by Travis Bughi
“You know, Abraham,” Mariam said, “if you intend on spending all your days as a gunslinger, perhaps you should learn this crafting skill so that way you’ll never encounter this problem.”
“What?” Abe balked. “That’s impossible. I mean, there’s only one blacksmith I know of in Lucifan that can make these. How am I supposed to learn something that difficult?”
“Well,” his mother continued, “the other gunslingers on the Great Plains don’t seem to have the same problem you do. Maybe you should consider paying your blacksmith to teach you. Then, if the need arises, you could purchase your own raw materials and do the work yourself.”
“Hm, that would be expensive.” Abe put a finger to his chin, stroking the stubble. “But I guess it’d be worth a try.”
Emily noted that Abe’s facial hair was finally coming in. When last she’d left, he’d only had short stems protruding from his chin. Since then, they’d darkened and grown out a bit, but had yet to curl like their father’s.
“And while you’re at it,” Mariam continued, “you would do well to learn a few ways to defend yourself without your guns. You can’t rely on those things forever. They could break, or get stolen, for example.”
“Okay, Mother.” Abe rolled his eyes. “I get it.”
He looked to his sister and smirked. Emily smiled back as the two shared a sibling expression of amusement reserved for when their mother wouldn’t stop offering advice. Mariam caught the gaze, but didn’t stop trying to prove her point.
“I’m serious, Abraham,” Mariam pressed. “You’re too reliant on those weapons of yours. Take it from an amazon.”
“Yes, yes,” he replied. “I know.”
His tone was flat and automatic, and it obviously didn’t sit well with his mother. She narrowed her eyes and then looked to her daughter.
“I’ll bet Emily could beat you,” she challenged.
At that, Abe laughed out loud. He was tall, like his father, while Emily was short, even for a girl. He’d spent all his life being the giant of the siblings, splitting up fights between Emily and the even smaller Nicholas. Either that or he’d wrestle them both and laugh as they had to combine efforts to bring him down. In his mind, what Mariam now suggested was absurd.
Emily, however, had not laughed. Abe did not seem to comprehend what she had been doing for the last six months besides fighting for her life. She’d trained constantly with Adelpha, who was just as tall as Abe, but heavier. On an injured leg, she had killed a full-grown werewolf with nothing but her hunting knife, she’d dodged not one, but two bugbear charges. Emily was beyond confident that her older brother was now in over his head.
And she wanted to prove it.
“Come on, Abe.” Emily smiled. “I might surprise you.”
“Haha!” Abe wiped a tear from his eye. “Oh, you two. Okay, alright, I’ll play along. Just know that I’m not stopping until you beg me.”
The trio stopped atop a hill, and Mariam stood off to the side as Abe and Emily faced each other with their hands held up. Abe continued to chuckle and smile, and his grin stayed wide all the way until he lunged to wrap Emily in a tight hug.
Emily grabbed Abe’s outstretched arm, shifted her body to put her back to Abe’s front, and then slung him over her shoulder and onto the ground. Abe’s back slammed down to crush the tall grass, his breath expelled from his lungs, and his face went completely blank.
Emily released his arm and took a step back.
“How in the world?” he said, standing up and brushing himself off. “Okay, try that again.”
He issued the statement as a dare, his former humor extinguished and his grin replaced by a watchful gaze. Emily saw doubt cloud her brother’s face. Now, she was the one smiling.
Abe lunged again, and this time Emily stepped to the side, stuck her foot out, and gave Abe a rough push that sent him face forward, tumbling down the rest of the hill. As he rolled to the bottom, Emily couldn’t help but let loose a laugh of her own. Compared to Adelpha, her brother now seemed a klutz. She chased down the hill after him, and he retreated in shock as his sister, two years younger than him, made an impressive show of hand-to-hand combat.
She lunged at him, and he tried to push her off, but his outstretched arms gave her something to grab, and Abe was on the ground again before he knew what was happening. He rolled away, trying to maintain distance, but still Emily pursued him.
“Alright, alright, I get it!” Abe said, still trying to keep his distance.
“Nah-uh,” Emily said with a smile. “We stop when I beg you to, remember?”
“Alright, that’s enough,” Mariam said.
Emily giggled as Abe cautiously backed away towards the safety of his mother. Then Emily heard another laugh and looked to see Adelpha had come to see what all the fuss was about.
Adelpha teased Abe as she walked back to join the trio. “I told you this was no family picnic, and Emily’s only had six months of training. Imagine what a lifelong warrior like my sister can do.”
Abe’s cheeks were burning red with embarrassment, but he knew well enough that he had brought this upon himself. The women started walking again, and he swallowed enough of his bruised ego to continue on with the group, though he stayed a pace behind, looking down and hiding his face in the dark shadows cast by his wide-brimmed hat.
“Hmm, it seems you trained my daughter well,” Mariam said, “and quickly, too, I might add. Though I would have rather she wasn’t trained at all.”
“Yes, well.” Adelpha fumbled, unsure how to handle the awkward compliment. “It does come to her easily. She came from good blood.”
The two nodded in a silent truce, and Emily was happy for it. She was in good spirits, feeling confident once more, not only in herself, but in her purpose.
Sure, her errand, her goal, seemed dark and selfish, but it had been approved by an angel, and not just any angel either; her second chance at life had been approved by Quartus, the eldest angel of Lucifan. It was that knowledge that made it easier to rise each morning. Although she hadn’t felt Quartus in her mind since returning from the brink of death, Emily had every intention of marching straight to the top of the angels’ tower and thanking him.
But for now, Emily needed to make amends with her older brother. After several minutes, his head still hung low, and Emily couldn’t help but feel bad. She had embarrassed him quite thoroughly.
“Hey, Abe,” Emily said. “I have a question for you. On our way here, we ran into Fred Hoggins, and he was surprisingly hospitable. Was that your doing?”
“Yes,” Abe replied after a moment, tilting his head up slightly. “I gave him a whole leg off the second behemoth I downed. And I let him know how sorry we were about selling the entire behemoth that wrecked our barn.”
“Well, that’s good.” Emily smiled.
“Him and I have an agreement now,” Abe continued, lifting his head a bit more. “He listens and tells me where to find the behemoths, and I get him a leg. If properly stored, he can munch on nothing but that for months. The only difficult part, he says, is trying to keep it hidden from his neighbors.”
Emily laughed at that and got her older brother to smile. She continued to ask him about his budding career as a gunslinger and was pleased to find his mood brighten considerably. Of course, it wasn’t just for his mood that the questions were asked. Emily truly was interested in her brother’s travels. Before becoming an amazon, she’d also dreamed about the legendary life of a gunslinger. It just so happened that asking these questions served a dual purpose of passing time and improving his spirits. Even Adelpha slowed her pace and shifted her head to hear Abe.
“I trade with the Dylans now, too,” Abe explained. “I downed a behemoth for them in exchange for their help to build the new barn.”
“Wow,” Emily said with a gasp. “A whole behemoth for some labor? I’ll bet they were happy.”
“They were,” Mariam intervened. “Abe has been very generous with his newfound wealth. He e
ven hired a minotaur for them so that their fields could be properly plowed while they helped us with our barn.”
“My word!” Emily looked astonished, and Abe blushed. “Well, good brother, feel free to spread the wealth this way, huh?”
They all laughed at that, and their trip across the Great Plains went by steadily. Emily told her own story in detail to Abe and her mother, leaving Abe absolutely astounded and Mariam absolutely appalled. After her tale was finished, to Emily’s relief, Adelpha and Mariam eventually picked up a conversation of their own, discussing their likes and dislikes as they pertained to amazon life.
“I do miss my sisters who were close,” Mariam said. “But, I will tell you that it is surprising what love can conquer.”
“Ach,” Adelpha said and waved that statement off. “I’m a queen now. My love for my people is what drives me.”
“Are you sure?” Mariam raised an eyebrow. “This doesn’t seem like a trip for your people.”
“Well.” Adelpha grimaced, knowing she’d been caught. “Yes, this is personal. But we’ll only be gone temporarily. From Lucifan, we head straight back to Themiscyra, with or without Heliena.”
“We, huh?” Mariam whispered and looked at Emily.
Emily had heard the ‘we’ as well, but chose not to address it. Emily still hadn’t told Adelpha that she wasn’t going back to Themiscyra. Without Chara, Themiscyra wasn’t home to Emily anymore. She had never loved the jungle and had no desire to return. Sure, there would be people to miss, just as Emily missed her family on the Great Plains, but there was still a whole world to see. That was her dream, and Emily would not abandon it for anyone.
She hadn’t told anyone any of this, but it seemed that Mariam knew her daughter too well. Of course, Adelpha would have to be informed eventually, but only after their business in Lucifan was finished.
As expected, it took the entire day to reach the city. The sun was setting by the time Emily approached the basin’s edge. Despite the long shadows, there was still enough light to highlight the thick grove of buildings circling around the shoreline. Standing tall and proud at the center of it all was the angels’ tower, and Emily warmed at the sight of it. Quartus would be there.
Then she noticed something strange.
Outside Lucifan, all three colossi were kneeling, facing west towards the setting sun and away from the city. They were utterly still.
“What are they doing?” Emily furrowed her brow.
When the city was founded, the angels had made three colossi, the only three in existence, to protect it from invasion. However, they’d never been called upon to defend it because their mere presence was enough to keep enemies at bay. Each colossus looked like a gigantic man made of stone. They were easily the tallest mobile things Emily had ever seen. Each one was four times the height of a minotaur, even a standing minotaur, and the ground quaked with every step they took. Normally, they walked amongst the buildings, kept an eye on things, and displayed with their presence the massive power of the angels.
Yet, now, they looked like nothing more than statues. Each colossus knelt on their right knee like a knight would bow to an angel. Their right arms were resting on the ground, each propped up by a closed fist as if punching the dirt. Their left arms rested elbow on knee with forearms guarding horizontally to the right. Their foreheads were bowed as if in solemn prayer.
“What’s wrong with the colossi?” Emily asked Abe.
“Don’t know,” he said casually, laying out his blanket for the night. “They’ve been like that for a couple of months. Some people think the angels have given up on them. Maybe they finally realized there is no threat to Lucifan from invading armies?”
“Maybe,” Emily replied.
She turned away from the spectacle and started to make her bed. As she lay down to sleep, though, the bad feeling in her gut refused to slip away.
Chapter 3
Emily had a vivid dream that night. She dreamed of wandering around an empty Lucifan as a giant woman. It was short and simple, and when Emily woke up, she smiled. She hadn’t had a dream that clear since she’d come back from death. Emily took it as a sign that Quartus was near, and her heart beat with eager anticipation. Her worry over the colossi evaporated in the wake of her hopeful mood.
The group split up before entering the city. The idea was that Heliena and her allies knew nothing of Abe and Mariam, and so those two could safely scour for information in the public squares. Emily and Adelpha, however, would need to be more discreet, both with their movements and their interactions. Although none were expecting Emily or Adelpha, either, they still decided in favor of caution. With a shogun for a husband, Heliena could be in league with anyone.
After Abe and his mother gathered what information they could, and Emily and Adelpha took care of a few errands of their own, the group would reconvene at Banshee’s Wail Tavern. Emily had never been there, but Abe and Adelpha knew where it was.
Emily had first suggested they go to The Kraken’s Eye, but Adelpha had explained the numerous reasons that made that a bad idea. Not only was the place swarming this time of year with pirates who would eavesdrop on any conversation in hopes of making a quick coin, but also Heliena might have that tavern watched because it was a normal amazon meeting place. It was agreed then, and the group divided. The first errand on Emily and Adelpha’s list was a personal one. They had to deliver an important letter from Belen, a woman both of them had wronged.
Before Heliena had revealed herself, the blame had been forced onto Belen, and she’d been held as a prisoner in the Forest of Angor. The journey through that forest had ended disastrously, and although most of the amazons escaped, Belen had been traded to the centaurs who were then ambushed by werewolves.
Belen was now a werewolf because Emily, Adelpha, and the others had sacrificed her for the good of the group. But they had only done so because they’d thought her guilty of the crimes Heliena had committed. On Adelpha and Emily’s return trip to Lucifan, Belen and her new werewolf clan had found them, and Belen had requested a favor. She’d wanted a letter delivered to her husband in Lucifan, the senior knight named Sir Mark O’Conner, and Emily had promised to deliver the message, mostly because of the extreme guilt she felt for being partially responsible for putting Belen in permanent banishment.
But still, the errand would not be pleasant. Emily had encountered Sir Mark O’Conner before, and he had been most unjust, accusing her of lies and shallow intentions. The whole ordeal had left her with a bad taste and a bad impression. Despite the fact that he seemed to be a sort of advisor to the angels, Emily did not like Mark.
However, her feelings didn’t much matter now for she had a debt to repay.
Adelpha and Emily slipped through back alleys towards the center of Lucifan. The knights’ quarters were adjacent to the angels’ tower, and so they used that tall building as a beacon to guide them. They did their best to avoid the most congested areas, such as the trading district, but there was no avoiding the crowds that flocked the city center.
Emily and Adelpha did their best to avoid ogres—purple brutes with tusks and yellow eyes. The creatures were fearsome and thick muscled. Mercenaries to the core, they worked for the highest bidder to do the dirtiest deeds with the cruelest satisfaction. The last time Emily had been to Lucifan, four of them had attempted to eat her alive. They also did their best to avoid the leprechauns, devious and diminutive merchant creatures who hid their vast sums of money in banks. Emily dreaded running into her old enemy, Jack Borgan, who had hired the ogres that almost ate Emily. He was in league with the vampire, Count Drowin, who in turn was allies with Heliena and her husband, Ichiro Katsu.
Of all the people Emily dreaded running into, she feared Count Drowin the most. He was cold, calculating, evil, and above all else, immortal. He’d tear her to shreds with a delighted smile, and no amount of harm she dealt back would stop him. But that was why they entered Lucifan during the day. Sunlight was the ultimate bane of all vampires, and so
Adelpha and Emily had nothing to fear so long as they stayed outside.
The sounds of the city were alive and strong that day. Merchants shouted their wares and prices out to the masses that streaked by. Anything that could be found in the world could be found in Lucifan. Anything. Of the things that were shouted out, Emily had no idea what half of them were.
Sphinx feathers, gashadokuro bones, cyclops eyes, hydra skin, troll hairs, kappa meat, dragon droppings, mermaid blood, golem stone, and the list went on and on. Emily’s mouth was open in a perpetual state of awe as the unknown bombarded her from all sides, much like the last time she’d visited the city. Emily felt like she’d learned so much since her last trip here, but now it became obvious that there was still much, much more to learn. The two slithered through the crowd until they reached the angels’ tower. From there, they twisted around it until they came to the knights’ quarters. It was there that Emily saw yet another peculiar and altogether unsettling sight.
An ogre was guarding the entrance.
The entrance was nothing grand, really. It was just a heavy, iron double door with a stone archway that was barely big enough for two knights, each mounted on a pegasus, to walk through. Normally, knights guarded the entrance, and the knights, by default of the duty required, were never ogres.
“What’s an ogre doing standing guard?” Adelpha asked. “This isn’t right, Emily. Let’s go.”
“No, wait,” Emily whispered. “We can’t leave yet; we’ve got a letter to deliver. Not to mention I want to know what’s going on.”
Adelpha and Emily approached the ogre cautiously, and it smiled a wicked grin as they got close, twisting the handle of its weapon with four short, thick fingers. The weapon was a huge, two-handed axe with a dulled edge. It more closely resembled a shaft of scrap metal than it did an elegant tool of war, but that was standard for ogres. Their weapons were never anything fancier than a brutal, discarded chunk of material.