by Billy Wong
"Because when I got down there, there was already-"
The floor exploded upward under him, launched him forward through the air. Meg caught him, shards of rock grazing her face painfully as they showered down. A titanic figure flew up from the hole it widened with its passage to land ground-shakingly before them. It resembled a twenty-five foot tall white metal hawk but with manlike arms sticking out of its body in front of the wings, one holding a smaller version of the dreaded sword. So it could resize itself for the wielder? But where the hell had this hawk thing come from?
"What in the world are you?" Meg asked, setting Christopher on his feet.
A high, melodic though male voice issued from its beak. "I am the Light Emperor."
"The Light Emperor?" Then she pieced things together. The hawk, which had come to be Plasbias' symbolic animal after the hero-king of the same nickname; the melodic voice and general flamboyance of this form. "Wait, is that you Don?"
"Yes," Christopher said hiding behind her, "it sort of resembled him standing on the crossguard, but I couldn't tell for certain..."
She drew her sword, preparing to defend herself if Bird-Don attacked. "And what could possibly inspire you to turn yourself into this thing?" she snapped.
"Thing? I am the Light Emperor, shining champion of Plasbias."
"Enough with this Light Emperor nonsense! It's not like you have a deep enmity with somebody like how I suspect Christopher does, so what are you doing all this for?"
Don swiped his sword sideways dramatically. "Ostuh does not deserve to take this treasure out of the hands of our country. Thus I will harness its power and keep it where it belongs."
"I guess it's not such a horrible motivation if you aren't planning to kill anyone, but still how can you go so far just for that? You'd change yourself like this without a hint of what the long-term consequences are? It's especially insane when all our nations are allies! You need to unbind with the sword and let more knowledgeable people deal with it."
"Quiet, midget! Do not stand in my way, for I will not hesitate to destroy any who do!"
"The sword's warlike nature is already influencing him, it seems," Gavin muttered. "Funny of him to call you a midget though."
"No, definitely not."
Don took a thunderous step forward, his clawed metal foot crushing an imprint into the rocky ground. "Will you not stand aside? The light of Plasbias will not be kept in the dark by the likes of you."
"Christopher," Meg said, "maybe you should run and get help." To Gavin, "If we let him out of here, there's no telling how long it'll take to find him or what he'll do before then. We need to hold him back."
He raised his cudgel. "Looks like a challenge. I welcome it."
"Then you forsake the chance I gave you in light of our past friendship? You will regret that!" Don sprang forward with shocking quickness which belied his new size, swung the sword in a backhanded cut. Meg and Gavin tried to block together, but despite their joint effort were knocked away onto their butts.
Meg scrambled up, trying to ignore the burning in her not-fully-healed breast. Don jumped after her, making Gavin's eyes bulge with fear. But this time she braced herself and caught his blade on her own. Gavin smiled and rolled under it, struck a powerful blow to his leg that sent him back a step. "You may have the size advantage," she taunted, "but it looks like there are benefits to being smaller and more elusive."
"Elude this!" White light glowed within the metal beak, then lanced forth in an barrage of bolts. Meg jumped back from them as they blew craters in the cave floor, almost fell as she was forced to spin aside at the last moment from one whose trajectory she misjudged. She heard Gavin grunt and looked to see he had been hit in the shoulder, that arm hanging limp. Shit...
Don lunged at her with a thrust. She ducked the immense sword like an iron ram passing over her and chopped at his knee, but her blade bounced off the metal-covered joint. He kicked her with a taloned foot, one claw tearing into her side. As she was lifted off her feet, she saw a seam in the armored hide between toes and entertained the scant hope there might be something soft under there she could damage. She stabbed her sword into the gap, felt it pierce something and heard Don squawk. Then she flew off the claw, bouncing head over heels before she rolled to a knee with a hand pressed into the gushing hole in her flank. Though the wound was relatively minor compared to some she'd taken, not having hit any organs, it still hurt enough to double her over.
She shook her head to clear it and spat. "I hurt you. Don't assume if you won't back down, that we can't kill you."
"You are soft. Even if you are experienced warriors, you show reluctance to take human life let alone that of a friend. So, do you truly you can overcome your weakness enough to slay me before I slay you?"
"You call that weakness?" She glared at him. "I gather it's partly the sword talking, but saying that tempts me to want to kill you."
"And," Gavin added, "I have less reluctance."
The bird's wings rose up high behind it, and Meg's breath caught in her throat at the thought what they might do. "The light of Plasbias will shine over our land!" A white glow enveloped the top of the wings where the bones would be.
Taryn's voice came from behind, sounding aggravated. "What is going on? Christopher came babbling to me about Don being a bird. If this is a prank-" She stopped. "Oh, there really is a bird carrying a big sword." Taryn strode between Meg and Gavin to stand ahead of them, axe in hand. "Is that really him? It's, well, a bird."
"We can't be one hundred percent sure," Meg said, since it could be the sword pretending to be him. "But it seems likely with how much its form looks inspired by his ideals."
"Oh I see... the hawk image with the heroic armor, like King Ian the Hawk. Then I guess I'll play birdcatcher."
Chapter 10
Taryn stood in a solid stance with legs apart in front of the avian almost four times her height, not showing any sign of being cowed. "Don, stand down! What madness to take in such unknown power with no idea what it'll do to you. Put the sword down and cease your connection with it, if you can."
"We already tried that," Gavin said. "He doesn't seem too open to reason."
"No! I, the Light Emperor will be a champion for Plasbias and spread awe of us across the continent."
Taryn gave a little smirk. "I'm not sure having a giant bird 'championing' us powered by the same source as the nemesis of a past Saint Princess will do wonders for our kingdom's relations with others."
"It is irrelevant what our neighbors think! This power should rightfully stay with us!" He shot an array of beams from his wing tops, which Meg and Gavin dodged while dancing away from him. Taryn advanced instead as she weaved between them, aimed a chop at Don's leg which he hopped out of the way of. He cut back at her with blistering speed. Meg's heart skipped a beat fearing she might be sheared in half, but instead Taryn parried one slash, then whipped her axe up to intercept another in a deafening clash.
"The gaps in his armor are vulnerable," Meg said while Taryn held the mammoth sword over her head in defiance of Don's efforts to push it down. Incredibly she shoved the blade up a bit, giving her room to dart in under it. Her axehead plowed into the bird's middle to a noise of whining metal. He staggered back, a great rent in his hide, and crashed to his back. Meg gaped. Every time she thought she'd seen the limits of Taryn's strength, the tall warrior soon impressed even more. "Or maybe you didn't need to know that."
"I would have guessed as much from looking at him, but my axe is a bit big and unwieldy to be targeting such small weak points. So I'll just have to beat him down the old fashioned way."
Don lurched to his feet, black—goo?—stuff leaking from the gap in his torso. "From where do you get such power?"
"I have some thick thighs and hips. When you turn your body properly, the bulk of power comes from there."
Gavin blinked. "That's her explanation? I was expecting something more fancy."
"She is just an extraordinarily brutish human,
I suppose," Meg said.
"Hey, don't call me that..."
Don opened his beak, launching rapid-fire bolts which Taryn blocked with the blur that passed for her axe. At the end of the volley, he angled his head up and released a bigger blast at the ceiling above her. Broken stone rained down. She caught one large chunk on a raised forearm and tossed it aside with a growl, leapt and twisted into a big swing. It ripped the right side of Don's chest open, releasing more dark substance. "You call yourself the Light Emperor and you bleed black? Take a look at yourself and wake up, realize you've been corrupted."
"Corrupted? You are corrupt, complacent in your ease of bending to others' will. Like old King Ian, we should forge our own path and make this nation strong in its own right again."
Taryn smacked her head. "You blind fool! Isn't it plain to see that we're already trying to make ourselves strong again, considering you all were just recruited to the army? We can't even use the sword, except in the blind, exceptionally ignorant and perilous way you are, so why should we cling to it when we have allies who can help figure it out? As for forging our own path like King Ian, that was how long ago again? It's not as if that ended up well for us in the long run either."
"The other nations took advantage when King Ian passed from old age. Underhanded of them, that we perhaps ought to pay back. But I as the Light Emperor will never grow old and die. So under my hand, which is as the hand of god, we will bask in eternal prosperity."
"Wanting payback for ancient history, talking like you're a god? You piss me off, maybe I should show you my strongest blow." She brought her axe far back.
"Wait," Meg said, "remember he's under the influence! I'm sure Don wouldn't go this far in his right mind, he's probably expressing the darkest thoughts he's had that he would suppress under normal conditions. Don't kill him."
Don cleaved down. Taryn met his strike with her own, metal squealing against metal as his blade slid along hers. "Fine, I'll try not to. But still, I have to get this thing away from him!" She accelerated her offense, whipping her axe about faster and faster though Don matched her speed with parries and counters. Meg wasn't sure what seemed stranger, the gigantic woman fighting like a person half her size or her even larger and clumsy looking adversary being able to keep up. The tip of Don's sword gashed Taryn down the chest, but she neglected to react except for gritted teeth. His weapon drew back for another swing. Instead of staying grounded as she had for the most part, she leapt toward his sword arm while it swept forward. Her axehead slammed into the ground with a crunch, splitting it.
Don's metal-encased hand fell beside her axe with fingers still curled around the hilt, her edge having passed through his wrist on the way down. He clutched his stump and stumbled away. Meg wasn't sure Taryn should have resorted so soon to lopping off his hand... but at least she hadn't killed him. Now change back, she thought, please change back.
He reached towards the dropped sword with his remaining hand, and it flew out of his severed one back into his grasp. He ran towards the entrance, jumped and took flight. Having moved to the side in her last attack, Taryn couldn't stand in the way to stop him, and neither did Meg and Gavin react in time as he flew overhead. Taryn stepped after him, raising her axe to throw. "No, don't!" Meg said, and dashed in front of her.
"What are you doing?" Taryn barked.
"Please, we can't give up on him that easily."
She turned away with a groan. "I wasn't going to kill him, just clip his wing. Too late now since he's already out of range, genius."
Meg bowed her head. "Sorry. Though that is one heavy weapon, so it would've been risky to throw it at him if you hit the wrong spot."
"Maybe, but now he's gotten away and we don't know when we'll find him. I guess what's done is done. You two all right?"
"Just a scratch," Gavin replied.
"Same," Meg said. "What about you, Captain?"
She fingered the wound down one of her breasts with a grimace. "Probably more of a scratch than yours."
"You're unbelievably strong. I daresay you might actually be one of the strongest fighters on the continent, or am I wrong?"
Taryn smiled bashfully. "Julianna and her husband are better than me, Roland and the other High Knights too I'm sure. I'm not famous enough to have a widely accepted ranking, but some knowledgeable folk believe I might be in the top fifteen or so."
"On the continent? That's amazing for someone so young. Why are you only a captain then? Seems a bit of a lowly rank for such a great warrior."
"My organization skills aren't on par with my fighting skills yet, so I'm stuck taking it easy until they catch up enough to justify a higher position. By the way, don't think flattering me will make you forget how you screwed up my throw."
"Oh, that wasn't my intention." Meg paused. "Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I'll be better prepared when we have our match."
She shrugged. "Doubt it'll help. Anyway, let's go and figure out our next move."
With no need to guard the now missing sword, Taryn rounded up all the soldiers to hold a meeting in the square at Bergin's center. With hands on her hips, she asked, "So, exactly which of you told Don about the sword's ability to empower others?"
Meg looked at Joel, who wore a stoic expression. But then Christopher spoke up, and she realized she'd been mistaken in her assumption. "I did. I, er, listened in on you and Baxter, and thought about trying to master the sword myself but decided against it. Don was looking for new material for a song, so I suggested the story of a young hero tempted by darkness only to reject it."
"You, a hero?" Patrick asked. "Also, ironic that he heard about the hero resisting only to eagerly give in himself. Did you tell him it was based on your own experience?"
"No, seems I just didn't disguise the sword being my inspiration well enough. But I had no inkling of unstable he was."
"He may not be that unstable," Meg put in, not wanting everyone to think too badly of Don before all the circumstances were known. "He could've tried touching the sword thinking he could stop only to find otherwise, and he might also have been drinking."
"I don't know. It seems like it would take some forethought to have climbed up with a grappling hook, which isn't standard gear for us, as I saw."
"It can't be that hard to find a grappling hook, anyway..."
Taryn exhaled. "In any case," she said to Christopher, "I'm glad you at least didn't turn yourself into a Night, or Light Emperor giant monster thing."
"It wasn't worth losing my humanity over."
Agatha walked up to Taryn, looking aggravated. The villagers must have told her what transpired. "One of your soldiers took the sword? This operation wasn't well run. How did they steal it when it's fifty feet long?"
"The soldier and sword changed size to meet in the middle. As for your critique of my operation, this situation was pretty unpredictable."
"Who expects somebody to want to become a giant monster?" Patrick agreed. "But what are we going to do now?"
Taryn looked into the distance in the direction Don had flown. "Since we lack a way to track him, we might have to wait for word of him being spotted. I expect Agatha's countrymen will get here before then, though."
Just two days later, the crew from Ostuh arrived outside town. They had brought a giant drill on wheels, along with a multi-segmented cart longer than most buildings were tall and pulled by multiple horses. It must've been custom made to carry the sword back, but unfortunately that would not be happening at the moment. "You say it was lost?" the slick-bearded researcher in charge demanded after Taryn told him so. "How did you lose a fifty foot object?"
"Your colleague already asked that. It's not too hard for somebody to steal a fifty foot sword if they grow to twenty-five feet with wings, and the sword shrinks down to match."
"Still, you let one inclined to do so near it? Utterly irresponsible."
She pursed her lips with annoyance. "I'll admit maybe we should have kept a closer eye on our own soldiers than we did. B
ut it's not as if Ostuh bears absolutely no blame for this. If not for your over-complicated bureaucracy, you could've gotten here earlier, and it might never have come to this."
"We are often dissatisfied with how long it takes our massive council to get things done as well, but it can't be helped. Anyway, what are we to do? Must we stay here just waiting until the sword is recovered?"
"It does seem a hassle to have your whole crew stay when we don't know how long finding it might take. Considering I don't anticipate needing to use the drill now, maybe you could leave the cart with us and we'll have our people bring it to you once we have it?"
"I suppose that's acceptable. It should be enough to have Agatha stay and keep us updated on new developments."
The soldiers returned to the fort, taking Agatha and Freddy with them since they didn't have any more to do in Bergin with the sword gone. Some days passed with no news of Bird-Don, then one morning Taryn approached Meg and the others at lunch. "You know yesterday was the last day of your agreed upon trial period, right Free Fangs?"
"We do," Meg replied, "but weren't sure if you'd remember. Are you going to make us decide now?"
She let the question hang in the air for a bit. "No. You and Patrick were the first ones to get involved with the sword, so you should be allowed to see it through to the end. We'll push the deadline for your decision back until after this is resolved."
"Thank you. Does that mean you plan for us to take part in resolving it, though?"
"Bird Kid is your meal table friend. I figure you might have a better chance of talking him down than most of us."
Gavin looked skeptical. "We couldn't talk him down before."
"Maybe you can't when he's in a position to fight back. But if we could subdue him first, your words could possibly get through to him."
"And convince him to break his bond with the sword?" Patrick asked. "I understand, though I worry if he even can break it voluntarily. I guess we'll have to see."
They soon received word that a metallic winged creature had been sighted flying over the southern mountains, under which there was known to be a labyrinthine network of tunnels. If a twenty-five foot bird with arms and a suitably sized sword could hide anywhere, it would be there. Meg didn't know how easy it would be to find Don in such a maze though, but expected to hear that they'd be going to try soon. "It looks like we'll be traveling together again, huh captain?" she asked Taryn right after the messenger relayed the news in the courtyard.
