Most likely, the FDF members who fell from their mounts as a result didn’t cry out because part of their psyches had already been shattered. Some of them had their heads staved by the hooves of the rampaging horses, while others seemed frozen as they watched it coming closer and closer.
The thing leisurely made its way from one survivor to the next, touching each of the members in turn.
The Capital’s greatest fighting men quietly died of madness, powerless to stop it.
“Well, what do you think? The fifth member of the Fiend Corps is quite the looker, isn’t it?”
The last member of the FDF was crawling across the ground, but as he listened to Rei-Ginsei’s sardonic laughter the thing suddenly vanished without a trace.
“What the—?!”
As the startled Rei-Ginsei looked over his shoulder, the sole surviving FDF member trained his laser rifle on the bandit’s forehead. Thanks to a Spartan training regime, he could still muster murderous intent toward the enemy despite his insanity.
“Boss!”
Before Golem could move, a beam of red light pierced Rei-Ginsei’s brow.
However, it was the FDF member who jerked backwards. Incredibly, the laser beam that hit Rei-Ginsei right between the eyes burst out of the back of the other man’s head. A stench of seared flesh and brains hung in the otherwise refreshing air.
“Are you okay, boss?” the man with the pointed head asked as he cast a loathsome gaze on the soldiers littering the ground. Not merely his head, but the man’s entire frame was streamlined like a shooting-star class rocket. He was called Gimlet.
“I believe I’ll survive,” Rei-Ginsei laughed, rubbing his forehead. There was a black circle about a quarter inch in diameter scorched right between his eyebrows.
While the others inquired no further after his condition, the four fiends looked at each other with concern over another suspicious occurrence.
“Something must’ve happened to Witch,” said the hunchbacked man.
“Chullah’s right,” Rei-Ginsei chimed in. “The only reason I made such a blunder is because I never in a million years imagined that thing just disappearing in the middle of an operation.” He certainly had a strange way of covering his blunders. Turning back to the expanse of prairie to his left, he muttered, “If one of her spells should break at her age, she’ll be walking the cold, dark road to hell ...”
“Would you like me to go check it out?” asked Gimlet.
He shook his fine head from side to side. “No, I shall look into this. The rest of you kindly dispose of these unsightly remains. Burn them or eat them, whichever suits your fancy,” he said, smiling at his disturbing orders.
.
And this is what was happening while the gruesome battle neared its conclusion, or rather, to be precise, just before the sudden disappearance of the thing that had materialized from thin air.
Racing across the plains, Doris was just about to turn her steed in a new direction when she discovered something unexpected in someplace unimaginable and jerked her horse’s reins in the opposite direction instead. The spot was less than a mile and a quarter from Count Lee’s castle. Bypassing the more circuitous roads, she’d galloped straight through a hilly region, but from here on out, she’d have to take a somewhat less direct route.
Her father had brought her here just once when she was little and she’d seen it from a distance then, but she’d never seen the place from this close before. Half of her frightened, the other half deadly serious, she took in the mysterious scenery stretching out in the morning light. The villagers called this place The Devil’s Quarry. In this part of the endless expanse of prairie, there were countless statues standing like stone forests, or laying on the ground and looking to the heavens. No two had the same face or form, and there wasn’t a single statue that didn’t have the aspect of some bizarre monstrosity. A sculpture of a baldheaded man with incredibly large eyes, a bust of a creature with dozens of arms baring its fangs, a full-length statue with thousands of beastly bristles each individually carved—all these pieces of incomparably detailed craftsmanship were covered with moss, as were the remnants of stone walls and columns that called to mind the ruins of some ancient citadel. Together, they seemed to form a completely alien dimension. Even the morning sunlight, that should’ve breathed life into every hill and valley in the world, lent the faces of the sculptures weirder shadows than it might have, as the particles of light were swallowed by the moss and the desolate atmosphere, or sank with leaden weight. Even the air was dank. People said this was the place where the Nobility had once held their wretched ceremonies, or a quarry used in the construction of the castle, but the latter theory was easily dismissed. After all, there wasn’t any stone in this whole region to be quarried. At any rate, this was a forbidden area, and no one from the village ever entered.
What had caught Doris’ eye was an old woman seated in a deep, bowl-shaped depression near the center of the Devil’s Quarry doing the same baffling gestures over and over. Her age was unclear. Judging by her gray hair and the wrinkles creasing her yellowed skin, both of which were obvious even at this distance, she looked to be nearly a hundred, and yet her body seemed strangely imbued with vitality.
What is this? Some old lady lost in her travels, taking a breather?
Even if Doris couldn’t bring her all the way into town, she could at least give the woman directions back to the main road. But as Doris was just about to give her mount a flick of the reins, she stayed her hand and quietly slipped down to the ground instead.
Wrapped in a dull gray overcoat, the crone’s torso was bent forward at an extreme angle, and there was something about the sight of her—with eyes fixed on her own fingertips as they clutched at nothing—that just felt evil. Of course, Doris was completely unaware that at that very moment on the road a few miles distant, a strange entity that appeared out of thin air was busy delivering death by insanity to the members of the FDF.
Muffling her own footfalls as she led her horse, Doris made her way into the Devil’s Quarry, tethered her mount to a nearby pillar, and came up behind the crone. Apparently the old woman didn’t notice, as she didn’t move at all. As Doris drew closer, she felt goose bumps spread across her flesh.
A poisonous miasma was rising from the crone’s vicinity. Clearly she was using some arcane skill toward foul ends. The sound of a low voice chanting a spell reached Doris’ ears.
“Stop that!” she shouted despite herself as she took a few steps forward. At that instant, something whizzed out of the bushes and glanced off her cheek. Doris dropped to the ground with lightning speed. Holding her breath and remaining alert, she touched her left hand to her cheek. Warm blood clung to her fingertips.
A spirit beast, eh? Looks like she’s got her warded zone set up right around here, Doris thought.
To her left, Doris felt a keen presence. She made a quick combat roll to one side and let fly with the whip in her right hand. Unfortunately, her deadly strike only kicked grass into the air, but she sensed her opponent changing direction to fall back a good distance.
When conjurers and sorcerers worked their art, they established an area around themselves with a radius of ten or so feet in order to have the best chances of success. This was known as their warded zone. Since their concentration might be disturbed, and, in extreme cases, their spell might even lose its efficacy if someone were to step into this zone while they were working, sorcerers conjured up creatures and set them as watch dogs outside the warded zone, ready to attack intruders. The task often fell to massive hounds, poisonous toads, and serpents suckled on pure malice, but this crone used a transparent creature formed of her own force of will—a spirit beast. And a particularly nasty one at that.
Doris was well aware the only thing that had saved her was the superb reflex of a trained Hunter. The average person would’ve had their throat torn open a few seconds ago. In her heart, she whispered thanks to her father. “It’s forty feet to the old lady. Guess this calls f
or a bit of trickery,” Doris muttered to herself. This dangerous gamble was her only choice. She had no idea what kind of misery her opponent could be causing with her spell.
Once again, her whip mowed through open air right toward the crone.
Slashing through the air, the spirit beast attacked Doris. At that moment, her whip snapped back. An instant later, she could feel something in the air rip in half. The air was suddenly flooded with a choking malevolence, but it dispersed quickly enough.
“Waagh!”
The scream that escaped the crone as she doubled over made Doris leap to her feet in the brush. Doris had drawn the spirit beast out by appearing to attack the crone, then used a flick of her wrist to turn the blow on the beast at the last possible second. Of course, if her timing had been off by a split second, Doris would have been the one to die.
Her suicidal gamble had paid off, but it had also had an unforeseen side effect. Because the crone had created the spirit beast with her own sorcery, the destruction of the beast meant a disturbance to her other spell as well. She invested the whole of her life force in performing that spell, and when it was broken, the crone’s black heart beat its last. It was at just that moment the outlandish creature bearing down on the last remaining FDF member vanished.
“Hey, lady! C’mon, snap out of it!” Doris raced over and took her in her arms, but the crone’s eyes showed dead white, foam spilled from her mouth, and the mortified look on her wrinkled features defied description. There was a pentagram branded on her forehead, the mark of a sorceress. “Oh, crap! This isn’t quite what I had in mind ... ” Though this was an evil sorceress, and her own actions had clearly been in self defense, the thought that she’d brought about the death of an old woman weighed heavily on Doris’ heart.
“I’m sorry, but you’ll have to wait here until I can come back. I’ve got serious business to attend to.”
Doris laid the corpse out on the ground, and was about to head back to her horse when she hesitated. She’d already decided that finding out whether or not D was okay was more important than bringing this corpse back to town. She’d come out here aware of all the risks that entailed.
Still, the dark body of the crone looked so terribly sad and forlorn stretched out on the ground. The wind tugged at the sleeves of her overcoat. And a corpse abandoned in the wilds was a tempting target for monsters. It would be bad enough to have them feasting on her, but if one of them got inside her that would be yet another threat to humanity. Even in broad daylight, there were probably some creatures around that might risk turning into a ball of flame to slink out and take possession of a corpse that hadn’t been disposed of properly.
Doris didn’t have any of the gear she’d need to take care of the body. She didn’t see a horse or wagon for the crone. On inspection, the inner pocket of the crone’s overcoat contained nothing aside from a few suspicious-looking trinkets.
Doris went back to the body and lifted it gently. “I don’t really think there are any critters to take you over out here, but I’m gonna bring you with me anyway. Of course, I can’t offer any guarantees we’ll make it back in one piece, either.”
Loading the corpse onto the horse behind the saddle, Doris used rawhide lacing to secure its arms and legs around the steed. That was to keep it from falling off, and just to be safe in the event something did possess it. Leave it to the daughter of a Hunter to be accustomed to this sort of work—she had the whole thing done in less than three minutes. Doris got in the saddle. At any rate, I’ll make for the main road.
When her horse had gone but a few steps, Doris suddenly spun around. At the same moment, she heard a thunk as something heavy buzzed by at neck level. The decapitated head painted a gory parabola as it sailed through the air, and just before it hit the ground, its eyes snapped open. It bared its teeth. They were the eyes of a demon, and the foul fangs of one as well. It flew toward the person responsible for separating it from its body. Black lightning streaked from a mounted figure topping a hill quite some distance off. Split in two from forehead to chin, the crone’s head fell to the ground and moved no more.
Doris realized she’d had a very close call.
Right behind her was the decapitated corpse of the crone, frozen in place with its claws a heartbeat away from tearing into the girl’s throat. The snapped binding dangled from its wrists. An evil spirit had possessed the corpse before Doris had even touched it. The instant it snapped its bonds to attack Doris from behind, the figure on the distant hill had lopped the head off with consummate skill and speed.
Her horse gave a shake, and the headless corpse dropped to the ground. Doris finally turned to face her savior. “Oh, D, I was … ” An elated hue lit up her face, but it was gone all too soon.
While the figure coming down off the hill fresh from his graceful display of skill certainly had beauty on par with D, he was clearly someone else. “I can’t believe you picked up on that.” As he pulled up along side her on his horse, Rei-Ginsei smiled blindingly. He was referring to how she had sensed a strange presence, and turned around a split second before the possessed corpse attacked.
“That was nothing. It looks like I’m in your debt again. What kind of weapon did you use?”
Rei-Ginsei took a playfully surprised expression at her less than ladylike inquiry. “If you’ll forgive my saying so, judging by your clothing and that whip, you appear to be a Hunter.”
“My father was. I just sorta play at it,” Doris said without embarrassment or modesty, and then she smiled. She wasn’t entirely sure why, but her smile felt strangely forced.
Realizing that even after they’d exchanged civilities Doris’ eyes were not focused on his face but rather on his weapon-girt waist, the dashing youth smiled grimly.
“What brings you here of all places at this hour of the morning, sir? You been out on the road?”
“Yes, that’s it exactly.”
“In that case, you suppose you could bring this old lady’s body back into town for me? Normally I’d have to go and explain what happened to the sheriff, but the truth is, I’m kind of in a hurry.” Doris stopped her horse and proceeded to recount the entire incident.
Listening silently until the end, Rei-Ginsei then muttered, “I see now. So that’s what happened to it ... I can take care of the corpse for you. I shall see to it both are disposed of properly.”
“Both?” Doris knit her brow, but as the dashing youth’s carefree smile struck her, she reflected a smile of her own. “Okay, then. Thanks.”
As she was reining her horse around, her arm was grabbed from the side, drawing the lovely young woman into an embrace on horseback. The sweet aroma that lingered around his mouth wasn’t what she’d expect from any man.
“What the hell ...”
“I have saved your life, even though it meant slaying one of my four companions. Of course, you’re also quite beautiful. And then there’s the matter of your rescue yesterday. I hardly think anyone would blame me for taking a little compensation.”
“You’d better leave me alone, or else—”
“You’ve also seen something you shouldn’t have. We really can’t have you going into town and telling everyone about that. So you’ll have to die out here. Why don’t we just say I’m avenging my fallen comrade? Don’t put up such a fight. You’ll live a while longer. Until I’ve taken my pleasure, at least.” The dashing youth’s mouth locked over the virgin’s lips.
There was a gasp, and Rei-Ginsei quickly pulled back. He pressed his hand to his mouth, and blood spread across the back of it. A bite from Doris had torn his lips open.
“Don’t fuck with me! I’ve got someone I care about. I wouldn’t let a creep like you touch me!”
Her tone was awe inspiring. She thought Rei-Ginsei’s countenance would flush with anger, but he simply smiled. Only it wasn’t the charming smile that people couldn’t help but return. It was the satanic grin he’d worn on the main road.
Giving a shudder, Doris lashed her whip at the center
of his face. Less than a foot and a half lay between them. It was really too close to swing the whip. And yet the swirl of black from the girl’s fist leapt right up at the youth’s dashing face. It was about to land there when it disappeared into the black streak of lightning shooting up from her foe’s waist. Rei-Ginsei’s skill in drawing his bizarre, v-shaped weapon—and slashing off the end of her whip in the blink of an eye—was truly miraculous. And yet, his face had none of the tension of a battle about to be joined, but rather held the same smile as before.
“Hyah!”
Realizing in a heartbeat she didn’t stand a chance of victory, Doris reined her horse toward the ruins and took off at full speed.
In her haste to take flight, she forgot the might of her foe’s weapon, and the way it had taken off the crone’s head from a hilltop over sixty feet away. Rei-Ginsei didn’t throw his weapon immediately. As Doris’ mount neared the heart of the ruins, he finally let the weapon fly with an underhanded throw. Whirring as it chased down the rapidly dwindling speck of Doris and her steed, it mercilessly slashed through the horse’s right-rear leg and right-front leg, turned a graceful loop, and came right back at them, severing both legs on the left side. As the loss of one leg would’ve sufficed to prevent the girl’s escape, this was a display of sheer brutality. A bloody mist went out as the horse fell.
“Oh! Just beautiful!” As he felt the weight of his weapon returning to his outstretched palm, Rei-Ginsei admired the scene before him.
As the horse toppled over, a lithe body leapt into the air, somersaulted, and landed on the ground with only the slightest break in form.
But Doris’ face was deathly pale.
She hadn’t forgotten her foe’s weapon, or his unholy skill with it. With those very things in mind, she’d had her horse galloping along a zigzagging course. The black weapon seemed to take their movements into consideration nonetheless as it cleanly severed the first two legs. The falling beast threw them into the air as Rei-Ginsei came back and visited a similar fate on the remaining pair.
Vampire Hunter D Page 11