“Letting the Old Ones take over was the beginning of our road to progress,” the wolf said, turning away. “You’re a fool if you want to go back to the way things were.”
He joined his team on the far side of the Banefire. Apparently the conversation was over.
I went to Iggy and told him the news. His voice was still weak, and it didn’t have anything uplifting to say.
I took another glance at the sky to check on the state of the moon. The silver orb was crossed by two dark figures.
Ginny and Ninny landed on the ground next to me. They were empty-beaked, meaning their search for a talisman had gone about as well as expected.
I told them about Riss. I told them Ricou hadn’t even shown up yet.
“Actually…” Ginny said.
“What?”
“Ricou is present. We saw him on the way in.”
My back shot up straight. I stood tall and looked around.
“He’s just beyond the Banefire,” the raven said. “Though I’m afraid you’d rather not see him.”
I ignored her advice and hopped over to have a look. Just as she’d said, there was Ricou, throwing a branch onto the Banefire, helping to build the font of fiery energy we’d need to banish the Old Ones.
He looked right at me with his mismatched eyes: the giant black one and its milky white brother.
He blinked once, and turned away.
“Ricou!” I said, but he didn’t seem to hear me. He shambled over to Piranha-face and the giant shadow with the flaming bone-sword. Something slithered about behind them.
The four conversed in a low, slimy language I couldn’t understand.
Ginny landed on my shoulder.
“I’m frightfully sorry, dear. I did try to warn you.”
“I don’t believe it,” I said. “This can’t be happening.”
“The moon has tightened her grip on him. There’s not a thing more we can do. I’d advise you to flee while the opportunity remains.”
The smart decision would have been to take the bird’s advice. I chose to do the stupid thing.
I charged the protectors. The moon wasn’t high enough for the ritual to begin, so no one expected any sort of confrontation just yet; they didn’t even realize I was coming until it was too late.
I snatched up the Sealing Wand from the protectors’ pile of talismans and got out of arm’s reach before they could react. I hopped toward the center of the clearing at full speed.
“Iggy!” I said. “I need a branch, fast!”
The ash moved like a man with old joints, creaking as he bent a branch as low as it would go. I could hear the pounding footsteps of the giant behind me, along with Riss’s angry barks.
I had just enough of a lead to beat them to the tree. I laid the Sealing Wand across a few of Iggy’s twigs and yelled, “Go!”
With a roar of effort, the tree let his branch snap into place. The Sealing Wand sailed across the night sky and disappeared into the wheat.
Something knocked me down and pinned me to the ground.
“Idiot!” Riss said, his teeth bared above me. “Do you think any of this will matter? All you’ve done is slow us down. We’ll find the wand. And even if we don’t, it makes no difference. I heard everything Ricou told you—he doesn’t know where the Banishing Wand is. If neither side can perform their ritual before the moon falls, the status quo is retained by default. You lose, either way.”
The dark giant growled something at Riss and pointed his fiery weapon in the direction of the missing wand. The wolf glanced that way, then turned back to me. His teeth dripped hot saliva.
“You’re lucky you don’t matter, beautiful. I’d rip you open right here, but I’ve got better things to do.” He got off me and started toward the wheat. As he exited the Banefire’s glow, he shouted, “If you’re still here when I get back, you can watch the rest of us weave a better world. If not, I can always hunt you down later.”
The ravens landed next to me.
“Are you all right, dear?”
“I’m fine,” I said, sitting up.
“That was a silly thing you did.”
“It may have been just what we needed. Riss gave me an idea.”
“Oh?”
“I’ve got a job for you,” I said, and whispered something into Ginny’s ear. She and Ninny took off, and I could only hope they’d return before it was too late.
After an exhaustive search Riss returned with the wand in his mouth, just like the obedient dog he was trying so hard not to be. Carpe baculum indeed.
He returned the item to his masters. Piranha-face, the giant and the coiling serpent stood in a half-circle around the Banefire. They had Ricou toss a few last-minute items into the flames—including Auntie Sixgills’s hand, which burned up with no effect—before joining them.
I hopped over and stood alone on the banishers’ side of the fire.
“You’re hopeless,” Riss said from across the way. “You don’t have the Banishing Wand. You don’t even have a Player to carry out your end of the ritual. This will be over in a few minutes.”
“You may be right,” I said. “But if that’s so, I want to be here to see the end of the world. I’d hate to miss any good special effects.”
The moon reached her proper position, and the chanting of the protectors began.
The Banefire’s flames changed colors: purple, green, silver, back to orange. The dead pieces of Iggy popped and snapped, and a soft wind slid through the clearing.
Riss barked, snarled, bared his teeth at me. He was either trying to intimidate or distract me, but it didn’t matter either way: I was no longer a factor in this thing.
I looked at Ricou’s glassy-eyed stare. I wondered if he had any idea what was going on.
The wind rose to a howl. The Banefire changed colors again. I held out hope.
Piranha-face raised the Sealing Wand. He chanted something I couldn’t understand, and in that moment, my hopes began to fade.
Suddenly there came a snapping, as of pennants gently flapping, and I saw something pass under the moon. The dark shape descended on the clearing, and as it got closer I realized it was actually three distinct objects: two ravens, plus the item they carried between them.
Ginny and Ninny landed by the Banefire. They dropped Ula’s loom in the dirt.
Ricou’s good eye fixed on it. I thought I saw a spark somewhere in that oily black well.
My master took a cautious step forward.
“What is this?” Riss barked. “What’s going on?”
“You said something about weaving a new world,” I said. “Let’s see how that works out.”
Ricou reached the loom. He kneeled and moved his webbed fingers toward it.
“Ula…”
He stopped, his hand just short of contacting the wooden frame. His eye rose and caught mine.
“ ‘Talismans aren’t born with power,’ ” I said. “ ‘They’re given power by the people who cherish them.’ ”
Ricou looked at Ula’s loom. He touched it.
He remembered.
“No!” Riss yelled, but it was too late.
Ricou stood, moved both arms in a clockwise arc and thrust his hands at the protectors. The violet flames of the Banefire heeded his sorcerous command and rushed forth to the opposition’s side.
Piranha-face and the giant split to the flanks, but the coiling serpent in the middle was caught off-guard. The flames overwhelmed and crisped him.
Ricou dropped to one knee and the Banefire returned to its previous state. The spell had taken a lot out of him. I hopped over to him and tried to help him up.
“Ricou,” I said. “Are you…”
He put an arm around me, leaned on me heavily. His head was still low, but I saw a smile curl up his face.
“Yes,” he said. “I’m back. And I remember something very important.”
The giant drew its flaming bone-sword. Piranha-face opened his fanged eyelids wide and hissed.
Ricou ro
se slowly to his feet, too strong and proud to need my help. A distance of some thirty feet separated him from the opposition. He reached into the Banefire and stole a flaming brand the length of my body.
“By the power of this spear, let old memories awaken!”
He turned and hurled the shaft of wood. It blazed across the clearing and struck Iggy squarely in the trunk.
There was an explosion of golden-red flames. When the sparks cleared, eighteen fiery runes of eighteen different colors burned in a circle on Iggy’s silver trunk.
The tree’s branches spread wide, as if he’d been caged for centuries and was standing with full posture for the first time.
“Yes!” his voice boomed. “The fog of memory lifts! My purpose becomes clear! I am the Banishing Wand, planted and grown, mighty as the tree of all life!”
Iggy’s branches bent and pointed at the Banefire. A howl like a hurricane wind overtook the clearing, making his leaves shiver and take on a golden glow. The flames twisted in agony.
Ricou took my hand and ran me over to the tree. He shouted above the wind:
“We have to protect him! We have to let him complete the ritual!”
The opposition had other plans.
The giant came at us, while Piranha-face picked up the Sealing Wand and stayed by the Banefire to contest Iggy’s spell.
Ricou shoved me away. We both knew I couldn’t help against the sword-wielding behemoth, but I could at least work on the protectors’ red-scaled leader.
I hopped toward the Banefire. A furry white streak darted past me going the other direction, but I didn’t stop to worry about it. I charged at full speed and threw myself into Piranha-face.
He side-stepped, and I missed.
He took a swing at me with his free hand. The claws narrowly missed, and he tried again with the same result. I was afraid to get too close, but being within my kicking range wasn’t really necessary anyway—as long as I kept the thing with the wand distracted, Iggy was winning.
The Banefire changed colors to something like a bronze dragon’s scales, and the flames grew higher. Whatever Iggy was doing, he’d drawn Piranha-face’s attention.
I took the opportunity to dig into him with both feet, as hard as I could.
My claws barely scratched his crimson scales. He backhanded me, and I rolled away from the fire.
There was a loud, deep roar of pain, and I saw a colossal shadow fall toward us like a felled tree. I don’t know if Ricou had hit the thing with a spell or if Iggy had batted it away with a branch, but either way, the giant was about to turn Piranha-face and I into very flat stains.
I got up and hopped away as fast as I could. Piranha-face ran and dove at the last second.
The shadow crashed to the ground with a thunderous boom. He narrowly missed us both, his dark body having landed just next to the Banefire.
Somewhere in the confusion, Piranha-face had lost his grip on the Sealing Wand. It was on the ground, halfway between us. We both realized it at the same time.
We sprung.
I was faster, but his first lunge had covered too much ground. Even if I got to the wand first, he’d get his claws around my neck.
I tried anyway.
Birds to the rescue.
The ravens swooped past my opponent and took some shots at his face. They distracted him just enough to let me get the wand and hop away.
He got up and followed.
I couldn’t turn and fight him—I’d seen what little effect my claws had on his scales. But I also didn’t know if I could outrun him long enough for Iggy to get the job done.
I hopped and I hopped, my lungs on fire, my mind racing for a solution. All around me I heard wind and screams and growls and barks. The Banefire’s light was a standard flame-yellow just then, and I had no idea what that meant.
I looped a wide circle around Iggy to the darker, non-Banefire side of the clearing, with Piranha-face still in pursuit. I hopped over some fallen leaves and had an idea.
I took a sharp left. After three normal hops, I took a strong leap that broke my stride a bit, sacrificing speed for height and distance.
When I landed, I hit the brakes and whipped around. I turned just in time to see Piranha-face trip over the invisible corpse I’d just vaulted.
The moment he flattened out on his chest, I jumped forward and tested my claws on the olive-green scales of his face.
The armor there was not so strong.
I cut gashes into his cheeks and forehead. I had to stay away from the eyes, because I was worried about the dripping fangs of his lids. Ginny and Ninny swooped in to help. They were a lot more reckless with their beaks, and their aggressive approach paid off.
We didn’t kill him, but I think the birds may have blinded him. That was good enough for me.
I looked across the way and saw the giant starting to get up by the Banefire. He seemed woozy. Iggy’s branches continued pointing into the flames and manipulating the magic there. In all the chaos of light and sound, I couldn’t find Ricou or Riss.
“That looks to be a problem,” Ginny said, watching the giant rise to a knee. “Does it have eyes? If not, I’ve no idea where to go about my pecking.”
I thought about the runes glowing on Iggy’s other side, facing the Banefire. I remembered what he’d said about being the Banishing Wand. I reached into my pouch and pulled out two items, each ablaze with the same golden light as Iggy’s leaves.
“Take these and drop them on the Banefire,” I said. “While the giant’s still close. Hurry!”
Ginny took the apple, while Ninny grabbed the peach. I wasn’t sure they’d be useful at all, but I was willing to try anything.
I watched them swoop by and unload their cargo. As the glowing fruits landed in the Banefire, there came two large explosions that knocked the giant aside.
“Success!” Iggy said. “It is done! The ritual is complete!”
The Banefire shot all the way into the sky and pierced the clouds, a twisting pillar of rainbow flames that bridged our world with another.
I circled the tree and found Ricou and Riss at its roots. The wolf had my master pinned down, but his attack ceased when the Banefire drew his attention.
“No!” he said, watching as the shadowy giant was sucked into the flames and devoured. “You don’t realize what you’ve done! We’re all doomed now!”
Ricou threw Riss aside with the last of his strength. They were both bleeding from a number of wounds, the wolf’s white coat stained red in several places.
I hopped to Ricou’s side and Riss looked at me. He showed his teeth, disgust and contempt all over his bloody face. The only thing he could think to utter was a long, mournful howl as he ran off into the wheat and darkness.
I helped Ricou sit up. He looked bad; the wolf had torn into his arms and chest, and opened a gash on his cheek.
“It’s over,” I said. “Iggy did it. We won.”
A low sound rumbled through the world, long and loud. I thought it was thunder at first, but then I recognized it as the bellow of an enormous octopus-faced creature being ripped through the clouds, clawing for purchase in the sky as it was sucked into the Banefire.
“It’s banishing them,” Ricou said, and coughed blood. “The Old Ones are being pulled into their former world.”
“That’s good. Isn’t it?”
“Yes. But it’s not the type of thing I think we want to stick around for.”
The birds came over to check on us. I helped Ricou to his feet. We limped away from the clearing.
“What about Iggy?” I asked.
“I think he’s happy where he is.”
We entered the wheat and I stopped to look back. As more Old Ones and their minions were sucked into the heights of the Banefire’s flames, the old ash laughed a mighty laugh, the eighteen fiery runes burning brightly on his trunk.
We retreated into the darkness, while around us a new world was born.
Zach Shephard writes fantasy, science fiction and horro
r stories from his home town in western Washington. He spends a lot of time reading and re-reading Roger Zelazny's works, and occasionally goes to the park to throw a boomerang because no one will play catch with him. His fiction has appeared in places like Weird Tales, Daily Science Fiction and Kazka Press's holiday-themed flash-fiction anthology, At Year's End. You can find links to all his work at www.zachshephard.com.
Story illustration by Mike Dominic
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Crash_The_World.exe
by Derek Ferreira
October 28th
My teeth wouldn't stop rattling as I watched the scenery blur into unintelligible streaks of neon lines, corporate logos and a dark forest of lumbering skyscrapers, my forehead resting against the filthy LED window. The sickening shaking sensation wasn't the rail car - no, it hissed along the magnetic track as smoothly as it always had – it was my neurals, they were beginning to 404. But I didn't have the yuan to rig it, so, it looked like I'd just have to enjoy my fresh case of the Vibe. They used to call it the Black Shakes, until the powers-that-be decided that label wasn't PC enough.
“H-H-Holden K...lein!” The window flickered to life with the fuzzy image of a stupidly grinning, mechanically stuttering Anglo, walking across a compgen beachscape. “Isn't it t-t-t-time you had a v-va-vacation? Why, it's been twenty-fi-fi-five years since you've l-l-left New D-Detroit!”
“Skip,” I ordered. It took a moment, but the ad faded and I was left staring out at the skyline that encompassed my only home. Vacation? I had never left the city.
I gritted my teeth and wished the rattling would stop.
“Our station is coming up, Holden.” Hera's voice slid through my frayed neural pathways like aloe on a burn. I had sampled classic synth singers to find the perfect representation for her voice when I designed her. Growing up, I didn't have the money to slave an AI to my core, but I did have a lot of time and access to my father's workshop after he passed. I figured it out.
Hera was a digital phantom, and while other AIs could pass for human beings, I didn’t quite have the technical experience to get her right. She was a stark white, translucent – but beautiful – creation with long hair that flowed like she was underwater. The simplest clothing to design for Hera was a toga, so that was that, though she really does fill it out in a sexy, natural kind of way. She was holding steady, except for the constant mist-like wisps of pixelation.
Lovecraft eZine Megapack - 2013 Page 54