by J. P. Rice
I tucked my necklace inside my shirt and rubbed the silver triskele amulet and the rune tattoos around my heart. Enough chasing a Dragon Horn through a mystery world, enough waiting for a miracle. It was time for some action.
I stood face to face with the Warden, who was taller and thicker than me. “Let Gretchen go. I showed up. Honor your word. It’s me you want.”
“I said I would release her after our battle. Not to worry, I am a man of my word.”
“Yeah, it sure looks it,” I said casually, gesturing to the small army with drawn weapons surrounding us.
“Worry not about them. They are just here to see a fair duel. If you should win.” He laughed. “If you are to win, they will let you go without issue. But we both know you are going to end up like the ginger whore.”
Fire ran through my body and the Warden took notice. He said, “That seems to get your attention. Don’t get upset.”
I made a fist, cocked back and just as I was about to release the punch, the Warden disappeared. A heavy object slammed into my ribs and my knees instinctually gave out. From behind, the Warden wrapped his arm around my neck and squeezed.
I began gagging and a series of shooting stars streaked through my vision. Or maybe it was Haley’s Comet. My breathing became labored and heavy as the oxygen to my brain was cut off. I swung an elbow back and connected. My shot jolted the Warden back but didn’t break the choke hold.
The Warden spoke calmly, “Yes, I guess it’s best to tell you about your friend. Never have I seen a woman enjoy being raped. Until her. She was ravaged by over one hundred of my men, myself included. And the entire time she moaned like a filthy whore who couldn’t get enough. Begging for more and more and more.”
My blood boiled and I shook around, trying to break the choke hold to no avail. I didn’t know if he was lying to distract me for the fight or if he was telling the truth. Either way, I wanted to kill him even more right now. My ultimate goal was to free the enslaved citizens of Pittsburgh, but this had just become more personal.
This man had attempted to kill my mentor and raped someone I cared about greatly and was carrying my child. As I fought the hold, I drew a tiny fireball into my hand, hoping the Warden wouldn’t notice. Without time to spare, I flicked the golf-ball sized sphere of lava at his foot.
The orange glow ripped through the front of his foot and burrowed into the concrete. The Warden released his grip and jumped back, screaming in pain. I had only hit the very front of his foot, but the Warden hopped around on his one good foot. The injury looked like it had taken off his toes, but I couldn’t really see the wound.
Ironically, he tried to assess the damage using the hand that I had fucked up in our previous brawl on Freeport Road. I’d taken off some fingers and toes, but I wanted the ultimate prize. I moved in as he hobbled around. A quick right fist should put this asshole on his back.
I threw a stiff right jab, but the Warden vanished again. My momentum carried me forward and I almost fell to the ground. Spinning in a circle, I couldn’t locate the Warden. Had he blended into the crowd? As I searched the sides of the street, a firm fist slammed into my ear, jarring my equilibrium.
I fell down and tried to jump back up immediately. Unfortunately, I made it to my feet and did the out-of-control dizzy walk about five steps forward and crashed down to the concrete again. A quick push up helped get me to my knees. I planned to spring back up to my feet until another anvil-powered shot hit me in the middle of my back.
My face smashed into the street, teeth busted through my lips and blood oozed out of my mouth. I scrambled to my knees again, spat out a wad of blood and jumped to my feet. Still discombobulated, I focused on the Warden.
His lips were moving but no words were coming out of his mouth. That meant he was setting up a spell. I drew a few fireballs and heaved them at the Warden, who deftly avoided the fiery destruction. The dragons above shrieked in approval, seemingly enjoying the show.
I closed in on the Warden only to have him disappear again. His illusion spells were something I’d never dealt with before. I had a feeling he was using the crowd of similar looking sidhe warriors against me. Time for a radical plan.
I called on two fireballs. One appeared in each hand. Instead of throwing them at an invisible Warden, I heaved them at the sidhe on the sides of the street. I attempted to fire them down the sidewalk to take out as many people as I could, while also making sure I didn’t hit Gretchen.
The two flaming menaces blazed through the early afternoon air and the sidhe scattered to avoid the onslaught. To my advantage, there were too many of them to avoid contact easily. Both fireballs ripped into the crowd, hitting at least a dozen men on each side.
Satisfied with my work, I checked around for the Warden. A crushing blow hit me in the kidneys, dropping me to my knees. Time for the magic that slayed a dragon. Expelling all the warmth from my insides, I gathered in all the frost and ice I possibly could. If I wasn’t able to make contact with the Warden, I had to go to plan B. Internal magic.
After visiting some icy destinations in my mind, I pulled in a glacial frost. However, the Warden was still playing peek-a-boo and I was losing that game. Suddenly, he materialized five feet in front of me with a blue rectangle in his hand.
He fired the projectile at me. Jerking my right shoulder back, I tried to avoid the oncoming object. I thought I would avoid it, until the final rotation scraped my forearm, ripping the skin away and resulting in a shallow gash.
The icy chill of the blue magic started to team up with the frost I had already called on. I was overloaded and my frozen systems weren’t working right. I couldn’t move. My only saving grace at the moment was that the Warden was tending to his podiatry problems.
Then it hit me. I didn’t need to move to project my magic into the Warden. Gathering all the internal frost from my insides, I mentally projected it into the Warden. My enemy tried another illusion spell, but his body only disappeared partially before reappearing completely again.
As my movement returned from expelling the ice, I noticed that the Warden wasn’t moving. It had worked. Now the only thing I needed to figure out was how I was going to kill him. I walked over to the side of the road where I’d taken out some of the sidhe and picked up a spiked club.
Time to smash this bastard to smithereens. The gasps of the surrounding sidhe warriors were like music to my ears. I wanted them to see what happened when you fucked with me. Holding the club high, I let out a primal scream.
I stood in front of the Warden. The man who had tried to kill two people I truly loved. Knowing that I needed to destroy all the Warden’s organs to kill the immortal, I wound up for a grand slam swing. Without warning, a surge of electricity hit me in the back and fried my brain.
How had the Warden done that I wondered as I crumpled to the ground. Falling forward, my forehead smacked the pavement, everything went dark and I couldn’t tell if I was dead, passed out or still hanging on to a delirious consciousness. Or was I dreaming?
It was as if I were hovering over the scene like an angel, observing my own death.
A man in purple robes stepped over my body, advancing toward the Warden.
Chapter 39
The old man extended his arms from inside his voluminous robes. He was holding a long, golden scepter that he slid into a sheath hanging from his belt. In an instant, the tips of his fingers glowed, and the reddish orange wave ran down his hands, stopping at his wrists. He rubbed his hands together as he shuffled his feet toward the Warden of the East.
The king traced his heated mitts over the legs of the Warden, who was still frozen in place. With fiery hands, the king continued in his attempt to thaw out his main guard. Slowly and mechanically, the Warden’s legs started to move and he took a few awkward steps forward.
The king backed away as the Warden approached. The king continued to revive him by rubbing his hands over the Warden’s shoulders and arms.
The Warden regained control of his arms and w
aved them around in front of his chest like he was dancing the robot.
The king moved his healing hands up to the Warden’s face and his frozen bottom lip began to tremble. A few moments later, the Warden pushed the king away, and screamed, “What are you doing? This was a duel.”
“You were about to lose, you disgrace. I had to save you because you failed again. First, you lose the queen. The one person who can reverse the curse and now you cannot defeat a mortal human. Pathetic.”
“I would have beaten this slug. And if he’s not dead, I will surely finish him off.” The Warden walked up to me and kicked me in the ribs.
The expulsion of air came out in a delicate tune. Face down in a pool of my own blood, my eyes shot open, blood pulsed in my temples and mellifluous music poured from my bloody lips. I rolled onto my side.
Without even attempting, the sweet chorus continued along with some enchanting orange dust rushing up toward the heavens. Yes, maybe this was the call for the dragons. I made it to my knees and then up to my feet.
As the ear-piercing whistling continued, I raised my head toward the sky in great anticipation. I had a feeling the dragons were on the way. Instead, the Warden clutched his hands together and smashed me in the jaw.
That stopped the magical whistling and caused me to bite my tongue. More salty blood collected in my mouth and I spat it on the yellow line of the street.
The Warden grabbed my shirt near my shoulder and yanked me in. At the same time, he threw a head-butt. His forehead crunched into my nose, and a stream of blood poured from both nostrils, collecting in my mustache hair.
The Warden pulled me in closer and whispered in my ear. “I forgot to tell you about how we killed your red-haired friend. You’ll love this...”
I turned my head, and the Warden’s ear was right in front of my mouth. I struck like Hannibal Lecter. I drove my incisors into his lobe and shook my neck back and forth. With one good yank, I extracted a nice chunk and pulled my head away.
Screaming in pain, his hand reactively met the injury. I looked up and spit the piece of bloody skin in his face. He shook his head with anger growing in his eye, and in a flash, there were twenty exact replicas of the man on the street in front of me.
Damn this illusion magic. The Warden and all his doppelgangers laughed at the same time. The noise sounded like it was coming from behind though. Spinning around, I saw about twenty more images of the Warden of the East.
I drew a few fireballs into my hands as I prepared for the worst. Four of the Warden’s attacked and I heaved a fireball that went right through a realistic image. Another Warden came at me with a club. He drew back and the meaty end raced toward my face. I raised my arm covering my face with my forearm.
Crunch. This motherfucker was real. I screamed in agony. The club bashed into my humerus, sending shockwaves up and down my arm. Before I could react, the Warden wound up again. I turned my body and covered my face again as the club connected with my back, knocking me back down.
The Warden tossed the club from hand to hand, playing to his crowd of cheering supporters. I jumped back up, bloody faced and battered. Staggering from foot to foot, I thought about Burn and how I could be joining her soon.
I reflected on our brief history and one tiny part of one tiny conversation stood out. I remembered how she had manipulated my defense wards to get my painting off the wall. She had switched her vision to a slightly different dimension.
I didn’t understand exactly how illusion magic worked, but it seemed like a good chance to take. The Warden replicated his previous move to surround me with an army of mimics. I shifted my vision and the corners of my bloody lips lifted.
Burn had showed me that I could learn from a demon and that every single demon wasn’t evil. Her trick worked and I located the Warden. All his illusionary doubles were gone. I still pretended to be bewildered, not wanting him to think he’d lost the upper hand.
I spun around, trying to look confused and called on two molten lava balls. For increased speed, I encapsulated the lava in a thin shell. I didn’t look directly at the Warden, but knew I didn’t have much time. If he launched a false attack and I didn’t react, the jig would be up.
I blew three kisses at the molten lava ball in my right hand. One for Queen Al. One for Burn. One for the citizens of Pittsburgh affected by his actions. None for me.
Keeping him in my sights without staring at him, I got ready to launch my attack. Despite the raging pain in my elbow, I launched the lava in my left hand in the opposite direction from the Warden and into the crowd on the side of the road. The spheroid raced through the air, but the smooth sidhe warriors bent and twisted their bodies to get out of the way at the very last second.
I spun around and the Warden still had his eye on his allies. Got him. I gunned the lava ball in my right hand with all my strength and power. It hummed through the air, heading straight for the Warden’s chest. The experienced immortal warrior tried to bend his body out of the way.
The bowling ball sized molten fire sped up at the final moment and tore through the right side of the Warden of the East’s chest. He stood, dazed, unsure of what was happening. His eye blinked rapidly, then it slowed down. The Warden collapsed to the ground, falling on his side. His momentum caused him to roll onto his back.
I walked like a badass up to the fallen body. I could barely look at what I had done.
Despite the countless murderous actions of the Warden, and the fact that this had become terribly personal, I didn’t enjoy blowing a crater into anyone’s chest cavity. The crazy part was that the Warden still wasn’t dead. The sidhe needed to have all their organs destroyed to prevent them from being cured.
Someone behind me with a screechy voice called for the body to be saved. Just as the sidhe warriors arrived to claim the body, I threw a vaporous fire that torched the body immediately, stopping all his organs. I watched the Warden burn, burn, burn away to nothing, leaving a cloud of black smoke that floated upward into the Pittsburgh air.
I’d avenged Alayna and Burn’s honor, but countless citizens were still trapped inside the city. The ultimate mission hadn’t been accomplished. A few dragons leaped off the top of skyscrapers and descended on the scene.
All the sidhe warriors surrounded me. I should have known better than to trust the Warden of the East. Out of the angry mob, the king appeared. His hidden arms jumped out of the purple robes, pulsing with blue electrical current. He pointed at me and lightning leaped from his fingers.
I dodged to the left, narrowly avoiding the electric blast. The sidhe behind me weren’t so lucky and several of them rolled around on the ground with smoke coming from their noses.
A mighty wind erupted from above, drying some more blood stuck in my beard and mustache. The king yelled in a language I didn’t understand and I assumed his dragons were on the way. In a strange reversal, the king ran past me and darted away.
The wind increased, causing my eyes to water and blur my vision, but not enough to see the sidhe warriors closing in on me. Having already used fire, I drew on some more. Rapidly. I frenetically stretched and manipulated the concentrated flames into a long staff.
I whirled the fire staff around in a circle, creating a shield of sorts. The weapon kept the sidhe at bay and I slowly went after the king. Continually twirling the fire staff, I saw the king running to a group of black dragons at the end of the road.
The old king ran like an Olympic sprinter, a stark dichotomy to his decrepit appearance. The sidhe surrounding me suddenly took off as if a bomb had exploded. I held the long staff at my side as my energy was depleted.
The king ran behind the wall of dragons and I tracked after him. The king disappeared behind the black mass and all six dragons opened their mouths. Orange flames erupted from the openings.
Oh schnikes.
I turned and ran in the opposite direction as a warm rush chased me. Veering to the right, I dove behind a parked car and hoped the flames wouldn’t engulf me. As luck would have
it, the river of fire stopped just as it kissed the front of the car.
I gathered enough courage to stand up again and noticed the king flying away on the back of one of his dragons. The seven black dragons serving as his protectors shrieked and their heads looked to the sky.
The wind had reached gale force levels and the sun suddenly went dark. Peeking up, my eyes shot wide open. A group of blue, orange and green dragons were descending upon the city. They swooped down and attacked the black dragons, causing absolute pandemonium.
The sidhe warriors scattered in every direction and I noticed Gretchen lying on the sidewalk. I rushed over to her and untied the bonds around her ankles and wrists. The lieutenant hurriedly removed the gag and took a few deep breaths.
“Thanks, Merlino. Damn bastards came and got me when I was sleeping.”
Snatching women while they were sleeping seemed to be the modus operandi of the sidhe.
Fire lit up the sky as the dragon battle continued. Smaller flying creatures approached the city, navigating between the buildings and diving into open manholes. As I looked closer, I realized they were an army of jaculi.
I got a close peek at one of them. The jaculi looked like a cross between a dragon and a small lizard. They tucked their wings and sped toward the earth like a javelin, fearlessly diving into the manholes to take on the evil sewer dragons.
A symphony of sewer dragon agony spouted from the manholes. I raised my head again and a giant orange dragon barreled toward Gretchen and me. The dragon extended its wings and slowed the descent down. To my surprise, the dragon landed on the street, and as it turned to the side, I noticed Alayna sitting near its long neck.
She waved with a giant grin glued to her face. “Pembrooke and I will take care of these black dragons and the jaculi will take out the sewer variety. Just keep Gretchen safe and it should be over soon.”
