There really was little positive to be said at this point, so Benny focused on the practical. He searched Flack's body and found a note. He read it.
MEET ME AT A RUINED FORTRESS IN THE FOREST OUTSIDE DAN, TO GO OVER BATTLE PLANS. At the bottom was the symbol of the Grand Exalted Cyclops.
Benny felt a chill. The Cyclops had been tormenting him for years. Now they had the spelled witch hazel to fend it off, but hadn't used it. That reminded him of the mystery: why was the Cyclops after him? He still had no idea.
A crazy idea flickered through his mind. Could he pretend to be Flack and meet with the Cyclops? No; the Cyclops could get into his mind and would know. Still, this did give them a way to locate the Cyclops, whoever he was.
Benny left Dale to his torment and walked out of the inn. Virtue followed. “I will skry it,” she said.
She did, and learned that the author of the note was indeed the High Exalted Cyclops, the true secret leader of the Kudgels.
Dale emerged from the inn, his grief spent for the moment.
“Where is Laughing Jack?” Benny asked, avoiding the subject of Flack.
“I lost track of him during the fight.”
They searched the premises and soon found Jack in his bedroom, dying. A Kudgel sword was sticking out of his gut. The Kudgel warrior was dead; Jack had given a fair account of himself.
“Oh, no!” Benny cried, and Virtue went to try to help the man.
“Too late for that, dear girl,” Jack wheezed. “I am done for.”
She assessed him, mentally as well as physically, and nodded. “True. But I can ease your pain.”
“Do that, for I have something to say.”
Virtue bit him, and he relaxed.
“We should have been here sooner,” Benny said. “We might have stopped the Kudgels.”
“Yes, you might have,” Jack said, speaking more clearly now. “I acted to prevent that.”
They stared at him, not comprehending.
Dale appeared. “Damn! I should not have left you alone!”
“Cease the recriminations,” Jack said. “Here is the story. I was hiding in my room when the Kudgels came. I overheard them talking. They knew of a prophecy that two who should live would die here today. I had heard that prophecy before, and forgotten it, but now I knew that it was true. It could not be avoided. Two would die. They knew that Benny and Virtue were returning. So they set an ambush, to kill the two of you when you entered the inn, fulfilling the prophecy to their advantage.” He smiled, briefly. “For some reason they have had trouble taking you two out. Maybe it relates in some devious way to the mind reading of the one, and the spot ghosting of the other. But buttressed by the prophecy, they were sure they could succeed this time. I feared they were right.”
Benny opened his mouth, but Jack silenced him with a gesture. “Please do not interrupt me. Virtue's bite will not last long, and then the pain will return to shut my mouth. Just let me speak.”
Benny closed his mouth.
“I knew I did not want you dear friends to die. Fortunately the prophecy did not say who would die, just that they were ones who should live. I knew I qualified for that, and I hoped there was another in the inn. At any rate, I could save at least one of you. So when their snare was laid, I burst upon them and managed to take out one Kudgel. But the other got me before I dispatched him, and here I am. Congratulations on your survival, whichever one of you I managed to save. Probably Benny.”
“I saved the other,” Dale said. “By killing one I would have spared. So maybe I saved Virtue. If it had to be Flack's life or hers, I would always choose hers, much as I hated the choice.”
There were no good moves left in this game.
“Had you come sooner, it might well have been otherwise,” Jack said.
Dale nodded. “So there was reason for their delay.”
“There was reason,” Jack agreed.
Now Benny spoke. “We received a—a message. Telling us to delay briefly. So we did, not realizing what was happening here. Had we known--”
“Which is why you were prevented from knowing,” Jack said. “You have things yet to do in life, while mine was largely finished anyway. So it was right that it be this way. Now farewell; I trust I go to a better place.”
Benny, Virtue, and Dale closed in to embrace him together. Then Jack closed his eyes and died, smiling.
“He surely is going to a better place,” Benny agreed. “I don't think the Protector would have let him go, otherwise.”
“And we had better see that we do right by this place,” Dale said. “Considering his sacrifice. We still have work to do here.”
Benny could only agree.
Chapter 18
That night, after dark, Dale, Helena, Benny, and Virtue set out for the fortress ruins to rendezvous and with luck kill the leader of the Kudgels. It would have been better to travel by day, but they wanted to surprise the enemy, both in timing and by being in the cover of darkness. Benny might have preferred to leave Virtue in Gant, for her safety, but she wouldn't have it, for his safety. How could he deny her? He hated being apart from her anyway.
They used night lights, which cast no glow but enabled them to see well enough to place their feet. Progress was slow, but before dawn they were in the forest near the fortress just beyond the border of Dan.
Virtue did a skry to ascertain the best time to attack. “Not for two hours yet,” she said.
“Then we shall rest,” Dale said. He and Helena lay down under some thick brush and were soon asleep. Benny and Virtue did the same, under a blanket beside a boulder. Virtue laid her hand on his forehead, and touched him with her mind, and he was in slumber too.
In an hour he woke, Virtue sleeping beside him in the pre-dawn gloom. He had a call of nature, so he quietly got up, got beyond odor range, and sought a suitable crevice to use. Then he stood and started back.
“Hello.” Benny jumped; it was Helena, whom he recognized more by her voice than her shadowed appearance. What was she doing here?
Oh. The same thing he was doing, of course. “Uh, hello,” he said, embarrassed. Natural functions were not discussed in mixed company.
He made as if to pass her, but she blocked him off. “Why the hurry?” she asked.
“I—I am done here.”
Still she barred his way. “There is time.”
“Time for what?”
“I think you know.”
He didn't know, but he had an ugly suspicion. “Did you follow me here?”
“Do not return yet to the vampire.”
It seemed impossible that she had any social interest in him. She could not be looking for any dalliance. So what was she up to? “Helena--”
She put her hands on his arms, holding him in place. “Did you like my kiss, before?”
That set him back. He had liked the kiss, surprisingly, which had amused Virtue as she read his mind. “That means nothing. I would never--”
She cut him off with a new kiss. He hated that he liked it again.
She drew her face back slightly. “We can do it here. It is expedient. Dale and Virtue need never know.”
Guilt buffeted him for even thinking about it. “Helena--”
“We don't need to lie down. Amazons are adept at awkward positions.” Her hands moved to his shirt as if to unbutton it.
Something erupted in him. It felt like utter fury. Enough of this nonsense! Time is running out.
“Well, hello, Cyclops!” Helena said brightly, recognizing the change. “Did you crave a kiss too?”
She was right. The Cyclops had just taken over his body. Always before it had struck during his sleep, horrifying and terrifying him. This time it had taken full possession, and mayhem was its urge. Benny wanted to speak, to warn her, but he no longer had power over his own body.
“Get clear, Amazon trash,” his mouth said. “You're a secondary target at the moment.”
“And you had to get your prospective host away from your primary target
,” Helena said, “lest she interfere, as she has before.”
“Yes. Some distance was necessary, to mute her telepathic awareness, even in sleep. Now let go.”
Her arms tightened around his body, holding him helpless with her Amazon strength. “Make me.”
His body made an incoherent growl as it struggled to free his arms so he could grab a weapon. But she held him in a bear hug. In fact she was heaving him up off the ground. Benny had forgotten how strong she was, as maybe had the Cyclops.
“And exactly who is your primary target, sweet stuff?” she asked teasingly. They had just covered this; why was she repeating it?
“The vampire, of course! With her telepathy and her bites and the way she holds this host in thrall. She has to go.”
The Cyclops wanted to kill Virtue? Using Benny's body? His horror magnified. Benny struggled with renewed determination, but still could not break the deadly mental hold on him. Any more than the Cyclops could break the Amazon's physical hold on him.
“And that's why your nocturnal campaigns against Benny,” Helena said. “Gradually breaking down his spirit, so you could take over his body and use it to betray his own side at a critical moment.”
Suddenly, those awful sieges made sense! Helena was making sure he understood, now that it was too late.
“Yes, you tattooed slut! Now let go before I hurt you.”
Helena smiled broadly, while tightening her hold. “Hurt me, turd heart.”
Rage overcame the Cyclops. The head shot forward, and the mouth bit the Amazon's cheek, hard. Blood appeared.
“Is that the best you can do, green eyeball?” she asked, laughing.
The Cyclops spat out the blood and launched again, biting her left ear, tearing at it like a feeding wolf.
Then the Cyclops froze. “Damnation! Curse you, she-wolf!”
She smiled despite her wounds. “I stand accursed, sucker.”
And the Cyclops faded out. Benny was free.
“It's me,” he gasped. “Please, Helena--”
She let him go. “Now you know why I shadowed you.”
“Now I know,” he agreed. “To stop the Cyclops. How did you do it?”
“I gave him a taste of my blood. Remember, it is effective against alien possession, once imbibed. He could not remain thereafter.”
Benny was amazed and gratified. Helena had tricked the Cyclops into biting her, so as to deliver the blood. “But how did you know the Cyclops was coming?”
“I am a warrior. That includes strategy. The worst thing you can do to an enemy is plant a traitor in his midst, to strike at the critical moment, such as amid a battle, when he least expects it. You told us how the Cyclops was stalking you. I suspected that the Kudgels were trying to make you that traitor, by gradually breaking down your willpower until at a moment of highest tension you would be vulnerable. But I also suspected that they couldn't do it as long as you were buttressed by Virtue. So they had to take her out first. I had to be close enough to intercept that. I owe Virtue too much to let her get hurt like that.”
“Oh, Helena, may I kiss you for real?”
She laughed. “Yes, now.”
He kissed her, getting blood on his face. “Oh. I smeared you.”
She produced a cloth and wiped her cheek and ear, only now thinking of her injuries. “Sorry about that.” Then she wiped her blood off his face, too, and his bloodstained teeth.
He laughed weakly. “I thought you were coming on to me.”
“I had to make the Cyclops think that. So he'd figure it'd be forever before he got to go after Virtue. He just couldn't wait; he had to kill her while she remained asleep, because the moment she woke she'd read his mind and drive him out. Timing was critical. Folk do get careless when impatient.” She smiled. “No offense, Benny; I owe you a lot, but you're not my type.”
He smiled back. “Knowing what you were up to, making out with you would almost be worth it. No offense.”
They both laughed. Then they returned to the others. Both Dale and Virtue were up, now, missing them in the dim coming light of the day. “Your face!” Dale said, seeing the damage to Helena.
She laughed. “Benny kissed me. Maybe he was a bit clumsy, even for him.”
“Mere love bites,” Benny said, looking at her torn ear.
There was a moment of frozen silence. Then Virtue read their minds, and laughed too. She hugged Helena. That gave Dale a clue.
Benny quickly caught them up on what had happened. “Now they know we know,” Virtue said. “Time for the spelled witch hazel.” She produced a jar from somewhere and rubbed it on his face and into his hair. The Cyclops could neither attack him nor spy on him anymore.
“Give me some of that,” Helena said. She dabbed it on her wounds, and they did seem to fade. It was marvelous stuff.
Now it was dawn. Time to make their move, according to Virtue's skry. “There are not many Kudgels here,” she said. “This is a private command post, not the main enemy camp. Most of the troops and their allies are out raiding the towns. So there's not much traffic here. But there are some, and it seems they know we're coming.”
“Obviously so,” Dale agreed. “The Cyclops hoped to have things under control, taking over Benny to replace Flack and killing the rest of us by that treachery before we even got here.” He glanced at Helena. “Which you stopped. Remind me some time to tell you why I love you.”
“I will. Just don't kiss me the way Benny did.”
“But you do look good enough to eat.”
“I can make you seem a bit fuzzy,” Virtue said, “by telepathically clouding their minds. You will have an advantage.”
“Just you be invisible to them,” Benny said. “Now that we know how badly they want to kill you.”
“Invisible,” she agreed.
“Here's the plan,” Helena said, shaking her head no. Benny realized that the Kudgels could still be spying on them, by listening in, so this was for their benefit. “There are only three of us fighting, and maybe a dozen of them, so we need to stay together and guard each other's backs. We can sneak behind that big tree by the gate, then charge from there, catching them by surprise. Got it?”
“Got it,” Dale and Benny said almost together.
Helena closed her mouth and signaled to Benny.
Benny took over. He pointed to Dale, then to the right: go that way. Then he pointed to Helena, and to the left: that way. Then himself, and straight ahead toward the tree. Virtue would be with him, alerting him to enemy presence while fuzzing the enemy minds. They could come together again soon enough, inside the compound.
Now Dale did kiss Helena, and Benny kissed Virtue. They all knew that this was extremely dangerous, and one or all of them could die. With luck they would take out the Cyclops, either way, and that would disrupt the Kudgel invasion. It had to be done.
They separated, going their ways. Benny crept up on the tree Helena had identified. Of course, the Kudgels would be massed there. Benny was a distraction so that Dale and Helena could safely enter the fortress. He just hoped that Virtue's mental fuzzing messed up their focus.
They are there, her thought came. Six of them. Now I will bite you.
She bit him, and he felt the berserker mode coming on. He activated his club, which Dale had let him keep for now. That was best for this, because it was less likely to get snagged on enemy flesh and slow the action.
Benny stepped around the tree. There were the Kudgels, rising from their hiding places behind bushes. Benny waded in, swinging the club.
Two warriors closed in on him, the others behind, because there was not room for any more. They had evidently expected him to back up against the trunk of the tree, for cover, but he remained in the open, for effect. He smashed one head, then the other, and the two went down. His reflexes were faster than theirs, in this mode.
Two more charged him, swinging their swords wildly, as if they did not know his precise position, thanks to Virtue's fuzzing. He clubbed their knees, dropping them in
screaming pain.
The last two came, better coordinated. One attacked high, the other low. This was deadly, as Benny knew from prior experience. He clipped the legs out from under one, but the other scored on his head. Without effect, as he ghosted at the key moment. Then he bashed that one's head as he swung about, for the moment vulnerable.
Six Kudgels were dead or down for the duration. Benny moved on.
Only to encounter something worse: a mountain giant garbed in a green robe. Not only was the man huge and strong, he had magic; Benny felt it buffeting him, setting him back. He would not be able to ghost clear of this one's strike.
“Who are you?” Benny demanded, stalling for time.
Bad guys loved to brag; it seemed to be an article of their faith. “I am the Grand Hydra,” the giant said. “I will destroy you and your puny magic.” He raised his huge sword.
This was mischief. Benny would have to dodge quickly enough to avoid the strike, hoping he would get an opening for a counter-strike.
“Ho, varlet!” It was Dale, coming in from the right side.
“Defend yourself, meat face!” It was Helena, appearing to the left side.
Suddenly the odds had evened. The giant gazed at them. “Oh, beans!” he swore. “This is more trouble than it's worth.” He stomped off.
They looked at each other. He learned he was not supposed to kill Benny, Virtue's thought came. So he quit in disgust.
“Why am I not supposed to be killed?” Benny asked.
“The Cyclops wants to use you alive,” Helena said. “That's why he's been after you all along.”
“I'd rather be kissing you,” Benny said.
They laughed. Then they moved cautiously on into the fortress. It was deserted; evidently they had gotten rid of all its defendants. But where was the Grand Exalted Cyclops?
They discovered one solid part of the ruins that must have been restored. They entered, alert for traps or ambush, but all remained quiet. Virtue's telepathic awareness did not indicate any immediate threats. The interior was clean, with food neatly stored and insulating carpets on the walls and floor. There were even books on bookshelves, in the manner of a library. In this context it was distinctly weird.
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