Stand Short and Proud

by Billy Wong

  She leapt high, landing on the extended limb as it drove into the first Shadow Child's belly. She'd have to thank Taryn for that idea later. Now at a level with its head, she swept her blade across and through its neck. She turned and ran up the remaining enemy's arm while its partner crumpled behind her. It tried to retract the limb and she sped up to continue her approach towards its head. Just as the shortening arm was about to be pulled out from under her, she jumped forward off it with a stab at its face. It guarded with its other arm, but her diving blow managed to pierce it. So the limbs weren't as strong as steel after all, and she just needed a solid enough hit to damage them. Growling in rage, it flung her upward by her sword. As her blade came free and she flew through the air, its other arm swiped up. She gripped her hilt in both hands and swung. Their strikes colliding multiplied the force of their meeting, and her edge sheared through its forearm. The Shadow Child screamed, backed away cradling its stump against its side.

  "You messed with the wrong... Diamond Fang Meg!" she yelled, feeling victory close enough at hand to indulge herself a tad. She darted forward, sliced deep into her foe's ankles, then thrust up through the underside of its chin as it crashed to its knees. She yanked the sword out and it toppled sideways.

  Grimacing from the wounds she'd suffered, Meg gazed around. Five of the other Shadow Children were down, and a sixth fell after Patrick cleaved into its chest. Which of the last two should she help bring down... one was surrounded and being hacked up by Rich and three veterans, while the other struggled against Christopher whittling away at it with assistance from Joel's arrows distracting it. One veteran lay injured, another dragging him back from the battle, while Taryn watched impassively. Meg thought to criticize her, but then realized she had probably contributed more than her share. She decided to aid Christopher, and limped over towards him.

  "Your leg is bleeding," he said as she slashed somewhat clumsily at the Shadow Child and it dodged. "Are you alright?"

  "Fine. But I'm a little slow right now, so try and work together with me to catch it." They traded blows back and forth with the monster for a bit, attempting to force it into the way of each other's attacks but not quite succeeding. Finally Joel put a shaft into its shoulder that made it turn slightly away, and they sensed a chance to finish it. But when they sprang to capitalize, its flailing arms knocked them back. Having blocked with her sword, Meg recovered her balance, then saw Christopher had been floored, bleeding from the chest. She hoped he wasn't too hurt, and interposed herself in front of him. Before the Shadow Child could advance on them, a massive thrown axe buried itself in its front. It reached shakily for the handle, then went limp and sagged to the ground.

  "You took too long," Taryn said as she stepped forward to retrieve her weapon. She had a bloody rent on the side of her arm, but showed no sign of noticing it. "Everybody else is already done." She smiled. "But good job beating two by yourself."

  Meg bent forward, knowing she should help Christopher but needing a second to rally her strength. "How many did you get?"

  "Two like you. Didn't feel the urge to rush as much with the rest of you fighting too."

  She turned to Christopher, only to see Patrick already knelt beside him working to remove his armor. Patrick had a wound on his hip too, but like her he didn't sweat minor scrapes like that too much. "How bad is it?"

  Christopher looked up, features pale and drawn with pain. "It hurts like hell, but I don't think it went through the bone. I'll probably live."

  Glancing about, she saw the injured veteran on his feet leaning on the man who'd helped him with a bandage around his leg. She exhaled with relief. "It looks like we didn't lose anyone. We did much better this time."

  "I suppose your captain wasn't just talking you up when she spoke about warriors of Plasbias adapting," Agatha said.

  "What should we do with the Shadow Children's remains?" Rich asked, walking over with a concerned expression. "If the sword absorbing them is for some foul purpose, maybe we ought to move them out of range for that."

  Meg bit her lip. "We don't know how far that is though, and it would be hard to transport ten of them any significant distance. From the looks of it, little Bergin might not even have enough vehicles to move them easily."

  "What if we tried—ouch—burning one of them?" Christopher suggested. "That might destroy them well enough so they won't be able to change into that substance the blade absorbs."

  "That could work," Agatha replied, "though it's far from certain it would. They could even turn into that gas when burned."

  After a pause, Taryn said, "We'll try it with one of the corpses. If it works out we'll do it to all of them, and if it doesn't we'll think of something else."

  Patrick finished wrapping Christopher's wound, then did the same for the gash over Meg's ribs. She'd already bound her thigh herself, though it rather hurt to tighten it enough. They placed one of the bodies on a spot free of vegetation and set fire to it. It caught flame without issue and gave off smoke, which happily wasn't drawn towards the cave but drifted away into the sky as normal. The creature didn't seem to have bones, or if it did they didn't appear much more resistant to heat than the rest of it, for soon all that remained was a pile of ash.

  "What do you know," Agatha said. "I was pretty pessimistic about its chances of working, but looks like it did after all."

  After burning the other Shadow Children, Taryn considered the ashes. "There's still a chance these ashes retain whatever properties allowed the corpses to transform, and will eventually do so. Since they'll be easier to carry now, we should move them away from the sword just in case."

  They put the ashes into sacks, then returned to Bergin to drop Agatha and Freddy off. Rich supported Christopher as he walked, and Meg thought they might have a chance to become friends yet. "You'll contact us when you need us again?" Taryn asked the researchers when they reached town and prepared to part ways.

  Agatha nodded. "Of course. One feels much safer going into danger when guarded by a giant brute."

  The captain guffawed, her subordinates laughing with her when they realized it was okay to do so, and they headed for base. "How long are we going to hold onto these bags of ashes?" Patrick asked on the way.

  "We'll take them as far as the fort," Taryn replied. "From there we can decide what to do with them."

  They settled back into usual fort life, though Meg took it easy in training for now due to her injured leg. Mealtimes at their table became more pleasant; while they still mourned their lost comrades, having dealt with Shadow Children more successfully in subsequent encounters at least boosted their morale a bit. "I'm getting worried about Gavin," Meg said at lunch to Patrick. "I thought he would've visited us by now, but there's no sign of him."

  "I'm sure he's fine. I'd wager he just found work, and is busy with it."

  "You're probably right, considering how experienced he is." She frowned. "Still, I wonder what kind of jobs he's been doing?" Without her and Patrick, she imagined he wouldn't have much qualms about taking ones that involved killing men. It made her uneasy to think about how much more blood might now stain his hands. She would almost prefer he had still mostly taken monster hunting jobs, even if doing so risked putting himself at odds with the law.

  "I hope we get the go ahead to destroy the sword soon," Rich grumbled between violent chews on a piece of meat. "I'm getting sick of looking at it."

  Seeing how agitated he looked, Meg put a hand on his forearm. "I understand why you feel that way, but we can't be rash. Besides, it's just an inanimate object. It didn't consciously kill our friends, even if the creatures attracted by it did. We have to stay calm in finding the right way to deal with this."

  Patrick said quietly, "Well, I hope somebody will help us find that way, because we don't seem very close to doing so as things stand."

  Meg agreed with that. When even Patrick showed worry about something, she tended to be on the same page. For what purpose did the sword absorb the Shadow Children after death
? Did it have to do with the being whose memory Agatha had seen when she touched it? She felt a chill at one possibility she considered. If the blade's owner should be summoned back from wherever it had gone, it might well threaten humankind again as it had in the past.

  A few days later, shouts were heard from the direction of the storage shed where the Shadow Children's ashes had been placed. Looking that way, Meg saw a large cloud of what looked like black gas fly overhead and away from the fort. "What happened?" she asked a soldier who ran past her after it before stopping when he saw it was no use.

  "I-it came from the shed! It passed through the wall—it must have come from those ashes you brought back."

  Passed through the wall? So it didn't behave like a normal gas after all, despite resembling such. For all their efforts to stop the monsters' remains from being absorbed, it seemed they would amount to naught as they could still change form and be somehow called by the sword from this distance. More than ever, Meg hoped with all her heart that whatever end goal this phenomenon built towards would not prove disastrous.

  Chapter 7

  The atmosphere around the fort grew tense again, as everyone shared a sense of dread. They all wished for Ostuh and the Saint General to get back to them already, so they might resolve the situation soon. Meg did her best to sooth Rich, who seemed particularly affected. Saul and the brothers' deaths wouldn't be in vain, she assured him, because they would get through this and thwart any danger the sword posed.

  A couple days after the Shadow Children's essence—as they figured the gas-like substance to be—escaped the fort, Christopher joined Meg and the others at their dining hall table. Not all that surprising, given he'd seemed to grow comfortable around her during their training sessions at the cave. The table grew somewhat crowded now, but it wasn't a bad thing. "Maybe we should have taken turns touching the sword when we were there," he said once at dinner. "It's possible we would've seen different things, and could get more insight from that."

  "We didn't know if there'd be any delayed effects, though," Meg replied. "I hope Agatha is all right... but if when we meet her again we see that she is, maybe we could consider taking the risk."

  "I wonder what the extent of its power truly is, and if it could be harnessed."

  Rich did not look pleased. "If the researchers couldn't even determine whether it's magic, how long do you think it'll be before we comprehend it enough to use it safely, if ever? Besides, what would you want with being able to summon shadow creatures and absorb them anyway?"

  "Don't forget driving cyclopses crazy," Joel added. He had rejoined them at the table too, after their bonding experience out there.

  "It might have other abilities we don't know of yet," Christopher said.

  Patrick shrugged. "That's true, but if it's decided not to destroy the sword and keep studying it instead, we probably won't be the ones doing so." Christopher dropped the subject, but Meg wondered if he thought the artifact's powers could help him attain whatever job or position he sought.

  Some days later during training, the gate guard announced a visitor. The soldiers turned towards the entrance to watch it open and a woman stepped through. She looked to be about twenty or so, of moderate height with light brown hair, and wore silver plate armor contoured to her figure. A shining all-metal spear jutted over her shoulder. Despite her armaments and a relatively heavy looking pack, she walked seemingly as lightly and gracefully as if she was naked.

  "Is that her?" Don whispered.

  "Her who?" Joel asked.

  "She looks like how the Saint General is described in the songs..."

  Joel blinked. "But isn't she supposed to have an eighteen year old son? She looks barely older than that herself."

  "It's said after she died defeating the Father of All Monsters the first time, her spirit constructed a new younger looking body for herself." His voice was small with awe. "I suppose that makes her essentially immortal."

  Meg had her doubts about the lore surrounding Julianna before, but if she really looked like that in the latter half of her thirties, it would give some credence to the tales of her inhuman abilities. It remained to be seen whether this actually was her, though. Coming here alone wearing a pack seemed unusual behavior for a former monarch, but then such a renowned warrior might not feel such a need to depend on others.

  Breaking the silence among the recruits as they had apparently been too busy speculating to greet her while she walked towards the door that led to Taryn's office, Christopher asked, "To whom do we, um, owe the pleasure of meeting?"

  In a casual tone, she replied, "I've been given many names. But since I'm just here out of curiosity about something from my family history, you can simply call me Baehime—I mean, Julianna."

  The crowd grew quiet again. Though she probably didn't want them to feel that way based on her attitude, it was hard for low ranking soldiers not to be intimidated in the presence of probably the most powerful person on the continent. Before anyone else could muster the will to speak, Taryn appeared in front of Julianna and exchanged some words with her. Both women went inside, leaving the soldiers to mutter among themselves.

  "Wow," Rich said, "she's actually here. I didn't think she would come herself."

  Smiling at his awestruck tone, Meg replied, "It's not that shocking. If I learned about something involved with my ancestors being discovered, I'd probably want to see it myself. Though I had thought she might be too busy with her role in governing the five nations. Despite not being the official ruler anymore, I hear her son Saint Prince Julian relies on her a lot."

  "Hopefully she can destroy the sword for us, being such a legendary mage."

  "We'll see I suppose."

  A short time later, Taryn came back. "Meg, Patrick, Rich, Christopher and Joel, meet me in the dining hall. The rest of you get back to work."

  They followed her to the hall, where to no one's surprise Julianna stood waiting. "These are the recruits who accompanied the researchers from Ostuh last time we went there," Taryn told her. "Would you mind taking them with you, since they might provide you with additional insight?"

  "Of course they can come. Though I suspect your chief concern is more about giving them further experience."

  "Don't sell them short. These five have shone the best out of our new recruits, and already stand on par with many of our veterans."

  Julianna looked them over and nodded. "I can see in your eyes you aren't unaccustomed to enduring hardship. I didn't mean to put you down, and apologize if I came off that way."

  "T-there's no need," Rich said, "i-it's understandable when we're rookies and you're... Your Highness."

  She laughed. "Please, there's no need to be that nervous around me. I won't bite. And you definitely don't have to call me Your Highness, when I'm not even acting as royalty anymore. Like I said, it's Julianna, or Baehime if you prefer."

  "What's a Baehime?" Joel asked. "I've never heard that before."

  "It's a term from some old language—or two languages mixed together was it?—meaning cute princess. It's a joke, I don't really want you to call me that... though you can if you insist."

  Meg had certainly not expected a former monarch, and the mother of a current monarch to act this way. It seemed like Julianna was just having fun, which put her more at ease. She suspected her peers felt the same way, as they stood in more relaxed fashion now. "Are you coming with us too?" she asked Taryn.

  "There's no need."

  "What about the other veterans, will they accompany us?"

  She shook her head. "I'm sure Her Highness, I mean Baehime can be trusted to look after you."

  This made Meg think having them accompany Julianna was probably more for their benefit than the help they might provide, but didn't mind it. She wanted to see this through to the end anyway, and figured her friends would too. "Will we pick up Agatha and Freddy before going to the cave?"

  "The researchers?" Julianna asked. "It's very possible I'll need their expertise to figure o
ut some things, so yes."

  They set out for Bergin, the recruits refreshing Julianna on what had happened after she asked. "It's good to see new members of the Plasbian army doing so well," she said. "I'd thought about coming by to check how the military expansion was going even before these incidents with the sword. To find it attracting such promising talent as you five pleases me quite a bit."

  Meg wasn't sure if she should mention her and Patrick not necessarily being here for the long run, and decided not to since just keeping quiet wasn't the same as being blatantly dishonest. "You got here so fast," Joel said. "I thought it would be at least a few weeks' trip to get all the way from the capital of Aerilea to here, but I doubt it's even been a full week since our message reached you."

  "I can fly when I want to," Julianna replied offhand like it was perfectly normal. "With the magic of the continent being more stable these days, I thought I could give myself the leeway to save some travel time."

  "So you flew here... wow..."

  "I guess that has something to do with why you came by yourself," Meg mused, "considering you probably can't carry an entourage with you."

  She chuckled. "I could have taken one other person along at least. It was tempting to bring my husband, but considering he helps our son a lot in ruling too, it would've been selfish of me when I can probably handle myself here."

  "Sorry if we're delaying you by forcing you to walk at our pace," Rich said.

  "Don't worry, it's not that serious. Like I said I wanted to check out how things were progressing here too, so I can probably learn a lot by talking with you on the way."

  They chatted about life at the fort and their training, as well as news they had heard from the surrounding region. Despite being technically thirty-six, Julianna fit in well conversing with them, aside from being slightly more formal in manner than any of them save Christopher. Still, she was easily good humored enough to alleviate their initial anxiety around her. Even Rich stopped acting so stiff, able to talk to her without stuttering or apologizing excessively.