by CM Raymond
Laurel tapped her familiar on her little black nose. “That was pretty stupid,” she scolded.
“Not as stupid as coming out here alone.” The voice cut through the quiet of the forest.
****
Laurel spun, eyes green again, desperately reaching out to the flora she had recently become acquainted with. As a figure stepped through the brush, her new plant friends responded to her need. Vines dropped from the mighty oak overhead and wrapped the man from head to foot.
“Damn it, Laurel,” Parker said while trying to reach for his magitech spear to free himself. His attempts were futile. “Can you get me the hell out of this mess?” His eyes cut to the vines and back to the druid, who was laughing her ass off.
“Not until you ask nicely,” she said in a sing-song voice.
Devin hopped off her shoulder and scurried over to Parker. Climbing the vines, she stopped just in front on his face and chirped as if she were scolding him before finishing the ascent to sit on the top of his head.
“Very funny, Devin.” His eyes narrowed at Laurel. “Please,” he grunted with no sense of placation in his voice.
She shrugged. “Close enough, I guess.” Eyes turning green again, she reached out to the vines, thanking them and sending them back up into the branches of the oak. Parker shook out his arms with a scowl on his face. “Be nice to me. I think this place likes me.”
Free of his earthy shackles, Parker swiped at Devin, who was too fast for him. She leapt to the ground and crawled back up to Laurel’s shoulder, chittering as Laurel laughed.
“What are you doing out here anyway?” she asked him. “Don’t you know it’s dangerous in the woods?”
“That’s exactly why I’m out here. I’m checking the perimeter. The real question is, what are you doing out here? Olaf told you to stay in the city, not to mention what Hannah would—”
“If you haven’t noticed, Hannah and Olaf aren’t here. I needed to familiarize myself with this place or I’d be absolutely hopeless in a fight. And see, the natural world is already responding to me—something that would have been helpful when Gregory and I ran into those damned lycanthropes.”
Parker nodded. “Fair enough. Far be it for me to keep a druid out of the woods.” He kicked at the ground with his boot. Hannah had put him in charge at New Romanov in her stead, and that meant trusting those who worked with you. Parker had learned at an early age how to assess someone’s assets and use that to his advantage. The only difference was now he was leveraging those assets for the sake of a city. “Since you’re out here, why don’t you join me as I walk the perimeter? Maybe the trees can clue you in on what kind of threats we may be facing.”
“Love to,” Laurel said.
They walked in silence for a while, Laurel doing all she could to continue to get to know the ferns and trees and grasses. She could feel their energy reach out to her as she passed. Gregory had tried to explain her powers in scientific terms once. She had hushed him with a kiss.
Maybe there was a logical, rational reason for the natural world doing her bidding. If there was, she didn’t especially want to know about it. The druids had their narrative about the natural world and the relationship they held with it, and that story suited her just fine.
“I fought one too, you know,” Parker said, breaking her attention on the surrounding plant life.
She looked up. “What’s that?”
“A lycanthrope. I fought one. Killed it, really.”
Laurel smiled. “I’ve heard that story, and I’m pretty sure you’re leaving out some salient details. You and the baddest magician in Irth killed a lycanthrope together, not to mention that you two had a freaking dragon helping. Not much to brag about, if you ask me.”
“Come on,” he said with a grin. “Hannah could hardly scratch her own ass with magic then, and Sal was only a little bigger than Devin. You had Gregory…and a freaking Werebear.”
“Good point, I guess. Actually, Gregory was pretty awesome. He kept his head when I almost lost mine. Still, he’s no Hannah of the Boulevard. I think it’s clear that I am the better of the lycanthrope hunters.”
Parker laughed this time. He liked Laurel, in a strictly friendly way. She was like the sister he’d never had, smart-ass mouth and all. They pushed on, quibbling about who was the better fighter—an Arcadian with a magitech spear and low-level acrobatic skills, or a druid trained from birth in forest-style fighting. The debate was going nowhere when they stepped through a thicket.
On the other side stood three snarling lycanthropes, saliva and hate dripping from their jaws as they tore apart a small family of elk.
“Shit,” Parker said as he drew his spear from his back. “I guess we’re about to find out.”
****
Parker considered retreating to the safety of the town, but then thought better of it. He was tasked with protecting New Romanov, not leading hungry lycanthropes to its door. Besides, there was only a small chance he could make it to the wall before one of these things caught up with him.
He turned to look at Laurel. Her rope blade hung from her hand, and her eyes were dark green. It was clear from her stance that she had reached the same conclusion.
Parker quickly surveyed the clearing, looking for something they could use as an advantage.
There was nothing but open grass covered in blood.
“All right,” he said. “You take the small black one to the left. I’ll aim for big gray.”
She nodded. “I guess that means the reddish one with the scars is first-come first-served.”
Parker opened his mouth, but she hadn’t waited for an answer. Laurel was already running full bore toward the creatures.
“Shit,” he said as he took off after her.
As she ran, Laurel let some slack out of her rope blade and began swinging it in a vicious arc. Parker knew it was a dangerous weapon. He had watched the sharpened flint blade carve up dozens of men. But against a beast as large as a lycanthrope, he wasn’t sure it would have much impact.
But Laurel’s next move proved that she had more surprises hidden up her sleeve.
Feet from the lycanthropes, Laurel leapt into the air. The creatures never saw the attack coming.
She aimed for her target, and her aim was true. She landed on the black one’s shoulders. It let out a howl like Parker had never heard. But as it tried to bat her away, she managed to slip her rope around the creature’s fur-covered throat.
As it continued to flail in a desperate attempt to scrape her off, the other two sprang into action. Big Gray moved to strike her from behind, but Parker had other plans.
He leveled his spear at the animal and pulled the trigger, sending an impressive blast of blue-green energy from its tip. It crashed into the black one’s side, sending it reeling.
The other creature fixed its eyes on Parker. Clearly old for a lycanthrope, the wolf had scars marking the length of its reddish body. It was clear that this animal wasn’t green in a fight.
With a roar, it charged. Parker fired another blast, but the creature had learned from its fallen comrade’s mistake. It darted quickly to the side, dodging Parker’s attack by inches. Parker tried to fire again, but a giant paw swung in his direction.
He ducked the attack, but immediately became aware of a set of teeth closing on him. He spun and jabbed his spear in a hasty yet powerful defensive thrust.
The move worked.
His spear now extended through the mouth of the creature and out the back of its neck. Parker pulled the magitech spear back out and let the dead lycanthrope fall to the ground.
He turned to look for Laurel and found a deceased lycanthrope. This one was dark and hanging from a tree, her rope blade wrapped around its swollen neck.
He stared at the gruesome display for a minute before another roar grabbed his attention.
Spinning toward the deep growl, he found Laurel going head to head against Big Gray, the last lycanthrope of the hunting party. And she didn’t have a weapon.
She moved like a hummingbird, flitting in and out as the beast snapped and slashed at her.
“Laurel,” he yelled, “fall back. You can’t fight it without a weapon.”
She did a back handspring just as it looked like the creature would get her. Smiling, she yelled back, “Who says I don’t have one?”
She dropped to her knees and buried her hands in the dirt.
It was then that Parker realized her plan.
While the lycanthrope had been attacking her, she had been leading it slowly to where she wanted it. Right in front of a large oak.
The tree was massive, and as the lycanthrope stepped forward for the kill, all one hundred feet of trunk, bark, and branch descended onto the creature.
The tree smashed into the lycanthrope. When it rose again the lycanthrope went with it, squirming and struggling against the branches binding it.
“Nice work,” Parker said. “Now let me finish this.” He flipped the spear and held it above his shoulder. With a shout, he heaved it toward the trapped animal.
It soared through the air, straight as an arrow.
But before it hit its target, Laurel leapt and snatched the spear out of the air.
“What the hell?”
She smiled at him. “Looks like I’m the better hunter.”
Before he could respond, she spun on her heel and plunged the spear into the lycanthrope’s heart.
The tree released its grip and the creature fell to the ground.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
No more than an hour into their journey Hannah grew tired of the silent march. She slowed her pace, allowing Mika and Olaf, with Karl close behind, to move ahead. Ezekiel caught up with her. His face was filled with life, eyes scanning the trees around him. They were becoming denser.
“Did you spend much time up here?” Hannah asked Ezekiel, wondering if the magician was in a talkative mood.
“Funny you should ask,” Ezekiel said, a smile spreading on his lips. “During the Madness, New Romanov wasn’t like it is now. The walls were intact, and they provided a very strong defense against the Mad roaming the countryside. The safest course would have been to stay near the town, but… My father didn’t always practice prudence.”
He pointed to a stand of trees. “One time my father took me out camping, to my mother’s dismay. We spent two nights right in there.”
“Seriously? During the Madness?”
Ezekiel nodded. “My father was a funny sort. He insisted on trying to weave some normalcy into our completely abnormal life. He said that camping was something he had learned from his father, who had learned it from his father and so on since the times of the old world. The first night went off without a hitch. We sat and ate and laughed. Had my first taste of beer that night in those trees.” His eyes lit with his reminiscence.
It made her happy to hear about her mentor’s peaceful days. They were so different from one another—their upbringings were night and day. But they were bound together by the same power. In some ways Ezekiel was more of a father to her than her own had ever been.
“And the second night?”
“A complete disaster. I remember it like it was yesterday. Dad was sitting there in all his glory, with a few beers already under his belt. He was telling me about how he’d met my mother, giving more details than a child wanted to know about the woman who’d raised him.” Ezekiel laughed to himself. “Before his details got too lurid, we heard sounds like groans or moans nearby in the woods.”
He fell into one of his usual silences and, as was common, Hannah grew impatient. “You were telling me a story, Zeke.”
“Of course,” he said, his eyes cutting back to the stand of trees. “We were on our feet and my father’s club was in his hand. The old man wasn’t much of a fighter, but he could hold his own against a Mad or two if necessary. Unfortunately, there were half a dozen of the damned things. More than my father could take on.”
“But you were with him. Surely they wouldn’t have been a problem for you?”
He smiled. “I wasn’t always the man you see before you. And I didn’t always know how to use the power inside me.”
“Holy shit,” Hannah said, realizing the dire situation they must have been in.
“I believe that was the exact phrase my father used. We stood shoulder to shoulder. I had a little buck knife trembling in my hand. You have to understand, Hannah—the consequences of facing the Mad were dire. So much as a bite, and they would transmit their perverted nanocytes into the blood of their victim. Winning a fight wasn’t enough. One had to come out the other side unscathed. That was what was so damned frightening about the things. No magic that we knew of at that time could turn someone back.”
“You’re still here and you’re not mad—most of the time—so what the hell happened?” She glanced up at her mentor.
“The moaning beasts, hungry for our blood, ambled out of the thicket. Their eyes were wild and saliva dripped from their slack mouths. I remember giving thanks that I didn’t recognize any of them.”
“What?” Hannah’s brow was knit in confusion.
“The Mad weren’t born that way. They were people just like you and me who had been turned into the monsters.”
“OK, that is batshit terrifying,” Hannah said.
“It was a terrifying time.” He glanced down at her. “That was why Lilith’s mission to end the Madness was so important. It was an epidemic that would have eventually wiped out the entire human race. Over time, the Madness would have won.”
“Last time—back to the story,” Hannah demanded. “The suspense is killing me.”
Ezekiel laughed. “You keep interrupting me.”
“Fair enough. Sorry. I’m done. Go on.” Hannah nudged him with her elbow just hard enough to make Ezekiel wince.
“Where was I?” He paused, faking an attempt to remember. “Ah, yes. They came out of the woods on the other side of the camp, snarling and dripping mucus. It was the closest I had ever been to them. Before the attack I had spent most of my days inside the city, and I had been too young to remember much of my family’s pilgrimage to New Romanov.”
He sighed and continued walking. Hannah stayed with him, matching Ezekiel’s strides.
“My father tried to protect me. As they approached he shoved me back, told me to run. I didn’t, of course. I was filled with pride and terror as I watched my father level one and then another, smashing their heads in with the club. But there were too many. He could have run, but they would have caught me. He decided to sacrifice himself to let me escape.”
“Wow. So what did you do?”
“I acted. Or more accurately, the magic inside me acted, much like what happened to you in that little house in the Boulevard the night your brother was murdered.” He shook his head. “I lifted my hands, more out of fear for my father than anything, and that’s when the power came.”
He paused again, recalling that scene with perfect clarity. This time Hannah knew better than to rush him.
“When the Etheric energy had settled, all that was left was a pile of sizzling Mad and my father shuddering on his knees in the middle of the carnage.”
“Was he…”
“No. Thankfully. It was a miracle of the Matriarch and Patriarch that none of the perverse blood got into him. Not to brag, but it was quite a display of magic, especially for my first time.”
They walked quietly for a minute, each lost in the story. Hannah couldn’t help but smile. In their many months together Ezekiel had seldom told her much about himself, about his life in Archangelsk. His life was largely a mystery to her, and now she was grateful for knowing a little piece of his story.
Lilith’s words came back to her, and she suddenly realized that they were more similar than she had previously known.
“So your first magic came because of your love for your father?”
Ezekiel nodded. “I suppose that’s correct. Actually, it was a direct result of my father’s love for me. In fact, tha
t was one of the things that drew me to you back in the Boulevard. I saw your love manifest itself in such a powerful way. I knew then that you were important.”
She smiled as she looked up at the old man. “Well, I’m sure glad you recognized just how wonderfully awesome I am.”
He rolled his eyes. “Let’s just say I’m grateful that your magic isn’t connected to your humility.”
****
The noon sun nearly blinded Gregory as he stepped out of the tunnel into the edge of the town. From his vantage point he could make out the intricate design of New Romanov, amazed once again that he was standing in a place from before the Madness.
He surveyed the streets, impressed by how functional they were. This place had been built to be impenetrable, or at least that was what the people had once thought. That was before the Skrima arrived. Even with it being in disrepair, he imagined a few well-trained fighters could hold their own against a much larger force. He made a note to ask Karl about it. Battle tactics weren’t really a specialty of Gregory’s, but he figured he should start learning since he was now part of an epic quest against the forces of evil.
Despite the unique nature of the buildings and roads, Gregory somehow felt that New Romanov was familiar to him. It didn’t have a foreign feel the way Baseek did.
Eventually he figured it out. With the quarter layout and the arc of the outer wall, it had been built to look like Arcadia. Or rather, Ezekiel had planned Arcadia to mimic the design of his childhood home.
But Arcadia lacked the purity of a place like this. Most of the new city’s construction had been overseen by a narcissistic madman. The Chancellor had built the Quarters to enhance class differences. New Romanov didn’t follow that logic. Although the city had been devastated by attacks from the Rift and the forest, Gregory could still tell that each quarter was similar, designed to give the people a sense of neighborhood, but not of hierarchy.
After scrambling down the hill, he made his way toward the center of town to recruit some able bodies for his new task. The Oracle needed amphoralds and a way to process them. And the world needed the Oracle, which meant the world needed Gregory.
