The Circle of Duty

by Owen Elgie

  "I don't think so Leatherpants. No-one's going to get out of here." My voice was cracking slightly as I spoke the words. In everything I'd done since coming into The Circle, there had always been the thought that I'd be able to get away from what was happening. Even as I'd fought against The Zarrulent there had always been that tiny little voice in the back of my head that just always pointed out that I was going to be fine. No matter the problems, everything was going to work out in the end. Hell, this whole crisis of trying to save Maria from being Bridged had come about because I thought I knew better than everyone else who was saying she had to be sacrificed for the greater good.

  Laying there in incredible pain, I'd made the choice that no matter what, I was going to stop what was happening and save the human race but that none of us in the cavern were going to survive. I'd realised that there wasn't a way for me get around every little problem that was being put in my way so all I could hope for was to just make good on stopping the bad guy in his dastardly scheme. I'd hit the ground knowing that I needed to do as much damage as I could and my own safety was forfeit, as was the safety of the rest of us here, Circle and Tayne alike.

  Leatherpants just grinned at me.

  Our attention was broken by the blinding flash of light from above us and as we both winced against the pain, we could see a massive Cascade Bridge hovering towards the roof of this once mighty cavern. The blue/white energy in the ring was so much more than usually appears and I could feel the burning static even from this far away. With his control of the Drake Stone broken, it looked like whatever he had been doing to the bridges was broken as well.

  "Told you," I chided him. "No-one gets out."

  He smiled down at me before adding, "My sister burning this place from the face of the Earth. She's never done that before you know." He was confident of how to speak now and again brandished the Drake Stone fragment before me. He knew what was coming. That wide smile of his remained and as the mighty blast summoned by The Elder speared into the cavern and into the stone in his hand, all I could think was, "Bastard had a plan B after all."

  36

  The energy that came through and down at us was monstrous. There was no other way to describe it. It crackled and burned the air as it roared down, a blazing column of golden energy at least ten feet across, set to detonate and erase everything here from existence.

  The energy blast landed on us directly and for the barest second, I could feel myself being ripped apart at the tiniest level of my being. Every atom was being shredded under the weight of the cleansing fire but in an instant, it was passed and I was still laying crumpled on the floor with Leatherpants and Maria stood on my chest. The energy swirled around us yet had no effect on us at all. In the eye of the magical storm, the air was calm and still but looking at Leatherpants, it was clear to see why.

  He stood hunched against the hammer blow of the energy which was all being absorbed into the burning hunk of Drake Stone in his hand. His face was caught in a pained rictus as he struggled against the forces impacting all on the one spot. Maria was still hung limply in his other hand but the burning of her had started again, light coming from within her towards the stone.

  I tried to move but I'd been pinned down under the weight of that blast. Focused on Leatherpants, I was held in place as if by one giant, smothering hand. All I had available to me was a drunken swing of one of my battered arms and with all the power I could muster, I swatted at him as best I could. He didn't even flinch, as if the impact had been nothing more than that of an insect. He just kept his arm raised against all of the roiling power surrounding us and drew that power into what was left of the Drake Stone. He was going to use the destructive energy from The Elder to kick start what he needed to happen. He'd had another option available to him because he knew what course of action The Circle would use, of course he would, being the Head of House for The Elder. But why had he called her his sister? They weren't related.

  I risked another swing and the result was the same, nothing so much as dented his concentration on the casting he was attempting to weave. Next I spat a gout of fire which had the same effect but made my head spin wildly. I looked around the space hoping to find some way to interrupt what he was doing but there was just nothing. Andrea and the others were still buried under the rubble of the stone they'd been embedded in and there was no hint that they were even still alive after what had been done to them, the Tayne were a huge force but they were on the other side of the power wall which had encased us, as was Em, if she was OK.

  On my chest, the weight holding me in place wavered and then wobbled, weakening and pulsing as something changed. Leatherpants was straightening his posture against the force of energy and the golden light shell surrounding us had begun to flicker. At oddly spaced intervals, stone shapes became visible on the far side of the boundary before the power noticed the breach and filled in the gap. He was pulling all of that power into the stone. He was winning. I had no other options so just poured everything of me that I could drag together into one final throw of the dice. I rolled my shoulders and slapped out with both of my arms at the same time as I lurched my body as far off the ground as I could manage, hoping to repeat the same results as before by just shaking the footing of the enemy. This time it had an effect.

  Leatherpants wobbled and stumbled as the last of the power in the cavern was consumed by the stone. He fell backwards, flinging Maria away as he worked to maintain his balance and in that very instant, I could see a sickening change in his face. The human element of Leatherpants' face followed after the child, a look of snatched longing on what was left of the features whereas the darkly monstrous element of the face looked away from the child, as if there were two distinct creatures in the one body and they were going after different things. Heaving myself to one side, doing everything I could to track the movement from Leatherpants as he fell, I landed on my side before ponderously toppling onto my front and watched the creature who had been ripping at the belly of everything I was now a part of, clamber jerkily to his feet.

  He straightened himself in sudden cracks of movement until he'd finally reached his full height. His gold eyes were now aglow with more power than before and I could feel quite easily that he was burning hot with all of the energy The Elder had sent his way. His head turned towards me and those golden eyes sparkled in the low light, and I knew that he was going to kill me. He took one step towards me, his shoulders bunching in readiness as he prepared himself to strike out, but then he faltered and took a step towards where Maria had fallen. He stopped statue still after this single step and his brow furrowed deeply, as if he was confronted by a great puzzle. What was he doing?

  "I think it's time to end our arrangement Mr. Ward. I thank you for what you've been able to do but your services will no longer be required." Leatherpants was talking to himself as a now vile grin etched itself over his face, one which belonged to something interested in only the worst things in the world. There was no further warning before Leatherpants began to scream. A high pitched squeal filled the air, like that of a wounded pig, and the skin suit which had been as much a part of him as his arms or legs, began to bulge and squirm. The Drake Stone thudded to the floor and continued to glow as a warning of the danger it posed.

  It took me longer than it should have done to be able to understand exactly what was happening but as the jacket split up the back, expelling a jet of slimy material to settle in the dust of the cavern floor, I caught on. The animalistic scream continued as a wizened lump of flesh began to slowly protrude from the tear in the back. The flesh thing grew as the hollowed out skin hung down as if a discarded pupae, until with a slurping sucking sound and an eruption of noxious smelling fumes, the flesh suit landed in a pile on the floor, sloughed away and discarded, and the meat object within fell backwards to writhe on the floor in a puddle of its own filth, retching and gurgling.

  Bile rose in my throat at what I'd just seen. It was hideous and rooted me to inaction. It was then that the s
kin suit moved on its own. First lifting one arm and then the other to reach out before it, as if exploring the ground like a mollusc of some kind. I just lay and stared at the horror as that prized skin suit ever so slowly began to inflate and slither its way to a standing position, growing slender bony hands and feet tipped with long curved claws, and worst of all, a mutated head which brought to mind any number of long since forgotten nightmares, until it was stood before me, all elements of tailoring lost, the complete living creature which was as much a corruption as it was a being. The skin had reclaimed its sheen now, all the previous damage forgotten and there was a power within the limbs which made me sick. Its enlarged gold eyes fixed me with their malice and it took a shuffling step towards me.

  "What do you think?" it drooled out at me in that deep resonance, stretching some letters and squashing others as it did. "I'm not feeling myself you see but I've been waiting so very long for this." The steps continued, each bringing it closer to me but whatever it was, it was taking its time to savour every second of what was taking place.

  "What the hell are you?" I wheezed from my prone position on the cavern floor, doing everything I could to be able to move but getting very little traction. This walking oil slick was revolting and inspired nothing other than the desire to run and hide from it. It considered my question but the shameless brutality in those eyes made it clear that there was never going to be a chance to reason with it.

  "I am a newborn," it replied, almost mockingly. "I am a shadow of the whole, a crossing of creatures. I am the life within flesh of The Hive." The mention of the Hive twisted my stomach tighter than bow string. If this thing was a part of The Hive, where had it been hiding? But I could see where. In plain sight.

  "You're a part of one of The Hive demons, aren't you? That suit of old Leatherpants was the skin of The Elder's charge so kind of makes sense that it would have power of some kind still in it. So that's what you look like." The creature's face split into a sneer and it took another step.

  "Indeed. For someone who my," it flicked its head towards what was left of Leatherpants as he continued to struggle on the floor, trying to live, "associate, felt was beneath contempt, you seem more astute than I would have given credit. Though I stand here not my usual self, but instead a bastardised version of the power of the original and the energies wound through the man there." It took another step closer, bringing with it an odour which was almost solid it had that much of an effect on my senses. I jerked again but just couldn't find enough energy to move. It cackled.

  "I've waited for so very long to be able to walk free and not be wrapped around such a weak excuse for a leader." There was real hatred in those words. "That insect," it pointed out a monstrous finger at Leatherpants, "is nothing but the result of power by association and fear. He is a tiny man who thinks on nothing but attaining more power so all I had to do was whisper what would bring that power. He even thought that all of this had come from his mind." Its eyes glittered as it took another step. I still couldn't move.

  "You seem to be having trouble rising. What a surprise." Arrogance touched the words and it tilted its head in a gesture similar to that I'd seen on Em but this time it was nothing more than a threat. My mind scrambled against what it had said, trying to understand. It had seen me do all of the damage to the stone altar so must know I'd hurt myself. Why was it so confident?

  "You must have been fighting so very hard, using up so very much of yourself, before this moment. Much like there was someone wanting you weakened for some reason." The tone hardened with the final word and it licked its split lips and salivated as it closed on my face.

  I panicked. I tried to blast fire at it but all I got was a small jet of fluffy white smoke. The creature was shrouded for a second, I was so glad to not see its hideous face, but it wasted no further time. It burst through the cloud with speed fueled by madness, its skeletal arms out, grasping as it came, and its huge mouth opened to reveal rows and rows of tiny yellow teeth. Leaping over my snout it landed on the bridge of my nose, clamping its claws into my flesh as easily as if the armour of my Dragon skin had been nothing but tissue. A pain which was far beyond the minor wounds, bolted around my head and my skin felt as if were being flayed away. I roared in surprise, then agony, as it sank its teeth in and began to gorge itself on me.

  My roar became a terrified wail at what was being done to me. That thing was latched onto my face, less than three feet from my eyes, and was feeding on me. It slurped and suckled at the wound it had made on my snout and there was a numbing sensation of cold spreading quickly beneath my skin as it did, reaching out over an ever widening area, and my eyelids began to sag. I tried to call for help from anywhere, the Tayne, anyone, but all I was able to do was mumble, my mouth was just too heavy to control. The thing on my face laughed at my efforts without stopping its feast. It was gorging itself on me knowing that it had nothing to fear. I'd burned all of my fuel when I'd been fighting Em and it knew that, having been the one controlling her. This thing had manipulated me again until all I could see was the one option which would put me out of action and now it was going to drain me dry like some starved vampire before starting out against its next victim. Pure, animal panic set in at the realization that I was going to be eaten.

  The burning detonation on my face slapped me briefly away from everything, shock taking over before the panic rose again. I did everything I could to blink away the swimming colours before my eyes, leaving me to make out that the creature was now separated from my face but nowhere to be seen. It had left behind a jagged wound on my face which was already grotesquely swollen but the beast wasn't still attached. Where was it? What was it doing? Oh God, where was it?

  Then it was there. At least a hundred yards from me and crouched next to a large fallen piece of the cavern's roof. Within the dark flesh were the only points of any light, those two golden eyes, looking out accusingly and tormented by hate. But it wasn't looking at me. It was looking into the air. Had the Tayne come to help me? Were we all going to be saved?

  There was another detonation of purest white as a bolt of energy zeroed in on that thing, lighting it in silhouette as huge swathes of rock were vaporized all around it. That blast couldn't have come from the Tayne could it? Even with all the energies they'd been given they weren't that powerful were they? Another blast came down but this time, spearing down after it on wide wings of the purest white light, came Em, her whole body suffused with that same energy setting her aglow. My world slowed as I drank in the heart wrenching beauty that Em was. Huge power but carried by one so fragile. She touched down gently and the energy which made up those giant wings fell to the floor to be dragged behind her like an over long train on a wedding gown. She scanned the area that thing had been in but there was no sign of it, living or otherwise. Eventually deciding that there was no immediate danger, she span and ran to me, concentration and worry on her face.

  "My Lord. Can you move? Are you able to fight that thing with me?" Her voice was again holding that surety of purpose that she'd had from the very outset. Looking at her, I was speechless. I wasn't in great shape to say that much anyway but seeing Em descend from the sky like that was just so beautiful. All of the Dragons had the ability to fly and my memories of Andrea swooping and diving, her white sheen in balletic motion, were to be cherished always but Em seemed to be so much more than all of us. Her human form was still strong on those wings of hers but it was the wings themselves which did so much. They weren't physical. I couldn't reach out to grasp at them but I imagined that they would feel like a smile from a loved one, warming you to relaxation. Em evoked so many pictures in my head with the effortless way she moved, the certainty of her every fibre and the desire she had to fulfill her duty, that she was very much the stereotypical guardian angel.

  I'd been feeling more and more woozy as the creature had been gorging itself on me but my head was clearing a little. Em checked the wound site quickly and expertly but gave no indication that she'd discovered anything e
ither way when she'd finished. Instead she stopped to check around us, watching for the return of the thing. So pleasantly as well, she was idly stroking at my face as she did which just infused me with the knowledge that everything was going to be alright, that she was going to look after me, after all of us.

  "I will need your help to defeat the creature," she continued, all business, sticking to the terrain she knew as her hand still drifted over my jawline. "I will never be enough to do this alone, my Lord." She finally turned her eyes up from the job at hand and looked into my eyes. Her other hand joined in the action and I could see that she was pleading with me. She was in need and she was looking to me to save her. My inner fire blazed at her call. I had to try.

  With an almighty effort, I planted both of my ruined hands hard on the floor and with as much violent purpose as I could find, drove myself upwards. Somehow, I moved and moved fast. My arms felt strong and I was starting to recognise the sensation bleeding back into my legs. Bringing myself carefully back to my feet and leaning into the support created by my tail, I regained my full height, brushing away loose lumps of broken stone which had covered me and stretched out my wings by way of emphasis. I could also move most of my fingers now, though very painfully. I'd been feeling too sorry for myself laying on the floor and letting that thing eat from me. I'd let that creature dictate the terms and now I was going to put that thing back in its place. Growling and snorting out smoke, I could feel my aggression returning and my low charge became a thing of the past.