by Billy Wong
She drew her sword and sprang at the man, cleaving his second bolt out of the air. He dropped the bow, drew a longsword and walked into the lobby to meet her. Their blades clashed and immediately he was on the retreat, her holding back in the hopes she could avoid killing him for now and take him prisoner. She saw a huge form creep up behind him, holding a marble bust taken off a nearby column. Before she could even cry "stop," the duchess swung it full force into the back of his head.
After hearing the loud crunch of bone and squish of brain, Rose didn't need to check to know he was dead. "Alicia, you idiot—you just killed my lead!" To be attacked by a single such man could have been called a blessing, or at least an opportunity...
"It's chipped," the other woman observed as she examined her improvised weapon. Replacing the bust, she assured no one in particular, "Nobody's going to notice."
"Did you even hear what I said?" Rose asked, hugging her kids. Jacob only sniffed a little while Amber didn't cry at all, and she found herself admiring their resilience. Like parents like children, but she hoped they wouldn't have that strength tested too much in youth.
"I heard. I just didn't feel the need to comment." Alicia crossed her arms over her great chest. "You needn't be too stressed over it. You think he would've attacked you without letting his friends know you were here first? We should probably get ready to welcome quite a few more 'leads.'"
Rose hadn't seen the Lost do anything that might be taken as a signal. But she had encountered beings which used mental links to communicate before, and figured Justin might be able to establish such a thing with his newfound magic. In that case, they might have a battle soon ahead. "So what did you want to tell me?"
Alicia invited Rose into her den, where she and the kids sat fireside while the duchess poured them both drinks. Kestrel was there too, standing by the door as if to better listen for approaching visitors. "So about that 'friend' of yours who's corrupted by evil, but you don't want to kill? I did some research as to what might be able to help you, and found there's a legendary pool in Volston that apparently drains the magic from anything placed into it. So maybe if you could get your friend down there..."
"It might be able to cure him," Rose finished for her. "Thanks for doing that for me."
Picking old crumbs out from under her nails, Alicia shrugged. "I don't mind. I like your ugly scarred ass. This should finally make up for the time I pulled you in front of that volley of arrows, though."
"Nah, I've long forgiven that. It's not like you profited that much from it. You still got over a dozen arrows in yourself!"
"Well, if you've forgiven it, tell your husband to also. How many did you get, twenty? Fun times—and boy, you hit me hard! Might've hurt more than getting shot."
Probably not, but Rose's punch for using her as a human shield had knocked the Crimson Boar down after their enemies' arrows had failed. And then they'd plucked the shafts out of each other... "So do you have the exact location?"
"Of the pool? I have it marked down on a map."
"Thank you. You can be a jerk sometimes, but I know you're a good person at heart."
Alicia slapped the table beside her armchair, breaking it so that Jacob stared and Amber applauded "Aunt" Alicia. "Who says I'm ever a jerk? I'm just smart." Rose shook her head, and Alicia added with a lusty grin, "You know, Finn is pretty dreamy..."
"Oh, shut up. Just because you have red hair too doesn't mean you can have him."
The Crimson Boar threw back her head and filled the room with booming laughter. When she was finished, she looked closely at Rose and grew more serious. "How has life been for you lately, really? You look like hell, even for you."
"I'm fine. It's not like I've even been fighting or facing danger that much, just... sometimes a threat hanging over you can be worse than it having it in front of you, I think."
"And to think I'd been complaining about being bored, not getting enough violence to satisfy my taste. Might be boredom is better than what you're going through."
"I'd gladly trade this shit for infinite boredom," Rose said.
They sat there for hours, drinking while they reminisced about their lives. Rose tried to keep her descriptions of violence toned down, but Alicia gave no similar consideration until after Rose slapped her and punched her arm a few times. It was all in good fun, though, and they and Kestrel were smiling when a shout from the hallway cut through their cheer. "Lady Alicia, we're under attack!"
"That quickly?" Kestrel asked.
Hearing sounds of battle outside, Rose sighed. "Magic, I guess."
They all faced the door, the only obvious route of entry. But then the wall blew open in a cacaphonous explosion. They saw through the huge hole Justin standing there, The Lost running forward around him.
"Kestrel, defend the kids!" Alicia said, lifting her giant axe from beside the chair. "We'll handle the attacking."
"Behind me, kids." Kestrel turned back towards the door, as rapid footsteps thumped closer down the hall outside it.
Rose charged to meet the first of the onrushing Lost, deflected a thrown spear with her shield and cleaved down through a blue-armored enemy's blocking axe and face. "You don't have to do this, Justin! There's no need to align yourself with men you hate, we can help you!"
"I don't believe you!" He jumped into the air and flew forward, streaking directly at Rose and Alicia while they slashed down Lost after Lost. At the door, Kestrel cut down a foe who had smashed through the portal, parried a slash from another and kicked him back. Justin reached the women and attacked Alicia, trying perhaps to dispose of the lesser threat first. The redhead met him with no fear, slicing his arm before he ripped the flesh over her ribs wide open in response. She grinned and hurled him back with a mighty uppercut, then shook her hand in pain from the impact with his rough, stony jaw. She ran after him and chopped into his shoulder, took a claw swipe to her breast that spun her away. Alicia faced him again right away, but turned right into a fireball from Justin's hand. A fist-sized miniature sun exploded as it struck her chest, and sent her flying away with the bulk of her clothes burned away.
Rolling to a crouch with arms around her breasts, the smoking duchess gasped, "I'm naked!"
Rose took a moment between hacking down Lost to glance her way. "Alicia! Are you okay?"
"Hurts like hell." Staggering to her feet with her front covered in burns, she tore a man in half with her axe, and Rose figured for now she was just fine. Lost swarmed her thrusting and slashing, attempting to overwhelm her with numbers, but their blood sprayed as it merely drove her to fiercer retaliation.
Rose saw Justin look towards Jacob and Amber as if he considered going after the real easy prey first, and a hiss escaped her lips. She dropped all three Lost between them in one swing, charged and tackled him. She carried him across the room before whipping him down, making a hole in the wall with his head. He kicked her back and slashed her face as he stood, nearly catching her in the eye with a long claw. She thrust, he dodged. A clawed hand shot forward again and Rose brought her shield rim up to collide with his wrist, hard enough to make him grab it in pain. As he stood vulnerable Rose tried to cleave into his thigh, but he jumped aside and threw a gout of flame at her. Her forearm grew painfully hot as she blocked with her shield and begged, "Stop, Justin, this is madness!"
"And your alternative?" he asked as he advanced on her, lashing out with both clawed hands one after the other. "How will you stop the prophecy?"
She took a swipe to the bicep of her sword arm which easily bypassed even her thick armor and knocked him away with a shield blow in return. Hesitating to mention the pool in case any Lost who overheard escaped and decided to destroy it, she simply said, "We have a way. End this foolishness, and I'll help you!"
"I'm sure you'd try." Justin slashed the side of her calf. "But I don't believe it'll work, so why waste time delaying the inevitable?"
They continued to trade blows. When he missed with a double slash, she managed to catch him in a tight b
earhug. "We should at least try. I don't want to kill you. Do you really want so badly to kill my little kids?"
"No, but we have to face reality!" He headbutted her, freeing himself from her hold, and launched a huge lightning bolt into her gut that slammed her to the ground.
Fighting back nausea, Rose staggered upright and spat out a gout of dark blood. "What you're doing is the coward's way. Are you so set on accepting the choices fate lays out for you, that you can't look for another?"
They met in another tempest of slashes and stabs, wounding each other many times before Justin retreated a step. "You're too optimistic! After all the times you've tried so hard and failed, you still think you always have a choice?"
She slipped a poke at her eyes, kicked him in the gut. "Just because I've failed before, doesn't mean I'll admit defeat again before I try."
Blood dripped from both their frames, hers red, his black, but he seemed to sense she was beginning to win. He rose into the air, attempting to take flight, but Rose grabbed a leg and pulled down, driving him into the floor hard enough to make a crater. He rolled over and she stabbed her sword through his leg, nailing him to the ground. She knelt, put him in a choke. She really hoped he still needed to breathe... then heard him start to choke out sounds, and realized he attempted to use magic to break loose. Wanting no part of a point blank spell, she snapped her body backwards, flinging him through the air as the sword pinning him was jerked free. She suplexed him over her head, spiking his skull into the wood.
She still had the hold locked in, and rolled back over his stunned form only to see Alicia in big trouble. One Lost had forced her to her knees by pushing down on a spear in her back, and her lacerated left hand was occupied trying to hold a second opponent's sword away from her throat while the other groped desperately for her dropped axe. Meanwhile, an archer shot an arrow into her side to join the four already there. A couple of Alicia's guards had arrived through the hole Justin made, but neither they nor Kestrel were in a position to help, barely holding off their own foes.
Rose tried to encourage Alicia, shouting, "Come on Crimson Boar, you're too good to die!" The appeal to her pride seemed to give the duchess strength. Able to move just enough to reach her axe, she snatched it up and removed the legs of the Lost before her. But the man holding onto the embedded spear leaned hard on the shaft, and she gasped as its head burst out her chest. And that was all Rose had time to see, for Justin dug sharp claws into her arms, forcing her attention back to him.
Having no choice but to release the choke, she switched to a full nelson which restrained his arms. She slammed his face into the floor again and again, hoping it would keep him too disoriented to cast spells and eventually knock him out. Incredibly, he began to stand with her on his back. She kicked at the back of his knee, forcing him back down. On one knee, he tried to summon his magic again, and she threw her weight forcefully into her hold—cutting off his chant with pain, but also making something inside his neck pop. Rose wondered if she might break it before being able to render him unconscious, and yelled desperately, "Alicia, help!" Please be alive...
Breathing raggedly yet unbent by the spear sticking out of her chest and arrows in her side, Alicia limped in front of Justin and raised her axe. "No!" Rose said. "Use something blunt!"
While her eyes were dubious, the redhead lifted a sturdy wood chair and smashed it into Justin's face. Though it shattered, his struggles only intensified. Scowling, Alicia ran to grab a stone bust off its stand. She momentarily hesitated as she considered what she was about to do, and just then Justin went limp in Rose's aching arms. She wasn't sure how much longer she could have maintained that hold. She dropped his body to retrieve her sword. The Lost all lay dead, none seeming to have escaped, and she felt relief for more than one reason.
Rose limped over to the swaying Alicia to examine her nasty wounds. She sensed movement behind her, though she wished to deny it, as Justin stood. Apparently, he had been playing possum to get her to release him. But as he charged her back, she spun behind him and caught him in a full nelson once more. She pulled his head up and Alicia lunged with heavy bust held high. She swung it down at Justin's head, and a loud boom sounded through the manor. Covered in the dust of the shattered sculpture, he collapsed once more, this time truly out cold.
"How are you?" Rose asked Alicia. "Your chest..."
With trembling fingers, she touched the spearpoint protruding from her right breast and grimaced. Blood bubbled from her mouth, yet she said, "I might not be quite as freakishly tough as you, but I've taken some bad sticks before and it missed my heart at least. I still look good, right?"
She sounded unlikely to die, and Rose gave a weak smile. "Look good? You're a fat naked mess! Hope the kids don't remember too much of this."
"So this is what being friends with you gets someone, huh? I see why you're afraid to make friends sometimes." Alicia groaned as she looked around at her wrecked house and slumped down into her armchair. Kestrel walked over to tend to her wounds, and Rose left to find something with which to bind her captured demon lord.
Chapter 11
Evan sat miserable in his filthy cell, apparently his punishment for defying Victor's wishes the last time he'd been the prince's "guest." He looked through the bars of his tiny window and longed for the freedom the people walking on the street outside had. Freedom, so close and yet so far away. He didn't know if he would ever leave this place, but at least he'd kept Victor from causing more harm by manipulating him into aiding his brother as best he could. Of course, he knew the deception could only last so long, and dreaded to think what would happen to him after.
Arriving for his latest visit, Victor stepped before Evan's cell and demanded, "Any new visions? I feel little closer to my kingdom, and I'm getting impatient."
He worried a little to say what he planned, for he would be telling the truth about his vision this time and was relying on Victor to act in a desirable manner. "Yes, I dreamed the regent will be put in harm's way when he goes to punish Baron Prouw for trying to assassinate him. You must protect him so that you can regain more of his favor."
The prince smiled. "But if he dies facing this danger, won't it be my time to rule?"
"No, it's not time yet. The people haven't regained their trust in you, and neither has Lawrence given his approval again for you to become regent in case of his death, has he? You need to be patient first and get back into the nation's good graces."
"I've waited long enough. And if my brother falls, who else will be in line to become regent but me? Sierra, who's one step above common born? Queen Eleanor who has never led a thing in her life, or Baron Prouw the traitor who will soon be dead? It will be me, who should have been regent in the first place."
"But this is your brother you're talking about! You can't just stand by and allow him to be killed!"
Victor sneered. "My brother, who thought it within his rights to strip me of my princehood and take away everything I'd earned? Why should I lift a hand to help him, when he still owes me that debt?" Victor slid his great sword from its sheath and turned the blade in his hands, letting torchlight glint this way and that off the shining steel. Evan shivered at the coldness in his eyes. "It is not as if I will be the one to kill him. But if destiny calls for his death, why fight it for him? Let his own strength decide if he shall pass this test."
#
After Rose had tied Justin in a cocoon of chains and gagged him to prevent spellcasting, she visited Alicia who lay resting in bed. "So can I get that map now? I know it'd be hard for you to move, but you could ask Kestrel-"
"I could still move if I wanted to." The big woman shook her head. "But as for the map, nope, no can do."
Rose stared at her. "What?! No? Why would you..."
"I'd be perfectly happy to give it to you if I had it. Problem is, I don't."
"You don't? But you said you marked the location down—how do you do that without the map?"
"I did have it." Alicia pointed to her burn
ed-raw chest. "But since I was keeping it under my clothes, your friend's fireball kind of burnt it to ash. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust..."
"That's not funny! Why would you keep it on you? Isn't there any safer place in your house you could have put it?"
"I wasn't expecting a fight, much less to be burned naked. Besides, considering the damage done to my house, who knows how much safer it would have been?"
Rose exhaled. "Well, this is just great. What am I supposed to do with him now?"
"Relax. I can get the location again. Considering I already know who to ask, it'll be easier this time."
Calming down though she still felt annoyed, she asked, "How long will that take?"
"A couple weeks maybe, since Kestrel will have travel down there personally?"
"Thank you, Alicia. I know you've worked hard to help me. Get better, okay?"
The duchess reached up and squeezed her shoulder, and her yet apelike strength assured her she would be fine. "Of course I will. You be careful taking that demon back, you hear? I'll be mad at you if I learn you let him escape and eat those cute kids."
Alicia would be mad? Rose imagined she would be much harder on herself. "Eat? Justin wants to kill my kids, but I haven't seen any indication he'd like to taste them."
"Well, he looks like he would."
"That's... racist or something? Anyway, please try to hurry up with that map."
"Tell Kestrel that. I'll be doing nothing but eating in bed for the next few weeks."
Rose put a cloak over Justin and dragged him back to Gustrone, though making the ship captain let her take him on board took real convincing with coin. Jacob and Amber complained about leaving Weith already, and she promised they'd return soon. She wondered what gift she should give Alicia to help make up for the damage to her property and body. If only Finn could magically enchant an axe without undue risk to himself... maybe she'd just send the duchess some facial creams considering she had gotten a bad cut on her cheek courtesy of The Lost.