Brace For the Wolves

by Nathan Thompson

  We both trailed off as we realized we were still speaking at the same time.

  “Mr. Dragon, please don’t fight Mr. Sergeant,” the little ghost said. “He’s our only friend. He helps us hide from all the bad ones. Like the ones you just killed.”

  “She’s the reason you’re out here right now,” I said. “And why you didn’t report in. You’re checking on the ones they haven’t secured. The runaways that slipped through the cracks.”

  The undead soldier, who had recently been looking for a way to spare his unlife, remained silent. I made my decision about him right there.

  “Wes,” Breena whispered. “I’ve never seen his kind before. But I don’t think he’s bad.”

  “I know,” I whispered back. “You and I still need to talk. Are you surrendering here? You said your contract expires when there’s a new lord of Avalon, and you took what I gave earlier as proof. So are we done here?”

  More hesitation. I swore I could see the regret on his skull.

  “No,” he finally answered. “The portion of the contract detailing the defense of territory is invalid now. But we have a standing order to engage and battle any Earth-man we encounter, because of the bonus our employer provided. That was why Tovius was so willing to waste his troops on you, and even fight you himself.” The armored corpse looked down after a minute. “I had expected your magic to give him more trouble. You are talented for your age, but I should have remembered the fact that you are only half-grown, as he did. Still though, all things considered, you fought very well, considering your lack of experience.”

  “Um, thank you?” I replied carefully. “You’re right about my lack of experience. But I’m far from half-grown. And my world’s history has many records of warriors my age or younger.”

  The skeleton cocked his head at me.

  “You’re at least three inches shorter than any of the Earth-warriors I fought aeons ago. Some of them were even a foot taller than you. If your height is the new average for your age then either Earth-warriors are starting their service in their early teens or your people have drastically sunk in size, power, and magic.”

  I shook my head at that, then looked at Breena.

  “Is he pulling my leg?” I asked her.

  “I… don’t know,” she admitted nervously. “I only know what Stell told me. You’re tall for your age, and magic is almost non-existent on your world.”

  “Alright,” I said as I turned my head back to Virtus. “I’m going to have a lot more questions for you. Probably more than either of us have time for.”

  “And I can’t answer any more of them,” the skeleton said with a grim nod. “By contract terms, an Earth-man is an enemy no matter what age or authority. Now that I know that, I’m obligated to fight you.”

  “Why?” I asked. “And why now? Why didn’t you join in the attack earlier if it’s that big a deal?”

  “I couldn’t prove that you were from Earth, and Tovius was outside of my chain of command. Now though, I’ve seen you fight personally, cast the multiple magics your people were known for wielding, and seen you prevail against greater odds. You have all the hallmarks of a classic Earthborn warrior. I can’t come to any other conclusion.”

  “Can you surrender then?” I asked. “Given your lack of war crimes, I’d accept it.”

  “No,” Virtus said bluntly. “I literally cannot. That’s the nature of an undead legion. Contracts bind us in ways mortals cannot even fathom. I cannot avoid action with you. Per the magically binding, specific clause in our contract, I cannot surrender without at least making an attempt to fight you.”

  “Specific clause,” I muttered. “You have a specific clause in your contract stating ‘fight earthlings wherever you go, for thousands and thousands of years’?”

  “More or less,” Virtus admitted. “Command thought adding that clause would help us get the contract to come to this planet. Because back then no other mercenary group was crazy enough to fight your race.”

  “Um, Breena?” I asked my fairy companion. “How many planets are out there named Earth? Because I feel like I’ve been mistaken for someone way more cool and famous than myself.”

  “Just one,” the little sprite said, shaking her head. “And I have never heard anything about what he’s talking about. As far as I know, the people on your planet have always been bound, restricted, contained. I’ve never even heard of people leaving your own planet without Avalon’s help.”

  But I had once done exactly that. I shook my head again. Nothing was making sense today and I got a feeling it would stay that way until I went to bed.

  “So what are you going to do?” I asked, straightening a little. “Are you going to take on the four of us? Does this have to be a fight to the death?”

  He shook his head again.

  “Challenge you to honorable combat, just as Tovius did. To the pain or surrender. Winner becomes the other’s captive.”

  “I’m guessing you don’t have the same resources he had to gamble on this,” I replied dryly. “Or you wouldn’t have been the first person out here, with no one to check on you for so long.”

  Virtus nodded.

  “I lost a lot of my pull and resources when I started objecting to the company’s new… directions. And since this mission was deemed low importance, I wasn’t allowed to bring my mana pendant or better gear.” The skeleton looked at himself. “Not that I’d been able to repair my original armor in some time.”

  I nodded back at him. Virtus’ equipment did seem to be older, and in more disrepair, than Tovius’ had. Tovius had looked to be more Roman centurion, whereas Virtus resembled what I could remember of the classical Greek Hoplite.

  “I can however, honorably leave my company if they do not try to secure my release,” the old soldier continued. “That means you would get my services if they refuse to ransom for my return. And they will not ransom for my return,” he added quietly.

  “So, basically you’re offering to change sides, provided I create a way for you to do so without breaking contract?”

  “I cannot betray my employer,” the skeleton said. “But my employer can betray me. They already have,” he added bitterly.

  “How do you know I won’t do the same?” I demanded. “And how do I know you won’t try to get out of my contract as well?”

  “There are some precautions you can take, but all in all, you don’t,” Virtus admitted. “I’m… I’m just tired. Tired of not being proud of my service…”

  He trailed off again, then shook his head.

  “That’s beside the point, though. The point is I have to at least try to fight you. I can’t stop you from killing me if you win, should you choose to. So you can make your decision then. Kill or use me, hopefully for something better since so far you haven’t behaved dishonorably. Either way—” the skeleton paused, and I realized he was taking in a breath, despite being lung-less—“I have a chance to feel clean again. I beg you to let me take it.”

  I twitched at his plea. Memories of being known as a life-saving hero back home, then losing all of that respect due to circumstances outside of my control, then gaining contempt after my injury. Starting out being viewed as a decent, valuable person, then reduced in people’s eyes to something that was distrusted, and called useless anyway.

  If it hadn’t been for Stell, who had thrown all sorts of wonder and valuable opportunities at me, long before I was even smart enough to beg for them…

  Even with all the torture and deaths, there was no way I’d ever trade away what she gave me. And as soon as I saved the worlds, and the billions and billions of lives currently in danger I was going to go look for her, make sure she was safe. Heck I’d do it sooner if I could, provided I didn’t risk failing any Tumults and triggering an apocalypse.

  What if Virtus was worth that same chance?

  He had already tried to protect others. He may very well be handy in a fight, or have any other uses like training the refugees to survive. And it wasn’t like he
could put a drain on our food.

  I made my decision.

  “Alright,” I said, stepping forward. “Let’s go ahead and call this little combat your interview. State your choice of weapons.”

  “I can fight with whatever you want me to,” the skeleton answered quietly, but I thought I heard his voice tremble when he spoke. “I’ve stayed current with most types of blades, polearms, and missiles. I’m somewhat less qualified with blunt weapons but I could still train you to go far beyond what you’re currently capable of. Unless you were holding back in that last fight.”

  “That’s a big boast,” I replied. “You’re saying you’re a much better fighter than Tovius was?”

  The talking skeleton snorted at that.

  “I’m saying I was one of the most experienced troops our company had. I’m saying I’ve tangled with Earthborn stronger than you, more skilled in weapons and magic than you, and won. I’m saying I trained other troops to be able to do the same. Before I was stripped of command, I oversaw double-strength cohorts, and operated troops under both the legion and phalanx formations. I have also commanded light and heavy cavalry, archery and artillery formations, and even seen mass combat against magic users, thought I cannot use any real magic myself.

  “Tovius was a little worm who worked his way up the ranks with his ancestor’s connections. He avoided action whenever our contracts allowed him to and never practiced his skills between wars. I kept up with all of my skills, and I never avoided action. The only times I skirted my contracts were when they would put us in danger of what other worlds would consider war crimes, and that was done in the spirit of trying to preserve the last of my company’s honor. It failed.”

  “Right. Okay,” I said out loud. That was an impressive resume, and if even half of what he just said was true then I should have no way to win this upcoming duel. “And you’re agreeing that this fight isn’t going to be to the death?”

  “I hereby swear to avoid inflicting mortal injuries against the Lord of Avalon. Forever, unless it somehow will either save his life or obey his commands.”

  The ground rumbled under our feet.

  “Avalon bears witness to this vow.”

  “Okay,” I said. That was drastic. Especially since he didn’t give himself a way out if I decided to kill him. Even after the duel. “I swear to give you a chance to display your skills, and to accept your honorable surrender in combat. Contingent upon your earlier vow.”

  “Avalon bears witness,” the mists rumbled again.

  “I need time to prepare my magic, so you go ahead and take a minute to grab some weapons and armor. I’ll let you grab anything from the battlefield we haven’t claimed yet.”

  Virtus nodded at me as I began to refresh all of my lightning magic and other enhancements. I saw him pick up a club, a spear, some javelins, and a seemingly anachronistic long one-handed sword. It didn’t escape my notice that even most of the gear from Tovius’ minions looked better than Virtus’ own kit. As we both finished, he looked at me for another moment, with the javelins sticking in front of him.

  “You may wish to grab a second shield,” he said carefully, “assuming you have no qualms with me using missile weapons. I’d pick one you don’t mind losing.”

  “Really?” I asked, but he didn’t seem cocky as he made the suggestion, so I shrugged and picked up a pitted and slightly burned rectangular shield. I tested the weight, saw that it covered a bit more surface area than my other barrier, and nodded, satisfied.

  “Alright then,” I said, moving to a medium distance with no weapon drawn. “Are you ready?”

  “I am.” The warrior nodded as he stood in front of his javelins, round hoplite shield at the ready.

  “Okay, then,” I added. “Avalon, do you mind bearing witness as the referee?”

  “Confirming your request. Avalon will bear witness.”

  The planet gave us another moment to settle into our stances.

  “Begin.”

  I immediately made a wind-assisted leap to the left.

  And a pilum still landed next to my shin.

  I barely had time to realize that the last two were already heading toward me, and that I wouldn’t have time to dodge. So I braced behind my shield as best as I could, ducking down to make a smaller target. The first missile clipped the top of my barrier and bounced over my shoulder. I still shuddered from the impact. The second pilum slammed into my shield with a loud crack, and a massive split appeared straight down the middle of my now-cumbersome barrier. I threw the shield down as quickly as I could and fired off my Lightning Bolt at Virtus, who was charging with his long blade drawn.

  The undead soldier kept the point of the metal weapon forward, dropping it as my spell conducted into it. He left the weapon behind him with nothing to show for my attack other than a smoking and empty hand. I have no idea how he moved fast enough for that to work.

  But the next moment he was wielding the club he had looted and closing in on me. I snapped my own mace free of my belt, sidestepped to avoid his attack and followed up with my own. Then, though it was arguably cheating, I summoned my better shield out of my magic storage to immediately fasten to my arm.

  He seemed to have predicted my attack completely, catching my mace on his round shield and countering with a strike of his own that clipped the edge of my round shield with arm-numbing force.

  I darted backwards again, and found that my wind magic was just enough to let me keep up with him, and my earth-enhanced strength was just enough to keep from getting pounded into the ground. I gave ground, realizing as I did so that he would have predicted that too. I managed to duck his next swing and rammed into my shield, seeking to push him back off-balance.

  “Good correction,” he grunted, then brought an armored knee into my groin.

  “Ouch!” I heard my fairy shout sympathetically. “That time wasn’t my fault, Wes! I promise!”

  “What?” Virtus asked quizzically as he knocked me back with his shield.

  “Long story,” I wheezed back as I locked my shield with his and tried to strike around it. “That we swore to never bring up again.”

  “Whatever,” the skeleton grunted back, choosing to take my attack on his heavy breastplate. Then he locked up my mace arm with the elbow of his own weapon arm, twisted me around, then threw me to the ground by sweeping his leg under mine and punching me into the air with the flat of his shield.

  At least I think that was what he did. The front row seat to this fight made it a little harder to figure out what exactly had went down.

  At any rate, I slammed into the blasted ground, feeling my chainmail rattle painfully through my padding. I let myself gasp as the air went out of me, but I retained just enough presence of mine to shove my legs around and sweep at his knees.

  “Good reaction,” my fleshless abuser noted as my leg collided into his own. But he had somehow anticipated that too, either because of his experience or because he was just a bastard. He braced his knee for the blow and once again, took my attack straight on his bronze armor. “You have a decent foundation for fighting, at least.”

  His mace began to swing downward, and I didn’t have a good answer except to swing my own at the same time. Our weapons scraped across each other’s arms as they collided, and my mace went whirling away. Cursing, I pointed my now free hand at him with all five fingers. He jumped immediately away from me, putting his shield between me and the five bolts coming at him. His shield somehow caught three, a swing from his mace caught one, and the last one snuck past all his fancy tricks and jolted into his arm. He grunted and shook the limb a little, but otherwise seemed unharmed.

  Hax, I thought bitterly as I rolled away and made a wind-assisted leap to my feet. Once again I summoned out a weapon, this time my militia spear, since my closer-range encounters with this lightning-dodging, Olympic-level-javelin-throwing judo black belt had all gone badly. Well, okay. All of my encounters with this guy had gone badly. But I had to think of something, so spear it w
as.

  I made a circular sweep near his head with my weapon, which he easily deflected with the rim of my shield. Expecting that, I whirled my weapon way and back down, going for the bottom of his legs. He backed away, and I kept my strikes careful, not overcommitting so that he could power past my guard with his mace.

  He was finally the one to start giving ground, and I bit back a savage grin as I nicked him on where his right bicep should have been, noting the tiny electrical energy from my personal lightning spell zap into him. Finally, I thought. I had been waiting for that magic to activate on its own for a while. If it did so a few more times, then I knew I had this.

  But then he suddenly dropped his mace and snatched up the spear he had planted into the ground at the start of the fight.

  That was when things really got bad.

  My head flinched backwards instinctively as something swiped at my face so fast I couldn’t see. Before I could even raise my shield, that same flashing blur pierced briefly into my shin, through wards, armor, everything, and then pulled back out to strike at my shoulder. That attack I actually deflected, and then I felt my enemy’s spear sting my weapon arm.

  “Stop reacting!” Virtus shouted. “You’re letting me dictate the pace!”

  Growling, I let go of my own spear, caught his next strike firmly on my shield, then grabbed onto his stuck weapon with my now free hand and pulled backwards as hard as I could. The soldier followed on my pull for all of half a second, then let go of his spear as well, backing away as I slammed at him with the blunt end of his own weapon. Once again, he took the hit, then knocked the pole away from his shield as he reached to draw the short sword at his waist.

  By then I had already drawn my spatha and had darted forward at him. A wind-assisted leap allowed me to punch into him shield-first, knocking him off-balance just a hair. Then I leaped back and swung my sword past his shield to strike at the same arm I had hit earlier. Once again, my Outer Current spell triggered and a jolt of energy sizzled into him again. He grunted, this time sounding in genuine pain, and then his own sword flashed out.