by Sam Ryder
She narrowed her eyes and searched for Lace. The cat-woman’s hearing was far better than hers, and if something was amiss, she would be the first to know. There! Sure enough, Lace had paused in her own efforts, clambering up a stack of furry corpses and cocking her head to the side, listening. Her eyes met Beat’s. “Gargats,” Lace said, just loud enough that Beat could make out the single word.
Shit, she thought. That was all they needed right now—another enemy. The winged gargoyle-like creatures could fly right over the flame wall and land amongst them.
A shriek rang out and her head snapped toward the dark sky. Normally, seeing anything in the sky during the Black was impossible, but the height of the fire wall was so great that she could just make out their dark silhouettes angling toward her. There should’ve been lighter spaces between the gargats, however. They weren’t large animals. Dangerous and deadly, but not as large as many of the ground-dwelling monsters on Tor, like trolls or bludgeons.
Instead, the area between them was a blanket of black.
What the hell?
“Fuck me,” Beat heard Lace curse. The cat-woman was also watching the gargats’ approach, and her curse wasn’t just because of them. It was because of what they were carrying between them, the massive shark-like creatures she’d faced once before in a room filled with blood in Annakor.
Shreek.
The monsters were close enough now that she could make out their deformed humanesque faces, elongated shark fins and black, smooth skin that reminded her of the sea lions she’d seen at Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. Their hideous mishmash of physical characteristics was finished off with a dolphin’s tail and clawed crocodile feet.
Even with one shreek between four gargats, the flying monsters were having trouble carrying the massive swimmers meant to live in pools of blood. Beat knew from experience that the finned monsters were much scarier in liquid—where they were fast and sleek—than on land—where they were heavy and slow.
There had to be some method to the madness, something she was missing.
The gargats drifted lower, pulled by gravity and the heavy monsters they carried.
Until they were right over the wall of flames.
The shreeks’ mouths opened and liquid poured out, the waterfalls of blood they’d been holding inside them. It all made sense to Beat in a rush of understanding, a massive oh-shit moment that opened her own mouth as she shouted a warning to the Warrior closest to the flames about to be flooded by the deluge of blood.
It was Jak, the dark-skinned Lri Ay Warrior who’d become one of their most steadfast members. He turned toward her, a frown lancing across his expression before he turned to look upwards, getting a face full of blood even as the flames were smothered. Because it wasn’t the flammable blood of demons, but the blood of long-dead Warriors and Protectors and Seekers, stored up over decades, somehow preserved by the dark magic of the Morgoss.
The flames were doused by the new blood, retreating to either side and paving a smoldering pathway between the fire wall.
It was like a drawbridge crossing a moat.
The Narzani poured across it even as the gargats dropped the shreek into their midst.
Jak was caught in the onslaught, disappearing under a flurry of fur and scales and teeth and claws.
Gone as if he’d never existed at all.
~~~
VRILL
Vrill’s heart was in her throat, her stomach in her chest. Everything was going wrong, her carefully plotted plans laid to waste by the violence of the Morgoss. The shreek had managed to pave a path through the flames. Sam had been impaled on Mrizandr’s spiked tail.
She could hear the Morgoss’s grating laughter in her head, amused by the terror and death they’d engineered without risking themselves. She’d had enough of their commands. She’d had enough of their violence. She’d had enough of being their pawn.
She’d simply had enough.
She managed to suck in a breath to stop the burning in her lungs and then growled at them through the link. Her mind found another gear, shoving back, refusing to be controlled. She clambered up the dragon’s neck and onto its head. She was fully prepared to launch herself off and drag Sam away by force if necessary.
She stopped. The dragon was peering at Sam curiously. It was breathing heavily, like a series of great sighs. Its face was dripping with slime.
No, Vrill thought. Not slime. Ooze. Goddess spittle. Sam had done it. He’d managed to toss a pot of ooze into the dragon’s face. It was a chance to test her theory, finally. Could the ooze, the very thing she’d despised for so long because of its source, the Three goddesses, truly be the key to releasing her and Mrizandr from their shadowy prison?
The dragon snorted, flames spouting from its nostrils.
And then it roared, an ear-shattering sound that told her the ooze hadn’t worked. That she’d been wrong.
Her gaze settled on Sam, who was still skewered by the dragon’s spike. He wore a look of resignation and contentment. To her it said, I tried my best. I gave all I had to give. It wasn’t enough. And, at the very tail end, it said, I’m sorry.
His eyes closed and his head slumped forward.
~~~
SAM
Everything was warm and quiet. The dragon’s roar had faded away, replaced by the sound of displaced air, even and rhythmic, like a gentle breeze rustling palm fronds on some beach on a tropical island.
The pain was fading now, replaced by that warmth. It was like being wrapped in blankets beside a fire in winter.
Fading.
I am fading.
That last thought brought me back to life, and with life came too much sound, too much color, too much pain. But then she was there, Vrill, having clambered down the dragon’s back and around the curve of its tail to kneel beside me. The dragon’s head rose up behind her, but it was calm now, the anger having faded away as my life almost did.
Wait. Something was dripping off Vrill’s head, something wet and slimy.
Ooze.
I blinked because surely this was a dream. Except after my eyes closed they wouldn’t reopen. The warmth was returning. The pain and noise of life fading once more.
Something wet splashed over my head, my face, making my skin tingle. I knew that feeling—the healing. Vrill, as she’d done before, was saving my life.
Her strong arms wrapped around me and I felt my body began to rise as she pulled me free of the dragon’s spike. I roared in agony, a deep pressing pain encompassing the whole of my body, but then I was free.
My eyes opened and I looked into hers. They were all hers, no sign of her evil overlords’ will behind them. The dragon made a low warning sound and her eyes flicked back. “Rest,” she said. “It will take more ooze to free Mrizandr completely.”
As she gently laid my head onto the unforgiving ground, I understood. The ooze was the key to her escape the entire time. It had counteracted whatever magic was infused in the collars, spreading its taint across the whole of her body and mind. Could the dragon truly be saved the same way? And if so, would its sudden freedom cause it to go berserk, returning to its animal nature and turning on Vrill and anyone else in its path?
As Vrill walked away to tend to the dragon, my hands settled on the hole in my stomach, the one that went all the way through to my back. The fact that I could move my arms and legs at all meant that my spine hadn’t been injured. Thankfully. The healing process would require substantial time as it was, but a spinal injury? Could take days to recover.
My head lolled to the side and I watched the battle, which was continuing without me, as if I was nothing but a silent observer trapped behind a bulletproof glass partition. Something had changed since I was last conscious. Something had gone awry. There was a gap in the wall of flames. The Narzani were pouring through like water through a sieve. Gargats swept about overhead. Several of them were carrying something—a shreek. They released it and the massive creature seemed to hang in the air for a moment,
its blood-slick flesh writhing to and fro as gravity began to drag it down.
It landed with a whump on all fours, snapping at the closest Warrior—Millania.
Her quickness saved her, as she danced back and thrust her trident out to prod it away.
I groaned, rolling over and trying to push to my feet. I knew it was madness, my injuries grievous. Resting was the only option that made sense if I was to survive. But was survival worth anything if the rest of those you cared about died?
My arms trembled, but I slowly managed to lift my body off the ground. The small amount of exertion was too much for my damaged body and I slumped back down, the lance of pain that cut through my gut excruciating.
When I looked back at Millania, Beat and Lace were there, fending off the shreek using their speed and agility on land to surround and torment the beast that was looking very uncomfortable out of water.
Narzani poured across the terrain, trampling each other in their haste to get to their prey, and the Warriors were forced to turn away from the shreek to meet them. Gargats swooped from the sky, harrying their prey with sharp claws and gnashing teeth.
If I didn’t do something, this was the end. I tried once more to regain my feet, and this time managed to fight to my knees. I heard a strange sound and I realized it was coming from the back of my throat, the effort of each small movement grating me from the inside. One foot planted. Pause. Beat ducking as a Narvani launched itself at her head with a shriek. She spun and impaled another through the chest on her spear, only to be attacked low from three sides, her legs ravaged by claws and teeth. Lace growled and leapt to her aid, slashing two throats open before she was dragged down into the midst of fur and death.
“No,” I breathed, shoving to my other foot. Staggering. Maintaining my balance. Stumbling toward the battle. Hearing a voice calling me back. Vrill, worried about me, as usual. A good friend, to the end. A hero.
What was I? Could I ever be as inherently good as she was?
No, I thought. But I can help the others. Bodies were flying now. Most were furry, blood spouting from numerous wounds, but there were Warriors on the ground too. Broken and bleeding. Limbs contorted at unnatural angles, joints having bent in the wrong direction. Where was Beat? Couldn’t see her. Staggering forward. A Narzani spotted me and leapt into my path. My hand shot out, grabbing it by the throat. Shaking it. Watching its dark eyes bulge out, its tongue loll from its mouth. The breath left it and I tossed it aside like the evil nothing that it was.
I stalked forward, growing used to the pain, numb to the agony in my stomach. If not for the ooze working its way through my body, I’d already be dead.
I hammered another Narzani from behind with my fist, hearing its spine crack upon impact. It slumped away. I grabbed another by the head and twisted, snapping its neck. I threw another aside with a roar and Beat was revealed. She was on one knee, standing over Millania’s twisted body beneath her, willing to defend her to the death if necessary.
And it would be necessary, the number of enemies growing by the second as the unrelenting army poured through the gap in the flames.
Beat was willing to die for these Warriors and so was I. That was something we’d always had in common.
Beat swung her spear in a circle, forcing her foes to retreat and almost slashing through my belly. “Whoa,” I said.
“Sam? I thought…”
“I’m not,” I said, grabbing one of the creatures as it slashed at me. I shoved it back into its buddies, watching a space open as they tumbled over each other and went to the ground. More fell in around them, trampling them underfoot.
Beat stood up and I stepped to her, our bodies naturally falling into the back to back stance we’d practiced so often, the base of our heels pressed taut against Millania’s motionless body. And then Lace was there, and Uva, and Merlin 2, and Asfandiar. Standing with us. Strong. The Narzani attacked and we defended, piling up the bodies until they were forced to climb up to get through to us. It only made things worse, because now they were attacking from above, launching themselves from the corpse piles created by the fallen.
We were going to be buried by the dead.
The ground shook and everything seemed to be put on pause for a few moments. The attacking Narzani swiveled their heads around, fear in their eyes. Another ground-shaking thud, one that had struck fear in me when, on Primo, I’d first felt the powerful earthquake-like vibration rumble through the earth and into my feet.
In truth, there’d been so much chaos on this night that I’d forgotten all about my conversation with Nrrrf and how she’d run off to awaken the marmot, Stomp.
Now they arrived, emerging from the darkness and flames, the gargantuan stepping through the massive wall of fire like it was nothing but a matchstick. As he stepped into the large circle, dozens of Narzani died under his heavy trod. Nrrrf rode on its back, grinning like a banshee. “Sorry I’m late,” the lioness said.
She whispered something into the marmot’s big old ear and he kicked out, sending three of the Narzani careening into the flames, their bodies catching fire and vanishing.
The Narzani turned their full attention to the new threat, throwing themselves at his thick hide, digging their claws into his flesh and climbing his legs. For the rest of us, it was a much-needed reprieve.
All of us were exhausted and injured, but we managed to clear a path through the bodies as Stomp gored several of the creatures with his long tusk. Some of the Narzani had managed to climb onto the marmot’s back and now Nrrrf found herself in a fight for her life. She leapt forward, tearing out one of their throats. The beast tumbled from the marmot’s back, dark blood flying.
The marmot released a roar of anger, pain and distress as more Narzani piled on. Though he outweighed and outmatched them a hundredfold, their sheer numbers allowed them to overrun him even as he killed them in droves with his battering ram feet and long, sword-like tusk.
With a groan, he dropped to one knee. I couldn’t believe how quickly our temporary advantage was vanishing. “C’mon,” I said, urging the others on. We needed to help them.
Beat fired a glance back toward Millania.
“I’ll protect her,” Uva said, surprising us both with her willingness to stay behind, alone.
Beat and I exchanged a nod and then started forward to help the marmot and his lioness rider. We stopped suddenly when a gnarled, scaly creature lunged to block our path. The shreek was clearly injured, green ooze-like blood pouring from numerous wounds in its rubbery skin. But it was also clearly royally pissed off, its dolphin’s tail bobbing up and down as if it was trying to swim despite the lack of water.
“Fuck this,” Beat said, shoving me and Lace aside with two strong arms, taking two steps forward, and then shoving her spear right through the shreek’s forehead. The monster’s eyes crossed and it reared up on its clawed hind legs. Beat shoved harder and it toppled back, flipping over its tail, wriggling like a fish out of water as it slipped off the spear.
“You always gotta be such a badass,” I managed to say, though I was feeling breathless now, my own injury catching up to me with the speed of a passing freight train.
“Can’t help what I am,” Beat said with a grin that was so out of place amongst the violence that it might’ve been a unicorn dancing in the circle of flames.
We ran as a ragged group, weaving around the dead to get to the marmot, which was completely covered by the swarming Narzani now. Nrrrf was fighting valiantly, forcing many of the creatures off, but there were simply too many. It didn’t help that for every beast she killed three more leapt forward to take their place. I glanced back toward the gap in the flames. More enemies continued to run through, a never-ending sea of them.
We cut down enemy after enemy as we fought to get to our allies. Somewhere along the way Asfandiar gave me an extra blade he had, and though wielding a sword was foreign to me compared to the blunt power of my hammer, it was better than nothing. I used it to slash through fur and bone and mus
cle, killing at will.
Eventually, however, my energy flagged.
The marmot was lying on his belly now, groaning, a mournful sound that twisted my heart every bit as effectively as a knife might’ve. I hated hearing—seeing, witnessing—his pain. Because I had brought him here. Taken him from a life where he was a useful member of society and forced him to fight monsters.
I was no better than the very people whose ways I’d been trying to change. If I—we—survived this night, never again would I allow any of us to steal lives that didn’t want to be stolen.
Never fucking again.
I poured all that anger and regret into my last stand, stabbing and slashing and shoving back the unending waves of enemies. I watched Asfandiar go down, then Nrrrf as she was dragged from the marmot’s back by two Narzani.
I took a slash to the chest, another to the cheek. One leapt onto my back and I didn’t have the energy to twist around to pull it away.
It was over.
That’s when the dragon, which had been unusually silent since its spike had been pulled from my body, roared.
FOURTEEN
OF DRAGONFIRE
The dragon’s roar was another well-timed distraction, and I managed to drop suddenly and dislodge my attacker from my back. I spun and opened its throat with my blade, but then my feet gave way, unable to hold my weight any longer.
I’d given all I had to give, and it hadn’t been enough.
Luckily I had a friend with a pet dragon.
The dragon swept toward us, its wings extended in a glide, its eyes fierce and its open maw bristling with fangs highlighted by flames.
Flames that jetted out, blazing through the Narzani like they were nothing but chaff to be burned away. It grabbed four of the creatures—two on each side—with its hind claws, crushing them in its grip and then releasing them to crash into others. Vrill clung from the dragon’s neck from one of its spikes with one hand, her other hand gripping my hammer. The dragon swooped past the marmot’s flank and she held it close enough that I managed to reach out and snatch it from her, a thrill running through me as air washed over me from the dragon’s passing.
