Squire of War

by M. H. Johnson

  Jess began to laugh then, delighting in the frisson of energy and well-being suddenly coursing through her.

  “No! There is no way you could break through those wards!” Arrogant gaze melting into fear, the hideous apparition slowly backed away.

  “How did I break your asinine wards? How did I see past your magics and slice through them, and you, so easily?” Jess's grin was lit by a dark, taunting hunger, savoring the unnerving of her enemy, its confidence collapsing with the shredding of its eldritch protections. “Is it not obvious, foul wraith? We are in the realm of dreams! A place where will takes precedence over form, where all that echoes with the past is but a memory, a dream of what once was, or could be.”

  Jess gazed about her with sneering contempt. “Just as you have so obviously shaped this paltry little realm into your personal domain, I too can shape it, break it, transform it to serve me! Now quail before the one who is about to sunder your dreams, and cast you into endless nightmare!” This Jess declared while forcing open the cut upon her cheek once more, grinning sharply at the burst of pain it gave her, her offhand now wet with her own blood.

  With a sudden roar Jess charged the creature, having already calculated the counter to her foe’s blade. Long and thin, deadly in the thrust against an unarmored foe, it was only somewhat effective in the cut. In reality, it was a lord’s fencing toy more than a weapon of war.

  For deadly as a rapier might be against an unarmored man, it was far less so if one was prudent enough to wear armor or had, say, a mailed glove to catch the deceptively fast feint and strike that the lich, with a satisfied hiss, launched at Jess, seemingly certain that its infernal blade could cut through mundane armor with effortless ease, cleaving her in twain.

  Yet Jess took no injury when her gauntlet successfully snagged the creature’s madly thrusting blade, even when yanking her foe’s rapier completely off alignment as the wraith’s frenzied lunge sent it stumbling past her.

  Jess felt a surge of darkest exhilaration as her own bloodstained blade arced downwards to devastating effect. The lich let loose a panicked shriek as her smoking blade cut deep into its arched back, effortlessly severing hellish wards and rotting flesh alike.

  Her dread foe crashed to the ground, crippled by her blow. The wraith’s shadowy robes smoked and steamed where Jess’s blood-soaked blade had struck. She could see the shattered remnants of ruptured spells whipping about wildly in the ether.

  “Mistress of darkness!” it cried, its dreadful whisper a mockery of a whining plea. “Mercy, mistress. Let me serve you. Let me bask in your dark glory and show you the insights I have gained in the dark arts! Oh, great goddess of the nether realms, let me pledge my soul unto you and feast upon the vision of your dark ruthless glory, bringing new disciples and souls who will adore you, and obey your every whim!”

  Twilight, once again on the ground, darted nimbly past ruptured wards and smirked at their fallen foe. “What a pathetic plea you make. As if we didn't already know how empty an offer that was. Legions of adoring sycophants, and no sunlight to warm one’s fur, or fish to fill one’s belly. Pointless drivel!”

  With a final disparaging sniff for the ancient lich, Twilight ignored him completely, focusing his gaze upon Jess. “Come, Jess. Embrace your inner paladin, destroy this pathetic blight, and let’s leave this place. I, for one, am starving for something more filling than essence of soul.”

  Jess turned her gaze fully upon the still pleading wraith with blade raised high, her eyes as cold and merciless as a midwinter storm. “This is for all the lives you’ve destroyed, all the suffering you’ve caused, all the grief, pain, and death that lie as stains upon your spirit. You wish to serve the dark ones? So be it! Serve them as food. Let them feast upon your soul!”

  Jess roared her fury as the creature screamed in supplication, her blazing sword cleaving the fallen wizard in twain, and Jess felt as much as saw the arcane bindings sealing its soul tight to its shadowy form suddenly rupture, its twisted malformed spirit free at last of all the dark enchantments that had polluted it, the strangely solemn soul now blinking at her in confusion, only to be sent hurling away, screaming through endless dark dimensions, doomed to serve as food for the howling demons it had pledged itself to, so long ago.

  Jess could sense this, even as she was near overwhelmed by the sickly-sweet rush of all the fallen wizard's carefully hoarded energies roaring into her in a tidal wave of tainted power. She cried out with the intensity of it, unsure for some moments whether it was ecstasy or agony she felt as she stumbled to the ground.

  She blinked, gazing about her in a dazed stupor.

  Where once there had been undead horrors laughing with sick delight, a chaotic melee full of madness and terror, there was now naught but suits of rusted mail, pitted swords, and piles of fine ash. The great laboratory was quiet and deathly still, save for the sobs of the one girl that had been pulled into this terrible realm.

  Of Master Enchanter Rens and all his other terrified students, there was not a trace. Gone, as if they had never been.

  54

  Jess rushed over to Josie, gently stroking her shoulder. “It’s going to be okay. Those creatures that did this to you are gone. You don’t have to worry about them anymore. It’s going to be all right. We’re going to get you out of here, okay? I promise.”

  Josie moaned but turned to her and Jess felt a sudden jolt, an ache in her chest, as the girl’s soft brown eyes caught her own. The terrible pain she saw in Josie's beautiful face twisted Jess’s heart, and she ached in sympathy with every wheezing breath she heard from her friend's laboring chest, even as she tried desperately to speak.

  “My arms, they burn like fire. But you saved my life, Jess, thank all the gods. I thought those horrors were going to kill me! It's just that this place feels like it's crushing me. Crushing my chest. I can hardly breathe. Oh gods, I feel like I'm going to die here!"

  Tears of pain and fear coursed down Josie's cheeks and Jess carefully picked her up, her heart clenching whenever she cried out as her broken arms jostled.

  “Malek, help!” Jess cried out urgently.

  With a nod Malek approached, methodically tearing off strips of their underclothing with his dagger, using it to carefully sling Josie's arms, wrapping them tightly to her belly so they would not jostle her with unspeakable agony as Jess prepared to move her out of the laboratory.

  “Bloody hells, Malek, how do we get out of here?” Jess grimaced, doing her best to reign in mounting dread as she noticed the door they had entered and smashed open was now surrounded by a strange white mist, radiating the same eerie chill as it had down the corridor. “I think that damn mist is growing.”

  Malek nodded. “You’re right on that, Jess. It’s definitely time for us to leave.” His eyes darted around and lightened up as Jess followed his gaze to an entranceway in the back of the laboratory, appearing to lead down a long hallway. “That way!”

  Together they made their way at a fast yet cautious pace, worry for her injured friend and the mounting anxiety coursing through her muting so much of the curiosity she might otherwise feel for the endless tomes and treasures they saw on display. She could tell by Malek's worried frown that he felt much the same, though when he whistled at a golden chalice resting upon a solid marble pedestal, she didn't blame him. It was clearly worth a fortune, and would be a wonderful prize to take home with them. He was about to lift it up with a triumphant grin before suddenly blanching. Jess grimaced when she saw that it was full of coagulated blood.

  Malek shuddered, his hand pulling back in disgust. “Blood rituals.”

  “No doubt.” Jess nodded. “However hungry Rens is for knowledge, I have the feeling that the works here are of an extremely tainted nature. I don’t think our school needs to be pursuing arts that might lead anyone down this dark path again.”

  Malek gave a thin-lipped nod. "Agreed."

  "Do you choose the chalice?" A terrible voice crackled through the air like frozen tree sap bursting
pine trees by the score. Jess shivered at the sudden chill, inhaling the bitter scent of frigid cold.

  "What was that?" Malek gazed, about, sword held at the ready. If anything, the mist had advanced, and Jess couldn't help but wonder if it was mist they saw, or the memory of a howling winter storm.

  Jess’s breath caught as Josie's breathing became more labored.

  At that moment, Josie started to moan and gasp. Her face scrunched up in a grimace, sobbing with pain. "Oh Jess, by the gods it hurts!" She shook in Jess's arms and gave a low guttural groan. Jess shared an anxious look with her shieldbrother.

  “We’ve got to get her out of this place, now!” Malek shouted, looking desperately around. "Bloody hells, the exits are gone!"

  Jess swallowed, heart hammering, realizing it was true. The way they had entered was now lost in a fog of howling whiteness, passageways she was sure had been there moments before while fighting for her life were now nothing but shelves stacked with eldritch tomes by the score, alternating with pedestals weighed down by what Jess was chillingly certain were the vilest of artifacts, the blood-filled chalice but one of them.

  Jess spied a sword with a blade that seemed to suck in all light, so dark it was, for all that its hilt was lacquered in gold and jewels fit for a king. Also on display was a shield covered in black glyphs that seemed to pulsate in the air, a wand of perfect ebony held still in the mummified hand of some ancient wizard, both of them resting upon massive pedestals of gold veined marble. Resting on the translucent pedestal closest to Jess was a horn the color of dried blood.

  Jess felt a fierce surge of exhilaration, all but tasting the sweet rush of terrible power emanating from that dread artifact before she gasped and shuddered, surprised to see her left hand grasping for the horn even as she shifted an increasingly panicked Josie to her right arm as if she weighed no more than a sack of clothes.

  Jess hissed and lurched back, glaring at her left hand, her own once more.

  A terrible voice, frigid as an icy gale, washed over them both. "Choose your prize, Champions of Winter, and embrace your destiny."

  Malek's panicked gaze met Jess's own. "Let's not touch a thing, Jess, not a damn thing. We've both read enough stories to know that dark specters asking us to take prizes radiating those sorts of magics is never a good thing."

  Jess's eyes widened. "You can sense the dark energies wrapped around these artifacts?"

  Malek frowned. "No, Jess. I, well, they all smell like death to me, that's all I can tell you."

  "Close enough, Hound," Twilight purred from Jess's shoulder. "Close enough."

  Laughter like the shrieking howl of the fiercest storm washed over them, Jess holding Josie tight, terrified for her friend gasping in air that tasted as cold as the void.

  "Your triumph was inevitable, for only victors live to stand before me, your destiny foretold. You can no more fight it than you can the march of the seasons, long as my brother and nemesis Autumn has tried to hold me off, embracing his rituals, his sacrifices, rich bounties never enough to ward Dawn from winter's deadly chill."

  Jess gazed about madly, looking for the source of that booming voice, tasting the dark truths behind those terrible words.

  "Who is Autumn? What do you mean by winter's deadly chill? She cried out, desperate for time, chilled to find no exit, no escape at all.

  And the mist slowly, inexorably approached, the farmost book cases soon hidden by winter's deadly storm.

  The terrible voice boomed once more, and this time, Jess forced herself to focus on more than the dreadful words uttered.

  "All seasons come, inexorably washing over all that came before. Reforging it anew. The hunter that embraces Autumn's bounty must bear the burden of Winter's storm. It is only fitting that two Champions of Autumn, having hunted so well, now embrace Winter's cry, learning to hunt different prey."

  Jess swallowed, her throat bone dry. "What do you mean, Champions of Autumn?"

  Cold laughter rocked the room. "You have both served my brother long and well. It is time for you to serve me. Winter is the time of auguries and divinations, immutable future leaving its tracks in the endless snows of frigid space and time.

  "You will both serve to bring about the turning of the seasons. It is inevitable, inescapable. You will claim a prize from these chambers, and depart. In doing so, Autumn will lose his grasp upon eternity, and the frigid snows will fall at last. Too long have the seasons' turnings been delayed, mortal coils extended, and a terrible price will I exact for my brother's treachery!"

  And what chilled Jess even more than the howling winds biting into their skin was her familiar's solemn nod. "He is right, you know. Noble as the cause has been, anchored so perfectly as to cause neither burr nor rip in the fabric of reality, for far too long have hundreds of souls slipped free of the season's march. Eternity is good for no spirit that calls this world home, lest madness and the horror of nightmares long fled begin to prick fragile dreams only just keeping so many poor souls from falling once more."

  Jess hissed. "Twilight, what in all the hells are you talking about?" Then she blinked, the source of that terrible voice clear at last.

  Mocking laughter washed over her once more. "If you do not choose your prize, you and your companion will be lost to eternity, as the icy mists of winter wash over you forever more. Yet the auguries burn too brightly with your presence upon all the lines of fate that I have seen. You will claim your prize, and you will leave, and I shall have the satisfaction of seeing my brother's demesne awash in the burning light of destruction!"

  "No!" Malek cried out. "We will not be your puppets! We will not touch cursed artifacts that would bring ruin to our home!"

  "It is your home no longer, fool. Your master threw you out. To serve him no longer. Don't you see, pitiable creature? For you, Autumn's bounty is forever beyond your reach. The cold winds of Winter will be your home forever more. Now claim my frigid bounty and embrace the hunt once more! Claim your prize, or be forever lost to Winter's chill."

  "Jess, help!" Josie. Eyes filled with panic, gazing about her in choking terror as howling winds seemed to wail from the mist creeping ever closer, the farthest half of the massive laboratory and all its arcane prizes were now covered in that chilly mist, and for all Jess knew, erased from existence as well.

  "Jess, what do we do?" Malek cried.

  "Jess, make your choice!" Twilight roared. "You are no one's tool!"

  Jess frantically gazed about, desperate to make sure. "How long will winter last, if we catalyze the seasons once more?"

  And the howling winds stopped, the far corners of the room were still cloaked in whiteness, but still. "So long have I hungered to howl upon all the forests and fields of Erovering. To taste those tracts of land so long denied my grasp. My reign will be long, Champion. Long and full. And for so long as I am ascendant, you shall taste the fruits of my triumph."

  Malek frowned. "Be careful, Jess. If Erovering starts having unseasonably cold winters, it will wreak havoc with crops and industry. No one tastes any fruit of triumph if our farmers' fields are frozen."

  Jess nodded as the chill voice of winter spoke on.

  "With these artifacts, I shall aid you in the forging of a vast kingdom of ice and snow. A kingdom to rule for all your mortal years. Then, only then, will I allow myself to fade into Spring once more."

  Jess froze, gazing breathlessly at the dark treasure before her.

  Her heart raced as impossible visions of dominion and rule raced through her mind.

  A queen with fiery locks and lips of crimson, gazing at the world through shimmering ruby eyes, her burgundy leathers hiding all trace of the savageries she embraced. Basking in dark glory as thousands roared and cheered as she gazed down upon them all from a balcony of shimmering metal. A sea of supplicants before her, celebrating her endless rule.

  A woman of shimmering black hair and copper-tinged skin, with piercing blue eyes so like her own, leading endless thousands of charioteers in a campaign of c
onquest long since lost to the sands of time.

  And she could all too easily imagine what it would be to rule for decades, worshiped by desperate thousands, her helpless supplicants all too aware that it was her munificence alone that granted them the shortest of summers to grow their crops in a land of endless ice and snow.

  Jess trembled and shook, shaking herself free of darkest reverie.

  "Jess?" Malek's voice, so filled with concern and alarm, and a brother's love.

  Somehow, Jess knew that whatever path she took, Malek would stand by her side.

  Heart pounding with the most terrible of temptations, she turned to meet her familiar's too-knowing gaze.

  "The decision is yours, Jess. You alone must decide what path you will take."

  "But Twilight... if I did..."

  "Thousands of innocent souls would return to the garden of life before their time. For such would be the price of the seasons turning once more, should you choose the path that Winter would lay before you."

  She felt as if she were falling into sapphire eyes blazing like alien suns. "As always, my queen, the choice is yours and yours alone. And as always, I will walk by your side, no matter how bitter the sacrifice, no matter how savage the choice you make."

  Jess closed her eyes and shivered, allowing herself to savor a moment's exquisite bliss, imagining what it would be like to rule over an entire kingdom, helpless before her frigid wrath.

  Blinking back tears, she made her choice, turning abruptly for the most decrepit of bookshelves after placing Josie in Malek's care. Made of ancient stone and covered in dust and spiderwebs, the bookshelf had been ancient even when this tower was forged, containing stone tablets and ancient scrolls as opposed to the exquisite leather tomes found everywhere else in this ancient laboratory.