by Justin Sloan
They moved back out through the stench and darkness, but they heard the sounds of fighting as they approached the exit.
“The paladins!” Lars cursed under his breath, and then led the charge to the outside.
When they emerged into the moonlit night, it wasn’t paladins at all. Their group was encircled by remnant. Stone had lodged his sword in one of their heads, and was kicking the remnant off the blade as he said, “About time,” before slicing through another.
“Trespassers!” another remnant shouted. He charged, only to be met by an arrow from Kim.
With the Sword of Light in both hands now, Alastar glanced back to ensure his sister and Estair were safe, then waded in swinging. It was clear that the blade had been kept sharp and polished over the years, given the way it shone in the moonlight and cleaved a remnant in two.
It was a strong sword, no doubt about it. When Alastar focused his magic on it, willing his strength to channel through it, the blade glowed, but no more than his regular sword would have.
He impaled two remnant at once, then pulled out the sword and swung with magically-enhanced speed and power at an especially large one.
“We can’t keep this up,” he shouted, glancing around as more remnant appeared on and around the mounds. “We’ll be overrun, or eventually die from exhaustion.”
***
Rhona kept looking out of the corners of her eyes for something special to happen with that massive sword Alastar was wielding. His paladin sword certainly wasn’t small, but this put it to shame.
But only as far as size was concerned. It didn’t seem to have any sort of magical properties.
What exactly she had expected, she wasn’t sure. Flames to leap out of the tip and devour their enemies? A burst of light that came down like lightning and spread out across the battlefield, knocking all the remnant onto their nasty arses?
Regardless of her expectations, nothing much was happening.
A remnant made it past Stone on the left as he took out two more. Rhona prepared herself for the attack as an arrow pierced the remnant’s neck and sent it to the ground, drowning on its own blood.
“Look alive,” Estair snapped as she nocked another arrow. “There’s enough death around here already.”
“I had him,” Rhona replied, gripping one of her swords. The other was still sheathed.
Estair smiled and pointed. “Good, get that one.”
Rhona spun and, sure enough, another remnant had just tripped on the first and was now falling her way. She stepped back and brought the sword down on its neck, expecting to cut clean through. Instead, the blade hit, stuck, and only came free with some struggle.
Meanwhile, Estair had loosed another two arrows at remnant, and even Tina had taken up the fight with a sword from the bundle, though she clearly had no idea how to use it and was mostly relying on Kim and Lars to have her back.
The purported Storm Caller stood in the back, and Rhona saw him thump a remnant on the head before one of their companions took it out with a battleax. Rhona had her sword up again in time to parry a strike and step back as Lars charged the creature, bore it to the ground, and buried his battleax in its skull.
“Rhona, I think it’s on you.” Alastar glanced around. “There are too many of them.”
She gulped, then nodded.
At Alastar’s signal, the others moved in a defensive circle around them. Alastar put his hands on Rhona and the golden glow flowing from him to his sister lit their small circle.
Everything she had went into her concentration, to the point that she felt herself losing consciousness until a sudden clarity hit her; a warmth from her brother’s magic.
She felt the darkness at her fingertips, tasted it on her tongue, and embraced it. All around them, the shadows surged inward.
“CHARGE!” Alastar commanded, and they did.
As they ran, the shadows kept converging like myriad beasts of darkness darting about in the night air, knocking over remnant left and right or tearing right through them. The dark tendrils surged forward, clearing a path, and before they knew it the group was at the far hill, in the clear.
Just in time, too, because Rhona could feel the warmth retreating as Alastar’s head began to sway.
A drop of blood ran from his nose, and his eyelids fluttered. Her ears were ringing despite the healing he had put on her, and now she let the darkness go.
“Get them to safety,” Estair ordered, turning back to the edge of the remnant horde, some of which had processed what had happened and were turning on them again.
“And you?” Kim asked, standing at her side.
“Don’t worry about me,” Estair shot back with a wide grin. She placed the bow on her back and pulled out a flint and steel. She never went anywhere without those, Rhona was relieved to see.
“Go!” Estair shouted, and as the others ran, Rhona glanced back to see the woman strike the flint and steel, creating a spark.
Then, hands moving up and outward, Estair caused the spark to become a fireball. She dropped the fire-making tools, moving her hands in a broad circular pattern that caused the fireball to expand, and then she pushed.
Remnant leaped out of the fireball’s path, but many were too slow to avoid the flames. They shrieked in anger and pain, but the attack was over. They started scattering throughout the tombs, the majority of them retreating.
The fireball connected with one of the tombs with a loud explosion as Rhona looked forward to see where they were going. A moment later, Estair hobbled up beside her, clearly drained but still smiling.
“That ought to hold them,” Lars remarked, impressed. “I can’t wait to see what magic Stone and Tina have in store for us.”
“None for me,” Tina replied. “Unless you count being able to bake the best scones this side of Gulanri.”
“As a matter of fact, I do.” Lars gave a victorious laugh. “And you, Stone? What magic can you bake up?”
“A fist in your face is my specialty,” Stone offered, “if I catch you flirting with my girl again.”
Lars laughed even harder now, though had to stop when he nearly stumbled in his run. “You lot are too much.”
Rhona wasn’t sure if Stone was joking. She looked over to check on her brother, who held the large sword at his side, trying not to drag it as he ran.
“Hold on,” she requested, but no one heard her. “STOP!”
Everyone came to a halt, staring at her.
“What’s wrong?” Crete asked, now glancing around. “You see something?”
She gestured to Alastar, who was using the sword as a walking stick to lean on, eyes half-closed.
“What, me?” Alastar asked. He tried to wave her away, but nearly fell. He plopped down to his butt, sword across his lap, and shook his head. “Guess that hit me harder than I expected.”
“And the sword?” She stepped over to him, shrugging off help, then knelt to inspect the blade. “It…doesn’t look like anything special. Just really old.”
“It’s the right sword, if that’s what you’re wondering,” Lars declared. “I can promise you that’s the sword Rodrick used. The one you all call the Sword of Light.”
“And it’s magic?” She spun on him. “How does it work?”
He frowned. “I haven’t the slightest. In fact, I’m not totally convinced it actually was ever magic, aside from the little bit like Alastar here did.”
Rhona felt her mouth hanging open. “You’re telling me that we might have come all this way for a simple sword? A sword that effectively does nothing more than any other in existence?”
“It has the fancy stones,” Tina offered with a shrug. “That’s pretty cool, and they can hold magic, right?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary,” Alastar told them with a heavy sigh. “She’s right. I kept trying to get it to do something special when we were fighting the remnant back there, but no…nothing.”
“But the holy quests…” Stone approached now too, wanting to see the sword
with his own eyes. “All of those were for nothing?”
“Like we told you,” Kim interjected. “Those were partly to kill us off, and probably to keep you all trained and occupied. Maybe even distracted, while this supposed leader of yours was up to something else.”
“That’s a big leap,” Rhona snapped, turning on her with anger flaring. But as she thought about it, what reason did she have to trust the High Paladin? None. She frowned. “But why? What was he up to?”
Alastar ran a hand through his hair, exhaled loudly, and pushed himself up. “That’s something we’re going to have to ask him. And time’s a-wasting.”
They pushed on in spite of their exhaustion, and soon were passing the tower where they had locked the paladins. The door was open and the paladins were nowhere in sight.
“Keep your guard up,” Rhona warned, clutching the hilts of her swords.
As they passed, her heart beat with anticipation, but no attack came. In fact, the only sound she heard seemed to be what sounded like sobs.
She glanced around and saw confusion on Estair’s and Alastar’s faces, confirming that they heard it too.
The group stopped when they saw her heading back to the tower, and one of them hissed something about it possibly being a trap. She took that chance and was surprised to find one of the paladins lying on the ground among the ruins, stripped of his armor and left in torn and bloodied clothes.
His eyes met hers and she winced, but rushed to his side and put a hand on his cheek.
“Shhh,” she said, suddenly recognizing him. It was young Elwick. “You’re safe now. What happened?”
Slowly, his eyes met hers. His lips parted, closed, and then, as a look of determination came over him, he blurted, “I didn’t know. I didn’t understand what we were doing here and, when I asked, the others turned on me.”
“The other paladins?” she asked, then glanced over her shoulder to see Alastar standing there, Estair just behind him.
Alastar kneeled at his side, recognizing his old friend—if they could ever have really been called that. “I’m so sorry it’s come to this.” For a moment the two clasped hands, and Rhona was certain the eyes on both sides glistened. “Which direction did they go?” Alastar finally asked.
Elwick nodded west, then tried to push himself up. When he was halfway there, his eyes came to rest on the sword and went wide.
“You…found it?”
Alastar glanced down, lingering on the question, and then answered, “Yes.”
“It’s over, then,” Elwick commented. “The struggle, the holy quests… I mean, the real quests.”
“I don’t think there ever were real quests,” Alastar replied. “Or, that is to say, I don’t think the High Paladin ever gave a damn about actually finding the sword.”
Elwick grunted and closed his eyes. “I only wish I could be there to see that bastard get what’s coming to him.”
“What do you…?” Rhona started, but then gasped, seeing the blood seeping out from under him for the first time. She took a step around him and saw that he had a long slash across his back from a sword and a smaller puncture wound in his side. “Why haven’t you healed yourself?”
He shook his head. “Faith…gone.”
“Alastar…” she turned back to him, but the concern in his eyes was telling.
“I’ll try,” he said, “but my energy is pretty much gone after our escape back there.” Her brother closed his eyes and focused. When he opened them again, they were glowing gold, but faintly. He moved his hands across the young paladin, but all he produced was a dim glow.
Seeing that it wasn’t working, Estair joined them now too. Rhona gave her a confused glance, and Alastar wondered if his sister had forgotten about Estair’s ability to heal.
But it did no good, since Estair too was drained. Another wave of light went over the young paladin, but just enough to grant him a smile.
Elwick groaned as he was lowered back down. “It’s enough. Enough just to feel at peace in this moment.”
And then he was gone, only a blank stare in his eyes.
“Those bastards will pay for this,” Rhona swore.
“The High Paladin isn’t innocent by any standard,” Alastar said, nodding and clutching the sword. “There’s only one path to bringing him justice, and it lies through us.”
“Justice?” She stood and scoffed. “This could’ve been you. Do you realize that? How many more men and women—hell, even innocent children—will die because of that piece of rat shite?”
“Rhona…”
“NO!” She was pacing now, furious. “FUCK JUSTICE. I want that man’s head in my hands while I use my magic to squash it like a ripe melon. I don’t want justice, I want revenge. Revenge on behalf of all the people of Sair Talem, on behalf of everyone else he will hurt if he is allowed to live.”
Alastar nodded. “What I call justice, you call revenge. Fine, I’m not picky. The point remains that he’ll get what’s coming to him, and we’ll be the ones to deliver it.”
She stood there, fists clenched, darkness again beginning to sway around her. Its tendrils brushed against her arms, but she let it go.
“I’m just so tired of pain and suffering,” she muttered as she turned to her brother.
“Me too,” he replied, and took her in a brotherly embrace.
When they pulled apart, Estair, Stone, and Tina were standing there smiling.
“Sounds like we have some arse-kicking ahead of us,” Stone said. “Good! I was starting to get bored here, just fighting remnant.”
Rhona laughed. “You’re going to love this, then.” She led the trek back to their boat. If she were being honest with herself, she would admit that she was looking forward to it as well. It wasn’t every day she got to teach some jerk a lesson, especially when that jerk had treated her like she was no better than a spider beneath his boots her whole life. And when said lesson likely entailed pain and imprisonment, possibly death.
Maybe it was her exhaustion or some side-effect of wielding the darkness, but she found herself genuinely looking forward to his expression of terror as they gave him his just desserts.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It didn’t surprise Alastar at all when he found two paladins waiting at the boat. What did surprise him was that he recognized them, and they him.
It came as even more of a surprise when the two paladins took a knee, bowing to him. A steady rain had begun to fall, so they were kneeling in mud at this point.
“What’s this?” he asked.
The taller of the two, whom he knew as Oldran, lifted his head and, at a signal from Alastar, stood.
“We ran into a group of paladins who told us of their encounter with you,” he related. “So we took them out.”
“Excuse me?”
“Killed them.”
The other paladin looked up now too, a young man he had interacted with several times at the castle. “We trained alongside you. We heard what happened to you, and that you were here. We’ve done bad things…horrible things. But we didn’t want to, we—”
“No excuses,” the other interrupted, putting a hand on his friend’s shoulder. The rain cascaded across them, blowing at an angle with the wind. “But it’s time to make amends.”
“What horrible things?” Rhona asked.
Alastar glanced back and saw the fury in Kim’s eyes and the confusion in Crete’s. For these two’s sake, he hoped they had something smart to say here.
He was prepared to leave them behind—or worse, if necessary. He didn’t know who to trust anymore.
To his relief, the young man clarified, “We never hurt anyone.”
“But we failed to stop them,” Oldran said. “We had our orders. They didn’t make sense to the two of us, so we stood by in confusion and horror as the others did what they were told. We are deserters at this point, but for the right reason, we hope.”
“These men,” Tina turned to Stone and Alastar with a look of appeal, “they are good m
en, from what I remember.”
Stone nodded in agreement, but looked to Alastar for a response.
Alastar, however, knew it wasn’t his decision to make. Instead, he gestured to Lars and Kim, and asked, “What would you have us do here?”
Lars and Kim stared at nothing, both lost in thought. After a moment, Kim stepped forward and looked down at Oldran. She held out a hand, which he took, and she helped him up.
“You stood by and watched as innocents were killed?” she asked.
He blinked, his jaw clenched, and then, just when Alastar thought the man was going to argue, a tear came out of the corner of his eye. He simply nodded. Kim held his gaze, and finally the man spoke.
“It’s something I’ll regret until my dying day.”
“I would hope so,” Kim agreed, then turned to the other. “You! You had no idea what your mission was here? You defected as soon as you knew?”
The young man nodded, and she helped him stand too. “We even intervened, back at the domed structure a fortnight ago. Our fellow paladins were closing in on a group, and we attacked. If they find us, or report us to the High Paladin, we’re as good as dead.”
“Well, that does it, then,” Lars stated.
Kim turned to him with a questioning look.
“You weren’t there,” Lars told her, “but that group they saved? That was me. Crete and Andreas here were with me, and it was a close call. I wasn’t sure exactly what had happened.”
After a moment’s consideration, Kim turned and nodded. “I can’t speak against you then. Doesn’t mean I have to like you.”
Oldran smiled. “I can accept that.”
“And no smiling,” she commanded, so he wiped it from his face instantly. Kim ignored him and started walking to the boat. “Let’s see if all of us can even fit on this piece of plywood.”
“We won’t have to.” Oldran grinned like a child.
“What did I say about smiling?” Kim reminded him.
“You might change your mind when you hear that we have a second boat. The latest paladins left a guard, but it was someone we knew. When we told him what was happening, and that we’d heard you were here, Alastar, the guard agreed to flip in a second. No questions asked. It’s just south of here. We can take half the group, and will likely catch you before long.”
