Twilightfall

by Viktor Zólyomi

  `Reptilian, huh? And he can teleport, you say?'

  `Yes.'

  `Sounds like Grenshaur to me.'

  `Who?'

  `Grenshaur. A lizardman. He's a bounty hunter. Hell, he's the bounty hunter. If he's on your tail, you sure are in trouble.'

  `Whoever he is, I want him dead. That's why I'm here.'

  `Wait, how long did you say he's been after you?'

  `A half year or so.'

  `A half year? And he hasn't caught you yet? He's losing his touch...'

  `I've had him beaten many times before, but he always teleports away. He keeps coming back with more and more reinforcements, and lately I'm having a hard time trying to get rid of them. I've had enough. That's why I came to you. You're about the only skillful mage that I know in Arghard. I hate to come to you for help, but I want to be rid of this asshole! I'm sure you can stop him from teleporting away.'

  Before he could reply, one of the orcs comes shouting.

  `Hey, Boss! We got trouble coming this way.'

  `What?' asks Zack, sounding annoyed.

  `There's a smaller army of trolls headed straight for the town. And they're lead by a half-dragon!'

  `A half-dragon? Are you sure?'

  `Yeah, Boss! Take a look! In a minute, you should be able to see them from the window.'

  Zack stands up and picks up the plate.

  `Come, Flora! Let's take a look.'

  The orc walks to one of the windows, and we follow him. Zack stares outside while still chewing on his food. The lizardman is outside, heading for the center of the large field before the tavern. There are a lot of trolls marching after him. Possibly even half a hundred...

  `That's no half-dragon.' says Zack, and then he turns to me. `Is that the guy chasing you?'

  `Yes.' I tell him, nodding.

  `That's Grenshaur alright. The lizardman bounty hunter. Never thought I'd see his motherfucking face around here one day.'

  `I've never seen him working with trolls before.'

  `He probably picked them up around here. These mountains are full of trolls, many of them will do anything for ample payment.'

  `This is bad... Trolls are hard to kill. I've fought one, I should know...'

  `You are referring to Lyour, I take it. Well, he was much stronger than ordinary trolls. Don't worry, these guys out there don't mean a problem. Just wait here, I'll take care of it.' he says, and he puts the plate down on a nearby table.

  `Even if they're weaker than Lyour, there's a lot of them. I'm sure you could use my help...'

  `I guess. But if you stay here, out of sight, such that Grenshaur won't know you're here, I might be able to bluff him into leaving. I have a way with words.'

  `I don't think he'll leave. I'm sure he knows I'm here.'

  `Maybe. Or maybe not. We'll soon find out!' he says, and he moves towards the door.

  `Wait!'

  `Just let me handle it, okay? You're my guest here, I would be a terrible host if I didn't take care of this little nuisance myself.'

  `Do you really think you can deal with this without me?'

  He stops and turns back towards me. He looks at me with a smile that reeks of confidence. Or conceit...

  `You know Flora, Grenshaur may be a lot of things, but there's one thing he is not: he is not a good chess player!'

  `A good what?'

  `Chess player. I guess you don't know what chess is, do you? Well, it's an ancient board game. There are two players playing on an eight-by-eight board, with each player controlling sixteen figures, one king and fifteen others. The aim of the game is to take down the king of the opponent. It's a game of strategy, which greatly enhances the mind. It's highly intellectual. It's also good fun!'

  `What has that got to do with the lizardman?'

  `Simple. Grenshaur thinks that he can beat me with his four dozen trolls, just because he outnumbers me. But he's too dumb to realize the most important rule of playing chess.'

  `What would that be?'

  `It is an unwritten rule that many players refuse to acknowledge, and even I myself rarely resort to, since it takes the fun out of the game. But sometimes you gotta take advantage of it. The rule is simple: the easiest way to win the game, is to kill your opponent before he can even make his first move...'

  `So much for strategy and intellectuality...'

  He smiles widely.

  `True enough, but it demonstrates a point. Brute force always works, you just gotta employ enough of it!'

  `In other words, you intend to outpower him...'

  `Precisely!'

  `Just how do you plan to outpower four dozen trolls?'

  `Don't worry about that. Just sit back, relax, and enjoy the show!'

  Then he turns back to the door and kicks it open.

  `Errak! Pinky! Showtime!' he exclaims, and he steps out the door.

  *

  Shortly after he steps outside, the two familiar figures of Errak, the albino orc, and Pinky, the troll-sized orc follow him with weapons drawn, Errak armed with a warhammer, and Pinky armed with a club. They follow Zack as he approaches the lizardman.

  `Hi Grenshaur! It's been a long time, hasn't it?' he asks. The lizardman stops and stares at him with a mixture of disbelief and anger on his face.

  `Zack Sands! And here I thought you've been dead for a century!'

  `Rumors exaggerate, Grenshaur! You should know that.'

  `What are you doing in the middle of nowhere?'

  `I live here.' he says, shrugging his shoulders.

  `Among orcs? Pfeh!' he says, spitting aside. `That figures. You always did fit in with the slime of the Planes.'

  `Did you hear that, guys? I think that was a fucking insult!' says Zack.

  `You know Zack, I agree!' replies Errak. `That was an insult. I say lets bash in his skull!'

  `I say let me bash in his skull.' says Pinky, the troll sized orc, and he swings his gigantic club above his head.

  `Easy, guys, easy...' replies Zack. `Since when do we give fuck about what a motherfucking retard thinks?'

  The two orcs and Zack laugh crudely in unison, until Grenshaur yells at them.

  `Enough! Now get out of my way, Zack! There's someone in this village I have business with, and you'd better not stand in my way!'

  `Oh yeah? I thought you didn't like orcs.' replies Zack.

  `It's not an orc. It's a fucking vampire bitch!'

  `Vampire? There are no vampires here.'

  `She looks like a night elf. She's right there, in that building.' he says, pointing towards the tavern.

  `Ah, her? Well, she's kind of like... my guest. She asked not to be bothered, so why don't you fuck off? And I mean right fucking immediately you camelfucking chewed-up piece of monkeyshit! While I'm speaking fucking nicely!'

  I turn to one of the orcs who are standing near the window.

  `This is when he's speaking nicely?' I ask.

  `Absolutely! He's been exceptionally polite so far. Maybe he ate too much.' replies the orc. I rub my forehead and turn back to the window.

  Grenshaur looks intently at Zack, while he just smiles back at the lizardman. After a while, Grenshaur frowns at him mockingly.

  `You know what, Zack? I'm not buying this bullshit. I can read between the lines. You vanish without a trace, not heard of for a hundred fucking years, and then you turn up in the middle of fucking nowhere in an orc village. Now why would you be hiding here, if not because you lost your touch?

  Yes... You're nothing but a has-been! Look at you! You have orcs as your bodyguards, and you expect me to be scared of you? You pathetic worm! Look behind me! I have fifty trolls following my every word. You don't stand a chance. So stand out of my way, and let me have that vampire bitch! Or face the consequences!'

  Zack smiles back at him.

  `Oh really? Oh fucking really?'

  `Yes.' nods the lizardman.

  Zack's eyes bulge out in anger as he grins at Grenshaur and nods.

  `Bring it on, motherfucker!' he e
xclaims, and he draws his weapon.

  *

  He draws a strange looking weapon. A short, metallic rod or something, bent in the middle such that the two halves are perpendicular to one another. It actually reminds me of those extraplanar weapons of Aaron Chraem that Jason used in our battle with the Council, except that it's smaller.

  He points that strange weapon at one of the trolls, and a moment later a loud noise is heard. A large bleeding wound appears on the forehead of the troll, and then he drops to the ground. Zack smiles at Grenshaur.

  `Well, what the fuck are you waiting for? That I shoot you in the head?'

  `Kill him!' screams the lizardman, and then he steps back and lets his trolls attack Zack and the two orcs. Zack just smiles and points his strange weapon at the nearest approaching troll. Once again, the weapon emits a loud noise, and then a large bleeding wound appears right between the eyes of the troll, and he drops to the ground. In the mean time, Errak and Pinky raise their weapons and attack two other trolls with their weapons. Pinky smashes one of the trolls in the skull with his enormous club, and literally squashes it. Errak swings his warhammer towards the gut of the other troll, and then, as the troll cringes, he swings the hammer and strikes the back of the troll's skull. In the next moment, the troll's skull caves in, and bits of his brains splatter all over Errak.

  Amazing... They barely did anything and they already killed four trolls.

  Grenshaur draws his sword, but stays in the back. He points his sword at Zack and just screams.

  `Kill him! Kill that fucking human! The one who kills him, gets three times as much coin!'

  The trolls seem to hesitate for a while, after having seen Zack and the orcs kill four of them without any real effort. But as they hear Grenshaur's words, they growl and charge towards Zack.

  He does something with his weapon, and it changes its shape into something different. A longer metallic object, with some parts of it glowing in a blue color. He points it at the nearest troll, and a bolt of lightning streams from it and strikes the troll in the chest. The troll freezes in his tracks and starts shaking. The lightning arcs over to several other trolls as they approach this one, and they begin to convulse in the same way. In the mean time, Errak and Pinky guard Zack's two sides and they beat down any trolls that dare to approach them. Around half a minute later, the trolls that have been caught in the lightning fall to the ground. By now, Errak and Pinky have killed at least another five trolls.

  Zack laughs aloud, and then he turns his weapon into another thing. A metallic object around as long as it was before, but with a large wooden stake at the top of it. It looks strikingly like a crossbow, except that there is no bowshaft, and that this wooden stake is much thicker than an arrow.

  He points his weapon at a troll, and a moment later, he fires the wooden stake right towards his chest. The stake impales the troll with tremendous impact and drags him backwards, right into another troll, effectively nailing the two of them together. Zack laughs, and then he changes the shape of his weapon once more. Now it is a long, tube shaped object. He places it on his shoulder, and then points it at a group of trolls in the far back. A moment later, a small, smoldering orb is fired from the tube, and as it hits the group of trolls, it explodes into a gigantic ball of fire, ripping many of the trolls to pieces, sending their limbs flying.

  Zack laughs, and turns his weapon into yet another shape. Around as long as the lightning shooting weapon, but somewhat wider, and all black. It's like a metal barrel with a handle. He holds the handle in his right hand, and grabs the lower part of the barrel with his left. He pulls on it, sliding it back, revealing that there is a smaller barrel beneath it. Then he slides it back in place, and then points the weapon at a dangerously swiftly charging troll. A moment later, the weapon emits a loud noise and dozens of small bleeding wounds appear on the chest of the troll, and he flies backwards. He lands on his back, and Zack walks next to him. He slides the barrel back and forth again, then points the weapon at the fallen troll's head. A moment later, that loud noise is heard again, and the troll's head literally explodes, and bloody splinters of his skull and bits of his brain are splattered all over the ground.

  Zack rests his weapon on his shoulder and looks around. The trolls no longer dare to approach him, instead they are trying to kill Errak and Pinky. The two orcs are standing back to back dealing damaging blows to any trolls foolish enough to approach them.

  `What? No-one wants to play with me?' says Zack, and then he turns his weapon back into the original bent rod shape and sheathes it. He then reaches out his right arm. A black, tentacle-like thing starts creeping out of his palm, and slowly, it takes the shape of a sword. A few moments later, he stands there with a threatening, black bladed sword in his hand. There is lightning crackling around the blade of his sword.

  `Come on, you overgrown bearfucking cumsacks! What, are you afraid of a puny mage just because he has a black sword?' he asks, taunting the trolls. One of them slowly approaches him, and he lunges forth and thrusts the sword forward. The blade gets the troll right in the chest, and he begins to scream. At the same time, five small magic projectiles emit from the blade, and strike into the troll's body. Zack pulls the blade back and then swings it towards the troll's head from the side. A moment later, the troll's head is severed from his neck, and falls to the ground.

  `Hey, Grenshaur!' yells Zack towards the lizardman, as he slides the blade of his sword beneath the fallen troll head. He carefully raises it, and then tosses it into the air. Then, just as Grenshaur turns towards him, he swings his sword and hits the falling head with the side of the blade. The head flies straight towards Grenshaur, leaving a trail of blood behind as it flies. Grenshaur just barely manages to raise his sword and block the troll head before it would get him in the stomach. Not like it would have hurt him much...

  Zack just laughs.

  `Not bad, kid! Shall we try again?' he says, and he attacks another troll.

  In the mean time, Errak and Pinky seem to have gone on the offensive. They're now clobbering trolls where they can, yelling fierce war cries with each strike. It looks like there are at most two dozen trolls left alive, but probably less. There are so many troll corpses littering the ground now, that moving around between them is getting difficult.

  Zack cuts down another troll with his black sword, and then another one. Errak and Pinky also manage to send another pair of trolls into the Afterlife. Just as they would try and attack a few others, the remaining trolls turn around and start running away.

  `Where are you going?!' screams Grenshaur. `Kill them! Kill them you pathetic fools! Kill them! Ten times the coin to the one who kills them!'

  But it's no use. The trolls are running now.

  `Will you look at that, you're on your own now.' says Zack, and he marches towards Grenshaur. The lizardman raises his sword.

  `Then I will kill you myself!' he sneers, and he attacks Zack.

  He strikes towards Zack's head, but Zack parries with his black sword. Then he strikes towards Grenshaur's exposed side, but the lizardman jumps back just in time to evade it, and he immediately swings his sword towards Zack. The mage parries, and then swiftly strikes towards Grenshaur's sword wielding arm, trying to disarm him. The lizardman somehow evades this move.

  He leaves his left side open and vulnerable however, and Zack quickly moves in and raises his foot. He kicks into the left half of Grenshaur's gut in a similar fashion as he kicked the tavern door open earlier. The lizardman groans and stumbles backwards. He instinctively swings his sword after Zack's leg, but he's late with it. Zack however uses the opportunity to strike towards his sword wielding hand, and this time, the black sword cuts into the lizardman's hand.

  Grenshaur screams, and drops his sword. A moment later, Zack kicks that sword away, and then slowly moves his black bladed sword towards Grenshaur's chest.

  `Hey, Grenshaur! Guess what? You lose!' he exclaims.

  He stands facing the lizardman now, with the tip of his swor
d at the lizardman's chest. He smiles at him. Finally! I will be rid of that asshole!

  Dance of fire

  Coldrock, present day (3 days and 21 hours before Twilightfall)

  I smile at Grenshaur as my sword points at his chest.

  `I gotta say, Grenshaur, this day has been good fun! You made my day!' I tell him.

  `Cut the crap, Zack!' he replies. `Just do it! I don't want to hear your bragging.'

  `Now why would I kill you, when you made my day?' I tell him, lowering my weapon. `Come on, get your ass outta here.'

  `What about the vampire bitch?' he asks.

  `Don't test me, Grenshaur! She's my guest. Now fuck off!'

  `This isn't over, Zack! I will have what I want!' he says, and then he grabs his ring and vanishes.

  `Yeah, yeah, whatever...'

  As Grenshaur leaves, I look around.

  `Will you look at all these fucking dead trolls. What a mess...'

  `Yeah, Zack! What do we do with them?' asks Errak, scratching his head.

  `I don't know. But they have to go.'

  I turn around and head back to the tavern.

  As I step inside, Flora immediately starts berating me.

  `Why didn't you kill him?! Why did you let him go?!'

  `Ah, you wanted to kill him, didn't you?'

  `Yes!' she shouts into my face.

  `Calm down, okay? Killing him wouldn't solve your problem.'

  `He is the problem.'

  `Not quite. Listen, he's a bounty hunter. If he wants your amulet, somebody's paying him for it. Why would anybody want your amulet? What does it do?'

  She looks confused for a while, but then she replies.

  `It's a magical amulet. It can create magical darkness around its bearer.'

  `What else does it do?'

  `That's all it does.'

  `That's it? Well why don't you just give it to Grenshaur? It doesn't sound like it's worth this much trouble for you.'

  `Jason gave it to me...' she says, looking away.

  `Oh, I see. Well, in that case, I can understand you. But there's still a question. Why would anybody be willing to pay so much for this trinket? Grenshaur is the best in the business in the whole fucking Multiverse. He doesn't work cheap. That amulet must be more powerful than what you think.'