by Billy Wong
"N-nothing."
She gave him a dubious look. "Strange behavior. Very strange indeed."
When she took a turn to relieve herself, Allen told Lars, "I thought I saw somebody!"
"Hmm?"
"While I was taking a piss, I spotted a man among the bushes, but with a face like a monster. But after I took a moment to pull up my pants, he wasn't there anymore."
Lars was doubtful as Cart-Dragger had been. "Really, a man with a monster face? It was probably just a figment of your imagination sparked by my questions. Don't let my worries get to you so much, I might well be wrong myself."
Yet he found himself keeping an eye out for the nightmarish figure Allen claimed to have sighted. He managed to pee once without spotting it. However, on his next trip to water the earth, he had just finished when he glimpsed it. A man at the edge of his vision peeking out from some brush—unlike Allen, Lars didn't perceive his face as monstrous, but human with half of it covered by a bestial mask. That made a tad more sense, yet after he blinked the man had vanished. He became unsure if he had been real, or he'd imagined it. Was he that easily influenced? Maybe it was the fatigue from matching Cart-Dragger's pace, coupled with the heat.
He hesitated to tell Allen about his experience, not wanting to feed his delusions if they were. But it was possible for the man to be real and a threat, and his friend deserved to know that. "I saw your pee-stalker man too," he said to Allen. "To me it seemed more like he was wearing a mask than having a monster face. He might still not be real, and maybe we're both imagining him, but we should be careful just in case."
Cart-Dragger ignored their obvious anxiety, constantly glancing this way and that in search of the masked being, but could only do it for so long. Finally she asked at dinnertime, "You guys getting paranoid on me?"
It tempted Lars to mention the masked man, but if there really was someone trailing them it seemed unlikely such a seasoned warrior as Cart-Dragger would not have noticed before them. It'd be embarrassing to reveal they were having shared hallucinations out of fright. He tiptoed around the question. "Should we be?"
"As long as you're with me, you have nothing to fear."
But it sounded like she had been defeated at the end of her dream. If that was the case and did reflect a past experience, she might not be able to keep them safe from her enemies. "Have you never lost a fight in your life?"
"Why do you ask?" She gave a noncommittal shrug. "Maybe once."
Although it was understandable that anyone could lose... Lars didn't much like that answer. She probably put on a false veneer of confidence, and as they drew closer to the city they waded deeper and deeper into danger. He couldn't back down, though, much as it might be wise to. He wanted to cure Allen, and for that he would brave Cart-Dragger's enemies with her.
After dinner she retired early to bed again, likely trying to make up for the previous night. Lars' curiosity got the better of him and he decided to observe her, and Allen followed. They saw her begin to twist and turn in her sleep. "Seems like she might be having a bad dream again," Lars said, keeping his voice low. An effect of increasing proximity to the city, he suspected.
Allen gazed sadly at her, then started forward. "Maybe we could comfort her."
"I don't know if that's a good idea..."
"Why not?" He reached down towards her.
Her foot whipped up, struck him in the face and knocked him sprawling. She opened her eyes. "What are you doing?"
"What are you doing?" Lars demanded. "You hit Allen for no reason!"
"No reason? You don't touch a girl without permission. Especially not me while I'm sleeping. My body's so acclimated to danger, it'll react instinctively to perceived threats even when I'm asleep." She looked at Allen rubbing his jaw. "You're lucky I didn't do worse."
"Okay, no hugging little girl while sleeping I guess."
"Oh, you were going to hug me? Thanks... and sorry about the kick."
#
They reached Cart-Dragger's city, an eerie landscape with thin triangular buildings stretching vertically or diagonally towards the purple sky, shards of light gleaming on their smooth gray surfaces. They didn't see any people outside as they wandered between the haphazardly placed towers, neither the oppressed citizens in rags nor red-armored guards Lars pictured. "Thank you Allen, Lars," Cart-Dragger said from under the tarp, the wagon being dragged by the men while she remained hidden. "I wouldn't have made it this far without you."
Now he remembered why there was no one here. Images flashed through his mind of the three of them leading the citizens from the city, then their subsequent ambush and routing of the army sent in pursuit. Now all that was left was the New Emperor himself, and whatever minions he still kept at his side. It shouldn't be long before Cart-Dragger reclaimed her crown, and reigned as the rightful princess—queen now, he supposed—of her land again.
A gargantuan structure loomed before them, like a great mass of the pointed towers all jumbled together. "This is the royal castle," Cart-Dragger said, "where the New Emperor murdered my parents and sister. Stay on your toes, for he is a crafty and treacherous foe."
They walked through long halls and up steep twisting stairs. Then they were in the throne room, an expansive triangular chamber with a golden chair at the far point. A opulently dressed mustached man sat upon it, flanked by a warrior with half his face obscured by a mask and a towering armored figure.
"I'll kill you New Emperor!" Cart-Dragger roared, and dashed across the long room. She jumped and swung at his head, but her hammer stopped in midair as against an invisible wall.
The invisible wall flashed white, and she was hurled to the floor with a yelp like she'd been shocked. "Foolish girl. Since our previous meeting I have mastered the sorcery of the Far Kings. You will not even last as long this time as you did then."
"Allen, we have to help her!" Lars said. "Come on!" They ran to join Cart-Dragger against the New Emperor, and his lieutenants moved to impede them. The masked man drew a long curved sword and sliced rapidly at Allen, shaving wooden chips off his spear whenever he was forced to parry. The armored hulk engaged Lars, who realized he'd need to use his speed advantage to win as he would surely be overmatched in strength. He ducked a swing from the giant's halberd and slashed at his side, but his opponent shifted his haft with surprising quickness to block. This fight wouldn't be easy.
The close battle raged for an indeterminate amount of time before Lars managed to cut the giant's thigh deeply. He went to one knee, and Lars chopped into his neck. He wrenched out the axe in a spray of blood and the mammoth man collapsed, dead. Looking to Allen, he saw the masked man's sword cut through his friend's spear and into his belly. "No!" Lars cried. He charged and struck off the masked villain's head from the side, then cradled Allen in his arms. "Don't die, please don't die."
"Take care of yourself, brother," he said, and closed his eyes.
A shriek from behind made him turn. Cart-Dragger's body rolled limply towards him, unconscious or dead. The New Emperor laughed. "Did you really think you stood a chance? I am a transcendent power, a living god! If I was by myself you could still never, ever win."
"Oh yeah, we'll see about that." Lars lunged, bringing the axe down. It slowed as it hit the invisible wall, but then he sent the force of his will crashing against it and broke through. His axe bit into the New Emperor's forehead and continued down, dividing his face in half.
But the man didn't fall as he should have. Instead his head split open to reveal another face inside it, a shriveled alien visage like that of a million year old praying mantis somehow still alive. "Now do you understand?" a echoing voice said in his head, the words seeming to take an eternity even though they couldn't have. A gooey tendril shot from the mantis' mouth into Lars'. Realizing he had dropped his axe, he tried to pull it out, but failed to even budge it. He saw Cart-Dragger twitch and felt hope, thinking she might get back up. But she only convulsed on the ground, clearly helpless and perhaps dying. The New Emperor con
tinued, "We will keep you, and use your husk to bring forth our chil-"
Lars startled awake, heart pounding. What the hell had that been? A dream... Though nobody had seen it, he felt embarrassed. His mind was that easy to influence? He closed his eyes and attempted to go back to sleep, difficult though it proved. Well, he hoped reality wouldn't turn out anything like that...
#
The following two days passed more calmly, as they did not see the pee-stalker man again. Lars and Allen however finally fell behind some, as they just couldn't keep up any longer. To Lars' surprise and appreciation, Cart-Dragger did slow a tad to accommodate them. In the middle of the second night, he woke up and opened his eyes to find her nowhere in sight. She could just have gone off to relieve herself, but he couldn't shake a nagging suspicion. Unable to get back to sleep, he stood up and took a look around. Surrounding them was mostly open ground, so where could she be? Had she really gone off that far? He spotted a group of large rocks and crept towards them, not bothering to wake Allen since it was more likely he could avoid detection alone than with another person. He leaned up against the closest rock and peeked around it.
His eyes bulged, as he saw Cart-Dragger standing face to face with the masked man. She notably carried her hammer, but there was no sign of imminent violence between them. Maybe he wasn't an enemy then, but what... "You took a while coming back," the man said. "I was beginning to grow worried."
"What, that I wouldn't come back? Heh, not even close. I just had to go a little farther to find work, that's all."
"But you are injured. I suppose it is not time now, then."
She grinned, seeming bemused. "I could still do it. Even slightly hurt, I'm stronger than most anybody."
The masked one cocked his head. "I would prefer you be at full strength, nonetheless."
"Have it your way." She looked in Lars' direction, and he ducked back. She didn't give any further indication she was aware of him, though. Still, he scurried away towards the camp. One close call was enough for his liking. But if the masked man wasn't her enemy, what could he be? Maybe a member of the resistance movement, which would aid her when it came time to take back the country. Lars would decide whether to confront her with his knowledge tomorrow. For now it was time to go back to bed, and rest a little easier knowing the mysterious pee-stalker probably wouldn't murder them in their sleep.
The next day, Lars felt torn whether or not to demand answers from Cart-Dragger. Not knowing everything they could about what was going on might put him and Allen in danger, but he didn't want to make her angry. "Why so quiet?" Allen asked. "Did you have a bad dream?"
"That's not it."
Later on around noon, Cart-Dragger asked, "Why so quiet? Shouldn't you be complaining more about how the bag's chafing your shoulder or something?"
"I complained about that once."
"I'm pretty sure your comments about your shoulder hurting, your back hurting, sacks being made of overly rough material, and so forth are variations of that."
He spat. "So what. They do hurt and it is rough."
"If a delicate little girl can handle it," she said teasingly, "so should a big strong man."
"Yeah, 'delicate.'"
Finally in the evening, he couldn't hold it back anymore. "Is there something we should know about your friend?"
She blinked confusedly at him. "My... friend?"
"Don't play dumb with me. The man in the half mask."
"Wait, you think she friends with the guy watching us pee?" Allen asked.
"I saw her talking with him in a pretty amiable manner last night."
She chuckled. "Oh, him. I was wondering when you would bring that up."
"So you did notice me eavesdropping on you."
"You aren't exactly the quietest person. But anyway, he isn't a friend. He's my enemy who I made a deal with. I'm giving him three chances to try and avenge his family's honor since I easily beat him and his brother and if he loses, I won't finish him if I can help it. He swore to walk away if he doesn't succeed by the third time. But if he persists after that, then his life is fair game and he knows it. So far he's lost twice, and the next time will be the last safe chance he gets."
Lars stared at her. "That sounds strange. Why would you give him all that if you're enemies? Why didn't you just kill him the first time he challenged you and failed?"
"It's all in the name of being sporting. He's conducted himself in a honorable manner thus far, never ambushed me or anything. And I don't think he'll improve enough to beat me before he decides to try again."
"And if he does and kills you? All this hard work you've been doing will have been in vain."
She shrugged. "I have confidence in myself. It's not as if my work doesn't involve plenty of risks already. And I beat him and his brother the first time easily, and things haven't changed all that much in our two rematches."
Lars frowned. "I guess I was wrong. I imagined he was an ally of yours, a member of a resistance movement to overthrow the New Emperor."
"The New Emp... you've been listening in on my dreams? That's rather disconcerting."
He laughed nervously.
"To be fair," Allen said, "you were pretty loud."
"That's plausible, at least. But why would there be a resistance movement against somebody who's dead?"
"Wait, he's dead?" Lars asked. "I thought he defeated you, and took over your land."
"You assumed I lost just because of what you got from my dream? Oh, you of little faith."
Allen squinted in puzzlement. "I couldn't get anything from what you was saying, but what happened then? Did you beat the piss out of him?"
She fell silent for a while, and Lars thought he saw moisture glisten in her eyes. When she spoke, though, she managed to keep her voice steady. "I don't like to talk about this period of my life much, so I'll keep it brief. After the great war, my city was fortunate in terms of not being completely destroyed, but it still incurred heavy damage and had difficulties coping with the changed environment. While the people struggled, I turned a blind eye to their suffering, content to revel in my own strength and feed my pride by killing monsters and fighting all the time. One day when I got back from a hunt, I learned an army had attacked, killing my parents and sister in the process. After smashing my way in a fury through the city, I stormed my own ancestral home, where the leader of the invaders waited." She recounted the events of her nightmare. "And then, after his big henchman skewered me..." Despite the gravity of the situation they discussed, a slight grin tugged at her lips.
#
The New Emperor regarded the girl's limp body hanging from the pole that transfixed it. "Is she dead?" he asked the armored giant.
"It seems so. Look at her hand," he added in an admiring tone, "still holding onto her weapon. Even in death, she-"
Her head snapped up, and her arm rose. She hurled the hammer into his helmeted face, melding the visor which twisted from the impact with his skull. He toppled away, and she dropped to the ground. "What?!" the New Emperor gasped. "But you were dead."
She drew herself up, leaving a puddle of blood beneath her. The New Emperor rushed trying to decapitate her, but she ducked and broke ribs with a kick that launched him across the room. She drew the huge spear out of herself and it clanged against the floor. "No. Death closed its grip around me. But I wasn't ready to go yet, so I ripped its talons asunder and flew back!"
He lurched upright, smiling grimly with frothy blood on his chin, while she retrieved her hammer. Her battering ram boot had probably driven splintered bone into his lungs. "You little monster. If I die in this next exchange, at least I can't say I didn't fall to a worthy adversary. Well then, let's end it all with a proper climax." They lunged at each other, swinging their weapons with everything they had.
She hit him so hard the broken pieces of his sternum punched out his back. He smashed into the wall, making a human-shaped hole where he stopped dead.
The girl fell to her hands and knees, vomiti
ng blood. She was extremely wounded, but she wouldn't die. She looked up at the bodies of her family. She couldn't. After she found the bases of the chains that held them, she lowered them to the ground and laid herself down weeping over them. She had squandered her time and abilities until now. While her parents worked hard to restore their land, coming to be known as the Two Stars of Galantria, she'd been indulging her vanity in hunting and showing off her prowess. Since they were gone, from now on she would have to use her unsurpassed strength with a purpose. She promised she would shine like a thousand stars in honor of them and her precious little sister, who might have become just as great as them if only she was there to save her.
#
Lars smiled at the end of her tale. "So after that, you dedicated yourself to raising funds to better your homeland. I can tell you've been working hard; your family would be proud. And you really are impressive. So the masked man who keeps challenging you, would he happen to be one of the ponytailed brothers in the story?"
"Yep, the first one I beat. I only landed a glancing blow with my hammer, so he survived albeit disfigured to take another shot at me."
"But he helped kill your family! How can you be so courteous to him?"
"He and his brother disapproved of killing my sister, but owed the New Emperor a debt so they had to serve him. I can't blame him that much for it."
"One other question. How are you so incredibly strong in the first place?"
"I was probably born to be that way. I've honed it a lot being active as I am, but even as a little girl I once bent the bars of her window to let my friend out after she got unfairly punished." She looked down, and her voice grew somber. "Some used to call it a gift from the gods, but turns out it seems like there aren't any gods, unless you count those poor creatures gone mad with pain as such.
"Anyway since I've told you my sad story, how about you? Are you really following me just because you want to see a city that badly?"
He looked at Allen, who gave a faint nod. "Allen hasn't been quite right since getting an old war injury, which you might have noticed." She shrugged in response. "We've been looking for a way to get him back to how he was. I'm hoping that in a place with more people, and thus more knowledge, we might find it."