Brace For the Wolves

by Nathan Thompson

  “Liar,” the other skeleton started to say, then stopped when he realized Virtus was actually helping his case.

  “Then why is he still with the rest of you? And in charge?”

  “Normally he’d only be promoted to his appropriate level of incompetence. But we haven’t been able to do any recruiting since the Starsown sealed up this place. So he took a command spot even earlier.”

  “When I kill this Earth-man,” the monster hissed, “you’re going to answer for every insult you’ve made today, Virtus.”

  “You know what?” the undead sergeant retorted. “Getting punished over something I’ve actually done wrong sounds really novel. Centuries overdue, in fact.”

  “Alright,” I interrupted. Even I was starting to get tired of the amount of snark that had gotten thrown around today. “State your terms for our duel.”

  “To the death,” the skull-man hissed. “I go free when I kill you. I get your spoils.”

  “Acceptable,” I answer. “If you kill me I swear not to attack you when you try and leave.”

  “Nice try,” the skeleton snorted. “Bind your companions or I crush my locket right now.”

  “I hereby swear, contingent on your own oaths,” I added carefully, “that neither myself nor my four companions will harm you if you prove victorious in our trial of noble combat. Right, loyal comrades?”

  “Sure.”

  “That’s fine.”

  “His armor wouldn’t fit me anyway.”

  “Fine,” Breena said as she grumbled. “But don’t lose, Wes!”

  “Again,” I continued. “This is contingent upon you surrendering your mana, equipment and other possessions, without harming any of them and making me aware of their locations. Furthermore, any servants or hostages under your control, living or undead, will be passed into my care unharmed.”

  For a moment the flesh-less officer hesitated, but then he growled at me and took a step forward.

  "Fine. I swear to your terms. You're going to be dead in a minute anyway, Earthborn. Your kind already lost the war here."

  "My kind," I clarified. "Other people from Earth?"

  "Did you let yourselves forget?" the creature hissed. "It was the greatest defeat of the heroes of your planet. Men and women from every tribe and tongue from your world, locking shields, raising spears and other weapons, once again asserting their right to intervene everywhere else in the Expanse. Here they stood—" the monster took another step forward— "and here they fell. Just like you will."

  "Good speech," Virtus noted from where he stood. "Too bad you avoided most of that action, Tovius."

  "Go suck your own marrow, Virtus!"

  "Stop," I said. "You're saying your armies fought other Challengers? Groups of them? They were Called here, by a Starsown?"

  "Why would your people need to be Called by a Starsown?" Virtus asked, skull tilted in confusion. "They can go anywhere."

  "It doesn't matter!" Lieutenant Assclown snapped. "Virtus, will you signal the beginning of the duel?"

  "Do you have any problems with me officiating?" the less asinine of the two walking dead asked.

  "Would either of us actually be able to file a complaint if we die unfairly?"

  "Probably not."

  "Then I have no problem with you confirming which of us die."

  There really wasn't much else to worry about, that I could think of. We already killed off all of Tovius' help, and even if Virtus got involved I still had more backup behind me than he did. And if he was enough to change the outcome on his own then we were screwed no matter what happened.

  Besides, I had some ideas for him.

  "Set your favored distance from each other... that's good." He nodded as we moved a few feet away. "Now on my mark...ready..." He raised a bony, armored hand. "Mark!"

  "Hah!" the caped undead shouted as he threw his javelin forward. "Fool!"

  I started to raise my shield, but then I remembered Stell and Breena's warnings about facing certain ranged attacks. So I darted to the side, feeling the air rush quickly past me. More javelins, resembling the Roman pila from back on earth, came flying in. I leaped backwards, bringing my shield forward but trying not to rely on it too much. The Roman pilum was supposedly designed to weigh shields down, making it harder to use them in combat. I wasn't sure that was historically accurate, and I had no idea how those things would give me trouble with my currently enhanced strength, but Breena and Stell had both assured me during training that it was a thing on Avalon's sister worlds, so I tried to watch out for it.

  This was my first time really dealing with a ranged opponent, and it wasn't a very pleasant experience. By not standing still and taking the attacks on my shield, I wound up dancing across nearly half the battlefield. It made me wonder why Tovius didn't try to disrupt our spells earlier. I decided to save that question for his suspiciously agreeable 'friend' Virtus.

  One more javelin fell near my feet, and my darting away brought me almost face-first into the next missile.

  It was then that my old Wind Armor spell showed its worth. A strong gust whipped in front of my unarmored cranium, and the pilum's path diverted just enough to leave a red line through my wards and magic skin. The burning line trailed all the way across the side of my temple, but it didn't penetrate bone and the small damage was nothing my vital guard couldn't help me handle.

  "I knew that spell would help you keep your nose!" Breena shouted cheerfully.

  "Thanks, Breena!" I shouted back. "I owe you a cookie!"

  She squealed happily.

  "Now stop scaring us and go kick his pelvis-bone!"

  I nodded and began to comply.

  I darted forward, taking advantage of my opponent running out of his favorite ranged weapons. I heard the undead swear in surprise, then reach for the sword strapped to his waist. He drew it, and I recognized the design. It was an elaborate spatha, one of the few Roman blades that were almost as long as the later medieval blades. Even this one's hilt was similar, flaring out into something that could be considered a proper guard.

  It was a nice weapon. I'd try not to break it.

  He had managed to clear his sheath and get his shield in my way, so I tried knocking into him with my own shield, like Stell had shown me to knock over opponents. He pushed back as I slammed into him, and we grunted at the same time when we found out how strong the other was.

  "How," Tovius wheezed through his flesh-less face. "You're not even a grown man!"

  "Says the guy who has no discernible anatomy whatsoever," I growled back, and with a heave we finally shoved each other away. Since I had charged, the skeletal man had gone back several paces farther than I did, and I rushed forward to try and catch him off balance again. I leaped up and slammed my mace into his shield, followed up the blow with a shield bash, then swung at the asshole's fancy plumed helmet. The protective edges of his headgear deflected a lot of the impact, but it should have been enough to have given a normal person a serious headache.

  Unfortunately, skeletons didn't seem to get many headaches, because he was then able to bring a bronze-bracered forearm into my face, knocking me back enough for him to follow up with a shield slam of his own. The two attacks were enough to bring me seriously off-balance. I backpedaled to try and keep my balance, barely keeping my feet as I did so. My blurry vision caught him taking another swipe at my legs, and my reflexes barely allowed me to leap up in time as his weapon went hurtling to my hamstrings.

  My improved air magic carried me much higher up than I had expected, to where my shins were nearly level with his shoulders. Thinking quickly, I was able to kick out, catching him in the chest with my foot and knocking him sideways. Then, as I descended, I brought down a powerful swing on his shield-bearing arm, landing right past the protection over his shoulder. I heard the limb crack, and felt his version of a vital guard struggle to prevent long-term damage from the well-placed hit. I slammed my weapon again and again at the same arm, sometimes catching the shield, sometimes landing
glancing blows on the arm itself.

  Just as I felt my enemy's vital guard weakening, he snarled again and slammed an armored knee into my gut, then stepped back and stabbed out at me. His blade snuck past my guard and caught my mail in the shoulder of my shield arm.

  "Luctus!" he shouted.

  Blackened energy traveled from his chest, down his arm, down his blade and into my mailed shoulder. A cry of pain tore from my lips as I felt the wound suddenly widen and tear even more, and I wrenched myself off of my enemy's weapon. My wound continued to tear and expand before I felt my vital guard engage to contain it, and my enemy pressed his attack, striking again and again at my desperate parries.

  This was bad. My vital guard was still draining from whatever magical attack he made, and he was still landing a number of small cuts on me because my shield arm was inhibited and because a footman's mace is a terrible weapon to parry attacks with.

  Then I grunted in frustration, because I had forgotten, once again, that I could do magic.

  I finally parried his spatha far enough away to give me breathing room. I immediately dropped my mace, pointed my finger straight at his skull and fired off my improved Lightning Bolt at a point-blank range of maybe three inches. He launched spectacularly into the air, flopping and somersaulting even more than Fried Fred had before finally landing on his back in a loud clatter of armor. He did not get up.

  "That was legal, right?" I turned my head toward Virtus. "No one's going to care that I blew him up, since we didn't agree not to use magic and since he used a spell first?"

  "I won't," Virtus said as he shook his head. "It's legal, but if he's really bothered by what you did, he can try to find a way to submit a complaint after you kill him. But that's never been done. Because it's impossible."

  "You know, I think I like him," I heard Eadric grunt from behind me. "Maybe we should keep him?"

  "No employment discussions until after the duel is finished," I said as I turned my head to the dwarf. "I take it I have to hold his head up or something to show the duel's over?"

  "That'll work."

  I stepped away from the surprisingly blasé skeleton and over to the one I had attempted to defibrillate, picking my mace in the process.

  When I reached his body, I found it to be a crumpled, ruined mess. His helm and chest armor had become warped and disfigured, the plume gone and one eye socket now full of cooling metal. The metal covering his chest was doing a similar thing to his ribs, hissing over them as the tiny plates dripped and fell between the cracks around the sternum. His shoulder, arm braces, leg braces, and even cape had all survived, oddly enough, along with his sword.

  So did about half a jawbone, which began speaking to me.

  “Why… did you… come back?” The words hissed out of the half mouth.

  “I have nowhere else to go,” I answered, standing over the skull. “This is my only home now.”

  “Why… try? Your armies… couldn’t save them.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about, because until I came here, I’ve never heard of my people going any farther than their own moon, and never in groups larger than what could fit in a rowboat. But since I lost my last world, I’m going to try and keep the remaining seven.”

  “Lost… Earth?” the skeleton hissed. “Who… would be stupid… enough to… invade...”

  He trailed off, and for a moment I thought he was done talking. But then he suddenly spoke up one more time.

  “Still… too. Late. Can’t… save them.”

  “Can’t save who?” I demanded. “Who do you have in here?”

  “All of those... who didn’t flee... with your kind before,” the skeleton hissed, finishing his sentence with great difficulty. “And greater things... than us… keep… them.”

  A final sigh escaped from the flesh-less soldier, and then the rest of his skull crumbled apart.

  Something boomed near us, in the direction where the mists were.

  “A Challenge has been overcome,” the planet boomed from the ground. “Avalon bears witness.”

  I felt my soul grew heavier inside. I realized that I might soon be able to Rise again.

  But first, I had to take care of my wound.

  The strange spell Tovius had cast on his blade when he stabbed me stubbornly struggled with my vital guard, slowing my natural healing. I focused for a moment and cast Healing Wind on myself. I felt some of the impurities in the wound leave, and the invading spell began to weaken inside of me. Pleased with my progress, I began to cast it again, but before I could do so a tiny, pretty, pink woman flew over my shoulder and began buzzing.

  “Wes-oh-my-gosh-that-was-so-awesome-you-went-toe-to-toe-with-a-real-swordsman-and-came-out-on-top-it-was-your-first-real-duel-and-I-am-so-proud-of-you-but-you-need-to-stop-getting-hurt!”

  Her hands were blurring through the air as she babbled, and a moment later she spoke one more word I could not recognize. Then a tiny drop of water fell from her hands and splashed into my wound. I felt lost blood and other nutrients return to my body somehow, and the wound began to close before my eyes.

  Water’s Restoration, the part of my mind connected to her told me. She just cast Water’s Restoration. And if I see her cast it a few more times, my mind continued, I can figure out how to cast it myself.

  “There,” the little fairy said triumphantly. “How do you feel, Wes?”

  “Better,” I replied. “I feel almost brand new.”

  I looked down at Tovius’ remains and began to strip him of all of the gear that survived our fight. His bracers and greaves snapped over my clothing well, and his sword and scabbard slid onto my belt with no problems.

  “Oooh, that’s a nice weapon,” Breena piped as she looked at the spatha up close. “Good edge, good metal, and it looks like it has a few enchantments on it for keeping its edge and working spells.”

  “Really?” I asked. “It will help me cast my magic?”

  “No and yes,” Breena admitted. “No, because it will not make your magic any stronger, swifter or cheaper. Yes, because you will be able to channel all kinds of enhancement magic, like your lightning magic and whatever it was that came over you during the fight with the Detrite, without breaking or melting the blade.”

  “Oh, okay,” I replied. “That’s good, I guess.”

  Then, remembering how easily that same weapon had pierced my chainmail, I strapped the monster’s bronze pauldrons on, then grabbed the cloak and put it away. Breena said the only magic it had was increased durability against wear and tear and minor protection from the cold or weather. I didn’t need either of those things right now and I needed to be wearing a giant red cape even less. I’d save it to see if it could help keep some villagers warm or something.

  Then, as Breena went to go check out Tovius’ magical amulet, I turned and looked at the only remaining bone-person in the area.

  “We need to figure out what to do with you,” I said carefully. “So far you’ve gone out of your way to be helpful, and I can appreciate that, even if it makes me a little suspicious. What are your goals here?”

  Having gotten a little closer, I could see that the armored corpse was a whole head taller than me. And something told me that he would be an even worse opponent than Tovius had been. Which was aggravating, because it meant I still had a lot to learn about swordplay and other forms of combat.

  The skeleton sighed.

  “That’s a good question. Under certain circumstances, I’d like to keep living. Or my version of it, at least.”

  “It seems like your best bet for that would have been to attack me back when you still had allies on your side.”

  Virtus shook his helmeted head.

  “I’m a pariah. I don’t have allies anymore. If I did, I wouldn’t have been assigned to the border duty as soon as we needed to investigate the Starsown’s disappearance.”

  “What exactly is wrong with border duty?” I asked carefully. “Tell me the politics going on here.”

  “Th
ere’s nothing specifically wrong with border duty,” Virtus replied bitterly. “But in this case border duty meant I was the most likely to discover that the Starsown hadn’t left after all, and then be blasted apart by her.”

  “I thought you said your people didn’t fear her.”

  “Tovius said we didn’t fear her. And Tovius was an idiot. It was the reason he was chosen to do border duty when I didn’t report in.”

  “Why didn’t you report in?” I asked.

  The ancient warrior became uncomfortably silent.

  I was about to repeat that question when I heard our little ghost again.

  “Mr. Sergeant? What are you doing here?”

  My head whipped around to the presence I had just faintly sensed enter the battlefield.

  “Mr. Sergeant?” the spirit repeated. “Why did you come out so early? You already checked on us.”

  The ancient warrior’s head turned to the same direction.

  “You’re not supposed to be out right now, little friend. I told you to run and hide if the strangers didn’t listen to you.”

  “Is that why you came out, Mr. Sergeant?” the ghost whispered. “To see if the strangers were bad? I don’t think they’re bad, Mr. Sergeant. They haven’t tried to hurt me yet.”

  Things started to become more clear.

  At least I hoped they were.

  “Little friend…” Virtus began. But the girl-ghost interrupted.

  “They cry, Mr. Sergeant. I saw them. The tall one cried, and the pink one cried for him. How can they be bad if they cry?”

  “Lots of creatures cry, little friend. It doesn’t make them good.”

  “He’s right,” I interrupted. “Crying doesn’t make me a good person, it just means I can feel pain. And lots of people can turn bad if they’re in too much pain.”

  An awkward pause followed.

  “Are you in too much pain, mister?”

  “I…” I swallowed, suddenly wishing I had somewhere else to be. “I hope not.”

  “Mr. Sergeant, if Mr. Dragon was in too much pain, wouldn’t he have tried to hurt you by now? Are you going to fight Mr. Dragon?”

  “Mr. Dragon?” Virtus and I said at once. “Why did you call…”