by Morgan Blade
Occultus screamed, a long wail of despair that thinned, slashing the air like a knife blade…
I stood on the air, willing it to support me. And my lost darkness came at me. Heads surround me. Eyes stared. Needle teeth were bared as undulating song unwound that has been silent for too many years. Tentacles wrapped around me. They rubbed. I reach out to caress, murmuring apologies. Whispering my love.
And against all hope, they forgive me.
And the continuum Occultus made came undone…
TWENTY
“One step forward, one back, and
a giant leap onto an enemy throat.
I live my life one kill at a time.”
—Caine Deathwalker
Darkness gave way to a clear night. Lying on my back, I looked up at the dusty blue glass chunks of a broken moon. The stars burned an electric blue. I smelled smoke. Sitting up, I saw the manor, much of it gone, the remnants smoldering. The book-end towers leaned, crumbling. The gray mists were gone. There was a purity, a peace in the air that had nothing to do with Nightmare.
Nightmare’s broken, consumed.
I got my feet under me, picked up my backpack, and the Raider AR pistol which had fallen by my side. I still wore my sheathed titanium katana. It swung on its straps as I stood. I touched my ear. The Bluetooth was gone, its job done, getting me back to my body. I’d have to use that image again—the next time I got stupid enough to risk a walkabout across the unseen universe.
Rising in front of me, out of the ground, called by my strength or maybe the mega-tie in my backpack, a hunk of black crystal greeted me with pulses from its spectral green core. It was the tie of Nightmare, up for grabs. Literally. I grabbed it and knew the kingdom was mine alone.
Occultus must be dead.
A mission bell sound echoed across the sky. I knew the sound would roll on to announce a change of rule throughout Fairy. The tie’s green light brightened. Curls of magic grew around my fingers like ivy. A tendril of light from the tie rippled to my head, curling before my eyes into a mystic knot.
I heard: the sound of shuffling feet, the stir of anxious voices, the rub of fabric as a crowd approached. My dragon-nose told me these were the fey residents of the lower town. I smelled the acid tang of their fear. They’d lived with fear so long, it had become a kind of comfort. Now that it is gone, uncertainty scourged them. Fear darkened their souls. They’d come with question, hoping they’d like the answers, knowing it wasn’t likely.
I turned toward them as they edge closer, eyes wide with panic. One “Boo!” and they’d scatter. I refrained. They needed to see their new lord and know who they served.
They are mine! To profit from, to protect.
They were scarecrows at first, but as they got closer, they became ordinary fey in home-weave and leather. A few had walking sticks. Many carried jack-o-lanterns with grinning faces and candles inside. I saw no weapons. Nightmare’s power had always been all the defense they needed.
They saw the tie in my hand, the knot of energy floating in front of my face. They knelt. And a tongue of power from the tie whipped into my forehead, drilling into my thoughts, seeking a new pattern for the kingdom.
The tongue found the shadow shapes, my personal pantheon of dark gods from the astral plains, and took them. The tie blazed with spectral green light, throwing my dark shadow behind me. I didn’t need to see the shadow to feel what it touched. I knew it had become a sea for my pets to swim in. They surfaced like whales in the ruined manor, searching…
There were gasps from the villagers as they saw horror given form: midnight-black bodies with hell-lit red eyes, and more teeth than any predator ought to have. I felt terror in the fey, and the return of joy for they loved fear, darkness, and all things appalling. My inner demons would live here and protect them, and wait for my call…
Becoming an escort, my pets found Selene and Colt. I felt Selene’s affectionate touch as she crooned to them like a mother. One of the shadow-shapes dived and came up under Colt, giving him a ride. His laughter shivered the shadow, and traveled through my shadow sea as a vibration to me.
The green tendrils withdrew, sinking back into the tie.
The kneeling fey continued to wait, none of them brave enough to question me, or ask about their old lord. I decided to end their suspense. “I am Caine Deathwalker, dragon lord, demon lord, soon to be Overlord of all Fairy. Your old lord has been eaten by something that disagreed with him. He won’t be back.”
I turned toward the smoldering ruin, waiting. The tie moved as I moved, remaining in front of me. Though its light had dimmed, my thick, dark shadow remained unchanged, a living sea surrounding the ruin.
Staring past the tie, I saw Selene and Colt. I felt my pets swimming in my shadow, making waves. And I felt Selene’s feet on the shadow as if she were walking on my back in some kinky form of massage. The release of my inner demons had tremendously strengthened my shadow magic. I had been at a child’s level until now.
She ran the last ten feet to me, Colt, riding his beast, well behind her. Selene flung herself at me, almost dislodging the green agate crown I wore. The tie floated up overhead to wait. I caught Selene in my arms.
She closed her eyes and sobbed in relief. “It was terrible, Caine. I saw a billion of you, beautiful clones, each with your lovely face half-covered by blood, all of them dying on the battlefield. Each mortally wounded, begging me to save them. And I knew I couldn’t. The real you lay in their midst, and I had to find just that one, and I couldn’t…I couldn’t…” Her eyes opened. “It was ghastly!”
Colt’s beast stopped behind Selene. He slid off and joined us. “It’s all right, Mom. We found him. I helped you.”
She smiled and turned to ruffle his dark red hair. “You did, didn’t you? My sweet boy.”
“Selene, Colt, stand beside me.” I turned back to my new subjects to make introductions. Selene pressed into my side with Colt next to her. Her hands settled in a death-grip on me, not letting go any time soon. The villagers stared in fascination at our royal family.
“People of Nightmare, this is my wife. Selene will be your Queen, ruling in my name. You may have heard of her: The Red Lady, Goddess of the Red Moon, Slayer of the Wild Hunt.” That last reference got their attention, produced gasps, and widened eyes everywhere. “You may bring your cares and concerns to her. She will hear you, and likely crush you if you piss her off.”
There was reassured laughter, and then they began to cheer, throwing her name to the sky. “Selene! Selene! Selene!”
She pushed off me, but kept hold, smiling toward her subjects. “I will need genetic samples for experimentation, but that can wait. It’s late. Return to your homes. Tomorrow is another day.”
With much bowing and scraping, they retreated, turned, and started down the long and winding road to their version of normalcy. A ground mist rose to cover them. The fey became scarecrows once more as they moved out of sight.
The shadow sea crept around my feet, washing over my boots, seeking my attention. The nameless ones swam over and stayed mostly submerged. Rubbery tentacles slithered up and rippled across my torso. They seemed to need the touch.
“Dad, what are these things?” Colt asked.
“Part of my Villager heritage,” I said. “Think of them as a primal extension of me. Or maybe a new lifeform.”
Selene stared. “And I thought I did good work.”
“You do.” I reached up and grabbed the tie. Holding it in my palm, I held it out to her. “Put your hand over the tie. Let it take your pattern and learn who else it must obey.”
Loosening one arm, letting me go, she did as I asked. Her hand glowed a spectral green, lit from underneath. Tendrils of magic seeped up between her fingers. More of them wound around her wrist, moving up her arm. The tendrils sank inside her flesh. Her whole body glowed green, then the light died. The last of it shone in her eyes a moment before they returned to their usual red glow.
She drew her hand back, breaking contac
t.
I swung the backpack around and opened it. The tie went inside. I sensed it touching the mega-tie—and fusing—and knew I was one step closer to restoring the Heart of the Land.
A blue disk, like an eye, opened. The frosty light beamed over us as the iris opened further on a portal. I recognized Izumi’s icy magic. She’d locked onto me and was coming through.
“Your fey queen,” Selene said.
“Izumi,” Colt added. “I wonder what’s wrong.”
“She’ll have sensed our victory,” I said. “Maybe she’s just saving us a trip back.” I didn’t really believe it myself. Izumi would know that Selene and Colt both could open their own portals.
More likely there’s trouble.
The icy blue portal expanded until its radius hit seven feet, then it stabilized. Izumi stepped out, her hair in a long ponytail, her sexy body clad in white leather and a white fur cloak. Her hair was white, her eyes deep blue. She was showing her fey self, not the Japanese snow woman persona she used on Earth. She marched up to me and planted a sizzling kiss on my lips. She immediately swung over to Selene and repeated the kiss.
Selene looked caught off guard, eyes wide, an inarticulate sound dying in her throat as the kiss went on.
Izumi grinned, noticing the impact she had. “Welcome to Fairy, sister.” Selene’s bedazzlement kept her from objecting when Izumi gave me another kiss, and then jerked me by the hand into the portal.
Izumi yelled, “Get a move on, you guys. We’ve got trouble!”
We all piled into the portal. The part behind us closed. There came a falling sensation, a fluctuation of gravity, and we stumbled out the other end. This wasn’t Kellyn’s keep in the Winer Lands. It was the mountain keep on the edge of my Dragon Lands.
“They’re hitting our home, probably looking to see if they can steal our tie while you’re out running amok,” Izumi said.
“Who?” I demanded.
But she was already running, the portal collapsing.
We followed.
Silverwynd’s people lived in these forests, operating a brewery for me, growing their little village. On the far side of the river, there was a campground I rented out to werewolf packs from Earth for recreational use. They knew to stay on their side of the river. Of course, if we were hard pressed, their help would be welcome.
Izumi burst out of the forest, into view of the escarpment into which our fortress was carved and skidded to a stop. The great falls made a pool at the base of the rock face. A constant rumble filled the air. The pool fed the river—and now, a new bridge arched over, one made of woven leather and bone.
“See for yourself,” Izumi said.
Seeing wasn’t difficult; it was still night in this part of Fairy, but massive bonfires had been built. Ape skeletons the size baboons scuttled over the bone bridge, going between the far woodland and the fires, building them ever higher. On our side of the pool, five mastodon skeletons lumbered at the keep, smashing ivory tusks into the raised gate.
Waiting to charge in were dead human warriors, many with rotting flesh and clothing still attached. These had been marched out of some fey graveyard to join the battle as recruits. They carried old weapons as decrepit as themselves.
Supervising all this, I saw living fey dressed in armor of leather-tied bone. They had bull-skull helmets and flails made of bone, as well as traditional weapons. One of them carried a banner with three stripes: red, white, and black. In the middle was a yellowed skull. I knew that flag.
“The Bone Court,” I said.
“Necromancy,” Izumi said.
“Oh, boy,” Colt said. “This is going to be fun.”
Whirrrs cut the air as pixies dropped out of the night sky. These were two I didn’t know, but they had to be from the pixie village; one male, one female, in the soft leathers they favored for forest wear. The tiny female hovered in front of me.
She said, “Bone things in the woods, too. What are you going to do, Lord Caine?”
“Handle it, of course. You two, fly across the river to the wolves’ compound. Tell them we’ve got a party, and to come get in on the fun. They can have all the bones they can rebury.”
“The wolves!” the male pixie said. “You can’t be serious.”
“I’m not laughing. Go!” I barked the last word at them.
They whirred away.
I laid a hand on Colt’s shoulder. “Turn dragon. I’m leaving the mastodons to you.”
Still smiling, he nodded curtly. “Got it.”
“Selene, small stuff, like those apes, are going to go after Colt as soon as he gets started. I need you to keep them off his back.”
“What are you going to do?” she asked.
“Go after the living fey. If I’m lucky, they will have brought their tie, thinking it’s safest in their king’s hands.”
“You know which one he is?” she asked.
“He’ll be somewhere near the royal flag, though possibly in a common soldier’s uniform. Fey are always tricky.”
Colt shifted into a dragon, a small one the size of an eighteen-wheeler. Huffing rings of smoke, fluttering his wings, he galloped toward the mastodons, his long tail thrashing side to side. One of the living fey must have seen the coming threat at once; a war trumpet sounded flat, bleats of warning.
Living fey on living horses shied aside, wanting nothing to do with a dragon, young or not. Archers filled the gap, bringing up bows made of bone that used animal sinew for string. My dragon vision did a zoom-in. I saw that the arrows had writing inked onto them.
“Cursed arrows,” I yelled at Selene.
“On it,” she answered.
“What about me?” Izumi asked.
“Feel like keeping the monkeys busy? Maybe you can ice them over.”
“Sure.”
“If you go into the woods after them, be careful. I don’t know when reinforcements will arrive.” I was speaking to her back. She was already hurrying off.
Speaking of reinforcements…
I had the mega-tie in my backpack, the green agate crown on my head, tying me to it. The crown also told me that the Bone Court tie was very close. I attuned myself to the mega-tie and sent a call to Nightmare, willing the dark sea I’d left there to come like a faithful puppy.
I heard a chorus of shuuut as a flight of cursed arrows cut the air.
TWENTY-ONE
“Oh, I’m all about pain. Ask anyone.”
—Caine Deathwalker
I saw a blinding flash of red light at the edge of sight and knew Selene was dealing with the arrows, looking out for our child. I heard the brittle xylophone sounds of Colt’s dragon form stomping mastodon ribs. I gave my focus to the mounted fey in their bone armor. The living bleed easier and felt greater pain. And shooting at my boy seriously pissed me off.
I drew my straight katana with my right hand and used my left to take control of the Raider AR pistol. With dragon and Villager strength in my legs, I leaped and kicked a rider out of the saddle, taking his place. From that vantage point, I squeezed off shoots at the archers. Four heads burst open, scattering bloody, frothy pieces of gray matter and bone chips. The other archers ducked and ran for cover.
Yeah, you better run!
By then, I had several enemy riders charging my mount. I kicked one of the enemy horses in the head, breaking its jaw, knocking it out. Its rider went down and was pinned in place. One rider had dance back to get clear. The third rider slashed at me with his fancy silver sword. I swept his sword away with my own, and gave him a .300 round from the Raider. He tumbled dead off his horse which ran away, adding to the confusion.
By then, several more rides charged my way. I heeled my mount with one foot. He wheeled as directed. I shot one rider and slashed at another with my katana, charging the blade with my dragon’s lightning so it glowed and crackled in a threatening manner. The rider saw the blade coming. He thrust his blade into contact, trusting the enchantments the fey smith had put into the sword while making it. It wasn
’t enough; electrical conductivity of silver surpasses all other metals, and fey smiths don’t normally plan on their weapons being used as lightning rods.
The rider’s sword blasted out of his hand, taking several fingers along for the ride. He screamed as more of the lightning snaked into his body, frying him on the inside. He fell off his horse. The animal stumbled away, not looking that good either.
Two riders came at me from different sides. I rolled backwards, falling off the back end of my mount. Ducking down, I using him for cover as the two riders passed on either side. Leaping vertically, I got up high and kicked off my horse’s rump, spring-boarding after the escaping riders.
Not looking at me, they didn’t know I was in hard pursuit, until—still in the air—I shot one of them in the back of the head.
The other rider turned his mount to face me.
I landed short of his horse, so I rebounded off the ground with another leap that took me in the air. I delivered a roundhouse kick to the horse’s head and he went down with a crash. His rider tried to crawl away, but I blew his head off just because I could.
Really, what other reason does a person need?
The shots were loud and drawing attention. More and more of the enemy were turning their attention from the assault on the keep to me. Five riders, knee to knee, came at me in a solid mass. I held my ground, released the pistol so it dangled free, and put both hands on my katana’s wrapped hilt. This time, I poured shadow magic into the blade, turning it black as my heart. I slashed and the blackness extended, an impenetrable shadow in the air. The dark claw I conjured slashed through all the riders’ torsos, cutting them in half despite spell-reinforced the bone armor. A thought caused the shadow to return to the immediate surface of my sword, ready to fire again.
