Protector

by Sam Ryder

  One of the other sirens—I think the ‘nice’ one who’d had the wardrobe malfunctions—said, “What is it you seek?”

  I cleared my throat. “The elixir that will repair our magical ward shields,” I said. “Enough to fully strengthen the entire shield.”

  The lead siren made a guttural sound I thought might be a laugh. Then she said, “Deal.” The siren that had almost tackled me clambered from the water, where she’d been listening. In her claw was a tiny vial she must’ve retrieved from the bottom of the pond. It was likely a trinket one of their victims had brought here. She flipped it upside down so the water ran out. Then she held it for her sister.

  While I watched, the lead siren raised her arm and, to my surprise, sank her fangs into her own scaly flesh, piercing it in four places. Glowing white blood ran out, dripping from her arm and into the vial.

  The elixir is their blood, I realized.

  It reminded me of the color of the glowing vines in the gully. Interesting. It was something worth contemplating and asking the Three about later. Was there some connection between the Syrene and the goddesses?

  When the vial was filled, the siren capped it off with a cork and held it toward me. The lead siren sucked her own arm to stop the flow of blood, but some still ran down her chin.

  I took a step forward and accepted the vial. “Thank you,” I said.

  “It will strengthen the wards once,” the lead siren said, licking the last of the glowing blood from her lips. “Use it all on any part of the shield and it will flow throughout. If you lose or spill it on the return journey, it changes nothing—you still owe us a human every one-hundred days.”

  Fair enough. “Deal,” I said, somewhat shocked I’d managed to bargain my way out of becoming food. Even if I’d had to sell my soul in the process.

  “One other thing,” the siren said, offering a fang-filled grin. “The offer is contingent on you getting off our island alive.”

  My heart sped up to double time. This was not part of the plan. “I don’t understand.” But I did. I’d been double-crossed.

  “Run,” she said. “We’ll give you ten heartbeats before we stop your heart altogether.”

  Oh fuck. I ran.

  THIRTEEN

  WHERE THERE’S SMOKE THERE’S A DRAGON

  At least I had the presence of mind to take the steps carefully, so I didn’t stumble even once.

  Unfortunately, there were already three sirens at the top when I arrived. Because they’d cheated.

  I shouldn’t have been surprised.

  I felt a weird tingle in my fingers, which gave me pause. In my mind, I could picture my hammer. You know, the one I’d dropped like a fool while under the influence of the sirens’ beauty? In my head, I could see it at the bottom of the pond. No, it was more than that. I could feel it.

  Come to me. I wasn’t sure where the thought came from, but there it was, whispering its way between my ears. The image of my hammer began to quiver. My thoughts, louder: Come to me!

  The hammer sprang from the depths, only it wasn’t a trick of my mind but reality, the weapon rocketing over the edge of the cliff and slapping right into my open palm.

  I just did Jedi shit! I thought.

  My excitement was short-lived, however, because the Three Syrene were still blocking the way forward, and my hammer wouldn’t be enough to save me.

  Instead of trying to dodge around them, I charged right at the first, accepting a slash on the chest in order to get my arms around her scaly skin, which was rough and smooth at the same time, slick with water from having recently been in the pond. Gripping my hammer at the same time, I picked her up and threw her. Not over the cliff where she’d land gracefully in the pond…

  Right at the other two, who were on all fours, shoulder to shoulder.

  It was bowling for sirens.

  And I got a strike.

  Hold your applause, please. The three tumbled off the cliff and I’m guessing they splashed into the water, but I wasn’t around to hear or see it, because I was already booking it back down the trail into what had been a pleasant forest on my way here.

  The peaceful Disney-movie forest had been transformed into a horror-movie forest. It seemed the entire island was a prop used to lure idiots like me into the Syrene’s trap. Now the forest had no green foliage or lovely roses. It still had flowers, but they were black and seemed to be leaking blood, surrounded by thousands of thorns that forced me to zigzag back and forth to avoid them.

  Actually, avoiding them completely was impossible, and soon my skin was burning with dozens of scratches and punctures.

  Also, the nice creatures—the squirrels and birds—had been transformed into devilish little bastards. The birds swooped down at my head, pecking with razor-sharp beaks and probably pooping on me too. The squirrels had lost their bushy tails and looked more like rats with fangs now, dropping from branches and clawing and biting at me.

  I flung the rat-squirrels away and batted at the birds with my hammer. Which was glowing, I shit you not. It had never done that before. Because it had always been just a heavy chunk of metal.

  Until it had fallen into the Syrene’s pool. Another thing to contemplate if I escaped.

  All the distractions allowed the other three sirens to get past me. I could see their dark forms loping along on either side, unhindered. Once they’d gained the advantage, they began angling toward me, like the head of an arrow, preparing to crush me at the tip.

  I ran faster, crashing through thorny bushes with reckless abandon, using my bulk to stomp them under my feet, which were now stabbed by dozens of thorns.

  Yeah, ouch.

  One of the sirens threw herself from the side, a preemptive strike I wasn’t exactly ready for. But I managed to react, jabbing out an elbow and connecting with her jaw. She tumbled back, inflicting no more damage than a wicked slash down my bicep. I’d had worse injuries. You know, like that time my arm was cut off by a massive, ancient spider?

  Another siren bolted in from the opposite side, using a different tactic that caught me off guard. She went for my legs. Which, in retrospect, was a smart move I should’ve been expecting.

  I tried to hurdle her, but I was a beat too slow, her shoulder bashing into my knee and knocking my legs together on the follow through. I rolled over her and tumbled across more thorny vines, feeling every prick.

  The only positive thing was that my momentum carried me back to my feet, and I had the presence of mind to swing my hammer blindly around, right into the space where the siren was launching herself at my head, going for a kill stroke.

  I hit her freaking hard and there was an explosion of light. Even without the blast of magic I might’ve killed her. I wasn’t certain what that would mean for our agreement, but considering they were also trying to kill me…I considered it fair play.

  I was off and running again a second later, charging for where—holy shit—I could see it—the beach. My salvation. You’re probably expecting a big dark twist at this point, like maybe my boat will be missing, forcing me to swim miles in waters infested by those freaky corpse-like manifestations of my friends.

  Nope. My boat was still there right where I left it, waves lapping against the side.

  Hell yeah.

  My jubilation evaporated an instant later, when the last siren, their bloodthirsty leader, dropped onto my head. She must’ve been climbing a tree and leaping from branch to branch while I was distracted by her sisters.

  And now she was on my head, her claws groping at my cheeks, slicing them open as I howled in protest and tried to dislodge her with smacks of my glowing hammer.

  She dodged each blow, and I was lucky I didn’t give myself a concussion. Then she did something worse.

  She hooked her legs around my head and curled her body in such a way that she was hanging upside down and facing me. I tried to grab her, but she was incredibly strong for her size. She blocked my hands with her own and then—

  She bit me.

 
On the neck.

  Like a vampire.

  It hurt like hell, a burning sensation running from my neck to my chest in an instant, before firing down my legs into my feet. The agony eclipsed all my other mini-wounds and I roared, using the pain as a motivator to finally get a good hold on her, throwing her off. She landed lithely on all fours.

  She licked her lips, which were coated in blood. My blood. “Mmm,” she said. “Don’t forget our deal. Return in one-hundred days or we’ll come for you and the Three. You don’t want us to come for you.”

  She was right. I didn’t. I was also surprised she was letting me go, but I supposed I should’ve expected this final chase to all be a game to them. In the end, a deal that would satisfy their lust for human flesh was too tempting to waste on the instant gratification of splitting me into six pieces and having a feast.

  For that, I was glad.

  I walked the rest of the way to the boat, my body on fire, slick with blood.

  But I was alive, and I had what we needed to refortify our magical defenses. That, more than anything, was worth all the pain.

  ~~~

  Nothing assaulted me as I made my way back across the giant lake. The day was so pleasant I even stopped briefly to eat and drink. The ‘moose’ meat was good. Satisfying. I still hurt all over, but I knew the scratches and punctures would heal. They were already scabbing over, the flow of blood slowing to a trickle.

  The one that hurt the most was where the lead siren had sunk her fangs into my neck. I reached up to feel the skin several times, expecting blood to still be flowing, but all I could feel were four raised bumps, tender to the touch.

  I was going to be all right.

  Eventually I reached the shore. I left the boat without looking back, glancing up at the sky, which no longer had both suns simultaneously, a weird phenomenon I didn’t think I’d ever understand or see again. Only the silver sun remained, and it seemed to be in the early stages of climbing the sky, which meant I still had hours before the next Black.

  I knew I needed to sleep, but that was simply not an option. Not while I carried the key to protecting the Three and my valiant Warriors.

  Instead, I ran as hard as I could, relying on my leveled-up body to handle the exhaustion and the miles. I ran for home.

  I’d been running for hours and the sun was halfway to the horizon when I finally got close enough to see the telltale cliffs that flanked the gully.

  I ground to a halt, hot breaths washing over my lips, fear jolting through me.

  I’m too late, I thought.

  Above the cliffs, the sky was full of smoke.

  I took off at a sprint.

  ~~~

  I arrived back at camp in the middle of a warzone.

  It wasn’t even the Black yet, but the ward shields were under a full-scale assault by at least fifty of the Maluk’ori, the demon horde who seemed the most equipped of all the monsters to survive outside the dark cover of night. They were launching glowing projectiles at the ward shields, and wherever one landed, a blast of light and percussive sound followed.

  Rock bombs, I knew from experience. The stones had been charged with dark magic, presumably by the Morgoss. These incendiaries were what had weakened and eventually created a breach in the shields in the first place.

  They hadn’t used them in a while, and now I knew why.

  They’d been building up a large supply, which was now piled high in a massive cart that had been hauled across the wastelands by two hulking trolls, both of which were now guarding it. The Maluk’ori grabbed bombs from the wagon, scurried as close to the ward shield as they could get without being caught in the explosions and then launched.

  Three more glowing rocks arced through the air, bouncing a few times before settling near the base of the already cracked ward shields.

  BOOM! BA-BOOM! The sky, which had been gradually growing dimmer as I ran, now lit up to full noonday color, the ground shivering under my feet. The ward shields crackled from the damage but didn’t shatter. Not yet.

  Where are the Warriors? I wondered, scanning the area outside the damaged shields. No one was defending the large breach in the shields, which meant the horde could waltz right in unmolested if they wanted to. For some reason they held back, content to continue their assault on the magical membrane. They’ve been ordered to destroy the shields in their entirety, I thought. Nothing else made sense. I’d known for a long time that many of the monsters of this world were beholden to their demon overlords, the Morgoss, but they were also unpredictable and prone to animalistic instincts. The Maluk’ori had always been more organized, an intelligent gleam in their eyes that reminded me of the velociraptors of Jurassic Park. But this level of restraint was unprecedented.

  Still, at any moment they could charge through the gap and clamber up the hills, dropping in on the Three as they slumbered, oblivious to the danger lurking just outside their keep.

  It would be over. All the effort, all the planning, wasted.

  I couldn’t let that happen, especially because I now had the key to restore the ward shields.

  I stepped toward the amorphous membrane, shocked by how many more cracks it had acquired since I left only a couple days earlier. If I’d returned even one day later…I didn’t want to think about it. I was here now.

  I plucked the vial of siren blood from my pack. It was still glowing as brightly as ever, full of magic and mystery. Unless the Syrene had duped me, I could pour the blood onto the ward shields and restore them to their original strength.

  I hesitated. The Syrene had told me this was a one-time thing. The wards could only be repaired once. No amount of glowing blood could save them a second time. So if I used this now, while rock bombs were still being launched by the demons, the brand new shields would sustain damage immediately, before we had a chance to cobble together a proper defense.

  Assuming there were any Warriors alive. I had to believe there were, or I would go insane.

  But if I waited too long, the wards might shatter completely, damaged beyond repair. Timing was everything.

  That’s when I remembered the smoke I’d seen pouring over the cliffs. I’d forgotten about it, because it had dissipated by the time I’d arrived. Now, it resembled a thin gray cloud. Nothing more. The periodic explosions created some smoke, but it was a narrow stream compared to the thick black haze I’d seen over the cliffs.

  The dragon appeared, a shadow against the sky. It soared majestically across the terrain just beside the edge of the ward shield’s plane.

  My first thought should’ve been oh shit. Instead, it was Vrill!

  Because I could see her. She was hunched on the dragon’s back, strong arms bent forward, her hands gripping the massive creature’s neck. She seemed to be spurring it on, her heels dug into its sides.

  Everything became clear. The dragon had been distracting the Warriors—my Warriors—keeping them busy as it attacked one side of the shields—with fire, most likely, given the smoke I’d seen—while the Maluk’ori pounded this side with their magic-infused stones.

  My theory was validated when I saw the familiar group of Warriors round the base of the cliffs and charge in the direction of the demon horde, who were positioned near the gap in the wards.

  Without thinking, I counted them. A shepherd taking stock of his flock. There were more than I expected. That’s when I saw Eve on the back of her black panther steed, Souza. She’d returned from her latest Finding mission safely, and apparently some of the recruits were already in fighting shape.

  That was a huge relief.

  It didn’t last long, because the dragon was already diving for the base of the ward shield, near the point where the demon horde had been focusing the majority of their bombs.

  I uncapped the vial of blood.

  Another bomb exploded, the shields crackling with damage. Then another. More damage. I waited, my heart pounding.

  The Warriors raced across the terrain, led by the swiftest of foot, Lace. I saw Beat am
ongst the crew. To increase her speed, she’d discarded her shield somewhere along the way, but she gripped her spear, thrusting it with each stride.

  They were halfway to the enemy, but the dragon was far faster, releasing a shriek as it scythed downward.

  Fire poured from its maw, roiling against the ward shield, bathing it in flames.

  Even where I stood a distance away from the warzone, the ward shield in front of me began to turn pink, then red.

  Still, I hesitated. If I used the blood even a second too early, it might sustain significant damage just after I repaired it.

  The Warriors were almost there. I had to hope they had a plan to combat the dragon. If not, we were screwed.

  The dragon landed and the Maluk’ori cheered in their shrieking way, raising the hairs on the back of my neck.

  I tipped the vial, concentrating, watching the blood begin to ooze down the inner side.

  Another gout of flame shot from the dragon’s mouth. The wards were bright red now and seemed to be weeping, like the outside of a glass filled with ice water on a hot summer day.

  This is the end, I thought. Even if I used the blood, the new shields would get battered once more. We’d finally increased the size of our group only to be too late to mount a staunch enough defense.

  My eyes found Vrill atop the dragon’s back. What the…

  She seemed to be fighting with her steed, smacking it with her hands and shouting at it. I could see some of the old Vrill in her, rather than that dead-eyed person she’d been the last time I’d laid eyes on her.

  And I saw the collars. Two of them were wrapped around her neck, bristling with spikes.

  Worse, even from a distance I could see the damage to her body. Scars laced her skin. Her shoulders. Her back. Like someone who’d been badly whipped.

  Tortured.

  Punished.

  While I stared at Vrill’s injuries, the Warriors arrived, oblivious to my presence, charging through the breach in the shield and throwing themselves into action without regard for their own lives. It was bravery beyond compare. Outnumbered and overpowered, they fought anyway.