by Jesse Wilson
The troll screamed in agony as the blue fire around it instantly died. Shane felt the pain in his other arm disappear for a few seconds. He stood up and drew Wither back, again it listened to him. It had nothing to do with skill.
The lady troll's form was revealed as a black, burned out husk as she fell backwards. Arket was stunned, Shane was too.
Whoever this lady was, she was no more. Her body shattered into pieces as if it were made out of ashes when it hit the street.
“I killed her,” Shane said and looked at this thing on his arm. “How dare you kill my slaves, what gave you the right?” Arket screamed and for the moment forgot Melissa even existed.
“I really didn't mean to kill, I swear you've got it all wrong,” Shane backed off, trying to explain. “But you did it anyway so now you die screaming,” she replied to him and started to erupt with the multicolored flames again in various places of her body as she did so.
“Hey, hot flash, turn around,” Melissa said and Arket did turn around just in time to see a dark green streak of light shaped like an arrow coming right at her face. The green light struck her in the face and shattered into a million points of light. The force was enough to knock Arket off of her feet and to the ground but other than that she didn't seem hurt otherwise.
“Humiliate me, I don't think so. I'll burn your soul to ashes,” Arket screamed as she floated off the ground and righted herself.
“I guess it must not work on blades,” Melissa said and drew the bow back again to fire.
“Leave my friends alone,” Pen screamed as he flew out of the sky and slammed into the pavement with his right fist creating a shockwave that knocked everyone back creating distance between them.
“Tinea, I should have figured you were on the mortal's side,” Arket said to her in an voice that sounded more like an inferno than words.
“Pen we need to get your friends and get out of here Arket is the cosmic flame, she'll melt us,” Tinea pleaded with him. “Agreed,” Pen replied, took to the air and flew towards Shane, grabbed him with his left hand and without stopping circled around to grab Melissa with his right. Not considering how much this would hurt them he flew straight up into the air.
Arket lobbed a purple fireball at their direction but it missed as Tinea veered to the left. The purple fire exploded in the air harmlessly.
“Now that I know I'd better warn the others,” Arket said to herself as she looked at the ashes of the dead troll blowing away in the wind. “Sorry, I didn't think they could kill any of us. I wonder where they got toys like that,” Arket said, turned around and walked away from the battlefield.
Pen didn't realize how he pulled them off the ground in the rush. The sound of the wind combined with his singular objective to get them to safety he didn't listen to their screams of pain as he flew.
“Pen, your friends are trying to get your attention,” Tinea said to him. Pen looked around, seeing they were safer than they were a few minutes ago he slowed down and landed on the nearest roof of a building.
“I think you tore my arm out of my socket,” Shane said but couldn't move his other arm, it was broken but the cold was numbing the pain for now.
“How did you find us, anyway?” Melissa asked him.
“The swirling column of rainbow fire wasn't exactly hard to miss,” Tinea replied to her with thick sarcasm in her voice.
“What in the hell were you two doing in Troll town did you think it was a good idea to just go sightseeing with all these blades running around?” Pen was frustrated with them and decided to change the subject.
“Most of the ways back were clogged with those things, sorry,” Melissa replied, trying to be as nice as she could as she laid her bow on the roof. “Eltrex Someo,” she said, waved her left hand and a blue light came over Shane and herself.
“Thanks,” Shane said as his pain in his arms faded.
“This is why you need to find a safe place to hide,” Pen said and Shane narrowed his eyes. “Why, because we're weak and can't handle it,” Shane said to him, his temper beginning to rise.
“No, you idiot, it's not that. It's because you're my friends, not just that but the only real friends I've ever had. I've lost too much to lose you because of something I did,” Pen said.
“Oh, that was nice, way to turn it around,” Tinea said to him telepathically.
“And it's because we're friends we're willing to stand with you, risking life and all that other nonsense,” Melissa replied to him as the blue light faded.
Pen knew that no matter what he said nothing would change their point of view on the subject so he dropped it. “Hey, what are those weapons you have there?” Tinea asked them trying to smooth things over.
“We got them from some guy at a magic shop on the west end of Pamid,” Shane answered as he moved his arm to make sure it was fine.
“Yeah, but they seem way stronger than most of the items you'd expect to find, that Bob guy was weird,” Melissa said as she examined her weapon again, but nothing had changed with it.
“Wait, did you say Bob?” Pen asked and the name hit him like a ton of bricks out of nowhere.
Chapter Seventeen
“Yeah why, what's does it mean to you?” Shane asked.
“Oh, well Bob is just the name of a guy in one of my favorite book series, wears black, has blue eyes and plays the part of a salesman or a deal maker sometimes,” Pen said and the two of them looked at one another.
“Well, that was him right down to the role he played,” Shane said after Pen described him. “But that's just a story in a book, this is making less sense as we go,” Pen said mostly to himself. The idea that someone like that apparently made an appearance here was disturbing him in ways he couldn't quite describe.
Everything was getting stranger by the minute in his world and he didn't like it.
“So, you think a fictional character stepped out of a book to help us?” Shane asked Pen.
“No, if it was Bob, it rarely ever helps anyone straight out, more to the point it's always a devil's deal,” Pen replied to him, trying to remember all the details that were in the books. It was a few years since he read them.
“These weapons are pretty cool, this snake whip thing saved me, but it killed the person those flames were controlling,” Shane said, feeling bad about what he was forced to do earlier.
“They are weapons, but you've got to learn to use them better. We all have a lot of learning to do,” Pen said as he looked at them, deciding that wasting time about some book was pointless right now.
“Well, what are we going do next?” Shane asked, looked into the distance. Seeing the castle from this far away in the bright midday sun was depressing. A haze of black mist hung over it only making the outline of the once shining center of the city barely visible.
“I say we get our castle back,” Pen said as he too looked at the castle. “Brule, or whatever his name is going down,” Shane said and Pen looked back at them.
“This one can take people over just by people breathing in that black mist, this is something Tinea and I need to do ourselves. I promise you can help with the next one,” Pen said and knew they wanted to help but this was going to be hard enough as it was.
“Well we're not going to just stand here waiting for you to come back,” Melissa added.
“No, you're not. What you're going to do is save as many people as you can. Find as many uninfected people as you can and try to lead them Vasaria, Sholtan isn't there anymore and the blades are still in their army building phases and if we can act fast enough they'll be safe there for now,” Tinea said before Pen could say anything.
“Sounds good to me, we'll start with this building, seeing who we can find, good luck you two,” Melissa said to them. Pen and Tinea took off into the air, flying towards the castle.
“I didn't get to say goodbye,” Shane said as he watched them fly away.
“I'm going to ask you something and you need to be honest with me,” Pen said to Tinea as they fle
w. “The second I took you out of the sheath, you knew right then those others were free too, right?” Pen asked her as they approached the castle.
“Yeah, I did but I figured the damage had been done anyway so there wasn't much of a point in resealing me after that,” she replied to him.
“I know you knew what was going on at the castle this morning, I had a feeling,” Pen said to her, feeling better about being right.
“Yeah, I knew, but if I would have said, 'Pen, only we can undo all this damage, unsealing me freed all of them so we need to get to work'. You would have panicked and we'd be somewhere out in The Outside right now, while those seven took over everything in sight,” Tinea paused, “also I took the form of someone attractive on television to help calm you down,” she said to him.
“I like this whole shiny armor form too, we make a pretty good team so far,” Pen said with a smile and continued, “The celebrity was also a nice touch,” he finished with a laugh.
Chapter Eighteen
The two of them flew through the air towards the castle when they hit the first layer of the black mist. Even under the armor he could tell that it smelled almost like concentrated chemicals you'd use to clean a mess up with.
“So, tell me all about this Brule character.” Pen said to her trying to ignore the wicked smell. “Strong, silent type mostly. He was forged by Elrox and adapted his personality,” Tinea replied and Pen had no idea what that meant, he skipped theology classes.
“Sounds good to me, let's go punch him in the face,” Pen said as the air around them got darker. “Brule will likely have taken residence in the throne room. I suggest we find a way in that doesn't involve the front door,” Tinea said to him as Pen landed on the roof.
After a quick second of scanning he found a maintenance door.
“There we go, I expect Brule thinks he's untouchable, surrounded by his army and all this black soup in the air,” Pen said, walked forward to the door and ripped it off the hinges, casually tossing it to the side without a second thought.
“Tinea, can you shrink down so we can get in the door without this turning into more work than it's needed to be?” Pen asked her doing his best to think ahead of the situation.
“Yeah, let's be stealthy, nothing says stealth like tearing a door off the hinges and throwing it to the side, but whatever,” she replied and shrank to be closer to Pen's size. Pen felt the armor against his skin, she was warmer than he expected.
“Thanks, now let's make our way to the throne room and see what we can see,” Pen said and started walking down the stairs.
The emergency lights were on, they cut through the black mist creating a creepy glow over everything.
“I know the quickest way to the throne room, but will Brule's mist people alert him if we have to take one out?” Pen asked her. “No, they aren't that psychic, we'll be fine,” she replied to him and he smiled about it.
Pen quietly pushed a door open, at the end of the hall there was someone standing there looking in the other direction with the same black mist coming from his head and off of his hands.
“I guess we're going to find out,” Pen said to Tinea in a whisper and started to carefully sneak up on whoever it was. Pen was never more nervous about anything in his life.
Every step he was sure it was going to turn around and do something. Right now he was thankful that the construction of the castle was solid and there weren't going to be any squeaks in the floor that would end up betraying him.
They were about half way down the hall when suddenly the side door in front of them burst open. A man dressed in a bio mechanical suit walked out and didn't notice Pen at all.
He rushed the mist infected man at the end of the hallway and smashed him against the right wall. The man in the suit spun his enemy around and with a right hook to the face knocked out the enemy with one strike. He threw the mist infested man to the floor, turned to face them.
“Who are you?” he asked in a distorted voice. Pen was in a panic and started to make stuff up. “I am a bodyguard to Princess Tatiyana. I was barely able to activate my Bio suit before, all of whatever this flooded the castle,” Pen said and the man looked him up and down.
“Nice suits you guys have down south, anyway, I am Gaila and I have some bad news for you,” he said and continued, “The princess was taken by one of the blades, I don't know how they all unsealed but the guardian was letting her hold it when the lock snapped open. Arket took over her. I was lucky to escape,” Gaila said and the red eyes on his suit seemed to flare.
Pen's heart sank, he wanted to break down right there.
“I just know this is somehow that damned dishwasher's fault. When I find him I'm going to kill him for doing this,” the knight said and made a fist in anger. “I don't know who that is, but I was told all the royal families were evacuated from the castle,” Pen said to him.
“No, the media lied, it's what the plan is in an emergency like this to keep the peace in the kingdoms. The truth is Brule has them all under his control here in the castle and I plan to reseal that blade and free them,” Gaila said to them. “So bodyguard, what's your name so I know who to thank when this is all over?” Gaila asked him. “Dustin, my name is Dustin,” Pen said, stealing the name from his favorite book series.
“Well met, Dustin, now let's work together to put a stop to this madness,” the knight said to him, turned around and began to walk forward down the hall. “Follow me, Dusty, I know this castle like the back of my hand,” Gaila said to him.
“Yeah, I'll do that, but you got the last mist freak, I'll get the next one for you, I owe you,” Pen said to him.
“This isn't a game, but if you feel the need to do it, fine, just don't mess up, I learned the hard way that unless you take them down at once they'll call for help from anyone in the area,” Gaila said to him and Pen was glad that bit of information was shared now so he knew what not to do later.
The two of them walked side by side down an empty, mist filled hall.
“What makes you think a dishwasher is responsible for this?” Pen asked him.
“He was the only one who wasn't there at the gathering and I know for a fact none of us opened up our blades. Everyone knows that opening one opens them all at the same time. All of this is his fault and I'd bet you a million pounds of titanium that he's cowering in a deep dark shelter somewhere letting the real men try to fix his problem,” Gaila said to him and continued.
“It is funny that the ice sword shattered as soon as it was unsealed, but in the chaos, no one could investigate that,” Gaila finished saying and Tinea didn't like the sound of that.
“Seems fair enough to me, but how far do we have to go to get to where Brule is?” Pen asked him something he already knew.
“Through those red doors and to the left,” the knight replied to him. “And the plan is what exactly?” Pen asked him. “I don't know, that blade must have some kind of weakness and I'll find it but right now we just need to get there,” Gaila replied to him.
“Great, no plan, lucky for you two I have one,” Tinea said to Pen telepathically and continued, “Good work on tricking him into thinking you're the bodyguard for a Princess, I can't believe he bought it,” Tinea finished as they opened the doors to get into the throne room.
“Thanks, could you let me in on this plan before we just go ahead and do it,” Pen replied to her in the same way. “Sure,” Tinea said to him.
Chapter Nineteen
Before them stood a circle of sixteen people, they were the eight Kings and Queens, all of them consumed with the black mist. Different races but all affected by the same thing. Brule sat on the throne. Apparently amused by something the three of them didn't understand. Pen looked around and saw the place was a wreck compared to what it was last night.
“If you have to make an entrance, please announce yourselves,” Brule saw them right away. “I am Gaila and this is Dustin, we're here to take you down,” the knight said as he took a step forward.
“Oh, are you now, alright. Good thing for me I have sixteen bodyguards and you, well, don't,” Brule said waved a hand and the royalty turned to face them. “We can't kill any of them, they aren't dead and they aren't in control. The real enemy is the smokestack up there,” Pen said to him.
“I know that but what are we going to do about them they just won't let us go through,” the knight replied to him. “True, but I'm a bodyguard. I'll go after the main smokestack, you do the distraction thing,” Pen said to him. “Yeah, wait, what are you going to do?” he asked him but before he could answer Pen floated into the air and right over the line of royal defenders leaving Gaila stunned.
“That's an amazing suit, I need one of them,” he said the stranger floated away. It was distracting, the knight saw someone move out of the corner of his eye so he faced his attackers again.
“Alright, who goes first,” he said mostly to himself because he knew he really couldn't hurt anyone in all of this no matter how much he wanted to.
Pen flew right to Brule and landed beside him. “And here I thought you were bringing me another soul Tinea, what happened?” Brule asked her but didn't look in her direction.
“No, nothing like that. We're here to reseal you and all the other blades. It's not our time yet and you know it,” Tinea replied to him. “No, I don't think so,” he replied stood up and towered over them by three feet.
