by CM Raymond
“Zeke—” Hannah began, but he cut her off.
“This is New Romanov—the seat of the Oracle. My home.” As he turned his eyes toward the city, his tired face took on a hint of despair. “Good gods, what have they done to her?”
While many of the team thought of Ezekiel as a man of Arcadia, it simply wasn’t true. He and his parents had lived on the run, dodging the Madness during his youngest years only to find true refuge in the place that lay fifty feet below them. This was where he had been raised, and where he had learned the arts before setting off for the Arcadian Valley. But he was only the Founder of Arcadia. After only a handful of years, Lilith had called him back.
Hannah, for the first time, realized that New Romanov was the closest thing that her teacher had to a home, and now it lay in waste below the hovering airship.
A loud sound erupted from somewhere on the ground. Even at this distance, its power was unmistakable. Hannah looked for its source, but couldn’t see much. She caught the vague movement of something large.
Very large.
“We need to get down there,” Ezekiel said, turning back to the BBB. “but be warned. You are about to fight a creature like nothing you’ve ever seen before.”
Aysa snickered. “That’s exactly what I was thinking when I fought Karl.”
Ezekiel ignored her and sent Gregory a mental message that he needed him to find a place they could land inside the city gates. The fight for New Romanov was about to begin.
****
All the members of the Bitch and Bastard Brigade leaned over the front rails, watching the city come close, each detail taking shape. But it wasn’t the visuals that struck them first. It was the noise.
Sounds of crashing and crushing rose from the broken city and rattled in their ears. It sounded like two enormous magitech machines were making love inside a tiny house.
“There,” Parker yelled, pointing to a spot near the center square of New Romanov.
A creature three times as large as a man flew out of one building and crashed into another with enough velocity to leave a crater in the side as it went through the walls. Slowly, the monster rose out of the rubble.
That’s when Parker almost pissed himself.
The thing had a vaguely human shape, but was bright red in color and had two curled horns like a goat’s extending from the top of its head. Nearly twenty feet tall, every inch of its body was covered in hardened muscle, and it had a wolf-like mouth.
“Holy hell,” Karl whispered, quieter than Parker had ever heard him speak.
“Think that’s about right,” Parker replied, unable to move his eyes from the beast. It stood in a defensive posture, fist balled as its muscles writhed in anticipation.
Aysa whistled. “What I want to know is what knocked that horndog on its ass!” They all glared at her, and she shrugged. “Look at it. It’s a dog with horns. And I want to know what it’s fighting.”
Before anyone could respond, a soul-breaking roar cut through the sky, and Parker could have sworn he felt Unlawful’s boards shake.
“Scheisse, I think we’re about to find out,” Karl grunted.
A second massive creature leaped from the chaos. It soared through the air, claws and teeth bared, ready to rip the monster to shreds. But the foe was ready, and it swiped at the furry beast with its massive arm, sending it rolling out of sight.
“That’s a bloody bear,” Laurel shrieked.
“That’s Olaf,” Ezekiel said, his steely gaze fastened on the situation beneath. He turned to Hannah. “He needs us. We have to go.”
“What the—” she started, but was cut off by her mentor.
The old magician’s eyes flamed red. “I will explain everything later.” And he disappeared.
“Damned wizard,” Hannah spouted. She shoved two fingers into her mouth and let out a shrill whistle, but Sal, connected in some sort of otherworldly way with his human, was already racing across the deck. He jumped and gave his mighty wings three flaps.
“Don’t take too long,” Hannah said to Parker as she took a run at the deck. “I’m going to go fight a horndog.”
Hannah launched herself into the air, landing perfectly on the back of her dragon before he cut hard, down and right into the peril of New Romanov.
****
The ruins of the town passed underneath her, but Hannah paid them no attention. She only had eyes for the red giant in front of her—and the old man who was standing alone to fight it.
She had seen Ezekiel fight dozens of times, and knew he was more than capable. But still, he looked small and impotent in comparison to the thing that towered over him.
Ezekiel wasted no time. He held his staff in front of him with one hand, and waved the other around its rounded end. A large ball of fire grew brighter and brighter as his magic pulled it to life.
The thing let out a hellish roar and began to charge, but Ezekiel held his ground. Just as the monster was about to strike, Ezekiel grabbed his staff with both hands and pulled back. He swung the staff forward and the fireball on the end hurtled off, making direct contact with the beast’s chest.
The creature burst into flames and fell back, landing in a cloud of smoke and dust.
“Yes!” Hannah cheered, pumping her fist in the air. “Take that, you demon piece of shit.”
But her celebration was cut short as soon as the dust settled. The beast rose to its feet, beating out the flames on its chest. Parts of its skin were charred and smoldering, but it looked as if Ezekiel’s attack had barely fazed it.
“Shit,” she said. “What the hell could withstand that?”
The thing reached down and picked up a huge slab of concrete, hurling it at the wizard. Ezekiel pushed his hand forward and the projectile shattered in mid-flight, sending shrapnel in every direction. The monster kept coming, lobbing missile after missile at him.
The creature’s aim was spot-on, but Ezekiel managed to block or dodge each attack—until the creature lobbed a chunk of rock too high. Ezekiel let it pass overhead, but Hannah could see that the old man wasn’t the target.
Ezekiel was standing in front of a large brick wall, and the creature’s throw was a direct hit. The wall crumbled, and the last thing Hannah saw was Ezekiel raising his hands as brick and stone buried him.
Hannah leaned forward, willing Sal to fly faster.
The creature stepped toward the rubble, but Hannah was on it first. Sal roared as he charged head-first into the monster. Their skulls collided with a sickening crack, and the thing stumbled backward.
“Damn it, Sal!” Hannah screamed as she held onto her dragon’s neck for dear life.
Sal pulled away and flew in a circle, readying for another attack. Her adorable scaled friend had turned into a terror in his own right.
He lowered his head, but the creature wasn’t the type to make the same mistake twice. At the last minute it dodged to the right and swiped its talons upward.
Sal and Hannah were sent spinning out of control. She barely saw the old wooden house before they crashed through it.
“Holy shit,” she exclaimed as she struggled to sit up. Rubble covered her and dust choked her lungs, but other than a million little cuts and a pain in her shoulder that promised to be an Aysa-fist-sized bruise, she was unharmed.
She looked immediately toward her dragon.
Sal was on his feet. He took a woozy step forward and almost tripped over himself. He shook his head, but looked pretty dazed.
An earthshaking roar grabbed her attention.
The creature was walking toward them with a smile on its dog-like face. It moved slowly at first, but then began to pick up speed. It lowered its head, horns set to crush her.
Sal was by her side in an instant.
She raised her hands, preparing a spell to hold it off. But it was unnecessary. A giant rock did the trick.
It slammed into the creature‘s face, bringing it up short. It looked around, but the rock was immediately followed by a blue blast of magitech en
ergy.
It opened its mouth to roar again, but blast after blast and rock after rock pummeled it. It stepped backward, and a large tree behind it suddenly leaned over and wrapped its branches around the creature.
“It’s about damn time,” she said as she watched Parker, Aysa, and Laurel go to work.
“Aye, lass,” Karl’s gruff voice sounded behind her. “Not everyone has a dragon we can swoop down on. The rest of us had to wait until this idiot crashed the ship.”
“I didn’t crash it,” Gregory said as he rushed to Hannah’s side to see if she was hurt. “I just landed a little more quickly than usual.”
“It was glorious,” Hadley said, “but maybe we should discuss flight tactics later. Our friends could use some help out there.”
Gregory helped Hannah to her feet, but before she could issue a command, Karl had unslung his hammer and was charging toward the creature. It was bound up in foliage, and the rearick looked like he intended to smash the thing to a pulp.
“Karl, wait!” Hannah yelled, but it was too late.
The beast roared in anger and reached behind its head. Its massive arms strained as it ripped the tree from the ground. In one massive motion, it swung the uprooted tree at the rearick.
Karl managed to drop to the dirt just in time, but before he could scramble to his feet, the tree was coming toward him again. Again Karl moved faster than the thing had expected and dodged to the side, but this time he landed hard and was slow to respond.
The creature raised the tree overhead, ready to bring the trunk crashing down onto Karl. But Hannah was ready.
She focused her energy into her palms as she twisted them around. Then she pushed them palm-outward and a burst of vibrant light shot out. It hit the tree, which erupted in a shower of splinters.
Sal charged, grabbing Karl by the shoulders and pulling him out of the way.
“Laurel,” Hannah shouted. “I have an idea. Can you keep it busy? I only need a minute.”
The druid looked up at the thing, then shrugged. “Me and Devin? We can give you two.”
“That’s my girl.” Hannah smiled. “I’d tell you to be careful, but they would be wasted words. Aysa and Parker, give her cover.”
The three of them jumped into action. While Parker and Aysa did everything they could to keep the thing occupied, Laurel ran in close. She dodged one of its claws, then dove between its legs. The druid ran circles around the monster, making it divide its attention between Laurel and the more distant onslaught.
Hannah couldn’t be sure from where she stood, but it looked like Devin was also running circles all over its body. The thing kept beating itself, trying to swat the swift squirrel.
Hannah trusted her team to do what needed to be done. She closed her eyes, focusing outward with her mind. It only took a second, but she got the response she needed.
Yes, yes, I’m coming. Just dusting myself off.
Hannah smiled, then yelled. “Laurel, get the hell out of there!”
The druid had somehow gotten on the thing’s back and was hanging onto its horns. It bucked forward, and Laurel allowed the momentum to carry her with it. She landed on the ground with a roll, then rose to her feet like it was some sort of choreographed dance move.
The creature screamed and stepped toward her, but the once-hard ground had softened and its foot sank in up to the ankle.
Hannah turned to Ezekiel and saw him moving his staff like he was stirring a pot.
The creature shattered the earth as it ripped its foot upward, but its other leg sank even further.
Laurel raised her hands and roots started shooting from the dirt, wrapping around its legs and climbing its arms. The creature swiped at them, tearing off one after the other, but for each one it destroyed twenty more rose.
“OK, Karl. Time to finish this bitch.”
As she spoke, Sal came swooping down from above with Karl on his back. The rearick held his hammer high with both hands.
As Sal flew overheard, Karl jumped from his back, swinging his hammer overhead like an avenging deity.
Hannah focused her power outward and the rearick’s hammer burst into flames.
The creature looked up, feet sunk into the ground and arms tangled in roots and vines. It roared in defiance.
But defiance alone didn’t stand a chance against Karl’s hammer.
With a blow that would have cracked a mountain, Karl’s flaming hammer smashed through the creature’s head and it toppled to the ground, Karl riding its broken skull all the way down.
CHAPTER SEVEN
The giant red monster lay still on the ground, and the members of the BBB stood around it taking in the creature’s enormity. None of them had ever seen anything like it before. Its shape was like a man’s, if that man was the size of a house. Red, muscular, and bearing curved horns, it looked like something that had emerged from the lowest reaches of the hell they had all heard tales about in their youth.
“Scheisse, for once I might be speechless.” Karl snorted, shaking the blood and brains off his hammer. “I mean, we brought it hard ta that bitch, and it just kept bringin’ it back. Can’t imagine if there was more than one of em. I think we need ta consider—”
“Is that what speechless looks like where you come from?” Aysa asked with a grin. “Because in Baseek, it means not talking, little man.”
Karl’s face turned nearly as red as the thing lying at his feet. “Lucky yer a little girl.”
“Or what?” she asked. “Yer gonna make me kick yer ass again, lass. Scheisse.” Aysa said in her best rearick impression. It was enough to draw a laugh.
Ezekiel and Laurel weren’t looking at the creature they had just defeated. They were both staring at the bear, which was still unconscious in the rubble-strewn street.
Hannah knew the connection that Laurel had with the creatures of Irth. She had watched the druid commune with them, and call on them for assistance. She assumed the girl was mourning the fallen beast. Hannah placed her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “I’m sorry for your—”
“It’s not like that,” Laurel broke in, turning her gaze up to Hannah. “I don’t know what the hell that thing is, but it’s not a bear.” Her eyes flashed green. “Even now something isn’t right. It’s alive still, but I when I reach out I can’t get a connection. It’s unlike any animal I’ve ever touched.”
Hannah glanced back at the monster on the ground. It was no surprise, really, that Laurel couldn’t make a connection with the bear. Things were, well, different here. The druid was out of her element, just like they all were.
“His name is Olaf,” Ezekiel said. “And I think he’ll be just fine. Better focus yourselves, just in case.”
Hannah glanced at Sal, who was sitting at her side. She had magically created the dragon, and on more than one occasion she had wondered what would happen if he got hurt. She had gotten only slightly better at healing people, but a wild animal seemed different altogether.
She took a step toward the bear to inspect his wounds. She needed to see if they were something she could handle on her own, or if it was going to take the work of her and Ezekiel—and maybe Laurel as well.
When she got within a few feet of the beast, his giant black body started to twitch.
“Shit!” she yelled, jumping back. The others followed suit.
The twitching changed to unsteady jerking motions as the bear’s body pitched in every direction. His massive head craned toward the heavens, eyes wide open in pain. Hannah’s jaw dropped as she watched the bear’s limbs twist and turn, his body writhing. And before her very eyes, she saw the magic that she only experienced once before, at the transformation of her dragon Sal.
His massively elongated body flopped around on the ground like a fish out of water, only in slow motion. Then the unthinkable happened. The bear's composition started to change. His hair disappeared, his limbs took on a new form, and within seconds, the bear was gone. In his place lay a naked man.
Ezekiel rushed over an
d dropped to his knees beside the man. Taking his head, which was covered with disheveled hair, Ezekiel cradled it in his lap. “It’s me, Olaf. I’m here. I’ve returned.”
The man’s eyelids fluttered and then opened. Something almost like a smile spread across his face. “Ezekiel,” he groaned in a raspy voice. “It’s about damn time.”
The old magician laughed as he nodded. “You’ve lost your charm, old friend.”
“And you,” Olaf said, “haven’t lost your utter disregard for timeliness, have you?”
The group gathered around them, each wanting to figure out just what the hell was going on in this bizarre place with this strange man-beast.
“I’m usually tardy,” Ezekiel said with a grin, “but I’m outrageously useful.” His eyes flashed red as he placed his left hand on the man’s chest, his right still holding his head. His power surged into Olaf, visibly healing his wounds and bringing life back to his face.
“You’ve always been useful, you old bastard,” Olaf said, pushing himself up onto his elbows. “Now what say you give me your overcloak? I need to cover-up my twig and berries before I cause your ladyfriends to pass out in shock.”
“More like swoon in horror,” Aysa said.
Ezekiel laughed as he pulled off his cloak and covered his friend. “After this many centuries, I’m not sure if those things still work anyway.”
Olaf gave Ezekiel a playful punch on the shoulder. “My staff still has more power than that wooden one you carry around, that’s for sure.”
After introducing the crew to Olaf, Ezekiel asked, “Is she okay?”
He nodded. “For now. But we're going to need to act quickly. Hopefully your timely usefulness will come in handy again.”
Ezekiel smiled. “I brought the best reinforcements in all of Irth with me. I think we’ll be just fine.”
“Is someone gonna tell us what the hell is going on here?” Laurel asked, shaking her head.
Immediately everyone started asking a thousand questions about the monster, New Romanov, Lilith, and Olaf himself.