by S T Branton
Shooting up as fast as I could, I brought the top of my head into contact with the nose of another ogre who had gotten within striking distance. The crunch of his nose filled my ears as I grabbed his shirt and pulled him forward into my knee. I smashed his ribs twice before grabbing the back of his head and ramming my knee into his face. He went down in a heap and I spun to gain momentum to kick him behind the ear, sending him into the sleepy realm of a dreaming ogre. A dreaming ogre who would feel like his brain was full of bees when he woke up.
There was no time to feel good about my situation, though, as the stage filled with more Harbingers. Some were trolls, some were weirdly human-looking, others were rare creatures I had only heard about, and there was even an evil squid-looking thing lumbering around in the back of the group. They outnumbered me—by a lot—and I couldn't find my mace. I scanned as quickly as I could and thought I saw something flash on the ground, several feet away. There were a couple of bad guys in the way, but since that was my only chance, I had to take the attack to them.
I drove my shoulder into a disturbingly spongy chest and turned to punch another in the jaw. Spinning back to the other side, I kicked forward like I was trying to break down a door and crushed a few ribs of another Harbinger.
The first one, a creature that looked like amphibious evolution in reverse, grabbed my shoulders and tried to ram his head into mine. I moved it to the side and tried to grab him in a submission hold, but slimy skin that would be far more comfortable in a lagoon somewhere made it impossible to grip him effectively. As he surged forward again and crashed his forehead into my neck, I made a decision I knew my taste buds would regret as long as I lived. I bit down on his ear and ripped it off his body. The frogman screamed and released me to hold his ear, and I used the opportunity to uppercut him in the jaw and send him to the ground.
Mike Tyson would be so proud.
I knelt to grab the cannonball, but as my fingers reached it, a kick to my stomach made my entire body lock up and fall over. Fists rained down on and around me as I tried to cover up with one arm and reach for the rune with the other. I felt the tip of it in one hand and was about to pull it to me when I saw the flash of a blade in the goblin's hand on top of me. I narrowly avoided it by rolling away from the rune, and I bucked him completely off by smashing my fist into his side as hard as I could.
As I scrambled to my feet, I shook off another one that was trying to grab me by my arms and elbowed another in the nose that ran toward me. I was being pulled away from the cannonball and I tried desperately to make it back when I saw it rise, held by one of the Harbingers.
"No," I yelled as he smashed it to the ground, then brought a heavy mallet to it, shattering it into thousands of tiny pieces.
A fist connected with my jaw from somewhere in the melee around me and I felt my knees go weak. My locket worked overtime, but I felt its power waning. As I stumbled backward, a kick landed on my hip and I flew across the stage, sputtering to a stop near the edge.
There were too many of them, and they were too strong, and I was now without a weapon that could stop them. There was no way I could stop Spinoza or his doomsday device without it. All I could hope now was that I would go down fighting, and that my death would be quick and heroic.
At least I got to fight some ghost pirates.
Suddenly, I thought I heard my name being called behind me. Assuming it was the desperate plea of my brain, trying to cue up the old life-flashing-before-your-eyes moment, I ignored it on general principle. I had no desire to see a home movie that mainly comprised me and Splinter hanging out in some dank prison cells. Then I heard it again, and I recognized the voice. It was Archie.
I turned as best I could to see him leaping onto the stage, something I could only assume was another of his runes in his hand. Either that or he had come to the fight armed with a pink and green Super Ball, and I really didn’t want to think that was the case.
Behind him, Ally hopped up too, one ball in each of her hands. Archie charged into the Harbingers while activating his rune, which seemed to turn his fists purple as they grew three times their normal size. Nice homage to Thrash. Way to channel past traumas for productive use. He swung inexpertly at the Harbingers, flailing at them and contacting shoulders, thighs and the occasional chest, but it was enough to get them to fall back on that side. Ally activated the two runes she had, and suddenly she had hands made of pure fire. She pushed one hand out and a small fireball shot from it, hitting one Harbinger with enough force to knock her down, and lighting her shirt on fire. She frantically patted it until it went out, then scurried back to gain her bearings.
The two of them were absolutely stupid for coming to my rescue, and I loved them for it. There was no way they could beat these guys with the runes they had, but it had given me a moment to catch my breath, gain my bearings and get to my feet. While rubbing away the blood that trickled from my mouth, I looked over at Ally, who was firing fireballs at random and giggling like a drunken madman.
"Are you sure you should be playing with fire?" I yelled over the sounds of the chaos while pulling the switchblade from my back pocket.
"Are you sure you should be standing there yakking while I save the world?" she yelled back before dissolving into another fit of laughter as she shot out more fireballs. “Magic is amazing.”
I flicked open my switchblade and charged forward, hope and love for my best friend suddenly filling me with a strength I didn’t know I had left. I tore through the Harbingers in my way, slashing and cutting anything that moved, and sawing a path to the wizard Spinoza. One last Harbinger stood before me, a cyclops who was holding a piece of the giant rune in place. I jumped on his back and rammed the blade into his eye, sending him crashing to the ground. I jumped off before he hit and rolled to a stop in front of Spinoza. Standing up, I locked eyes with him again.
He turned on his heel and ran.
Chapter Forty
“We’re too late!” Archie called. “The spell has already begun.”
“What spell? What’s the spell?”
“The pirate army was a distraction. It’s time for the real show. He didn’t want this to be a quick reveal. He’s not going for a press conference effect. The ghosts put down the foundation of terror. His spell starts Phase 2.”
“Let me guess, Phase 2 doesn’t revolve around rainbows and sunshine.”
“What happens when blood gets into the ocean?”
“Sharks come.”
“That was a lot of blood he poured on that rune,” Archie pointed out.
“Are you telling me sharks will come up out of the water?”
“In a way. They’re ripping open a hole between worlds. They’re staging a breakout in The Deep.”
I staggered at the weight of his words. The Deep, the home of every hell imaginable, unleashed upon The Near. You could say goodbye to Charleston and most of the eastern seaboard. And also home to Hobbes’ most devoted and demonic followers. Forget an opening salvo, Spinoza and his goons were trying to win the war before it began.
“Tell me how to stop it.”
“I don’t know—”
“Tell me how, dammit. There must be a way.”
Archie turned back toward the doomsday rune.
“Maybe if you kill Spinoza, it will weaken the spell enough for me to break it, but I can’t be sure.”
“You keep your ass here,” I shouted over my shoulder as I turned to run. “Do what you can to stop this thing.”
“What about you?” he cried.
“I’m going hunting.”
I chased in the direction Spinoza had run, hopping over fallen Harbingers and pushing through the chaos of equipment set up for the rally. I’d cleared a chair at my feet and rounded the corner of the stage, heading toward the crowd, when an ogre blocked my path by shoving me into the stage wall and jumping down on top of me.
I tried to block his fists, but he got a couple of shots in before I could grab his arm as it crashed down toward my face.
I snapped my hips to quickly change position, and his fist shoved down into the grass. Flipping backward, I held onto his wrist and tucked his arm between my legs while thrusting my hips up and falling backward. I felt his shoulder snap as I hit the ground, and I rolled off, determined not to let him slow me down any further.
Ahead of me, I saw Spinoza had turned back to watch. He must have been hopeful the surprise ogre attack would stop me because the look on his face when I stood was one of shock and defeat. There were no more Harbingers between us now, and he had nowhere left to run but toward the crowd of humans still stampeding to get out of the park. He looked around frantically, and I followed his gaze.
The destruction around us was incredible. Ghost pirates were still scattered among the humans, wreaking havoc wherever they went. Several of the humans had taken the chance to fight back, but without weapons, many of them were only delaying the inevitable. Harbingers were still fighting Ally and Archie on the stage, and many had siphoned off and were heading toward Spinoza and me. The endgame for their plan was here and killing me was the only chance they had at realizing it. Humans were fighting each other at the gate, pushing and screaming to get out while they still could. Some had taken to the woods, where Harbingers lay in wait, and there were sounds of fighting and slaughter coming from that direction too.
All around me was the chaos this war would bring, the suffering that the battles would cause, and the destruction of the normalcy that would never again be. I thought of my family, and how I had tried to protect them from this realm, and this war, and knew that Spinoza, even if his weapon hadn't worked, had already levied the first shot. If The Near was going to survive this, I had to play my part.
And that meant ending Spinoza.
I brushed my thumb over my blade while taking a moment to channel Solon, then threw the blade sidearm. It spun through the air and buried itself in the soft place where Spinoza’s neck met his shoulder. He dropped to his knees as I heard footsteps pounding behind me.
The Harbingers’ reinforcements had arrived, and while I saw Ally and Archie chasing them toward me, they would reach me first. I readied myself for the fight, and as the first wave of them came, kicked and punched and screamed, no weapons but the locket and the skills Solon had imparted to me. I locked arms with an elf—evil woodfolk, not the Keebler kind. He and I tumbled to the ground and threw fists at each other. I had given up on defense, wanting nothing more than to hurt these things threatening my home.
He pulled a long, curved copper blade, but I wrenched it from his hand and shoved it deep into his throat.
“Go back to whatever twisted-ass spooky forest you came from,” I snapped at him.
Greenish blood spewed out at me as I severed an artery, and I stood to catch a satyr as he dove at me. I lifted my foot to plant the heel in his face as he went vertical, and the impact knocked me back a step, forcing me to fall to protect myself.
As I stood, the satyr whose face I had rearranged did as well. He pulled his arms back in a complicated motion I could only assume was some sort of Far karate stance and let out a war cry that sounded more like a 1950s housewife seeing a mouse scurry across a kitchen. Combined with his distinctly goat-like characteristics, it broke some of the tension and I laughed at him. This did little to endear me to him.
As he was about to run toward me, his body went stock-still and his eyes widened. Very slowly, he tipped over, falling directly on top of the unfortunate elf who was now missing a large section of his throat. As he fell, I saw Ally standing behind him, her hands positioned like a character from Street Fighter and smoke coming from her fingers. I looked down at the Karate Goat again and saw that he had a singed hole in his back the size of a basketball hoop.
"I didn't want to yell 'hadouken' and let him know I was behind him. But you saw it, right?" Ally was positively beaming, and she winked at me as she stood more fully.
"Ken or Ryu?"
"Ken. Always Ken. Geez, it's like you don't even know me."
Suddenly, she spun and shot another fireball at an oncoming goblin that was sneaking up on me from the side. Archie appeared beside her and used his giant purple Hulk hands to whack another that was sneaking up on Ally. It looked like we made a decent team. Archie nodded at me, and I turned my attention back to Spinoza. Ally and Archie could keep my back clear. I trusted them to do that. But Spinoza was all for me.
As I stepped toward him, Spinoza laughed, slowly at first, then louder as I got close. By the time I was within a few feet he was cackling, his head thrown back and his mouth wide, like he was trying to force his laughter as far into the sky as he could. But the sound was garbled and choked from the hole in his neck. His arms were limp by his sides, and blood soaked his chest. His suit was muddied and full of sand from falling down in the fairway. I cocked my head to one side in confusion. What the hell was he laughing at?
"Spinoza, it's over. This whole war, it's over. Tell me where Hobbes is and I’ll kill you quickly."
The laughter continued unabated. Either he hadn't heard me, or he didn't care. It got so forceful that he coughed violently, unable to control both the laughter and the cough. After a few moments, it died down, and I tried again.
"Spinoza, it’s over. Tell me wh—" I began.
"Nothing is over. Nothing will be over until The Near is destroyed. Hobbes has foretold it, and it will be true. Sara Slick, you will watch it all fall,” he forced through the bubbling blood in his throat.
I pulled my switchblade out of him angrily, prepared to use it again, to end this man now before he babbled any further, but his eyes locked onto mine and all joviality seemed to cease. Resentment and condescension replaced it in his voice.
"You can't kill me, Sara Slick. Not if you want to know the truth. I know who you are.”
"What truth?" My heart beat faster. He could be lying to save his skin. He could be using this opportunity to distract me so he could survive another day, then try to murder me again tomorrow.
"What truth?" I demanded.
The smile returned to his lips and he rocked back on his heels. Ally and Archie now joined me at my back, and I turned to survey the field. The Harbingers that were still alive had ceased fighting and were kneeling toward Spinoza. Something was happening. Something big.
"What. Truth." My voice came out almost as a whisper, but anger and frustration filled every syllable. "Tell me or die, right now."
"I know the truth about Hobbes. And you. And I know why you were framed."
The words collided into me like I had been hit with a mountain of bricks. The son of a bitch knew I didn't do it. A cruel choice lay at my feet. Time was ticking on the spell he’d cast with the enormous bloody rune. It wouldn’t be long before The Deep cracked open and flooded the park with resentful, tormented creatures ready to destroy. The only way to stop it was to kill him. I was choosing between saving thousands of lives and finally knowing why ten years of my life had been taken from me.
And he knew it.
"If you kill me, you will never know," his voice came out like a serpent, and his head fell back again.
The laughter that came from him this time was deeper and richer, the sound of someone who believes they have won. The laugh of someone who knows more than their enemy. The laugh of a victor.
Too bad he was wrong.
I pulled him close and looked into his eyes, wanting to make sure he heard me clearly.
“I don’t need you,” I said through gritted teeth. “Do you understand me? I don’t need you. I know who I am. I am the heinous Sara Slick.”
I grabbed his shirt with one hand and lifted him from the ground as my blade sank smoothly into the soft place below his chest. I pulled it up with a sharp motion, slicing anything that got in my way. He smiled through the blood pouring over his lips and down the front of his shirt.
“It doesn’t matter,” he croaked out. “I’ve fulfilled my mission. The world knows about us now. The Pax dies here today.”
“The only thing dying h
ere today is you.” I gave the blade an extra plunge for good measure. “I called the Philosopher’s Guild before you started. They’re probably already here cleaning up your mess.” I leaned down closer, my face only inches from his. “You died for nothing.”
I wrenched my blade from his chest and let Spinoza’s body collapse at my feet.
Chapter Forty-One
After wiping the blood off my switchblade, I turned and looked for Ally and Archie. They had disappeared back into the chaos. People were running in every direction, some screaming and crying, others walking aimlessly, their minds incapable of processing what they'd experienced. The number of people crushed into the park didn't seem to have decreased, and when I looked back toward the entrance gates, I saw why.
The gates were firmly closed and when the few people who wandered up to them tugged on them, they didn't move. As soon as they yanked, people I recognized as agents of the Guild stepped in front of them and wiped their memories, then slid them through the gates and released them into the world beyond. I didn't know what was going through their minds now that they were essentially waking up wandering away from the park with no concept of what brought them there. But as long as it wasn't thoughts of the statue covered with blood or the battle I'd fought, it was fine.
Sometimes a little forgetting is good medicine.
I finally found Archie and Ally in the center of a cluster of people. They seemed to be trying to block the view of something on the ground. As I rushed up to them, I realized it didn't matter how close I got, I still couldn't identify the somewhat mushy mound between them. Ally noticed me and reached for me. I took her hands and she pulled me in for a tight hug.