Tarous

by Jeremy W Eason

  The ferocious dragon stomped his feet, causing cracks to appear in the floor. Its tail was whipping back and forth, a deadly weapon all by itself.

  “Now where was it?” I mumbled. I knew I had to be close to the spell. I licked my finger so it would be easier for me to turn the pages of the book. Despite all the noise the dragon was making I continued to ignore George.

  The dragon released a gout of flame straight up into the air. The few remaining servants all ran for cover. Unfortunately, as the son of a lord, I knew I couldn’t do the same. I had to stay and fight. It was the honorable thing to do after all. Of course that didn’t mean I had to fight honorably, I was a monster after all, not some foolish hero. There is one truth in all the worlds: ‘might makes right’.

  “Here it is,” I mumbled to myself. I read the words softly under my breath. Occasionally I would point or wave my hand around. I had to make sure I pronounced everything correctly or the spell wouldn’t work. The dragon continued to breathe fire, and even set a few tables on fire. I was glad when one of the paintings of my great great aunt Gertrude was burned. According to the stories she was a very monstery monster and I just knew she wouldn’t approve of me.

  George was so busy destroying everything in sight that he didn’t notice that with every wave of my hand more and more cracks began to appear in the golden ceiling above his head. Strange words of power floated through the room that bent and twisted reality. I overwrote my will upon the world’s will. It was one of thousands of types of magics that existed.

  “Almonaous ba ba bloodica….” More cracks spread out across the ceiling as I softly chanted words of magic and power. The cracks began to appear faster and faster, running across the ceiling with frightening speed and beginning to crisscross. Suddenly a large chunk of solid gold that was immensely heavy broke loose from the ceiling and fell. George was still in the process of setting everything in sight on fire as the large chunk of gold that easily weight several tons slammed hard into the back of his dragon head, easily knocking him unconscious.

  I looked up at what remained of the ceiling.

  “Maybe it’s not such a frivolous use of money after all,” I mumbled to myself. George appeared to still be alive from the rise and fall of his chest, though he was going to have one heck of a headache when he woke up. The dragon didn’t move or make any noise at all as it laid on the floor. It would be a while before it could move again, as it had sustained a lot of damage. I walked up to the dragon, pity in my voice.

  “I’m sorry for having to knock you out, but you left me no choice… Whoever you are.”

  Chapter 17

  “DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW EXPENSIVE THAT CEILING WAS?” yelled the Lord Rask, his voice echoing as loudly as George’s roar.

  It was a rhetorical question, I didn’t bother answering. My father rested his head in the palm of his hand. A large smile slowly crept out and covered my father’s face and then my father began to chuckle.

  “I have to admit, whatever the cost it was well worth it. Since it was my heir that fought the Dreg family’s heir and since he challenged you, the Dreg family can’t even openly retaliate in any way and right now their family looks weak while ours looks stronger than ever. Now everyone knows that the future heir of the Rask family is stronger than the future heir of the Dreg family.” Lord Rask began to laugh even louder. “Just the influx of trade deals from this fiasco alone will more than pay for the ceiling.”

  If there was one thing Lord Rask loved, it was money.

  “Now, to bed with you,” he ordered.

  I’m not really a follower so despite my fathers ‘orders’, I did what I wanted to do. As we walked out of my father’s office I motioned for Tarous to follow me. He was rather surprised that I had acknowledged him. I could tell from the way his eyes widened when I motioned for him and he quickly nodded. I had never actually been friends with a human before. Even as a small monster I had been taught not to play with my food.

  Tarous followed me, quickly and silently. It’s not like he had anything better to do. I led him down several steps and down a few hallways until we eventually step outside into a courtyard. The area was empty and was mainly a small area some of the guards used to train in.

  “One of the reasons I decided to bring you back as a trophy is I need someone to spar with. The only problem is you’re too weak to be a good sparring partner.” I wanted to give him a chance to prove himself. I wanted to see if humans could be more than food.

  Tarous just glared at me. I had basically just called him weak. The worst part was that compared to me he was weak, and he knew it. I reached into my pocket and removed two small books that I sat off to the side on a patch of grass. Tarous glanced at them and then back to me.

  Next I reached into my pocket and removed a cube made of a strange black metal. It was something a Rask had invented a long time ago, before humans even existed. It fit perfectly into the palm of my hand and it was cool to the touch. I tossed it towards Tarous and he caught it with ease. He held it in his hand and stared at it. After a few moments the cube began to heat up and he nearly dropped it in surprise.

  The cube went from being warm to being scalding hot but the temperature didn’t seem to bother him beyond the initial shock. Soon the cube began to melt and drip through his fingers, and a black puddle formed at his feet. He gave me a dark look. The black liquid began to separate into two different puddles before reforming into two short swords.

  “Based on what the cube found from scanning your body and mind, the best weapon, or weapons, for you are two short swords. They are the ideal close combat weapon for you.”

  Tarous reached down and picked up the two weapons. He twirled them around a few times and did a little hack and slash. He seemed rather happy. Now that he had suitable weapons it was time to train him.

  “To make things fairer, I’ll fight you unarmed.”

  Tarous glared at me once again. He seemed slightly insulted. He probably thought me fighting him without a weapon was belittling him. The truth is he just didn’t stand a chance with me armed.

  Black flames emerged from Tarous’s fists and began to creep up his arms. His two short swords became engulfed as well and the flames continued to spread to the rest of his body. He looked like one large bonfire of black flames.

  Silence of the grave. Tarous disappeared as his speed increased. He poured all the death qi he could into the technique to try and get around behind me. Using all the strength he had, he cut downwards towards the back of my head.

  I let out a quick sigh. I had a long way to go with this one.

  The blade sliced downwards through my head, splitting it into two pieces. The black flames seeped into my flesh causing the left and right sides of my head to catch fire and then it slowly spread to the rest of my body. In truth it was rather painful.

  A normal person would have died from this, but I heal quickly from such a minor injury. They weren’t even real flames, as they were flames made of death energy. Only real flames would hurt me, not these pseudo-death flames. It only took moments for my head to heal and for the flames to go out. They didn’t appear to have done any damage.

  “You did better than I thought you would. At least that is something to be proud of. To reward you, I’ll show you one of my attacks. That is, if you promise not to die.” A sneer appeared on my face. I wanted to push him. I wanted to make him stronger. I always had a soft spot for an underdog and it doesn’t get much weaker than humans. I mean ‘witches’ as if that made much difference. Both were so weak.

  I took out another black cube, but I held it close to myself. Unlike how long it took for his cube to change, mine almost instantly changed into a slender but solid looking sword. The more you use a particular cube the faster the transformation. Few changes had occurred since the last time I had used it. Tarous beamed as his pride swelled at having made me wield a weapon. That smile would soon be wiped from his face.

  “Inescapable illusion sword art is one of the techniq
ues created by the Rask family. It is a technique that uses our natural ability over illusions to confuse and attack a person.”

  That was the true strength of a Rask’s techniques. We took what we were good at and formed it into an art. I began to explain my attack to give Tarous a better chance at defending. I was worried he wouldn’t survive even one of my attacks without a little help.

  “When you attack with a sword there are nine general areas you can attack, including the center area of a body. I could attack in nine general areas and with this attack nine sword illusions will be created and they will attack those nine areas, but only one of them is real. Because of the power of my illusions you will be unable to tell which one is real until it is too late. Even monsters with special ocular powers are unable to see through our illusions.”

  I faced him with my sword drawn. I focused all my attention onto the sword until my focus became as sharp as my blade. Without hesitation I ran toward him and as I did my sword appeared to split into nine blades all coming from the same hilt. The effect was a little psychedelic.

  One of the blades impaled Tarous in the face, one in his stomach, and one in his groin. It appeared that a blade also impaled him through both of his thighs and in both of his shoulders. The last two appeared to strike both his arms. It was a technique that was meant to be impossible to dodge. You either had to have high defense or the ability to block all the attacks simultaneously.

  The attack happened in less than a moment and Tarous had no time to even think about dodging. When the attack was finished none of his injuries would hurt except for his left shoulder. The blade impaling it and the blood pouring from it were real. I had attacked his shoulder so I wouldn’t kill him.

  Tarous could tell that I wasn’t taking this fight seriously or that first strike wouldn’t have been to his shoulder. This made him glare even harder at me. I think I hurt his pride again. It seemed the best way to motivate him.

  I removed my sword from his shoulder. Blood coated the blade of my sword. I gave it a quick flick to sling off the blood from the blade.

  Tarous’s hand glowed golden with his life energy. He placed the glowing hand over the wound and the wound stopped bleeding. Using a technique to heal seemed rather sad to me. I could heal instantly from almost any wound. How terrible it would be to be born anything but a Rask.

  Without giving me more than a second to relax Tarous shot towards me once again. He was truly determined to win and in the corner of my tiny black heart I was rooting for him.

  I used the next stage of my inescapable illusion sword art technique. I divided myself and instead of just one of me standing in front of Tarous, there now stood three of me. All three of me began to talk at the same time and in perfect unison.

  “This part of the technique is also known as the Demon Mirror by my ancestors. It is a part of my inescapable illusion sword art technique. One of me is real and the other two are illusions.”

  Each of my illusions began to spread out. All three of us surrounded Tarous. He was trapped. We had cut off all avenues of escape. I once again used my inescapable illusion sword art. This time instead of nine blades, twenty-four sword blades shot towards Tarous. The attack came from three directions, and the number of blades shooting towards him made it difficult for him to see.

  Tarous felt a sharp pain in his back and realized that one had been a true strike. The left side of Tarous’s body flickered with a golden light for a second. Nothing seemed to happen. I found it rather strange. I wondered if Tarous was trying to use a technique.

  Next he once again used his healing technique as his hands glowed and he reached back and touched the wound to heal it. After a few minutes his back had completely healed. I let my senses roam over Tarous’s body assessing his strength. His abilities were just as I thought from our previous battle.

  “That’s enough for today. I can sense inside of you the power of death and life swirling in great quantities. You are able to use your death energy with some skill, but with your life energy you are completely lacking in skill. The one technique you have that uses life qi is only to heal and you barely have any skill in using it. If you are only ever able to utilize half your abilities you will never be able to beat me.”

  I motioned towards the two books I had set down earlier.

  “One of those books tells about the basics of life qi. It also teaches you how to sense the life energy of others. The other is a technique called Devouring Life. It is a monster technique. My family acquired it a long time ago. Read both of them and prepare for our next fight. Today you weren’t even a decent warmup for me.”

  I continued to pick at his pride. It was to motivate him to improve, but it was also becoming a rather fun thing to do. I could see Tarous prickling up in anger. Despite his anger, Tarous walked over and picked up the books. They were both thick and old looking. I could tell he wanted to become stronger. I then turned and began to walk away.

  “Time for bed, you can keep the cube and the books.”

  My sword turned back into a cube without a word. After a few tries Tarous managed the same. He was a quick study. Tarous seemed surprised I would let him keep the cube, but two short swords would be useless if he tried to escape, so why should I care?

  Chapter 18

  The next day my mother set up another meeting with another potential bride. Just thinking about having to go through this process once again left me exhausted. A Lord’s daughter, she was dressed in her finest outfit. She was beautiful, of course, rich as hell, naturally, and didn’t have a single thought between her pretty little ears, apparently.

  My mother would always meet my future brides first and if they met her expectations then she would allow them to meet me unsupervised. It felt more like a job interview than a date.

  Tarous stood by my side, he was being ignored again, but for once I was jealous of him.

  My potential future bride was named May and according to the girl her hobbies were singing and dancing. She enjoyed riding her pet Puca, with its flowing black mane and lovely golden eyes that glow in the dark.

  Like I hadn’t heard that same line a thousand times before. I tried to keep from sighing. Tarous rolled his eyes at the air head.

  “How many children do you want?” asked my mother.

  “I want to have as many babies as possible!” May said with a smile.

  Her answer caused my mother’s face to light up. She believed the more grandchildren the better.

  To the side Tarous snickered. I really wanted to hit him.

  Through our dinner date I tried to keep my eyes on May’s face, but my eyes continued to wander southward. The girl noticed, but she didn’t seem to mind. She could nurse a lot of children with those, I thought to myself.

  “My mom’s a Dziwozona,” May promptly explained followed by a cute smile.

  I nodded without saying a word.

  I did my best to look at her long black flowing hair and pretty face instead. Tarous snickered again at how uncomfortable I was.

  The meal was short, I was bored, and my mother and May were talking about what types of weddings they enjoyed. May apparently preferred a water themed wedding.

  I felt ignored. I thought I would enjoy the feeling, but it actually bothered me. I started to understand how Tarous felt.

  If I did marry May at lease I could spend the day looking at her. She was rather pretty.

  I had enough of this and snuck out of the room, leaving an illusion in my place while I turned invisible. My mother and May didn’t seem to notice the swap. They were distracted planning my future for me. I wasn’t sure the illusion was even necessary since they were so wrapped up in their conversation about my future. Something they decided they didn’t need my input on.

  After reading the book on sensing life energy Tarous had noticed me sneaking out. He also decided this meeting was a waste of his time and also snuck out of the meeting. No one stopped him because he didn’t really matter.

  “I was rather impress
ed by their ability to be oblivious.” Tarous commented.

  “Luckily for me, any meetings that involve a future wife usually don’t require me to speak.” I told him, rolling my eyes.

  We went to the kitchens and I asked the staff to prepare a meal for me. All the talk of babies had made me hungry. Tarous had salad. No one asked him what he wanted and he had to fix it himself but he didn’t seem to mind. Lately he had been eating a lot of salads. I asked him why.

  “I have been feeling bad for all the animals I’ve eaten in the past now that the shoe is on the other foot.”

  I suspect it was because he was scared of where some of our meats came from. He would never be sure it hadn’t once been someone he knew that he was eating.

  A serving girl came into the room to place a tray of food on the table. She was barely four and a half feet tall. She had tiny black wings and black hair and she floated a few inches off the ground. As she leaned forward to place the tray on the table her hair shifted and I could see the tiny black horns she hid in her hair. She was an Imp, or at least she was mostly an Imp. Like many of the monsters of today she was mixed with other types of monster. Mainly only the nobles were of pure blood. I often suspected she was also part succubus.

  Her name was Ignis. Though it can be hard to tell the ages of monsters, I knew she was around the same age as myself. I had talked with her earlier, and she had told me a rather interesting rumor about the Butler. She placed another plate of food on the table and poured me a glass of red wine mixed with some kind of monster blood to give it a little extra kick. I also suspected she had a crush on me.

  “Thank you Ignis,” I told her, causing her to blush.

  “I’m glad it pleases you, My Lord,” replied Ignis with a cute wink.

  I gave Ignis what I would consider a goofy smile. It wasn’t proper for a master and servant to act in such a way, but that never stopped me from breaking tradition. Plus I was enjoying the attention.