Stand Short and Proud

by Billy Wong

  One time, the older woman caught Meg walking behind her, extending her hand from over the top of her own head towards her. "What are you doing?"

  "Uh... comparing height between us. With you being reputed to be so immensely strong, I was trying to see how much taller exactly you are than me while being so."

  Julianna looked bemusedly at her. "I'm five foot five, so you're maybe... almost half a foot shorter? By the way, standing on your tiptoes isn't the fairest way to measure. Right now you're almost my height, but that isn't legitimate."

  Meg dropped back down onto the soles of her feet. "Yeah, you're still much taller. I'd heard you weren't that big, but I guess you're big enough to be the strongest."

  "I don't see why you need to be so hung up about it. Besides, the strength I'm known for isn't strictly physical."

  "You're known as one of the best warriors even without magic though, so you must be physically formidable too."

  "I'm stronger than most, but not the absolute strongest when it comes to raw physical might without magic use. My skills let me hang against those stronger. Aren't you much the same, though? I would've assumed so hearing about you from your captain."

  She shrugged. "I guess? I've lifted a man roughly the size of Taryn and put him out of commission with a slam, so I'm not a complete weakling."

  "Then why worry about your height that much? It hardly matters for most things, if you're that formidable you should carry yourself with pride and confidence."

  "I am proud and confident. It's just a quirk..."

  Julianna raised her brow. "It makes you seem odd to others."

  "Well, everybody's odd in their own way right?" She laughed weakly. "You made yourself look younger than your age and it must be confusing as hell when you're with your son or husband."

  "Don't forget who you're talking to, kid," the Saint General mumbled.

  Later, Meg overheard Christopher mentioning something about a marquis to Julianna, who shook her head. Curious to hear more of his background, she tried to move closer, but Christopher glanced her way and she backed off. They got to Bergin and Julianna knocked on the house where Agatha and Freddy stayed. Freddy opened the door. "Kids, you're back? But we didn't send for you yet... and who is this fancily armored girl? She looks rather extravagantly dressed, is she some pompous noble's daughter or something?"

  "That's Saint General Julianna," Patrick said in a flat tone.

  He recoiled. "I-I apologize most sincerely, Your Highness!"

  "You can just call me Julianna. But where is your colleague?"

  "She went out shopping. If you want to see her, I'm sorry you'll have to wait."

  "It's fine. Patience is a virtue I like to think I have."

  They stood outside for a while, as the house seemed cramped enough that all of them going in wouldn't be much of an improvement. Eventually they spotted Agatha walking towards them, a bulging sack in hand. She did a double take as she laid eyes on Julianna. "Your Highness?! W-what are you doing here?"

  "Taking a look at a certain sword that might be connected to my family. If you're not busy doing anything, I'd like for you to accompany us."

  "Of course! We'll get ready right away."

  The eight of them headed to the cavern and descended into the lower chamber. Seeing the giant sword, Julianna breathed, "It does look just like in the painting..."

  "What painting?" Meg asked.

  The Saint General reached inside her pack and pulled out a piece of parchment which she unfurled. "Here, I had one of the talented artists in Myrrhise sketch me a copy." It depicted a eerie black entity with a humanoid torso and arms, but a beaked head and a wide base which sprouted crablike legs. The art might not be perfectly to scale given the simplistic style, but the creature appeared to dwarf the numerous manlike figures armed with weapons which faced it. In one hand it held a sword as long as it was tall, its shape and style an exact match for the blade which towered over them. Around its feet surged smaller dark beings some with elongated arms, which brought to mind the Shadow Children.

  "Is that the sword's owner?" Rich asked, sounding spooked.

  Julianna bobbed her head. "If this is the one in the painting, which looks extremely likely, yes."

  "And what is that thing? A monster?"

  "We call it the Night Emperor, but it's still unknown what exactly it was. All we know is that it appeared some hundreds of years ago and waged a war against the kingdom. My ancestor Artemisia, the Saint Princess of that time, defeated it."

  "Then it was your ancestor I saw in the vision," Agatha said, "not you. I guess we lucked out that the resemblance was close enough to be recognizable."

  "So how did its blade get down here?" Patrick asked.

  "It's said that when my ancestor defeated the Night Emperor, she blasted it into the depths of the earth. After that, its weapon must have found its way here somehow."

  Rich swallowed. "Why do you think it's been drawing the Shadow Children to it though, and for what purpose does it absorb them? Also, are they this Night Emperor's children?"

  "I don't know. But remember, it is just a sword. Likely as not it isn't doing these things consciously, and could merely be reacting to some stimulus. Maybe it's lain dormant since back then, and being touched by the cyclops awakened it so to speak. As for the Shadow Children, they probably were its wielder's spawn, though it can't be confirmed."

  "Can you destroy it? If it attracts any more of those things, more people could die. We must not allow that!"

  Agatha said, "Your Highness, we shouldn't jump to destroy things without careful deliberation. Who knows if such power as it holds might not prove useful in the future?" Out of the corner of her eye, Meg saw Christopher give a small nod.

  Julianna rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Everyone calm down. I plan on keeping the land safe from whatever danger this might pose, but I'm not going to rush to destroy it either without knowing anything about it. Let me at least find out as much as I can before deciding either way." She walked towards the sword, reaching a hand forward.

  "Wait!" Rich said. "If you touch it, might you not be affected? With your power, that would be the worst case scenario out of any of us."

  "I'm not planning to touch it, yet. I might later, but for now you can relax since I'm just going to see if I can feel anything from it." She stopped with her hand out, lips pressed together as if trying to focus. "I can't sense any magical energy. From here, its abilities elude my understanding."

  Christopher blinked. "So the power in it is beyond even you?"

  "I don't know about 'beyond' me. I mean, my ancestor beat the Night Emperor, and this is just its weapon. But whatever force resides in it seems to be alien to this world, so that we have difficulty interacting with it as fully as with energies native to it. It was believed in the past too that the Night Emperor came from another world, though why or how is unclear."

  "So now what?" Meg asked.

  "I'm going to touch it."

  Rich gaped. "You can't do that! You just said you wouldn't."

  Meg thought she saw a flash of concern in Julianna's eyes, but her demeanor remained calm aside from that. "I said I wouldn't do it yet, before I had tried analyzing it from a distance. Now that that failed, I'm going in close. Don't worry. Not to brag, but I've literally been killed and come back through sheer will before, and had other wild things happen to me like being absorbed into somebody's arm and then taking it over from within. So if a researcher—no offense—touched it and came through okay, I should also be able to."

  "Yes, but I mean, it's riskier for you..."

  "We all have to take some risks from time to time. I'm hardly a simpleminded cyclops who'll lose its sense of self from having a vision." She stepped forward, Rich clenching his fists anxiously against his chest while he watched.

  Before Julianna could get within reach of the sword, blue light enveloped it. Instead of humming like before it wailed, as if in pain or something. "What the hell?" Freddy asked, eyes huge with fe
ar. He bounced up and down on his toes, like he might be about to bolt.

  "It seems to be reacting to the Saint General," Agatha said, "but why..."

  Julianna took a few steps back, but the noise and glowing didn't stop. Instead it grew even more intense, to the point it made Meg avert her gaze and hurt her ears. Julianna drew her spear, and everyone followed suit with their weapons. "I know it sounds crazy, but maybe it somehow recognizes me as Artemisia's descendant?"

  Patrick shook his head. "It doesn't sound that crazy considering what's happening!"

  Tendrils of blackness flowed out from the blade, hundreds of them snaking around each other as they reached further and further. They started to form what appeared to be an outline—that of a tremendous being, much wider towards the bottom than the top. "It's trying to resurrect the Night Emperor," Meg said, voice coming out small.

  "Can it do that, with less than twenty Shadow Children absorbed?"

  "How should I know how many it needs? Eighteen might be enough to make up its body at least."

  Freddy turned towards the rope that hung down from the room above. "I'm not sticking around for this! That's it, I'm out of here!"

  "Wait," Agatha yelled after him, "you can't just leave me!" She grabbed his arm and held him fast, though she herself might struggle against the urge to run.

  "This is really bad..." Joel whispered. He nocked an arrow and aimed it at the massive figure coming into being, but his arms shook. Then sparkles of golden light began to appear all through the chamber, materializing from thin air in seemingly random spots to float there. "Is this another effect of the sword?"

  Christopher looked towards Julianna, her features tight with concentration. "No, I believe the Saint Princess shows her true power. Power that can smash a mountain..."

  "It's General now." But Julianna's attempt at levity fell flat as her voice wavered with doubt. She glanced back at them. "Maybe you should all leave here. If I have to go all out, this place might not-"

  "Too late," Rich cried, "it's fully formed!"

  A titan loomed over them, almost too tall to fit under the ceiling, yet much wider with its crablike base than its height would hint at for a biped. Its shifting outline made it seem like a mass of shadow, but Meg thought she could glimpse some solidity under that outer layer, an angular frame making up its core. She held her sword up before her, but shook with fear. If even Julianna couldn't face this thing with confidence...

  The sparkles of magical energy Julianna had summoned into existence converged on her, melding into a golden aura that blazed around her. Standing defiant in front of the gigantic terror with spear pointed at it, she conveyed the image of a valiant hero out of legend, yet so small and frail even knowing how powerful she was. The beak that took up much of its head dipped towards her.

  Then, instead of bending down as expected, the being leaned forward farther and farther. Julianna jumped back as it toppled, falling to crash down on its chest so the ground shook. It lay still, something that looked like smoke or shadowy substance drifting from it into the air. The glow receded from the sword, and it quieted. Was the creature... dead? "What happened?" Patrick asked dumbfoundedly, echoing what must be everyone's sentiment.

  "I don't know," Julianna said. "It just collapsed."

  The shadowy substance continued to rise from it, and they realized it was what comprised its body, its form melting away with the stuff's departure. Julianna allowed the brilliant aura to fade from around her, magical sparkles floating away from her before disappearing. "So what was that?" Rich demanded in a still bewildered voice. "Was that the Night Emperor, and why did it die?"

  She frowned at the unraveling body, almost totally gone now. "I don't know that it did die."

  "What do you mean? It's not moving, and it's disintegrating."

  "True there's no life in it now. But I'm unsure it ever was alive."

  "What?" Christopher asked.

  Meg thought she understood, maybe. "What I think she's trying to say is, did you notice it never moved in the first place? It didn't do anything but stand there while materializing, and collapsed the moment it solidified. Julianna, is that what you mean?"

  "Yes. I suspect that was not the Night Emperor, but merely a shadow of it created by the sword. I mean, shadow might not be the right word since it clearly had a physical presence. What it didn't seem to have was a soul, or will to animate it."

  "So it was just an empty body?" Joel asked. "Why would it create something like that?"

  "I don't know. Not all actions in this world are logical." Julianna approached the blade. "But maybe I'll find out." She put a hand against it. She didn't react as dramatically as Agatha or the cyclops had, not making a sound, but Meg had no idea if that was a good or bad thing.

  They watched tensely while she stood there, growing increasingly concerned as several minutes passed. "She's taking much longer than I did..." Agatha said.

  Meg replied, "She's probably trying to get deeper into it, you know so she can learn more."

  Rich's forehead crinkled nervously. "If she becomes convinced she's the Night Emperor though, that would be bad."

  "I doubt that'll happen. She's too savvy... I hope..."

  More nerve-wracking minutes passed. All of a sudden Julianna retraced her hand, making Rich and Joel jump. "Your Highness, are you all right?" Agatha asked.

  She looked back. "There's no need to... never mind, I'm fine." She sounded slightly disoriented, but it wasn't shocking if she'd felt like she traveled to a distant time and back.

  "What did you see? Do you know what happened just now?"

  "It was somewhat confusing, but I believe so. In the battle where my ancestor Artemisia killed the Night Emperor, the sword was driven deep into the earth and fell into a long slumber. It awakened when touched by a living being for the first time in ages, and summoned the Shadow Children which had lain similarly in stasis in hopes of constructing a new body for the Night Emperor from them."

  "That does make sense," Patrick said, "if we accept that a sword can create a new body from other ones anyway."

  "Why did it fail, though?" Meg asked. "Is it because not enough of the Shadow Children's material was gathered yet?"

  Julianna shook her head. "It's hard to say for sure from the memories I saw, but I don't think so. It seemed excited when I arrived, eager to see its reborn master take revenge on my family—or maybe on Artemisia, since it could actually have mistaken me for her. But it found to its disappointment that it couldn't resurrect the Night Emperor. I imagine having died so long ago, its soul had moved on beyond reach of this world. So without one to animate it, the new body proved of no use." A second later, she added, "Much of that is still just a theory, so don't be shocked if it turns out wrong in the future."

  "It makes sense, though. So is it over then, will the sword no longer cause trouble now that it knows raising its master is impossible?"

  "Again, I can't say for sure... but I think so. If the purpose of its behavior was to revive the Night Emperor, it shouldn't continue now that it's proven futile."

  Meg wondered if Rich would suggest destroying it anyway just to be sure, but he didn't. He probably realized Julianna wouldn't likely agree to that at the present time. "I suppose we'll continue to study it then," Agatha said,

  "Keep me updated on what happens. Even if it's no longer an immediate threat, such an exotic object will continue to hold my interest."

  They climbed back up, Agatha chewing Freddy out and calling him spineless for trying to run earlier. "It was good working with you," Julianna said to everyone with a smile after they passed through the entrance.

  Meg looked curiously at her. "We barely did anything, though. Heck, you barely did anything since the big battle never started."

  "Your composure in the face of what promised to be a daunting foe impressed me. For you to stand ready to fight made me think the future is in good hands."

  "You flatter us too much," Christopher said, stepping out of the cave.
He must have been looking at something in there, to only just now exit. "We still have a long way to go to reach our goals."

  Julianna gave him a knowing look. "I wish you luck in finding a solution." To what? Meg thought but didn't ask. "In any case it's about time for me to go, so farewell to you all. I'll leave it to you to report to your big captain."

  Meg waved at her. "Farewell, Baehime. I feel better having met you and knowing you're one of the people in power over us."

  "You say that, but you just haven't seen my bad side."

  The rest of them said their goodbyes, then Julianna looked up and flew straight into the air while they gaped. She turned sideways and shot north, passing over a hill to vanish from sight. "So she really can fly," Christopher whispered.

  "You doubted it?" Joel asked. "We just witnessed her channeling major magic power down there."

  "I figured she could, but to actually see it... magic is a wondrous power indeed."

  "It is," Patrick said. "It would've been interesting to see her use it offensively, but since that would mean a fight was happening, maybe we're lucky we didn't."

  Meg thought of something. "Darn!"

  "What?"

  "We should've asked her, why the sword only created that body when she got close. If its purpose was to revive the Night Emperor all along, why wait until then?"

  "That is definitely a good question," Agatha said while Rich took on an anxious expression again, "too bad no one thought of it until Julianna was long gone. I suppose perhaps the sword's consciousness isn't constant, and was 'awakened' by her approach much like it was by the cyclops."

  "Sounds reasonable enough, but we should still message her the question to get her opinion. I guess you could do that though, as you'll be continuing the research."

  Agatha nodded. "Indeed. If we don't have to call on you again for help, we'll stop by the fort to tell you her answer and anything else you want to know if you're curious."