by Jeff Elkins
As the Riptride soldier fell, Bose drew his sword and ran toward Bashi and Hyoi to replace the fallen warrior. Chris, still yet to move, was left unguarded on the far end of the fort. Seeing the opening, Moose screamed, “Now!”
Jose sprinted down the stairs and into the courtyard. Weaving through the overgrowth, he crossed the first twenty yards of the fort with ease. He smiled at how well the plan was coming together. He’d free Chris, they would join the battle, and the fight would be over in no time. Maybe Chris would even let them go to Imani’s for a celebratory dinner? Jose laughed at the thought as he pulled his pant leg free from a thorn bush. The pre-teen crossed the halfway point. Chris was less than fifty yards away and the battle was a good as over.
But then, something moved. The rumble in the ground brought Jose to a halt. It seemed as though the earth were a giant blanket that was being pushed aside. From the hole beneath the cover, two giant hands emerged, then two large horns, then two small black eyes. In seconds a hidden Egrat stood in front of Jose, leaning forward on its knuckles like a twelve-foot tall gorilla. Jose was covered by the monster’s shadow. Frozen with fear, the pre-teen turned his face away from the monster’s hot, wet, loud breath.
The Egrat roared. The sound waves were so powerful, Jose could feel them beating down on him. He dropped to one knee and shielded his head with his arms. After the roar came a deep and steady laugh that brought a shiver of shame down Jose’s spine.
Then there was another voice. Jose heard it quietly at first. It was faint, beneath the laughter. Jose chanced a glance to right where the voice was coming from. The sight of Moose screaming brought the voice into view. As Squirrel swung a Riptride sword wildly at the attacking Conculos, Moose had stepped back from the battle. She was screaming with all her might, “Get up and fight! Fight, Jose! Fight!”
Jose looked past the Egrat to his partner. Chris still hung lifeless fifty yards away. Jose looked to the left, Bashi and Hyoi seemed to be losing ground against the assault.
“Commandment twelve,” Jose said to himself. “My life for the city.”
Jose sensed the movement above him before he saw the incoming strike. Rolling to the right, he barely escaped the crash of the Egrat’s fist in the dirt. The blow shook the ground.
Jose stood and faced the monster. It roared again, but this time Jose refused to look away. The beast pounded the ground with both hands. Again the ground shook. With a third scream, the monster charged. Jose dove to the left, escaping again the giant’s attack.
There was a shout behind him. Jose glanced over his shoulder. Hyoi had fallen. He lay unconscious behind Bashi who was battling with increased intensity. The monster yelled again. Jose felt another charge coming. He knew he couldn’t simply continue to dodge. Remembering the gift from before, he reached his hand into his back pocket and retrieved the gloves Bashi had given him. Quickly, Jose put them on. Squeezing his fists closed, Jose was shocked when glowing blue circles appeared on the back of his fists. The translucent blades extended an inch past his knuckles. “Cool,” he said.
The beast rampaged forward again. This time it reached for Jose with its giant hands, trying to capture the young warrior, but Jose stepped to left and pounded the giant’s arm with a left jab. The blade pierced the monster’s thick skin. Excited by the sight of the black blood coming from the Egrat’s arm, Jose went on the attack. Punching with fierce combos, Jose opened wounds up the beast’s arm and across its back. The Egrat swung hard with its bleeding arm, attempting to backhand the small attacker, but Jose ducked the blow and moved his assault to the beast’s chest. The offensive was short lived as the beast brought both arms in to try and grab Jose in a bear hug. Seeing the attack before it was complete, Jose dug the blades into the monster’s chest and vaulted himself above the attack, flipping backward and landing out of the Egrat’s reach.
With an eager smile, Jose surveyed the damage his assault had caused, but his heart sunk as the monster roared again. The entire attack seemed to have resulted in little more than small scratches on the Egrat’s arm and chest. The monster looked as though it had a hundred paper cuts. It was irritated, but not slowed. Realizing he could cut the beast in front of him a thousand more times before he did any real damage, Jose sighed. Looking the Egrat in the eyes, he said, “Alright. Time for a new game.”
Jose retreated ten yards and then turned to face the beast again. The beast smiled menacingly and snorted. But to the monster’s shock, Jose ran right at it. The Egrat roared and smashed its hands on the ground, but Jose did not slow. Preparing to catch and crush the incoming small warrior, the monster set its feet and opened its arms. As soon as Jose came within reach, the monster moved to grab him, but Jose was prepared. He jumped over the Egrat’s hands and with a quick spin move to the right, made his way around the monster before it could turn.
Rather than taking advantage of the new position and attacking the giant, Jose ran as fast as he could toward the opposing wall. Hurdling small bushes and tearing through overgrown weeds, he headed for the stairs. He could feel the monster charging behind him but he didn’t dare look back. He knew if he lost focus of a second he would trip in the overgrowth and be trampled.
Jose ran through the arched entrance to the white building that looked like abandoned barracks. There was a crash and rage-filled roar behind him that brought chunks of the ceiling down. A second of worry crossed Jose’s mind as he imagined being crushed by stone falling from the ceiling, but he didn’t allow the fear to slow him. He ran to the stairs and took them three at a time.
Emerging from the stairs, Jose searched for Chris. His partner was ten yards to the left. Jose swallowed. Chirs’ back was laced with open wounds and caked with blood. For the first time it occurred to Jose that his partner might either be dead or so close it that he there would be no saving him.
Jose took three steps toward his Chris, but was brought to an abrupt stop when he caught in his peripheral vision a blue glimmer coming from his right. The sword passed inches in front of the young Gracanjo’s face and clanged on the ground in front of him. Instinctually, Jose punched the wrist that held the weapon. There was a surprised grunt of pain as blue blade on Jose’s fist drew blood. In reply, a fist connected with Jose’s jaw and the boy fell to floor.
“Now,” Bose said. “This is a position I’ve seen you in before.”
Memories of cathedral basement filled Jose’s mind. The young warrior knew what was coming next. Rolling to the left, Jose dodged Bose’s foot.
Bose recovered from the missed kick quickly and tried to stomp on Jose’s chest, but Jose rolled back to the right and knocked the Conculos off balance. Bose stumbled backward, giving Jose a chance to regain his footing.
The warriors faced each other. Jose saw over Bose’s shoulder that Hyoi was still down. Bashi was fending off the remaining four of the Riptride on his own, but the fight appeared to be a stalemate.
“I see you’ve finally found yourself, as they say,” Bose said with a smile. He held his bleeding wrist with his opposing hand. “I almost didn’t believe it when they told me you defeated Andeek and Chrillan.”
Jose rubbed his aching jaw. He could taste blood in his mouth. “That’s the last time I let you hit me,” he said. Clenching his fists, he ran at the black-armored warrior. Full of confidence and fire, Jose aimed a right jab at his enemy’s head, but Bose ducked to the left. Jose felt the Conculos grab him by the back of the shirt and throw him forward. Jose tumbled face first onto the stone floor. Scrambling, he turned and regained his footing in time to see Bose picking up his sword.
The Conculos pointed the weapon at Jose. “Now I’m going to take your head,” Bose said.
Excitement filled Jose chest. He smiled. Behind Bose, he saw Squirrel and Moose take down the final two Riptride warriors. They’d broken through the line and were running to Jose’s position. “I told you, I’m not going to let you hit me again.”
Jose knew he needed to keep Bose focused on him. The young Gracanjo charged aga
in. This time it was Bose who struck first with a two-handed slice of his blade. Jose paused his charge in time for the blade to pass in front of him, but he wasn’t fast enough to get out of the way of Bose’s counter strike. The Conculos pounded Jose in the chest with the hilt of his sword.
The blow knocked Jose off his feet. As he flew through the air, Jose watched in horror as Bose spun on his heel and with a smooth motion rammed tip of the blue sword through the chest of a charging Squirrel. Jose’s back collided with the ground as Moose’s scream reached his ears. Jose’s eyes closed.
He could feel himself begin to black out, but the sound of Moose’s sobs brought him back to consciousness. Air filled his lungs. He sat forward. His head was spinning. He could taste vomit and blood in his mouth. He struggled to his feet. Squirrel lay to the side of the fight. Blood was pouring from his mouth as he clutched a wound in his chest. Moose was dodging strikes from Bose. Tears were streaming down her face.
Jose forced his feet to move. Stumbling forward, he gained more coherence with each step. As Bose lunged forward with his blade at Moose, Jose saw his opening. Clearing the space between them with a few steps, Jose riddled Bose’s back with rapid punches. With each blow, the blue blades drew black blood. Bose arched his back in response but before he could counter, Moose pounded his face with right cross. As the Conculos fell back, the young Gracanjo delivered a strike to the back of Bose’s neck. Jose breathed deeply with satisfaction as the black blood of the Conculos showered him. Bose hit the ground and rolled to his stomach. Without a word spoken between them, Jose stepped aside. Moose picked up the fallen Conculos’ sword, walked over to where he lay, and jammed the blade through his skull. The sword stuck in the stone floor like a flag pole.
Moose turned and ran to her fallen partner. She fell to her knees at his side and cradled the big man’s head in her lap. His eyes were unresponsive. His chest no longer moved. “Squirrel,” Moose wailed. “Oh Squirrel.”
Tears stung Jose’s eyes and a knot filled his throat. He turned to look at the other battle on the wall. Hyoi had rejoined Bashi in the fight, although he seemed to be favoring his left leg. Jose watched as the Bashi crushed the skull of one Conculos with the hilt of his sword and Hyoi ran another through with his broadsword. With all the Riptride fallen, Bashi came running toward them. Hyoi limped behind.
Jose turned to Chris. Moving to the front of his partner, for the first time he looked Chris in the face. Chris’ eyes were swollen shut. His face looked like one large purple bruise. His chest was covered with the same wounds that scared his back. Using the blades on his fist, Jose cut the invisible wires holding Chris’ feet first. Then, jumping to reach the chords holding Chris’ hands, Jose cut the left first and then the right and Chris came tumbling to the ground.
Jose sat down next to him and checked his pulse. It was faint, but it was present. Jose closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His head was pounding and his chest ached. He wanted nothing more than to lay down and go to sleep.
A hand touched his shoulder and Jose looked up. Bashi stood above him, smiling.
“Don’t quit yet,” Bashi said. “We’ve got bodies to burn and we’ve got to send that guy back over the Veil.” He pointed down to the courtyard with his sword at the Egrat that was now sitting in the middle of the fort like a child in time-out.
Jose stood. “In a few minutes,” he said, nodding toward Moose. He walked over to her. She was sitting in silence, holding the lifeless body of her partner close to her chest. Jose sat down behind her and leaned up against her. Quietly, he said, “I’m so sorry.”
Moose sniffled. “This is how he’d want to go,” she said. “In the middle of a fight, covered in the blood of monsters. It’s what he’d want.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Chris wasn’t sure what came first: his eyes opening or the ringing in his ears. He stared at the ceiling not realizing what he was doing. His head hurt. Multiple stabs of pain filled his skull. The ceiling was made of brown boards. There were long nails poking through that held the boards together. The ringing in his ears started to fade. He could hear himself breathing. He was aware that he needed to wipe his nose. He thought it over and decided he was in the basement of an old rowhome. He’d seen basement ceilings like this one before.
He wanted to take in the rest of the room, but summoning the will to move was more difficult than he expected. His entire body ached. His head felt puffy. He started to rub the blur from his eyes but the pain was overwhelming. Everything hurt. Every joint was stiff. Carefully, he sat up. Leaning on his elbows, he looked around.
He was laying on a wooden framed single bed. To his left was a chest of drawers and then a brick wall. At the foot of the bed was a green footlocker. It reminded him of boot camp. His parched eyes stung. He pinched them closed and opened them again. To the right were two matching desks and chairs, then another single bed and dresser. On the other bed sat a small teddy bear.
Chris pinched his eyes closed again and took a deep breath through his chapped mouth. It made his ribs ache. He looked back to the desk. There was a half-full bottle of water sitting on it. Summoning the courage to face the pain, he pushed his feet to the side of the bed and stood. He wasn’t sure he’d ever been in this much pain before. Leaning on the desk, he grabbed the water bottle and took a long drink. His throat burned but the cool liquid gave him a spark of energy.
Leaning against the desk and sipping from the water bottle, he took in the rest of the room. Along the left wall there was a floor-to-ceiling bookcase filled with books and a punching bag hanging from the ceiling. The center of the large room was filled with a giant exercise mat. Across from him was a workout bench, free weights, and a staircase.
Without hesitation, Chris hobbled across the room. He needed to know where he was. The ringing in his ears was fading and he could hear people upstairs. They were laughing and there was music.
Allowing only the top of his head and eyes to emerge into the room, Chris took in the scene. The noise was coming from the far side of the room. He couldn’t see much but he knew he was in Imani’s bar.
He snuck up the stairs. It was pitch black outside. The bar was empty except for three figures at the far end. They were standing at the sink. It looked like they were washing and drying dishes. They had their backs to him. He gently pulled a chair from the nearest table and took a seat to watch. Jose was in the middle, Bashi on the right, and Imani on the left. Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain High” blared through the speakers. They were laughing and singing along. Chris closed his eyes and let the sound wash over him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard genuine laughter. He didn’t realize how much he’d missed it.
“This is a good place,” a voice said to Chris right.
Chris jerked, clenching his fists, ready to attack, but he relaxed as Hyoi pulled the chair out next to him and took a seat.
“It is safe and there is good food and soft beds. There is little else one needs,” Hyoi said.
“You think she’ll let us stay until I’m better?” Chris asked. Even though he’d only been awake a few minutes, he was already getting sleepy.
“I think you should take up permanent residence here,” Hyoi said.
“How’d I get here?” Chris replied, watching the trio.
“What is the last thing you remember?” Hyoi asked.
“It’s all kind of fuzzy,” Chris said with a sigh.
“You were captured by Bose. His goal was to catch Jose as well and then torture you in front of each other until one of you surrendered the box,” Hyoi said.
“I don’t know anything about this damn box,” Chris said, pinching his eyes closed again.
“Bose does not believe that,” Hyoi said.
“So I was taken,” Chris said. “And?”
“And Jose got away, killed two Riptride, and met up with us and the Gracanjo of DC. Then we worked together to defeat Bose and we brought you back here.”
“Huh,” Chris said. “How
many Riptride fell?”
“All of them,” Hyoi said.
“Well,” Chris said. “That should slow Azo down. Or at least piss him off.”
“He will need to hold the traditional competition to replace them. It will take some time,” Hyoi said.
“Where is Bose?” Chris asked.
“The female Gracanjo ended him shortly after Bose killed her partner.”
Chris sighed and looked at the floor.
“She has returned home to find his replacement. She said once she has done so, she will expect you to return the favor. She said you will know what that means,” Hyoi said.
Chris nodded.
“Azo will wait for Bose to return before he replaces the Riptride. Only after that will he move on your city. Expecting the average delay and expediting travel time because Bose will be furious, I’d say you’ve got at least three months before activity kicks up again. Rothman should be here by then.”
“You made contact?”
“We did. He will come.”
“So for that other favor I mentioned,” Chris said. He groaned as he leaned forward in his seat. “I’m going to need you to find the Mard út-stukr.”
Hyoi looked at Chris with confusion. “If we find them, what exactly would you like us to do besides run away from them?”
“They owe me a favor. I want you to call it in. When Bose returns, Azo will try and cross his army. With Rothman, we might hold him on this side for a while. But he’ll wear us down.” Chris winced at the growing pain in his ribs. His mouth was dry again. He tried to swallow but couldn’t. “When you see the battle raging, unleash the Mard út-stukr on your side. If Azo is focused on us, they should be able to scatter his troops.”
“They will leap at the chance, I’m sure,” Hyoi said, leaning forward. Looking at the floor, he added, “It is good to see you plotting again. We were all worried.”