by Billy Wong
"He killed himself?!" Zack asked in shock.
Kath looked down. She didn't feel great about his death, when they'd fought together and interacted on friendly terms before. "I don't think he consciously meant to. He was probably delirious, and didn't even know what he was doing at the end. The strength of his spirit made him rise, but he was nothing more than a shell."
"He died fighting a superb warrior," Lucia said, "which is the way he would have wanted to go." Apparently she had awakened to witness Gabriel's last moments.
"Can you walk? I don't think most of us are in much condition to be carrying anybody."
She nodded, and they found on the enemies' bodies vials of the perfume that would hopefully keep monsters from attacking them again. Since another good weapon could always be of use, they got Gabriel's sword down from the rock using a rope and also took some of the assassins' weapons with them. Kath also retrieved the front half of her sword. Because they couldn't very well take them back, the Unstained buried their comrades as they could under rocks, and they headed back through the mountains.
Chapter 11
When they arrived at the castle, Kath laid down immediately on a bedroll and started gasping for breath. "No, don't die, please don't die!" Zack pleaded, holding her hand.
"Don't tell me what to do." She grinned to let him know it was a joke. "I'll be fine." Hopefully. "Just let me have some time to rest, no matter how painful it looks." She heard a groan and crash as of some heavy metal thing falling, looked to see Christopher had collapsed. "Is he okay?"
Fred examined him, didn't find any wounds he'd missed and said, "Maybe he's hurt worse than we thought, some head injury or something... or he's just exhausted."
"Hope he'll be all right. By the way, though, won't it be kind of hard for just the two of you to keep watching over the serpents when he's recovered?"
"Our sister once she returns will make three. But even so, you have a point—it'll be rough going until we've recruited some new members." He sniffed, and started to cry recalling all that had been lost.
Kath got an idea, but waited until his sobs subsided before mentioning it. "If we do end up starting that monster fighting guild, we could help you out for a bit until it's no longer needed. We might have to charge some minimal fee... but we could consider accepting a deferred payment. Right, guys?"
"Don't see a problem with that," Leroy said.
Zack nodded. "You're the boss."
"Hey, don't sell yourself short like that. We're partners who all have a say in this, and if you don't want to help the Unstained, you don't have to."
"Why wouldn't I want to help them? Seems like it would be an appropriate first job for a monster fighting guild, guarding them on their trips through the mountains from the dangerous monsters." He frowned. "I do hope they'll be less aggressive now after Volgox's mind settles down, though."
"I'm sure they will," Fred replied. "If the monsters were always like that the Unstained ranks would have been devastated numerous times already. Thank you for the offer of aid. I assume you'll need some time first to recover yourself, though?"
Kath touched her chest gingerly, felt the beginnings of incredible pain and eased her hand away from the wound. "Obviously, though my friends should be ready to go sooner, but I doubt you'll have to check on the serpents again that soon, will you?"
"We normally go once a month, so no, not so soon."
She hoped she'd be recovered enough by then. It still wasn't certain she would live, but she convinced herself she would. She had been strong enough to walk back here, torturous though it'd been. "One other thing. While we're helping you—we won't be required to wear all white, agree? Gets dirty too easily. If anyone asks, you can tell them we're allies rather than members."
"I don't mind wearing white," Zack said.
"Then you can dress in bridal wear while me and Leroy stick with our manly clothes."
The boys burst out laughing. Leroy playfully poked her bicep. "Glad to see you embracing it."
"It was a one time joke. I'm not manly."
"If you don't mind, we might need help to clear out the temple too," Fred interjected. "There might still be some monsters there, although I'm not sure how many."
"Sounds like an appropriate job too. As long as there isn't an army of them it shouldn't be a problem, right guys?"
Zack and Leroy gave their assent, and they waited for Kath and Christopher to heal up. Kath was walking around albeit slowly after less than three weeks, to which Zack commented, "You're such a stallion, Kath."
"Grrr..."
"I mean, a mare."
She considered. "I'm... not sure that sounds all that much better."
"All right, a thoroughbred."
"That's acceptable. Though technically, I think you and I would both be thoroughbreds while Leroy-"
Leroy stepped in from the other room. "What's that?"
"We were just discussing horses." But she realized something had changed about her during the journey that she didn't previously notice. Before, she would have assumed nobles to generally be smarter and better company than others. Now, it seemed to her not to make much of a difference. "I love you, Leroy."
"What?! I didn't know you felt that way about me!"
"I didn't mean it that way either. I really value you as a friend is what I meant. I'm so glad I decided to go to the Iron Sword school and met both of you and everybody else... even though we apparently won't be going back there."
He nodded. "Aye. It was definitely worth it."
Christopher still didn't awaken, though, and Fred grew quite concerned. Zack didn't dare to try and heal him either, fearing some severe brain injury that would mean grave consequences for him. Fred worried too about Helen, the female Unstained who had been sent to ask Gabriel and Deidre for help. Kath considered, but didn't mention the possibility she'd found Gabriel first and he had murdered her.
They didn't know what to do with Lucia either. Kath thought at first Gabriel might have killed her mother too, but Lucia told them Gabriel had separated her from Anna under the guise of taking her to undergo special training. They were hundreds of miles apart now, and to reunite them would require visiting Anna or at least sending her a letter from Genbald to request she come pick her daughter up. Since that was not going to be a priority, it looked like Lucia would stay with them for a while. To her credit, she complained little, and even after weeks didn't seem to grow bored of asking the others to tell her stories of the great wide world. Kath felt a tad strange being viewed as a more worldly and experienced person by someone else, but it wasn't a bad feeling.
Almost a month after the battle, Christopher opened his eyes as Fred fed him soup. "You're awake!" Fred said. "Thank goodness. Do you feel all right?"
"Physically? A little weak, but otherwise fine. But there is nothing to be thankful for. The reason I fainted isn't because of my injuries. Just as I arrived here I heard and was overwhelmed by the mental cry of Volgox, as he approaches full wakefulness. How long has it been since I fell?"
"Almost a month," Fred replied in a small voice. "The time of Volgox the Destroyer draws very near."
Kath, Zack, Leroy, and Lucia all stared. "What?" Leroy asked. "I thought that was over after we stopped Lucia from affecting it with her powers."
Fred's gaze fell. "It's as we feared. Once Volgox's consciousness began to return, an outside catalyst was no longer needed. There is no choice now. Zack, you must rouse Vilig with your gift in hopes that he can stop Volgox once more."
"Me? But I don't know what healing him would do to me. Can't Lucia just use her nightmare power on him like she did to Volgox?"
Christopher shook his head. "She cannot. Though both fell dormant, Vilig was wounded worse than Volgox in their struggle. He will not rise until the injury is healed. This is why Lucia's proximity to him did not affect him earlier."
Kath reeled at the implication, then anger rose in her. She glared at both the Unstained, but moreso Fred. "You knew about this a
ll along, didn't you?! So you were dishonest after all. You hoped we could stop Volgox's revival, but in case we couldn't, your backup plan was to use Zack."
"You are right," Fred admitted. "I am sorry, but we really had no other choice. Zack, will you please accept our apologies and help us once more? If Volgox is allowed to roam free, thousands could die and the world be thrown into chaos."
"But if I heal an injury that's had the serpent in a coma for hundreds of years, I could end up in a coma for the rest of my life, or die considering I don't know how differently healing a big thing like that could affect me compared to a person."
"You can't force him," Kath snarled. "I won't let you."
"We cannot force him," Christopher said. "It is a choice he must make on his own. However, I implore him to think hard about the alternative."
Zack waved his arms in near panic. "But you're asking me to sacrifice myself, possibly die or at least likely never wake again! Isn't there any other way to stop Volgox? How much time do I have to think about this?"
"I heard his near-waking cry almost a month ago. So we have almost no time."
"Damn, Zack," Leroy mumbled. "Always one thing or another with you."
Lucia looked pitifully at Zack. "This is horrible... I wish there was something I could do." A sentiment Kath shared. This was a rare time in her life when she, so skilled and strong, felt helpless.
At last Zack said, "Fine, I'll go to the serpent! But I won't decide until we get there what to do. At least, I'll consider doing what you want very seriously given we might be in Volgox's sight when he awakens if I don't."
Kath felt almost like he was agreeing to do it. Yet, she didn't know if he would be able to follow through. They headed back towards the crater through the mountains, using the last of the repellent perfume to avoid monsters on the way. When they arrived, it could be seen clearly the situation was grim. The glittering mystical shield around Volgox had become translucent, barely there, which Kath knew signaled he would soon awaken. He looked more like a mammoth dark green eel than a snake now that he was visible, with relatively small curved horns and a mane of long tendrils around his neck.
"Can you do it, Zack?" Christopher asked. "For the sake of humanity, and more specifically those you love who may suffer if Volgox rises."
He walked towards Vilig, his frame shaking, but then stopped. "I-I can't! It's too soon, I'm not ready for my life to be over! I haven't even done real work or established myself as a man, let alone started a family with the woman I love... why shouldn't I get a chance to do those things, why does it have to be me lying in a coma never to wake or dead here?"
"You are the only one with the power," Lucia said. "I'm sorry. If it was me in your place, I would have trouble giving up my future too. But if you do this, I will always be grateful to and admire you."
He stared at her with moist eyes. "What does that matter if I'm not here to know it?"
"You must," Fred said. "It is the only way."
Even though she saw their side of the argument, Kath grew incensed at the notion her friend effectively had to die. "No it isn't. There's always a choice."
What was left of the mystical shield around Volgox flickered. "Yeah, there is," Leroy agreed, drawing Grim Razor. "Might not end well for us, though."
Zack nodded. "Yeah, can't we just fight? I know it's big, but Kath and Leroy have overcome great odds before..."
The shield vanished, and Volgox's head started to lift off the earth. Just the cranium was as big as a decent sized house, bigger than anything Kath had fought. She could hardly imagine how they could possibly fight him. A monumental voice deeper and louder than any she had ever heard rumbled, "My time begins again, and with it humankind will know their place once more." The wind from its speaking alone drove her and the others back a step.
"Alright, alright, I'll do it!" Zack cried, and ran for Vilig. "But promise me first if I don't die, you guys will try to find a way to wake me, right?"
Kath blinked back tears, at once proud of her friend and devastated. "I promise."
"Of course," Leroy said.
Cacophonous laughter filled the air. "Fools. Do you think I will just let you heal my nemesis?"
"We have to hold him back until Zack finishes!" Christopher said.
Kath raised her sword, but felt utterly powerless before the titan. "But how can we stand against such a thing? It's so... big..."
"Well, there is one recorded instance of a lone human slaying a divine serpent," Fred recalled. "But the youngest knight-captain of the great war was unfathomably strong, and she-"
"Is here," a woman's voice said. A figure flew onto Volgox's head from above, and he roared in pain as a descending axe burst one gigantic eye. She must have jumped from the towering rocks.
Kath's spirits rose when she recognized the new arrival. "Deidre!"
"The one and only." She used the axe stuck in Volgox's eye as a handle to keep her footing on the writhing beast, struck at the flexible spiked tendrils thicker than her which reached for her with her buckler. "Don't sacrifice yourself yet, Zack. I have this."
Another woman dressed in white, small and around Fred's age, ran towards them from the entrance area. "Helen!" Fred beamed. "You're safe!" Kath assumed she must the female Unstained he'd mentioned. "What took you so long?"
"It was hard catching up to Deidre. You look like you've been through a lot too, is that so?"
"Yes, we'll talk about it later."
"Yes, kill it like the one I woke before!" Lucia yelled to Deidre as she severed one tendril, made another fall away by stabbing it and ripping the blade down its middle. Oh, Kath thought.
"That one was a lot smaller..." Before the mercenary could say anything else, Volgox took flight, shooting straight up into the air. He ascended so high into the sky Kath and the others couldn't see Deidre anymore, then stalled. His outline thrashed and flailed for minutes among the gray clouds while lightning flashed and thunder crackled. Though the details were obscured by distance, Kath figured the battle continued. Without warning he went still and plummeted downward. Everyone ran to avoid being crushed. Even so it was largely a matter of luck that they survived, as the serpent hit the ground with an incredible thud behind them and the earth shook so, they were all hurled from their feet.
Kath stood and turned around. Volgox's immense form lay ruptured and dead, dark blood pooling under it and his remaining eye popped from the socket. But Deidre was nowhere to be seen. Where had she gone? Moments later, she got the answer as Volgox's exposed underside seemed to move—then a blade punched through it. Deidre slit a hole in the great serpent from inside with her buckler and stepped out soaked in varied fluids. She looked tired, and after a couple steps fell to one knee, but then stood up and wiped her face off with her cloak. "Was taking too long working at him from outside, so I decided to finish from within."
Kath stared at her in disbelief. "I planned to ask when I saw you if I had reached your level by beating Gabriel. But I guess I haven't even reached the level you were at when younger than I am now."
Deidre chuckled. "Gabriel was never a match for me, although it might have been hard for people much worse than either of us to tell. Why do you think he hired me to guard him? The serpent back then was much weaker than this one, though. You might have a chance against it if you defeated him."
"Still, you were a knight-captain in your mid teens? That's..."
"Don't look at me like that! I was the young hero of my own story at one point too."
"I didn't mean it that way. I suppose that's the answer to my 'try to be more than just a mercenary' question for you, though. You must have grown disillusioned with it, didn't you?"
She looked off into the distance. "Yeah. I've had my problems with the government like Gabriel, but from what Helen told me he took it too far. By the way, you killed him, didn't you?"
"How did you know?"
"Just a feeling. Not hard to piece together what Helen said about the serpent-reviving mastermind a
nd you talking about fighting Gabriel."
Kath met her eyes uncertainly. "Do you mind?"
"Nah. I know if you didn't kill him, he would have killed you. Sometimes things like this happen in life, and friends turn out not to be permanent. It might be better that you ended him so I didn't have to. I should thank you." Still there was a hint of shakiness in Deidre's voice that indicated she would, despite everything, miss him.
After giving her some time to steady herself, Kath asked, "One more thing, though it's a repeat question... how did you get that badly hurt fighting a bunch of Lord Parr's mercs, if you can kill god-serpents?"
"A couple of those he hired to capture Lucia turned out to be two of the world's most famed assassins, who did it in hopes of meeting me for the challenge. They were pretty good, but I whupped them in the end."
"That sort of makes sense. So what do you plan on doing now?"
"Go back to mercenarying, I suppose. There are always plenty of jobs."
Kath got a bold idea. "I don't know if I should ask this, but me and the boys were thinking of starting a monster fighting guild. Since you're probably the best monster fighter there is, interested?"
"Sorry, it wouldn't suit me to be under a little girl."
"You wouldn't have to be under me. I wasn't planning to have any of us three be official leader more than the others anyway, so maybe you could share the spotlight too."
Deidre winked. "Yeah, but if I was there, I'd end up stealing the spotlight naturally. I don't want to do that to you. I want you to grow freely and become your own woman. So it's best I walk off into the sunset as old warriors do."
"You're not that old. What are you, twenty-three?"
"Twenty-five. A fat face like mine keeps its youth a little longer. No wonder you thought I was so insanely young back when I first met Lucia."
Kath rolled her eyes. "You were still a teenage knight-captain. And you're not fat."
"Thanks. See you around, little girl." And she walked off, just like she'd said. "Hey Lucia, you might want to follow me if you want to see your mom soon." The girl ran after her, and they disappeared through the entrance.