by Mark Boutros
‘For Quizmal and Questions, I’ll kill everything. And if I see Arazod I’ll crush his skull,’ Oaf said.
Karl didn’t doubt that. ‘You, Marlens and Sabrinia need to find Questions and Quizmal first. Us two will take Ryza. Hopefully Hargon, Bar Witch, and whoever else they’ve found can help.’
Marlens touched her wet clothes. ‘What if your plan don’t work, Karl? You’ll be dead for nothin’.’
Karl shrugged. ‘If I don’t try, we’ll all be dead for nothing.’
Frong dug his upper teeth into his beard. ‘Please, Karl…’
‘Sags taught me a valuable lesson,’ Karl said. ‘And it was how to find an opening. I’ll create it, then you chop her head off and get the orb. Please don’t tell Sabrinia.’
They stood in silence, made uncomfortable by their semi-nudity. One way or another, they were one sunset away from the end.
Hargon
Hargon leaned his head against the cage. Scattered bodies dotted the snow.
It made no sense. It was warm, but that circle – it was as if someone had taken the tower from the coldest part of Hastovia and moved it, bringing the weather with it.
He’d seen a magic relic at work, but this was weird. He’d love to paint it. A tower with a snowy tower around it. He’d hang it in his room next to the painting of Arazod in the dungeon.
First, he had to survive.
A group of Flowfornians held torches and Man-Hawks forced them into the snow. Two steps and they froze, fell, and never rose again.
The Man-Hawks covered a woman in steel armour and threw a sheet over her. They set her on fire and pushed her towards the tower. Two steps and she fell, her screams disappearing under the snow.
One push of Hargon’s cage and he and twenty Flowfornians would roll towards the same end.
Was this it? He imagined dying of old age, peacefully. He hoped Alf would get a chance to live in more peaceful times.
Man-Hawks draped cloaks over the cage.
‘It’s fine, we’re warm enough already,’ Hargon said.
A Man-Hawk poked its sword through the bars. ‘Shut up!’
‘Rude,’ Hargon replied.
Another Man-Hawk poured oil over the cloaks while another lit a torch. Hargon’s fellow prisoners huddled into the centre of the cage.
Hargon closed his eyes. He should’ve taken his art to villages and kingdoms. Maybe he would’ve made it as a touring artist. Maybe they’d discover his talent in death. If the realm of the dead was real at least he could enjoy success from afar.
‘Good luck, Questions and Bar Witch. It’s been a pleasure.’ It was like there was a spike in his stomach. He closed his eyes, but wild screeching interrupted. He pushed his way to the back of the cage and peered through a gap in the cloaks.
Arazod landed with a Man-Hawk wearing a gauntlet, no doubt Ryza.
The Man-Hawks drew their weapons and surrounded Arazod.
Ryza smirked.
‘You said!’ Arazod yelled. ‘You said they would accept me!’
Ryza chuckled. ‘Rest your weapons,’ she commanded.
The Man-Hawks relaxed their stances.
Ryza pointed at Arazod. ‘Little Arazod is a hero. He found the gauntlet.’
The arrogance Hargon associated with Arazod was gone.
Ryza’s body ignited. Why wasn’t she screaming?
‘That’s amazing,’ Arnul said.
‘It feels amazing too,’ she said. ‘When the spike inside the gauntlet pierced my skin, my veins felt at one with the heat. I am fire.’ She chuckled.
‘What do you want me to do with these?’ Arnul pointed to the cage.
Ryza shrugged. ‘We no longer need to test the magic. I have my way in.’
Hargon’s heart lightened, pleased to be free of a frosty death.
‘But push them in anyway. Saves us carrying them back.’ Ryza disappeared into the frost.
‘Wait! No!’ Hargon yelled.
The cage rolled.
‘Please!’ He shook the bars, hoping he could stop it or make it fall.
A cold energy surrounded his body and gripped his bones, lungs and heart.
He stopped breathing.
A Deadly Resurrection
Ryza flew up through the dark tower and checked every room. She didn’t care about the statues, the books, the treasure chests, the markings on the walls or what they meant. She only wanted to see her prize, her new ally.
She reached the highest chamber of the tower. Death was twice her size and frozen to the ceiling. His lifeless face and hollow dark eyes faced the tiled floor. Rune markings covered the wall and a line of blue stones circled a yellow crystal beneath him.
Ryza approached the circle of stones.
The far wall moved and the ice formed into a ghoul. It floated towards Ryza. Its piercing blue eyes shot open and its mouth released a blast of blue flame.
Ryza shot fire. It blasted through the blue and vanquished the ghoul.
‘So easy.’ She laughed and blasted the blue stones away. She placed her claws on the yellow crystal and heated it until it shattered.
The ice melted away, as did the barrier to her dominating Hastovia.
Ryza waited for Death to fall, but he floated onto his feet and the smoky black in his hollow eyes fixed on her. He had no weapon, but nails like sharp teeth. A terrifying energy poured off him. Ryza realised she was insignificant in comparison to this god.
‘Thank you for freeing me,’ Death said.
Ryza shook her head. ‘You’re mistaken, Death. You are not free.’
‘You are foolish.’ Death raised a hand to strike.
‘Uh uh.’ Ryza held out the Soul of Illuminus and set her hand ablaze.
‘Stop!’ Death lowered his hand. ‘Do not harm her.’
Ryza smirked. The power of love. The strongest weakness. ‘On your knees,’ she commanded.
Death lowered to his knees.
Ryza had true power, true significance. ‘I own you.’
A New Power
Arazod faced the Great Dragon’s cave. That’s what he’d become – bait. He turned to Ryza at the end of the path. ‘We don’t need to—’ he wheezed and struggled.
‘Out with it!’ Arnul said and the Man-Hawks laughed.
‘We don’t need to do this,’ Arazod said.
‘It’s fine, Little Arazod.’ Ryza flew above him. ‘Dragon! We have something for you.’
Arazod stared into the darkness.
The low growl carried the stench of boar-hippo, a reminder of two miserable years.
‘Pidgy!’ the Great Dragon roared. ‘You had me worried.’ Its amber eyes pierced the black. ’Get back in here and make my teeth squeaky-clean. The grot has built up for far too long.’ The Great Dragon blinked. ‘More pigeons. This is nice.’
Arazod hoped the Great Dragon would burn them all.
Ryza held the orb and turned to Death. ‘Kill it.’
‘Dragons are sacred,’ Death said.
‘And a nuisance.’ Ryza’s hand flamed. ‘Get on with it.’
Death turned to the dragon. ‘Know that I do not want this.’ He hovered towards the dragon and stood next to Arazod.
Arazod ran back to Ryza.
‘If that’s the way it is…’ The Great Dragon roared, flew up and engulfed Death in fire. When the smoke cleared, Death was gone and the dragon landed.
Was that it?
The dragon smiled. ‘Silly pigeons. Now it’s your turn.’ His eyes glowed red and the pulsing flame created cracks in his neck. He opened his mouth, but Death appeared next to the dragon’s throat and sliced it open with a swipe of the hand.
Arazod shuddered.
The dragon shrieked and its face slammed against the mountain path.
Death placed his hand on the dragon’s head and its eyes dulled and crumbled. ‘I’m sorry.’ Death hung his head.
Dragon blood flowed over the side of the mountain and towards Arazod. It was too swift. Too simple.
‘Back here.’ R
yza pointed to her side.
Death joined her.
‘Well done,’ Ryza said to him. ‘All of you, chop the dragon up and take a piece of it to any castle and city you can find. Make leaders an offer. Serve our army, or live in the knowledge that their final day is coming.’ Ryza placed a claw on Arazod’s shoulder. ‘And you should all thank Little Arazod. He made this all possible, and is now my second in command.’
The Man-Hawks dropped to their knees and chanted.
‘General Arazod! General Arazod!’
This was it, the moment he’d always wished for. They cheered him and smiled at him, but it was empty.
‘Now, Death. I’d like to speak to my father,’ Ryza said.
Arazod’s neck feathers stood on end.
A blue aura surrounded Death.
‘Are you planning on resurrecting him?’ Arazod wished he’d destroyed their father’s body when he killed him, but he wanted to visit it from time to time to remind himself of his victory. To him, Sarzo’s body was a trophy.
‘Don’t worry your mind, Little General Arazod,’ Ryza replied.
Arnul smirked. ‘Just let Ryza take care of things and enjoy being part of history.’
Arazod couldn’t let her keep this power. She would have to sleep soon, and that’s when Death could kill her. And if she gave Arnul the orb to guard, Arazod would kill him and take Death for himself. Ryza might have always been a step ahead, but Arnul was an idiot.
Grey smoke flooded from Death’s eyes and covered the blue. A cough carried on the smoke. ‘Ryza! You’re alive!’ Sarzo’s voice was like a dagger to the stomach.
‘And you! Ryza, resurrect me so I can rip him apart,’ Sarzo said.
‘I will soon, Father,’ Ryza replied.
‘Supreme Man-Hawk Sarzo,’ he corrected.
‘Sorry. Supreme Man-Hawk Sarzo,’ Ryza said with a hint of irritation.
Arnul dropped to a knee.
‘Where are you?’ Ryza asked.
‘I don’t know. But it’s miserable, and swords fly independently of a master, keeping me from exploring parts of this rocky dump. I’ve had to align myself with an idiot to survive.’
Ryza took a scroll from inside her armour and unrolled it. ‘I need you to tell me where the Stone of Eternity is.’
‘No,’ Sarzo said. ‘That power is for me.’
‘Good luck using it where you are,’ Ryza said. ‘I guess we won’t be resurrecting you.’
‘Ryza!’ his voice shook them.
‘Tell me where it is,’ she commanded. ‘You want resurrection, you tell me.’
‘Very well,’ his defeated voice said. ‘But when you bring me back, I demand time alone with my son.’
Ryza looked at Arazod and her beak curled into a smirk.
Arazod, Ryza and Arnul flew over a forest on an island northwest of Flowfornia.
‘This is it,’ Ryza said.
They landed inside a circle of giant trees.
Arazod wasn’t sure what was going on, but an eerie warmth gripped him.
‘These trees are meant to have been destroyed,’ Death said.
Ryza leaned on one. ‘I’m glad they weren’t. Now, the ritual.’ She wrapped her hands around the orb. ‘You two out,’ she told Arnul and Arazod.
They both left the circle of trees.
‘You see. Father wasn’t after this orb for the purpose of resurrecting anyone or just to command Death. He wanted to use Death to become immortal.’
Every time she opened her mouth, things got worse. Arazod imagined his future, being called Little General Arazod constantly. General by name, outcast in life.
‘Death, make me immortal.’
Black tears rolled out of Death’s eye sockets. He touched one of the trees. A gash formed in the bark and a green liquid poured onto the soil and surrounded Ryza.
Lines of orange light burst out of the other trees and shone on Ryza.
The green liquid encased her in stone. Hopefully she’d suffocate.
The stone cracked and broke.
No such luck.
Ryza grinned at Death. ‘Now I don’t need to rest ever again, so there’s no chance of you killing me in my sleep.’
Death stared at the soil.
Ryza handed the Grave Blade to Arnul. ‘Swing at me.’
Arnul hesitated.
‘Just do it,’ Ryza ordered.
Arazod hoped her confidence was misplaced and that the blade would chop through her.
Arnul swung. The blade stuck in Ryza’s ribs. She laughed and pulled it out. Her wound sealed.
Arazod’s body numbed.
‘The world is ours,’ Ryza declared.
‘Are we going to resurrect Supreme Man-Hawk Sarzo now?’ Arnul asked.
Ryza smirked. ‘He had his chance in this world and he let Little General Arazod better him. My father is where he belongs.’
‘But he is our master,’ Arnul said.
‘Was.’ Ryza corrected and stared at Arnul. ‘We need to move forwards and discard our failed past.’
Arnul nodded and kneeled. ‘Yes, my master.’
Arazod dug his claws into his palms to stop the shaking. He kneeled and stared at the grass. He would never get the better of his sister.
Facing Death
Karl pressed his back against Flowforn’s wall. His home. A home full of unwanted guests screeching in the night.
‘What is that thing?’ Marlens pointed to the sky.
A flying cart the size of five.
Three Man-Hawks carried each corner. Chanting and grunting filled the air.
Frong shook his head. ‘Seems like the numbers have tipped even more heavily in their favour.’
Karl turned to Oaf. ‘The alleys are just over this wall. It’ll be easier to sneak through.’
‘Okay. Shall we have a look?’ Oaf said.
Karl nodded and Oaf lifted him. Karl grabbed the top of the wall and peered over it. Empty. ‘Perfect.’ He glanced at the destroyed King’s Tower and the broken bridge. Parts of the Lookout Tower were missing and he spotted a Man-Hawk pacing along one of the exposed corridors. Karl dropped back down. ‘There’s a Man-Hawk on an upper floor of the Lookout Tower. I’d say that’s where we’re likely to find Quizmal and Questions.’
Marlens switched a purple jar with a yellow one on her belt. ‘Right. So me and Oaf, we’ll look for Questions and Quizmal. Sabrinia, you join us, then get as high as you can to get a good strategic place for shooting them arrows. And you two.’ She nodded at Karl and Frong. ‘You try to get that orb so we can get control of Death and turn the tide. Got it?’
‘Got it,’ Sabrinia said. Karl nodded.
Marlens poured the yellow mixture onto the soil. It ate through the dirt, creating a pit. ‘Good old octo-eagle stomach acid.’ Marlens jumped into the pit and stabbed at the soil beneath the stone wall.
‘Oaf,’ Karl said. ‘If we get through this, do me a favour and put a cage around the pool of tortured souls. That way when you revive another you can put them through a long process of questioning before unleashing a lunatic on the world.’ Karl patted his arm.
Oaf jumped into the pit. ‘Don’t you worry.’ He grabbed handfuls of soil and threw them out of the pit. ‘I’m never helping a tortured soul again.’
Marlens stopped digging and stared at him. ‘If it weren’t for you helpin’, I’d still be a tortured soul, Karl would’ve never been cured of petrification, and Arazod would be rulin’ Hastovia.’
Oaf stopped digging. ‘Sorry… When I have my family back I’ll be less grumpy.’
Marlens hugged him. ‘We’ll do everything we can.’
Oaf bit his bottom lip. He lifted Marlens out of the pit and scooped a handful of dirt. The wall collapsed into the pit and around Oaf.
Karl turned to Sabrinia. ‘Let’s fix our home and this world.’
She held his hand and kissed him. ‘I love you.’
‘I love you too,’ he said. ‘Whatever happens, you’ve been the best thing in my life.’
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She smiled. ‘We’ve still got a lot to experience together.’ She stroked her hair out of her face and addressed them all. ‘Thank you for everything. Let’s try not to die.’
They entered and split into their groups.
Karl and Frong crept through the alleys. No candles shone in the windows and judging by the metallic smell, the blood-stains on the walls were fresh.
‘Are you certain about this, Karl?’ Frong asked.
He poked his head around a corner. They were close to the courtyard where they’d get more of a sense of what was going on. ‘Of course I’m not.’
Frong chuckled, and Karl did too. It warmed his heart that in dark times they could still find something to laugh about.
‘Down here,’ a woman’s voice ordered.
Karl and Frong hid behind an abandoned market stall.
Two Man-Hawks flew around the corner and perched on a house.
‘What do we do now we have all this power?’ one asked the other.
‘Don’t know. It’s a bit weird, really. You work so hard to do something, then when you get it life just gets boring.’
‘Yeah. I never really thought about what comes next.’
‘I guess we sort of, just eat loads until we die fat but relaxed.’
They laughed.
Karl stepped out from behind the market stall and laughed with them. ‘Hilarious. You’re both so funny.’
They looked at each other and drew their shazaqs, but a throwing axe hit one Man-Hawk in the throat, then the other. They dropped to the floor.
Karl took their swords. ‘If we find Flowfornians we can arm them.’
Karl and Frong gazed out of the alley and into the courtyard.
Ryza stood in front of a crowd of Man-Hawks and beings Karl had never seen. There was the orb, on a chain around her neck.
Cyclopes with bald women growing out of their necks stood in front of a pile of Flowfornian corpses.
‘Next,’ Ryza said.
Arazod dragged a rope-bound Flowfornian woman in front of Ryza and then stood by her.
Karl tensed at the sight of Arazod. If he got the chance he’d slit his throat.