by Emma Glass
I turned to him, leaning against my weapon. It was at least two heads taller than I was. “Pavric, of all the varied weapons your guild stocked, why do you think I chose a quarterstaff?”
He frowned, shaking his head. “I imagine you have a lot of training with it, or something close.”
My fist slid a grip further up the quarterstaff, and I admired the subtle curve of the point atop it: a tapered, sharpened blade. “You’re right, I do. But there’s more to it than that. Without more to know about our feral enemy down below, I picked a proud and maneuverable weapon, highly suited for the close quarters of the mines.”
Stepping forward from the elevator, I held a hand out to order my guards back. “It can parry.” I took a defensive stance, holding it in both hands. “It can redirect.” I pretended to knock back a blow. “It can strike, and it can defend.” I mimicked the other moves and began to twirl it all around with expertise afforded by decades of trained intimacy. All the while, my hands danced along the weapon, shifting it from both hands, to one, to plucking it from the air in a somersault. “This pole allows me to control all the space around me. It shifts easily from hand to hand. In a second, with the slightest shift of my control, it becomes whatever I need it to be. In such a basic weapon,” I leapt in vaulted kicks, whipping the quarterstaff around and effortlessly switching between hands, “I’ve found the weapon with which I identify most.”
“Impressive,” he nodded with a stunned look on his face. “I think I get it.”
“You don’t.” I spun it with my palm above, butting it hard against the ground at my boots. “Highly versatile, inherently adaptable, and truly unbending… in both my reign and my own mind, this tool represents everything I aim to ever be.”
“You’ve forgotten one,” Pavric observed.
“Oh?” My head tilted. “What’s that?”
“A powerful and very capable tool, sure, only when placed in the right hands.” Cheerily smiling, he stepped out from the elevator with the rest of my guards. “This weapon you’ve chosen is a great one, especially with such a demonstration…”
He pulled closer. My guards cautiously placed a hand to their weapons, and he stopped. “I stand by what I said earlier, Lord Craven. You’ll make a far different ruler than your mother ever was. That much is already obvious. But what I wonder is, after this talk of weapons and tools…”
The guildsman aloofly smiled. “What kind of tool will the world make you, my Lord?”
Beneath the earth, the deposits of exposed chrysm ore bathed the mineshafts in a hellish glow.
The royal guards were flanked out around me as we marched forwards, weapons at the ready. None of them would admit it, but I didn’t need any supernatural help to sense the apprehension. Nothing else has quite the demoralizing effect of ‘Tonight, march with me into the Netherworld…’
But these were loyal men and women, serving at my side. Any one of them would die for me.
Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.
There was only one other sound in the mines: the infernal, trickling dripping of a nearby river. We could hear the water on the other side of the cavern wall, as if it were mocking us.
I brushed past the guard in front.
“My Lord?”
“No,” I told her sternly. “I’ll take point. Ensure that the creature doesn’t flank us. When it sees us, it will come for me. Take your chance to bring the beast down while it’s distracted.”
The guard obeyed, sliding into rear formation behind me and taking a defensive stance.
With the trickling water aiming to gradually unnerve the group, the six of us continued deeper into the heart of the Dawning Mines. The chrysm was so plentiful down here that the miners hadn’t bothered arranging for alternate lighting; it must have felt to them like they were digging their way deeper and deeper into Hell.
No wonder they’re growing superstitious. With centuries in an atmosphere like this, my mind would start to drift into madness as well…
“Did you hear that, my Lord?”
“No.” I froze mid-step.
A distant scraping noise hit my ears.
“There,” a guard noted. “There it is again.”
I turned to my entourage, scanning their eyes for signs of weakness. The shaft was carved wide enough for us to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, but it was little consolation. Ever since the first stumbling steps of our society, vampires have lived outside the bleak, rudimentary caves of old…
Unsurprisingly, they were terrified. I couldn’t bring myself to march them another step further if they didn’t have it in them. “I’ll give all of you this one opportunity to turn back,” I warned the others. “There’s no disgrace in it. But to those who choose to stay, I need complete confidence in your courage and bravery, because my life will be held in your hands…”
The guards steeled themselves; none of them turned from my eyes.
“Good. Then let us find and destroy this–”
A shrieking growl, vicious enough to tremble the hearts of fearless men, roared throughout the mineshaft. The others shivered at its intensity as we turned around.
A guard gasped. “That came from back there.”
“That’s where the exit is!”
I held them back with a hand! “Silence. Let me listen, all of you…” But all that I could hear was the damned trickling of water behind the cavern walls. It mocked me harder than ever, daring to distract me in this moment of life and death.
“Whatever it is,” I snarled, “it’s bigger than we were led to believe. There’s no way something like that can move undetected in this place…”
Another low growl rumbled out.
“It’s closer!” A guard blurted in terror.
“Yes,” I narrowed my eyes. “Too close…” With a quick glance over my shoulder, I spat the order: “Arms at the ready, all of you!” I turned back to face the way we’d approached. “It’s coming…”
At least we had a strategic advantage.
“Listen, all of you. We still have the upper hand. We lost the element of surprise, but it can only face one or two of us at a time. It’ll be too constrained in here to attack us all at once…”
“That’s right,” someone murmured.
“Come!” I rallied the troops. “Whatever it is, the hell-beast stands between us and our way out. I want us back on that elevator, all of us, with the head of this creature. Lift your swords, my sworn guards, and follow your lord into battle!”
They belted in unison: “Hoo-rah!”
With my quarterstaff held confidently and a handful of guards at my flank, I ran back the way we’d come towards our exit. Whatever you are, you monstrosity, the sun will rise over your corpse…
We turned a corner and gazed into the furious eyes of Death itself. As the huge creature whipped towards us, I heard the terrified gasps ring out at my back and I knew. My bolting strides slowed to a stop. Suddenly, the quarterstaff felt heavy in my hands, because I recognized this monstrosity and I knew what our chances of survival were.
One thought drowned out all others.
I’ve killed us all.
7
Clara
When I woke up, the light was overwhelming.
Oblique images flashed through my mind – stray fragments from my dreams. But it was hard to focus on them in my overwhelming pain. The brightness above shone so blindingly strong; it even partly breached my closed eyelids. Lethargic and deeply disoriented, I sluggishly tried to shield my eyes. But I found that I couldn’t lift my arms. The limbs felt rebelliously heavy, and they would only barely move at my urging.
Worse still, my scratchy throat was intensely dry. I urgently needed water. Just trying to utter a syllable hurt. There was barely any moisture left in my mouth. My parched tongue had swollen into a thick, heavy mass that wouldn’t obey my orders. On top of it all, my throbbing, pounding headache liquefied what little brainpower I could muster into unintelligible mush.
I tried to focus on the
few available details.
Apparently, I was on my back in some kind of bed. There were people nearby, but they weren’t talking. I couldn’t reach them, but at least I wasn’t left alone here – wherever ‘here’ turned out to be. Everything hurts, I moaned in my head. If I could just somehow tell them to make it stop…
I felt trapped in my own body.
Annoyance morphed into desperation. Driven by a frantic need to retreat from the light, I threw everything I had into at least turning away from the pain.
A shoulder twitched.
Come on come on come on come on…
If I could’ve grit my teeth, I’d have probably ground them all into dust. It was getting harder to breathe; I felt my lungs seizing as I clenched my body tight, trying to force myself to roll over. In a distant sort of way, I noticed a beeping.
“What’s that incessant noise?”
I recognized that voice.
Asarra…
“No idea!” That was one I didn’t know. I felt a presence suddenly near me; something like fabric brushed against my arm for a fleeting second. “It looks like the machine’s malfunctioning again. Typical! Why is Lord Craven even insisting that we bother with this old thing?”
“Is there any way to make that stop?” Viktor, I realized with a sense of relief. If the two of them are here, then that means…
Wilhelm’s voice chimed in. “Maybe we should just leave it.” He spoke mirthlessly. “That bloody thing’s loud enough to wake the dead. We’ve tried damn well near everything else to save the girl. Maybe that infernal beeping will get her up.”
I felt the fabric brush against my arm again as the strange woman shifted in place. Alrighty then, Clara. New plan…
Instead of forcing myself to roll over, I tried to drag my wrist closer to her clothing. Come on, hand. I’ve never asked much of you, have I? Just be a doll and do me this one solid…
The wrist wouldn’t budge.
But the elbow would.
I could barely feel my teeth touch as I tried to grit them again. Forcing my elbow to pivot at the approximate speed of drying paint, I screamed in my head with anxious fervor. Gradually, the side of my hand dragged along the duvet with barely noticeable progress…
The beeping stopped.
“There!” The stranger spoke up.
To my horror, I realized that my window was closing. I could only scarcely tell where my arms were in relation to my body, and the light was so blindingly bright in my eyes that I feared it would take my sight forever.
If I don’t die of dehydration first…
She walked around the bed, brushing my arm again. This time, my splayed fingers were just on the edge of the bedding and close enough to touch her clothing…
I seized the opportunity. With my final ounce of strength, I twitched my fingertips and snagged the tightest grip on the soft fabric that I could. She didn’t notice, and she didn’t stop – which was just like I wanted it.
Please, please, PLEASE be enough, I begged.
My clenched grip caught, and she accidentally yanked me halfway out the bed.
“What on Earth?” She gasped.
I had misjudged. Were it not for a split second of lightning-fast intervention, in my desperation I would’ve cracked my skull against the floor.
But someone had caught me.
The commotion had jarred open my dry eyes. If I could have screamed in pain, I would have. But Asarra’s confused face filled my vision as she held me cradled against her. The machine was beeping like never before, and my hearing slowly adjusted to take it in. It was intensely loud.
“What in the hell just happened?” She angrily blurted, looking over at someone else. “How’d you rip her out of bed?”
“Hey, I have no idea!” The stranger protested. “I think her hand hooked my robe!”
Furiously, Asarra started to lift me back into the bed. “You have to be more careful than that. Lord Elliott has made it clear what might happen if she drops dead on our watch…”
No, stop! I screamed in my head, desperately trying to shift my pupils around. Look at me! Why can’t you see that I’m awake?!
“I’m very aware of Master Craven’s demands,” the voice petulantly replied. “And quite frankly, I don’t need such foolish reminders. We’ve been at this for days! Don’t you think we could use a little less stress?”
Asarra shook her head angrily, averting her gaze to me in her arms. “Count yourself very lucky that I…” Her eyes caught my stare, and she tilted her head in slight curiosity. Her face loomed just a little closer. “What the…”
Trapped in my silence, I watched her eyes slowly widen in dawning comprehension.
“Oh my god. Clara?!”
Suddenly, half a dozen faces were behind her and staring into mine. I recognized the rest of the Knightly Trio, and then there was that sorceress, Nikki was here… and, well, those other two I didn’t know. They looked like they were possibly nurses, maybe. But everyone’s expressions ran the gamut from plain terror to complete relief.
Thinking quickly – and this is why I love her – she lowered her ear to my dried, chapped lips. “If you can say anything…”
“Water,” I barely squeaked. “Too bright…”
Asarra nodded and glanced up from cradling me. “Kill the lights – and for god’s sakes, someone get this girl some water!”
8
Elliott
Bearing down on us, the serpentine beast roared with a furry head shaped as a seven-pointed star. Long ears tapered off into what looked like horns; below them, two thick clumps of hair jutted in large tufts out behind either cheek, framing a matted beard that dragged near the ground; a pair of vicious, primitive saber-teeth jutted down from its snarling jowls. The chilling combination made a terrifying sight – it was almost enough to distract from the pair of thick, furry, coiled arms, both of which ended in razor-sharp paws the size of my chest.
The entire front of the creature was a horrific, magical twist on a feral lynx. The orangish-brown fur that coated the monstrosity gave way to four long meters of snake, ending in a sinister rattle. The fur extended down a third of the snakeskin’s back, serving as a thick mohawk from where sharp protrusions rose out of its back.
But the worst part was its eyes. The monster came at us with sinister, glowing yellow eyes. The feline pupils only highlighted the viciousness of the abomination as it hunted.
I know what you are, I glowered at the beast. Sure, I’ll probably die this day, but at least I won’t be slain with complete ignorance of my murderer’s true nature...
Summoning whatever strength of character I could, I turned my terror into fury. Whipping my quarterstaff into the air, I spun it for momentum and thrust the blade into the monster’s face.
Dodging backwards, it rattled its tail with a malicious snarl. But the opening gave my guards the change to match my courage with their own.
Five armed, experienced warriors lunged past me with swords drawn at the ready. They landed in a fanned position in front; without giving it a moment’s peace, they launched a unified assault against the whipping abomination.
The name of the game was no longer ‘slay the beast.’ Now, all that concerned me was survival.
Unfortunately it perched between us, and our one way out. There was no option of a tactical retreat; the best we could hope for was simply driving it back until it fled further into the mines.
But the monster was a daredevil, and it was a rather intelligent one. With the natural hunting instincts of a preying cat and the wicked cunning of a slithering snake, the magical beast began to test the stalwart formation of my royal guards. It lunged towards us with gnashing jaws that could crush armor, and swiped our way with a vast paw strong enough to shatter ribs.
One particular guard couldn’t dodge in time. Bashed straight into the rocky side of the hallway, he crumpled to the floor in a complete daze.
The others took the brief distraction and tried to launch a counter-attack. But th
e beast was able to repel them, powerfully dodging and whipping around in the constrained space.
That’s when I dove forward.
The guards struck in trained unison, forcing the creature backwards; with my quarterstaff up, I lunged past their formation and leapt over its paw, slicing at the creature’s face. It roared in pain and swiped powerfully – I couldn’t avoid the impact in mid-air, and it knocked the wind out of my lungs.
I was sent barreling to the ground, only able to land dexterously at the last instant. The others jumped over me and attacked again; I struggled to regain my complete vision.
Screams tore through my disorientation. One of my guards lay dead on the ground – his armor was a mangled mess, punctured by a mighty slash of the paw. The others fought demoralization and clashed against it simply to protect me. With a glance, I checked on the other downed guard – still slumped beside the wall and clearly not moving anytime soon.
I have to save them, I groaned in my head.
If I could just get closer…
My stray hand reached for the quarterstaff, and regret dawned on me as I felt it in my grasp. I’d been downright foolish to rush attacking this beast; the same applied to picking this weapon. There’s no way I can use this properly with others in the fighting area. I should have realized this tool is just too unwieldy with allies nearby…
My eyes caught those of the beast. On a whim, it lunged for me – before I could raise my weapon, another guard intervened. The wound was fatal. In the chaos, her body crashed into mine, and we clattered down together.
As I smashed my head against the ground, I blacked out to the sounds of a losing battle…
When I awoke, the smell of death enveloped me.
Only the sound of trickling water greeted me. Realizing that the monster was gone, I started to groggily push the heavy body of a guard off of me.
My trembling fingers touched the caked blood on my forehead as I climbed to my feet. Wearily, I steadied myself with a palm against the wall and gazed around the chrysm mine, trying to make sense of it all despite my head trauma. What I saw stole the very breath from my lungs.