by Billy Wong
The last monster turned to run, but the stranger caught it from behind, grabbing it by the back of the neck. With one hand, he lifted it into the air and smashed it facefirst into a tree. It twitched, and he did it again. When he dropped it, a gray mush remained on the trunk. He knelt and cut exactly two tentacles from each monster as he had promised.
Brianna limped next to him and said numbly, "But you said you were going to leave me, that you couldn't stand up to the Ruwinds!"
"And you believed me, woman? You are gullible, you know. Why would I fear four Ruwinds, when I told you I would not fear a hundred of your shade?" His arrogant smile matched his pretentiously formal manner of speech. "But you are brave."
Weakly, Brianna slapped him. "Where is Mark? You left him alone, didn't you?! You foolish man, what if you had failed?"
"I did not fail, as I knew I wouldn't. Come on, let's go."
"Wait. I want my axe." She walked away, searching for it where she had seen it fall. But she could not see it through the haze in her eyes.
He pressed it into her groping hands. "Here. But I must tell you, it is a lousy weapon."
She nodded, not even sure what she was agreeing to, and the last of her strength left her. The ground came rushing up, but an immensely powerful arm caught and lifted her. For the scant moments before she fell asleep, she felt surprised by how gently it carried her.
#
For a while, Brianna's existence consisted of flashes of consciousness in which she could not tell what was real and what was a dream. She saw her husband die many times, and sometimes herself and Mark too. It was the worst when Mark shared that fate. Once, none of them died; the stranger arrived as the Ruwinds did and slaughtered the beasts. Then, of course, he gloated over their butchered corpses.
Occasionally, she heard the stranger talking to her but not what he was saying. Other times, she heard Cedric's voice, perfectly clear. He reminded her that Mark's life would be the stuff of legend. Sometimes, she tasted things salty and bitter, but did not remember ingesting them. And once, she felt herself being cut open. It hurt even worse than when she had been wounded, but she was helpless to do anything. Mercifully, oblivion took her quickly.
The first new experience she knew to be real was hearing the stranger say, "I have treated your wound. You will be fine, mighty one."
Brianna blinked her eyes as clear as she could and looked around. She lay beneath a furry blanket, apparently in some sort of cave lined all around with weapons and monstrous body parts. A variety of potions and elixirs rested atop a well-worn drawer, and the glow of a small firepit lit the chamber. She was glad to see Mark safe in his basket on the other side of her wide bed.
"Your home, I take it?" Brianna said in a weak voice. The stranger nodded. "Thank you for all you've done. But I'm not mighty. I don't even know how to fight."
"Ha! Woman, compared to me you are weak as a babe. But next to the sheep that are the bulk of humanity, you are mighty."
"My strength was only that of someone protecting her child, which every parent can summon in times of need."
"I think not. But despite your foolheartedness I respect you. What is your name?"
"Brianna, and my son is Mark. What are you called?"
"Helrish Deathsface."
"Your name is Helrish Deathsface?"
"You asked me what I was called. That is what a monster once called me, when I let him escape to tell his comrades what he saw. I enjoyed watching their company squirm before I killed them all." Helrish paused. "He mispronounced Hellish, I think."
Brianna frowned. "So they speak our tongue? All I've heard from them is odd clicking."
"Some of them speak it, yes. But to tell the truth, I was surprised it spoke our language to others of its kind. Perhaps I scared it so, it forgot its own!"
"You are the most arrogant man I have ever met."
"Everything I say is true, except that which I say in jest. What is jest or not, I leave to you."
"You have my axe?" Brianna asked without thinking.
Helrish nodded, then retrieved a razor-sharp, beautifully polished battleaxe from beneath her bed. It bore little resemblance to the axe Cedric had used to cut wood.
"I have reforged it to suit you better. But it is the same steel, along with a bit more."
"Reforged..? It's been a long time, hasn't it?"
"You have slept many days, for you lost much blood. Do you feel rested?"
She raised her arm with great effort and let it drop back to her side. "No, I feel weak as a kitten. Maybe if you hadn't made me exert myself when I was so wounded, I would be stronger by now."
"Maybe. But you got to do something few manage. You impressed me."
"You think I care about that? My husband is dead, and my life destroyed. What help can you offer there?"
"You may stay here as long as you need."
"I'll stay until I'm strong again. How have you been caring for Mark? You don't seem like a man accustomed to raising babies."
"Do you think so little of me? Here, hold him if you wish. See, he is perfectly healthy."
Helrish placed Mark into her arms, and she smiled as she admired the healthy glow of his skin. His beautiful blue eyes shone bright with curiosity, and he seemed blissfully unaware that anything bad had happened. But Brianna's arms were so weak, it tired her just to hold her little boy. She began to pull her shirt up so Mark could nurse, remembered Helrish, and exposed her teat anyway. She knew he had changed her into the clothes she wore now, and trusted he had not violated her then. It would have been beneath him, she thought.
"Whose clothes are these?" she asked. "They fit surprisingly well; do you have a wife?"
Her eyes widened to hear him say, "I took them from one of the Ruwinds. They are taller than you, but similarly slender."
"I haven't been called slender since I had Mark here." She was not fat, but neither did she have the build of a teenage girl.
Helrish spread his arms. Damn, he was gigantic. She hadn't really taken in how gigantic in her wounded state. "Do not be insulted. Most men are slender to me."
"I took it as a compliment, actually."
He shrugged. "Seeing as how you just woke up, and I do not have solid food prepared for two, I will go catch a deer. If you are thirsty, there is water on the table to your right."
"You forgot your bow," she said as he walked away, leaving the huge longbow high on the wall.
He looked for a moment, but did not turn back. "I do not need a bow to hunt deer."
She giggled, thinking he had forgotten and was trying to save face. But when Helrish came back a few hours later, he was dragging a huge stag by the horns. It had no visible wounds, except that its neck appeared to be broken.
"I told you, woman—I need no bow to hunt deer."
#
Helrish boiled the deer meat until it was very soft before giving it to Brianna. Though her stomach had healed, it had not held solid food for a long time and was still sensitive.
"Why did the Ruwinds come after you, anyway?" he asked while she chewed. "What else were you, besides just another young couple living harmlessly in the country?"
"My husband was a very skilled engineer. But when the north fell and our hometown was destroyed, we fled here and never looked back."
"Was he that good, that they would come after him even after he had retired from his work?"
"He was good, but... I don't know if he was that good."
Helrish grunted. "Then he wasn't."
"But then... Mark."
"Your son? What about him?"
"An old woman once told me he would have a great destiny. Cedric never believed it—but I think he did when he died. Or, at least, he wanted to."
"Do you believe it?"
"I have always believed it. Anyone can achieve greatness under the right conditions, and I mean for my son to have that chance."
"The life of the great is not easy. What you have gone through in recent memory—that is a sampling of it.
And there is worse."
Brianna chuckled. "So you think you are great."
"Did you not watch me fight?"
"Your skills are astounding. But what have you done with them?"
He answered her with a smug smile. "That question is only meant to gain one answer, isn't it? Sorry to disappoint you, but it is not the one you will receive. I have led armies and toppled kingdoms, woman! I left that behind when I realized how frustrating power can be. Do you know how many fools reside in high places? Dealing with a few foolhardy people, I can tolerate. But more than a few tests my patience."
"I think you could be a great help to humanity in this war, if you choose. You're obviously on our side. Why throw away your chance to make a greater difference, for fear of frustration?"
"I could not lead your people. They would not have me, anyway."
"Why not?"
"There are many reasons. But perhaps the foremost is that many would say that I am evil."
Brianna frowned. "You're not evil. You saved me."
"You know little of who I have fought with or against, or what I have done. I do not think I am evil, but I do not blame those who do."
Something in Helrish's tone told Brianna she should pursue this matter no further, at least for now. It was not that he sounded angry; in fact, she thought he would gladly tell her all about his past. But she did not feel quite ready to learn.
They exchanged a short silence. "I could be putting you in danger staying here, you know," she said. "If they really did come for Mark, they may come again."
"Oh, they will. But do not worry about endangering me. I hunt these things, remember? Do you not think they would attempt to fight back as well? They have attacked me many times. They have not come close yet!"
"You are so arrogant."
He grinned as though it were a compliment. "There is one thing, though. If you are right about your son, you will have to learn to defend yourself better before you leave."
"You mean, learn to fight?"
"That and to keep alert for danger. Altogether, to survive."
Brianna imagined that Helrish's lessons would be unbearably hard. But he was an incredible warrior, and she needed to be able to protect her son. "When do we start?"
"Can you stand?" She tried to get out of bed, and found that she could just barely hold herself upright. Helrish nodded. "Well, then. Let us begin."
#
Helrish parried Brianna's chop at his shoulder with ease, struck her with an open hand to the chest which made her stumble back. She almost fell, but caught herself and resumed her fighting stance. "Good," he said, "you wield the axe well. But let's try something new. Keep one hand on the middle of the haft, but grip it close to the head with the other." He took her wrist, and guided her hand to the proper spot.
It had been a week since they started training, in tracking and hunting as well as combat, and Brianna thought the worst was past. At least she was somewhat able to fight back now, though she could hardly challenge Helrish. "What's this? It looks like my reach will be greatly reduced holding it this way."
"Yes, but there are advantages. Your grip will be stronger like this, so that you will be harder to disarm, and you will have greater control of your swings. But the main reason for this is fighting in close quarters. Your reach may be shorter, but you can also strike closer to your body." Helrish smiled. "And you can use your axe to thrust more easily."
Brianna grew confused. "Thrust? With an axe?"
"Well, it is not a stabbing weapon. But see the points on top of the blades? It is unlikely you will inflict too many mortal wounds with them, but they are useful for distractions. And then you can cut them down to size, like so."
He took the axe from her, gripped it as he'd shown her, and jabbed the points into the wooden post they had been using for a target. Almost faster than she could see, he jerked the axe free, swung it around, and took a small chunk off the top of the post. Brianna could easily picture the top of a man's head in its place.
She continued to train under Helrish, and after many days began to grow frustrated. While her knowledge grew in leaps and bounds, she could see no difference in her actual performance in their mock combats. No matter what she did, Helrish hardly broke a sweat.
Exhausted after another uneven duel, she sank to the ground and asked, "Am I getting any better? Tell me the truth, please. I'm so afraid I'll never be able to protect my son."
He laughed. "Do not doubt yourself so, woman! Remember that you killed two Ruwinds before, with no training and wielding a tool not meant to be a weapon. Honestly, I would bet on you now over many a man. But who do you think you spar against? I am Helrish."
Brianna smiled. "And I will never be your match."
"No. You are good, but I doubt you will ever match me. Few warriors ever can. But do not worry, for few need to, and there are different kinds of strength. I am as strong as I am, because my purpose is only to fight. There is nothing else for me. Wishing to raise your son safely is no less worthy a reason for life."
She stood, hefting her axe. "Let's keep learning to do that, then."
"I thought you were tired?"
"Fatigue? Just another handicap I have to learn to deal with."
"You are learning."
#
A month after she began training, Helrish took Brianna out hunting. Too soon, she thought, but he seemed confident in her progress. A powerful monster had wandered down from the north, and he thought it would make a good test for her skills. They found it on the road eating the remains of a traveling band. Instruments made warped music as they were crushed between its teeth. Brianna stared at the black fiend from behind a tree, her heart racing in terror. It resembled a great cat in build, but stood six feet at the shoulder and possessed skin like rough stone. Her knuckles were white around the haft of her axe, which looked pitifully inadequate against the giant she faced.
"Take it from the right!" Helrish said beside her. "I'll go left."
She charged despite her fear, hoping it would pay the much larger Helrish greater mind. But its blood-smeared head swung towards her, and it lunged. She leapt aside, chopping at its lower jaw. The sharp blade bit into its hide, but seemed to penetrate no more than a inch or two. A bit of yellow ichor flowed as Brianna wrenched the axe free, but the beast hardly seemed hurt. It reared up, and she tried to slice its throat. Again, she dealt it no more than a shallow cut. It pawed at her, knocking her down and leaving four long gashes down her chest.
Its huge maw gaped wide, and a hot wind rushed into her face. The jaws came down, but she hewed into its upper lip and made it draw back. It snapped at her again, and this time she rolled so that it ripped a great chunk of earth from the ground. Scrambling up, she slashed at its eye, but her axe only scratched it over its thick brow. What did she have to do? Her axe was all but useless. And where was Helrish?
The monster turned to face her again and gave a deafening roar. Desperately, Brianna leapt into the air and brought her axe down hard on the top of its snout. The blow jarred her entire body and almost tore the axe from her hands, but seemed to stun the monster as well. It shrank back, shaking its head. Then its snout dipped, and Brianna flinched back from a spray of hot yellow liquid.
Blinded by the unexpected attack, she rubbed frantically at her eyes to clear her vision. What had it done? She backpedaled, imagining the deathblow coming. But when she could see again, the monster lay still on the ground, its head detached from its body. Helrish stood over it, smirking as he examined his great sword. Brianna glared at him.
"What kept you?"
"I was waiting for it to get completely preoccupied with you. What's wrong? We beat it."
Her anger drained away, replaced by relief at their triumph, and she smiled. "Yes, I suppose I should have trusted you. Though, you did say you would help me."
He walked behind it and cut off its tail. "I did. To be honest, I think you could have beaten it yourself. But as it was the greatest among our opponents t
oday, it deserved to find its death at my hand."
#
Brianna sat down next to Helrish as he polished his sword outside. The moon was bright tonight, and reminded her of when she would sneak outside to watch the stars in her childhood. "I don't think I can stay here much longer, Helrish. I'm growing lonely."
He did not look at her. "What, is my company inadequate for you?"
"It's not you. I don't think I could live outside society for long, not even if Cedric was my sole housemate. I'm used to being around people, Helrish. I need them."
Slowly, he nodded. "Yes, and it would not do for your son to be raised in isolation. You can leave, whenever you are ready."
She smiled gratefully. "What about you? Don't you ever wish you weren't by yourself all the time?"
"I've lived a normal life before, or close to it. I had my fill. Maybe someday, I'll long for it again. I'd go back to civilization then."
"How old are you, anyway? You look little more than thirty, but speak as if you've had lifetimes of experience."
His booming laugh sundered the quiet of the night. "I am thirty-two indeed. But for ones like me, time does not pass the same as for ordinary men! I was regarded a great hero when I was sixteen, and a reviled villain two years later. There are probably dozens of bastards of mine out there. Whatever you say about me, I doubt you can say I have not lived a full life."
"I've had a taste of that these past few months. It feels like it's been decades."
"Good decades?"
She looked into his eyes. "My husband is dead. But thanks to you, they have not been unbearable."
"Would you be insulted if I were to ask you into my bed, before you left?"
"Are you asking me into your bed?"
"Yes."
He had saved her life, and his own seemed very lonely. Though she felt a bit of guilt for pleasuring another man so soon after Cedric's death, she decided it couldn't hurt to repay Helrish in this small way. "Then I am not insulted." He stood, and she came up with him. They walked together into his cave, and she found that she did not want to leave anymore, just yet.
