by Thomas Green
“I don’t care. Remove all seals, blocks, barriers, and anything else you have that limits your strength. For tomorrow night, we drown the city in blood.”
***
After the meeting ended, Lucas hid behind the tents along the way between the main tent and Miranda’s. She soon strode down the path, allowing him to intercept her as if they bumped into each other. “Miranda.”
Her eyes narrowed. “What?”
Lucas swallowed the knot in his throat to speak calmly. “I am aware that you cheated your way to that medal, but I also read the reports and thus I know you deserve it. You have for a long time. I know, and I am proud of you.”
Miranda froze in her tracks.
“You are exactly who I had always hoped you would be,” Lucas added in a whisper. He formed an awkward smile, spun around and left. This was harder than I expected. Leaving the camp behind him, he ran to Redwall.
***
The arena complex was well defended, but two soulsteps got Lucas beyond the guards. He stalked through the stone hallways until he reached Luna’s room. She lay in the bed, snoring softly.
He sat by the side, summoned his spear and poked her with the shaft.
“Errr… what?” Luna muttered as she awoke.
“I have a mission for you. Ulognar, the slaver boss here in Redwall, needs to give up his life for the greater good. The killing time is tomorrow midnight.”
Luna rubbed her eyes. “And my payment?”
Payment? Who gave her that idea? Lucas cursed in his mind. “Of course, what do you desire?”
“A large favor.”
Lucas smiled. “Nice try, but this is an easy kill. A small favor is the most I’m giving.”
“I don’t get up from the bed for small favors, and he will be well protected since he would have to be an idiot not to realize we are coming for him.”
We, not I. Miranda had done her mission flawlessly, turning the pile of hopelessness Luna was in Cinderwell into a motivated monster. He clicked his tongue. “Medium favor then, last offer.”
“I accept. How’s Miranda doing?”
He scanned her with his gaze, noticing she bit her lips, her eyes dilated, and heart rate sped up. He narrowed his eyes. “Why would you care?”
“We met in Xona, and I am curious if she is around,” she said evasively, startled by the change in his tone, for his voice turned from conversational to murderously cold with no previous warning.
“I will tell her you asked and leave the decision of what to answer you to her.”
She scanned him with an appreciative stare. “You seem sensitive to this… she isn’t your ex-girlfriend or something like that, is she?”
Am I that easy to read? Lucas forced his expression and voice into impassive coldness. Wait for a second. He reached out with his aether, examining her. By the form and concentration of aether, he figured the soul of the girl was still asleep while the soul of the wolf was in control. He wasn’t talking to her, but to him. “No. But I can guarantee you one thing.” Lucas stepped to her, peering down at the beast. “If you hurt her, I will hurt you a hundred times more before I kill you. You and every other wolf spirit I can find. And trust me, nothing can hide from me in Limbo. Are we clear on that?”
Luna’s face paled, her eyes widening in terror as she gulped. “I will keep that in mind.”
“You should.” Lucas threw her an extra piercing glare and waltzed out of the room.
***
Lucas spent the next day planning and met with Miranda and Merewen upon the dusk in the last tent left from the army camp. “Ready?”
They nodded.
“Good. Miranda, you will act as the decoy. Hit their headquarters and keep Collward busy, striking at midnight. Merewen, you come with me.”
Miranda and Merewen replied in unison. “Sir, yes, sir.”
Lucas left the tent behind with Merewen walking in his tracks. He led her to a cavern hidden within a dune of sand. They descended the long corridor, arriving at an underground lake.
In utter disbelief, Merewen shook her head as she stood by the still water. “Are we standing by their most important resource without meeting a single guard? Is everyone this bad at having basic security?”
Lucas shrugged. “It makes our job easier.” He waved his hand, reaching into his soul chamber. Dozen open barrels filled with green liquid appeared above the lake before they fell into it with a splash. The water quickly caught the shade of green. “I will need you to do a specific spell. Put your hand forward and concentrate your flame to the tip of the finger. Imagine it as if you were compressing the fire into a single point, thinking of heat rather than a burst.”
Merewen stared at him, her mouth gaping. “What makes you think that would work?”
He smiled. “You aren’t the first wielder of your aether manifestation I have encountered. This is the spell its previous owner used to like.”
Merewen’s eyes narrowed. “Last time I checked, I was a war orphan. If there is something more to my ancestry, I would love to hear it.”
“Not really, but I know the flame you wield once belonged to the man whose name you pray to.”
Tear’s filled her eyes. She put a hand in front of her and concentrated. Flames burst out around her, then weaved toward her gloved finger, encasing it, imploding upon themselves. Within minutes, sweat covered her brow, and the tip of her finger shone like a tiny sun.
The water of the lake started evaporating, steam ascending up through the cavern, up through the wells of Redwall.
“How did you know… I could do this?” she stuttered.
Lucas glanced at the forked, steel bow hanging over her back. “If you can shoot from the bow, you can use the flame. The bow, Weeping Sun, was the weapon used by Palai himself. Nobody other than his direct descendants can wield it.”
Merewen’s face twisted into a faint smile. “That’s a lot to take in.”
“Keep the spell steady, because I need you to evaporate at least a third of the lake to get enough of the poison into the air.”
“Yes, sir. And thank you. You didn’t need to tell me, and I appreciate that you did.”
Lucas smiled. “You didn’t become my second in command by being pretty. I’m off for the hunt.”
“Have fun.”
***
Lucas scaled the cavern wall and entered Redwall. While the night masked the vapors, the air bore a tint of green. He approached the nearest wyvern pens. The massive beasts lay upon the ground, huffing. Lucas made a spear appear in his hand, soulstepped to a wyvern and stabbed it into the neck. The creature threw its head at him but was too slow. Lucas weaved away, soulstepped to the next one and pierced its throat. Two down, three thousand to go… this will be a long night.
33
James
James sat in his tent, working his way through the foot-tall stack of daily reports that lay on his table.
A loud voice echoed from outside. “General!”
He raised his eyes from the papers. “What is it, Colonel?”
“There is something in the air, and it doesn’t smell right, sir.”
“Where?”
“Everywhere, sir… that’s the thing. It looks like colored steam, and it's coming out of every well.”
“Get the other officers here, now!” James ordered and heard his second in command dash away.
James walked outside, gazing at the moon, seeing the green taint all around him. He strolled to the nearest well and reached for his aether. His palm split, blood flowing out and weaving through the air. It multiplied, extended and swelled, forming an open sphere on a string in front of him. He waved it above the well, catching the outpouring steam within before he closed it.
Satisfied, James returned to his tent, found an empty glass and poured the now-condensed steam into it. The water had a shade of green.
A few minutes later, all four of his senior officers stood in his tent. James pushed the glass to a dark-haired woman. “Find out what’s i
n the water.”
She woman traced a sign with her finger, and the water floated up into the air. “Some poison… light and weak… not for us, sir.”
“Then for whom, sir?” The colonel, his second in command, asked.
“The bigger demons,” James said. “Send messengers across the army. Any unit with a larger demon is to pour whatever beer or wine they have into or onto the monster, however possible. All of you gather your subordinate officers and dig in at our encampment. We need the chain of command to survive the night. Once you are done, send word to the Union’s army to do the same.”
His officers nodded and left. James picked up his axe and headed toward the Union’s headquarters. He found Collward inside, sitting by a mahogany desk, the Twins at his sides.
Edward raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“We are under attack. I had sent word to your officers to take care of your larger demons and themselves, and now I will replace you here to act as a decoy while I need you to activate your best puppets and go hunt down Lucas. He will move around the city, killing all wyverns and larger demons he can find.”
“Care to provide context?”
“Lucas poisoned the lake under the city and had an aether wielder with a fire manifestation evaporate it. The poison is light and aimed at larger creatures, mostly our demons. That is a textbook preparation for a focused strike so expect assassins to swoop around to pick off valuable targets.”
“My demons aren’t that weak, so this doesn’t sound like something that would work, considering I didn’t even notice the poison.”
James shook his head. “The poison stops blood coagulation, so all Lucas has to do to kill the bigger demons is to scratch them once, making them bleed out by tomorrow morning.”
Collward’s face hardened. “The Traitor never fails to impress me. I will go hunt him down.”
“Be careful about it, for this isn’t Cinderwell. While Lucas will still be unable to fight at full strength due to being in a city, they won’t care about collateral damage as much as before, and I don’t think I will get paid if you don’t make it until the end.”
Collward smiled. “Don’t worry, for I am not the man who has to run.”
After he left, James took his seat and helped himself to a bottle of spirits from his cabinet, waiting.
An hour later, a quick, sharp shriek pierced the air, and black flame consumed the wall of Collward’s office.
Miranda fell through the fire, landing straight in front of him.
James, who stood beyond the table, gazed upon her. “I am sorry to disappoint, but Collward isn’t home.”
“I might still end up being satisfied… who are you?” Miranda asked as her fire started consuming the rest of the building, burning wood, stone, and metal alike.
“James.”
“James... tall, blue eyes, strongly built, a total asshole... yeah… your daughter is quite the bed warmer.”
He laughed. “Is she?”
“She needs training, but she will become an excellent pet.”
James smiled, a deep feeling of happiness pouring through his body. He grabbed a bottle from the cabinet, knocked the top off and drank half in one go. Afterward, he sagged down into the wooden chair with a dreamy look.
Miranda narrowed her eyes. “You seem thrilled about this.”
“Do you know what has been my greatest fear in the past seven years? That one day she comes around, has a huge belly, and tells me she fell in love with this big polar bear and will have a bunch of bear puppies. Luna getting intimate with a human is a dream come true.” James grinned and drank the rest of the bottle. “Or, well, half a human.”
She stared at him, mouth gaping. “So… you are okay with it? You know… her and me?”
James laughed, this time harshly, his face becoming stern. “No, of course not. Your ancient ass isn’t nearly good enough for my sweetest daughter. You are like the old mare the drill instructors use to teach recruits how to ride. Once the freshmen get the hang of it, the mare is only good for sausages. But that does not matter much since I will tear you to shreds in the upcoming moments.”
Miranda swept the sweat off her brow. “Phew! This was becoming awkward.” She whirled and slung a steel sphere on a chain into James’ face.
34
Luna
Luna stood upon a tiled roof within the center of Redwall, gazing at the house of the local Union representative, Ulognar. The building was akin to a fortress made of dried clay with dozens of Urushnii patrolling its perimeter. The air carried a myriad of sounds, from the roaring of wyverns, through clashing of steel to screams of women and men.
A sharp screech pierced her ears. Luna recognized Miranda’s spell in an instant, confirming it by glancing at a tall, stone building, which was being consumed by black flames. Her heart started pounding in a frenzy.
She needed to get done with my mission so she would catch half a night with her. Luna stretched but stopped as she saw over a dozen large demons converge around another house in the street. The smallest demon was as big as a cow, the largest the size of a small house while there were at least thirty. They were all mutated insects, making them the most disgusting creatures Luna had ever seen. She sneered and waited.
The demons tore down the house’s walls and started fighting with the people inside. The defenders held a circular formation made of six soldiers in green-brown armor, a man with two swords while at its center stood a blue-robed woman, a red-robed man, a brown-robed man, and a female archer.
She recognized them. They were the Xona team. Luna watched the fight for a moment, but as neither Salazar nor Katherine were present, the outcome was obvious. There was no escape for them, and the demons were poised to overrun them within minutes.
Luna gritted her teeth. They needed help, badly, but on the other hand, the favor Lucas promised was enough to shield her from him the next time she needed. After all, there was nothing to stop him if he decided she wasn’t worth the effort of doing the ritual and instead came to kill her. Also, saving Salazar’s team would be more than sufficient for the count to close his eyes once she moved to Xona, allowing her to start a new life there. She needed to do both, and it had to be now. Yet she wasn’t sure she could accomplish that either. Not by herself. She turned to her spirit, deciding this time she won’t wait for the last second with her transformation. Both Lucas’ spear and Merewen’s arrow stopped her from shifting, and she wouldn’t risk another disaster like those. Wolfie, we will do a full body shift into your form and kill everyone other than the team of Xona. Okay?
The beast within her grunted its approval into her mind, seeping its excitement into her. ‘Call my name and I will.’
She dashed across the roof, leapt onto a massive demonic beetle, slid over its chitin body, and landed down on the collapsed wall. The team of Xona stood below in a desperate attempt at a defensive formation. She took a deep breath to shout as loud as she could. “Listen! If you want to survive this, throw away everything made of silver. Everything!”
Promise me you won’t screw this up. It’s more than important!
‘I promise.’
She broke every safety she had built within her body and soul, every barrier shielding her, and every limiter. She stripped herself bare before the beast, offering all she had, all her aether, everything. Come forth, Volk von Kharsarvaar.
The beast accepted, taking full, unlimited, and unconditional control over her. Power burst into her heart, spread through her body, twisting, and transforming it.
Marked turned to Yvonne. “What the fuck are you doing? We need to fight not take off earrings!”
Yvonne looked at him with wide eyes. “But she said…”
“It doesn’t matter! Hold the formation!”
Luna punched the ground, her arms and legs stretched, thickened and her fingers prolonged to humongous claws. Her back followed as it swelled wide while her mouth turned to a snout, and thick black fur sprouted all over her body. In a few sec
onds, instead of Luna stood a monster, a blend of a wolf and a man. Even the demons stopped in their tracks, staring.
Luna observed through the beast’s eyes, unable to resist the overwhelming sensation of power it gave her. In its full form, the beast was sixteen feet tall with most of its two tons of weight concentrated in muscles. The beast, Volk, straightened and stretched his neck, flexing his massive arms, towering over the puny humans beneath. ‘Myself at last.’
Within her mind, Luna snapped, stop wasting aether and get to work.
‘For you.’ The beast took a deep breath and roared. Glass of the windows shattered, stone cracked, and a half of the smaller demons collapsed as their hearts gave out.
Volk smirked and whirled to the closest demon beetle. He slammed his humongous claws into its face, piercing its skull. With a wild spin, he threw the corpse, crushing two smaller demons.
The Xona team closed its formation.
The beast dove into the demons, weaving, blocking, punching, slashing and stabbing. Demon blood and body parts were flying everywhere.
He ducked beneath the pincers of a massive cockroach demon to land an uppercut into its torso. The demon flew off the ground as his fist crushed its insides. With a thunderous boom, the demon’s carcass fell at the Xona team’s formation, crushing two soldiers who weren’t fast enough to dodge.
Volk leapt into the air, grabbed a demon that was a twisted mosquito the size of a house, and spun to slam it onto the cockroach demon. The impact alone turned the mosquito monster into a mess of crushed chitin and body fluids.
A flash of silver flashed into Volk’s eyes. ‘Silvered swords? Nice try!’
Luna screamed in her mind. No! Stop!
The beast stepped to the man wielding the silvered swords, to Mark, and ran his claws through him to fling him into the air and bite off his head.
Luna kept shouting into her mind, calling Volk to stop, to calm down. He ignored her, too intoxicated by the surrounding slaughter to care what she had to say. Volk whirled and leapt among two more demons, shredding the face of one while crushing the other one with a spinning kick. Heat burst from his side. He noticed smoke coming out of his fur as a burn wound regenerated within an instant.
