“Hallions are those smarter fiends, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re worried that’s what my brother and I are.”
“How can I not? Most of us can sense a ghoul’s curse, and you two have it as strong as a hallion’s. The sons of bitches have been known to fight each other, so you attacking one is no proof you’re trustworthy.”
“Can’t say that’s the wrong way to think. By the way, what are those loud weapons you’re using called?”
He glanced at the weapon in question. “Guns? Rifles? You haven’t encountered them before?”
“No, Orda lacks them. We also lack bird-men. Who are they?”
“Krewen. They were in this world before humans, a world already ravaged by corruption when my ancestors made it here. We’ve been trying to cling to the unsullied scraps this whole time.”
From behind us, the first man I met so brusquely said, “You shouldn’t be telling him so much.”
“Relax, master sergeant. Either he knows everything already, or he doesn’t and can actually help us. So there’s no point staying secretive. Just keep your rifle pointed at him and we can all be as happy as the dead.”
“Yes, sir.”
We hustled through the roads, fiends persistently encircling us to some degree. On occasion, the guns fired off in volley to help persuade them into a fleeting retreat, but as Alex’s looted weapon demonstrated earlier, the limited reserve of whatever they fired forbade them from simply keeping up the attack indefinitely. My ears, especially the recovering one, were glad they could not.
The ocean now sometimes came within sight between certain buildings. That’s when we turned to the north. I was losing too much prana to keep my black flame at peak power, yet that did not explain why the fiends were getting closer and more brazen. What clarified matters was a pronounced spike in the tarnished aura’s strength. The same high-pitched cry I heard in the stone building trilled somewhere overhead. It prompted an unbridled charge by the fiends on the ground and air.
I flared up my black flame. Hampering its growth, a shockwave of wind from above disheveled the fire and knocked down a few unbraced Vanguard. A shadow passed over me right before I heard something land behind my back.
I was about to roll out of the way, but I heard Alex say, “I got him, Cyrus!”
Looking behind me, I saw Alex’s shadow had linked with the half-seared hallion’s, paralyzing him. I thus spun all the way around and spewed the dark fire at the ensnared creature, its whole frame juddering as it attempted to free itself. Its howling scream was cut short by the gush of flame vaporizing straight through its chest.
The new carcass combusted further as I spread the black flame to its head and arms. The unguided fiends not already engaged with my group fled from my power overcoming their fallen master. A few stopped to look back when the fiery blackness flashed an orange color. Feeling lightheaded and sensing a new danger, I let go of my spell and resorted to throwing my fire iron at the harpy swooping down at either me or my brother. Its buckled wing sent it tumbling right in the fire.
Alex kicked off a scamp that had gotten to a Vanguard brought down by the airburst. The others did a better job of fighting off the now disordered fiends. Their bafflement and partial retreat created an opening in the smoking battle for us to flee through. We ran to get to a grimy glass building set over a piece of gray land jutting over the water. The building turned out to be hiding two boats. On mostly filling both of them, a pair of Vanguard cast a water spell to push us forward. If I kept track correctly, Bregman was one of the water manipulators.
Exempting a few imprudent harpies, the fiends backed off from the water. However, I noticed the corrupted aura remained prevalent. Indeed, it had only gotten stronger, closer. It rippled the very air. The corrupted krewen I killed had obviously not been the foremost originator of the spiritual impression. My head and eyes moved from side-to-side in search for the higher fiend responsible for the aura.
I thought I caught the distant silhouette of a curiously tall, thin harpy with long, shabby wings perched on top of a building, but my attention was curtly drawn to Alex when he asked, “Is that a metal ship with a chimney?”
The strange description got me looking east. Floating a few hundred yards away was a bluish gray ship over three hundred feet long and without any sails, though it did sport two slender masts for them. The fat chimney in the center discharged a fine black smoke. At each side of the metal chimney were large, angled tubes connected to a dome-like structure made from the same material as the rest of the transport. They were aimed at the shore.
“You don’t have steamships in Orda either?” asked Felicia, who splashed water on her armor to wipe off some of the blood. “And Orda isn’t taken over by ghouls yet?”
“They’re not the most pressing problem, no,” I answered.
“Then why are you corrupted?” asked Bregman.
“Because some people insist it’s the answer to their problems.”
“Hey, it’s ‘Mercer,’ right?” asked Felicia.
“Aye.”
“Then why did I hear your brother call you ‘Cyrus’ back there?”
“Ah, only my family calls me that. ‘Mercer’ is for everyone else.”
“Is that some sort of Orda tradition?”
“No, simply my own. If I get the time later, I’ll explain why.”
We came up against the ship and boarded it by way of a ladder someone rolled down. With an order, Alex and I were frisked. They took away our daggers and rune stones, then restrained our hands behind our backs with metal manacles. It was during the frisk when I noted that a couple of my armor’s scales were almost completely shattered. A child’s punching fist could now penetrate the impacted area. As long as I could find a way to improvise a fix with a dragon scale or two, I believed I could refortify my protection.
When a Vanguard went to find a way to remove my precious defense, I said, “Try that and I will resist.”
Everyone who heard tensed up and stared between me and the helmless man.
After an extra-long moment, their leader said, “His armor won’t kill anyone. Leave it on if he wants.”
We were led below deck. After an order separated me from my brother, I was directed into a windowless room with nothing inside but a glowing glass bulb on the ceiling. I didn’t exactly sense a flame in the middle of the yellowish light, but I still thought I could feed prana to the focused heat to give me an improvised fireball. In any case, two chairs were brought in a few moments later. I was told to sit on one as the helmless man sat on the other facing me.
“It’s time for proper introductions, I think. I am Vanguard Major Eric Holson.” Without hot blood muffling his words, I could better distinguish his accent as naturally measured and prone to prolonging the random word.
“Mercer Eberwolf.”
“Well, Mercer Eberwolf, whatever your true intentions, I do thank you for aiding in our escape and for helping to carry Soren’s body. It’s not often we can bring the dead with us when things go south.”
I nodded. Just then, a ravishing woman in her late twenties or early thirties joined Bregman and his superior in the room. She donned silken black hair that tickled her shoulders. Her hazel eyes matched the tone of her skin. Not since Odet had I wanted to learn more about someone. Given that her armor looked cleaner, or, rather, its stains looked faded and older, I knew she had not been a part of the ground team.
In a tenderly throaty voice that still sounded too solid to crack, she said, “Sir, you should rest. Someone else can interrogate the strangers. Or you can do it later.”
“If you’re really worried about me, Isabel, stay here.”
Her open mouth paused for a split second, then it said, “Yes, sir.”
Isabel posted herself by the door, hand on the gun sheathed in its leather sheath.
My interrogator leaned back on the wooden chair to study me for an extended moment. Finally, he said, “There are two things that c
oncern me, Sir Eberwolf. The first is when the people I lead are not calm. The second is when people I’m not familiar with stay calm in those same situations. It makes me think they know more than me, and I don’t like being the one who knows less in any given fight. So when two young men who can keep ghouls at bay with their curse show up in a place I was ambushed, I get antsy.”
“If it helps, my dearest brother should be less calm than I when you speak with him. I should also warn that he won’t be as forthcoming about his past than I. He hasn’t exactly been a paragon of justice recently. He’s with me in order to redeem himself somewhat, whether he wants to or not.”
“I see. What has he done?”
“He hasn’t revealed details to me. I frankly don’t want them, but to put it simply, he was kidnapped by a cult. He was swayed by magic, foolishness, or both to help them birth a new god for Orda. It didn’t go well. Now he’s with me. The cult gave him his corruption not long after being given mine.”
“A new god? Wait, you were in this cult as well?”
“I was kidnapped like him, but I escaped.”
“And how did you two end up here again?”
“Once the cult lost their master and disbanded or died, I sought a way to help free a friend of mine. That led to a mission where I was to use my corruption to infiltrate Degosal Island and destroy the last rune portal that keeps sending fiends from this realm to Orda. We found the rune, but a defensive spell teleported us here. Now I need to seek the prana to teleport myself back, or somehow find the rune the fiends use to get to Orda.”
“And you’re certain a portal teleporting the monsters to Orda is set somewhere in this realm?”
“Er, when you put it that way, I guess I can’t be certain the fiends are coming from this particular corrupted realm. I wasn’t really thinking about the other end of the portal until the moment I turned up on the other side. Still, I truly doubt that’s the case… You know, if my assumption is right, it means there’s a rune somewhere in this world that can send some of your people back to Orda.”
“A rune likely guarded by hallions and armies of ghouls.”
“I don’t think so. Not on purpose, anyway. Orda would probably be experiencing worse trouble from Degosal if saner fiends knew of the portal’s existence.”
“Hmm, you know your world’s situation better than I. Nevertheless, it could be the hallions don’t want to risk grabbing Orda’s attention and start a two front war.”
I shrugged. “Aye, maybe. Point is, if I can get back home, then it’s also possible some of your people can escape with me. If I may ask, how bad is it here?”
“Bad, and always getting worse. My ancestors arrived on a small continent southwest of here. It was untouched by ghouls at first, but they quickly learned other nearby landmasses swarmed with them. For centuries they fought ghouls that managed to cross the water by accident, or brought over on purpose by hallions and traitors. They ultimately realized they could not hold their new homeland, so they fled north. The ice cold waters surrounding Grenhath are rough and make the ghouls less likely to paddle ashore in groups, but the lands are difficult to farm, not to mention we basically invaded krewen territory.”
“So the conflict for space and resources is constant.”
“Many of our smartest minds warn we have only three or four more generations left before our resource problem becomes dire. Or how did the last declaration put it? Ah, right, acutely dire. People generally think that’s when the hallions are going to organize an all-out assault, but then we get some showing up like they did today. It makes my kind think they’ll send a large force soon just to fuck with us.”
“Sounds like something they’d do.”
“And what are you planning on doing?”
“Well, I wish to explore the possibility of finding vlimphite. I can use a good chuck of it to teleport myself back home. That should be easier than looking for the rune portal. Of course, before I can do what I want, I imagine you have superiors who need to be informed about this unforeseen situation. How do you think they’ll take this?”
“Honestly? No godsdamn idea. Your corruption will make them think you’re simply a liar, not an otherworlder. Even if they choose to believe you, the news that a possible way to escape this realm could be a dangerous tool in the wrong hands. It might lead to rash decisions. False hope.”
“Aye.”
“I fear you are holding on to false hope yourself. The gods abandoned this world to decay long ago. Magic is not as strong with us as the histories once say it was. Outside of select bloodlines and blind luck, most can no longer weave a spell if they trained all their lives.”
“I have noticed casting spells here take more effort. However, I can manage.”
“Yes, that black fire of yours did quite a number on the hallion. I’ve never seen a flame burn so effectively and so quickly against their bodies.”
“Hmm, how long before this ship reaches a port?”
“Assuming calm seas and no more surprises, a little under two days.”
“Ah, then, if you’ll allow it, tomorrow I’ll show you why my fire is so effective against any kind of body or thing.”
Chapter Ten
I sat patiently as Holson went to go talk with my brother. Regrettably, Isabel followed her superior out the door. Another Vanguard member replaced the appealing woman so that two people kept watch over me over the next several hours. Since they and the people they switched watches with pretty much stayed silent, I figured they had been ordered not to foster conversations with me.
Combined with my need to recuperate my lost prana, the tedium nearly had me nodding off several times, but the uncomfortable setting and the planning I needed to do to counter less desirable conditions put me too much on edge to relax.
When Holson returned an indeterminate amount of hours later, he said, “You were right about your brother, though I do think he’s straightforward when not being reticent.”
“Agreed. He doesn’t seem to be a good liar.”
“He says you don’t remember him.”
“True. Being corrupted took away my memory.”
“You mean being corrupted the first time.”
I nodded. “Yes, the second time proved easier on my mind.”
“Something you chose to go through.”
“My options were to die in battle with a purer, weaker spirit, or to die being corrupted in an attempt to become useful. All things considered, I think it turned out well.”
“That won’t endear you to my superiors.”
“Not exactly encouraging to my people either. However, they tend to look past it once they see Aranath.”
“And who’s that?”
“I can show you for a few minutes if you take me outside. Get all your gun things pointing at me if you’re worried about me doing anything aggressive. Aranath is my best chance at getting you and your leaders to see I’m no mere pawn of fiends.”
“If I’m assuming correctly, you’re going to summon someone?”
“Aye.”
“Your brother mentioned you had a partner. That’s certainly a rare talent here. Creatures from other realms normally avoid any lure coming from a tainted world. Very well, let’s go up and invite your friend.”
He unlocked my shackles and ordered his subordinates to get an escort to surround me. The group grew with every passed hall. We climbed up to the bright, open air, the saltwater making up the horizons. I walked toward the bow. Since I did not want them thinking I was preparing to jump overboard in an escape attempt, I stayed away from the edge.
Raising my right hand to the sky, I said, “Make sure no one panics and uses those loud weapons of yours. He won’t attack unless I say so.”
The airburst occurred two hundred feet above and in front of us. Despite not swooping over the ship itself, many on board ducked on seeing the massive lizard spreading his wings adjacent the ship at the end of his short dive. A series of clacking growls followed the dragon as he circled
the vessel.
When his gust-producing wings had him hovering over the bow, I proclaimed, “It’s fine! I’m trying to convince them that I’m not working for fiends! Say something good about me!”
The dragon snorted. To those on the ship, he said, “This child can wield the depraved power of fiends without succumbing to its madness. Attack a Veknu Milaris at your own peril.” That done, he broke out of his hover to circle the ship again.
Like some of his men, Holson gripped his rifle tighter, but he dared not aim at the forbidding beast. Trying to keep his eyes on both me and Aranath, he asked, “Is that a fucking dragon? A talking one?”
“Aye. Aranath the Sky Lord. I admit his past is a tad checkered, but he’s certainly never been any ally to fiends. It’s by his wings that I fly. It’s by his scales that I am protected, and it’s by his flame that I can call myself a dragon knight.”
A krewen standing near Holson overheard me. With his chirruping speech, he asked, “Your world has dragon knights?”
“They used to. Violent circumstances before my time now make me the only one in Orda.”
“You’ve heard of these dragon knights, Svren?” Holson asked the krewen.
“They are a part of our oldest mythoi, sir. It is said dragon knights saved my kind from total demise long ago. They safeguarded us as we fled to this world. If it wasn’t for the great betrayer, this world may have been spared its final corrupted fate. Or so it is said.”
“Wait, this world isn’t your original home?” I asked Svren.
“We don’t know. So much true history is lost. All we have now our mythoi and theories. Well, now we have a living myth standing right here! What was your name again, dragon knight?”
“Mercer.”
“Mercer, sh-should we be bowing to you? Kneeling? To your dragon?”
“Uhh, no. Merely trusting that I am not against you is enough for me.” Figuring everyone got the point, I unsummoned the dragon. To Holson, I asked, “Has showing you a dragon earned me and my brother some food? Or is the food here considered a punishment?”
The Dragon Knight and the Steam World Page 10
