by Joe Jackson
“Something was stolen from a tomb in Gnarr about twelve or thirteen years ago,” Kari said, and the girl’s brow scrunched up. “Turns out the tomb was plundered to cover up whatever was really the target, so while most of Turik Jalar’s things were returned, it’s the records that were stolen that I’m most interested in. Any chance your werewolf senses might be able to detect intruders after this long, and maybe you could look into tracking them down?”
Gil made a face but half-shrugged. “I suppose I could always check and see. Scents can linger for a long time, especially when your sniffer is as sensitive as ours can be. What’s this all about? Or can you not share that much?”
Kari waved off the implication. “I don’t want word to spread, but it has something to do with the War of Purity. So many of the details of that massacre have been buried since, and as it turns out, the records of it were literally buried with Turik Jalar. Someone stole them, and I want to make sure they’re not going to use those records just to embarrass the Order.”
“You mean the Order was involved?”
“Looks that way,” Kari affirmed. “But we don’t have the whole story. Until I can get my hands on Jalar’s records and see what he knew, we may never get the true story. You and your friends may be the best means I have of tracking down those records without letting my entire Order know something’s being covered up and investigated.”
Gil looked out over the moon-streaked streets. “You know, there’s times I wish I could work for you and your Order…and then I start hearing about some of the things that come here from the underworld, and I think you people are crazy. And that’s coming from a werewolf, mind you.”
“Really, now?” came Kyrie’s voice from the doorway. She closed the door behind her and moved to sit beside Kari. “I had wondered who you were and what you two were talking about. You are a werewolf? One of the ones who helped Kari in Barcon?”
“Not directly, but yes,” Gil answered. “Kari wants me to reveal myself to her Council, to see if they’ll be accepting of us as possible allies.”
Kyrie turned a wide-eyed stare on Kari, and the demonhunter shrugged. “Once upon a time, we didn’t let half-demons into the Order, either. No sense turning away anyone that wants to help, especially a group of people so potentially powerful.”
There was a brief but unmistakable smile that crossed Gil’s face when Kari referred to werewolves as people. She had to wonder if the werewolf got the same sort of treatment from those she worked for as half-demons sometimes still did, even to this day. Kari wasn’t sure how to really classify the werewolves otherwise. They had a feral side and a wildly powerful gift, but they were still just humans underneath it all. It made Kari wonder who had created them and why, but that was a little deep for daydreaming about in the presence of company, and far too personal for Kari to ask the werewolves themselves at this point.
“Of course, I’m not thinking of joining the Order, just helping from time to time. Not sure about the rest of my packmates,” Gil clarified.
“Well, young lady, if there’s one thing I’ve learned in the last few years, it’s that my daughter-in-law is a terrific judge of character,” Kyrie said, and she rose to her feet. “If you are welcome in her presence, you’re welcome in my home. Please, come inside and have some tea with us.”
Gil looked startled at the declaration, but she rose to her own feet and bowed her head politely. “I appreciate it, Mrs.…Kari’s mom,” the werewolf joked.
Kyrie chuckled. “Ms. Kyleah, or you may simply call me Kyrie,” she said. “We’re all rather informal around here, despite my position and Kari’s own.”
“Thank God for that,” Gil said. “I’m terrible with keeping track of titles, proper forms of address, and all that. Out in the wilds, we have three titles: friend, foe, and prey. And the last is only for food animals.”
Kari got to her feet. “All right, let’s go discuss what we’re going to tell the Council when we see them, then,” she said. She looked up at the moons briefly, and a slight shiver coursed through her as she prayed that her friends and family would be safe.
*****
The elestram descended the stairs, and Erik could see the concern in Aeligos’ eyes most of all. His brother clearly felt out of his element, outmatched and overwhelmed by the number and armament of their enemies. He raised his katars defensively when the jackal demon reached the floor of the cavern, but he wasn’t the only one surprised by what transpired. The elestram raised one of her blades and tapped one of Aeligos’ katars, almost like she was crossing swords with him, and then she circled to the side and faced Taesenus.
“Leave this one to me,” she said in fluent common. “He has a bounty on his head that I fully intend to collect.”
Corbanis turned to the rest of the group. “Stick to our plan, but keep an eye on her. We don’t know if this is a ruse or not.”
Erik looked once more at the elestram, and notably the claw marks on the side of her face. Had she tangled with the Tilcimer already? She certainly looked like a capable fighter, and Erik was glad for the prospect of two more blades on his side.
The Tilcimer glanced at Taesenus for a moment, and then it began pacing to the side, quickly reaching its blinding speed and passing by the elestram. She ducked, apparently on instinct, and stabbed after the demon as it passed by, but her counterattacks were too slow. She missed it badly, and her counter left her open to Taesenus as he bore down on her and cut at her with a vicious combination.
Gabrius drew the Demon Prince off of his attacks, catching them with his own blades and driving Taesenus to the side. Aeligos was nearly able to flank the Demon Prince, but Taesenus flexed deftly at the waist and chased the rogue off with the superior reach of his weapons. They worked to triangulate an attack, but Aeligos would be the weakest link in the offense, and also risk the most if he tried to press in. Erik tried to bark out a warning, but too late: the Tilcimer passed by Aeligos in a blur, its hooked claws slicing through his leather armor and into his back.
“Stay by the walls! Force it to come from the front,” Corbanis shouted, and everyone tried to follow his directions, even the elestram.
They fell back by the cavern walls, allowing Taesenus and the Tilcimer to similarly back away and consider their options. The two groups stared at each other, but the Tilcimer and the Demon Prince kept glancing at Aeligos. He didn’t appear to be badly hurt, but he was wounded and the least well-armed and armored of the group. Corbanis inched over towards his son, and beckoned for Aeligos to stay close to him, clearly intending to protect his son as much as he could with his shield.
Erik saw that Gabrius kept looking at the elestram female beside him. The difference in their heights made their staring game amusing, but they seemed to hold a silent conversation before they split apart and approached the Demon Prince from opposite sides. The Tilcimer began its blinding pace again, and Taesenus circled to his right to keep the elestram and half-brys before him.
“Dad, Jol, Erik: see if you can tip one of these columns over and cut off part of the room,” Aeligos said. “That thing is fast but it can’t turn as quickly because of it. If we can limit its path even slightly, it’s going to be a lot easier to corner!”
Ignoring the possibility of attack, father and sons rushed to the nearest pillar and threw their considerable combined strength into toppling it. It was no use; it was a part of the floor, and it wouldn’t budge. The Tilcimer hit Jol with its claws as it sped by, ripping gouges in the plate armor like it was cutting paper. Speckles of black blood dotted the surrounding armor, but Jol was hardly fazed by the grazing wounds. He turned and put his back to the column and held his massive blade before him, intent on a vicious sideways cut if the demon came again.
Erik stepped away from the column slightly, trying to draw the Tilcimer to himself while simultaneously blocking off part of the area from Taesenus. If the Tilcimer wouldn’t come to him, his father, and Jol, Erik planned to join the attack on Taesenus. He turned and watched a
s Gabrius dashed in on the Demon Prince and began with some conservative thrusts, trying to force Taesenus to give some ground. The Demon Prince met the half-brys’ every attack with a deft and efficient parry, and once the elestram joined in Gabrius’ attacks, the Demon Prince’s talents became all the more obvious. He began riposting, stepping back in against the tide and cutting at his enemies’ throats viciously. What seemed to make it difficult for him, though, was the difference in the heights of his two opponents.
Aeligos backed up the stairs and took up a position with a good vantage point. He got Gabrius’ bow and quiver ready, and began taking careful aim at the Demon Prince. Erik was startled when the Tilcimer stopped in front of him, but only for a second. He began attacking it, but the creature ducked and weaved and made him look like a fool. Even once Corbanis joined in, the demon kept its distance and hopped side to side so quickly that it was almost as though it left an after-image in its place. And then it was gone again, running around the outside of the room and circling to where the Demon Prince was fighting.
Serenjols dashed around the column and tried to intercept the Tilcimer, but there was little hope. It sped past him, knocking his weapon aside, but Jol smiled regardless: it had left a streak of red blood on his blade. He bore down on the Demon Prince instead, and attempted a broad swing to either force Taesenus into one of his allies or else cut him clean in half. The Demon Prince turned on instinct and parried the blow, but Jol’s strength blasted him from his feet and left him flat on his back.
“Get him!” Erik barked, turning his attention to the streaking Tilcimer.
“Crap, Jol!” Aeligos yelled, a moment before his arrow stuck into the shoulder seam on Jol’s armor.
Taesenus, flat on his back, looked above himself as Gabrius and the elestram both dashed forward to attempt a coup-de-grace. Even on his back and looking at them upside down, the Demon Prince knocked their weapons aside and stabbed quickly over his shoulder as he got back to his feet. His stab struck home, biting through the leather armor of the elestram and leaving a two-inch streak of red on the end of his katana. He got to his feet without pause, and turned to begin intercepting Gabrius’ attacks.
Jol grunted and snapped the end of the arrow off. The Tilcimer approached and began slashing at his side while his attention was on his other shoulder, but though it was cutting through his armor, it wasn’t getting deep enough to cause injury. Erik dashed over to help, and Jol reached out without looking and caught one of the creature’s horns. With one of his arms at least temporarily useless, he pulled with all his might and slammed one of his dragon-like horns into the demon’s face as hard as he could.
The Tilcimer staggered but began moving even while dazed, and it circled back around the room in the other direction. This time, Erik and his father were waiting for it, and greeted it with a web of swords and a shield. It dashed to Corbanis’ left and swiped at him, but its claws weren’t strong enough to tear through the metal of his shield. He tried to shield slam it like he’d done in Feral’s home, but it ducked away too quickly. Erik got in close enough to strike it, but he hit it high, slicing through its forearm before it was away and moving at its maximum speed again.
“Legs, son; get its legs,” Corbanis said.
“Right,” Erik agreed, chiding himself.
Erik turned back to the other fight for only a moment. Gabrius and Taesenus were well-matched, battling each other to a stalemate. Taesenus had enough battlefield awareness to avoid getting pushed into Jol. The elestram was still bent over, clutching at her wound. Gabrius was measured in his aggression, making sure he didn’t end up the same way; if all three fighting Taesenus were wounded, things would turn against Erik and Corbanis quickly and horribly.
Jol, one arm barely useable, managed to drive Taesenus away with one-handed swings that would have been nearly impossible for any other man. With his size and strength, though, he was able to at least threaten his enemies enough to keep them away from him. After forcing the Tilcimer to change course back to the other side of the room, Serenjols hefted the wounded elestram over his shoulder and dashed for the stairs. Erik blew out a sigh of relief; at least the wounded were no longer exposed.
Erik and his father tensed as they prepared for another assault from the Tilcimer, but a series of blinding flashes preceded their being knocked to the ground. The scorching of the fireballs had little effect but to blacken their armor, but the concussive forces still threw them to the floor of the cavern. The Tilcimer pounced upon Corbanis, slashing wildly with its wicked claws, but he was able to whip his head side to side, using his hair and his horns to protect his face for the most part. It hopped back off of him when he brought his sword to bear and nearly stabbed it through the gut. As Erik and his father rose cautiously to their feet, Erik was astounded by the creature’s speed.
With the Tilcimer circling the cavern again, Erik followed Jol to the stairs to defend his brother’s withdrawal. Erik could see black blood running down the same arm the elestram was slung over, and he wondered how badly Jol was injured. This fight was a lot more complicated than he’d expected, not even taking the presence of the Demon Prince into account. For all his father had explained about the speed of the Tilcimer, it was something Erik couldn’t properly appreciate until he saw it himself. And now that he had, he simply hoped it would be the last time – and not because he was killed.
Gabrius and Corbanis fell back toward the stairs as well, sensing it was the best tactical maneuver under the circumstances. The cavern was simply too large to effectively fight the Tilcimer, even when it couldn’t turn very quickly at its top speed. Their intent was to funnel it onto the staircase to completely hamper its mobility, and Erik was satisfied that his father thought that was the right choice. Corbanis and Gabrius took up defensive positions at the base of the stairs, and waited on their enemies’ next move.
Erik moved farther up the stairs. “How badly is she hurt?” he asked. He hoped the elestram was all right, as little as he normally cared for the jackal demons. They needed all the help they could get in this fight, and though she’d apparently made a mistake and gotten stabbed, she had demonstrated more than a passing proficiency with the blades.
“Assuming their anatomy is like ours, he hit her in the liver,” Jol said, kneeling beside the prone form of the jackal demon. “I would not count on her rejoining the fight.”
“Sorry about the arrow,” Aeligos said.
Erik turned to regard him, looking back and forth between the rogue and Jol. Aeligos was bleeding, too, but not as badly as their eldest brother. “You shot Jol?” Erik asked, but he didn’t wait for an answer, moving back down the stairs to stand with his father and Gabrius. “So…what now?”
“Now you are down to three fools, two wounded fools, and an archer that cannot tell friend from foe,” Taesenus mocked them, and the Tilcimer clacked its teeth before letting out a breathy chuckle. “Too bad your mothers didn’t leave you any reliable subjects, like mine.”
The Tilcimer turned a green eye and then its entire head to look at Taesenus. “Subjects?”
“As you said: the Queen is dead, long live the King,” said the Demon Prince .
“Arrogant, petulant fool…you are not the king I speak of,” the demon said, and Taesenus turned a confused stare upon it. “Your arrogance will cost you your life.”
Erik almost laughed aloud when the demon sped toward Taesenus and clawed at him, but the reflexes and accuracy with which the Demon Prince reacted astounded him. Taesenus not only fended off the demon’s attacks, but he wounded it pretty badly, driving one of his blades clear through its gut. Blood ran down its belly as it disengaged from the Demon Prince. Erik could only imagine what either of the duels between Taesenus and Kari must have been like to witness. He shook the thoughts away. “Let’s take advantage of this,” he said, and his father and Gabrius both agreed.
The three moved forward to join the fray, leaving Jol to rest and try to aid the wounded elestram while Aeligos stood guard o
ver them. As soon as Erik and his companions moved to attack, though, the seeming hostility between Taesenus and the Tilcimer evaporated. They both turned on the Silver Blades again, and though the Tilcimer was bleeding, it showed no signs of slowing down yet on account of its wounds. Taesenus, who was also slightly wounded, likewise gave no indication that he was fatigued or at all disabled. He began dueling Gabrius again, and the two were so well-matched that they both began to grow frustrated within moments.
The Tilcimer began hurling fireballs as it retreated across the cavern again, but this time, it paid no mind to who it hit. Taesenus was struck from his rear flank and sent sprawling to the ground. The blast knocked Gabrius away, preventing him from taking advantage of the Demon Prince’s prone position. They both got to their feet and resumed their duel.
Erik and his father spread out between one of the columns and the wall of the cavern, hoping to catch the Tilcimer passing between them, but it avoided their simple trap. It circled around toward Taesenus and Gabrius, but bypassed them as well and sped up the staircase toward Jol and Aeligos. Erik and Corbanis hurried to go aid their companions, and Jol tried to grab a hold of the demon, missing badly even when it wasn’t at full speed. The Tilcimer made its way to Aeligos, the least-armored of the entire group.
Erik could only watch as Aeligos dropped to his rump for an ankle trip. The Tilcimer nearly avoided his attack completely, but its momentum worked against it, and it stumbled over him, hitting the wall with a sickening crack. It shook its head briefly, trying to get its wits back about it, and when it turned back to the group, the flesh of its snout was torn and bleeding. It had broken its snout when it collided with the wall, and it turned on Aeligos with burning fury.
The rogue was thrown clear off the staircase with a fireball at close range, and Erik could hear a pained cry from the elestram. It was the first indication she’d given that she was alive, let alone conscious, and Jol grabbed her and tried to pull her to safety. That plan was dashed a moment later when the Tilcimer advanced on him, its hooked claws flashing in wicked cuts that he could hardly defend against. With only the full use of one arm, Jol turned his wounded side toward the demon, and let his already-injured shoulder absorb what damage the creature dealt. He drew his greatsword with his other hand, and tried to strike the demon while it was limited in its ability to dodge.
