Myth Protector

by Jamie Hawke

  “And if they’re keeping her in the hideout, which we hear they are,” Pucky interjected, “we find the local hideout we’ve been searching for, for what? About a year now?”

  “Ever since we learned they might be keeping the actual Excalibur somewhere on the West Coast, yeah,” Red replied.

  “Wait—”

  “Yes, the actual sword of King Arthur.”

  “Fuckkkk,” I said, totally giddy now, also leaning out over and looking up at the sky.

  “So Mowgli and the others,” Pucky said, “they were confirming that, and checking with the locations of the swans?”

  “Right, and following up on another lead, along with ensuring it wasn’t BS. From what I hear, the Swan Princess has been playing them for some time now, undercover as Maleficent. But it’s true, her cover’s been blown.”

  “And the real Maleficent?” I asked.

  “Oh, we’ve got her deep in the dungeons.” Red chuckled, and I had a feeling she was both involved with capturing the woman and very glad they had done so.

  “There!” Pucky said, and sure enough, the sky lit up with a ray of sun as the clouds parted, white streams of them forming into what looked like swan-shaped clouds at first, and then there really were swans gliding along, leading us west of our current location.

  “Follow those birds,” Red told the driver, and then we were off in pursuit.

  “What do I need to expect here?” I asked. “More of the same?”

  “Worse,” Pucky said. “They’ll have some sort of guardian for sure, especially since if this is one of their actual fortresses, they’ll have at least one magical item. Our hope is Excalibur, but that’s a high-ticket item.”

  “Right, King Arthur, you mentioned him before.” I took a moment, trying to wrap my head around it all. “He was real. And… like the stories say?”

  Red guffawed. “Sorry, it’s that no—none of the reality was exactly like the story versions.”

  “And in this case,” Pucky turned to me, hand on my leg, “brace yourself… Arthur went dark.”

  “No…” Every cartoon and fun game from my youth, some great movies from my older years, they all came crashing down around me. “As in, he’s a Legend now?”

  “A defeated one,” Red said. “We had Excalibur for a while, but then one of the Protectors sold out too. Crossed over with—”

  “Red!” Pucky interrupted, giving her a stern glare.

  “He needs to know, and he’ll find out eventually anyway. Already has, pretty much.”

  “A promise of becoming a Legend?” I asked, and nodded. “Yeah, I caught onto that back there with Peter Pan.”

  “See?” Red gave Pucky an ‘I win’ glance and then continued. “A Protector decided she wanted the power of the Evil Queen, but… they betrayed her, handing her over to the queen along with Excalibur. So we lost in two ways that day.”

  “She was… my first Protector,” Pucky said, staring at her hands as she started to pick her nails. “Not my proudest moment.”

  “And not in the least your fault,” Red said, then turned to me. “Our job is to help you, to guide you when we can, but ultimately you are your own person. You go dark, I’ll slit your throat as quickly as I did the Crooked Man.”

  “I never would,” I said, kind of pissed she’d even say such a thing. “I’ve loved fairy tales since I was a kid, obsessed over all the Anderson and Grimm stuff. D&D and all that? Never even chaotic neutral—fucking paladin whenever I could be.”

  “Yeah, we didn’t ask for your nerd resume,” Red said with a chuckle toward Pucky, who totally ignored her.

  “I think it’s hot,” Pucky said.

  “Of course you do.” Red leaned over to get a look outside, reminding me of my more recent, non-nerdy obsession—those tits. Damn, they looked good. Pucky noticed me looking and laughed, then moved over to sit closer.

  “Thing is, some people say that you play your opposite,” she said. “Me? I went as evil as I could without being a dungeon monster. Kinda makes you think about everything from another angle.”

  “Wait, fairy tales—er, Myths—playing D&D?” I couldn’t grin wider. “Damn, now that’s what I’m talking about.”

  “More often Pathfinder,” Red said with a groan. “Sometimes Shadowrun. Can we… move on now? Back to the topic?”

  “You too?”

  “Shut up.” This time when she leaned forward and showed her cleavage, she raised her eyebrows, watching me and waiting. “There, do I have your attention? Good. So, long story short: we hope to find Excalibur, but other items that seem to give off some sort of magic aura are welcome too. And they don’t all look ancient—could be anything.”

  “Got it.” I frowned. “But what I don’t get… Why turn? I mean… Peter Pan and now King Arthur?” I shook my head, leaning back. “My world is shattering around me.”

  “They aren’t the only ones who’ll surprise you, I’m sure,” Red said.

  “Don’t tell me… No, do. Maybe just one more—the one most surprising.”

  “Snow White, for one. Betrayed the Snow Queen, took her power, and the dwarves followed her over. Loyal to a major fault.”

  “Fuck me.”

  “Now’s not the time,” Red said. “But yeah, soon enough.”

  “Is someone going to make that joke every time I say that?”

  “One of us, probably. Yeah.”

  “For sure,” Pucky agreed with a chuckle. “That’s the price you pay—no quarter jar, just a horny teammate jar.”

  “I can take it,” I replied. “So what’re we in for, exactly? What should I expect?”

  “As for the location, not a clue,” Red said and Pucky nodded, still watching the sky in awe. “But as for the enemy? Here’s what we know.” She took her wrist computer again and hit a few buttons. A green glow came from her arm and then holographic images appeared, hovering off the screen. People—no, Legends. I recognized one as the wolf-woman who had bit me.

  “The Big Bad Wolf,” I said, watching as the image of her transformed into a standing werewolf, then back again.

  “Yes, Sharon. When she attacked you… a darkness was left behind. It’s going to try to come at you, especially in your down moments. If you’re in a morally questionable place, if your soul is conflicted, it’ll strike.”

  “But I can fight it. I already did.”

  “Peter Pan and his pirates wouldn’t have been coming here, not if they were taking off in a plane. So he won’t likely be in this fight, but… he’s one you need to worry about. With that shadow of his, he has the ability to reach into you, call on the darkness. Others as well, and if Sharon’s there, another shadow manipulator might be involved as well, taking us to Skyggen.” She indicated a dark form that was exactly that—a shadow. Not a Shade, I could tell—just a shadow. “A hostless shadow. He went dark long ago, after his host was executed. As they were separated at the time, he survived.”

  “What the…?”

  “I know.” She then indicated another that I recognized—the woman with the curved horns from in the car, earlier. “There’ll be others there for sure, but since Pucky tells me you already had a run in with her sister—”

  “Er…” Pucky said, turning to her with a frown.

  “Sister?” I said. “Yeah, someone left that tidbit out earlier.”

  “Nobody else would’ve been able to break our bond back there when she did,” Pucky said. “Sorry. I just… I don’t know, I felt like it was my fault you were in that predicament.”

  “Because it was your sister?” I asked, and when she nodded said, “No, that’s ridiculous. What bothers me, though, is the fact that you’d feel the need to hide it from me.”

  “Is it such a big deal?”

  “She’s—” Red started, but I held up a hand and kept going.

  “Actually, it is,” I said. “Am I the Protector now? Yes, and per your words, that means I’ve given up practically everything to fight here at your side. That being the case, I expect to
know these things, and to be able to trust that you’re telling me the truth and everything that’s relevant.”

  Pucky opened her mouth as if to argue, but instead nodded. “Understood. Agreed.”

  “Thank you.” I turned back to Red. “Same for you.”

  She arched an eyebrow but then said, “Deal. Can I continue?”

  “Actually, since it’s Pucky’s sister…” I turned to Pucky, waiting.

  “Technically, my half-sister. Her name’s Riak,” Pucky said. “She came about by my father straying with a Shade Master, so she has a stronger connection to that world than many others, Myths and Legends alike.”

  “But if she pulls me into that place again, you have the power to pull me out, like before?”

  “I don’t think she will again.” Pucky leaned back, head against the seat and eyes focused on mine. “She’s not the type to try the same thing twice. Especially now that she recognizes she’ll need to put more energy into her powers if she hopes to take you down.”

  “Which we won’t let happen,” Red promised.

  “Fine. Okay.” I motioned to the holographic images, of which there were a few more, including what looked like a couple of Snow White’s dwarves. “Who do we have left?”

  “Could be any of these,” Red replied, “or none at all. These are the ones that have been spotted in the area in the last year or so, but that doesn’t mean much. We have flying monkeys, some of the forty thieves, and even a rumor of Goldilocks.”

  “She’s evil too?”

  “Not all Legends are ‘evil,’” Pucky reminded me.

  “Right,” Red agreed. “But she could be working for them. She goes for the deepest pockets, a sort of mercenary or assassin, known for her ability to sneak in and do the deed. Hence the real reason for her name—dealing with locks and lockpicking.” She pulled up an image. Sure enough, Goldilocks actually had raven-black hair and olive skin. Not exactly what the fairytales claimed.

  “They’re gliding down,” the driver’s voice said through a speaker.

  “Thank you,” Red said after pressing a button, then turned to me. “All leveled up, right? Ichor applied?”

  “We took care of it,” Pucky said and then had me pull up the screen with my blue rock.

  “Good, good,” Red said, looking it over. “Warrior?” She looked back to me with a raised eyebrow. “You’re not… I mean, no offense, but…”

  “I’ll get there,” I said, very offended. Sure, I wasn’t buff, but wasn’t the point that they were going to train me and I’d get magic items?

  “You can change the class,” she pointed out. “For now, anyway. But when you get to the subclasses, you’ll be locked in. Just want to make sure. I mean, Warrior does make sense, it’s just so vanilla.”

  “What class would you’ve had him pick?” Pucky asked, irritation heavy in her voice.

  “His frame, maybe Monk.”

  “Most people who’ve gone Monk have been training in martial arts their whole lives,” Pucky countered. “It would’ve been a stretch.”

  “Right, and Tempest… damn. Yeah, maybe Warrior then.”

  “Don’t make it sound so much like the ‘last resort’ option,” I said. “Maybe I should go Sorcerer then?”

  “With the darkness already in you?”

  “Huh?” I turned to Pucky, who scrunched her face.

  “I was glad you didn’t ask much about that option,” she said. “Because, yeah, you’ve been bitten, you’ve tasted the darkness. Sorcerers are the most likely to get cursed items, most often the ones likely to turn to darkness.”

  “Damn,” I said, as in the back of my mind I was still kind of toying with that being one I’d switch to at a later point.

  “We’re going to need to level you up as we go this time, because while this should help you survive in there, it’s not enough. Not to win. So have it ready, and be on your toes. Got it?”

  “I’ll be a ballerina,” I said, trying to be funny. Neither laughed.

  “Like… are you talking about the Red Shoes of Karen?” Pucky asked. “I don’t think they’d do you much good and—”

  “Never mind,” I said, chuckling to myself. “Just… on my toes. It’s stupid. Yes, I’ll be ready.”

  “Great, and one more thing.” Red turned and pointed to Pucky. “Motivation.”

  It took me a second, but yeah, her shirt was hanging low again giving a nice titty shot. I laughed as she at first covered up but then flashed me.

  “Hey, if it helps,” Pucky said then reached over and popped out one of Red’s tits.

  “Dammit,” Red said, putting it back in. She laughed, winked at me, and said, “Work hard, play hard.”

  I nodded, excited for both.

  12

  We pulled into an alley two down from a pizza joint. I looked around, wondering where we’d strike. The swans, however, settled right on top of the pizza place then faded in.

  “There?” I asked, frowning. “What, the Legends make pizza in their spare time?”

  “More likely they operate out of a hidden basement, tunnels, that sort of thing,” Red replied.

  “Yeah, someone made up some bullshit about something like this on the East Coast,” Pucky said. “We’re thinking it was a cover for the actual evil comings and goings of Legends, but had nothing to do with that joint. Weird, how this stuff gets distorted. That one didn’t even have a basement… this one does.”

  “Just… wow.” I followed them out of the car to the trunk, where a new stash of weapons and ammo was waiting.

  This time Pucky grinned and pulled out a fancy bow and arrow, looked over, but then glanced back at the pizza place. “Probably not the best for confined spaces,” she said, placing it back with a mock pout.

  “You should see her with that thing, though,” Red said.

  “It’s not like it’s all me,” Pucky countered. Seeing my curious expression, she explained, “My accuracy increased tenfold when I had to take down Robin Hood.”

  “Fuck, he went dark too?”

  “Yeah, but… he wasn’t so far off to begin with, in reality. Helping the poor is great, but not all rich deserve what he was doing.”

  “Damn straight,” Red said. “Rob from the rich… well, sometimes the church or temple are the rich. Sometimes it’s the organization of fairy tale Myths fighting to keep this world safe.”

  “Crossed over when he sold some magical items during World War II. The biggest being the final pieces needed for, well… the bombs that ended it.”

  “So… that wasn’t good?”

  She tilted her head one way, then the other. “Tough call, really. But that was just the first step—the fact remained that he cost us dearly in our way by doing so, and when confronted about it, basically made a move for a much larger cache. He blamed himself for what happened over there, not realizing how many innocents would be hurt, I guess, and that ate at him until he just couldn’t hold out and started lashing out at everyone around him. That’s when the Legends moved in with their Shades, filling the void in his soul.”

  “And then you killed him,” I said, turning back to Pucky. “That must’ve been difficult.”

  “Emotionally?” She shrugged. “Nah, he was always an arrogant prick anyway. His men, some followed him, others stayed. Physically, he was a beast, his skill with the bow impressive but he led me out into the woods where everyone else would’ve stood at a disadvantage to him.”

  “But not you?”

  “My powers have a pretty strong connection to nature,” Pucky said. “Guess his hubris caused him to overlook that little fact.”

  Instead of going for new weapons, she opted for ammunition for our current ones instead. Red grabbed a couple of magic knives and handed one to me to replace the one she’d thrown on Peter Pan’s jet, along with an amulet that she hung over my neck and tucked into my shirt.

  “For protection,” she said then glanced down at my crotch with a chuckle.

  “Grow up,” Pucky said. “But seri
ously, that will help shield against magic to a certain degree—at least get you to where we are now. It’s a low-level Warrior-class item.”

  “Gotcha,” I said, glad I at least had enough power to manage this one.

  “But then you’ll be able to handle cooler shit, so chin up, buddy.”

  I laughed nervously, still not quite at terms with the idea that we were about to charge into a pizza place to go to war and hopefully free some Myths who’d been captured. At the moment, my mouth was really watering at the idea of pepperoni pizza, with the edges of the pepperoni burnt just right. Maybe some pineapple on there just to spite all the weirdos who didn’t understand the awesomeness that a pepperoni and pineapple pizza could be. Not that I needed it every time, so whatever.

  Agh. I had to remind myself that we weren’t going in there for pizza at all. Not even a root beer. Damn, I’d have thought the Mexican would’ve tided me over, but it seemed to have fueled my appetite.

  Or was it that, since getting bit by the wolf, and especially since seeing it manifest in me, I’d been extra hungry?

  “Got your big boy undies on?” Red asked, walking past me toward the pizza place.

  “I don’t know what that means,” I muttered, glancing over to Pucky at my side as we followed.

  “I never get half of what she says,” Pucky whispered. “Just laugh along with it or she gets all emo.”

  I nodded and chuckled, though it was too late. And strode right past a family who were leaving the pizza place and didn’t even notice our weapons.

  “The wonders of magic,” Pucky said, grinning, and entered as I held the door for her.

  While it looked like a normal pizza joint, the second we stepped inside it became clear this wasn’t the case. What looked like an image of an eagle over a cup of root beer turned its head and let out a screech that sent customers running. The old woman behind the register sprang into action, pulling two hot pans from the stone oven and charging us as the door slammed and chains dropped from the walls, hurtling inward.

  “Fucking witch,” Red said, grabbing me and rolling together, so that we were out of the way of the chains. She was up and pouncing, blade tracing pink and red light as she nearly sliced into the witch, but a chain was flung down and wrapped around Red’s arm.