Hero Wanted

by Dan McGirt

  Hundreds of winged marauders swarmed around the city towers. I studied one of the demons through a spyglass as it swooped down to street level and gleefully impaled a fleeing citizen with a flaming trident. The winged marauder was an orange, scaly,

  man-shaped creature with the head of a jackal, a long spiked tail, and membranous, fan like wings. The rest of the horde was of the same breed, all armed with tridents, large metal hooks, or bags of ceramic grenades that exploded in bursts of green flame when hurled to the ground.

  “From the direction of their attack, I’d say they gated in north of the city,” said Merc.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Only a transdimensional gate from the Assorted Hells could bring so many demons to Arden at one time. I wonder if someone has found the Horn of Hockessin?”

  “At the risk of sounding completely ignorant—what is a Horn of Hockessin?”

  “A magic horn that summons demons. It was created by Hockessin the Unclean, the greatest demonologist who ever lived. He was so powerful and so wicked that even the Dark Magic Society feared him. The Demon Lords themselves paid him homage, for he knew their darkest secrets and hidden weaknesses. Which raises the question of who is behind this attack.”

  “Whoever has the Horn of Hockessin?”

  “Maybe. A Demon Lord could open a gate by his own power. With effort, the Society might summon such a horde as this, even without the Horn.”

  “Didn’t you tell me that Raelna is a blessed land, protected from demons?”

  “There are always loopholes.”

  “Or plot holes.”

  “That too.”

  Rae City’s defenders battled the marauders with an assortment of advanced weapons. Set on tower roofs were one hundred batteries of automatic arbalests, called acks. These were large, powerful crossbows that cocked and loaded themselves after each shot. An ack could fire ten long, steel-tipped arrows in as many seconds. Each ack unit was manned by a skillful crew of four. The gunner, seated in a reclining chair, sighted his target through the scope and pulled the trigger. Two more strong men wheeled the turntable on which the gun rested, always keeping it aimed in the right direction. They pushed to and fro, changing direction or making a complete circle as needed, all without looking up. Through long training or sheer instinct they knew which way to go. The fourth man rode on the platform and fed belts of arrows into the weapon. The main crew was supported by additional spotters and runners who brought up fresh belts of ammunition.

  The ack crews brought down many of the winged demons—it is hard to miss a bright orange target—but could not hit them all. Bomb-throwing marauders disabled several ack emplacements. Others were overwhelmed by squadrons of demons that swooped below their plane of fire, then swarmed up to attack the crews with hook and trident.

  “Why isn’t AMOK engaged?” demanded Raella.

  “Unknown, Your Majesty!” said Lord Hawkinstern.

  “Find out!”

  “What is AMOK?” I asked Mercury.

  “Automated Magical Object Killer. A system Raella’s technomancers dreamed up to protect the city from aerial attacks. It cost millions to develop and is supposed to automatically destroy every airborne attacker in range.”

  “Then why do they need the acks?”

  “AMOK is unproven. It’s an expensive gamble that doesn’t seem to be paying off. I warned Raella she was throwing her money away.”

  Now a new force entered the battle, flying out from the Sun Palace to engage the winged marauders. The Gryphon Guard was an elite unit of twenty soldiers mounted on gryphons. A gryphon is a large beast with the body and hind legs of a lion, and the wings, head, and forelegs of an eagle. In the wild they nest on mountain tops and prey on horses, cattle, and other animals, not hesitating to attack men as well. These particular beasts had been more or less tamed and trained to serve as aerial steeds. They obeyed their riders, but would happily snap off the hand of anyone else who came within reach of their sharp beaks. The Gryphon Guard was brave indeed to ride such monsters into battle.

  The squadron kept in tight formation and pursued marauders flying low to evade the acks. It is not easy to fire a crossbow from the back of a swift flying gryphon, but the Guard did so with great skill. Even so, they were too small a force to stop the demonic horde.

  “Merc, if this AMOK system starts up, won’t the Gryphon Guard be in trouble?”

  “They wear charms to identify themselves to AMOK as friendly.”

  “I hope the charms work.”

  “So do they.”

  “AMOK online!” said Hawkinstern.

  The sky lit up with flashes of brilliant red light streaking from the upper terraces of the Sun Palace. Scarlet beams lanced through the ranks of the winged marauders, blasting them out of the air. Smoldering demons dropped by the dozens. On the observation deck, soldiers cheered. Even Raella allowed herself a brief smile.

  Hawkinstern reported, “The light pump required excessive warm-up time!”

  “Lives were lost by that delay!” snapped the queen.

  The beams were projected from yard-long rods of ruby quartz collared by curved mirrors. The whole apparatus was mounted on a swivel to allow it free motion. It was called a resal, short for regulated emission of sorcerously amplified light. Fifty such resal cannons dotted the battlements of the Sun Palace. According to Merc, the devices converted distilled sunlight into destructive energy projected from the rods. The purified sunlight was stored in liquid form in great tanks beneath the palace and pumped through crystalline tubes into each individual unit. AMOK was thus operable even at night or on cloudy days. I gathered that the liquefaction of sunlight and the rest of the process were closely guarded state secrets.

  “No one aims these resals, you say?” I found that hard to believe as the beams cut down more and more of the retreating marauders.

  “Each cannon is controlled by an enchanted smart crystal that tracks targets based on instructions imprinted in the crystal.”

  “I think the instructions were a little unclear.”

  The marauders flew down amid the towers of the city to evade the resals, but AMOK was not letting them off so easily. The automated cannons concentrated fierce barrages on any building obscuring their targets, setting towers ablaze and sending huge chunks of debris falling to the street. AMOK also opened fire on the Gryphon Guard, downing most of the unit.

  “AMOK has run amok!” said Merc.

  “Stop it!” commanded Raella. “Shut it down!”

  “Your Majesty!” protested Hawkinstern. “We’re getting a greater than fifty percent kill ratio! Let us finish them!”

  “With protection like this, who needs demons?” said Merc.

  “Shut it down!” said Raella.

  The royal command was relayed downstairs. Long moments passed, bringing more destruction to the city. The bad news was relayed back up the stairs to the queen.

  “The pump is jammed!” exclaimed a soldier. “We can’t shut it off!”

  “Find a way!” said Raella. “Now!”

  Having pulverized the towers nearest the Sun Palace, AMOK was starting on the next ring of buildings. There was panic in the streets as citizens fled the crumbling structures and headed for relative safety in the outer districts of the city.

  “How long until the tanks run dry?” asked Hawkinstern.

  “They can supply the system for another two hours,” said an aide.

  “By then, most of the city will be leveled!” said Merc.

  “True,” said Hawkinstern. “But the kill ratio is spectacular nonetheless.”

  Raella fixed him with a glare of royal disapproval. The old soldier fell silent.

  I surveyed the city though my spyglass. Hawkinstern was right. Most of the surviving marauders were retreating to the north of the city, out of AMOK’s range, or else descending to the streets. I focused on a band of three demons harrying a detachment of soldiers in one of the numerous parks near the Sun Palace.

  My he
art caught in my throat. Crouched amid the soldiers were Sapphrina and Rubis! They had evidently wheedled the Lord Chamberlain into letting them leave the palace.

  The sisters huddled against an overturned carriage while the soldiers, six in all, stood ringed about them. Even as I watched, a marauder decapitated a soldier with a single swipe of its weapon. The man’s severed head bounced down the street like a ball.

  “Merc! The twins are out there! We’ve got to help them!”

  I pointed out the scene. Mercury shook his head.

  “There is nothing we can do,” he said. “If we venture out there, AMOK will cut us to ribbons.”

  The marauders lifted a soldier into the air and ripped him in half. Rubis had an injured leg and was unable to stand. Sapphrina hefted the sword of a fallen soldier and bravely stood over her sister, holding the weapon inexpertly. The marauders caught another soldier and hacked his limbs off one by one, letting them fall around the frightened girls.

  The demons were toying with them, slaying their protectors, and saving the twins for last. Who knew what horrible deaths they would suffer? I remembered the stories about Ouga-Oyg and the vile boasts of Babbadabbas. Demons had a depraved appetite for mortal women.

  “We must save them!” I cried, putting down the spyglass. I headed for the stairs, intending to race through the streets, dodging resal blasts and falling towers if necessary.

  “Wait, Jason!” said Mercury. I paused and looked back. “There may be a way to reach them in time,” said the wizard.

  “Then let’s go!”

  “To the royal bedchamber!” he said, leading the way. Puzzled, I followed, grabbing a jeweled battle axe from a wall display as we ran through the palace corridors.

  Raella’s bedchamber was opulent and spacious. The walls were decorated with gold and silver filigree studded with precious gems. The ceiling was painted with scenes of birds, clouds, and celestial bodies. The birds moved, while the painted images of the sun, moon, and stars glowed with a soft radiance that illuminated the room. The bed, wardrobe, and other furnishings were of the richest materials and highest craftsmanship, but I didn’t have time to admire them.

  We were here for the rug.

  The plush red carpet that covered the floor from wall to wall was shot through with threads of gold and silver.

  Mercury waved his hands. A rectangular section of carpet rose into the air, revealing the bare marble floor beneath it. Almost immediately, the remaining carpet grew together to cover the exposed space.

  “Magic carpet grass,” explained Merc. “It can grow anywhere with the proper spells and tending.” His robes transmuted into a close-fitting black garment, while his cloak turned deep purple. Merc hopped aboard the hovering rug and sat cross legged. The rug promptly fell back to the floor. Merc winced at the sudden impact. He waved his hands again. The rug reluctantly sagged back into the air.

  “We’re going to fly?” I asked nervously. “On that?”

  “Someone needs to up the nutrient mix,” said Merc. “But this is the only way to get there in time.”

  “You can’t be serious.”

  “I’m nothing but serious. By the way, you should change clothes. Court dress is ill-suited for fighting.”

  “Change clothes? I don’t have time for that!”

  “Just imagine what you want to wear. The enchantment on your garments will adjust them accordingly.”

  “Fine. Let’s go!”

  I imagined myself into a Darnkite peasant’s grey work shirt and trousers and joined Merc on the carpet. It felt soft but solid beneath me. I wasn’t greatly reassured.

  “I don’t trust this thing.”

  “You can’t fall off unless you jump or get pushed,” he said. “I promise not to push you.”

  The flying carpet shot forward and over the edge of a balcony, plummeting straight down with alarming speed. Raella’s room was on an upper level of the palace. We fell more than one hundred feet before halting our descent and skimming mere inches above the glass surface of the skylight over the throne room. AMOK did not open fire on us until we reached the lower terraces.

  A hole opened beneath me. My backside fell through the gap.

  “I thought you said I couldn’t fall off!”

  “You haven’t, have you?”

  “I’m sinking right through!”

  “I never said anything about that, did I?”

  Merc made the carpet dance through the air so erratically that the smart crystals were unable to track us. The air around us blazed with arcane power bolts, but none struck the carpet. Our wild flight, however, put such stress on the fabric that the hole I was stuck in grew ever wider. Soon I was bent double with my knees beside my ears, held up only by my calves and arms.

  We reached the far side of a ring of burning towers, putting their bulk between us and the resal cannons, and streaked low over the rubble filled streets, doubling back toward the park.

  “How’s that for flying?” said Mercury.

  “I think I left my stomach back in the palace.”

  “We’ll pick it up later.”

  My legs and lower body slid through the hole. I maintained my grip on the battle axe, the haft of which spanned the gap in the rug, serving as a crossbar to hold me aloft.

  “Could you give me a hand here?”

  “We’re almost there!”

  “Not what I asked.”

  Only one of the twins’ gallant defenders yet survived. As we approached, a demon struck him in the chest with its spiky tail, crushing ribs and splattering blood. He fell lifeless.

  The demon lunged at Sapphrina, easily batting the sword from her grasp. She screamed and threw herself protectively at her equally hysterical sister.

  Merc aimed his sunshades and unleashed a resal blast of his own, striking the marauder dead. A second demon flew at us and met the same fate. The third marauder retreated, but flew too high and was nailed by an alert ack gunner.

  Merc brought the carpet near street level so that my feet grazed the ground. I disengaged from the carpet. Sapphrina rushed to embrace me.

  “Jason! Thank The Gods it’s you!”

  “I do the work, he gets the thanks,” said Merc.

  He commanded the carpet to mend while I helped Sapphrina aboard, then lifted the injured Rubis in my arms.

  “You’re making a habit of this,” she said, clinging to my neck. “People will talk.”

  “Let them.” I hopped onto the carpet. We lifted off.

  The resal cannons stopped firing.

  “AMOK has shut down,” said Merc.

  “Great!” I said. His expression said otherwise. “Isn’t it?”

  “No. Look there. The marauders are regrouping. Worse, a fresh wave is gating in. Without AMOK they’ll overwhelm our defenses.”

  “What can we do?”

  “We’ll have to fight back the old fashioned way—with high sorcery!”

  *****

  Chapter 14

  “That was a mad stunt!” cried Raella, as we returned to the observation deck at the pinnacle of the Sun Palace.

  “All in a day’s work,” said Mercury, squeezing her hand. “Though this day’s work is far from done.”

  Tower by tower, the winged marauders stormed the ack emplacements with brutal precision. Fires burned throughout Rae City. Terrified citizens jammed the streets, jostling to reach the gates and escape into the countryside.

  Timeon and Ormazander entered the observation deck, accompanied by fourteen wizards of lesser rank, a mix of Leaguers and members of Raella’s court. Lord Hawkinstern led his military underlings from the room. The defense of the city was now in the hands of the wizards.

  “You’ll want to go below too,” said Raella to the twins and me. “It will be safer.”

  “Begging Your Majesty’s pardon, but if this doesn’t work, is any place in Rae City safe?” I asked.

  “No,” she admitted.

  “Then I’d rather be here.”

  “We’ll stay
too,” said Sapphrina, clutching my arm. Rubis squeezed her sister’s hand and nodded.

  “As you will,” said Raella.

  I sat between the twins at the top of the stairs. The band of wizards gathered around the queen.

  “Our danger is great,” she said. “Our enemies are too numerous to count.”

  Timeon lifted his staff. “Let the number of our enemies be counted!” he said. Glowing red numerals appeared in the air beside him.

  There were nine hundred ninety-nine winged marauders.

  “Even so,” said Raella, miffed that her rhetorical flourish had been deflated. “We face a great many foes, and our defenses are failing.”

  The number of winged marauders dropped by five as the surviving acks took their toll. But soon the last battery fell to the demons. Rae City’s only remaining defenses were squads of archers, but they were scattered and ineffectual. The demons massed in the sky for their assault on the Sun Palace.

  The queen’s eyes shone. “I must now do what has not been done since the dawning days of this age. I must call upon Raelna’s divine patron and protector, Bright Rae, Goddess of the Sun, to preserve us. If Rae City falls and Jason Cosmo is taken by the minions of the Dark Magic Society or the pawns of the Demon Lords who now beset us—whichever these winged marauders may be—then beauty and truth, hope and peace, life and liberty, will be forever lost, not only to the people of Raelna, but to all the Eleven Kingdoms of Arden.”

  “In other words,” said Mercury. “This is very important.”

  “The ancient Rite of Summons demands my total concentration,” said Raella. “It is up to you to hold back the demons until I complete it.”

  “I suggest the Cascading Calligraphy of Chaos,” said Merc, stepping forward. “Are all familiar with that spell?” The other wizards nodded, some of them a bit hesitantly. Mercury noted their unease. “Don’t worry. It’s as easy as ABC.”

  “The difficulty,” said Timeon, “lies not in casting the spell, but in maintaining it, which requires great stamina.”

  “Maintain it we must, until Raella petitions the goddess,” said Merc. “After that it won’t matter—we’ll either be saved or dead.” He pulled a handful of small brightly colored rods from under his cloak. “Everyone take a magic marker.”