by CM Raymond
“Welcome home, Olaf,” Ezekiel said, pulling his friend into an embrace. “I’ve never been so glad to see you.”
“And I you,” Olaf replied.
“Now, you want to tell me what the hell you’re doing? Your new friends seem like...what’s the word? ‘Ass-maggots.’”
Olaf raised a brow. “Those kids you run around with have tainted your language. As for me and these folks...it is a long story, but let’s just say it’s not what it looks like.”
“Well, it looks like an army has come to destroy your home.”
“Not much of an army, really. Most of them are untrained, and a large number of women and elders fill out their ranks. They’re good people, except for a dozen or so of Ardyn’s closest.”
“Ardyn. He’s the charmer I was talking to?”
Olaf nodded. “They fight with him, but not out of greed. Desperation has limited their options. They are a people without a home. We should do what we can to help them.”
Ezekiel scowled and looked at the armed men on horseback “And how do you propose we do that?”
“Well, it might require some bloodletting if that prick Ardyn won’t yield, but the rest? A few words and they will be yours. If you’ve still got your charm, that is.”
Ezekiel’s eyes flashed red. “I am more charming than you know.” He turned away from Olaf and back toward the crowd, then raised his hands toward them in a benediction. “Men and women from the reaches beyond Archangelsk, hear me now. This man you ride with is not your brother or your friend, or even your commander. He is a tyrant, who will only use you for what you can give him. He’d rather cut your throats while you sleep than call you his own. I can feel it even now. You submitted to his leadership only because you have nowhere else to go, but I understand! I’ve seen it before.”
He paused and listened to the murmur of the thousand swell in the clear cool air. “I know what it’s like to be lost and in search of a home. I know what it’s like to be so desperate that you’d do almost anything to find peace, but this is madness. Dark times are upon this land, and men and women of honor should stand together. Come at us with weapons drawn and this field will be your burial ground, but embrace us as brothers and together we will build a better world.”
The entire crowd shifted at once like the turning of the tide in depths of the ocean. One voice louder than the rest called, “But how do we know you won’t just strike us down the moment we come to you?”
“Silence,” Ardyn cried over them. “Listen not to this old bastard. He is desperate. It is time to strike.”
Ezekiel’s eyes flashed red, and he pushed his energy over the massive crowd to assuage their doubt and fear. “I give you all I have,” he shouted. “I give you my word, and this is better than anything the man who makes you march behind him will ever yield.”
“Enough of this!” Ardyn screamed, murder on his lips. “Follow me, or you’ll die like the rest of them.” He drew his sword and held it toward Ezekiel. “Run the bastard through!”
When he whipped the reins Ardyn’s black steed responded at once, breaking into a gallop toward Ezekiel. Six mounted men on either side responded in kind, but the crowd stood motionless behind.
“I think you pissed him off,” Olaf said.
“Perfect.” Ezekiel’s eyes burned red. “Time to get that ax of yours bloody!”
Olaf dropped the weapon. “I need no ax,” he said as his eyes turned toward the sky and his body twisted and contorted.
Ezekiel watched the enemy approach at speed, looking down only when Olaf, in bear form, let out a roar.
“That will do,” Ezekiel quipped as he spun his hands in front of him and shoved them toward the approaching enemy. Two perfect beams of power escaped his palms, each finding a man on horseback and knocking them from their steeds.
They were dead before they landed.
The cavalry charge scattered as Olaf barreled through them. Even trained horses couldn’t control the terror they felt in the bear-man’s presence.
A few soldiers turned to flee, but Olaf chased them down more swiftly than the fastest horse in their force. While the beasts made it out alive, Olaf ripped the men out the saddle screaming.
Ezekiel touched his staff to the ground, calling on aid from the nearby stand of trees. The riders who ventured too close slammed into an oaken wall, which in turn slammed into them.
The bear dealt with riders on the left and the trees ended the riders on the right while Ezekiel stared daggers at the man in the middle.
As a testament to his courage—or his stupidity—Ardyn pressed his attack. Maybe he was unaware that his army had refused to follow him, or maybe he knew that striking Ezekiel down was the only way to win back their obedience.
Either way, the man rode alone to do battle against one of the most powerful wizards ever to have walked this world.
Ezekiel waited calmly.
Ardyn urged his mount faster. As he neared he raised his sword high in the air, planning to cut Ezekiel in half.
At the last moment, the old man raised his staff. Metal met wood, and with a crack like lightning Ardyn’s sword shattered into a thousand glittering pieces. The man was thrown backward off his horse and landed hard in the dirt.
Ezekiel raised his staff, leveling it at the man’s head. “Yield, you damned fool.”
Ardyn snarled. “Never! I’ll cut you to pieces, then do the same to every bastard hiding behind these walls. Do you know who I am? Do you know who I am!”
He leapt to his feet and drew a long dagger from his belt, then ran forward yelling his battle cry.
Ezekiel sighed. “You’re dead.” Dark flames spread around his staff, and he hurled it at the man like a spear. It skewered the would-be warlord, piercing his armored chest and emerging from the other side to pin the man to the ground.
He burst into flames and writhed in the dirt, screaming for his mother.
Ezekiel stepped forward and reclaimed his staff. When he drew it from the ground, Ardyn’s body collapsed into ash.
The wizard looked at the shocked faces before him and grinned widely, almost sheepishly. “Sorry about all that. I just don’t have a lot of time for negotiations. Now, who would like to join my side of things and who still wants to be my enemy?”
CHAPTER FOUR
Ezekiel sat by a fire on the east side of the encampment with Olaf. New Romanov had more than enough space to accommodate the force Olaf had brought to her gates, but most of the dwellings had been abandoned for years. It would take time for the city to repair them. They would do whatever they could to help the new residents feel thoroughly at home, but for now a safe camp and all the food they could eat was as much as they could provide.
Which was fine for most of the Tarkans. They had been traveling for days, so one more night under the stars was well worth the knowledge that they wouldn’t have to move again tomorrow. Plus, many of them felt safer outside the city. The children had already begun to spread rumors about the terrifying magicians and monsters that lived within.
Ezekiel laughed to himself. They would feel comfortable in time, and if and when the Skrima returned they would all be grateful for New Romanov’s defensive capabilities.
He watched the flames lick the night air as he packed sweet Archangelsk weed into the bowl of his pipe, his fingers moving habitually. “It’s time for you to tell me your tale, my friend.”
Olaf reached down beside him for his worn wineskin, then took a pull from the bladder and smiled. “Only for a moment, Ezekiel. There is a beautiful woman within the walls whose bed has been cold for long enough. I will give you what I can, but my energy will always be saved for Mika.”
Ezekiel laughed, thinking of the woman from Urai. He couldn’t help but wonder if the old bones of his Were-friend could keep up with the spry woman from the north. “The abridged version, then. I wouldn’t want to keep you and incur Mika’s wrath.”
Olaf nodded and passed the strong elixir to Ezekiel, who took it without hesitati
on. “When I left you, left New Romanov, I wandered for some days. It felt good to feel the open expanse around me. I was free again, as in the days of my youth. I spotted many abroad, mostly farmers and hunters, and my travels brought me to the town I wanted to see—a place my father had taken me to when I was young. Hundreds of years ago it was a grand place, a city that would have rivaled New Romanov in its prime, but when I came upon it…” he paused and shook his head, glancing toward the fire, “it was in ruins. Burned out, with the fires still smoldering in its depths.”
Olaf’s words brought Ezekiel back to his days of wandering during the twilight of the Madness. The story sounded all too familiar—town upon town, city upon city, in ruins. Places that should have been brimming with life reduced to nearly nothing.
Olaf continued, “What wasn’t destroyed in the city had been abandoned, and its streets were drenched in the blood of its inhabitants. I marched its perimeter, smelling for a trace of the vileness that would do such a thing, but instead I picked up the trail of the survivors. I followed it for days, and at last I came upon them.”
Ezekiel nodded, blowing a stream of smoke over the flames of the campfire. “You saw them.” He nodded toward the encampment.
“I did,” Olaf replied, “and they stretched for as far as my eyes could see. But they were well armed and a little skittish and I was concerned about where they were heading. So after turning back into a man, I waltzed right in and made myself one of them. Told them I had no land and no one to call my own. One of the men who rode in the front of the line approached me with his sword drawn.”
“And you made short work of him?”
Olaf shrugged. “He was like a child. Ardyn took one look at me and brought me into his fold. Said he had great plans for a man like me.”
Ezekiel sighed. “I’m sure he would have used you to sack and pillage every town for miles. Luckily you’re only partially a bastard.”
Olaf laughed. “True enough. Once he brought me in, I realized just how dire their situation was. They weren’t fighters, at least most of them weren’t, but that Ardyn fellow put weapons in their hands and told them that if they didn’t fight he’d kill them himself. Said taking this city was the only way to find a new home.”
“Well, they have found a new home if they’d like, very little fighting required. But you never said what destroyed their town? Remnant? Would take a damn lot of them for a town as large as you described.”
Olaf shook his head. “They said they were large monsters with crimson skin.”
Ezekiel’s eyes grew wide. “Impossible! No Skrima have come through since you left. It’s been relatively peaceful here.”
“No, old friend you misunderstand. They didn’t come through our Rift. They said they came from farther east. Another hole has been torn in our world. There is another way in. Laughter is stronger than we imagined.”
“By the gods…” Ezekiel whispered, staring into the flames.
Ezekiel, a voice echoed in his head, something is coming!
He jumped to his feet, and Olaf looked at him as if he were mad.
Where? Ezekiel sent. His eyes darted around and he saw Yuri running in his direction. From the east?
No, the boy replied, his panting for breath visible in the light of the flames.
From the west, then?
Yuri shook his head and pointed into the sky. There!
Ezekiel looked up and saw the outline of something large cutting through the night. His worry turned to joy and he nearly jumped with excitement.
“Our friends are home.”
****
“If I threw you overboard right now, would you land on your feet?”
Vitali’s eyes cut from Aysa and to the night sky. He could feel Unlawful descending, but they were still more than a hundred feet from the ground. He wasn’t sure if the girl from Baseek was just messing with him, but he still felt far too new to the BBB team to question her sincerity. “I guess I would have the same chance as you.”
She stared to the side for a second, and then gave a short, “Huh.” After another moment she asked, “And bathing? I mean, how does that work? I assume that you’re afraid of water, so do you just not take baths? Or do you, like, lick yourself clean?”
He turned to Karl, who was enjoying the interaction far too much. “Is she always like this?”
“Nope, usually she’s a much bigger pain in me arse.” He gave Vitali a wink. “I’d be lyin’ if I said it wasn’t nice to be outta her line of fire fer the moment.”
Aysa tapped her foot on the deck as she waited for the answer, but Vitali’s dignity was salvaged as Hannah approached from the stern with Parker at her side.
“Hello, lovebirds,” Aysa said, batting her eyes. “Where have you two been?”
Hannah ignored her and stepped to the rail. They were descending more quickly now, and she strained her eyes to look for dots of life below.
“There,” she yelled, pointing to a small yellowish-orange glow. “It’s New Romanov. We’ve made it!”
“And not a second too soon.” Vitali sighed, his chest heaving with a gentle purr.
“Oooh,” Aysa cooed, hopping up and down and clapping, “my friend Roman is going to have a shit-ton of questions for you.”
Parker leaned over the rail. “You’re right, Hannah, but what the hell is up with all those?” He pointed past the western wall to where several acres of open land were dotted with fires. As they got closer, the large encampment came into view.
Gregory, land this bucket of bolts somewhere you can access her, she sent to the pilot. I’ll see you on the ground.
Will do, he replied in her mind.
“No idea,” Hannah said, turning to Parker, “but I’ll see you in New Romanov, my love.” Her eyes flashed red as she kissed him long on the lips, and before either of them could pull away she vanished with a flash and a bang.
“Girl knows how to kiss.” Aysa laughed as Parker stumbled backward, eyes wide open.
****
Hannah appeared with a loud crack next to one of the encampment’s fires. The sound—and the sudden appearance of the woman—scared the shit out of an unfortunate refugee family.
“By the gods,” the man yelled as he scrambled away from her.
The woman looked up in shock as she tried to shield her children.
Hannah waved uncomfortably. “Uh, sorry about that. I didn’t mean to startle you, whoever you are. I’m just looking for my friend.”
“Hannah!”
She turned to see Ezekiel barreling toward her with an almost childish grin spread across his ancient face.
She opened her mouth to speak, but before she got the chance he wrapped his long arms around her and squeezed. Hannah laughed and hugged him back. With all that was going on she had forgotten how much she had missed her mentor, and apparently he had missed her too.
“I’m glad you’re back,” he said. “Is the team OK? No injuries?”
“Safe and sound,” she said. “In fact, we’ve added a member. I was gonna brag about it, but it seems like you’ve made about a thousand new friends in my absence. But who’s counting?”
“Indeed,” he said. “It’s a bit of a long story. Come to my fire and tell me about your travels, and I will tell you about mine.”
She shook her head. “Not here. There’s no time. I need to speak with Lilith immediately. With everyone, actually. There’s been a new development, and it’s not good.”
He paused and the smile faded from his face. “Let me guess—you’ve discovered a new rift.”
Hannah’s eyes opened wide in shock. “How did you know?”
“Like I said, it’s a long story, but apparently one that needs to be told now. Round up your people. I’ll find Mika and Olaf and meet you by Lilith.”
She turned to walk toward the city, then stopped. Yelling over her shoulder, she said, “Hey, Zeke!”
“Yes?”
“It’s good to see you too.”
****
Ezekiel, Olaf, and Team Triple-B sat around Lilith as they tried to determine the level of threat that was now upon them. Hannah explained what had happened while they were flying back, and Olaf had filled them in on his travels. The double sighting was as concerning an event as Hannah could imagine.
“Aye, and some of ‘em can fly,” Karl said. “Can ye believe that? Flyin’ arseholes. It’s me worst nightmare.” Sal looked up at the rearick and growled deep in his throat. “Scheisse, dragon, I ain’t talkin’ about ye. Go back ta sleep!”
“So what does this mean for us?” Parker asked. It was clear that he was assessing the tactical disaster that awaited them if they were truly exposed on all borders. “I mean, how can she do this? And why now? We were so close to finding a way to seal the Rift for good.”
They all turned to Lilith, who took her time before speaking. “As far as I can calculate, there are three plausible reasons for this development. A, the timing is random. Laughter has simply grown in her power and decided to test it out. B, Laughter somehow knew that we were planning to seal the Rift. Either she picked up the knowledge when she invaded Hadley’s mind, or she guessed at our next play.”
The room got awkward as everyone tried to avoid looking at the mystic.
Hannah broke the silence. “You don’t seem convinced.”
“No,” Lilith said. “Option A seems unlikely to me. Despite her delusional state of mind, Laughter has shown herself to be a masterful tactician. I hesitate to ascribe to chance what could more easily be attributed to our opponent’s capabilities, which is also why option B is improbable. This does not feel like a backup plan. She has been relentlessly trying to pry her way in through the first Rift for half a century—the one only a few miles from here, from me. Her attack is personal. She would not so easily abandon her goal of making me suffer, which is why I believe this shift reflects a third option—one more dastardly than the others, and one I did not foresee. Not an easy achievement.”