by Taki Drake
No matter how much I tried to let go of the tension of the day, there was no sleep for me. Tactics kept running through my head, even though I did not know much about my opponents or their capabilities. Acknowledging that information shortfall, I thought to myself, That always makes battles trickier.
Listening to the quiet night and running through multiple fighting scenarios, I lay on the couch, awake for over an hour before I heard a noise from Willow’s room. Immediately, I sat up and swung my feet over the edge of the couch, sitting and listening more intently.
Another whisper of sound and I saw the door to her bedroom open slowly. In a faint voice, I heard Willow ask, “Are you awake?”
“Yes, I am,” was my reply. When the young woman said nothing else, I waited briefly and then added curiously, “Why are you awake?”
“I wanted to talk to you more.” Willow moved soundlessly over to the chair closest to the fireplace. The dim light was no problem for me, and I could see that she was only wearing her nightgown. The expression on her face confused me with its mixture of excitement and fear, so I stopped talking and waited for her to tell me what was wrong.
The silence between us extended, and I could sense the increased tension as the silence grew longer. I noticed when Willow bit her lower lip, and her eyes looked down at her hands clasped together in her lap. Still, I waited, hoping that she would give me some clue what was going on.
Finally, Willow took a deep breath and blurted out, “Is there anything you want from me?” The question, coupled with her suddenly-shy posture and what I was convinced would show as a red flush of embarrassment in the daylight, abruptly stabbed me with what was actually happening.
Willow wanted to know if I found her desirable and if I would take her to bed. That was why she had changed clothes for supper into something more revealing. It was also the motivation for some of her questions. Her tentative seduction was also why Drelba had looked so disapproving. How could I have been so dense? Has my intelligence disappeared along with my memories?
I did not want to hurt Willow but was not sure how you told someone that you did not feel the slightest bit of passion for them. Knowing that I had to say something, I tried to be gentle, saying, “Oh, dear, I’m sorry, but no. Everything is still too complicated. I am not sure who or what I am, and it would not be fair to be involved with anyone until I know more about myself.”
Whatever Willow had built up in her mind as to possible responses and directions that this scenario might go, my words and actions failed to match. Her expressive face told me that first, she was shocked and then embarrassed. She certainly did not like what I had just said, and my attempt to let her down gently had just failed spectacularly.
I could explain the situation, saying that she was the right age for hormones to be raging and that her behavior was driven by that. It was even possible for me to rationalize my response by saying that I was looking out for her, preventing her from making a bad mistake.
However, I had just rejected her, physically and emotionally, and her vulnerability to those types of rejections was guaranteed to draw a powerful response. Dammit, now what do I do?
In the few seconds that I was thinking, Willow took action. Her eyes flooded with tears, and she jumped up from the chair. Sobbing so hard that I knew that she was moving blindly, the young woman bolted for the door. Desperate to get away from my proximity, Willow fled not to the safety of her bedroom but to the greater separation available outside the house.
Willow moving quickly with speed powered by both familiarity of her surroundings and the pain of her embarrassment, managed to unbolt the door and open it before I could even come to my feet. As she charged out of the house into the night, there was an explosion of noise as what must have been every village dog began to bark hysterically.
I instinctively grabbed my swords, slamming them into their sheaths. My sense of smell was assaulted with a noxious miasma of rotting food and sour sweat. Heading after Willow, I was determined to protect her until she could calm down.
A feeling of mixed horror and pain pierced me as out in the concealing night, Willow screamed in abject terror. My heart in my throat, I raced to her rescue, all strategy and plans forgotten.
Chapter 9 – Night Fight
Charging out into the darkened street, I saw that Willow had crashed into an enormous foot, bouncing off of it and slamming into the ground. My first glimpse of the foot showed something vaguely human, with dirt-caked overgrown toenails, and covered in coarse clumps of dirty red hair. The stench was so strong as I approached that my eyes watered and my stomach clenched.
The young woman had rolled over on her back and looked up to see the total nightmare of a massive hand with vicious talons of nails reaching for her. No wonder she had screamed in terror.
Even with the abrupt and unexpected collision, the giant creature moved quickly. Although it had only taken me a couple of seconds to charge out the door after the young woman’s cry of terror had alerted me, the Thing’s hand had already descended to the ground and grabbed Willow by her torso.
Without even thinking, I lunged from the door, pulling my katana from its sheath in a smooth, controlled movement. Although aware that the Thing had its fingers totally wrapped around Willow's entire torso, I paid no attention to the size of the creature. Instead, I was focused on retrieving the young woman before she could be harmed.
There was no tension jangling my nerves, no confusion of thought. I moved like a focused predator, intent on my giant prey, and alert to everything around me.
Taking in the form of the creature in a single comprehensive look, I realized what I was fighting. The mysterious Thing was a gigantic humanoid with pale flesh covered with dirt and coarse red hair. With arms that seemed longer than human, and a head set forward on its neck, the creature was frightening in how closely it resembled a human. Even though it wore a cowhide tied around its waist, it was apparent that this was a male.
There was no more time for looking. Instead, it was time to battle. Locked on to the Thing, I covered the distance between us rapidly, swinging my katana at the monstrosity’s leg.
I could feel the discipline of countless hours of swinging my blade and fighting for my life. There was no time to wonder at the source of that, no time to discuss anything, it was just the Thing and me, locked into our own private circle of death.
The creature moved quickly, already yanking Willow higher than I could reach. Determined to prevent her abduction, I focused my slashing attacks on the creature’s lower legs.
Darting in from my left, a black and white herding dog, slammed into the Thing’s foot, snarling and providing an additional distraction for the huge monster. Although the animal did not appear to be able to draw blood, its rapid movements and loud snarls further slowed the creature down.
Confused by Willow’s shrill screaming and the large dog’s attack, it is doubtful whether the Thing even knew that I was there before my weapon slashed across the back of his ankle. I did not hold back on my blow, and the jolt of the impact numbed my right arm. To my disappointment, the blade, although sharp, did not penetrate deeply into the creature’s skin.
The sting of my blow must have hurt the Thing because it let out a bellow of pain and moved awkwardly away from me. I could see that it was limping, and a whining cry emitted from its lips. Obviously angry, it swatted at me with the hand not holding Willow.
The twisting motion necessary to keep her safe as it tried to strike me was awkward, but that bit of clumsiness hurt my opponent even more than it caused problems for me. My movement was jerky, and the immense creature tried mid-swing to compensate for my altered trajectory.
It was unsuccessful, and the monster overbalanced. Defeated by its own twisting motion and the excess energy of its blow, the Thing stumbled, raising its own voice in fear. Panicked, the creature tried to catch itself, grabbing blindly at the buildings around it and releasing Willow to fall from about ten feet above the ground.
Thatching and roof tiles scattered everywhere, as the claws of the Thing failed to gain purchase on the roofs of the buildings around us. I heard the groan of timbers and cries from inside the houses as people awoke to feel their homes shaking and the visceral sounds of mortal combat nearby.
I heard the Thing yelling and crashing, as the brave dog continued to harass the monstrous being. I did not pay a lot of attention to the creature’s attempts to stay on its feet. Instead, I moved faster than I thought was possible, dropping my blade as I dove forward to catch Willow in midair.
Twisting my body in a wrenching of muscle and bone that I knew would have to be paid for later, I managed to flip myself so that I landed on my back, shielding the young woman from the worst of the impact.
The first slam stole the air from my lungs and drew a sharp gasp of pain from the young woman. So great was the force that we bounced on the ground a couple of times before it was safe for me to release her. Still in combat mode, I all but threw her off of me and onto her feet as I lunged to a crouched position, surprised that the Thing had not attacked us while we were on the ground.
I saw the reason immediately. The dog was darting back and forth, harassing the creature and keeping the colossal humanoid’s attention focused on it. The pattern of the canine attacks formed a shield, never giving the giant monster a break.
Without that help, Willow and I would have been vulnerable on the ground, defenseless while we recovered. Our four-legged ally chose that moment to stumble over some of the loose debris. The Thing managed to land a glancing blow on the dog’s side, sending the animal flying across the street to slam into the side of a building. As the monster started to lumber after the stunned animal, I charged back into battle, hoping to draw its attention.
Not daring to take my eyes off of my opponent, I yelled at Willow, saying, “Run to the house and get me my bow!”
Moving away from my furry ally, I let loose a fierce warcry, shouting to draw the creature’s attention, “Hey, dirt for brains! You had better pay attention to me, or I will skewer your hairy ass.” Waving my katana in a showy pattern that I knew appeared threatening, I saw the Thing’s reaction immediately, as it turned away from the dog and toward me.
As the Thing headed my way, it began to swing its arms like a windmill, evidently hoping to hit me with sheer power. Its motions were so oversized and actions telegraphed so much in advance, that I had no problems evading the attempts. Glancing to the side, I saw that Willow was still frozen in place.
“Grab my bow, dammit, and bring it back!” I yelled again, breaking the young woman free of her frozen stance as I jumped clear of the creature’s attack once more. Dodging to the side so that the Thing's attention was on me instead of on Willow’s fleeing figure, I tried to maneuver my opponent.
Realizing that I needed to gain higher ground, I wanted to change our fight to where the creature’s panicked grab to stay upright had created a field of debris. The partially-destroyed roofs and walls had formed a rising slope toward the top of a nearby building. This was precisely what I needed to change the dynamics of the fight.
Taking a lumbering step toward me, the creature blocked my path to the debris pile as it attempted to swat me in its anger. There was no easy way past it. Smiling in bloodthirsty joy, I pulled my shortsword and went on the attack.
I had been trying to achieve the higher ground, knowing that it gained me an advantage. Unfortunately, until I managed to get there, the height of the creature and its long arms delivered a tactical advantage that I could not circumvent.
I guess I am going to have to do this the hard way, I thought to myself. As the Thing stood on the ground, about the highest point that I could reach from a balanced stance was the creature's knee. Waiting as my slower opponent swung his arm at me, I parried his hand, cutting slightly through his skin and drawing another cry of pain. Hoping that the joint was more vulnerable than the ankle had been, I aimed the power of my riposte directly at the bottom of the knee.
I delivered a picture-perfect blow. The shortsword’s point was sharp enough to punch through the skin, but only drew a small amount of blood. The Thing reacted in pain, stepping back and screaming loudly in alarm.
With utterly horrible timing, my mental visitor chose that moment to make itself known again, almost startling me into an awkward move. <
Luckily for me, the monster was just as distracted as I was. My canine ally had climbed to his feet and rejoined the fight, snarling a furious warcry of his own. Slamming full force into the back of the Thing’s leg, the raging animal caught the monstrous creature at a vulnerable point and staggered him. Snapping and snarling, the animal raked the creature’s skin with wicked claws, hardened from miles of running.
The beast bellowed again and swung its fist at me, but the dog’s attack split the creature’s attention. Hurting and confused, it took a few more steps away, toward where another Thing was holding a cow in midair next to the cow pen, and staring stupidly in our direction. There was a panicked moo from the captive cow that made me realize that the image was not a hallucination. Dammit, there are two of them!
Perhaps emboldened by the big dog fighting at my side, the cow corral appeared to erupt in a tornado of canine defenders. Even while concentrating on the monster close to me, I saw dogs of all sizes as they formed a whirling circle of darting teeth and flashing claws. The second creature screamed in fright, clutching the cow to its chest.
Taking advantage of the few steps the larger Thing had undertaken to avoid the dual assault of my blows and the dog’s teeth, I darted quickly toward my targeted pile of rubble. Using the debris like a ramp, I jumped from timber to board, hoping that each steppingstone would hold my weight.
My momentum built, and I refused to slow down as I approached the top of the rubble heap and saw that I had an eight-foot gap to reach the roofline of the next building. Uncoiling my muscles in a tremendous effort, I rocketed from the top of the rubble and managed to crash to my knees on the roof of the two-story building beyond.
My opponent had not even realized where I had moved because my canine ally had ramped up his attacks and kept the monster focused on him. Thanking some unknown deity for the gift, I quickly scrambled to my feet and ran across the roofs to a position along the path to the cow corral.
Chapter 10 – Terror in the Night
The screams of terror from the smaller of the two Things had gotten shriller and more panicked. I could see the moment that the larger one realized the threat to its companion, and saw as it turned and started to make its way to the rescue. The large black and white dog continued to harass the retreating figure, ensuring that my movements would not be noticed.
I waited until the larger monster was next to the house on whose rooftop I was standing. Jumping from the slate tiles, I landed on the back of the Thing’s shoulder, crashing onto my knees and grabbing a hank of hair to avoid falling. Prepared for the creature’s immediate response, I was saved by the almost choreographed attack from my canine ally.
Still snarling and darting in with slamming, vicious lunges, the dog chose that moment to jump up onto the front thigh and bite hard on the cowskin covering, hanging on and raking with its sharp claws.
The Thing responded with outright terror, banging its own fist on the front of its body, just as the dog released his hold and dropped to the ground. Reacting too slowly to stop the blow, the monster punched his own groin area. There was a moment of stunned silence before the Thing issued an impossibly shrill shriek of pain and hunched over as he clutched his brutalized appendages.
Still holding my sword in one hand, I twisted the hair around my forearm and allowed gravity to swing my body until I was directly beside the monster’s neck. Bracing myself on the creature’s collar
bone, I thrust as hard as I could at the vein visibly throbbing in the thick column of its throat.
The blade penetrated precisely where I was aiming. Blood spurted out of the wound like a thick viscous stream of coppery-smelling liquid, and the Thing bellowed loudly. Almost mad with pain, it slapped its own neck as if it were swatting a mosquito. Hitting the end of my shortsword, the massive hand of the monster forced the weapon deeper. The bellowing got louder, and the huge body staggered.
Abandoning my weapon where it was, I used the hair anchored around my forearm to swing for another rooftop. The dog chose that moment to attack from the side. Recognizing the stagger as a sign of weakness, the animal erupted in even louder growls and snarls, howling as it used its body as a bludgeon to smash the side of the Thing’s knee.
Unbalanced by the combination of attacks and my swinging exit, the creature slammed the side of its head into the top of the two-story house next to it. The impact drove the shortsword deeper into the wound, and the glancing vector ripped the flesh more.
The Thing dropped onto one knee, keening wildly just as I realized that I had successfully disarmed myself, and still had another of the monsters to fight. Luckily, my four-legged ally continued to press the attack, running up the back of the kneeling creature and leaping to bite the rear of the Thing’s neck. I saw the large dog’s jaw lock and knew that it would be difficult to dislodge. I needed to take advantage of the time that my battle companion had given me.
At that moment, I heard Willow shout, “Catch,” and looked down to see her standing below me. Her eyes were opened fully and sharp with determination, and I recognized the look of combat rage on her face as she tossed my bow at me.
Amazed at her strength and aim, I snagged the bow out of the air just in time to transfer it to my other hand as the quiver of arrows followed immediately. Tossing the strap of the quiver over my shoulder, I shouted, “Get to cover. NOW!” I noticed that Willow had gotten a stubborn look on her face and did not move, but I had no more time to worry about her since the battle was not over.