Luck Of The Claw

by Matthew C. Gill

his strength couldn't last. Mal was a stark contrast, his movements were fluid and he parried with a strategic skill. It was like watching a chess master demonstrating himself; he somehow even seemed to be able to predict Camden's almost random movements.

  Witnessing Mal in his own element was truly a sight to behold. Trinity had never seen anyone who seemed to be able to fight like that and this old man wore no armor and wielded not one item of magic. How did she know that? The question rang a bell within her mind; it brought her back to her senses and allowed her to focus. Mal had told her that only she could look to the book for help.

  And she really could some help right now. Trinity closed her eyes and seized on that thought riding it down to a calm place inside where she tried to concentrate on it. "Please, I cannot let them take him," she compelled the empty air for aid. "I can't let him be hurt, he's my little brother - he is all I have."

  A single tear formed to roll down her cheek as Trinity's mind wrestled to think of something. While she watched on Camden barely managed to throw his left arm in the way of Cobble's face to stun a desperate charge and halt what would have been a crushing tackle. There was no more thinking about what to do, no more helpless worry left for Trinity. She opened the book and her necessity transformed into action as pages ruffled of their own accord. Words danced to life on the page like leaves falling from trees and caught on a breeze. Trinity could hear them whispered into her ears as she felt them flow out of her carried upon her voice.

  It was the most beautiful song she had ever heard, the melody of it lifted her up and washed through her while a single purpose drove her. She could not allow them to hurt her brother or take him from her. Trinity refused to be separated from Camden; it was something she had always feared. The magic had given form to that desire and shaped it into life. Answering to her call was the very wind itself that blasted to life to rush past her as it delighted in her song.

  Camden was breathing hard from behind Mal who stood resolute with his guard raised in the boy's defense. Thatch and Cobble were preparing for another assault when a column of air swept around their foes to slam into them. It was like a massive sledge hammer had connected with them square in the chest, driving their breath from them and propelling them backwards. If not for a rather thick trunked old tree the two might have been carried far off into the distance. Instead, Trinity could just make out two figures as they struggled against the force of the wind to get to their feet before fleeing.

  With the threat to her brother gone she could feel the driving force fueling her song leaving her. And as it did a terrible exhaustion rose to grip her turning the world around her into darkness. Relieved, a smile marked her face as Trinity collapsed to the ground still clutching her book. Without her doing so, it had managed to become closed.

  Too tired to think Camden let his legs lower him down to the ground. There would be time for someone to explain what had just happened to him later he figured. But for Mal, he now found himself even more worried about the Vault.

  - Episode 19 -

  Awaiting Thatch and Cobble deep within the forest stood Lady Adriana proud and majestic. Surrounding her there was a pack of no less than six strange beasts that looked to be restless and ready to obey her command. They were something unknown to Thatch or Cobble but their own primal instinct told them immediately to fear them as sure as any predator is a source of terror to its prey.

  The beasts resembled something akin to a massive wolf almost as much as it did a hulking cat. Their eyes seemed to shine reflecting of the diffused forest light as they paced back and forth without taking their gaze from the approaching pair. While Thatch looked to the Lady he tried to riddle out what was going on and Cobble settled for keeping his attention on claws and jaws.

  Lady Adriana took pleasure in the fear presented before her. Everyone prioritizes threats differently she supposed, and it always amused her at how different people did so. A dark power slithered to life within her and she let it work its way into her voice before she spoke. "Report to me, you worthless worms; tell me everything!" She gave the command with a voice that sounded like steel being honed. It carried to Thatch and Cobble's ears and she grinned with a certain sinister satisfaction as she watched her own subtle magic take hold.

  For a split second Thatch had been only thinking of The Baron, and then this mysterious Lady was standing before him. He couldn't help but feel like he was missing something but as she spoke he felt compelled to answer her. It seemed so very important. There was something vital he had to tell the Baron, they had found the key! And yet, somehow, all he could think of was how he needed to tell this Lady. All of a sudden it was she whom he feared, this lady who was to be obeyed.

  Before either of them knew what they were doing they both gave Lady Adriana a detailed report of how they had found the Key. Especially making sure to punctuate the discovery of the fact with how it had been used to expedite their escape. While they spoke Lady Adriana watched with the gaze of a night hawk that never wavered from them. Had she even blinked? Thatch wondered but quickly discarded the notion.

  "You and my pets will strike them at dawn," the Lady declared icily. "When the sun rises in the sky you will attack, but make no mistake; you are only to harass them. I don't want them killed - yet. Your only to speed them on their way, I will follow them to what we seek and deal with them personally."

  In a swirl of ghostly flames of blues, blacks and purples the Lady shifted spinning to take on the form of a vicious bird like creature. As it flexed its wings it turned to regard Thatch and Cobble with the eyes of a ruthless hunter. "Understood?" it asked in an inhuman mimicry of speech.

  Thatch and Cobble both gulped down a deep understanding of what might await them if they didn't agree and nodded. And with that she took flight off into the trees leaving the two to look around them at the strange creatures that they just now realized they would be spending the night in the company of. A second round of shudders and gulps was certainly in order.

  - Episode 20 -

  "You did well boy, now leave the ground be and help me move your sister into the house." Camden looked up from the cool dirt that felt so good on his weary back to regard Mal. How was this old man not exhausted like him, he couldn't understand it. "Oh, alright," Camden complained with a groan. "Can't we just wake her up though? I don't see why we have to pack her or anything. We did do all the fighting; she could at least take her own self inside."

  When Mal turned to look down at Camden his eyes flashed with a fiery forge of fury, his voice held the edge of restrained thunder. "Your sister just did what nobody else has done in countless ages - she channeled the raw magical energies of nature itself. She read from a book nobody else ever could to bend the very wind to her service. I could have bested those two with cold steel but she did so with mere words. And without her they might have managed to kill or take you from her before I could stop them. You don't get it boy, what we face isn't a pair of thugs, we face something far worse and they want everything ever locked away in the Vault of Echoes. Those petty trinkets you have are nothing compared to what rests there, and your sister not only has the key but just proved to them that she now is the key. Now that she can tap into the ancient secrets of the book, they will come for her now as well. Our only hope is to get her rested and protect her until we can reach the Vault to ensure it is still secure. Then we can deal with what happens next. But until then we have to keep her safe."

  It took Camden a few breaths to realize Mal had stopped speaking. He was ashamed of himself, it was one thing to give her a hard time goofing around since she was his sister but this was serious. Camden hadn't realized just how dire things were or how fortunate he had just been. But one looming question still nagged him in the back of his mind. It centered on everything that had just happened and was promising to continue to happen to them. It was such a simple thing that demanded he ask it.

  So he did. "Mal, who are you?" The old farmer turned to lift Trinity from the dirt and heav
ed her up supported by his shoulders. "Help me get her inside and we'll talk," he said with a sigh, his eyes closed. Mal had to fight to keep the images from flooding back to mind - that was a long time ago and he didn't want anyone still looking to him like he was that legendary figure. The stories were simply too much to live up to, even now.

  Camden did just as he was asked though and helped get his sister inside to rest. Once done they sat down into a pair of weathered chairs and Mal's face dropped the usual stern demeanor replacing it with a grave seriousness. "I was Sir Malthurion Abardeen, Knight of the Realm, Defender of the Peace, and Earl Marshal." It felt like forever since he had recited the old titles, but even after all this time he had to respect them with a moment of silence as they hung on the air. They were far more than empty words or arrogant claims.

  In time understanding slowly kindled itself within Camden's eyes but he felt it best not to say anything. Before, if he had managed to have met THE Malthurion Abardeen he would have exploded with exclamation and