by JD Cole
“We all have heard of Paladin Lumina’s heroism against the Goblin King. But you are not Lumina. What are your accomplishments, Master Human?” asked Meshra. “I would like an idea of your confidence level, and what you’ve achieved that justifies that confidence.”
“Okay,” the Hood began to pace. “In the interest of building trust as quickly as possible, here is my full disclosure. I am technically a criminal in my world. Do faeries have a concept of vigilantism?” Heads shook in the negative. “I am a vigilante. I am not vested any authority to enforce my people’s laws, we have officers –police— who train and are sworn to this duty.
“However, police cannot be present everywhere they are needed, and my society has become so prosperous that we have made a bad habit of punishing crime far less than it needs to be, which encourages more crime. I focus on attacking those who harm innocents. Again, I have no authority to do so, but I do have the skill and the means.
“I first crossed paths with the queen because I was tracking two... werewolves... sorry, it still sounds weird when I say it out loud. I guess you guys just call them wolves here in the Faery Realm. But these particular wolves murdered a child near my home. Even if they had been arrested, murderers are released from prison far too often for my liking. So I tracked them down. And I got rid of them.”
The gathered faeries stared at him, some with acceptance, others with skepticism.
“You felled two wolves by yourself?” questioned an orange-haired elf. “Quite the claim. One, sadly, that cannot be taken on your word alone.” The elf nodded to two of his fellows and stepped forward with them, discarding the light cloak he was wearing. “I am Fhert, Master Hood. Do not misunderstand our intentions. We do not wish to disrespect the queen, but as she is not here to validate you, we need to quickly figure out exactly where we can fit you into our planning. None of us will be comfortable taking you into Gedaschen if you cannot defend yourself.”
Derek managed to keep from laughing at the name “Fhert”, then took a single step backward to balance himself in preparation for surprises. “Understood,” he said, “and no offense taken. So, will it be three-on-one, then?”
“Based on the claim you have just made, yes,” Fhert nodded.
“What are the rules?”
“No weapons or magic to start. This will be a martial skills test. Meshra can decide later if he wants to see us escalate it.”
“To the death?” Derek asked cautiously.
“Kraayek’s eyes, no! What do you take us for? We will try not to do more than break a bone or two,” the elf promised. His two elf friends spread out on either side of Derek, with Fhert remaining directly in front of him. The other faeries all spread out as well, eager to see the match.
Derek stood for a moment, but it was apparent the elves would wait for him to make the first move. Undine whispered in his mind again, “Caution.”
“Don’t interfere,” he warned her.
Derek lunged toward the elf at his left, feinting a right-hook. Fhert immediately leapt forward and reached for Derek’s wrist...
The Hood pushed himself sideways at Fhert, swiftly dropping his fist downward to slap his elbow into Fhert’s cheek. The elf recovered quickly, rolling with the hit and coming up on his feet. While the elf was rolling, however, Derek had leapt laterally, somersaulting so that all three elves were at least momentarily in front of him. The elf that had originally been at Derek’s right was now racing to attack his flank, and his friend did the same from the opposite side. Derek dropped low to sweep-kick one of the elves, but the vyzen was amazingly nimble and simply stepped up onto Derek’s leg as it swept past, surprising Derek by trotting up his thigh to deliver a solid punch to Derek’s temple before leaping out of Derek’s reach.
The helmet, in turn, had surprised the elf. “He is armored,” he warned his friends.
“Well, that changes things,” Meshra announced, tossing a short blade to Fhert. “Magic and weapons are now allowed! Will you finish this with Undine, Master Hood?”
“My fellow humans don’t have elemental support, so I won’t use mine. You can judge my worth without her.”
Murmurs of approval rippled through the audience. Derek actually felt elation from Undine as she heard him refer to her as “mine”. He sighed.
All three elves were now armed with short swords and daggers. Derek grinned, willing his visor to life with orange illumination, his mask emulating the expression of excitement in his eyes.
Swords swung and stabbed from every direction, all batted aside by Derek’s swift reflexes, using every part of his body to deflect their attacks. The elves were ridiculously quick, and a lot stronger than they looked, he admitted. He could tell they weren’t fooling around, either. Without his armor, he’d have collected more than a few deep cuts over the last thirty seconds.
Derek felt it a split moment before it happened. One of the elves cast a spell. Did Undine warn him? Or did the binding make him sensitive to magic? He didn’t have time to wonder as the ground beneath his feet became slick and slimy. Were he anyone else, he would have fallen on his tail bone. Being Derek Hawkins, he instead kicked both feet outward in a way that appeared he had slipped and was falling.
Elves attacked from three directions, and...
...found themselves slammed backward in three directions as Derek rapidly spun himself in midair, kicking and punching with precise hits to each of their chests. The Hood landed on his hands and toes as if he’d dropped to begin doing pushups, and immediately vaulted himself into a handstand, immediately again spinning on his hands like a breakdancer, his legs extended to attack with pommel sweeps and swinging kicks, keeping the elves off guard as they gained their feet.
Another spell, this one of ether, blew him off balance, but he recovered with a roll onto his feet and resumed parrying the blades that swiped and stabbed at him. Fhert thrust a sword at Derek, making sure to aim outside his ribcage and avoid vital organs. The Hood was offended, and said so by catching the blade between his palms and twisting the weapon out of Fhert’s grip, throwing it far away from the fight. Another elf swung his blade upward toward Derek’s armpit, but the Hood leapt up into a lazy flip, catching the dull-edged side of the blade in his fingers. Upside down in the air, with his spine and legs curled behind him as he slowly spun backward, he clamped the flat of the blade between his thumb and fingers. Immediately, he flung his legs forward into a spin to gain incredible momentum, yanking the weapon free of the elf’s fingers and tossing it over to where he’d discarded the other.
The Hood landed in a dramatic superhero pose on one knee, standing up just as Fhert summoned another spell. Derek couldn’t avoid the spark of lightning that leapt from the elf’s palm.
An electric jolt exploded across the Hood’s body. The gathered faeries stared at the human as he stood looking at his hands; the spell slowly faded, sparks jumping across the fabric of his suit, between his fingers, and down his legs into the ground.
“I take it that was supposed to hurt?” Derek asked, seeing the elves’ expressions of disbelief. He knew full well that without his suit’s insulation, it would no-kidding have not just hurt, but knocked him unconscious. The elves regained their senses quickly, and began to attack with renewed ferocity using their remaining daggers.
“Sorry guys, but this is getting old,” the Hood announced, parrying fists, legs, and blades while charging the pneumatics in his gauntlets. One elf he kicked away, firing a blast of highly compressed air into the hapless faerie’s forehead. The elf spun wildly and hit the ground rolling. He did not rise.
Almost at the same time, the Hood grabbed Fhert’s second companion by his collar and flung him in the opposite direction, firing a blast of wind at the elf’s heels as he attempted to land on his feet. As the elf tripped and fell, another wind blast hit his temple and he crumpled, unconscious.
“KEEYYYAAGGHH!!!” Fhert shouted as he leapt high in the air, first attacking on the way up with a flying kick that Derek dodged. It remi
nded Derek of the hurricane kick from the Street Fighter series of video games. On the way down, Fhert swung his dagger toward the Hood’s shoulder...
“SHORYUKEN!” Derek shouted, thrusting his right arm straight up, leaping upward with a slight spin in perfect mimicry of the signature uppercut move from Street Fighter. His fist slammed into Fhert’s jaw, all but lifting the elf back into the air before he fell backward, unconscious. Derek caught him on the way down, gently laying the elf on the stone ground.
“Master faeries,” the Hood addressed the crowd using their form of polite address, “I hope that suffices. I’m really not a fan of fighting for sport.”
“Yes,” Meshra agreed. “You are indeed a capable warrior, and an adept mage, it would appear.” He looked at the waking elves as they were roused by healers, and Derek decided they all thought he’d cast a spell at them. “But tell me truly, did Undine shield you from that lightning spell? It should have finished you.”
“No,” the Hood shook his head. “Nothing magic about that. I created my clothes to protect against,” he paused. “Lightning.” The faeries probably appreciated that word more than “electrical discharge”.
“You can do that without magic?” the vampyre asked for everyone else.
“I try not to rely on magic if I can help it,” Derek replied, ignoring the arinox generator in his belt. Technically it wasn’t magic, but he admitted it could be argued either way.
~ ~ ~ ~
The mystics provided healing and strength to the elves with a swiftness that impressed Derek. He’d laid them all out just two minutes ago, and all three were already on their feet and wired like coffee addicts, thanking him for the exciting match, apologizing profusely and desperate to ensure he hadn’t been offended by their need to test him. It seemed the Hood had not only confirmed the legend of human warriors to these faeries, but added something to it.
The magic map overlayed the balcony once more at Derek’s request, and Meshra walked along the section of the Borderlands with him. The mood on the balcony had noticeably improved; Derek’s ignorance was no longer a worry to any of the faeries; now it was simply a minor inconvenience, and one that Derek’s prodigious memory was quickly erasing.
Derek folded his arms, tapping his chin with his finger as Meshra defined the size of the Borderlands, the Badlands, and Gedaschen for him. “Undine. Would you join us, please?”
The White Hood appeared from below the edge of the balcony, vaulting all the way over the sprite-level railing to land in a delicate, but cool super-hero pose, and quickly walking to her master’s side. “How can I assist, Hood?”
“The biggest help I could use right now is measurement conversion. I’d like to know the metric equivalent of these lifs, wiks, and such.”
“Certainly. Though be aware, these measurements are generalities. If we need to get as specific as your inches or centimeters, then one of the smiths or scholars will need to be called on. Most faeries have no need of precision measurements and so never learn any.”
“Even marksmen?” the Hood raised his brow at the elves, some of whom had bows strung across their shoulders.
“Faery archers rely on intuition guided by inborn magic, not mathematics. And they cannot reach as far as your snipers.” The archers quietly traded glances with each other at that claim.
Derek shrugged. “Okay, well, whatever. Generalities will work for the moment. The Borderlands here,” he pointed, “and then across this stretch of the Badlands looks like the shortest route, according to Meshra. What’s the difference between the Badlands and Shadowlands, anyway?”
“The delineation between the Borderlands and the Shadowlands is not exact,” Undine answered. “The Badlands are how we refer to the area that could be considered sprite land or goblin land at any given moment. You’ll encounter friendly fae there as often as you’d encounter goblins or Shadowlanders, who will try to kill you.”
“Good to know. What’s the rough distance in kilometers here?”
Having acquired Derek’s mathematical knowledge, Undine’s answer was swift. “In a straight line, you’re looking at about sixty-three kilometers. But that is not easy terrain, so it would actually be closer to sixty-five or even sixty-six.”
“At least thirty-nine miles, probably more. Just to get to the base of the slope. Hmm.” Derek thought for a moment, still tapping his chin. “I don’t suppose you have any type of concealment magic that won’t alert the Goblin King to our presence?”
“The problem,” one of the sprites said, “is that this entire region,” he used his finger to encircle a large swatch of land around Gedaschen, “is warded. Any spells cast inside this area will be detected.”
“And outside of those wards,” Undine added, “there will be countless goblins stationed throughout the Shadowlands. The Goblin King can see and hear everything they do. I apologize, Hood,” she looked sideways in regret. “I cannot say my magic would be of any use for concealment. The Goblin King fears the pain I can inflict, but he is still much more powerful than I am. Not only might he sense any spell cast with my power in that area, he could defeat and imprison me given enough time.”
“He could also,” one of the mystics added, “kill Master Hood and break the binding. Then one of his generals would be gifted with Veylsa. It may not be wise for Undine to join us at all, welcome as her strength would be.”
“How dare you say such vile things, Nonder,” Undine warned darkly. “I will not allow anything to harm my master.”
“Calm down,” Derek said. “No need to jump down his throat for pointing out valid concerns.”
“Nonder led the group who imprisoned me in the Ythsimerin,” the elemental spat.
“And I hope he does it again if it keeps you from being used to murder innocent people,” the Hood replied forcefully.
The elemental’s blazing eyes softened and her head dropped, yielding to Derek’s opinion of the matter. Nonder bowed respectfully to Derek in gratitude.
“Is it just magic we’re worried about giving us away, then?” Derek looked at Undine. “If we brought over human transport, like all-terrain vehicles or aircraft, would he sense that, too?”
Undine shook her head. “Magic is what he would sense. Us being there with your vehicles would only entail the normal risk, that of being seen by his spies and soldiers.”
“And how far are these detection wards effective?”
“This is our best guess,” Nonder said, motioning at the line the sprite had drawn around Gedaschen, “but we don’t know the exact-”
“No, I mean how high up could they detect a spell? If we flew over the Shadowlands?”
The faeries all looked at each other, surprised. Nonder answered after a moment, “The wards would only be effective on the ground. Nothing in the sky would set them off.”
“This could work, then. For now,” Derek continued, “let’s just focus on the best way to get into the castle, using what we have available. I’m hopeful the human team will be able to get supplies from my world that will make this easier, but let’s assume for the moment that won’t happen. Look, Meshra, I’m not a political ornament, but I am a visitor in your world. I wouldn’t dream of pretending you and the others aren’t the experts here. I think it may be easier for me, and the rest of the humans, to know how we can help if you develop the overall plan. I’ll keep quiet from now on unless I have questions.”
“That sounds like a wise course of action, Master Hood,” Meshra nodded, and the faeries gathered to hash out their strategy.
« CHAPTER 15 »
Who or What is the Khorev?
“Under the circumstances,” Lumina said, “I will not ask for your guards to go unarmed. Expect surprise and perhaps irritation when we arrive, but that will vanish once we have shared the dire news.”
“I shall take your word on that, Paladin,” Brevha replied. She looked over and nodded to five guards, who surrounded her before she opened an ethergate to the border of Lumina’s city, Tirapan. They all
stood momentarily, simply staring through the gate at a grassy meadow and, beyond it in a shallow valley, the uniquely brilliant, metal structures of the human country.
The ethergate closed once they were all through, and Lumina took the lead. The Paladin knew that motion sensors had already picked them up, and even now automated turrets hidden in the brush and trees were tracking them. His presence would ensure they did not immediately fire thanks both to image recognition systems and on-duty watch officers.
A quartet of men could be seen running from a security station outside the city’s perimeter to intercept them, their movements swift but measured in a way that bespoke fine training and discipline. Lumina continued to lead his entourage at a leisurely pace, finally stopping to wait as the Paladin guards rushed the last few steps to meet them. The sprites noted the strange style of armor: metal rods and clasps along the limbs and spine that did not seem like they were meant to protect, except perhaps for the large boots.
Lumina, of course, recognized the exoskeletons —Riparmor, designed by the same historic engineer who’d created the Ripwinger, Emmiton Ja’Ripkeel— and knew they aided the swift movements of the men by boosting their physical strength and extending their endurance. The Paladins did not raise their mevets towards the sprites, but nonetheless kept them primed as they assumed an alert posture.
“Proctern Lumina Ja’Gracin,” the captain of the guards greeted roughly. “I hear this is not the first time this month you have led faeries into the city.”
“Believe me when I say I wish I did not have to, friend,” Lumina replied. He turned and gestured to Kelli’s Aunt, addressing her status as an ambassador. “This is Deschin Brevha Moniscii.” The captain bowed to her cordially, and Lumina continued. “I need to speak to the Dominion immediately. As the Deschin was kind enough to expedite my travel here, I invited her to address the Dominion with me.”