The Forever Gate Ultimate Edition

by Isaac Hooke

  Ari and Hoodwink drove a wedge through the enemy ranks from the side, making sure their swords glowed brightly so that the defenders would recognize them. Fire and lightning erupted just ahead, showering Ari in Direwalker gore.

  Finally she found herself at the forefront of the defenders, beside three old men, the first clad in a gray cloak, the second a green cloak, and the third in the rags of a pauper.

  That last man was Jacob. He held a fire sword in one hand, and the palm of his other was raised with the fingers spread. She realized he was on the verge of striking her down.

  But then his features melted in recognition.

  "Ari!" Jacob dashed forward, and Gray-cloak and Green-cloak came with him, providing cover. For a moment she thought he was going to try to give her a hug. A difficult task, given that both of them held swords. "Tanner said you were dead!" His breath fogged in the cold.

  "As Mark Twain once said, the reports of my death are greatly exaggerated." She positioned herself beside him so that she had a clear view of the attackers. Doing so allowed Jacob to see Hoodwink.

  "You!" Jacob lifted the sword to Hoodwink's belly. Her father raised his hands carefully. "A lot of nerve you have showing up here, after what you did."

  Ari's free hand shot out, and she gripped the flat of Jacob's red-hot sword, ignoring the searing pain that shot through her palm. "He's on our side, Jacob. No matter what you think he did."

  "He gave the Dwarf to Jeremy," Jacob spat. "Gave the mayor the ability to create new Direwalkers."

  Direwalker body parts rained down on her as Gray-cloak let loose a particularly vicious strike.

  "Whatever he did," Ari said. "He did for me. He's on our side." She pushed the searing blade down. It wasn't an easy task, because Jacob resisted the entire way—though he was an old man, the sword's vitra gave him strength. Smoke began to waft from Ari's seared palm. She ignored the pain using a gol trick. "Jacob!"

  There was a blur of motion and instantly Jacob's blade smashed down.

  Hoodwink had intervened. "You were hurting her." His voice wasn't friendly, and there was a glint in her father's eyes that she hadn't seen before.

  Jacob stepped back defensively, withdrawing the blade. "I never told her to grab the hot steel."

  "Dad, it's all right." Ari said. Green-cloak exploded another Direwalker beside them, plastering Hoodwink in blood. Her father made a grim figure standing there in the night, all sheathed in gore, looking daggers at Jacob.

  Hoodwink's expression didn't soften as he took his place beside Ari.

  "Any word from Tanner?" Ari asked Jacob.

  "Other than giving the command to defend the gates, not a thing!" Jacob launched flames and seared a Direwalker that ran right at him. "We're the only ones keeping the Direwalkers from overrunning Jeremy's mansion. They've been coming from across the city. An endless tide of them. Just endless. I don't know what Tanner's doing in there, but he's sure taking his time about it! What are your orders?"

  That's right. She was Leader. "Hoodwink and I are going in. We'll need ten of your best men. The rest of you hold your position. Don't let those Direwalkers into the estate at all costs. The last thing we need is an attack from behind."

  "We will hold." Jacob clasped her shoulder. "Ari, it's good to have you back. Sorry about the hand. Good luck."

  She nodded. "You too."

  Jacob hurried among his men, touching a select few as he went, shouting something and pointing at Ari. He touched Gray-cloak. Green-cloak. A younger man.

  Ari considered helping the defenders while she waited, but she chose to retreat a safe distance behind the ranks instead. She no longer felt the violent hatred for the gols she once had. How could she, after where she had been, and the lessons she'd learned? She didn't want to cause unnecessary hurt anymore. Not even to gols. Even though she knew the Direwalkers must all eventually die.

  Ari noticed something. Some of the Direwalkers dropped dead before ever reaching the front ranks of the defenders, though there were no bowmen among Jacob's men. It wasn't much, definitely not enough to flip the odds in their favor, because there were always more Direwalkers to replace those that fell, but it was something.

  Hoodwink noticed the dropping Direwalkers too, and he said, "Looks like the children's changes to the gol mind disease are slowly working through the system. All that's left is for us to cut-out One."

  In moments Ari had her ten men. Hoodwink gave Jacob one last evil glance, then he and Ari led the men into the courtyard of Jeremy's estate.

  There had been fighting here too. Dead humans and Direwalkers lay on the shoveled path beneath the pines. That meant the defenders had fallen back at some point, but somehow they'd managed to fight their way out past the front gates once more. Either that, or they'd been attacked from behind by Direwalkers from the mansion, and routed the enemy. Well done, Jacob.

  She noticed the entire facade of the mansion had been restored, as had the fountain just in front. She wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

  She dashed into the marble foyer of the house with her men. The air smelled of burned flesh, spilled blood, and voided bowels. Indoor spaces always amplified stenches, unfortunately.

  As she neared the reception hall, charred and maimed bodies began to dot the floor. Direwalkers, mostly. A few humans. Or pieces of them, anyway. They'd been hurled from the hall in a manner that suggested an explosion.

  She heard the clang of swords from the reception hall itself. It sounded like several fighters had joined an intense melee.

  "Be ready!" Ari called over her shoulder to the men, and she hurried into the reception hall. A massive crater had been blown into the marble floor. The red carpet, or what was left of it, was dispersed in tatters across the hall.

  Her gaze was drawn to the far side of the room, to the source of the clanging swords. What she had thought was a whole cadre of fighters proved to be just two.

  Her archenemy Brute was fighting someone who seemed small in comparison. A man about two heads shorter, holding a red-hot sword. A man who could barely defend against the four blades that kept coming in at him.

  A man who was losing.

  Her heart very nearly stopped.

  Tanner!

  She broke away from the men.

  "Ari no!" Hoodwink said.

  But she was already leaping across the crater toward Tanner.

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  Ari dove in beside Tanner without regard to her own safety and immediately occupied Brute's two rightmost blades. Tanner shot her a glance. Concentrating on the battle, she didn't return his gaze, but from the corner of her eye a part of her was aware as Tanner faltered.

  He must have known that he couldn't afford to ease off, not against a foe such as this. Pausing like that almost cost him his life—Brute's swords dove in at his neck.

  But Ari was there to parry the blows.

  Tanner fell back. The shock of seeing her alive must have been too much. Of course he couldn't fight. She would have reacted the same way.

  Ari faced those four scimitars with her sole blade, and it took all her concentration to fend the Direwalker off. It wasn't easy. Not at all. A blade came in at her neck. She parried it and immediately forced her weapon down to block another stab. The third and fourth blades came in simultaneously, from two opposite sides. She blocked one while at the same time sidestepping the other.

  The first two blades were coming in again, from the top and bottom like pincers. She had to leap back entirely to avoid those. The leftmost blade was already making a lunge—

  Tanner abruptly reengaged, far sooner than she thought he would. He occupied Brute's left-hand side, saying nothing. Ari didn't say a word, either. She didn't trust that she could say anything, not without tears of emotion flaring up to blind her.

  Brute snarled, hissing at them from a place of hatred, those long canines stabbing the air.

  But it didn't matter. Brute could hiss and snarl all it wanted, because she had Tanner now. The two of them fought in har
mony. She realized she didn't have to say anything after all. Their mere presence bolstered each other, and gave them renewed hope in a battle they knew they could not win alone.

  There was no one else in the whole world in that moment except her, Tanner, and Brute. It felt almost as if she and Tanner were part of the same body, anticipating and reacting against Brute as a single unit. Without looking at her, Tanner seemed to sense when she wanted to strive for an opening. He would beat back the two swords he handled on Brute's left, and then quickly intercede to parry the blades Ari faced on the right, giving her an opening. And she herself sensed when Tanner wanted to take a shot. She'd parry the swords on her side and then immediately occupy the two Tanner faced.

  During these openings, three times they struck Brute in the face, just missing the eyes every time. Those were painful misses, because striking Brute's temple or cheek was like hitting mortar. The blades clanged, and vibrations ran up and down her arms, but she fought on, working through the next blows.

  Together she and Tanner forced Brute backward. The Direwalker retreated to the stairs and backed up two steps.

  And just like that Brute had the advantage again. Attacking from above in a sword fight was a position of power, and Ari definitely felt the weight in those blows. She no longer could spare any time, or strength, to deflect the blades Tanner was dealing with, and had to focus entirely on defending herself. Tanner was similarly occupied. To compound matters, Brute's head was now just out of reach.

  The two sides were at a temporary stalemate, with neither side going on the offensive nor making any advances.

  A third blade joined in. Hoodwink. His blade shifted the balance once more to Tanner and Ari, and Brute was forced to retreat up those steps again.

  Ari attempted a jump attack twice, aiming for the eyes, but Brute blocked each time. Such jump attacks were dangerous, because if she lost her balance she had the entire flight of stairs to fall down, whereas if Brute lost its balance, the Direwalker would merely fall to the higher steps behind it.

  Other swordsmen joined the fray at intervals on the wide stairway, either to launch flame or lightning during an opening, or to strike with the sword, but they quickly learned that Brute was immune to all three. Definitely not an enemy to toy with. Two men died, and a third lost his leg. The men stayed back after that.

  When the group reached the platform set midway the two runs of stairs, Tanner tried a jump attack.

  His sword struck Brute in the brow—

  Tanner gave a shout, and fell backward on the platform, nearly tumbling down the first run of stairs.

  From the corner of her eye, she saw blood spurt from the stump where his sword hand used to be.

  Two more blades went for Tanner's head.

  Ari was there in an instant, spinning in a deadly pirouette. She halted, and caught those blades, swiping her weapon left, right, and up, narrowly shielding Tanner.

  She'd been caught off guard. She should've been there earlier. She should've blocked the blow. But she was growing weary, and it had cost Tanner a hand, and very nearly his life.

  Hoodwink never let up on the Direwalker's other side, and together she and Hoodwink managed to force the Direwalker away from Tanner, and up onto the next run of stairs, the leftmost branch of the wide, forked staircase.

  Situated two steps higher than Ari and Hoodwink, Brute had achieved the advantage once again. Neither side gave ground, locked as they were in a stalemate of blades.

  "Go to him, Ari," Hoodwink said. "I have this."

  She wanted to do as Hoodwink asked, wanted to make sure that Tanner was all right, but a part of her realized that if she did that, she probably wouldn't be able to return to this fight, at least not for a while. The sheer emotion of reuniting with Tanner would prove too overwhelming.

  Besides, Hoodwink definitely didn't "have this."

  The blades of friend and foe moved in a blur.

  Someone shouted her name.

  She parried two super-fast blows. Beside her, a swordsman distracted Brute long enough for another man to toss her a second fire sword.

  Two other men did the same for Hoodwink.

  They both fought with two fire swords each now.

  "Shit!" Hoodwink said. "Never uploaded two-sword technique to my avatar."

  But Ari had. And she pressed forward, constantly breaking through Brute's defenses and striking it in the chest. Her hands were beginning to numb from the constant vibrations that passed through the blade. Good. She pressed harder. The alacrity of her attack broke the stalemate and forced the Direwalker up the run of stairs once again. She saw Hoodwink's blades darting in and out beside her, and she knew he was providing backup as best as he was able.

  At last the Direwalker ran out of stairs, and clambered up onto the level marble of the second floor. Ari and Hoodwink followed right after it.

  She could reach Brute's eyes once more.

  But though she struck again and again at Brute's weak spot, the Direwalker wouldn't let her blades pass. She was beginning to tire—the focus needed for two swords was even more draining than one. Gols could ignore pain, and they could fight longer than humans, but eventually even they must succumb to the physical laws of the simulation, in the end.

  Brute seemed immune to those laws, unfortunately. The four-armed Direwalker showed no signs of letting up, and it could probably keep fighting like this all day.

  Ari was going to lose.

  She felt Tanner's eyes on her from the platform below and she had a terrible realization.

  He was going to watch her die again.

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  The swords blurred around her, and Ari felt her doom encroaching.

  She'd come back from the dead, only to die again right away.

  It just didn't seem right.

  Her father abruptly swiveled in front of her, taking the brunt of three blows.

  She hadn't been concentrating.

  Those swords would have killed her.

  She stepped back, taking a momentary break, and watched Hoodwink fight.

  Or rather, watched him struggle to defend himself. A scimitar cut a flesh-wound into his arm. Another cut him a nice gash on the chest. A third split open his leg. It didn't help that his proficiency with two swords was terrible, whereas Brute was a master with four.

  If Ari didn't intervene soon, those blades would take him down.

  But she was tired.

  So tired.

  No.

  She refused to watch her father die. After everything he had done for her.

  She threw herself into the battle with renewed purpose, an inkling of an idea forming.

  She fed vitra into the two blades as she fought, until both weapons glowed orange, then red, and finally white. The brightness of the blades left a trail of afterimages over her vision, but somehow, driven by the necessity of the moment, she tapped into a feature of the gol body she didn't understand, and she managed to negate the afterimages before she was blinded by her own swords.

  Hoodwink's voice seemed distant beside her. "Ari..."

  She could feel the heat emanating from her steel, could feel it scorching her face and upper torso with each swing. She didn't care. Couldn't. Not now.

  Plumes of smoke rose from the weapons, and she focused, concentrating on the duel, anticipating the attacks, placing her sword by instinct when the smoke blocked her vision.

  From the rings she wore, she fed lightning into the blades, making the weapons hotter still.

  "Ari..." Hoodwink said again, but he stepped back to let her work.

  She dug deep, putting everything she had left into this attack. Her hands moved in a blur, faster than a machine, creating a draft that pushed the smoke plumes aside. She shifted her aim down, and hammered the superheated weapons into the center point of each of Brute's four scimitars in turn. Again and again. CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG. CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG. And as her blades rammed into the same spots on the scimitars over and over, those parts of her enemy's weap
ons began to glow orange. Then red. Then white hot.

  She was a blacksmith at the anvil of death, and today she forged her masterwork.

  At last one of Brute's scimitars failed beneath the superheated blows and snapped in two. Brute held on to the useless weapon, but focused on the other three, struggling to present different portions of the blades to her attacks. With less scimitars to target she moved faster, and readily compensated for Brute's subtle shifts so that her weapons struck precisely where she desired. CLANG CLANG CLANG. CLANG CLANG CLANG.

  Another of its scimitars gave beneath her blows.

  Brute now had only two full-length swords.

  "Hoodwink!" she said between attacks. "Pipe bomb!"

  Hoodwink vanished from her peripheral vision, returning a moment later with the requested item.

  "Wait," she said.

  CLANG CLANG. CLANG CLANG.

  Another scimitar broke in half.

  Ari concentrated all her attention on the last unbroken sword, slapping it ruthlessly with both her blades.

  "Wait," she said.

  CLANG CLANG. CLANG CLANG.

  The final scimitar yielded to the merciless forge that was her swords, and snapped.

  She immediately launched her two swords at Brute's chin. The Direwalker attempted to block with its half-blades, but Brute couldn't compensate for her superior reach. The tips of her weapons struck the stone-hard flesh and knocked the Direwalker backward.

  "Now!" she said through the vibrations that ran up through her arms and into her teeth.

  Hoodwink bit the igniter and tossed her the pipe bomb.

  She dropped one of the white hot swords—

  Caught the pipe bomb—

  And threw herself at the Direwalker, swinging the pipe toward Brute's eye.

  Brute, still off balance from the chin blow, started to raise its half-swords—

  Ari was the faster, and she slammed the hilt of her sword into the pipe's exposed end, hammering it into Brute's brain.

  She launched a spin-kick into that stone-hard chest, sending Brute backward against the balcony. The balustrade gave beneath the Direwalker's weight and Brute tumbled over, vanishing from sight.