by J. T. Stoll
Jed brought his sword around and deflected the axe. A loud metallic screech echoed into the night. The two danced back and forth, but James was on the offensive, Jed stepping back with every clash.
“They’re really fighting,” Vero said. “Pieter… what do we do?”
“Rush in and save the day,” he replied holding his sword high.
“Cut your stupid act,” she said. “That’s real.”
“Haven’t you tried what James said?” Neil asked. “Don’t you feel this thing? It’s incredible.”
Neil didn’t look any different.
Another gust hit Vero from Pieter’s direction.
“Whoa, no way.” Pieter sounded genuinely shocked.
Neil nodded to Pieter. “You’re glowing.”
Vero didn’t see the glow.
She looked out through the bushes. Jed stumbled backward after another clash of weapons. The short guy charged at James from across the field and swung a mace at his back.. James dodged, barely, and aimed a wobbling axe at the short guy.
Jed seized the opening and stabbed. His sword sliced into James. The short guy connected his weapon with James’s chest and launched him in an arc across the field.
“This thing’s… mad,” Neil said. “It wants to get involved, wants to fight. Come on, Pieter!”
“I… I don’t know,” Pieter said. His sword drooped, and the tip touched the ground. “I…”
Jed and the short guy cautiously walked over to James, who lay still. Jed said something in that gibberish language; he sounded sarcastic.
“Idiot, the man said our world’s in danger. And he’s about to get killed by some thugs,” Neil said.
“You’re quick to believe,” Pieter said.
“He walked out of an interdimensional portal,” Neil replied. “What’s not to believe?”
“Running seems safer.”
“You idiot, just follow me!”
With that, he dashed out of the bushes toward the two men, both hands gripping the mace. Pieter hesitated for a moment, then followed.
A little insane? No, Neil was completely insane. Gloria was the only other one who still had any sense.
“You?” Vero asked her.
“I’m… I’m strong. I can feel it in this thing. But… I’m not a fighter.”
Neil swung the mace like a baseball bat toward the short guy. His enemy stepped back casually, and the blow missed. He didn’t seem worried. Rather, curious.
Pieter slashed at Jed, who swiped his sword to the side. Jed shouted, “The Shadowlanders? You gave armors to the Shadowlanders?”
Vero jumped to hear him speak perfect English. Why’d he switched languages? Was it because Pieter and Neil had come out? It couldn’t be a good sign that he had so much spare breath for speaking while fighting Pieter.
Jed nodded to the short one. “Dek, take care of little mace-boy, there.”
“This looks bad,” Gloria said. “What do we do?”
Vero glanced at James. He beckoned her with his finger, then pointed to his axe.
Oh, no. He wanted her to take it. He wanted her to fight.
“Vero?” Gloria asked.
She might be able to scramble through the bushes, cross the dry creek, and get to the strip mall. Then call her family and get a ride out of here. Better yet, call the police.
Except that by the time they got there, her boyfriend—her stupid, impulsive boyfriend—would get killed.
Vero shoved aside the bushes and dashed across the field. She knelt next to James.
“Take it,” he whispered. “The band on my arm. The axe. Diotein, axe of fire. Take it; kill them.” He turned his head to the axe. “Serve her well, old friend. She’s your new master…”
Vero found the metal band on his upper arm, opened a little clip to widen it, and slid it off. His body slumped. She slid it up her own arm, then picked up the axe. She concentrated on the feeling of the metal against her skin. It felt warm—no, hot.
Something flared to life.
An inferno roared inside her. A burning, passionate something exploded. She felt James’s anger, his rage. This thing, Diotein, screamed for the blood of those two enemies. Her body felt lighter, and the axe, it felt like part of her. She had some kind of link with the weapon.
The sounds of the night became sharper. And everyone except James lit up. Pieter glowed a faint silver around his arm, Neil around his waist. Jed had gold around his thigh, and the other one, Dek, had silver on his arm. And the tunnel, it shone like a floodlight. Brilliant, golden lines twisted and moved inside it.
“Go,” James moaned. “They need you.”
She stood and turned to the fight. Neil faced Dek, but after his initial burst of action, the overweight gamer seemed afraid to swing again. Pieter faced Jed, sword wobbling in his hands.
Vero ran for Pieter and Jed. Her feet flew beneath her, the fastest sprint of her life. She chopped for Jed. He blocked—barely—but she swung again, again, again. The fury, the power, she felt an echo of James in it somehow. As though some memory of him remained in the armor. None of the blows landed, but Jed lost his amused look.
He jumped. Like earlier, straight up. Vero craned her neck to see; he made it twenty or thirty feet up, then came down, sword slicing for her.
She leaped to the side and he cut into the dirt. Pieter slashed, missed.
“Stay off my girl,” Pieter said.
“Oh, you’ll end up telling her to stay off,” Jed replied.
Pieter grinned. “I like you. Too bad I have to kill you.”
Vero whipped her head around to check on Neil. His mace had stuck itself in the dirt after an overdone swing. Gloria stood at his side, shaking, holding her stick like a baseball bat. So she’d decided to come help after all. Her glow was really, really faint. Their opponent still didn’t look worried.
A light went out to Vero’s left. Where the tunnel had been, a faint afterglow remained.
Jed’s mouth dropped open. “What happened?” he shouted.
James’s faint voice drifted over the field. “The portal’s closed, Jed. Enjoy the Shadowlands.”
A look of contempt washed across Jed’s face. Vero and Pieter both rushed forward. Jed slapped Pieter’s sword to the side, but Vero dug her axe into his flank. Warm blood sprayed onto her.
He leaped back a few feet and put a hand against the cut, the other still holding his sword forward. “Shadowlanders… your deaths will entertain me,” he said. “Until my king opens that portal, I have nothing to do but to kill each and every one of you. Slowly.” He shouted to his companion, “Dek, jump!”
Full of the strength and fire, Vero charged. Jed jumped; her swing barely missed his feet.
“Let’s get ‘em!” Vero shouted. She crouched.
“Vero, wait,” Pieter said.
She pushed against the ground with all her strength and launched skyward. She gasped as she cleared the trees, the sparkling lights of the town spreading in every direction. The glowing silver and gold of Jed and Dek were just ahead.
Only, they kept going up. Vero reached the top of her jump and plummeted. She fell into a bunch of trees and bushes and landed on her side, the wind knocked out of her.
She stayed still, wondering what she’d just done to her body. The pain wasn’t that bad. Maybe some light bruises, by the feel. She pushed dark branches aside and tromped back to the pale light of the field. She looked over her body, expecting to find her skirt and top torn to shreds. They weren’t. Apparently, the armor strengthened even her clothing.
Pieter thrust his arms around her and held her tight. His lips pressed hers, and…
That was the first time he’d kissed her. He was passionate. And not a bad kisser.
“Hey, lovers, you got a minute for the rest of us?” Neil asked.
Pieter pulled back. “You’re hot.”
“Thanks,” Vero replied.
He pushed her back. “No, I mean, your skin is like lava. I think my lips are burned…”
&n
bsp; “Maybe the armor?” Vero asked.
“But totally worth it.”
They walked back toward James. His chest rose and fell in an uneven, labored motion. Blood oozed out of his chest. Vero gagged.
Gloria knelt next to him. She ran both hands across her scalp a few times. “Oh, this is… I’m calling an ambulance.”
“Wait,” James said, breathing heavily. “Not yet. I need to talk to you. You need… need to know.”
“Can this save you?” Vero asked, holding her axe forward.
“Not… not now. Too late. I’m too exhausted. And I won’t chance dying with it on. It’ll… kill the armor. Gloria, your staff is a healer, once you learn to use it. Better than any in this world. Now, listen, you kids are…”
“Kids?” Pieter asked. “What happened to ‘Your Highness?’”
“I needed you to play along, so I played along.” James gave a slight grin then his face spasmed in pain. “You’re my resistance.”
“Resistance?” Pieter asked.
“I come from another realm, another world, Ruach,” James said. “Those men are soldiers of Prince Terian. He tried to kill his younger brother, Justin, and now he’s rebelled against his father, the good king Rolland. Terian wants the throne.”
“Isn’t it his, as elder?” Neil asked. “Though, maybe in your world…”
“He lost it for trying to kill his brother,” James said. “And now he’s looking to your world to strengthen his side.”
“How are we supposed to do that?” Vero asked.
“Resources,” James said. “He needs precious metals and gems to make soul armors. They’re our ultimate weapons. He’s uniting the wildians. Dek, that one who worked with Jed, was wildian. They’re primitive, but numerous. More than my people, the highlanders, at least. Terian outnumbers us, but he needs arms to win the war.”
“How do you even know we have the resources you need?” Neil asked.
“We’ve watched you for a century, but we’ve never been able to come here. I’m the first. This place, the rift, is a weak place in the veil between our worlds. King Rolland made a spell to open it and create a tunnel to your world. But the rift is in Terian’s territory. I don’t think we’ll be able to reach it again. And once Terian finds a way to open it, he’ll have free access to you. He’ll come to conquer.
“I came with four companions to start a resistance. One stayed in Ruach. Three died on the journey. You hold their weapons.”
Resistance. More like guerilla army. Vero trembled a bit at the thought.
“We can’t fight an army,” Neil said.
“No,” James said. “Annoy them. Slow them down. The war’s fierce; Terian can’t spare too many men. He’ll lose eventually, as long as he doesn’t reinforce himself from here. Please…” He coughed then paused for a moment.
Vero didn’t speak. This seemed strange, unbelievable, but she’d just felt the armor’s power flowing through her; she’d just jumped fifty feet into the air. That made things a lot more believable.
“Your weapons… some of the strongest soul armors ever forged. Duncan made them.”
“Who?” Vero asked.
“Sorry, my… mind, mind is… Duncan. Duncan. Created the first soul armor. The royal smith. Pieter, that’s Croga, the sword of resolve. Neil, your mace, Reitach… means bravery. Gloria, Gloria. Kind and fair. But so hurt. You deserve better than your life has given you. For you, the strongest, Nadur, the staff of nature. Those weapons…”
James coughed. Then coughed again. And again. Vero watched uncomfortably, unsure what to do. The fit lasted a while. After, he spoke slower.
“Jed… kill him, for my sake. He’ll show you no mercy for humiliating him tonight.”
“I’m calling an ambulance,” Gloria said.
She tried to stand, but James took her hand. “Thank you… sweet Gloria. You remind me so much of… of Julia. If you ever meet, give her my farewell.” With a shaking hand, he took a small piece of paper from his pants pocket and handed it to her.
He stared into the distance as he spoke. “There’s so much more. Sight. Yes, you’ll begin to see…” He gasped a few times. “Empyrean, can my soul find its way to you from this world? Can I…”
He coughed again, then fell still.
Gloria dialed 911 and started talking to the operator.
“This is bad,” Pieter said. “Look, we need to ditch those weapons. Vero, you need to get the blood off yours. If the cops show up, they’re going to think we did this.”
“What?” Vero asked.
“This guy got killed by a medieval weapon,” Pieter said. “What do you think this’ll look like?”
Sirens echoed in the distance.
“Why do the SLO police have to be so quick?” Pieter asked. “Neil, can you cook up a good story?”
“Uh, that’s always been your job,” Neil said.
Pieter looked at him. “You two don’t have blood on you, right? Look, you and Gloria heard noise and decided to check it out. James was injured when you got here. You saw the attackers—Jed and that short guy—but they ran away. Got it?”
“Got it,” Neil said.
“And we were never here. Now, gimme your weapons. Vero and I need to be gone.”
Pieter and Vero ran for the bushes, holding two weapons each. They grabbed James’s pack, forded the empty stream, and came up in the back of the parking lot. Red-and-blue lights flashed by on the street. Vero watched the gear for a minute while Pieter brought the car into a shady corner of the strip mall. She tossed everything in the backseat, and he drove off.
Exhaustion hit Vero hard. She felt like she should be wide awake and terrified, but her body began to shut down. She vaguely remembered arriving at home and falling into her warm bed.
3. Santa Maria Steaks
Dead people had to feel like this.
Vero woke up and lay half-asleep under her blankets, the warm metal band still touching the skin on her upper arm. Her heavy limbs felt glued to the bed, and she groaned.
At some point, Isabella got out of her bed and banged around the room a bit; Vero pulled the blankets over her head. Bella always gave her a hard time for making so much noise in the morning. Her sister seemed to be enjoying the revenge. Bella pulled a bright-red Panda Express polo shirt over her bulky body, strapped on a bicycle helmet, and left the room, slamming the door closed on the way out.
Despite the stale odor wafting up from the carpet, despite the chipped paint on the walls, this place felt comfortingly normal. Not normal like Pieter or normal like her friends Kristin or Carrie, but normal for Vero. From this room, everything about James and Ruach seemed like a dream.
The three-foot battle axe leaning against her wall disagreed. The handle was dark wood, and a leather strap, which they’d found in James’s pack, covered the blade. A blanket lay mostly draped over it, but someone—Bella, no doubt—had taken a peek. That couldn’t be good. Vero should’ve shoved it in their overstuffed closet, but everything from the night before, everything after the blaze of the armor went out, was fuzzy.
Vero pushed away the blankets. Her arms swung like rusty hinges. Against the protests of her body, she stood. She flipped open her ancient phone and found the battery nearly dead: 10:14 a.m.
She texted Pieter. “I need you.”
Vero undressed, wrapped herself in a towel, and walked to the bathroom. She stood under the hot water of the shower and began to wash away the grogginess, along with dirt and dried blood. The water flowed black down the drain. She thoroughly shampooed her hair and stood in the warm stream until it went tepid, courtesy of their tiny water heater. After a quick towel dry, she trudged back to her room.
She dressed, then pulled the armband out of the pile of her clothes. The sight of it forced violent memories to her consciousness. Gold surrounded a red gem, maybe a ruby. It was thin, so it wouldn’t show under loose sleeves, but most of Vero’s clothing wouldn’t hide it. She buried the object in the bottom of her purse and plodded to th
e kitchen.
Gabriella, who shared the other bedroom with their mom, sat at the dining room table in a little alcove of the kitchen. Tiny shorts failed to cover her thick thighs; a bulge of her stomach peeked out from beneath her stained shirt. Beyond the table, a small window showed a sunny day over Tolosa Mobile Home Park, a neighborhood that the rest of SLO hid behind a tall wall and pretended didn’t exist. The combined incomes of her mom, Isabella, and Gabriella paid for a decaying, two-room mobile home in “the happiest town in America.”
“Te levantaste tarde, ay,” Gabriella said.
Vero wasn’t up that late. Trust her sister to notice and comment. Vero slid a couple pieces of bread into the toaster and grabbed a mug for some instant coffee. She continued in Spanish. “What, I’m not allowed to sleep in?”
Gabriella talked with her mouth full of off-brand Lucky Charms. “Stay out all night with the boy toy?”
“I wish.” Vero pushed the thoughts of James and Jed out of her mind and managed a little laugh. “He brought along a friend of his on a double date. I’m just lucky nobody I knew spotted us.”
“Better night than mine. Worked till almost midnight.”
“Ouch.”
“When you joining us? We’re hiring.”
“Uh, maybe never.”
“Come on, Carlos’d love his littlest sister-in-law in the shop.”
Juggling food service jobs with community college seemed like the next step for Mendoza women after high school. Only Emilia—their oldest sister—had escaped the trap; she had married a restaurant owner in SLO and now cared for their baby, Maria. Vero, for her part, needed to get away from this family after graduation. She’d give anything to join her classmates, who’d probably move somewhere far away, somewhere fun, for college. Likely, she’d end up like her sisters: reeking of grease every Saturday night.
Gabriella poked her. “Oh, pretty baby Sister. Doesn’t have to get a job in high school. Feels so special. So sexy.”
The door opened, and Vero’s mom, Maria, walked in, back from mass. She was short and wide and wore a crimson dress that contrasted with the faded paint and dull stains on the walls. Her mouth parted into a huge smile.
