Duke Grandfather- The Whole Story

by James Maxstadt

  “Want to fill the rest of us in?”

  She took a breath. “It’s not pleasant. He’s going to sacrifice himself. It’s a blood ritual. The Lords of the Pit are big on things like that. He bleeds out on the shield or something and the Bone Lord comes through. Either he hid the shield somewhere, or some other crazy has it and they’ll meet up. When they do we’ll be there, and we’ll get it back, stopping the ritual.”

  “And the shield?” Vanstonesun said. I smiled a little at that. Academic types.

  “We can discuss that later,” Lilly said, “I think it will be fine with the dwarves, as long as we know where it is and how its being kept. We’ll work it out later. Right now, we need to stop the Bone Lord.”

  With that, we were agreed, and Lilly and I went home to rest before the evening’s fun. I really hoped it was going to stop raining before then.

  It didn’t. I’d like to say that I was getting used to it, but that’d be a lie. It was miserable, and it was going to make staying with the crazy dwarf that much harder.

  “Do you have anything you can put on him that we can track in case we lose him?” I asked Lilly.

  “The Watch wizards do, but I’m hesitant to use it. Who knows if the presence of other magic will mess this up? I think we’re safer doing it the hard way.”

  I made sure I was fully armed. My gun, of course, but I didn’t speak the name of anything to it yet. I wanted to see what the night brought before I did. I also hung my sword from my belt opposite, because you never know.

  Lilly needed nothing other than herself. If things did go sour, the Bone Lord was going to find that he had a welcoming committee that was more than he was bargaining for.

  We got back to the watchhouse slightly before dark, and Lilly ducked inside to tell Sarge we were a go. She came back out and we huddled together in a doorway across the street. A few moments later, the door opened, and the dwarf stumbled out. Sarge stood in the light from inside, making no attempt at stealth, but it didn’t matter. The dwarf couldn’t have cared less.

  He reeled away, muttering to himself, occasionally lapsing into that foul language that made my skin crawl. Lilly and I shadowed him on the other side of the street, not trying to hide. He never even glanced at us, either uncaring or ignorant of our presence.

  Through the rain, we followed as he wound through the streets, always heading in one direction. I realized where he was going.

  “Jacobville,” I whispered to Lilly. The city’s one and only graveyard.

  “Makes sense,” she replied, and we continued to follow.

  My instincts were right. A few minutes later we were at the wide-open gates of the graveyard. They were usually kept shut, but the gatekeeper who stayed in the shack nearby had either gone in or was otherwise missing.

  We found him, lying dead behind a large gravestone, his throat torn open. I didn’t want to think by what.

  Deeper into the cemetery we went, following the dwarf who was raving harder the further he got. Then, his raving was answered. Another voice sang back, and the two began chanting in-synch.

  We crept closer, making sure to stay out of sight of whoever it was that was chanting with our dwarf. Bending down, we scurried behind the tombstones, following the voice.

  It was another dwarf, standing on a slight mound, a gravestone behind him. In front of him, propped upright, was the shield. This dwarf was much like ours, his hair and beard either falling or torn out in clumps, eyes wild, paying no attention to anything other than the vile language he was spewing.

  Our dwarf neared, their voices blending and rising into the rain-soaked sky.

  “Stop them,” Lilly hissed. “However you have to.”

  I pulled my gun and aimed. A normal little, metal ball would do the trick here. Although the gun can do terrible things to whatever I name, it can do plenty of damage on its own. I squeezed the trigger; the gun spoke with a loud bang and the metal ball found its target.

  Well, it would have found its target if the shield didn’t interfere. There was a sudden flare of a sickly yellow light and the noise of the metal ball ricocheting away. I tried again, to the same result. Neither of the dwarves reacted at all.

  “Stay here,” I told Lilly, and ran off, working my way around so that I could shoot the dwarves from behind, away from the shield. It didn’t matter. From anywhere I tried, that same light flared, the little, metal ball flew off harmlessly in another direction, and the dwarves kept chanting like they didn’t even know I was there.

  I came back to Lilly. “No luck.”

  She was studying the dwarves, then raised her hands and started to chant. I kept my gun ready but relaxed a bit. If my Ultimate Weapon didn’t do the trick, then they were going to have to face her wrath. I think I’d rather be shot.

  Lilly’s own voice rose in a counter-point to that of the dwarves. Usually, I find whatever language she casts her spells in to be uncomfortable, at best. Up against the language of the Pit, it sounded downright harmonious.

  Her hair was going crazy, standing in a blonde cloud around her head. Her eyes were like black holes in her face, sucking in any light nearby, and the sparks that usually erupted from her fingers were more like miniature lightning bolts, growing larger by the second.

  With a final shout, she let loose her spell. It crackled as it sped through the gloom. The shield flared, brighter than before, still with that same unhealthy color, and her spell fizzled out completely. She stood, breathing heavily, staring at the tableau.

  Smoke was rising from the ground in front of the dwarves. As I watched, the one who was waiting for his confederate pulled a huge knife from his tunic. Our dwarf moved toward the shield, baring his chest. The other shuffled forward, knife at the ready.

  I jumped forward, aimed carefully, and shouted to my gun to make sure I was heard over the chanting and the noise of the rain. “Discsion fe Galog Ossimarie!”

  If I couldn’t shoot the dwarves, I’d shoot the thing guarding them, and let Lilly take care of the rest. Even if my pronunciation was off, the gun would know what I was referring to.

  The little, metal ball flew out, shining a white light that made me feel clean, almost peaceful, despite the violence inherent in it. It reminded me again of that other place I had glimpsed, and for that quick second, I knew that all would be right.

  “Duke, no!” I heard Lilly scream.

  I didn’t even have time to turn to her before the ball hit the shield with a sound like the world’s largest temple bell. Except the tone didn’t stop. It went on, and on, increasing in volume. I clapped my hands over my ears, falling to the ground.

  The shield cracked. It started in the middle, then splintered, jagged lines running through it. The bell-like tone changed, became harsher, buzzing at the edges and not as steady. From the cracks in the shield, red and orange light showed, like fire was behind it.

  The dwarves screamed, and I watched in horror as they started to melt, their skin dripping from their skulls. It seemed to take a long time.

  Then, there was silence. The shield still stood propped up, the glowing cracks evident in it. Of the dwarves, there was no sign.

  I dragged myself to my feet and turned to Lilly, “See? It’s over….”

  Which was far as I got before there was a crack of lightning that must have been greater than any other heard in the world. I spun back around, in time to see the shield split completely apart, and fall backward, smoke gushing from it.

  “That was scary…” I started to say, but Lilly wasn’t listening. She was staring past me, at the grave.

  I turned slowly. The shield began to sink into the ground, opening…well, there was no other word for it. It opened a Pit.

  A geyser of fire erupted from the hole in the ground, and something…something dark…deadly…foul…flew from it. It screamed as it shot past us, up into the sky. It was gone before I could even move.

  “Was that the Bone Lord?” I asked.

  Lilly shook her head. “I don’t think so. I
think that was something else. Something to announce him.”

  “Great,” I muttered.

  We squinted up into the rain, trying in vain to spot whatever it was that flew from the Pit and was now in our world.

  I shivered, tired of being cold and wet, although now that I thought about it, the rain really wasn’t that cold. It was actually rather warm and getting more so. I looked at Lilly to share my observation with her.

  Red ran down her face from her hair, and from the drops hitting her. I raised my hands and looked at them, trying not to gag, scream, or both.

  It was raining blood.

  DAY OF BLOOD AND FIRE

  The blood ran down our faces in streams and all we could do was stare at one another in horror.

  “He has to come out of there, right?” I said, indicating the Pit, flames burning along the edges of it.

  “I don’t know,” Lilly answered. “I would think so, but I don’t know for sure.”

  “Do we need to stay here?”

  “Yes! What if he does!”

  True. If he did, we needed to be here to greet him. Or at least Lilly did. I wasn’t sure what I could do against a Lord of the Pit without being able to set my gun to his name. And I couldn’t do that now until midnight passed, some hours away.

  Lilly on the other hand…well, this is what necromancers did, right? They dealt with the dead, the almost dead, and the creatures of the netherworld. All that stuff that no-one in their right mind wants to play with, all due respect to my beautiful wife.

  “I’ll keep watch,” I told her. “You get ready, in case he does.”

  Lilly nodded and moved off to be under a sparse tree nearby. It didn’t provide much protection from the blood falling from the sky but it was better than nothing.

  I slowly advanced on the Pit. The flames burned without any visible source of fuel, but at least they didn’t move beyond the edge of the hole. Even the heat from them wasn’t that intense. I inched closer, trying to see.

  Finally, I stood on the edge and looked down. And down, and then when I was done with that, down even further. There was no bottom to the Pit that I could see, and it was well-lit from all the flames. They not only ran in a circle around the upper edge, but inside flared up randomly, shooting from the walls of the endless Pit.

  It started to make me dizzy, and I could see myself tumbling over the edge and screaming until my breath gave out, and still never hitting the bottom. When I finally did, I shuddered to think of what I would find. I started to step back from the edge, when something caught my eye.

  Way down there, barely visible, something was moving. I stared at it, trying to make out what it was. It moved quickly, jumping from one wall to the opposite, scurrying up the side, then moving around the circular well before leaping again. Although it moved in such a bizarre fashion, it was making excellent time up the shaft.

  I still couldn’t see what it was, and it suddenly occurred to me that it didn’t matter. Whatever it was, it was coming from the Pit. It wasn’t coming to have a nice spot of tea and crumpets.

  “Lilly,” I yelled. “Something’s coming!”

  I thought that summed it up nicely, and apparently, she did too. She was at my side in a flash, holding on to my arm as she leaned over the void, peering down into the depths.

  “Too soon,” she muttered, but she let go of me and started to do her thing. Wild hair, black eyes, sparks, the works. She muttered and let out a screech in a weird language, and then threw her hands over her head. Her eyes were shut tightly and her whole body tensed. Then, with a defiant yell, she swung her arms down and ice flowed out of hands.

  It formed into a thick sheet, covering the top of the Pit and molding to fit it perfectly, like a cork in the neck of a wine bottle. The flames around the edge were snuffed out, although the blue-white ice almost instantly started to discolor from the blood rain that still fell.

  The ice plug held there for a moment, creaking ominously. Then Lilly shouted again and made another gesture. The ice dropped, falling down the shaft of the Pit, scraping the sides, rocks and dirt tumbling after it, and flames being extinguished. There was a brief screech, cut off suddenly as the ice plug dropped out of sight.

  Whatever was climbing up was gone. Lilly swayed, and I put my arm around her to help steady her. She leaned into me, eyes closed, breathing rapidly.

  “That was a tough one,” she muttered. “Wasn’t sure I could do it.”

  She sounded utterly exhausted. But she was never more beautiful to me. Blood rain running down her face, exhaustion in her eyes, and mud on her robes. It didn’t matter. This city would never know the things she did for it.

  I glanced over the edge. The Pit was still open, but now we could get back to the watchhouse and Lilly could tell her superiors what happened here. They could deal with it, or get His Majesty’s personal guard, those scary people in black, to do it. Whatever it took. This was beyond me, and Lilly just wiped herself out buying time.

  Far below, there was a flicker of light. I almost could have believed it was a trick of my eyes, but I knew better. I watched, and it occurred again. Moments later, flames were obviously burning way down and were quickly working back up.

  We barely had time to step back before a fresh geyser of flame shot into the air, and the Pit was burning again, as if Lilly had done nothing.

  “Dammit,” she whispered, and leaned heavier against me.

  “Yeah.” All I could do was agree with her.

  We needed to get back to the watchhouse, even if it meant leaving the Pit unguarded. There was no help for it. Lilly was wiped, and I wasn’t going to let her go alone.

  I kept my arm around her as we turned our backs on the opening to Hell and walked away.

  #

  We didn’t make it far from the graveyard when we heard the sound of several people approaching. It was the first time. Everyone else got off the street and inside when the sky starting bleeding.

  I let go of Lilly and drew my sword. It was hard to see through the gory downpour, but if it was foe, I wasn’t going to be taken unprepared. If it was friend, I was sure they would understand.

  Brindar and a large group of dwarves appeared from around the corner. He saw us at the same time and ran up. “What is this?” he yelled, indicating the blood rain.

  I put my sword away and let my arm encircle Lilly again.

  “The Pit is open, but Lilly’s done for the moment,” I said. “I’m getting her to the watchhouse. No Bone Lord yet, or at least he hadn’t shown up a few minutes ago. Can you go keep an eye on it?”

  “Of course,” he said, as I knew he would.

  I told him where it was. “But, Brindar,” I said. “It’s dangerous. Lilly threw a monster spell at it and it only shut down for a few seconds.”

  “Understood. You coming back?”

  “With all the necromancers and wizards the Watch has, if I have anything to say about it.”

  “Hurry up,” he said, and ran off, the rest of the dwarven soldiers running after.

  Good man, Brindar. We could use a lot more like him.

  When we got to the watchhouse, Sarge was still there, even though he should have gone home hours before. But something bad was going on, and his sense of duty compelled him to stay. That was even before all the red started to fall.

  “Get a chair, will you?” I said, as we staggered inside.

  Sarge never paused to ask a question or demand explanation, he simply ran, got a chair and set it before us so that Lilly could sink into it. I used the bottom of my shirt to try to wipe the blood from her face, but all I really did was smear it around.

  “I’m fine…really…. you can…stop!”

  I was so relieved that she was in good enough shape to yell at me that I sagged with relief.

  “Are you really okay?” I asked.

  “Yes. I’m fine, just tired. And angry!”

  Ah, there she was.

  “We have to get back,” she said, trying to stand.

&nbs
p; “Whoa.” I put my hand on her arm, stopping her. “We’re not going anywhere. If the Bone Lord comes up now, neither of us can do anything but witness it, and we don’t need to do that.” I reminded her about Brindar and the other dwarves.

  “Oh, yeah. Good.” She fell back into the chair. “Let me rest for a few minutes.”

  She fell asleep right there. Sarge helped me get her up and I carried her to one of the cells. Not great accommodations, but they had cots anyway. I pulled the cover over her and tip-toed out.

  “Is this your doing, Grandfather?” The voice that asked the question went in one ear, passed through my entire body, scraping every nerve on its way, and then out the other.

  “Raven,” I sneered.

  Lately, he didn’t seem as obnoxious as he once did. And he held Lilly in high regard. I suspected that he harbored stronger feelings than that for her, but Raven also operated under a strange sense of honor. If he did in fact feel that way, he would do it from afar and never admit it to anyone, not even himself.

  Tonight, I could see the reason for the coldness in his voice. I tried not to take an obscene pleasure in seeing him covered in drying, sticky blood, just as I was. Whatever he had been doing, he was caught with no way out of it when it started.

  “No,” I continued. “It wasn’t me. Or Lilly. We were trying to stop it.”

  “Well, I’m not surprised that you failed, although I am a little that Lilly…” He stopped and glanced at me from the corner of his eye. “How bad is it?”

  “Bad. Very. Brindar is standing guard now, but if the thing that we think is going to happen does…he might not make it.”

  He looked down his nose at me for a second, which was his normal way of looking at me and the rest of the world. Then he surprised me. “I’ll go help. Where?”

  I told him, but also gave him a quick heads-up about what we were potentially facing. He paled, even more than his normal shade, nodded sharply once, and walked out the door.

  Huh. Even possibly facing a Lord of the Pit, he still went. Who knew he had it in him?