Legacy of the Defender (The Defender Series Book 1)

by Jacob Spadt

  I learned to stop whining about it even if it was just a question and made a habit of asking him with my weapon in hand. In Earth’s culture, this would have been a sign of disrespect to hold steel when asking a question to a superior but his answers were in the form of lessons. Memories of those past years brought a smile to my face. My Master helped mold me in ways that gratitude could not repay.

  I had drifted again. The voice came again louder this time. "Tathlyn!”

  The monster’s roar pulled me back from nostalgia. My movements had been automatic. I had to stop letting my mind wander while I fought. I needed to be more than present.

  Minor cuts began to add up. They might have only been nicks, but there were tens of tons, if not more, of mass behind those claws, and my own blood flowed freely from the lacerations. Even though I could regenerate wounds in a short time frame after the battle, my instincts told me the threat was great. With each attempt to "parry" performed, more of my life’s essence escaped. I began to panic a bit and realized that some slight sensations in my extremities were beginning to fade. There had to be some sort of poison or nerve agent on the claws. It was no wonder that these creatures were the biggest and hardest to kill. They only had to strike a few times and wait. As my heart began to race beyond the influence of adrenalin, my lightheaded stature grew.

  “This is it, either Malnuras is going to jump in, or it is curtains,” I thought, trying to send just that to him.

  My focus began to wane. My strikes became less effective. My strength faded, raising concerns…that I staunched before panic set in. My options closed fast.

  A thought hit me. If I can heal after a battle, why not now during the battle? I began to refocus my sword on defense, while my mind was searching for tranquility and peace within. For several moments, I dodged and avoided attacks while attempting to stop my own bleeding and re-knit the damaged flesh. My eyes felt heavy as I fell into a rhythm, trying to stay alive. Weights felt attached to my upper eyelids. They got lower and lower. Finally, a surge of energy hit me.

  Healing energy pulsated through my limbs, driving back the fatigue that was taking me. The tingling sensation of flesh rejoining caused an itching on my skin. My eyes no longer felt weighted and the adrenaline rush returned. I was about to wonder if the poison was going to get counter acted when a sudden furiousness returned to my arms and my timing re-synchronized my blades. I deflected the talons that came dangerously close to hitting something vital other than flesh and began countering the attacks. It worked. Why had I not thought of this before? Why had my teacher not mentioned it? The answer eluded me as I changed my focus to biting my blades deeper into my enemy.

  The battle was not going my way. It was ironic to a small degree. Careful planning had gone out the window in the first few seconds of the fight. I suddenly remembered playing chess with my grandfather. His strategies allowed him to perform several attacks at once in several locations on the board. Even with the one victory achieved against him, I was a move or two away from losing that game.

  Interesting how a game taught students strategy. Maybe I should have paid more attention. My mind snapped back to my own battle again as both sets of claws slammed into the ground on either side of me with such force that I came off my feet. A blood curdling scream came from the creature’s mouth. I felt momentary terror. My muscles froze and contracted as if one giant cramp hit my body at once. I fell to the ground, twitching uncontrollably. The panic turned into fear and fear into terror. I could not move.

  The ground around me fractured and loose dirt and stone showered me. Gargantuan claws pulled free from the stone. Debris rained down on me, pounding me with earth for several seconds. Whatever had healed before was now bruised and broken again. My weapons barely stayed in my grip; only sheer willpower kept them there. Despair rolled over me like an avalanche. Not being able to move meant the battle was over. The terror was in full swing now.

  The ground shuddered with a terrific heave of energy as the grotesque creature slammed its full weight on me. A monster had never crushed me before today. My frame compressed and every nerve fiber in my body cried out in pain. Pressure spread across my nervous system in waves of incredible pain. My weapons were in front of me in a cross guard pattern and the blades bit into the flesh across my chest. The beast crushed the life out of me. Darkness was moments away.

  A voice, as clear as if my teacher was next to me, echoed in my ears. “You are limiting yourself. Let go of reality. It does not exist here my pupil.” Tears flowed freely from my eyes making mud out of the dirt where my face lay half buried. I openly wept and began to scream at the top of my lungs. Fear turned to rage. Every sinuous strand and tendon flexed and tore. My muscles protested greatly at the approaching fate.

  Words repeatedly rang in my mind like a beating drum. How could he stand there when I was about to die? My death would be more horrible than any other ever seen in a movie, read in a book, or seen from my literal history lessons. I heard tendons snapping in my arms and the weight fell on me even harder, forcing a crimson cough to fill my mouth. The effects of no air took the rest of me gradually. Seconds felt like minutes. Every section of my lungs filling with blood forced the remaining air to bubble out from the punctures. I expected to hear a final crunch and an explosion of pain. Instead, warmth on my face suddenly appeared. I anticipated seeing the monster’s maw open before me. I opened one eye and looked around. I was on the hillside sitting next to Mathias.

  “Okay, this is new,” I said.

  He pointed out over a valley and spoke again. "Tathlyn."

  I opened my other eye and turned my head. A forest clearing looked familiar. The monstrosity was on top of me. It was hard to believe that somewhere under it was my body dying. The creature had both of its taloned claws on me, like it was doing pulmonary resuscitation on the ground, only it was not hard to deduce what was under his large claws. It was grinding me into the ground.

  A slight horror factor enveloped me over the seriousness of this mess. Then it caught my eye. The smallest of ironies or acts of defiance could sway the odds sometimes. Protruding ever so slightly out the top of its hands, I could see the two small tips of my swords. I smiled knowing even a gnat can be troublesome.

  “Well, at least I am not going to die without messing his hands up.” I felt a slight smack on the back of my head as Mathias’s hand returned to his side. I did not even see it move to start with, only to resettle at his side and back into his lap.

  “Look again,” he said.

  “At what? I am dead.” Another smack with a bit more force, yet I reveled in the fact it was about one thousandth of what he could do. Even though I knew my view and outlook at life was now different from his, he still stood over me and commanded that respect like a parent. I looked back at the scene below me and took it apart piece by piece. A big nasty daemon crushed me under its paws and my swords stuck through its flesh. Then I noticed not only was it motionless, but also there were no sounds of it screaming. The flying daemons hovered motionless in flight around the larger one. Time stopped. “Did you do that?” I asked expecting him to swat me harder this time.

  “No. I am not here right now, remember?”

  It was true; he had left me some time ago on a mission he said was very important and did not concern me. My recent success in obtaining the female scent gland had me consumed, so thoughts of my master leaving had faded in my memory. He truly was not here, and I really was about to die. Yet time stood still.

  I was the one stopping time somehow. Where this ability came from I did not know. I did not learn it, nor was it passed on to me.

  “You are over thinking this. Look at the fight and close your eyes, tell me what you really see,” said Mathias.

  I looked back and started to go over it again, replaying it from the start in my head. Each step taken, block attempted, or redirect executed moved in slow motion in front of me, as I was watching a video of myself. I saw myself leap and reposition with each attempted strike. The
n it hit me when I saw myself under the paws of the beast and the pressure began to crush me.

  “What are you forgetting?” he asked.

  It hit me harder than the weight of the beast. I had forgotten to turn on my defenses! They not only lessened the damage taken and slowed the attackers’ weapons down, they also repulsed the weapon back out of my personal space...even the daemon itself. Malnuras beat that into my head for days on end. I had just received my new rune days before this battle. Not activating my shield before entering combat was the true error.

  The second aspect of it was shorter in duration but meant a daemon could not enter my personal space. Its fast moving claw attacks had enough momentum to get through the defenses, but my shield reduced the speed and force of the attack. The rune was strange looking, resembling a pattern of energy swirling around it. When activated the energy pattern expanded out from me about two feet. It kept me from their swarm. Even if a blow managed to hit me, deflection would occur with tremendous force.

  The downside was it took a lot of energy out of me to turn this ability on, which meant I could only use it sparingly. My energy had to recharge in between uses. Logic descended on me. Turning the shield on now would push the daemons hands off my body and allow for potential escape.

  The voice came again...This time it was my own voice saying the name.

  I am Tathlyn.

  I looked at Mathias with amazement and he was not there; neither was I. Pain exploded in my chest as the pressure snapped more ribs and tore more flesh. What little breath that I could draw came slow and labored. Pushing with all my might upwards, my energy flowed with the exhale. The bubble of the shield came into being, exploding outward, and surrounding me. Immediately the pressure on my chest subsided, and the daemons hands repelled away from me. Their position above me interfered with its view of me as it pressed down harder.

  I imagined its surprise as it could not see why its paws and claws were forced open. My blades kept pushing as the weight diminished. Hoping it did not know there was now a space between us, I relaxed my mind and let my healing energy flow freely. My ribs decompressed and returned to their place one by one. It hurt as much as having them broken, but having the bone no longer piercing my lungs felt as good as the flesh rebuilding itself. Seconds later, I found myself healthy and healed but in the same situation. Tons of daemon filth was still on top of me. It would be seconds before it came crushing down again in another attempt. This creature had four legs plus the two arms so it did not normally walk on all six legs. I twisted the blades so the edges faced away from each other and, with a mighty yell; I forced my hands wide apart, taking the swords in opposite directions. Flesh separated and bone cleaved as my arms extended. Resistance meeting the blades ended as they extended. The daemon had a lot of its weight on its “hands” and its center of gravity shifted. Falling forward it pulled its stumps to its torso. Fingers with nasty claws fell around as the creatures weight came forward.

  I rolled back and away from the hole that had almost become my grave. Backing off, my swords spinning gently to loosen my arms and wrists up, my eyes fell to my foe. I tried to gage its next move. My tendons were still a little sore, but functional. The healing energy did its job for the most part, but it would be a bit before I could do it again. The creature had regained its balance and was roaring at me with bulging bloodshot eyes. Trying to create a false pattern, I moved side to side as it advanced. The creature came at me again, wings flapping. Surprisingly agile this time, it spun, trying to catch me with one of its many flailing appendages.

  With renewed strength, I rallied my cause and tried a new approach. Taking two steps, I vaulted myself atop the beast, avoiding the wings that were still trying to buffet me out of range. My footing shifted as the daemon tried to shake me off. There was no time before it started to roll back to its hind feet with me fighting to move with its shifting body. The creature reversed its direction in attempts to throw me off balance. I steadied my aim and struck with both of my blades right where the wing connected to a large shoulder muscle. Instantly, dark blood sprayed from a deep cut. A spasm rolled through its body.

  Again I struck, this time hard enough that the only thing holding the wing in place was a large, fraying tendon, which I made short work of with my third and final strike. The great wing severed and flopped to the earth; its lifeblood sprayed. Black ichor gushed from the angry wound on its back. Up it reared, causing my footing to shift and one of my embedded swords broke free of my grip as I fell down clinging to its leathery hide. Gravity shifted again as it came down on all fours. One of its clawed hands reached back to grab me. Above, its head craned around, trying to spy my location.

  I could now see I had not cut as many fingers off as I had hoped for each hand clearly had many. Only the smaller side ones were missing, but this thing had at least eight per paw. My grip released right as its front legs touched down again and slid me towards my other weapon, now lodged in its muscular, knotted definition.

  In came the talons from the beast’s wounded hands. A blow like no other launched me backwards and off its back with tremendous force, just like a car hitting me. Landing hard, I rolled to my fee. Around me, the dust and dirt flew in every direction. It was hard to see without getting dirt in my eyes. I felt heat.

  Diving into a roll backwards, I managed to avoid the business end of its mouth. Its teeth made a snapping sound as they clamped down on the air near my body. Regaining my feet some distance away, I sprinted to the left towards the side missing a wing. The distance came easily as it was limping some from the blows previously rained down upon its feet, moments before it crushed me. Again, I leapt to its great back and assaulted its second set of wings. I wanted to make sure it could not fly.

  The great leathery sails were not easy to hit. As my feet touched down on its mighty back, my attacks resumed. With balance regained, my blades bit deep on the second wing located on the same side as the first. Again the flow of blood exploded forth, making footing difficult, but manageable. Its body rolled to its right side as I moved in that direction. It must have known another wing was my target for it rolled to that same side in an attempt to crush me. As its weight shifted, so did my attack. The left wing was now folding up behind me as it pitched to its side. I turned and jumped, thrusting both blades out as it continued to roll.

  I found my mark. The clean cut showered me with viscous fluid that fountained into the air. Falling to my right, I noticed I had cleaved the wing completely. It was bucking now. His remaining two wings buffeted. Still, he could not dislodge me. My grip held me securely. The beast rolled to the right again, but I was not quick enough. My body hit the ground, knocking my breath out. It was a struggle to roll out of the way of the impending doom with no breath, but finally my feet touched the earth, and I leapt skyward with all my strength.

  To the daemon’s surprise and mine, I landed on it again, this time on its belly. Now between four taloned feet, the threat slightly lessened. Reversing the grip on my blades, I went to work. The beast roared and convulsed as my stabbing blades bit repeatedly. Flat on its back it lay, with me running all over its underside slashing anything and everything I could. It continued to swat at me with its taloned feet. I ran toward its head to get at its throat in hopes of ending it.

  That was a big mistake on my part.

  I did not see the clawed hands coming. Both of my swords were in a downward motion when the shadow fell upon me. I barely had time to redirect them to the sides to meet the incoming threat. The steel bit as the trap collapsed on me. My blades slid to the hilt before my arms compressed back towards me, and I felt my right wrist fold backwards on itself to keep hold of the weapon.

  My ears rang as the air clapped around my head with a tremendous bang. I would have been on my knees from the experience except I found myself between the beast’s hands like a bug in a Venus flytrap. It did not care, and as it squeezed it pressed the swords deeper into its own hands until I was almost flat against both its palms when it
began to apply insane amounts of pressure. A throaty laugh, like a gurgle, came from the daemon. The pressure squeezed tighter then suddenly let up for one second.

  I managed to roll to the side in the midst of its claws and had my feet against one palm and my shoulder on the other. I cupped my broken wrist in my hand while leg pressing back to keep from being crushed.

  The weight was greater. I thought getting smashed on the ground was bad, but the difference was I had been flat on my back. It felt just like being in a vice grip. With my swords in each of its hands, I squirmed as it tried to grind me between its palms.

  Focusing on my wrist, I began to try to heal the broken bones and snapped tendons. It was almost too much; my mind faltered on the task. I felt the tingling begin in my wrist. The pressure on my legs and spine increased. My head began to spin with pain, overloading my nervous system. He ground me between his massive paws, and he had twice the force now to exert. Time felt like it stopped for a moment; although I was still aware but not like before. The bones reset for now; however, the damage was severe and my healing powers weakened. The tendons reattached finally when I felt its hands shift.

  The daemon roared.

  Instinctively grabbing for my swords still embedded in the large clawed hands of the beast, I turned the blades and held on. Its giant hands pulled apart. My grip tightened. One of the blades came free while the other stayed in. Using the momentum, I put my foot against the palm of its hand next to where my blade pierced and pushed up. It tore free.

  Gravity released. I was free falling...but not to its torso again. Its breath engulfed me. I knew right where I was falling.

  In all my life, both here in this world and home, I had never been so disgusted. In a pool of rotten saliva I landed. The teeth in its huge maw stood my height. Its jaw collapsed. The fluid level rose. Instantly, I felt the saliva go to work on the skin on my legs. I was thankful that its breath that did most of the damage. It could have just exhaled holding me in the pressure cooker against all those teeth; however, the thought of drowning in even acidic spit was not appealing. Then again, getting swallowed was just as bad.