cut off your manhood, cook it, and make you eat it. It will be painful, and I will burn the wound so you do not die from losing blood. In fact”—she scraped her blade against the man’s head, stared at the tip for a moment, and touched it to her tongue—“I am the creature who was kept in the gold sarcophagus. I have tasted your blood. I will always know where you are for the rest of your life. If you ever return to this land, I will hunt you, I will find you, and I will make you wish you had not. Do you understand?”
The soldier swallowed hard before he answered. “Yes,” he said. His voice was high and squeaky.
I cut the soldier loose. He wasted no time and ran the wrong direction for a few yards before he turned around. “Um… which way is south?”
Nadia pointed into the woods. The soldier fled that direction as fast as his legs could take him.
I held my laugh until he was gone. “Well done,” I said to Nadia, who beamed at me. “Now, let’s go kill a doppelganger.”
17
We found Alena, quickly filled her in about what we’d learned from our captured soldier, and hurried toward the road as fast as we dared. Nadia assured us she would know if the soldier changed direction, but at the moment he was running south, just like he’d promised.
We were still deciding whether we should go back to the spot where we’d killed the soldiers in the woods, or head further up the road to try to intercept the creature further away from the beach. In the end, I let Alena decide, as she was more familiar with the territory than I was.
She chose a spot about halfway between the fortress and the pile of bodies w
e’d left behind. We wouldn’t be too close to the slaughter where we’d be more likely to be found. We also wouldn’t risk being spotted from the towers of the fortress if they were still looking for us—which I believed was a strong possibility.
Once we’d reached the spot Alena chose, we concealed ourselves and waited. I kept my sword sheathed, as always, to avoid detection. Both the women had their blades out, keeping them low and shadowed to help prevent reflections of dim moonlight, giving away their positions.
While we waited, I took a moment to admire my companions. They’d teamed up with me based on nothing more than my word and the strength of my conviction. True, they’d each suffered by the Xorians in their own way, but after I’d freed them, they had chosen to remain with me.
From our hiding spot, we could see soldiers hurrying toward the field of bodies we’d created. Most were focused on getting there, but there were a few who kept their heads on swivels as they searched for threats. At the moment, it was safe to ignore them. We needed to keep our eyes on the road closer to the fortress. We couldn’t allow them to get past. Killing the creature was the only way to save my people. If we happened to kill the general in the process, I would consider it a bonus.
Alena looked nervous and anxious. I touched her arm and whispered into her ear, “Try to relax. This shouldn’t be any more difficult than the last group of soldiers. The general might have a couple of tricks, but we’ve got this. You’ve got this.”
She took a deep breath and nodded to me before turning her eyes back to the road. I was feeling a bit of tension, as well. It increased when I noticed the sound of heavy footsteps coming down the road. The first soldier came into view, quickly followed by the others. Soon after, I heard their commander yelling at them.
“Why are you so sloppy?” the man barked. “Get in line! Follow the step of the man in front of you! This isn’t a formation! You look like a bunch of ducklings following their mother! I should have you dragged out in front of the army and whipped!”
I was a little surprised by what I was hearing. I’d expected Xorian army officers to have more tact and bearing. Based on their prowess in battle, I also expected the soldiers to be better trained and more obedient.
However, because the army had enslaved a creature and was using it to give themselves a huge advantage, discipline and training, it seemed, weren’t as important. They were winning the war without it. I couldn’t wait to see them get their asses handed to them when their magical advantage was removed.
The soldiers were having a bad day, but it was nothing compared to the hurt I was about to bring.
After motioning for the women to wait, I raised myself a bit from my crouch to make sure I could get a clear shot at the group. There were twenty soldiers, not including their commander. He’d positioned himself in the center of the road. The soldiers walked along both sides. A few steps in front of the commander was the hooded creature. Though I couldn’t make out any distinct features, I could tell it was about as tall as the soldiers, walked with a heavy gait, and seemed passive. It wore long, black robes that dragged on the ground behind it.
Though it felt a little cheap and underhanded, I knew I could save many innocent lives. When they were about a dozen yards away, I stood and cast a fireball at the feet of the doppelganger. The orb exploded and engulfed all of them in magical fire. Soldiers were thrown into the woods on both sides of the road.
A split second later, the magical fire began to swirl like a tornado and was sucked into something the commander wore around his neck.
The man swore, danced around for a second, and finally got the chain and a glowing amulet off from around his neck. It didn’t look like any I’d seen before. When it landed on the ground, the small pile of leaves and pine needles it landed on began to smoke.
“Nice try,” the captain sneered. “Attack!”
As I recovered from my shock and readied a spell, I noticed another group of soldiers coming around the corner. They were coming from the fort, and they had something interesting with them.
Four soldiers were carrying a box—possibly a cage on poles—between them. The setup allowed them to stay a few feet away from it at all times—something they’d want to do if the thing contained a doppelganger. I couldn’t see what was inside, though, because it was covered with a thick, purple cloth with gold embroidered edges.
One of the soldiers had gold accents on his uniform and a braided, red cord hanging over one shoulder. It was a general, and I was pretty sure the hooded figure in the first group had been a decoy.
The commander was far away and heavily armored, so I raised my hand, aimed for the center of the box, and launched a magical arrow. Soldiers flinched as the thing inside howled in pain. Then they retreated, but not before the general gave me a hateful look.
The guards I’d knocked down with the fireball were quickly forming themselves into lines. Alena had sheathed her sword and had already killed one with an arrow, though it looked like she only had a couple more. Nadia was advancing, but the soldiers’ defenses were sound. Even though they’d appeared to be untrained and clumsy when I first spotted them, they were better than average.
I fired an arrow at the man closest to me, unsure if it would be absorbed as the fireball had been. It seemed, though, the magical device the captain had used was the only one they’d brought. The guard choked and pawed at the quivering shaft sticking from his throat.
Three soldiers near the rear of their defensive formation retaliated by firing arrows at me. They were close, and I didn’t have time to do anything except raise my hand defensively. Heat blasted against my face and was accompanied by three distinct sizzles. When I looked, I discovered I’d produced a round shield of fire. It was opaque like magma and had destroyed the arrows as they’d neared my face.
I laughed at the sudden flurry of images of what I could do with the spell as they raced through my mind. I was also delighted to realize I could do it again.
The women were too close to the soldiers to cast another fireball into the center of our enemies, but there were a few lingering at the back of their formation—men with bows knocking new arrows as they stared my direction. A fireball to the center archer’s face engulfed all three in magical fire. They fell as dozens of trees behind them caught fire. It was something I knew could happen but a risk I was willing to take.
The rest of the army would know we were there soon enough. Armies, though, were like wagons full of stones. They were difficult to get moving, especially when their high commander—the general—was so far away at the fortress rather than with the rest of his troops. I had time.
Nadia and I took advantage of the soldiers’ momentary confusion and waded in among them. They were still working at rebuilding their defensive line when a soldier got his first taste of Nadia’s blade and the last taste of his own blood.
We stabbed, slashed, and elbowed our way through the soldiers, and our enemy failed to improvise. We weren’t fighting like soldiers were supposed to. They didn’t know what to do with us, and their defenses were crumbling.
I kicked one soldier in the chest. It probably didn’t hurt, but it made him crash into another behind him. Nadia was surrounded by three until an arrow caught one soldier in the knee. His scream startled the other two, which was enough of a distraction for her to kick each of them in the face before she buried a blade up to the guard under a man’s chin.
The arrow had come from Alena, who’d managed to sneak to the back of the soldiers’ formation. She was picking the projectiles from the archers I’d burned and was firing them at any soldier who presented himself. Some of them were in bad shape and broke apart in the air. Others snapped when they hit their target.
“If you surrender now,” I said, “you can live. Drop your weapons. Remove your armor. Head south. Never come back to these lands again.”
The captain’s look made it clear he would consider no such thing. “Advance!” he ordered.
I backed away, motioning for Nad
ia to gain some distance from me. From the corner of my eye, I saw her angle away, so it looked like she’d understood what I wanted.
The soldiers eyeballed her but kept their focus on me. I could see their captain’s sneer, and I focused on it, giving Nadia a few more seconds to gain some distance.
“If you surrender,” the captain said, “I promise you a—”
He never got to finish his sentence. My fireball took his head off and roasted the men huddled around him.
Alena hurried to them. She managed to recover a few arrows, and when one of the burned soldiers groaned, she jabbed one into his neck several times.
“Let’s get to the fortress,” I said. “Maybe it’ll still be open by the time we get there.”
“What if it’s not?” Alena asked as she ran alongside me.
“Then we’ll find another way in,” I said. “Maybe go back to the sprites and ask them for help again.”
Something in the road caused me to stop. It was one of the magical bolts I’d created—the one that had struck the creature in the cage. I picked it up and held it up to my eyes. The sun was just beginning to rise, but I saw the blood.
“I’ll do it,” Nadia said before I could ask. She took the arrow from me and touched it to the tip of her tongue, then she gagged and shuddered. “I could taste its thoughts,” she whispered. “It is loud. It has two hearts.”
I held her for a moment and checked to make sure nobody was sneaking up on us. “Are you okay?” I asked.
“I am,” she said, regaining her feet. “It is a foul creature. I have recovered. I do not want to do that again.”
“You don’t have to,” I said. “Where is the creature now? Can you sense it?”
Nadia closed her eyes for a moment. “Yes,” she said. “It is in the fortress. It is going down. It is frightened. It knows we are coming for it.”