by Eric Vall
“Princess Jessamine?” Cienna muttered, and her sapphire blue eyes widened and shot to the other princess. “What the hell?”
“Yes,” the dark-haired beauty whispered as she moved to untie the blonde woman’s bonds. “We are here to rescu--”
“I hear something,” I whispered, and the three of us went silent.
Footsteps approached, and I prepared myself to fight more men.
Just then, a face and torso appeared through the flap.
“Hey, what’s going on… with… the princess?” a man with a broad, red face asked as his mouth dropped open in shock.
Before the soldier could even twitch, I slashed out at him with Genie’s Wrath, and the blade carved a red line through his face. The man let out a choked gurgling noise as his warm blood splashed across my arms, but I quickly jabbed my sword forward again to pierce him in the gut, and his gurgle turned into a gasping wheeze.
I twisted the hilt of my blade with a flourish, and the soldier’s eyes rolled back in his head as he pitched forward. I caught the weight of his now limp body against my shoulder, but when I shoved him to the ground, another man appeared at the tent’s flap.
This second soldier was a large, turbaned brute armed with a spear, and his dark eyes shot from the dead man at my feet to my face. Then he bared his crooked teeth, shouted in fury, and lunged at me.
I ducked to the side to dodge his attack, and then I thrust my golden sword through his unarmored chest. Another fountain of hot blood immediately sprayed out all over me, and the man was dead before he even smacked down into the ground.
I wiped off Genie’s Wrath on the back of the soldier’s turban, and as I stared down at the blood-stained blade, I realized I was getting pretty good at this. I didn’t know if the sword was magic or if I was just more practiced now, but my attacks were coming quicker and easier.
Killing men was becoming second nature, and I didn’t know exactly how I felt about that, but I knew I would do whatever I had to if it meant protecting the princesses.
“Fucking hell,” I heard a feminine voice mutter from behind me.
I looked over my shoulder and noticed Princess Cienna was staring at me with her mouth practically on the floor, and I knew she had no idea what was going on. I just hoped the beautiful blonde was ready to fight, because we needed all the reinforcements we could get.
“How’s it coming, Jessamine?” I asked as my eyes darted from the princesses back to the tent flap. I didn’t see any other men, but I shifted my grip on Genie’s Wrath in case any more appeared.
“Nearly there!” Jessamine was kneeling beside the pole, and she sawed away at Cienna’s restraints with her scimitars. She cut Cienna’s hands free first, and the blonde princess shook her arms out in front of her, but I could see the bloody red burns where the ropes had cut into her delicate wrists.
Then Jessamine bent down to cut the ropes at Cienna’s ankles, and I knew we were running out of time. We needed to get the princess out of here as soon as possible, but I was losing hope we would be able to do it without attracting attention from the main tent.
“Jessamine, we have to go!” I hissed as I peered out the tent’s flap again, but I didn’t see anyone else coming yet.
“Ugh, I can’t get it,” Jessamine groaned while she continued to slash at the restraints around the blonde’s ankles.
“Do you need help?” I asked, even though I didn’t want to leave my post. The last thing we needed was another round of soldiers to come in while I had my back turned.
“I think--”
“No,” Cienna suddenly growled. “I got this.”
I glanced over my shoulder and watched the blonde strain with her feet against the thick rope, and I hoped she would be able to break through it. I wanted the princesses with me in full fighting mode.
“Shitttttt!” Princess Cienna snarled, and with one final push, her legs broke free from their bonds.
I was amazed this princess had the face of an angel combined with the mouth of a sailor, but I didn’t have time to dwell on this.
“I have you, Cienna!” Jessamine exclaimed, and she pulled the other princess to her feet.
“I need a weapon,” Cienna grunted, so I reached down to grab the spear from the last man I’d killed.
“Think fast,” I said as I tossed over the weapon.
The beautiful blonde plucked the heavy spear out of the air and got into a defensive pose, and then her blue eyes flickered over in Jessamine’s direction.
That move was crazy hot.
“Holy shit, I still can’t believe it’s really you, Jessamine,” Cienna marveled.
“We’re here to save you, Cienna, but you might need to fight, too,” Jessamine told her as she gripped her scimitars until her knuckles turned white.
“Come on, ladies, we gotta get outta here,” I ordered, and I leveled the blade of my sword in front of me.
The princesses nodded in unison, and the three of us crept through the flap of the tent. The moment we were out in the open, I did a quick scan of our immediate surroundings. The larger command tent was about twenty yards away from where we now stood, and I could hear the murmur of men’s voices from that direction, but I didn’t see any other soldiers outside the tent. So, I breathed a sigh of relief and glanced behind me, and I saw the two princesses were right on my tail, Jessamine with her scimitars, and Cienna with her spear.
I opened my mouth to give the order to move out, but I never got the chance.
Suddenly, four other men stepped out of the command tent’s flap, and since the ground between us was flat and empty, their eyes immediately locked on to us. Even in the dim light of the moon, I could see the confusion, understanding, and then fury flash across their faces, and I stifled a groan as I hefted Genie’s Wrath in front of me.
It looked like we were in for a real fight. We might be outnumbered, but I believed the princesses and I could take care of these bastards, even if I didn’t know how strong Cienna was at the moment.
“Joe… ” Jessamine hissed behind me.
“I see them,” I grunted right before the soldiers snatched their weapons from their sheathes and ran at us.
Suddenly, Cienna stepped up beside me.
“Go for their throats with your sword, you’ll see what I mean in a minute,” the gorgeous blonde announced, and before I could question her, she touched my arm, and the bright purple stone on Genie’s Wrath seemed to flash for a moment.
The largest man was now almost close enough to swing at my face with a black iron mace, and I lifted my sword to strike…
But all of a sudden, the head of the mace stopped in the air just outside the reach of my skull.
I froze for an instant, but I remembered what Cienna had told me: go for their throats. So, I slashed out with the giant golden sword and slit the throats of three of the men. For a moment, their blood appeared in frozen droplets in midair, and I stood and watched in shock.
As quickly as it had stopped, though, time started back up again, and the three men whose necks I’d cut open collapsed to the ground. It appeared two of the three wounds had been fatal, but the third man pulled himself along the ground by his arms as blood spilled from the gash. He reached out weakly for my boots, but I stabbed down with my blade and pierced his skull. His body twitched like he’d been electrocuted, and then he flopped face down into the dirt.
I was still shocked by what had happened, but there was still one man left.
The last soldier standing was a slight, tan-skinned man, and he was armed with a long, double-edged dagger. He’d been a step behind his comrades, which was why his throat was still intact, and now he stood just out of reach while his eyes darted between the bodies at my feet and me.
“Well?” I taunted as the moonlight glinted off my blood-stained sword. “Are you just gonna stand there?”
The man bared his teeth in a silent snarl, and I quickly found out that while he wasn’t the largest soldier, he was fucking fast.
He
lunged forward in the blink of an eye, and I felt the breeze as his blade whizzed toward my torso. I jumped back in the nick of time, and while the man’s momentum carried him forward, I jabbed out with Genie’s Wrath.
The soldier practically pirouetted out of the path of my sword, though, and I gritted my teeth as he danced out of range again.
I really needed to learn some new sword fighting moves. Ironically, I wished I had my pipe wrench to throw at his skull, but I’d left it back in my pack.
“Joe!” Jessamine gasped from behind me, but I shook my head to keep her back.
This was my fight to win.
The soldier and I exchanged several more jabs and slices, but he was too fast for me to land a solid blow with my large broadsword, and his dagger was too short to reach me as I kept Genie’s Wrath between us.
I needed to come up with a different tactic.
So, I did the last thing he would expect.
The next time the fucking ballerina darted in toward me, I dropped my sword, evaded his jab, and knocked his dagger out of his hands. The man quickly tried to backpedal, but I lunged out and grabbed his shoulders before I brought my knee up swiftly into his stomach.
“Ooof!” the man grunted as the wind left his lungs, and before he could regain his bearings, I grabbed him by the collar, yanked him forward, and crashed my head into his.
The blow made stars explode in my vision, but I stayed on my feet while the man’s eyes rolled back into his skull. Then I dropped his limp body on the ground, snatched up Genie’s Wrath, and slammed the golden blade straight through his sternum.
Blood arced into the air and dribbled out of the man’s mouth, and I gave my sword an extra twist just to make sure he wouldn’t get back up again.
“I think he’s dead,” Cienna commented dryly as she stepped up beside me.
“Good,” I grunted before I wrenched my sword from the dead man’s chest. “Now, I think we should run. Before any of his friends decide to come out to see what the commotion is all about.”
No other men had come out of the command tent or the several smaller tents further back toward the woods, but I wasn’t about to press our luck.
“Lead the way, Joe,” Jessamine said as she came up on my other side.
I nodded, grabbed the dark-haired princess’ hand, and started to run in the direction of the road.
I did my best to ignore the carnage of the dead soldiers as we headed back through the clearing. I couldn’t stomach the sight of the pile of corpses again, so I turned my head away. The stench in the woods was overpowering, though, and I couldn’t help but gag.
I tried to quicken my pace, but then Jessamine gasped beside me and tugged on my hand.
“Joe, wait!” she said, and when we skidded to a stop, she gestured behind us.
I gripped my golden sword tightly in my other hand as I spun around, but I didn’t see any pursuers like I was expecting.
There was only Cienna, frozen in the middle of the clearing, as she stared down at the dead and decaying soldiers.
“Princess?” I asked, and I took a step toward her.
“These… were good men,” the blonde murmured as she stared down at the slack face of one of the corpses. “My men. They fought against the enemies who came for us and their fellow soldiers who became possessed, and they laid down their lives to protect me. They… didn’t deserve this.”
“I’m very sorry for your loss,” I said, and my eyes kept darting over her shoulder. “But we can’t stay here. There’s nothing we can do for them, and those bastards will be after us any minute now.”
“They deserve a proper burial,” she muttered, and when she lifted her gaze to mine, I was surprised to see tears shimmering in her sapphire orbs.
“I know,” I said in a soothing tone, “but we can’t give them one right now. I’m sorry, but we have to go.”
Princess Cienna started to numbly shake her head, but then Jessamine stepped forward and gently took her hand.
“You said these were good men, right?” the dark-haired princess asked, and when the blonde nodded, she continued. “Then they would want you to go on. They wouldn’t want you to throw your life away now that freedom is so close. You honor them by living, Cienna.”
“Come on,” I added quietly as I reached out for the blonde’s other hand. “Don’t make their deaths be in vain.”
Cienna sniffled before she tore her eyes away from her dead soldiers, and when she dipped her chin in a nod, Jessamine and I tugged her forward and out of the clearing.
We continued to run through the dark woods toward the road with only the moon to guide us, and as the distance between us and the campground of enemy soldiers grew, I found myself breathing easier.
We’d done it. We’d saved the beautiful princess, killed her captors, and made it out relatively unscathed.
Plus, I’d found an amazing sword, and I gripped it tightly in my hand as I thought of its name again. Genie’s Wrath. I laughed to myself as I thought about how quickly I’d fallen into the role of hero, and now I was even armed with a giant, golden sword.
As fucking crazy as this situation was, I had to admit it was also kind of awesome.
“Joe, what do we do now?” Jessamine gasped from my right.
I hesitated for a moment as we continued to run. Now that the adrenaline of the rescue and fight was wearing off, I could feel the fatigue starting to creep into my muscles. All I’d been thinking was to get away, head toward the road, but we were currently in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of the night with only the shadows of trees around us, and while I didn’t think anyone knew Cienna was missing yet, I wasn’t one hundred percent positive. I didn’t hear any voices behind us, though, so maybe we got lucky.
“Hey, Joe, stop for one second,” Jessamine said as she grabbed my arm and forced us to a halt. Then she started to dig around in her large pack again.
“Thank the gods,” Cienna panted, and she doubled over her knees to catch her breath.
“I’m not sure we have time--” I started, but then I fell silent, because I saw what she held in her hands.
Jessamine had pulled out the richly-colored, scarf-sized magic carpet, and she’d begun to concentrate on the piece of cloth. I thought maybe her magic was getting stronger, or at least faster, because the fabric started to grow almost immediately.
“Holy shit,” Princess Cienna muttered as she rubbed her eyes. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. Is it turning into a rug?”
“It gets better.” Jessamine grinned, and even in the dark, her exquisite face glowed with happiness now that the carpet had reached its full size. “Get on, everyone! Joe, are you ready to drive again?”
“Sure am,” I told her. “Let’s do this.”
Cienna frowned in bewilderment, but she sat down gingerly on the rug’s edge.
“Where are we going to go?” the blonde princess wondered.
“Anywhere but here,” I remarked in a determined tone.
Jessamine climbed onto the carpet, and I sat down on the front end and grabbed the tassels, but it was still hard to believe that a rug, of all things, could save us.
At least, I hoped it could.
Then I pulled up on the tassels, and the rug shot up into the air, but it shook and sputtered.
“Shit!” Princess Cienna gasped as she tried not to pitch off the side of the carpet. “This is terrible!”
“It’ll get better,” Jessamine soothed her.
“I don’t know how far it’s gonna take us,” I told the princesses in a grim tone. “But the quicker we put more distance between us and that campground of soldiers, the better.”
The carpet started to make forward progress, but I couldn’t get it to go much higher than the treetops. The way it kept jolting in mid-air was making me nervous, and I didn’t think we should try to fly much further. Luckily, twenty minutes later, I spotted a small structure below, which appeared like magic from out of the thick trees. The walls were made of a pale
stone that easily reflected the moonlight, but there were no lights in the windows, and as I squinted at the building, I realized it looked abandoned. The grass in front of it was long and wild, and there didn’t seem to be any paths around the structure that marked recent travel.
Our luck was getting better and better.
“See that cottage over there?” I asked over my shoulder. “We’re going that way.”
I leaned forward on the rug to bring it down, and Cienna gasped in shock.
“Hold on tight to my waist,” Jessamine called out to the other princess, and the dark-haired beauty gripped tightly to my chest as we began our descent toward the small cottage.
I’d gotten lucky, and we were headed right for a clearing. The carpet’s front end hit the ground first, and the princesses both gasped as we were all jolted up into the air and then were thrown back down on our asses.
“Everyone alright back there?” I asked as I turned around to assess the damage.
Jessamine had a big grin on her face, but Princess Cienna looked pale and nauseated.
“That was… different,” the blonde breathed, and she swiped a strand of her dirty blonde hair out of her wide eyes.
“Come on, Cienna,” Jessamine giggled. “We made it!”
“We made it,” the blonde echoed, and a small smile actually twitched at the corners of her mouth.
“Let’s go check out that cottage,” I said, and I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face, too.
We’d fucking made it.
Jessamine quickly shrunk the carpet back down, and then the three of us ran through the dark toward the small cottage. When we reached it, I found the building was largely still intact. It had thick stone walls, and though they were charred in spots, it appeared the structure had survived an assault. The small wooden door hung open, and it was clearly abandoned. I just hoped its inhabitants had managed to escape before the worst of the attacks came.
I pushed open the door and found myself in a small kitchen. Then I pulled out my flashlight and swung it around, and I saw a worn table made of wooden planks filled the center of the room while a large stone fireplace took up most of one of the walls.
