Terry W. Ervin

by Flank Hawk

  I scrambled to my feet to face the second dog when a furry form shot from the water. I knew it was Lilly. She and the attack dog spun and tumbled in a flurry of snarls, squeals and snapping jaws. They were moving too fast for me to help. The first, bloody-faced dog staggered to its feet and dropped. When I turned back, Lilly had her jaws clamped tight on her foe’s jugular. With a savage head shake, Lilly tore away its throat, killing it.

  The two goblins who’d released the dogs were shouting and closing on us. Lilly stood on her haunches, looking from the goblins to me. Her dark eyes stared into mine and with a twitch of her head, signaled for me to follow.

  I thought about telling her to go without me, but knew better and followed her to the palisade. Fifty yards to the east along the base of the wooden wall, a patrol of eight goblins raced towards us.

  Lilly stopped near the water’s edge, squealed and patted her paws on her shoulders. I sheathed my sword and grabbed on to the fur near her shoulders. It was too oily to grip, so I wiped my leather gauntlets on my armor and reached around her shoulders and locked my hands in front of her chest. Just as I held my breath she dove into the depths of the stream, and with feet and tail, propelled us through the water. A tip of wood snagged my armor, but I held tight as she carried us under the palisade and to the surface on the other side.

  Lilly kept to the stream for another twenty yards until it became too shallow. We made it to shore, covered slick in the grimy, foul smelling water. It stung and burned my eyes, but I got to my feet and began moving along the road.

  Lilly shook off behind me. I pulled off my right leather gauntlet, turned it inside out and used it to wipe around my eyes. The siren, while alerting the stronghold, was so loud that it also interfered with the enemy’s ability to coordinate. That wouldn’t last.

  Lilly bounded off the road into some brush. I followed. Once there she started groaning and I knew that she was changing back to her human form. I looked back over the brush, and spotted some goblins running along the platform inside of the palisade, scanning the road and terrain for us.

  I checked the pocket watch. “Five minutes until the bomb explodes,” I warned Lilly. “Goblins and ogres are coming out of the gates!”

  Lilly faced away from me, on her hands and knees. The fur on her back was being absorbed into her skin. Her ears reformed while sliding into place on the side of her head. Exhaling deeply she grabbed her shirt and threw it on. Not bothering to button it she said, “Let’s go.” She grabbed her dagger and other equipment bundled in her tattered vest before dashing from cover onto the road. Wincing, knowing the pain running would inflict, I followed.

  “I hope the Crusader cleared the path,” she said.

  “I hope we can out run those ogres.”

  Repeated cracks of gunfire sounded ahead. It was Roos and his weapons.

  Lilly and I looked back. The goblins had slowed, but the two ogres urged them on with fists and threats.

  “There’s a black-robed man among them,” warned Lilly, looking back at me. “Hurry up!”

  “I can’t,” I said, trying to keep pace. “Sorcerer wounded my heart.”

  She slowed. “Is that him following?”

  “I doubt it,” I said. “Unless…he’s on…horseback.” A few paces later I added between breaths, my chest beginning to tighten and burn again, “Necro…mancer.”

  “Shut up!” shouted Lilly. “Don’t talk, just run! Or they’ll catch us.”

  She had to know that they were going to catch us.

  Chapter 32

  I stumbled and dropped my sword. Lilly snatched it up and caught me under her shoulder before I fell. “You’re a healer,” she said. “Heal yourself.”

  The pain again began to spread across my chest and into my left arm. I couldn’t keep running. “Leave me.”

  “No,” Lilly said, hauling me over her shoulder. “Heal yourself.” She continued running. Faster than I’d been trotting, but not by much. “Do it!” Fear accented her grunting demand.

  I craned my neck to see a small gap had grown between the ogres and the following necromancer and goblins. The big brutes saw no reason to hurry. We were easy prey.

  “Goblins coming down the hill,” Lilly warned. “Where’s Roos?” She knew he was still a quarter mile away.

  “They’ll kill you.”

  “Shut up and heal yourself.”

  “I’ll try,” I said, closing my eyes to concentrate.

  Just as I finished speaking, the night sky lit up for a fraction of a second. A rumbling heat blast slammed into Lilly, knocking us forward and to the ground. I clamped my hands over my ears and huddled close to Lilly. The ground shook as if a hundred horses were stampeding past.

  I don’t know how long it continued. Certainly not very long. If we were on the ground, the ogres were down too. I shut out the chaos and sought the ribbons of energy. They were there, but rippling and frayed. I reached out to one anyway, directing it into my chest. The ribbon split off from the stream with relative ease, and it was infused with many times more energy than any I’d ever dared call upon.

  Pain drained away, from my chest first, then to my arms and jaw. I took a deep, pain-free breath.

  Lilly grabbed my arm. “All I see is spots, Flank Hawk, but I think they’re fading.”

  I looked up at Lilly kneeling over me. “I’m better too.” I stood and pulled Lilly to her feet. North, where the stronghold once stood, fires burned. A slow breeze drifted past us, feeding the mushrooming cloud that darkened the starry sky above the flames.

  Fallen trees covered the hillsides while rockslides encroached on the road, blocking it in some places. The ogres and goblins were getting up and looking back at the devastation. The black-robed necromancer pointed at us and shouted, “Magga dubs!”

  I grabbed my sword from Lilly and took her hand. “Come on.”

  “I can’t see, yet.”

  I sheathed my sword. Pulling her along, I said, “Just stick with me. They’re coming again.”

  “You’re better,” she said, running alongside me. “I knew you could do it.”

  “Rocks are blocking the road ahead.”

  “I see them now.”

  We scrambled over the mound and ran on. The devastation wrought by the bomb fell off quickly and we passed fewer toppled trees and smaller rockslides as we fled. The ogres’ size enabled them to climb over the obstacles more easily and with each stride they gained on us.

  Thud! A rock the size of my skull bounded past. I looked over my shoulder in time to see another rock arcing downward. I pushed Lilly aside, causing it to miss her by inches.

  “We’ll have to fight them here.”

  She pulled her dagger. “Two ogres? You don’t even have your spear.”

  The ogres slowed to a trot, huge yellow-toothed grins hanging on their brutish faces. They hefted their clubs in anticipation.

  “At least they’re not armored,” I said. “Go for the tendons behind the knees.”

  “Gaaff, da grull haw,” said the one on the left facing me, twenty feet away.

  “Goll grull haw awhk!” Lilly and I shouted back in unison, transforming their grins to snarling bellows.

  Crack! The ogre on the right staggered back with blood gushing from its face.

  “Take him, Lilly,” I urged, charging left to take advantage of Roos’ unexpected attack.

  Lilly ignored the wounded ogre and followed me. I ducked under the ogre’s club as he swiped at me. I hacked at his shin and dove away. Lilly stabbed at its leg behind the knee.

  The ogre swung his left fist in a backhand swipe, clipping Lilly in the shoulder. She spun and landed at the feet of the gunshot-wounded ogre. Stunned, Lilly was too slow to roll away before it stomped a heavy boot down, pinning her dagger hand to the road.

  Lilly screamed, and I cried out her name. My foe swung again, nearly clubbing me while blocking my path to Lilly. The gunshot ogre lifted his other foot to crush Lilly as she writhed and punched, trying to get away.

>   Crack! Roos’ rifle spoke again, taking the gunshot ogre in the face a second time. It staggered back, away from Lilly. The Crusader charged forward chanting his battle call.

  My ogre turned on the Crusader, knocking away the rifle before Roos could drive his bayonet home. The blow must’ve numbed Roos’ fingers, as he fumbled for his revolver while backing away.

  I charged in and slashed deep into the ogre’s hamstring. Instead of backing away I sidestepped and thrust my sword’s point deep into the ogre’s thigh just above the knee. Crippled, the bellowing ogre fell, and I was upon it. I stabbed into its stomach, upward, tearing into lung, and jumped away from the bleeding ogre’s balled fist. I thrust my sword again, deep into its neck, taking the remaining fight out of the dying brute.

  Roos dispatched the other ogre with his saber while I ran to Lilly. Her hand and arm below the elbow was crushed and bloody. For a second I thought she was dead instead of unconscious.

  “Hawk,” called Roos. “The enemy!”

  I looked up. Seventy-five yards away, surrounded by a half dozen goblins, stood the necromancer. With hands raised, he’d summoned from the hillside a horde of zombies in rotted clothes, at least fifteen of them. All bore rusted swords and shields emblazoned with a faded long-toothed tiger emblem. They shambled to join their summoner.

  Roos tossed me his wool jacket. “Wrap her in that.”

  I told Roos, “Shoot the necromancer.”

  “My rifle is shattered and the enemy gathers beyond accurate revolver range.” He looked down. “It will not matter, friend Hawk. Souls are bound to these undead. They will descend upon us no matter.”

  “Take Lilly,” I said. “I’ll slow them.”

  “Nay, friend Hawk. ’Tis my fate at hand.”

  I lifted Lilly and tried to hand her to him. “Save her.” I looked back to the gathering enemy. “Now!”

  “Nay, Hawk. My vision of the enemy before the rising smoke and flame is at hand. As I told ye, my fate is to die for thee.”

  I recalled prior to battling the giant, Roos saying his fate was to die for me. But he was wrong. We defeated the giant.

  “The enemy is prepared, friend Hawk.”

  “You can’t defeat them.”

  “We cannot defeat them.” His determined gaze bore into me. “Like moths to a flame, I shall draw them unto me.”

  The enemy advanced. Zombies shambled ahead of the goblins. I looked at Lilly, stirring in my arms.

  “If ye do not go, friend, we all shall perish.”

  “It’s not your place to stay,” I said.

  “Ye are wrong, friend.” A look of concern came over his face as he looked at Lilly in my arms. “Carry our friend to safety. Worry not, friend Hawk. All is well with my soul.” With that he turned. Saber raised and revolver ready, he strode forward, singing. Vibrating power radiated from his voice, more so than I’d ever felt from him. Ten more zombies scrambled down from the hill to join their summoner.

  I lifted Lilly over my shoulder and ran, too ashamed to look back. It was my mission, and I was allowing Roos to bear my responsibility, even as I bore Lilly away. Goblins screamed and jeered while the souled zombies cried out in pain and fury. I nearly stumbled when his revolver sounded.

  Chapter 33

  I carried Lilly past the watch platform where two ogres, dead from bullet wounds, and five goblins slain by saber and bullets, lay scattered nearby. I stopped at the stream near the thicket camp where our supplies were hidden to check on Lilly, drink and rest a moment.

  The pocket watch showed twenty minutes had passed since the bomb detonated. It seemed like a nightmare stretched into years. Even if I had the strength to heal, I could only heal bleeding in others. It didn’t matter. The stream’s foul oils covered the powdered white oak bark.

  Distant movement on the road caught my eye—the shambling gait of zombies. Souled ones could mimic the living, but these must’ve lost what little humanity remained while standing dormant for centuries. If I could see them move, they could spot me, so I laid next to Lilly, flat on my stomach among scattered clumps of weeds. Groaning, she started to come to.

  I placed my hand over her mouth, and whispered, “Quiet. Enemy’s near.” Her jaw clenched under my hand. I could only imagine the pain from her crushed arm.

  Three goblins with two leashed guard dogs were ahead of the zombies, tracking us by scent. It wouldn’t take a mudhound to find us.

  I looked down at Lilly. “Stay here. I’ll be back,” I lied, and crawled across the stream. I turned to see her huddled in pain, watching me, so I signaled silence with a finger before continuing.

  Then I stood and ran. The dogs spotted me and barked.

  Lilly sat up and yelled, “Flank Hawk, NO!”

  Damn her, I thought, now we’re both going to die. Roos sacrificed himself for nothing.

  I stopped in the road and faced the confused enemy. Looking between Lilly and I, the biggest goblin signaled the zombies to attack me while they and the dogs turned on Lilly. Instinctively I ducked as a dark shadow shot from behind overhead. A column of fire raked through the goblins and zombie horde alike. Dying screams and yelps ended after several tortured seconds.

  The dragon banked and swooped back around, but instead of making another pass it brought its wings up and flapped, landing with a recognizable thump I’d somehow forgotten.

  “Flank Hawk!” called a familiar voice. “You appear in need of a ride.”

  “Road Toad! What are you doing here?”

  He laughed. “Never doubt Imperial Seer Lochelle.”

  “Best hurry,” warned the aft-guard. It was Corporal Drux, the Sun-Fox guardsman who’d come to our aid that rainy night after visiting the One-Eyed Pelican. “Being caught on the ground with ogres and other creatures about shouldn’t happen to any serpent cavalryman worth his salt.”

  “Can you carry two?” I asked.

  “The seer told of three,” Road Toad said, giving me a sinking feeling that Roos need not have sacrificed himself.

  Corporal Drux corrected, “The seer said two travel with Flank Hawk, making it three. But only two would emerge from the fire. Or none at all.”

  I tried to not think about Roos for the moment and ran to get Lilly. She insisted on walking despite the pain. Drux lifted her up to the center saddle and strapped her in. He reached into a saddlebag and unwrapped flattened paper holding leaves covered in powder.

  “Here,” Drux said. “This’ll help with the pain.”

  Lilly opened her mouth and he slipped in two leaves. “Thanks,” she said through gritted teeth.

  “Are you okay?” I asked Lilly.

  She nodded, wide-eyed, realizing she was lashed to a dragon’s saddle, about to take flight.

  “Come sit in front of me for now,” Road Toad said to me, looping a leather strap through several saddle rings. “Once we’re clear we can make arrangements for claw-bound travel.” He laughed again as I climbed aboard. “I am sure you have quite a tale to tell.”

  “As do you,” I said. “Is the prince safe?”

  “He is,” said Road Toad, snapping the reins. “Up, Flame Lance. We’ll want to cover many miles before sunrise.”

  Epilogue

  Road Toad and Corporal Drux were in the ravine tending to Flame Lance when Lilly came to. She sat up, wincing at the pain from her crushed hand, despite the pain-numbing leaves she swallowed. I put my arm around Lilly and helped her to a sitting position. “Hurts?” I said, unable to think of anything else.

  She nodded with clenched teeth and looked around the camp.

  I reached for Road Toad’s canteen. “No fire. Are you thirsty?” I held the canteen to her lips while she sipped. Lilly was enduring the pain of her crushed hand far better than I could have. “Corporal Drux thought you’d sleep until nightfall,” I said. “Must not have given you as much medicine as he thought.”

  Lilly examined her wrapped hand held in a sling before glancing down at Roos’ wool jacket I’d balled up for her pillow. She then obse
rved Road Toad and Drux in the ravine below, rubbing an oily salve over a half-healed wound along Flame Lance’s scaly tail. She met my gaze before frantically turning her head, searching the camp again. Tears welled in her eyes and her bottom lip quivered. “Where’s the Crusader?” she asked. “Roos, where is he?”

  I slid closer to Lilly. Her eyes stared off for a second, at first wide in horror, then softened to sadness as tears began to flow. “He’s dead, isn’t he?”

  I nodded, not trusting my voice to answer. Up until that moment I almost expected Roos to march into camp complaining with a wry smile that Lilly’d shirked her responsibility to gather firewood. I held her close. “He saved us.”

  Lilly didn’t recall anything after the ogre stomped her hand and she insisted I recount everything. After I did, she said, “I was so mad at him that night he risked the sword to free those slaves. I didn’t care if he got killed, and told him so.”

  “That was a long time ago,” I reassured her. “It had nothing to do with what happened.”

  “He said, ‘Much as ye desire to be rid of me, friend Lilly, ’tis not my time.’” She wiped her tears on her sleeve. “I thought he was mocking me, and I told him the sooner his time came, the better. Then he said, ‘I shan’t disappoint ye, but not tonight.’” Lilly pounded her good fist into her lap. “He knew.” Her voice trailed off as she muttered, “He named me a friend, accepted me for what I am and still I hated him.”

  “You didn’t hate Roos. I know it and he knew it.”

  “I never told him.”

  I wiped a tear from Lilly’s cheek. “Remember on the truck with Colonel Ibrahim? Roos said, ‘The best witness to faith or friend is through example and sacrifice.’ Who dove over the side of the Sunset Siren after him?”

  She sniffed. “But he’s gone and I miss him.”

  Lilly wept for an hour, clinging to Roos’ jacket before chewing another leaf from Corporal Drux and finally falling asleep.

  I sat against a nearby tree, unable to nap as, stirred by Lilly’s grief, haunting images of Guzzy, Pops Weasel, Short Two Blades, Shaws and Roos dying, sacrificing their lives in the struggle against the Necromancer King, all surfaced. The hundreds of soldiers, many were only faces without names, played across my vision even when I closed my eyes. Then there was Piyetten.