Killing Monsters

by R T Islington

  As they edged closer to the end of the plain, Yoshihiro turned and gazed upon the red field one last time, a field that had hosted one of the greatest battles in Centre Plate history, the battle of monsters! He saluted his fallen comrades and left through the forest.

  Yoshihiro and Vanya had begun making their way through the forest atop of the great land lion, the forest was quiet and calm, Yoshihiro smiled as he relaxed and enjoyed the ride as the tranquillity of the forest seemed to soothe his soul, such a feeling was welcomed after the vicious battle.

  “In the saddle bag on the right, take it,” ordered Yoshihiro.

  Vanya reached into the worn black leather bag and wrapped her hand around the cube like artefact, she smiled, she could feel the magical energy surging within it, the size and weight seemed to surprise the elven warrior and as she pulled the cube out from the bag, she gasped in wonder at the object. “Yoshihiro . . . it’s beautiful.”

  The power cube began to glow and the diamonds sparkled like never before, which caught Yoshihiro’s attention. It was as though Vanya had reached into the sky and caught a star. “I can’t make out the language carved into it . . . tell me, what do you feel?”

  Vanya gazed into the cube upon its glow and tried to decipher the unknown language. “The writing looks to be early in origin, possibly a language from the ancient walkers. I can’t make it out but one of our scholars will be able to no problem.”

  “Well it's yours now, put it to good use.”

  “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about . . . I have a request.”

  Yoshihiro halted his lion sharply. “A request? you are a piece of work woman! In less than a few hours of seeing you, you’re already making me your lapdog! Go on, what is it?

  Vanya giggled and kissed Yoshihiro’s neck, she then whispered into his ear softly. “Didn’t you know that’s what men are for! To serve women!” Vanya propositioned Yoshihiro. “Come with me to Storms Wrath.”

  “Why would I do that? Your people have titled themselves the superior race of Dragons Continent. I’ll probably be caged and poked with sticks like some wild beast.”

  “A wild beast you are darling!”

  “I’m being serious. Why would you ask such a thing?”

  “The king wanted to meet you specifically! The War Hogs have become legendary over the years and the King would very much like to meet you! Also, our king wants to thank you personally for acquiring the cube for us.”

  Yoshihiro pondered on this request. The elven leader, King Ballamaegon was said to be a ruthless warrior and despised the other races. The king's focus had always been the continuous superiority of his people, the king also commanded a mighty dragon named Silence, she was a ruthless killer and had slaughtered many over the years who had tried to wrong the elves. Yoshihiro thought it strange that the elves would freely open their doors to foreigners, let alone somebody like him who was no doubt viewed as a mere human feral brute.

  Yoshihiro couldn’t help but think the elves were after something, he spoke bluntly to his lover. “The king really wants to meet me to say thank you, does he? I don’t think so. There’s something you’re not telling me.”

  Vanya knew she could outwit the sharp swordsman and conceded defeat. “Well . . . there is something else too. He wants everything you know regarding the East!”

  Yoshihiro bellowed with laughter, the fact the elves seemed worried delighted the swordsman. “Well, that has made my day! The smug cocky elves who view themselves as superior to the rest of the map are scared, are they? I never thought I’d live to see the day when the elves would come crawling to me for help . . . the king must be scared!”

  The tone of Vanya’s became serious, she seemed worried too. “I’d be beheaded for telling you this . . . but yes, where fucking terrified. The two kings control armies of two hundred thousand, maybe even more! We have also heard the northern king’s dragon is an abomination and the most ferocious of dragons, the southern king also commands a formidable dragon! If one of those armies invaded . . . I don’t . . . I don’t think we would stand a chance!”

  “Then you're lucky I’m here!”

  “What do you know?”

  “Bellethiel, Astaroth and Angelika have ventured east, they are gathering information on the current situation. The woodlanders also have a spy within the northern kings ranks, he hides well and has provided much information.”

  “I was wondering where the three of them were! When did they leave?”

  “Some days ago.” Yoshihiro said begrudgingly. “I wasn’t happy about it, but I couldn’t stop them.”

  “Very brave and noble!”

  “Yes. They will return with much needed information, as we are led to believe the war is ending soon . . . and then the Centre Plate will be next for the victorious king.”

  “And the rumours of an alliance with vampires?” spoke Vanya fearfully.”

  “It's true . . . The Centre Plate will have to cast aside it’s differences and unify to beat this threat.”

  “Even the oceans will turn red and it will rain blood if the vampires emerge!”

  “I fear you could be right. That’s why I was going to travel shortly after we’ve taken Cutthroat’s Grasp. The mages, dwarves, wolfmen and blood maidens . . . I will meet with them all and try to unify us . . . it’s the only way.”

  An awkward silence befell the two lovers, the talk of war and invasion was a sobering pull back to reality, Vanya whispered again. “So, will you come?”

  “Fine! I’ll meet your king and queen; besides, I’d like to know what your king's intentions are when he has the cube!”

  Yoshihiro and Vanya fell in love during the years they spent together on the revered combat island of Swordsman Shores. For years they trained together under strict and brutal tutoring until they had completed their training. Vanya knew she would have to return to the elven lands and Yoshihiro desired to be the greatest swordsman ever known, there could be no future for them at that time, though they would still meet in secret, away from the elven people who would forbid such a union.

  Vanya still craved a future with her first love, Yoshihiro felt the same way and the mighty swordsman begun perhaps the toughest battle of his life, a battle with his heart.

  “When we left Swordsman Shores, I’ll never forget that heartache. Did you feel it too?”

  “I cried for days,” said Vanya honestly. “We were different people then, I loved you, but you terrified me!

  “How so?”

  “You fought like a man possessed, such anger and hatred in your heart. You started to become . . . like him!”

  “Don’t say his name.”

  “Yoshihiro, we haven’t spoken about that, you killed your best friend.”

  Yoshihiro paused, he didn’t want to engage and speak of this, but he had no choice. “Elarion Salareon . . . I haven’t said that name in a long time. He became wild and out of control, he spoke an unknown language and he seemed full of evil, I tried to reason with him . . . he couldn’t be helped.”

  Vanya also spoke of the mysterious evil swordsman with whom they had once been friends. “When we were children, even then he was different, even the teachers feared him. He’s power and skill were not human, but there he stood, a human that could wield magic! It was his eyes that scared me.”

  “He used to have wild nightmares and would wake up in a rage, cursing and talking of cleansing the map and starting anew. Over time it was like his evil was contagious, he loved watching me kill. He began to consume me!”

  “Davorin sensed it, an unstoppable evil, he knew only you could kill him.”

  “And so, I did. I was rewarded with the green headband, but it meant nothing. I have to live with the sin of killing my best friend, he still haunts me.”

  “The rumours of him being alive and roaming the lands with a dragon, I can’t be true can it?”

  “I don’t want to talk about him anymore.”

  Vanya sensed this was hard for Yoshihiro to talk about
, she decided to change the subject matter. “You’ve built the War Hogs well, they are the most dominant fighting force on the centre now, or so I hear.”

  “I looked at myself and saw an evil, an evil that was present throughout the entire map . . . I was a monster. I’ve seen unspeakable horrors on the battlefield and off it, I knew I had to become a monster to fight the monsters so yes, I built a clan of monsters.”

  “And then Hiroki came into your life.”

  “Yes.” Yoshihiro spoke in a mellow tone as he reminisced of his change of character. “His parents had been slaughtered and he laid upon their dead bodies crying, terrified and alone. I wanted to leave him, but I . . . I couldn’t. I took the boy in and he changed me.”

  “He made you see there is more power in love than there is in war!”

  “Yes, I’ll be forever in his debt for that. I decided there and then, I would rid our world of the evil that preyed upon it. The warlords, rapists, slavers, and child traffickers, all of them. I’ll kill them all and build a new world!”

  “A similar dream to Elarion.”

  “I was nothing like . . . that man. He enjoyed the killing . . . I did it for just causes!”

  “Have you seen him?”

  “I thought we were not to talk of him again!” Having realised he had lost his temper Yoshihiro calmed himself, they had both been friends with Elarion since childhood and his evil haunted them both, Yoshihiro couldn’t help but feel stupid for thinking he would not come up in conversation. The swordsman continued, “Not for many years, though I hear stories. People speak of the formidable swordsman that rides a mighty dragon and seeks out evil, destroying it and bringing peace to the lands.”

  Vanya sighed; it was of a frustrating tone. “In a world full of monsters, people are desperate for heroes. If only they knew of his true nature.”

  “Most people didn’t believe the tales of him. A dragon riding swordsman of justice seems to be a fairy tale for the weak . . . Davorin also spoke of him to me recently. I have no desire to battle that man again . . . I hope our paths do not cross. I don’t have the darkness in my heart anymore to face that man.”

  Vanya placed her hands over Yoshihiro and held them tight. “Tell me Yoshihiro, now the darkness has left your heart . . . is there room for me?”

  Yoshihiro leaned into his love as they kissed again. “My love, there always was. When the East has been defeated, I will lay down my sword and devote myself to something that means the world to me.”

  “And what’s that?

  “You.”

  Vanya squeezed Yoshihiro tight and kissed him passionately, the two warriors had let their guards down and seemed to be very much in love. “That’s why I still wear the ring you gave me when we were teens!”

  Yoshihiro looked upon the jade ring and laughed. “What was I thinking . . . very soft!”

  “It was very soft of you Mr Hiroto.” The two lovers giggled again like children, like the young lovers they once were. “Oh one other thing, this lion of yours . . . does he have a name?”

  “No . . . land lion is fine!”

  “Come on! How would you like it if I called you human!”

  “Your fucking elven people do!

  “You know what I mean, smart ass! I have a name for him.”

  “Go on.”

  “Jumbo!”

  Yoshihiro laughed and leaned into Vanya who held him tightly from behind. “Jumbo! Well he is big.” Yoshihiro petted his lion and stroked its thick mane, he leaned into the beast. “What do you think, how’s Jumbo sound?” The lion roared! “Okay . . . Jumbo it is!”

  Yoshihiro and Vanya continued to venture to Cutthroat’s Grasp were the elven attack unit and War Hogs awaited the arrival of the fearsome leaders

  Chapter 23:

  The Wrath of Tatsuya

  Darius rode his horse as fast as he could, the fat cowardly warlord could sense his pending demise on the horizon, he planned to flee before the War Hogs made their way to his settlement.

  “c’mon, faster!” roared the warlord as he rode his destrier up the spiralling rode that led to the gated entrance.

  Darius was fatigued and tired, sweaty and thirsty, he became lightheaded and nearly fell, he clung to his saddle, the warlords' will to live and escape seemed to be the only thing keeping his body together, still, he became dreary.

  The heads of the decapitated victims that were placed atop of spikes seemed to be staring at Darius, and as he glared back, they smiled and laughed at him. “Your dead, your all dead,” roared the warlord in a terrifying tone. “I’m seeing things, I’m tired . . . this is my fucking mind playing tricks on me!”

  Each head the warlord past smiled and laughed, it seemed as though the heads were goading him from beyond the grave, Darius tried to look away until he heard the heads speak!

  “You did this to us!” bellowed the head of the young peasant girl, tears ran down the face of the murdered woman as her blonde hair blew in the wind.

  “You murdered my family!” shouted another head of a middle-aged man, his flesh had turned green and a crow and taken his left eye.

  Darius rode past another rotten head that had been spiked for some time, the flesh was rotten and green, the eyes were missing, and maggots festered inside the mouth, the head said, “We couldn’t afford to pay your tax, our crops wouldn’t grow. You sent your men round anyway. They raped my wife and daughter and murdered me, now it's your turn you bastard!”

  “Shut up! Shut up, you’re not real,” roared Darius once more. The warlord could make out the entrance to Cutthroat’s Grasp in the distance, four figures guarded the door, the sisters of seasons were armed and awaiting their leaders return.

  “Darius, Darius, look at me.” the warlord halted his horse and turned to see another ghastly hallucination. The head of a young boy was placed upon a spike. The head was fresh and the boy's eyes were filled with rage as he hissed and spat maggots to the floor. “I was hungry, I wanted something to eat. It was just one apple I stole. Your men took my head anyway.”

  “Leave me alone,” cried the warlord who was now low on energy and terrified. He turned and continued his way to the gates; he had finally made it.

  “Darius, what's going on? Where are our men?” roared Winter.

  The warlord fell from his horse and hit the floor with a thud, dust rose upon his fall from the hardened ground and the sisters rushed to him, trying frantically to bring him to his knees.

  “The elves, the fucking elves!” screeched Darius.

  Autumn looked confused as did her sisters, they knew their plan was perfect and the ambush would be enough to wipe out the remaining War Hogs after a tough battle. “Elves . . . what do you mean?”

  “That cunt bested me!” shouted Darius. “I had him, victory was ours until his whore lover showed up with an elven attack force. She rode her dragon and burned our men to ashes, that fucking bitch!”

  Spring dropped to her knees. “Now what? Where . . . where finished!”

  “How many men do we have left here?” asked Darius.

  “None . . . you ordered all of them to join you in your raid on the War Hogs.”

  “Fuuuuuck!” bellowed Darius.

  Summer helped Darius get to his feet. “So, what now? Surely we must flee?”

  Darius was breathing heavily and shaking, his empire was slipping away, and he could feel it. “The four of you will come with me. We will not fall, not to him!”

  “But where will we go?” asked Summer frantically.

  “There’s a secret passage behind my chambers. We can escape . . . we’ll set out to ocean’s kiss, get a boat, and sail off. He will never find us! The four of you wait here, I will ready provisions.”

  Darius had opened the gates and stepped into Cutthroat’s Grasp, the settlement was empty, eerily empty, and just before he closed the gates he asked a question that deep down inside he knew the answer to. “Where is everyone?”

  Winter stepped forward, she would be the bearer of bad news a
nd her sombre expression made this clear. “Most people left. Whores fled, the merchants from the market panicked and took their wares elsewhere and even the slavers ran, they didn’t even take their slaves with them . . . they remain chained and in their cages. Some people remain but they hide in their homes and await Yoshihiro’s victory . . . they will plead allegiance to him . . . they never believed you could beat him and . . . and thought you a fool!”

  The penny had finally dropped, and the truth pieced through Darius’s heart like an elven arrow, he had been a fool, He gambled and lost and now was to pay the ultimate price. The warlord realised he was a fool to go against Yoshihiro who had now surpassed the warlord in power and wealth. The War Hogs were the most feared fighting force in the lands, and it didn’t matter whether they were tired and wounded or ambushed and caught by surprise, he simply couldn’t beat them. The elves appearing made no difference, for Darius realised now that Yoshihiro had assembled something grand, something far greater than anything ever seen before, a unified fighting force that had become a brotherhood, a unified force of man and woman, human and mage, elf and dwarf and even the usually secretive woodlanders admired them. They had become bringers of justice upon the Centre Plate and this could no longer be doubted.

  Darius had watched Yoshihiro surpass him slowly throughout the years and his rage and hatred clouded his judgement, but something more humbling became known: it was the warlord’s jealousy of Yoshihiro that caused his downfall.

  Darius was once a fearsome warrior, but his cockiness and gluttony saw him live a life of luxury behind the gated settlement of Cutthroat’s Grasp, he ruled with an iron fist and trampled over everyone, whilst Yoshihiro was traveling the lands, fighting foes, building an army, gaining respect and solidifying his legacy as the greatest swordsman that ever lived. Darius hated him and grew jealous as he moved beyond the boundaries of most men and soared beyond Darius’s reach, the warlord should have continued to live in luxury, however his desire to become the man he once was led him into an unwinnable battle against an untouchable swordsman.