by Jeff Gunzel
“I didn’t understand what the gift was!”
Aurabelle threw back her head and laughed. All her irritation had suddenly been drowned out by the most ignorant statement she had ever heard. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“And there it is,” she said, shaking her head in disgust. “You see yourself as a victim, do you? And because the gift was not exactly what you thought it would be, you are no longer responsible for wielding its power? Well, that seems awfully convenient to me. But I can’t help but wonder if that marvelous philosophy of yours applies to all things.
“Let’s just say I am on the front line, and the soldier next to me is tasked with the cumbersome burden of watching my flank. But wait, he didn’t volunteer for this. He was drafted like so many others, and hoped to never see live action. My life is in his hands, but what does that matter? Why should he be responsible for saving my skin when he is so clearly a victim of circumstance?”
“That is not the same...”
“Then for once we agree!!” she boomed, turning back on him. She snatched him by the collar with one hand, her trembling fist shaking beneath his nose. “In fact, they couldn’t be more different. If that soldier refuses to do his job, then only I die. In times of war, most would never even notice a single casualty, regardless of whose fault it is.”
She pushed him back with disgust. “We both know there is so much more at stake here. Your refusal to do your duty, to follow your destiny, will lead to the deaths of everyone. You would really stand by and watch the realm burn because the task didn’t seem fair?! How in the world did you ever get this far? It’s no wonder you’ve become a masterless rogue.”
Xavier wilted like a weed under her relentless criticism. Worse, in his heart he knew that everything she was saying was true. For as long as he could remember, his duty had come before everything else. When had that stopped being true?
“I didn’t choose this either, Xavier,” Aurabelle continued, finally beginning to calm down a bit. She looked him directly in the eyes as her face began to change. The telltale features of an unworldly creature took shape, but her eyes held the same control, the same intelligence they always had.
“Who would ever choose this over living a normal life? There is so much you don’t know about me, Xavier. Did you know I was in love once? That I had a family of my own?”
Aurabelle looked away and scoffed at her own words. “In love, can you even imagine that? Of course I’ve outlived them all, and now I’m little more than the monster you see standing before you. I didn’t choose this, Xavier. But unlike you, I have come to accept what I am. This is my reality, and has been for many, many years. It is your reality as well, so the sooner you accept that, the better.”
She stepped forward, cupping his chin in her hand. “I chose none of this. I should have died years ago, yet here I stand. And of course I still yearn for love, for acceptance, to be an actual part of the world I’m forced to defend. But that is not, nor will it ever be, my reality. And as painful as that is, I have come to terms with it.
“Xavier, we are running out of time. I know it’s not fair, but fate does not care what you think, or want. But you already know this, don’t you? Please, tell me you’re ready.”
Xavier sighed and stepped away from her touch. “You told me I would be free to go once you taught me how to control the gift,” he said softly.
“I did,” she admitted, even offering him a smile. “But we both know you won’t. I know that the mighty Demon Hunter’s apprentice has never turned his back on his duty before. Call it a woman’s intuition, but I don’t imagine you’ll be breaking that streak anytime soon.” She took him by the hand. “Shall we continue? We still have some daylight left before—”
Shouts in the distance drew their attention. Within seconds, tribesmen were running from the forest, trying to get away from someone or something. The A’zara were highly skilled warriors in their own right, but something had caught them completely off guard.
“Take cover!” Aurabelle shouted, trying to grab Xavier by the wrist to lead him to safety. Eyes on the forest, he didn’t move. “Come on! They’ve found us, and you are too important to get yourself killed. Move!”
He knew she was right, yet he still couldn’t find the will to run. Staring, watching as trees came crackling down, there was something all too familiar about this, something overriding his common sense, the obvious danger. Something...
No, it can’t be. How did he find me?
A gurgling screech unleashed as the last row of trees crunched down to either side. A bony head rammed up between the splintered trunks, its twisted horns bent in all directions. The lavics wailed, shaking her head violently to clear out any stubborn wood still impeding her path. Arrows deflected off her bony plates as she leapt another ten feet forward.
Riding on her back, Owen wielded his heavy blade in wide, sweeping circles, deflecting arrows with uncanny precision.
A few got through, his shoulder and left leg each displaying an arrow shaft with a healthy ring of red around them. But if he noticed at all, the hunter wasn’t showing it. With a roar, Owen rolled his shoulders, summoning his crossbows from the backs of his shoulders. They clacked along his sleeve tracks, each one auto-latching to his wrists.
The Demon Hunter was about to unleash hell, most likely leveling the village with a single sweep.
“Wait! Stop!” Xavier shouted, rushing towards the hunter with all the speed he could muster. Waving his arms frantically, it didn’t seem like he would get his former master’s attention in time. Owen leveled his crossbows out wide, the gears beginning to hum.
Barely grabbing his attention, two tiny rocks ticked off each weapon. Owen almost laughed at the futile attempt to thwart his attack. The rotors began clicking as a surge of orange projectiles fired a wave of energy.
But an unseen force tilted them forward, driving all the projectiles straight into the ground. Mounds of black earth erupted into the air, sending clouds of dust coiling above him like a live volcano. A second tug sent the weapons flying from his wrists, spinning through the air like tops before they were snatched. Wiping his face, blinking away the soot, Owen looked long and hard as if he didn’t trust his eyes.
“Boy?” he said, too softly for anyone to hear. “Is that really you, lad?”
“Stop what you’re doing,” Xavier said, throwing the crossbows down at his feet. “I don’t know how you found me, but—”
“It wasn’t that hard, boy. To be honest, there aren’t that many places left for humans to hide. Tracking you down was easy enough.” Wincing, he ripped one of the arrows from his leg, then tossed it aside. “So I take it ye not be a prisoner here?”
“I am nobody’s prisoner,” Xavier replied after hesitating a few seconds. The real truth was actually much more complicated than that. “So there is no reason for you to level the village.”
“Fine, no leveling the village.” Xavier couldn’t help but notice a bit of disappointment in the hunter’s voice. Well, they did shoot him with arrows, after all. No one, still alive anyway, could ever make that claim. “Well, if ye be done playing around here, I know a certain someone who be missing you pretty badly.” This time Xavier winced, and the stab of pain in his heart was much worse than any arrow.
Grimacing, Owen ripped the second arrow from his shoulder. After a grumbled string of swearing, he threw that arrow aside. “Come on, then,” he said, trying a little too hard to pretend that nothing was wrong. “Let’s get you back to the tower.” He motioned around at the village, looking past the damage as if he had nothing to do with that. “Whatever is going on here, you can explain it to me on the way back.”
“I’m not coming back,” Xavier said. Owen stared at him with a blank expression, fingers drumming along one of the lavic’s horns. “I... I can’t, at least not yet.”
Owen dropped down from his saddle. “The hell you can’t,” he growled, moving towards Xavier at a threateningly brisk pace. He looked fit to tie hi
m up and drag him away if necessary. “I’ve come too far to hear any more of this nonsense.”
“That is not up to you, Demon Hunter,” Aurabelle said, sliding in front of Xavier.
“Step aside, little lady,” Owen warned, reaching back for his sword. “I’m not in the mood for any games today. I don’t know what kind of spell you put on the lad, but this ends now.”
“Arrogant old goat, aren’t you?” Aurabelle growled, standing her ground as the hunter stalked up to her. Despite her harmless appearance, Owen could sense the dangerous vibes rolling off her like waves of energy. Through the years, he had built up an instinct for these situations, and his gut was screaming. This dangerous woman was much more than she appeared to be.
“You seem to like the sound of your own voice, goat. But before you keep rambling on about things you don’t understand, perhaps you might want to consider what Xavier has to say instead of making hollow threats.”
“You think I can’t see what you’ve done to him?”
“She has done nothing to me,” Xavier tried to explain, but he might as well have been talking to a tree. They were both ignoring him now.
“I can see ye did something to the boy’s mind, but we’ll straighten that out as soon as I get him back where he belongs. Now get out o’ me way.” To Owen’s eyes, his assessment was obvious. One look and he knew there was something different about Xavier, a magical possession as far as he could tell.
“You keep telling yourself that lie, hunter,” Aurabelle said as dark green scales began surrounding her blackening eye. “Say it enough, and perhaps you will even start to believe it yourself. In the meantime, he is staying here with me. You don’t know what you’re doing, and I don’t have time to convince you of your mistake. Try to take him, and there will be a price to pay. Consider this your only warning.”
Gripping his sword, Owen threw his head back with a cackling laugh. “I must be losing my touch. Standing this close to a demon and I didn’t even know it.” Although he would never admit it, the notion bothered him quite a bit. Clearly, she had to be a demon. But how could he not have sensed it? No doubt, some sort of cloaking spell. “So it’s demon magic that’s possessed the boy. Well then, kill the demon, stop the source of the magic. This won’t take but a minute. Hold still and I promise to make it quick.”
His sword flashed like a sunbeam. She melted out of the way, her hips firing straight back as the blade just missed her midsection. Brown vines fired out as she drifted back, wrapping his shoulders and upper arms. Pulling the hunter to the ground, she dragged him along as she kept backing up.
Rolling forward, the hunter sprang back to his feet. But the vines still held fast as he slid along, all the while fighting to maintain his balance. Steel flashed, his blade blasting away at each vine in turn. Hard as steel, they resisted the weapon strikes as sparks flared off with each thundering blow.
In what looked to be an act of desperation, the hunter threw his sword at Aurabelle. Still drifting back, she slapped it away with a nimble high kick. But when she felt a sharp tug on her viney arms, she immediately realized her mistake.
Using the newly gained momentum, Owen rushed up on her as if shot from a catapult, his elbow smashing her right in the mouth. The vines went limp, and both went tumbling along the ground. The blow was jarring, and she found it hard to believe a mere human could strike so hard.
I’m sorry you have to see this, Xavier, Aurabelle thought. I’m going to have to kill this stubborn old goat.
Rolling up to her feet, she melted left then right, flowing away from his punches like rolling water. She flashed away, moving so fast, she appeared to have teleported. Reappearing thirty feet away, she thrust her arms down into the ground.
Owen dove to the side as the earth beneath his feet erupted. Vines sprouted up like the tentacles of a sea creature, spidering around like giant fingers searching for something to grasp.
Owen dove aside a second time, again the ground exploding beneath him as the vines just missed their target. He couldn’t move like Aurabelle, but was freakishly nimble for a man his size. Twice he had evaded what should have been a sure kill.
Visibly frustrated, Aurabelle ripped her arms up from the ground and flashed forward. “This ends now!” she roared, a knife-like hand streaking towards Owen’s throat as she seemed to reappear out of thin air. Rolling with the strike, Owen’s boot rose up beneath her chin as he completed the back handspring, dodging yet another sure kill before landing back on his feet. The kick was plenty hard, but it was this human’s nimble evasion that had truly stunned her.
Three times he should have been dead already.
Dropping to one knee, Owen slapped the shoulders of his battle suit. A spray of silver spikes blasted out from the compartments in his upper chest, peppering her face and arms. She screeched, swiping at the stinging projectiles as she backed away. The wounds were already healing, but not as fast as he was dishing out damage.
What kind of human are you? her mind screamed out. Never had she faced anyone like this.
Owen’s hand dipped in and out of his vest, and he snapped his wrist repeatedly while streaking around to flank her. Tiny rings hit the ground around her feet, each one suddenly erupting into a colored cone of energy. She flashed left and right, forward and back. But no matter which way she went, she found herself mere inches away from being caught in one of these traps.
The hunter slapped his right forearm, and a glowing yellow rod rose up from a compartment in his wrist. He rushed Aurabelle, swinging the humble weapon like a baton. She flowed away, careful to avoid the many energy cones crackling around her. To even touch one would suck her inside of it.
Growling, she snapped out another vine, attempting to knock the weapon from his hand. Owen rolled his wrist, avoiding the vine while slapping the baton’s base against his other hand. The rod bloomed like a flower, revealing the energy net for what it was. Snapping it like a whip, it wrapped around Aurabelle’s body. Caught like a fly in a spider’s web, she screamed as white-hot pain surged through her body. Crippling, incapacitating, the magic fibers burned her skin while simultaneously crushing her body.
“No, wait!” she screamed, the only coherent thought her mind could put together. It was impossible. How had this mere human bested her so easily? The Demon Hunter had more than lived up to his reputation, and now she was going to die for underestimating him.
No! It can’t end this way!
“You demons will never learn,” the hunter grumbled, a chained metal collar clacking open in one hand while holding the net in the other. Suddenly, there came a white flash and the chain slipped from his hand. Blinking, trying to shake the fuzzy out of his head, Owen rolled off Aurabelle and onto his back.
“Boy?” he said, looking up at Xavier though half-open eyes. With a blade raised up above his head, pommel facing down, Xavier smashed it down a second time.
*
Head throbbing, the hunter slowly opened his eyes. From the stale taste in his mouth, he knew he must have been out for at least a couple hours. He tried to sit up, but several sets of creaking ropes immediately tightened across his chest. Spearheads seemed to rise up out of nowhere, each one pointing down at his face. The men and women surrounding him looked like they weren’t going to take any chances with this most dangerous man. He rolled his eyes in acceptance and leaned back against the thick pole.
“Just a precaution,” Xavier was quick to point out before taking a knee before his former master. “We didn’t want you doing anything stupid before we could explain our position. At least this way you’ll have to listen.”
“Seems like every time I turn around these days, ye be finding a way to knock me out and tie me up.” Xavier shrugged. This was at least the second time, that he could remember anyway.
“You were going to kill me,” Aurabelle accused, standing all the way on the other side of the room. This human really had rattled her to the core. She knew of his reputation, but had no idea how capable he actually
was.
“No he wasn’t,” Xavier chimed in, pointing to the chained collar in the corner of the room. All Owen’s weapons were piled up there, and it was a rather substantial arsenal at that.
“I use that little beauty to capture me bounty alive,” Owen teased, his toothless grin on full display. “But in this particular case, I probably would have just carved away at your insides until I grew bored of hearing you scream.”
“Owen!” Xavier scolded.
“What?” The hunter feigned a hurt look. “I’d kill her quick. And by quick, I mean...eventually. And what do you know anyway? Those words are just her spell talking out of yer face like a puppet. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can—”
“I’m not under any spell,” Xavier assured him. “And Aurabelle is not our enemy, she is on our side.”
“Please, hunter,” Aurabelle pleaded with Owen. “As a sign of trust I will cut your ropes, but then you must listen to us.”
“I assume you’re going to tell me why ye abandoned your friends, as well as yer duty?” Owen growled.
Xavier nodded reluctantly. “I’ll explain everything. I wasn’t ready to face this before, so I ran. I ran in shame of what I am, of what I’ve become. I know you won’t believe me, but I was trying to protect you all.” He shook his head, realizing he was getting way ahead of himself. “On your word, hunter, if we cut you lose, you’ll hear us out and not do anything rash?”
“I don’t be thinking I have much leverage in this here situation.” Owen flexed for emphasis, the ropes crackling as they stretched. “You have my word, boy. To be clear, I’m just glad you’re safe.”
*
As the hours passed, Owen’s expression remained unchanged. Old woman who was thousands of years old... Hidden village where time all but stood still... Ancient humans who had once already witnessed a war between the humans and ghatins. And as if that weren’t strange enough, the boy who he thought he knew, who had fought by his side for years, had been chosen to receive the gift of the ancients.
Of course, many would view the power inside him as a curse rather than a gift. Against his will, Xavier was chosen to be an essential part of the last battle. But most importantly, he had not yet learned to control the beast within. And because of that, he was a danger to himself, but more importantly, to those he cared about. That was why he left. He couldn’t bear the idea of losing control and hurting any of them.