by Mark Boutros
‘Please, Sags.’ Frong gave him one last kiss.
The sparkle of life left Sags’ eyes. His stomach deflated and his breathing stopped.
Frong stared at his fallen lover.
A numbness gripped Karl’s body. It was like winter had started but only inside him.
‘Sags…’ Marlens stared at Sags.
Sabrinia held her.
There lay Karl’s friend, once smiling and full of energy, now a shell. The crackling of Marlens’ fire fought against the torturous silence.
Karl wanted to comfort Frong. ‘Frong—’
Frong raised a hand, not even turning to Karl. ‘Just… Just leave us, Karl. I don’t want to say anything I regret.’
Karl nodded and walked into the forest.
Settling Dust
Arazod held Quizmal on a chain while Man-Hawks pecked at the flesh of dead Flowfornians.
Arazod turned to Ryza and took a breath. Maybe in the heat of battle she hadn’t heard Karl. He couldn’t risk it. ‘I never killed Father. It was just a story that spread.’ He wheezed.
She shook her head. ‘Worry not, Little Arazod. I’m not going to listen to a human.’ She shrugged. ‘Plus, the story probably made you seem more powerful, and you need that.’
Arazod dug his talons into the pebbles. She always belittled him. He tugged at Quizmal’s chains. ‘What do I do with this thing?’
Quizmal bit him.
‘Argh!’ Arazod shook him off.
Ryza smirked. She nodded at a Man-Hawk, Karza, who approached. ‘Lock it up until we no longer need it.’
Karza nodded and took the chain from Arazod.
‘Wait.’ Ryza crouched, her head level with Quizmal’s. ‘Biting Little Arazod was amusing. But you never attack a Man-Hawk.’ She smiled like a parent would to a child, then swung a wing and slashed Quizmal’s arm. He wept and blood ran from the gash. ‘Get the runt out of my sight.’
‘Yes, General Ryza.’ Karza dragged Quizmal away.
Arnul flew towards Arazod and Ryza. He handed Ryza the Soul Bleeder.
Arazod’s eyes lit up. ‘My Soul Bleeder! Give it to me.’
Ryza held it out for Arazod.
He reached for his axe but she withdrew it and handed it back to Arnul. ‘I think it’s his now.’
Arnul smirked at Arazod. ‘It’s okay. You can have this sword instead.’ He offered Arazod a shazaq.
Arazod reached for it, but Arnul threw it behind him to another Man-Hawk, Jaze.
‘Sorry, Little Arazod. I was talking to Jaze,’ Arnul said.
Arazod wished he was alone with Arnul. He would pluck and skin him.
Ryza patted Arazod’s broken wing. ‘It’s best the ones who fly carry the big weapons.’ She handed him a wooden club.
He’d gone from the only Man-Hawk to the reject among them once again. ‘That makes sense,’ Arazod said, because he had no choice.
Arnul took a pouch from inside his wing. ‘I found something while gathering sticks.’ He removed a green orb from the pouch and handed it to Ryza.
She held the orb to her eye. ‘Well, hello there, Illuminus.’
‘What’s that?’ Arazod asked.
Ryza smirked. ‘The Soul of Illuminus. It’s what Father and I were going to search for before I was attacked. This is the key to us being unstoppable.’
Arazod looked closely at the orb. He was sure he saw the woman inside it scream.
Unconditional Love
A flapping cloud of feathery evil flew through the night towards the tiny parched island of Kanshar, northeast of Flowfornia.
Arazod had dreamed of commanding such glorious evil; instead he dreaded it.
Ryza held him under his arms as if he were a helpless baby Man-Hawk.
Arnul flew ahead and turned around. ‘It’s there.’
A dark, swirling wind blew around a cylindrical tower, covered in a layer of ice.
‘Eratul’s tower,’ Ryza said.
Arnul, Ryza, Arazod and another nine Man-Hawks descended, stopping about thirty paces from the giant stone door.
The grass and soil were dry and hot, but a perfect circle of snow, three feet high, surrounded the tower.
Ryza walked towards the tower. ‘We will awaken Death, and then command him to kill anyone who even looks at us the wrong way. With him, we make the rules. We build a world we want and the rest obey or die.’ She stepped from the grass into the snow and dark wind. Her feathers blew chaotically and she held her chest and coughed. She leapt back onto the grass, her eyes bloodshot with panic.
Arazod had only seen that expression when Lord Ragnus twisted her neck.
Arnul rushed over to her and held her. ‘What is it?’
She shook him off and caught her breath. ‘Something isn’t right.’ She plucked a feather from her leg and dropped it. It fell like a stone and shattered. ‘Frost magic.’
‘Make a fire,’ Arnul commanded the others. Three Man-Hawks nodded and opened a sack of supplies containing weapons, sticks, and food. They prepared a fire.
Arnul approached the snowy line and stretched his arm into the dark of the wind. His feathers blew and he retracted his arm, the tips of his feathers frozen.
Ryza flew up and tried to approach from the sky, but was faced with the same problem. ‘Gah! It’s like a hurricane of ice.’
A Man-Hawk handed Ryza a torch. She turned to Arazod. ‘Little Arazod. Take this and see how far you get. Tell us what you see.’
Arazod took the torch and stared at it. ‘What’s this going to do?’
Arnul smirked at him and Ryza didn’t seem to care.
He’d freeze to death, but maybe bravery was the path to acceptance. He stretched his free arm in front of him and a chill bit his claws. His nerves stung, stabbed by icy knives, and he coughed as if his throat wanted to leave his neck. This was a suicide mission. He stepped back, his beak trembling.
‘What are you doing?’ Ryza asked.
‘It would be better to send someone who can fly. They can get in and out faster.’ He wrapped his working wing around his body and rubbed it up and down his arm.
Ryza’s beak twitched. ‘Coward.’ She snatched the torch from Arazod and handed it to a Man-Hawk, Felzun. ‘But he’s right.’
Felzun nodded. ‘It would be my pleasure, General.’
That’s all Arazod wanted; to be respected like that. Even when Ryza and his father were gone, he was entitled to become the Supreme Man-Hawk and they were meant to accept him by Man-Hawk law, but they mocked him because his broken wing made him different.
Felzun flew into the magic. The faint light of the torch extinguished and her silhouette froze and crashed to the floor. The scream and shattering drove Ryza to leap in and pull Felzun out.
Ryza collapsed, dotted with blood from where her skin cracked.
Arnul and the others surrounded Ryza and Felzun and warmed them with their wings.
Arazod stared at the red patches of snow where pieces of Felzun’s leg were buried.
Ryza called two Man-Hawks over, Rezna and Hix. ‘Take her back and get her fixed.’
They lifted Felzun’s unconscious body and flew away, her wound already frozen shut.
‘What do we do?’ Arnul asked.
Ryza stood. ‘We’ll never get in there like this.’
‘We need magic of our own,’ he said.
She rubbed her feathers. ‘The Gauntlet of Seliria.’
They flew back over Flowforn Forest, towards the castle.
Ryza carried Arazod and didn’t say a word.
He wasn’t sure whether that was good or a bad. At least she wasn’t insulting him or calling him Little Arazod.
‘There,’ Ryza said. She and the remaining Man-Hawks descended into an open area by a stream.
‘What’s there?’ Arazod asked.
Ryza dropped him from so high his ankle cracked against the hard mud.
‘Argh!’ Pain shot through his leg.
Ryza landed in front of him and smiled. ‘Sorry, Little Arazo
d. Clumsy me.’
The Man-Hawks circled Arazod and screeched, creating a tornado of noise and terror.
Ryza’s hand moved to the Grave Blade’s grip.
‘No.’ Arazod crawled away. ‘I didn’t kill him. I told you.’
Ryza stepped towards him. ‘I believe in using my enemies until they no longer serve a purpose.’
‘Enemy?’
She shrugged. ‘You can’t fly. You don’t follow orders. And worse yet, you tried to kill me.’
His heart raced and his feathers stood on end. ‘No, no—’
Ryza dug her talons into Arazod’s wounded ankle. He screamed into the night. She unsheathed the Grave Blade and dug it into the dirt between his legs. The blades welded into its side all faced him. ‘One of the last things I saw when that freak twisted my neck was your little head poking out from behind some rocks. And it wasn’t poking out to see if it was a good time to rescue me. Your little beak was smiling.’
She had known the whole time. Arazod searched the circle of Man-Hawks for a sympathetic face. They all smiled. ‘Please. I was stupid in the past. I’m ready to serve you with all my loyalty. We can make the Man-Hawks great again.’ He struggled to his knees and bowed his head.
She kicked him in the chest, leaving bloody dots where her talons pierced his skin. ‘To be fair to you, I would have done the same if I had to clean our father’s dung nest while you enjoyed gifts and everyone’s respect.’
Arazod pushed himself to his feet and hobbled away, but Arnul shoved him back towards Ryza.
He fell in front of her. ‘Please, Ryza. We’re family.’
She smirked and held his chin. ‘Apparently you don’t have any siblings.’ She raked her claws from the top of his head all the way down his face. The screeches of the Man-Hawks grew wilder, ringing in his ears. Blood covered his eyes.
Arazod turned to flee but pain ripped through his working wing. The Grave Blade poked through it. ‘Wh… What?’ His legs weakened.
The blade jerked upwards and tore his wing off.
He screamed and fell to his knees. His wing thudded onto the soil in front of him.
Claws gripped the top of Arazod’s head. He knew what was coming and could do nothing about it.
‘You’ve never been one of us,’ Ryza said.
‘Mercy,’ he pleaded. ‘Mercy.’
The sword pierced his broken wing and blood filled his mouth. Ryza’s blade sawed back and forth until his wing came off.
Arazod fell beak first onto the soil. Pain was everywhere.
Ryza’s talons dug into his back and she spat on the back of his head. The other Man-Hawks spat all over him.
He turned his aching neck to his side. The point of the Grave Blade dug into the mud by Ryza’s talons.
She kneeled and smiled. ‘I don’t want to kill you, Little Arazod. That would be too kind.’ Her eyes showed only hatred. ‘I want you to die.’ She stood and kicked him in the face.
His body burned warm and stung cold. He stared at his wings. Arnul picked them up and threw them into the stream. They floated away, leaving a bloody trail.
Arazod closed his eyes and felt every tingle of pain, compounded by the agony of rejection. He wished he had run into the icy hurricane.
Teamwork
Karl sat cross-legged against a tree stump and stared at the night sun. Tears rolled down his face. Just like that, life stopped. Earlier in the day Sags was getting married, probably planning everything and imagining a future. Now he was gone. How could life blow out as easily as a candle? Worse yet, everything else continued moving as though Sags didn’t matter.
‘Life is death,’ Karl muttered Illuminus’ words. ‘Life is death.’ That’s all life was; a journey towards death, covered in deaths until it was time for your own death. He closed his eyes and rested his head.
Illuminus’ screaming face crashed into Karl’s mind. She screamed the words until they rang in his ears and made him sweat. Her face reddened and she pointed at him. His head throbbed.
‘Karl…’ A hand touched his shoulder. ‘Karl,’ Sabrinia said.
Illuminus disappeared and he opened his eyes.
‘Are you okay?’ Sabrinia asked.
He reached for her hand but she pulled it away. ‘I’m as okay as I can be.’
She folded her arms and huffed. ‘Why? Why didn’t you run when I called out to you?’
He swallowed. ‘Because I was trying to bring my mum back to life.’
‘What?’
‘That orb you saw me holding. It has the power to resurrect someone.’ He hung his head, wanting to avoid her reaction. ‘I lied to you, because if I told you what it did, and then saw even a hint in your eyes that you might want it to bring your dad back, I would’ve given it to you.’ He swallowed and hoped for understanding.
She looked at the grass. ‘Sags died because you were being selfish.’
Karl stood and stepped towards her but she raised her palm.
‘If you had a chance to bring back someone you loved, you would’ve done the same,’ Karl said.
She scratched her arm in that way she did when she was uncomfortable. Her disappointed eyes locked on his. ‘That’s the difference, Karl. In that situation, with life on the line, I would have let her go.’
Karl shook his head. ‘You don’t know that. Unless you’re the one in the situation, you don’t know.’
‘I do, because I put others before myself.’
He needed to let her vent so he took a breath, but the tension built inside him. ‘Yes, it’s all about duty to others. So much so that you never do anything for yourself.’
‘What do you mean by that?’ She stared at him.
He’d made it clear enough he was talking about her marriage to Arazod. Karl turned his back on her and focused on the night sun, unsure of what to say. He’d said enough.
‘Well, I’d rather live setting an example to others than be the reason they die.’
Karl’s body deflated. She was right. He closed his eyes until her steps faded away. He sat on the grass, lay back and rested his head against it. He decided to sleep and hoped that when he woke up it would all be different. He closed his eyes and drifted.
Life is death.
Karl stood alone on green sand on the shore. Green fog rose around him and green fibres throbbed on the horizon like a barrier between him and the world. He turned and Illuminus leapt on him, knocking him down. ‘Life is death.’ She punched his chest and scratched his face. ‘Life is death, life is death.’
He tried to shout, but no words formed. His heartbeat echoed around him until it was so loud his head stung.
Illuminus lifted her hand for one final strike.
Karl woke up confused, sweating, his breath fast and his chest heavy. He wiped his forehead. Life is death. It must be her protesting, knowing that because she’s a rune, as soon as she’s used, she’ll die. He had to use her though. He was so close to being with his mother again, but he had to accept that wouldn’t happen, because he needed to bring Sags back to life.
Karl crept by Sabrinia while she stared at the castle, no doubt thinking about her people. He picked up his helmet, put it on and strapped his shield to his back.
Marlens slept at the foot of the stump where Sags lay. Her eyes twitched as though in a nightmare.
Poor Frong kneeled by Sags, held his hand and rubbed his forehead. ‘I’ll go back to Vasen and spend my sunsets at the table where we met. You remember? The sun stroked the yellow beads that hung from the tavern posts. I was eating fresh berries and you snatched one from me and ate it. I thought you were going to attack me, but it was simply your strange way of saying hello because you were nervous. Then I told you to go away and you did, but luckily we met again.’
Karl bit his bottom lip. He strode through the forest towards Flowforn. He would make things right.
Man-Hawks patrolled the skies. He couldn’t figure out a safe way in, but maybe if he snuck over the boulder by the collapsed wall he could take she
lter in the tavern and work out the next stage of the plan. If he was lucky, the Soul of Illuminus was still in the cemetery.
He waited until a Man-Hawk flew away. He stepped out of the cover of trees but a strong arm wrapped around his neck and pulled him back.
‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Frong said.
‘I’m getting him back.’ Karl struggled against Frong’s grip.
Frong turned Karl and pushed him against a tree to face him. ‘You don’t even have a weapon!’ Frong clenched his fist and his eyes burned into Karl. ‘He died to save you and you want to throw away that gift?’
Karl’s face was hot and tears filled his eyes. ‘I don’t care if I die. I’ll get the soul and throw it over the wall to you and you take it to him. It doesn’t matter what happens to me. I just want him back. If I wasn’t selfish, if I wasn’t so desperate, then—’
Frong pulled Karl into a hug.
Karl wept into Frong’s shoulder. ‘I’m sorry—’
‘Shh.’ Frong squeezed him. ‘Just…’ Frong should have been punching him, but as always, he was full of love.
‘What’s going on?’ Sabrinia asked.
Frong released Karl but kept an arm on his shoulder. ‘He wants to recover the soul to save Sags. I won’t let him.’
Sabrinia nodded. ‘Running in there would be stupid. One stupid decision has already cost us.’
Her words stung.
She gazed at her broken home. ‘But we do need to resurrect Sags. And we do need to save innocent people before there are any more casualties.’
Frong nodded. ‘What do you propose we do?’
Sabrinia pulled at her hair and narrowed her eyes. ‘As much as I want to rush in there, trying to fight them would be suicide. The other option we have won’t be much better.’ She gazed away from Flowforn. ‘Southeast is Barma, the home of the Barmashin tribe. They wanted to live in Flowforn, but my father turned them away because of their bizarre customs and beliefs.’
‘What if they find the soul?’ Karl said, not wanting to leave when they were so close.
‘We need to hope that if they do, they don’t know what to do with it,’ she answered.