The Crimson Claymore

by Craig A. Price Jr.

  “How long until this works?” Searon asked, staring down at the pale human.

  Starlyn crouched by the human to feel his pulse and check his forehead. There was a cold sweat across his exposed body, and she frowned. Without a pause, she put his armor back on and wrapped him up with as much cloth as could be found. His body was limp all the while she positioned him for warmth.

  “He has entered a coma state. The rest is up to him,” Starlyn whispered uneasily, looking back at Karceoles.

  The wizard shrugged knowing there was nothing more that he could do. There wasn’t time to sit and wait on the young man anymore, and all three knew they needed to continue on. The longer they stayed in one place, the more likely it would be that the draeyks could find them.

  “We can’t wait on his recovery. If we are discovered, our element of surprise against the draeyks will be ruined,” Searon trailed off looking into the distance through the trees.

  Searon began gathering his things and packing them tight on his stallion. A few times he checked his scabbard to make sure his claymore was secured tightly. Turning around, he arched an eyebrow at the wizard before securing his crimson-and-gold helm and climbing atop his horse.

  “He’s right, we need to leave. What are we to do about this human?” Karceoles looked from Searon to Starlyn, growing impatient.

  “I will carry him,” Searon said, reaching out for the man.

  Karceoles eyed him curiously, but Starlyn quickly nodded and pulled the unconscious man to his feet and onto the saddle in front of Searon. He held onto his limp body securely while still able to handle the reins with ease. Nodding to the others, he led the way.

  Starlyn and Karceoles were able to swiftly get on their animals and follow Searon close behind. Searon only seemed to struggle slightly with controlling his stallion, but it was clear that his horse put his faith into the rider. He seemed to whisper to his horse, Stripes, soothing the animal that neighed in response.

  “Are you sure you can handle him with you?” Starlyn asked with worry on her face.

  “I will be just fine,” Searon smiled.

  Searon led the way north with Starlyn traveling on his right side on her jaguar companion and Karceoles on his left with a brown mare. The added weight only slowed Searon’s steed slightly below a full trot. There wasn’t enough room for a full gallop through the forest, but they kept a steady pace.

  Several hills scattered the horizon that had to be climbed slowly with caution. Stripes seemed to be noticing the tension from Searon and was extra careful during the climb. At the top, the view was indescribable. The sun shone brightly with only a few scattered powdery white clouds, and everything could be seen a league in almost every direction. Sweat drizzled down Searon’s face as his teeth gritted from holding the human so tight to climb through the hills. At the bottom, a river could be seen with a ruined bridge.

  When they arrived, Karceoles crept to the gray stone bridge and stared at it for a few moments. The current was exceptionally strong with several silver-and-blue flying fish jumping from the water to snap flies that scattered the air. Carefully, he grasped his pipe from his brown robes and gently put some chocolate aroma tobacco inside. After a few puffs, he looked to both Searon and Starlyn, who seemed to be waiting on his call. Starlyn’s eyes were wide, blazing like hot fire. She stared from the river to Searon and bit her lip intensely. Searon’s eyes merely squinted as he let his horse trot to the bridge to stare at it. There were at least ten paces between broken parts of the bridge. It may have been jumped had his horse not been forced to carry extra weight, but it was risky now. He still appeared as if ready to attempt it.

  “Halt,” Karceoles rumbled, looking from east to west at the river.

  The width of the river didn’t seem to change no matter which direction the wizard looked. Instead, he concentrated deep to think of something he could do to help them across. Twirls and binds of magic rattled in his mind as he tried to think of spells.

  “We have to cross,” Starlyn said defiantly.

  Searon’s dazzling green eyes glared deep into the wizard’s orange ones. There was no doubt in the wizard’s mind that Searon wasn’t going to leave his fellow human behind. It seemed that Searon felt that, had their places had been switched, he wouldn’t have wanted to be left behind himself.

  “Yes…I know. Give me a moment, and let me try something.”

  Karceoles closed his eyes and let flows of magic encircle him, bringing new life through his veins. He felt so alive with growing power as his magic flowed through him and into his zylek. Bright-orange sparks formed at the tip of his zylek that intertwined with each other, forming a web toward the river. The magic flashed and fizzed out of focus before disintegrating into dust particles. He attempted thrusting the magic harder through his zylek, causing his body to sweat profoundly. It did not fail this time and created a web of laced fire that tied both sides of the bridge together.

  “Go!” Sweat poured down the wizard’s strained face, and he began to weaken. His entire body began to shake, but he kept his eyes open and his mind focused.

  Searon glanced at the bridge one last time in doubt before seizing the reins of his horse to gallop across it. Starlyn followed him close behind holding her jaguar tight. As the both of them reached the end of the chain of magic, the opposite side of the bridge began collapsing. Searon’s horse, Stripes, nearly fell down by its hind hooves, but he urged the horse forward, and it was able to climb through the collapsing stone before crashing into the soft mud of the shore. Starlyn’s jaguar fell into the river just short of reaching Searon. She grabbed her supplies and braced herself for a jump from the animal. With a flip through the air, she spun and landed behind Searon with her two legs and one hand on the ground before looking up to him and smiling. The jaguar was long gone without enough strength to swim through the current, and it was swept downriver, roaring profoundly.

  As soon as both Searon and Starlyn made it across along with Karceoles’s horse, the flows of magic vanished, making the web disintegrate in a flash. With a gasp, the wizard inhaled deeply before directing more magic at his feet, creating a swirling orange ring. The hollow space in the center filled with various shades of orange before he stepped onto it and floated into the air. He kept his zylek aimed at the strange disk as it glided across the large river until he landed perfectly on the other side and the magic faded away.

  “How come you wouldn’t do that for us?” Searon arched an eyebrow.

  “It’s much harder channeling power for others than ourselves.” Karceoles ran his fingers through his curly hair. His blazing orange eyes relaxed a bit, and some of the fire seemed lost in them. “Also, when there is no magic flowing through your bodies, it makes it harder getting magic to work for you.”

  Searon turned to Starlyn, “I’m sorry about your jaguar.”

  Starlyn smiled weakly, “I will miss him, but I do not fear for him. He will make it, the mother will watch over him, and one day we may cross paths again.”

  The three continued traveling north through the small meadow at the end of the day. They watched as owls flew through the night sky with a kind of carefree quality that they wished they held. The air was hot, and the heat was getting to them so that they slowed their pace to a slow trot. Starlyn kept up just fine without her jaguar but denied Searon’s request to hop on his horse with him. She claimed the poor horse had already carried enough weight with the unconscious human.

  A large stone blocked the path as the meadow thickened into a forest. The stone was over fourteen paces high and seven paces thick with crows circling around the top of it. It was something strange to see such a large slab of stone in the middle of scattered trees without any more rocks in sight. However, it blocked their path, and they had to travel around it.

  When they reached halfway around the stone, they bumped into five armed draeyks that stood waiting for them with smug looks upon their black scaly faces. Starlyn sharply turned around to find another five cornering them in
. It seemed the three of them had stumbled straight into a trap.

  Karceoles rose up his zylek and held aim sharply at a draeyk. Starlyn drew her hammer and spun in circles, studying all of the creatures. Searon looked at all of them, cautiously holding the man in front of him steady on his horse. There was nowhere to set down the human where he would be safe. Instead, he secured the man on the saddle and drew out his glowing crimson claymore, holding it with one hand while daring the creatures to step forward.

  Chapter 10

  “Drop him, you fool!” Karceoles yelled into the wind as he turned in his saddle to face Searon.

  Searon ignored the wizard as he wielded his claymore with one hand. He kept the other secure around the human in the saddle in front of him. The weight from the large sword was nearly throwing him off balance. His attacks were slower than normal with a higher focus on defensive parries rather than offensive strikes.

  His body felt weary as he moved around in a flow of defensive maneuvers against the draeyks. He wasn’t at his full strength after what Arria had done to him, but he didn’t let it show. The muscles in his arms ached greater than they ever had, and he clenched his teeth hard to distract himself from the pain. He knew he was still stronger than the creatures he faced—mentally if not physically.

  Searon’s eyes flickered as his blade crossed an axe of a draeyk. There was tension and anger that swelled through his body more than ever. His blade shook slightly at its weight, and he tried to shift his balance while keeping hold of the human in front of him. Each time he faced draeyks, it enraged him with new passion to destroy everything that they were. The shiny black scales of the creature in front of him shimmered, only making him angrier. His blood boiled as he fought with newfound passion. He saw a flicker of Victoria’s face in the distance, and he blinked, hoping to see her wonderful smile again, but she was gone. Murderers.

  His arm was becoming weak as his body was tiring, but he would not let go of the human; he wouldn’t give up on him. He’d seen too many people around him die, and this time there was something he could do to prevent another death. The creature in front of him snarled in impatience at being deflected. He stared into the creature’s eyes with boiling hate. There is no forgiveness for murder.

  At his side, Starlyn performed exotic moves, twirling her hammer in patterns of stars. It almost appeared that her attacks would strike herself as her hammer moved around her body. She stepped on another’s head, hearing the crunch of its black scales, before landing perfectly behind them all. In one quick motion, she heaved her hammer into the skull of a draeyk before it had the chance to turn around. Before the creature fell to the ground, Starlyn leaped into the air and dashed along the side of the large stone until landing alongside Searon once again. The way she slashed the air with defensive maneuvers seemed as soft as a feather. She didn’t feel or think during the battle but became one with the hammer and let it guide her. She was one of the few that could show speed and grace with a hammer.

  She observed Searon, wondering why he cared so much for a fellow human he had never met. The emotions of his kind were hard for her to understand. Searon’s strength impressed her as he fought. She knew that he was strong, but to be able to hold onto the human while battling with a large claymore with only one hand stunned her. Even though she was a kheshlar with more strength than a human, she still knew she would have dropped the man so she could better balance her hammer. A smile tugged at Starlyn’s lips as she realized that once Searon’s mind was made up that there was no changing it. Instead of debating with herself at his reason, she instead decided to help him protect the human and stood by his side.

  There was only one thing lingering in Starlyn’s mind as she fought. Her sister, Arria, flashed through her thoughts, and it kept her concentration high. It seemed as if every draeyk she battled was her sister. Their faces only changed back to those of the scaly creatures as she delivered their deathblows. She could not kill her sister, and she would not. There was little chance she could ever have her sister back the way she was before the black magic grabbed ahold of her. Yet inside her heart Starlyn knew that she had to try. Arria did not deserve death, no matter what her crimes were. If it came to the worst, she would imprison her sister until she could find a cure. She owed it to her. Her sister had saved her so many times in the past, and she knew that somewhere in the soulless demon her sister still lingered. Every now and then when she saw the undead kheshlar that was her sister, she saw a flicker in her eyes that belonged to Arria. It was the only thing that kept Starlyn going. She had to have faith.

  With her mother gone now, all that she had to cling to was the knowledge that her sister was still out there. She did have one good friend back near Sudegam, but besides her…Starlyn seemed to be an outcast to the kheshlars. With great struggle, she had led the kheshlars in an attack against the draeyks in the second kheshlarn war. The first was rumored to be against strange flying creatures with scales—a race that became extinct. It took great effort to unite the kheshlars against the draeyks, and after the war was over everybody seemed to look at her differently. She was considered the impatient one for dragging the war forward. It had all started because of her mother’s illness and her rash decisions did not save her. Perhaps there was still a chance to save her sister. All the kheshlars told her that she held her emotions too high, but she could not abandon her mother. Now it was her sister that she could not abandon. She no longer cared for acceptance from the other kheshlars. That was why she was alone in the wilderness fighting the draeyks.

  She turned to Searon, noticing him dancing with his claymore in hand. The skill of his blade excelled hers, yet that was why she chose a hammer. At least she had found someone who hated the draeyks with the same passion as she. Her family was all she had left in her life. There was little choice for her. She never knew her father, but her mother and sister were everything to her. One was already lost, but she was not about to lose the other. Her sister had known their father, but he died from a blade when Starlyn was just a babe. She did not understand why her mother took ill when kheshlars were supposed to be immune to such things. Unless it was poison—yet who would poison her mother? She fought so hard against the draeyks because she couldn’t handle losing another family member. Arria had to be captured; Starlyn had to have her back. It was what kept her strong.

  The wizard fought off to the side, forming orange spheres of light. He formed them one at a time and bolted them at the enemies. It was very effective at blasting the creatures off their feet. Karceoles relished in the power that flowed through him. He felt incredibly alive as the burning energy shivered through his skin down to his bones. Without the power circling inside him, he felt so dull, so lifeless. Yet when the power flowed through him he felt like he was invincible. It almost felt as if he could jump and fly at a moment’s notice. Which he probably could if he channeled energy from his zylek to his feet to levitate. In fact, he liked the idea of flying into a battle as an entrance. He decided to add that tactic into his battle tactics.

  The speed of the wizard’s magic was as swift as that of a sword strike. He may have seemed an old man, but his wits were just as fast as a young warrior. A draeyk rushed toward him and raised its axe in an attempt to block his magic. Karceoles shot a powerful glittering sphere that pushed the axe back, followed by another quick blast of sizzling orange flame that blasted the creature. Its lifeless body incinerated in mere moments before dropping to ash on the ground. Next, he shot a wave of energy that blew two draeyks off their feet and tossed them several paces back. One rose quickly to lunge at him, and he barely had enough time to hammer his zylek forward into the skull of the creature. He lit it with fire as it shattered the creature’s scaly skull into two before the body cremated. Swiftly, he shot out an orange lightning bolt at the creature that still lay on the ground, electrocuting it until nothing remained but a steaming pile of bones.

  Karceoles kept a watchful eye on Searon as the human fought. He found the human foolish to con
tinue fighting while holding onto the unconscious man. His attacks were slowed to half their normal pace, and holding onto the wounded man had kept him from being more effective in battle. It was true that he could hold his own just fine, but he hadn’t been able to slash down as many enemies had he fought without carrying an injured man. Karceoles had chosen a human to lead the effort against the draeyks because humans were weak minded, but above all because they were selfish. It seemed of all the humans he could have chosen, he happened to find the one who cared about others more than himself. Though it was to be expected when the poor man had little in his life to be proud of. There was little left for the man to live for besides revenge. It was what also made him a perfect candidate to be the leader of his army. And there would be an army soon, of that Karceoles was sure. He understood now that kheshlars were the true selfish race. They were the ones raised in the shadows of the world, oblivious to the dangers that encircled them. Even though the wizard despised Searon’s rash decision to protect the human, he knew that it was power. It was evidence that Searon could make it, that he could be saved. It started now, with him putting the human’s life above his own. With an army by his side…he would be unstoppable.

  The wizard had lived for far too long to watch as the land turned into chaos. The draeyks seemed to come from nowhere, a dark spell long ago. There seemed to be a greater evil upon the land that created it all, but he could not place its origin. He had tried bringing it up to the council, but they had paid it no heed. They dismissed it as quickly as he had mentioned it, claiming that they would discuss it at a later time. However, the council had soon disbanded, and chaos had soon come to the land. It was up to him now to control the threat and smother it into nonexistence. He couldn’t stand by and watch as the draeyks took over. Besides, something tugged at his soul that something darker was at work, yet he had not discovered what. It was his last mission for himself. He would make the world right once again before his time expired.