Juxta, Magi

by Porter, Geoffrey C

  The second demon tried to swipe at Juxta again with the chain, and it got past his shield. Looping around his ankle, the chain jerked with great force. The demon pulled with all his might, and Juxta bounced against a wall.

  Bones shattered, and the pain broke Juxta's concentration. The shields around his friends dropped as the pain tore into Juxta's mind. Simon drew Shad-Ra and threw himself at the second demon. William used his bow to block the balls of green fire the demons threw at him. Simon swung at the second beast's leg, lopping it off at the hip. It howled in pain. With a deft move, Simon lopped off one of the demon's arms.

  Juxta still couldn't concentrate enough to raise a shield around the prince. The first demon seemed consumed by a desire to annihilate William. It sent bolt after bolt of green fire at him. The bow started to glow green as the fireballs splashed against it. Simon stood over the crippled demon and stabbed it through the heart. The energy hitting William had him down on one knee. Simon aimed straight and true at the first demon's heart in one thrust. It finally cried out in pain and died. William kneeled there breathing, and Simon spoke first. "Well, that was easy."

  Juxta whimpered between spikes of pain. "Easy?"

  William said, "Maybe for you, Simon."

  "Sure, I meant for me."

  William pushed himself off the floor. "How bad are you hurt, Juxta?"

  "My leg's broken. It hurts bad."

  Simon said, "Derick can likely heal it."

  William laughed. "Yeah, let's go get him for you."

  "Don't make fun of me… I'm seriously hurt." Juxta waved at a wall of books. "Derick might have a healing book I could get the spell from."

  "I can recognize Druidish when I see it. I'll look for a Druidic book," William said. "I like the idea of house arrest for Derick for a while longer."

  The third book William found was a book of healing, and Juxta located the appropriate spell. They had to reset the bone as it had almost pierced the flesh of his leg. Juxta cried out in pain when Simon jerked the bone back into place. Juxta used the healing spell on his leg. He stood up. "Good as new." They went to King Henry first to inform him of their victory.

  He replied, "Well fought!"

  Then they went to tell the girls. Next they paid a visit to Derick.

  William started the conversation. "We've slain the beast."

  "Most excellent, young sirs," Derick said. He looked to be in better health than that morning, younger even.

  Simon pointed at Derick with his index finger. "You could have warned us the demon might summon another demon to fight at its side."

  "I wasn't sure it could do that. Did they focus their attacks on the prince?"

  Juxta started tapping his staff on the stone floor.

  "I feared they might." Derick's shoulders slumped down. "They smelled that his blood was royal. It likely kept them from thinking straight too."

  "Thinking straight?" William said. "The only thing that saved me was this bow Juxta enchanted!"

  "Your family line has always been resistant to magic, young prince." Derick smiled a weak smile. "Look, I owe you a great debt. Juxta, I notice you don't have a gemstone for your staff yet. I have a few, and one might be to your liking."

  Juxta thought about the offer. He first thought that likely Derick didn't have the right stone for him, but on second thought, what harm would come of looking? "I'll look over the gemstones you have."

  "Excellent, anything I can do to repay you brave sirs."

  They escorted Derick back to his chambers where he opened a chest and started removing gemstones wrapped in leather. He showed them an emerald, a ruby, and a sapphire.

  Juxta said, "Wait, I'll use ‘true sight' to see into them."

  He started the incantation for the spell, pouring power into it. He spread out his vision to encompass the entire room. Demonology books on the bookshelf glowed a faint blood red. The gemstones in front of him glowed their respective colors, true stones of power each one. He started to channel the power through his Dragon's Fire ring. A white light showed through a chest in one corner off to the side. Juxta pointed at the thing. "What's in that?"

  "Nothing really, a few old scrolls, maybe some rocks that were intriguing to my predecessor," Derick said. "I think I lost the key years ago."

  Juxta lifted the chest onto a workbench and examined the lock, ancient but not tarnished. He asked Simon for Shad-Ra. Simon drew Shad-Ra and with one fell swing cut the lock off. Juxta opened the chest, and it contained a few old dusty scrolls and a few stones. He began the incantation for ‘true sight' again, channeling all the power he had into it and through the Dragon's fire ring. One of the stones, an egg shaped stone larger than a fist glowed with bright white light. As Juxta instinctively reached for the stone and grasped it, he heard a voice in his mind.

  The stone is ours!

  It took Juxta a moment to realize it was the ring talking to him. "What is it?"

  A nesting stone. The answer was only so helpful to Juxta. You must take it to the dragons. The nesting stones are why I was forged.

  Juxta asked, "Why do the dragons need it?"

  For their nests to be fruitful again.

  "What's going on, Juxta?" William asked.

  "I'm not sure."

  Once there were a great many dragons, too many. The nesting stones were entrusted to humans, so that dragons would slowly die of old age. Millennia passed. Humans forgot their promise and lost or hid the stones. Dragons forged the Dragon's Fire rings to help those who would quest for our stones. You must return the stone to my people!

  "Where are the dragons?" Juxta asked.

  Simon reached out and grabbed the stone, holding it up. "I thought dragons were myth."

  The last of our kind are in the mountains to the east.

  "Apparently not, Simon…" Juxta said. "This stone is one of their nesting stones, and they need it returned to them."

  Simon held the stone out for Juxta to take. "So there can be more dragons?"

  Juxta nodded.

  "That doesn't sound wise," William said. "Where are these dragons supposed to be?"

  Juxta pointed to the south east. "The mountains that way."

  "The only mountains in that direction are on the other side of Tercia," Simon said.

  You must return the stone.

  William said, "A fool's errand! Discard the rock, Juxta."

  Nooo!

  Juxta sighed. "The ring has served me well, and the line of wizards before me. I feel compelled to repay it."

  Thank you, Juxta.

  William said, "I'm not going into Tercia."

  Simon's head bounced up and down as if on springs. "I'll accompany him, with your permission. We do need first hand reports of their troop strength."

  "When we return to Lynken, we'll discuss the matter with my father and Hebron."

  Juxta smiled.

  That night they feasted.

  *

  The trip back to Lynken was uneventful. Neither the king nor Hebron liked the idea of them traveling the length of Tercia…

  The king buried his face in his hands for a few moments and looked up at Simon. "It's foolhardy."

  Simon rolled his head to crack his neck. "So is demon slaying."

  Hebron turned his glare on the young men. "This is worse."

  Juxta said, "It must be done."

  "Says who?" The king asked.

  Juxta froze in place and simply stared.

  "The Dragon's Fire ring, your highness," Hebron said.

  Simon and Juxta nodded.

  The king looked from one idiot to the other. "Has the ring ever communicated before?"

  Hebron said, "Not to me, my liege."

  "Does it speak to you now, Hebron?" the king asked.

  The ancient wizard shook his head and closed his eyes. He whispered, "I haven't worn the ring in centuries."

  "Put it on."

  Juxta removed the ring and gave it to Hebron who slipped it over one finger. Images flooded his senses, the dis
tant past, the apprentices Hebron had given the ring to, up to the present.

  Return the nesting stone as promised.

  "Fair enough," Hebron said. He took the ring off and returned it to Juxta. "The ring is definitely intelligent, yet I never knew. I think we should return the stone."

  "So be it," King William said. "Scout the enemy encampments as best you can and send word back when you reach our diplomatic offices in Tercia."

  Chapter 11

  The chosen one will bring about the End of Days Driven By a Mad Demi-god. - Black Scroll.

  Simon and Juxta rode hard to the border. Once within Tercia, they didn't know what to expect. The king's road became a simple dirt path. They explained to the ogre guards that they were couriers for King William bearing a message for his emissary in Tercia. This simple ruse would work until they reached the capital city Terc. After that they had no plan. They simply hoped to blend in. Juxta left his staff with Hebron and wore a common sword at his side. They did carry messages for the emissary. The only real differences between Tercia and Lynken boiled down to leaner peasants and scrawnier livestock. Each town in Tercia sported a white stone mausoleum, no matter how small the town.

  They made it to Terc without incident. The ogre patrols they encountered accepted their story. The emissary welcomed them and insisted they stay for a while.

  They changed their travel money for Tercian coins with the help of the emissary and found Terc to be a bustling city not unlike Lynken's capital city, except for the sheer number of mausoleums. Simon abandoned his ranger's leathers for garb fitting a Tercian traveler. The look of sadness on Simon's face as he donned the course fabric, incapable of stopping the slightest blade, made Juxta smirk just a bit.

  A high ranking government official died, and the emissary was invited to the ceremony entombing him. Juxta wanted to attend, for he grew curious about Necromancy. They entombed the dead servant in the city's oldest, largest mausoleum, and the ceremony flowed with an air of magic the likes of which Juxta never encountered before.

  After the ceremony Juxta pulled Simon off to the side and whispered, "While we're in Tercia, it's the perfect opportunity to acquire a Necronomicon."

  "It isn't like they're selling them on street corners, Juxta. I think only the priests have them."

  Juxta scouted around with his eyes to be sure nobody was within earshot. "Of course only the priests have them, so we steal one…"

  "What if the books are cursed?"

  Juxta grinned ever so slightly, a sort of maniacal grin that reminded Simon of a smiling executioner. "I sensed no magic from the book itself, only the incantation."

  Simon frowned, but it evened out after a moment. "After we get the nesting stone back to the dragons, on the way home, we'll steal one then, OK?"

  "Excellent!"

  They spent nearly a week in Terc. Simon prepared a report for the emissary to send back to Lynken. It contained Tercia's troop strength. A rather bleak report, for they hadn't disbanded a single ogre. The emissary wished them luck in their travels, and they left Terc heading to the northeast. They encountered rocky terrain ill-suited for farming. They intended to avoid any towns along the way, but to stop at possibly friendly farms to barter for food and grain for their horses. Juxta practiced scrying down the road in front of them to facilitate this: a very tiring exercise. Their first week of travel passed uneventfully. They slept under the stars with Juxta's perimeter spell protecting their camp from unwanted intruders. The terrain started to get more and more rugged, with crag-like hills and pine trees. A raging river spanned to the north and south. They followed it to the south hoping to find a place to ford it. What they came upon was a well guarded bridge. Ogres waited on both sides of it.

  Simon said, "Maybe we can talk or bribe our way across."

  "Not likely," Juxta said. "They'll want travel papers for sure."

  "We'll say we had a companion, and he was carrying them, and we lost him. Plus, it looks like only four on each side of the bridge. Surely between us, we can handle that many."

  "True, but we only kill them as a last resort. They'll be found, and others will come looking for us."

  "Check with Dragon's Fire…"

  Juxta said the words with a touch of power, "Dragon's Fire!"

  The ring said, This bridge is the only way for leagues upon leagues.

  They rode up to where the ogres stood guard. One of the creatures, with multi-hued dark skin, as if he bathed in dirt and it only stuck on him in splotches, sporting vicious pointed fangs for canines, said, "Travel papers?"

  Simon gave his best I'm sorry look. "We lost them."

  The ogre squinted his eyes. "This is the king's bridge, and you need travel papers to cross it. Be gone with you."

  "We'll give you twenty silver pieces to let us cross," Juxta said.

  The ogre showed off rows of crooked teeth. "No, we serve the king. Be gone before we tan your hides."

  Simon laughed a glorious laugh of the gladiator facing a fair opponent. "I could beat your best!"

  The lead ogre drew his sword, almost four feet long. "I'm the best here, and you die today, Human."

  Simon hopped off his horse and drew Shad-Ra. "I think not, Dog!"

  The ogre swung first aiming for Simon's neck. Simon ducked under it. The beast recovered quickly and aimed lower with his next swing. Simon blocked it, cutting the ogre's blade in half.

  "Oops," Simon said.

  The ogre shouted, "He's using magic. Get him!"

  The three other ogres drew swords.

  "Juxta, get the ones on the other side of the bridge." Simon plunged Shad-Ra into the chest of the first ogre. The other three advanced on him, apparently not entirely sure which of the three of them should go first.

  Juxta rained lightning on the sentries across the bridge, splattering brains and stopping beating hearts. Simon now faced three ogres with swords drawn. He dodged to the leftmost ogre and opened him up from groin to throat. Shad-Ra cut through flesh better than any common weapon could. The remaining two ogres looked at each other, perhaps communicating with some secret telepathy that only creatures very close to their own death could understand. They dropped their swords, and made to run.

  Simon shouted, "Juxta!"

  Juxta summoned another allotment of power and cast the lightning, ending the ogres' lives.

  Simon cleaned the blood off Shad-Ra on the corpse's clothes. "Let's make haste. When these guards get replaced, they'll sound an alarm, and a whole troop of ogres will be combing these hills for us."

  They rode fast across the bridge and into the night. They decided against having a fire. The next day the sky cracked open, and a torrential downpour drenched the travelers, which gratefully erased their tracks, although soaking them to the bone. The terrain evolved into a mountainous, jagged scarification.

  Juxta said, "Dragon's Fire!"

  Very close now, three more mountains in the way.

  Juxta turned to Simon. "We're almost there. There are three more mountains to cross."

  "Good," Simon said.

  Midway up the third mountain, they came upon the mouth of a great cave, 200 feet across, maybe longer. The rocks, stretching in pointy cones aimed at the ceiling, dotted the edges of the entrance, but the ground leading into the cave was smooth and flat. It could have easily been a serpent's mouth if the serpent were missing all its teeth in front of the canines. They climbed off their horses. Simon nudged Juxta. "You can go first."

  Juxta nodded quickly. "We go in together, Asshole."

  Simon bellowed loud as if he didn't know a sliver of fear. He turned to face the cave.

  Two shapes started moving in the darkness. Big shapes. One on each edge inside the cave. Shapes as big as houses.

  Simon drew his arcane blade. "Get the guards up, Juxta."

  Juxta put up a sphere of protection around himself, Simon, and the horses.

  The dragons gave little chance for Simon and Juxta to communicate. They moved into the light with a reptilian qui
ckness. Their bodies were covered in green scales with a slightly lighter tint of grey on their stomachs. Their arms were short and possessed delicate fingers, but their legs were thick, with claws the size of watermelons attached to them. Horns grew out of their skulls, which were almost as big as wagons. The bones in their wings were covered with scales, but between the bones a thin leathery skin was stretched out with veins and arteries etched out like rivers.

  Out of their mouths came jets of fire. Juxta's shields held. One of the dragons turned and flew off into the cavern.

  Simon shouted, "We bring a nesting stone!"

  Both Juxta and Simon heard in their minds, Liars! You're here for our treasure, to finish us off. The dragon scraped at the floor of the cavern with one clawed foot, cutting into the stone.

  Juxta reached into his saddle bag, withdrew the nesting stone, and held it up in the light. "Behold! He spoke the truth!"

  Give me the stone! It shouted into their minds. Four more dragons glided up to the cavern's entrance each varying a little in size and markings.

  A quieter one spoke in their minds, You bring us the nesting stone, why?

  "The Dragon's Fire ring convinced us it was the right thing to do," Juxta said.

  The loud dragon nodded. The quiet one spoke again, Give us the stone, Friend.

  Juxta held out the stone, and the closest dragon stepped forward and bent at his midsection leaning in close to Juxta with his smaller clawed hands. Juxta set the stone gently in the creature's claw.

  The quiet dragon shed a single tear and whispered in their minds, This is a great thing you've done for us, Humans. What are your names? I'm Bargath.

  "I'm Juxta." He motioned towards his companion. "This is Simon."

  Did you journey far?

  Simon said, "You could say it was pretty far, yes."

  We need to repay this kindness.

  Juxta was about to say ‘no' when Simon elbowed him in the ribs. Juxta said, "As you wish, Bargath, although we weren't expecting a reward."

  We have mounds of treasure, but no young for an eternity, so take all you can carry.

  Juxta and Simon followed the ancient Bargath through a maze of corridors into a treasure trove. Juxta cast a light spell to see. It seemed endless. Piles of gems sat on pedestals with no order or layout, simply a great mix of all different kinds, all uncut stones of power, and Juxta smiled wide thinking of his staff. Simon found a pile of uncut diamonds, some of them palm sized, and he picked out three big ones and pocketed them. Juxta started using ‘true sight' on the gemstones. One stone glowed purple, casting a fine tint of color on everything in the room. It seemed to burn with an inner fire. Juxta picked the stone up, and it shuddered slightly in his hand. He looked to Bargath. "What's this?"