Fighter

by Isaac Hooke

  “We continue forward,” Malem said. “Mount up. We fly!”

  7

  Malem stood upon the rooftop where he had fought Mauritania. The ruins of the once great city of Tartan lay scattered across the cityscape around him.

  The dragons perched on towers next to the main palace, where they had landed after dropping off Malem and the others. The rooftop was big enough to hold two of the Metals at once, but that left little room for maneuvering, so he had them unload their passengers one at a time before taking different roosts.

  He stared at the three dead horses in the center of the roof. Their bodies were completely black, their flesh riddled with veinlike runnels.

  “Definitely dark magic,” Xaxia said.

  “Or the Darkness of Balors that gives rise to it,” Malem said. “It has to be Goldenthall.”

  Xaxia stepped forward, between the horses, to a bare spot at their center. “The Darkness appeared right here.” She kicked at a flagstone. “Last time I walked this way. Right where you stepped through the portal to the Black Realm.” She seemed tense, as if ready to leap back in case that portal, or the Darkness, decided to return. Grendel also seemed ready for anything.

  But nothing transpired.

  “There’s no Darkness here now…” Timlir said.

  “No,” Malem agreed. “I believe Banvil transferred the rest of his essence here, into this realm. Into Goldenthall. If only so that he could grow his power in relative safety, away from the other Balors, all of which were no doubt hunting him. As the third weakest after Vorgon and Denfidal, he would have been an obvious target.”

  “Why the dead horses?” Sylfi asked from where she observed on the adjacent tower.

  “Maybe Goldenthall wasn’t enough to contain the Balor’s essence, and some of it spilled over to the horses,” Wendolin said. “The animals weren’t linked to the Balor, and thus died when the Darkness touched them.”

  “Or maybe Goldenthall merely lashed out with his newfound power,” Grendel said. “Sometimes, when I fought during the Balor Wars, and an influx of the Light would take me as a Paragon channeled its essence through me, I would find myself overwhelmed by power lust, and would strike out at both friend and foe, just destroying everything.”

  “You fought during the Balor Wars?” Wendolin said. “I didn’t know that.”

  Grendel smiled sadly, nodded, and looked away.

  Malem glanced at the sky. “Well, it’s late evening. We’ve been traveling all day. The trail has stalled for now. We might as well call it a day, and we can continue tomorrow.”

  “Which direction will we travel?” Xaxia asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “All directions? I’ll break birds, and send them out to act as scouts.”

  “It could be days until we find anything,” Gwen said.

  “What if he’s here?” Grendel said.

  “That’s a good point,” Malem said. “I’ll break some night animals, and have them explore right now.” He reached out, searching for animals. “Hm. That’s odd.”

  “What is it?” Xaxia asked.

  “I’m not detecting any animals in the city,” he told her. “Or monsters, for that matter.”

  “That is indeed odd,” Xaxia said. “Last time I was here, I encountered a local panther that had taken up residence.”

  “Maybe something chased them all away,” Grendel said.

  Malem glanced at the three carcasses. “I wonder if there are more corpses like this scattered throughout the city.”

  “Blackened by dark magic?” Wendolin said. “I don’t think Banvil is that powerful, not yet. Unless Goldenthall moved from building to building, purposely hunting everything down.”

  “Either way, it’s probably not the best idea to camp here,” Malem said. “We should head to one of the farms on the surrounding ridge, instead.”

  And so the dragons leaped onto the main rooftop in turn, and loaded up their passengers. Then they flew to the southeast, and landed on a farm located on a ridge overlooking the valley.

  It was mostly intact, having survived the ravages of the Eldritch invasion, and after going from building to building and room to room to confirm that no monsters or other nefarious entities had taken up residence, Malem and the others chose different rooms for themselves in the main farmhouse and its guesthouses. Malem changed out of his dragonscale armor and into a tunic for supper.

  Malem Broke several nearby birds, including a few owls, and sent them into Tartan to search for Goldenthall. Meanwhile, the dragons went out for a late evening hunting session.

  Malem sat on a log outside the farmhouse while he waited for them to return. He switched between the viewpoints of the different birds as they moved from house to house by flying through the broken windows and doors. The buildings were usually empty, but sometimes there would be the nest of an animal or monster. Without fail, the denizens of such a nest lay dead, their bodies blackened by dark magic.

  But otherwise, there was no sign of the former king. Malem wasn’t sure how much of the man was still left inside that possessed shell, and he wondered if the king was somehow resentful that monsters had moved into his once great city, and had gone on a personal vendetta to cleanse the city of all of them.

  Or maybe Banvil just liked killing things.

  He ordered the birds to continue searching, and to alert him if they found anything living.

  The dragons returned an hour later with a red deer. They dropped it off next to the main farmhouse, and Sylfi skinned the animal with her claws, and then ignited a firepit with her breath, skewering the animal with a branch, and then roasting it above the flames as a human might toast a sweet pastry.

  When it was ready, she lowered the animal to the ground in front of Malem and the others. “Have fun.”

  “What about you?” Gwen asked. “You’re not going to eat?”

  “We dragons had our fill,” Sylfi said, transforming back into a human.

  Brita and Weyanna had already changed, and they helped her dress.

  Malem was too hungry to gaze at her naked body, and instead cut away a piece of juicy meat and devoured it.

  Sylfi, Brita and Weyanna sat with the others

  “What did you eat?” Xaxia asked Sylfi.

  “A deer, a boar, and an antelope,” Sylfi said.

  “Where do the bodies go when you transform back into a human?” Xaxia asked. “Surely you don’t digest the food so quickly.”

  Sylfi patted her belly. “It stays here. I’m not really sure how the transformation magic works, I only know that the dragon part of me still exists partially in some higher realm.”

  “So essentially, you’re still a dragon,” Gwen said. “But only look like a human.”

  “Something like that,” Sylfi agreed.

  “And when you become a dragon, where does the human part go?” Xaxia asked.

  “Again, same principal,” Sylfi said. “The human never really goes away. It just gets tucked away into a higher realm.”

  “That’s… really weird,” Xaxia said.

  “It’s part of the duality of being a Metal,” Sylfi said. “You get used to it.”

  “But you have the same personalities, regardless of whether you’re in human or dragon form, right?” Xaxia asked.

  “Haven’t you noticed?” Sylfi asked.

  “Not really.” Xaxia chewed into a big piece of meat leg meat. “Other than you seem to be somewhat grumpier when you’re a dragon.”

  Sylfi laughed. “That’s probably just perception. Though I admit, when I’m a dragon, I want to make sure everyone knows I’m not one to be trifled with, and well aware of the power I wield.”

  Malem finished eating, confirmed who would be taking the first, second and third watches, and then went to the farmhouse. He wasn’t sure who he was going to invite to his bed tonight, and so he was a little surprised to find Grendel already lingering in front of the quarters he had picked out for himself. She had gone inside before him, to “go to the b
athroom.” But now he wondered if something was amiss.

  He went to her.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  She shook her head. “Nothing.”

  “Then why…” he paused. “Would you like to join me in my bed tonight?”

  She smiled patiently. “No. We’re not going to make love.”

  “Then what’s on your mind?” he asked.

  “I just want to talk,” she replied.

  He nodded, and gestured for her to enter. He almost touched her on the back to gently guide her inside, but remembered she didn’t like being touched.

  When they were inside, he gestured for her to sit on the chair near the bed, and he grabbed one from a study nearby, and set it down in front of her.

  “Let’s talk,” he said.

  “I don’t think this life is for me,” Grendel said.

  Malem frowned.

  “I know it’s not what you want to hear,” she continued. “But, well, I’ve come to realize that I’m not who I used to be. I just… I can’t allow anyone inside. I can’t become attached to anyone. It’s just not possible. I have too many bad memories of what happens when I allow it.”

  Malem sighed, and bowed his head. “If you want to go, you’re free to leave at any time. I just wish you would have told me before the mission began. Because then I would have brought Nemertes along, so that her light magic could counter Goldenthall’s.”

  “Oh, don’t get me wrong,” Grendel said. “I intend to stay. I’ll see this through. But as soon as we’re done, I’d like to go back to Dark Wood.”

  “I’ll see that one of the dragons takes you,” Malem said. “And I’m glad you’re not someone who quits in the middle of a mission, leaving the rest of your team holding the bag.”

  “I wouldn’t do that,” Grendel agreed.

  “All right then,” Malem said, standing. “If that’s all…”

  He waited, but she remained seated.

  Puzzled, he sat down once more.

  She seemed to be struggling with something. Her brows were contorted, as if deep in thought.

  Finally her expression relaxed.

  “I haven’t felt the touch of a man in so long,” she said, her voice slightly raspy.

  He stiffened, in more ways than one.

  “I know I told you I don’t want to get attached, and it’s true, I don’t,” she said. “I also told you we wouldn’t make love tonight. And we’re not. We’re going to fuck. There will be no emotions, no feelings involved. Are you capable of such a relationship?”

  Hell yeah, he wanted to say. But instead: “Yes. Of course I am.”

  She stood up, and took a step toward him. Malem arose as well, and wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing into the robe. She flinched at his touch, but stood her ground. A good sign.

  He leaned forward, and kissed her full on the mouth. But her lips were frigid in return: she didn’t match his movements, her mouth remaining motionless, as if he were kissing some inanimate doll.

  He stepped back, breaking away.

  “What’s wrong?” he said.

  But she merely trembled in answer, her eyes moist.

  “You’re always avoiding my touch?” he said. “Why?”

  She shook her head, looking away.

  “And even now you flinched from my touch,” he said. “Even after you consented. And when I pressed my lips against yours, I might as well have been kissing a statue, for all the movement and emotion I stirred from you in return. Why are you like this? What happened to you?” He paused. “Were you abused?”

  The sigh he heard from her was heartbreaking. It contained the weight of a hundred years. A thousand. Years full of loneliness, and pain.

  “I don’t want to touch you,” she said, not meeting his eyes. “Because I’m afraid of what that touch will stir inside of me. Already I’m feeling something I haven’t felt in decades. And I fear, if I allow you to continue, I won’t be able to stop myself. I’ll travel down the same path I have taken a thousand times before, a path that can only end in sadness for me.”

  “You’re worried about getting attached to me…” Malem said.

  “Yes,” she said. “I’m not sure I can simply fuck you. I thought I could. I convinced myself of it. But now, when you touched me, there…”

  “Why not take the risk?” Malem said. “If you get attached, so what? It’s part of life. And it won’t be so bad.”

  “It will be,” she said. “Not now, maybe. And perhaps not even for the next fifty years. But you will die, someday. Whereas I, a mage of the light, will live on for the next thousand years or more. I’ll have to suffer the pain of losing you. As I have suffered the pain of loss so many times before. Too many.”

  “I understand now why your eyes are haunted,” Malem told her.

  She nodded.

  “There will be no bond between us,” Malem said. “We won’t let ourselves grow attached. This is only sex, nothing more.”

  “Is that your dick talking?” Grendel said. Her gaze momentarily darted to his crotch, and her nostrils flared, ever so slightly. A sign of desire. An ordinary man wouldn’t have noticed it, but Malem, skilled in the seductive arts, picked it out immediately.

  “No, but this is,” he said. “And my dick says: Give in. Surrender to your desires.”

  She smiled, and rubbed her eyes. She took a step toward him, but then shook her head. “No. I thought I could do it. I really did. But I don’t think I can, not anymore.”

  Malem nodded, turning away. “Then if you prefer…”

  He went toward the door, and paused as he wrapped his fingers around the handle. He glanced askance slightly, not looking at her.

  If she calls me back, I’ll stay.

  But she didn’t say a word, so he opened the door and walked through. He shut it behind him without looking back.

  8

  As Malem stood there, outside the door, a sudden sadness gripped his heart. Like he’d missed the only chance he’d ever have with her.

  He hesitated.

  What the hell am I doing? Playing juvenile games. ‘If she calls me back…’ You can’t rely on her words! Never rely on what she says.

  He was forgetting everything he knew about seduction. She wanted him, but she feared attachment. He was giving up too easily. He had to ignore what she said, and stick it out, assuage her fears. When she had said no, it didn’t mean get the fuck out. It meant, not now.

  Get back in there!

  He spun around, and opened the door.

  Grendel was on the bed, holding her head in her hands, her features full of regret. But when she looked up at him, her face shone with joy.

  She stood, and began disrobing.

  See, you fucking moron!

  She opened the belt at her waist, and let it drop to the ground. Then she hiked up her robe, revealing the moist spot between her legs, and lifted it up over her chest, releasing her small, jiggling breasts, and then finally slid it over her head, and set the robe down on the bed.

  “You don’t wear underwear,” he said, his gaze squarely upon her privates.

  “No.” She reached up and removed the pins that kept her hair bound into two buns, and her beautiful locks tumbled down either side of her face. “It’s too bad there’s no water in this place,” she said as she placed the pins on the nightstand. “I stink.”

  “I don’t care,” Malem said, pressing himself against her.

  This time when his lips met hers, Grendel responded passionately. Her mouth moved frantically, as if she truly hadn’t tasted a man in decades. Her hands explored beneath his tunic, touching everything: his nipples, his underarms, the small of his back. He had the impression she wanted to grope his body from head to foot, and feel each and every part. It turned him the hell on to feel this wanted.

  He pulled his lips away from hers, but she latched on again, desperately, savagely.

  “Take me!” she said. “I need you so bad!”

  His teeth clicked against
hers, repeatedly, so violent were her kisses. He opened and closed his mouth during those kisses, full of lust, pressing his crotch against her thigh. She responded by pushing that thigh harder against him; no doubt she felt his hardness, because she repositioned so her center was rubbing against it.

  She began to gasp softly now as she rubbed her mound against him, and she ripped her mouth away, wrapping her arms and legs around him for a better grip, and resting her chin on his shoulder as she ground away.

  Malem thrust against her in return through the fabric of his breeches. He wanted her just as badly.

  They continued like that for a few moments, but then he paused. “You know, it might work better if you let me take off my pants.”

  “Oh.” She gazed into his eyes, and giggled in slight embarrassment.

  Then she released him, dropping to the floor.

  He sensed her unease lingering in the air, and was worried the sexual bubble was going to break.

  “I’m not very good at this,” she said, dropping her eyes. “It’s been a while.”

  “You’re amazing.” He quickly slid off his tunic, and dropped his breeches, lowering his undergarments at the same time. His member leaped out in anticipation. Her eyes dropped to his crotch, and she licked her lips in anticipation.

  “I want to taste it,” she said. Before he could stop her, she was on her knees, sliding her mouth over his center.

  He straightened as she worked him. She was the master at the moment, controlling his pleasure; a part of him bridled at the thought of ceding control to anyone, and yet it felt so good. She claimed not to be very skilled, but she brought him to the edge with a mastery that spoke of much experience. Whether that experience came from bedding one man, or many, he didn’t know. Didn’t want to know.

  His Broken companions would know he was having oral sex, except Aurora, who he kept muted. They would all feel it. The pleasure rose exponentially as it echoed between their energy bundles, as those bound to him fed off of each other’s pleasure. There would be no such magnification for Grendel, since she wasn’t linked of course: she could have no idea what she was doing to him, and how close he was already.