Gearing Up

by Daniel Schinhofen

  Becky was kneeling next to the wounded dark-skinned female elf, who had three arrows sticking out from the right side of her chest. Blood leaked from the three wounds, and from the corner of the elf’s mouth.

  “Easy,” Becky said calmly, extending a trauma kit toward the elf. “We’re here to help.”

  “You killed them so easily,” the elf gasped, short of breath as she eyed Becky with wonder.

  “Just stay calm for a minute and we’ll get you fixed up,” Becky said, pushing the trauma kit against the elf’s chest.

  A hard gasp came from the elf as the arrows popped out of her body. A cough, spilling blood from her mouth, helped clear the collapsed lung. Eyes wide, the dark-skinned elf looked at Becky and inhaled deeply.

  “What’s your name?” Becky asked the dark-skinned elf.

  “Kuro,” the elf said as she took Becky’s free hand. “What is your name, Matriarch?”

  “I’m Gothy,” Becky said. “Why did you call me Matriarch?”

  “Only Matriarchs have the power to kill an entire hunting party with such ease,” Kuro whispered, her eyes almost glowing in the dimming daylight. “I promised my soul, and you shall have it.”

  “I…” Becky began, but stopped as she took a good look at the elf. “Your soul is mine?”

  “Yes,” Kuro said. “I can pledge to you right now, if you would like, but I would ask a boon from you?”

  “What kind of boon?” Becky asked.

  “My companions and I were tasked to explore this world with those traitorous bastards, and return with word of what was beyond the portal. We were on our way back to the portal when we were ambushed by more of their ilk that must have snuck into the portal past the guards placed there. My companions lie dead, not far from here. I ask for you to help me bring their bodies back to our world, and let me turn over my report to my Matriarch.”

  “Your Matriarch?” Becky asked as Alvin came walking into view, looting the bodies.

  Kuro rolled past Becky and came to her feet with both blades held before her. The etching on both blades flared with green light as she took an aggressive stance. “Stay where you are, male, or I shall cut you down.”

  Becky came to her feet and put her pistol to the back of Kuro’s skull. “That is Hero. He is mine, and if you threaten him again, I will claim your soul permanently. Understand?”

  Sword lowering, Kuro’s head bowed. “I’m sorry, Matriarch, it was a natural reaction.”

  “Drop the blades,” Becky said firmly.

  Both blades dropped, the lights on them going out immediately as they left her hands. “I didn’t know you had a male servant to attend you, Matriarch Gothy. Please forgive me, I acted only to protect you from him.”

  “Matriarch Gothy?” Alvin asked with a raised eyebrow.

  “She’s my new toy,” Becky said, looking at Alvin. “Can I keep her?”

  Alvin blinked. “Explain, please?”

  “You shall lower your head when speaking to the Matriarch,” Kuro barked at Alvin.

  Becky slapped her hard in the back of the head. “You will not address Hero in that manner again. He is worth more to me than you will ever manage.” The sheer anger in Becky’s voice made even Alvin pause.

  “If that is to be my place, Matriarch. I will obey your commands.”

  “He is second only to me in your world, do you understand?” Becky hissed in Kuro’s ear.

  “Yes,” Kuro said, keeping her eyes lowered.

  “Hero, this is Kuro. If she doesn’t make me shoot her, she’ll be with us for a while. She pledged her soul to anyone who would come to her aid. I took her up on that offer.”

  “Matriarch Gothy helped spare me the indignations of that filth molesting my body before my death. If she is generous, she will help me finish my mission, even if it does cause my current Matriarch to strip me of all possessions she has given me… including my blades,” the last three words were almost a sob as she looked down at the twin blades by her feet.

  Alvin had looted all the bodies up to the headless one near the women. “This guy has two swords as well,” Alvin pointed to the nearly identical swords near the body. “Could you use these?”

  Kuro sneered at Alvin. “If I wished to use inferior weapons. The sun-lovers don’t know how to properly make blades such as these.”

  “Wow, she might be as big a bitch as I am an asshole,” Alvin said blandly. “Well, we’ll have to see if we can work something out in regards to your swords when we meet this Matriarch.”

  “Stop being a bitch to Hero, and treat him as if he was me,” Becky said, slapping Kuro in the back of the head again. “Every time I see or hear you being less than perfectly respectful, you will know my displeasure.”

  “As you decree, Matriarch Gothy.”

  “Just Gothy, drop the Matriarch from my name,” Becky said firmly. “It makes me sound old. Only use it when we’re on your world.”

  “As you decree, Gothy,” Kuro said subserviently.

  “This is the one you want to add to our fun?” Alvin frowned.

  “She pledged her soul to me, Hero. We can’t just turn her out, now can we?” Becky said, batting her lashes at him.

  “Well, this will certainly be fun,” Alvin sighed as he declined to loot the headless body, and instead stripped it of useful gear, including the two blades. Placing it all in his backpack, he looked at the women. “Shall we try to get to a place we can use for a base entrance? She needs to pick up the Contracted Power so she can go with us.”

  “Thank you,” Becky said, going over to Alvin and kissing him deeply. “I’ll make this up to you, Hero. She’ll be the one to take the brunt of my other needs, so I can be just how I want to be with you.”

  “Nutjob,” Alvin said, his arms around her waist. “I don’t mind the aggression when you need it, but if you think this will be better for you, then I’ll support you. If things go haywire, though…”

  “I understand, Hero. I won’t blame you, if it comes to that.”

  “Well then. The sun is almost all the way down, so let’s get back to the vehicles and find a secure place for the night. Take her in Ruffian, it might be best if she stays away from me for a bit,” Alvin said, turning and starting back toward the road.

  “Kuro, grab your gear. We’re leaving,” Becky said without looking back at the shocked elf. “Don’t make me wait for you.” She grabbed her Thompson submachine gun and started towards the car.

  “As you decree, Gothy,” Kuro said and snatched up her swords, which vanished once she had them in hand, before following after Becky.

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  When they got to the vehicles, Kuro frowned and slowed her steps. “We saw things like these near the gate, but they did nothing but sit there.”

  “This is a car,” Becky said as she opened the passenger door. “Now get in, we’re going to a place close by.”

  “Are we not going to collect my comrades first?” Kuro asked, puzzled.

  Becky frowned, then motioned to the car. “Get in.” Walking over to the Humvee, which had just started up, Becky opened the driver’s door. “We need to stop and pick up her friends’ bodies, so we can drop them off through a gate.”

  Alvin raised an eyebrow. “We’re doing this before sleep?”

  “We can grab the bodies and put them in the Humvee. Otherwise, something might take off with them. Kuro might not be entirely pliable if I don’t, and I want her pliable, Hero.”

  Chuckling, Alvin reached out and cradled her cheek in his hand. “Fine, I’ll follow you. Jarvis, give us directions.”

  “I can’t, sir,” Jarvis said stiffly. “I can only give directions to you, or drive one of your vehicles.”

  “Let him drive, I’ll just act like I am,” Becky said.

  “Okay. Jarvis, drive the Mustang toward where we were already heading, but be ready to relinquish control to Gothy.”

  “As you command, sir,” Jarvis said.

  “You’re in the lead,” Alvin said, pulling
her closer so he could give her a quick peck on the lips.

  “Thank you,” Becky said. Walking back to the car, she shut the passenger door before getting into the driver side. The engine rumbled to life as she got in.

  “Where are the horses?” Kuro asked, gripping the door.

  “Under the hood, all five hundred of them,” Becky replied.

  Kuro blinked. “There are five hundred horses under this vehicle?”

  Becky rolled her eyes. “Oh, you’re going to take some teaching.”

  “I’ll learn as quickly as I can, Matr— Gothy.”

  “It seems you’re already starting,” Becky nodded and got the car rolling.

  “It moves quickly,” Kuro said, leaning back into the seat. “The place they died is ahead and to the left, Gothy.”

  Becky could see a turn off coming up and felt the Mustang slow as the blinker turned on. “Seems we were going that way.”

  “Thank you again, Matr… Gothy. I’ll be shunned even more now, but it will be worth it to finish the mission for my Queen.”

  “This expedition you were on, it was a joint effort?”

  “The latest of many failed attempts to help reconcile our two sides,” Kuro said as the car made the turn onto the road leading to the Kennedy Meadows Resort. “Just up here on the right side,” Kuro added, her voice going somber.

  Becky took control of the vehicle, slowing it more. She could see another offshoot of the road she was on and took it. “This way?”

  “Yes, they were—” Kuro cut off as she saw a large bear hunkered down at one of the bodies, eating it.

  Becky stopped the Mustang and got out of the car, digging the Thompson from her bag. “Yogi, that is not your picnic basket.”

  Kuro got out on the other side of the vehicle, both swords appearing in her hands and lighting up. “You will not defile my friends’ bodies, beast.”

  Before either of them could move or speak, the bear stood up on its hind legs and roared. It was well over ten feet tall standing, and its roar vibrated their diaphragms, making even Becky pause.

  The sound of the M240B firing brought Becky out of her frozen state and she joined in, firing her Tommy. The bear let out a confused sound as it dropped back to all fours and turned to flee. The volume of the two guns being fired made Kuro clutch at her ears, her hands empty again.

  The bear staggered out of sight, bleeding heavily and using the trees to help shield it from the bullets as best it could. A confused roar came from it as it left.

  Alvin came up next to Becky, holding his Type 56. “I think it will leave us alone for a bit, but Jarvis is ready to shoot it again if it comes back.”

  “I would hope so,” Becky said as she put the Thompson on safety so it would reload.

  “Shall we get this over with before it comes back?” Alvin said as his rifle vanished.

  Kuro was wincing as she looked at the couple. “How do your ears not bleed from that infernal noise?”

  “You get used to it,” Alvin said. He looked at Kuro as an idea struck him, “Are your ears sensitive?”

  Blinking as her skin went darker, Kuro stammered, “Ex-excuse me?”

  “Can you hear soft sounds?” Alvin clarified with a smirk.

  “My ears are good at picking up sounds, yes,” Kuro replied with a relieved sigh.

  “Good to know,” Alvin chuckled. “We’ll have to see about getting you some hearing protection, if you’re going to stick around.”

  Kuro nodded and went to the dead bodies, picking her way among the light and dark elves. “I’m sorry I failed you,” she whispered as she knelt down next to one of the dark-skinned elf bodies. “I will complete the mission for the Queen, and she will know about the treachery we faced. Rest easy, my friends.”

  The body she knelt next to twitched, and Kuro gasped, “Zule, you survived?”

  Alvin went to her side quickly, knocking her away as the zombie elf sat up with a hungry groan. “Nope. It seems that your dead can become zombies, too.”

  “No! Necromancy is a dead art,” Kuro snarled. “Zule would never have anything to do with evil such as that.”

  All around them, more voices joined in with the groans of the newly risen dead. “Hero?”

  “Put them down,” Alvin said firmly, putting two rounds through Zule’s head.

  “No!” Kuro yelled as Becky fired and killed the zombie closest to Kuro.

  “Stay the fuck back,” Becky snapped at Kuro.

  “No! If you kill them like that, they won’t be able to rest in the afterlife,” Kuro said. “Let me do it, please?”

  Alvin shot another zombie, a light-skinned elf that time. “Can you, against all of these?”

  Both glowing blades appeared in her hands. “Yes.”

  “Hero, let her,” Becky said.

  “Thank you, Matriarch,” Kuro said, stepping forward in a smooth flowing movement. “I will make this quick.”

  Alvin stepped back, but kept his rifle ready as he watched Kuro gliding forward, the uneven ground not hindering her in the slightest. Lips pursed, he watched her swords begin spinning in intricate patterns.

  “Rest well, my friends,” Kuro said softly as she got to the first zombie, which lost its head before it could do more than begin to reach for her. As if that was the opening choreography of a beautiful ballet, Kuro spun amongst the undead, seemingly right within their grasp as one after another zombie’s head was neatly removed.

  Alvin’s jaw dropped as he watched, mesmerized by the sight of Kuro flowing through the mass of undead. The twin blades were a blur of green light that spun with a life of their own, sometimes coming out of her hand to spin in the air before the hilt landed firmly back into her hand.

  Kuro came to a slow stop as the last zombie fell before her. “I will make sure they pay for the crime of what they did, and for inflicting undeath upon you,” Kuro added.

  Shaking his head, Alvin realized he had completely forgotten to be ready to assist, entranced as he was by the beauty of the dance. “That was amazing.”

  “I am a blade dancer,” Kuro said haughtily. “I learned these skills from my mother, who serves the Queen personally.”

  “And now you’re mine,” Becky said pointedly.

  Bowing her head as the swords vanished, Kuro replied, “Yes Matr… Gothy.”

  “Well, this is going to make clean up a bit more intensive,” Alvin sighed.

  “Let’s get started. The sooner we’re done, the sooner we can find a room,” Becky said as she put the Thompson back into her bag. “Kuro, grab the first one. We’re putting them into the bigger vehicle.”

  “Yes, Gothy,” Kuro said as she placed the head of her last victim on its body and went to drag it to the car. “Matr… Gothy, there are words in the air asking if I wish to loot this body?”

  “Click the no button,” Becky said. “If you accept it, the body vanishes. That’s what Alvin was doing back on the ridge.”

  “I see. I have even more to learn than I had thought,” Kuro said, grabbing the body and dragging it to the Humvee.

  It took them over an hour to gather all the dead, the vehicle's headlights illuminating their work space. Alvin was glad he had purchased a couple of tarps to cover the back with; he could only imagine the clean up that would have been required without them.

  As Alvin put the last body into the Humvee, Kuro asked a question that had been bothering her, “How do you both know my language?”

  “Are we speaking your language?” Alvin asked.

  Eyes narrowing, Kuro’s teeth ground together. “Why must you mock me like that?”

  “He isn’t,” Becky said firmly. “He’s speaking his own native language and you’re understanding him, just as he can understand you speaking yours. We have both been blessed with the ability to speak and understand all other languages.”

  “Ah, more of your power,” Kuro said, bowing her head again to Becky. “Truly, you are at least as powerful as any Matriarch from Darkhome.”

  “
Translation sometimes can be an issue,” Alvin muttered. “Is the world you’re from called Darkhome?”

  “No, that is the land of the Queen,” Kuro said, as she and Becky finished putting the weapons they had found with the bodies into the Mustang’s trunk. “The world is Svargax, and split between Darkhome and Lighthome.”

  Alvin frowned at the simplistic names of the Elven cities, wondering if that was just the translation for them, but frowned as the name of the world hadn’t translated. “That is good to know,” Alvin finally said. “We’re well past sunset, now—let’s find a place to hole up for the night and we’ll talk more about going through your gate in the morning.”