Stand Short and Proud

by Billy Wong

  Not that they were necessarily qualified to do so anyway, given how poorly that had gone. "We should report back to Taryn," Meg replied, "and come up with a new strategy."

  "What the f-flying fuck were those things?" Rich stammered, his composure noticeably frayed now that the rush of battle didn't help him hold it together. "Did that sword you mentioned attract them?"

  "We have no clue what they were either. But as to the second question, it seems very likely."

  A short ways from the cave, Neil and Dana popped out from behind a clump of brush with shameful looks on their faces. "Sorry about running away," Neil said. He probably wanted to add something else like an excuse of sorts, but seeing how few of them had emerged couldn't bring himself to voice it. Dana didn't speak at all, just looking at his boots in silence.

  "We did tell you to stand back," Baxter said tiredly.

  Rich snapped, "They still should have tried to help when they saw us in trouble, some of us falling! What kind of cowards are you, you don't even deserve to call yourselves men! You lazy-eyed bastard and you effeminate little bitch, I ought to beat the chickenshit out of you until you welcome death."

  They ambled along with shoulders slumped, taking his continued verbal lashing in stride. Eventually Patrick suggested, "You know, one way you could help is by carrying Terrence so our battered frames can get a rest." He and Rich passed their burden to Neil and Dana, who held him with more effort but dared not complain.

  Returning to Bergin, they gave their account of the incident, and the chief reacted with alarm to hear what danger the creatures posed. He wanted reassurance no more such beings would threaten the town, but unfortunately they couldn't make any guarantees. They left Baxter and Terrence in the care of the local doctor, and returned to the cave with a wagon to hold the deceased's remains. To their shock, the bodies of the monsters were no longer there as if they'd evaporated. Or could they somehow be alive?

  As they piled the brothers, Saul and the veterans into the cart, there not being enough room for them to all lie side by side, Rich asked, "What manner of unholy power is in that sword, to draw such entities here and drive the cyclops insane? We ought to destroy it before anything else happens."

  "Maybe it should be destroyed," Meg said, "but we probably aren't equipped to do it at this time. Besides, if we destroy it, that might release its power into the world and cause an even bigger problem. We should just go back to the fort and tell Taryn what happened, though she might not even be able to make a decision as such an ominous artifact may require the involvement of higher authorities."

  Back at the village, they picked up Baxter whose leg had been splinted. As Terrence was grievously hurt and still hadn't woken at all, he would be staying put until he recovered some—if he ever did. They headed back for base, the horse-drawn wagon laden with corpses over which flies buzzed a depressing ever-present reminder of the tragedy. How had things gone so wrong so fast? It was just supposed to have been field training for the recruits, yet even most of the veterans who supervised them wouldn't be coming back.

  Everyone stared in shock as they passed through the fort's gate into the courtyard, young faces crinkled with disgust at the smell while older ones remained mostly more stoic but still grave. Some of those who had lost friends cried after confirming their deaths with the survivors, and almost all bore evident fear in their eyes. "What could have done this?" an irate-looking veteran asked Meg. "I thought you were seasoned monster hunters, yet you let so many get killed and barely escaped with your own lives?"

  She felt horrible herself about how badly they'd failed to protect the group as a whole, but answered to the best of her ability. "They were like nothing we'd ever seen. And we thought the lieutenant could speak with them to try and resolve things peacefully, but they either didn't understand or didn't want to."

  "Don't put the blame on them," Baxter added. "It was a dire situation, and they reacted best to it out of all of us. If not for them being there, possibly not a single person would have gotten through alive."

  Taryn arrived outside, eyes widening as she took in the scene. "Gods, what happened? I never thought..." What was left of the mission team shared their harrowing tale, the other soldiers' expressions growing ever more unnerved. After they finished, the captain said, "I already contacted Duke Malin indicating that expert assistance might be needed here, but with this development it seems I'll have to send him a reminder with more urgency."

  "What about us?" Rich asked. "What should we do?"

  It took her a moment to respond. "What can you do? We can't bring your friends back, and the monsters that killed them are already dead." Well, to the best of their knowledge. "So you had best move on, and continue in your duties as they would have."

  "So you want us just to carry on like nothing happened, after that? I want to do something more—even if the creatures directly responsible are gone, I want to ensure no one else falls victim to similar perils."

  "You mean deal with the sword?" Taryn frowned. "I can see why you would have that desire, but we can't act rashly. We should probably leave such matters to those more knowledgeable than us, aside from providing any aid they ask for."

  He didn't seem very satisfied, but relented. "We killed a bunch of the monsters," Patrick said. "Will that be all right?"

  "Legally it can be excused, considering it was in clear self defense. And since your description doesn't make them sound like children of the Father of All Monsters which we're trying to make peace with, it should be fine in that regard too."

  They returned to life as usual around the fort, or rather a dreary semblance of it with a huge hole, particularly noticeable at mealtimes, where Saul had been. It was upsetting in the barracks not seeing him in the upper bunk across from hers, and the absence of the others she didn't know as well bothered her too at times. There was a lot less talk at the meal table, and Joel drifted away after Rich berated him for carving a likeness of the giant sword, calling it disrespectful to those who had died. Don tried to sing a sad ode to the fallen once, perhaps trying to sooth them in his way, only for Rich to bark at him to shut up too. Meg thought he overreacted, but didn't chastise him knowing it might aggravate his mood further. They probably all just needed time for the grief to subside to a bearable level, and she shouldn't try to force anyone to behave more rationally before then. She did reach out to Neil and Dana, letting them know they could talk to her about anything, but they declined the offer. If it was because they didn't want to be reminded of their dreadful experience together, she understood that too.

  Everybody else spoke less to the bunch of them too, owing to similar awkwardness at least in part due to their demeanors. Meg didn't want to push people away by being unpleasant to be around, but how could she stop herself from being sad? If she tried to pretend to feel better, putting on a false smile, she would likely be seen right through and only make things worse as she wasn't used to doing that. She had a thought that her group, those who'd endured the trauma together, should support one another through this. But the words of comfort she offered rang empty, having no effect in the face of recent sorrow, and she soon gave it up. When she saw Saul and the others' bodies being sent out to be returned to their families, her guilt increased. She had failed them, and their loved ones too would suffer for it.

  Other recruits got their chance to try out tasks in the field, though less dangerous ones than those she had done. She thought of Joshua and hoped he would learn to be less reckless, if he hadn't already.

  One time late at night in the barracks, when Patrick awakened needing to relieve himself and everyone seemed to be asleep, Meg expressed her own distress. "I thought this would be relatively easy for the likes of us, but it's not. I miss Gavin... it was easier out there with just us three, who could all hold our own and rely on each other. I don't fault anybody for being weaker than us. But it turns out caring for more people makes life harder, which I'd kind of forgotten."

  "Sorry if this is affecting you badly, Mo
use," Patrick said. "I'm sad about those who died too. It shouldn't be that surprising something like this could happen when we're all soldiers, though."

  "Yes, but it's peacetime. In that case, I doubt soldiers are being massacred by the half dozen on a regular basis. We just happened to be unlucky, to stumble upon this unearthly sword."

  He raised an eyebrow. "Unearthly? What, do you think the thing's from another world?"

  "I, eh, I don't know. It was just a passing thought, but it scarcely seems like it belongs in ours, so I imagined it might come from a different one."

  "I wonder how long it'll take for that 'expert' help to come. I'd feel better to know there's someone less ignorant than us dealing with this situation, though we might have to help guard them should more shadowy beings be drawn to it."

  Hearing that, she acknowledged their involvement with the sword might not be finished yet. Though tendrils of cold dread coiled around her heart to picture the foul object, she wouldn't really mind that. If they could work to mitigate the threat it posed, she'd happily take the chance to at least somewhat make amends for their previous failings.

  A week later they got word that a team had been dispatched from Ostuh, the eastern country known for scientific and magical research, to investigate the mysterious phenomena surrounding the giant blade. Taryn announced that since the team would be small, soldiers would be dispatched from the fort again to assist and defend them. Rich predictably volunteered his help right away, clearly wanting to see their conflict of sorts with the sword through to the end, and Taryn didn't deny him. Meg and Patrick did likewise, and after that the captain picked the remainder of the squad. She chose Christopher and Joel, but they were the only other youths who would come; the rest would be veterans, leaving just Baxter and two others here. Meg hoped nothing bad happened at the fort while most of its experienced personnel were away.

  "By the way," Patrick asked after the members had been selected, "only ten? Seems a bit of a small group after we had so much trouble even with twelve."

  Taryn looked down. "It is smaller, since some of our veterans are gone and we can't have all those we still have leave the outpost. And for obvious reasons I don't want to send anyone new who I don't trust to hold their own. But it'll be eleven, not ten. Baxter can look after things here." She patted the axe on her back. "I'll be going with you."

  Chapter 6

  As Duke Malin had instructed them to meet the research team in Bergin, they went there first. On the way, Joel asked Meg and Patrick, "Since you're originally from Ostuh, does that mean the researchers will be like kindred spirits to you?"

  "We would technically be countrymen," Meg replied, "but I don't know about kindred spirits. Ostuh's a whole nation, not all of it is like the fancy capital. We're more like country bumpkins in comparison, not that it means we necessarily won't get along but it isn't guaranteed. That would be like saying since you're from Plasbias, you must be kindred to your eccentric king."

  There not being a proper inn in Bergin, they were directed upon arriving to a vacant house where the visitors stayed. Taryn knocked, and the door opened to reveal a ponytailed woman in her thirties wearing heavily layered travel clothes. She looked up, way up at the captain with big eyes behind glass lenses. "You're a large one."

  "That's the way I was born," Taryn said with a shrug.

  "Are you the soldiers assigned to guard us?"

  "Yes, I would think that fairly obvious from our gear."

  The woman looked back towards a door. "Freddy! Get up already, the soldiers are here." Meg questioned that he still lay around when it was after noon, but then there probably wasn't much else to do while waiting in the small town. A sleepy-looking bearded man with a huge pack emerged from the back room. "I'm Agatha, one of the lead researchers from Ostuh's magical research department, and that's my assistant Freddy."

  "Is this the whole team, two people?" Patrick asked.

  "What's wrong with that? All I need is Freddy to carry things for me, the rest I can handle in a backwater like this." That did not sound good to Meg. This might not be the most impressive place, but that didn't mean they could afford to take what had been discovered near it lightly.

  "Anyway," Taryn said, "I'm Taryn, captain of the southern fort. The rest of you feel free to introduce yourselves."

  "I'm Diamond Fang Meg."

  Patrick rolled his eyes at her. "Trying to make that stick again? I'm Patrick, and her actual nickname is-"

  She covered his mouth. "Diamond Fang Meg. Ignore this child's ramblings, please." The other members of the squad gave their names in less lively fashion.

  Before leaving, they checked on Terrence's condition at the doctor's. He was still in a coma, from which the physician feared he would never recover. As they set out for the cave, Meg warned Agatha in a serious tone, "The danger this object poses cannot be overstated. At least five people have already died, most likely more unless the missing show up, and two others been seriously injured. It drove a cyclops crazy and drew other frightful beings of unknown origin here, and who knows what else it might be capable of?"

  "Thanks for restating what I was told by Duke Malin," Agatha said sardonically. Meg was beginning to dislike her superior attitude. "I'm aware what's happened so far, and have prepared accordingly."

  When they got to the cave, Meg felt thankful to see no other creatures had arrived yet. They lowered Agatha and Freddy into the lower chamber, and waited while they examined the sword. After a short while, they asked to be brought back up. "What did you learn?" Taryn asked.

  Agatha's flustered look told Meg she might have found her confidence to be a little less than justified. "Not all that much. The blade seems made of some type of metal, but not one known to us. What's stranger though is that we can't detect any magic in it."

  "No magic? But how's that possible, when we've seen its effects?"

  "There is no magic we can detect, but that doesn't mean there's none at all. It could have a kind of magic that, like the substance which comprises it, is unfamiliar to us. Although in that case maybe we shouldn't necessarily call it magic, but just power instead."

  "Can you destroy it?" Rich asked.

  Meg reminded him, "If it's destroyed, we don't know what the consequences of that will be. Unless the researchers have determined it's safe, but that doesn't seem likely."

  "We haven't," Agatha said. "It would be unwise to try and destroy it before we know more."

  Taryn frowned. "So what's next? Do you need to request more equipment or colleagues from home?"

  "I'm not sure other equipment would be of much use, though someone more knowl—ahem, with a different area of expertise might be. It would take time to send somebody, though... in the meantime, there is another thing we might be able to do."

  "Which is?"

  "Those beings it attracted disappeared after being slain, correct?" Meg and several of her comrades nodded. "If more come and you kill them, we should get to observe what happens to their remains."

  "But we don't know when or if more will show up."

  "True, but could you not just set up camp around here and see if they do? Unless you're already going back to the fort until we call for you again."

  Taryn put hands on her hips. "That had actually been the plan. There would be little point in us sticking around while you waited in town for help from Ostuh. But I suppose we could stay for a while to give your plan a try. If you don't mind camping out in rough conditions with us."

  "Researchers from Ostuh aren't the type who only stand around in a lab. We'll be fine. By the way, do you happen to have a name for those creatures?"

  "Not yet, no."

  "I think you should." Agatha took on a thoughtful look. "How about Shadow Children?"

  "Children?" Patrick asked. "But they were huge, so why?"

  "It's just a feeling I have. I figure they must come from somewhere, like how the monsters we're used to were birthed by the Father. So for now, with their shadowy figures, we'll go with Sha
dow Children." Meg wasn't sure about her just naming them on a whim right after joining them, but supposed it was fair game when they hadn't bothered doing so.

  They stayed in the cave during the days that followed, having somebody go to town to buy food when needed. Patrick often had archery contests with Joel outside, while Meg figured she would take the time to get to know Taryn and Christopher better. The tall woman revealed she was from a family of warriors like Meg herself, though rather than having a bunch of brothers she only had a single much younger one. Instead of being seen as the runt of the litter like Meg, she'd long been her parents' hope to carry on their family legacy—especially now after her father suffered a spine injury in battle and could no longer walk without crutches.

  "Your brothers picked on you for being short?" Taryn asked after Meg shared her own story while eating pork chops one time. "Bit of an odd thing to tease a girl with."

  "Well, I was a girl who competed with the boys in boy things. So it's not strange for them to call out my physical shortcomings taking into consideration that."

  "Shortcomings?" She smiled. "You're a hell of a fighter for a pipsqueak though. Lack of height notwithstanding, one could almost say you stand tallest among the soldiers."

  "Who stands taller, you? But yeah, I worked really hard to make my smallness less relevant, and could eventually beat any of my brothers most times. They didn't drop the height jokes though, and I had been bombarded by them for so long, it still bothers me."

  "You needn't go to such lengths as standing on things and higher on slopes, though. You're plenty respectable on your own merits, doing that stuff just makes you look ridiculous."

  Meg gave a small laugh. "Maybe you have a point. But it's hard to break old habits."

  Her talks with Christopher proved less fruitful, as he remained aloof and she couldn't get much insight into the pedigree he had pridefully alluded to. All she could gather was that his family was influential, or had once been, and he thus felt offended to have lost to a person of "lesser" station in Rich. He asked her again to help him train, somewhat contradictory to his stance towards Rich given she should also be considered a lower class individual. But because all of them being the best fighters they could would be mutually benefical, and she hoped training with her would help get him to open up, she agreed.