by Logan Jacobs
The men started to voice their disagreement, and I knew I had said the wrong thing.
Chime.
I defeated the men once more, and while I set Mahini on them, I thought about how best to turn them down. It was true that they would be slaughtered if I sent them out against the army, but the truth had damaged their pride. I needed to say something that bolstered their confidence rather than tore it down.
“Men, I would like to have each and every one of you fighting at my side tomorrow, but I cannot,” I said as I shook my head. “I will be going to face the army on my own, but I have a suspicion that Lucien will try to abduct my wife while I battle with his men. Can I count on you all to protect not just my wife, but the town?”
There was a loud agreement to that question. Much better.
“What do you mean you will fight alone?” Mahini’s sharp voice interjected. “I thought we were going out there together?”
“Come on.” I let out a deep sigh and grabbed her elbow. “I need to talk to both you and Elissa about this.”
She looked like she was about to protest, but she didn’t pull away from my touch, and she let me take her all the way back to the house. Her blue eyes pierced me like one of her arrows, and I knew that I had only stopped her anger for a temporary moment.
“Sebastian and Mahini, welcome home!” Elissa laughed as I opened the front door, and then she threw her arms around my neck and pressed a long kiss to my lips. “I’ll have lunch ready in a few minutes.”
“That’s great, Elissa,” I said with a smile. “We can talk while we eat.”
“Talk?” the redhead asked. “What about?”
“Sebastian is going to fight on his own tomorrow,” Mahini growled as she put her hands on her hips.
I was too stunned by the fact that it was the first time she had called me by name to respond.
“Isn’t that for the best?” Elissa questioned as she tilted her head. “He is the God of Time, after all. He can destroy that army in ten seconds flat.”
“I do not care how quickly he can destroy this army!” Mahini let out a growl of frustration and threw her hands into the air. “He belongs to more than just himself now, if you recall.”
Elissa shrugged. “I guess, but I know he’ll beat Lucian and his army. He defeated the kobolds and the goblins in the mine. Sebastian can do anything he wants to.”
Her green eyes shone with all of her love for me, but I could see the wavering emotion hiding there as well. She had a lot of confidence that I would come back in one piece, but there was still a sliver of doubt that I would be killed and she would have to marry Lucian in the end.
“I will win, Elissa.” I smiled and took her hand. “You won’t have to marry that son of a bitch.”
“I know… You… You are so good to me…” The young woman let out a muffled cry and threw herself at me once more. She buried her head into the crook of my shoulder, and her shoulders shook with faint sobs.
“As for you,” I said as I turned to Mahini, “I know that you want to fight by my side, but I can’t risk your life. I love you too much.”
“It is mine to risk,” she growled. “And I made a vow to be with you forever. The phoenixes were stronger when they fought together, so don’t leave me behind!”
I placed a soft kiss to Elissa’s flaming hair and gently pulled away from her. She wiped her wet eyes while I made my way to stand in front of the strong desert warrior. Her blue eyes were filled with pain and anger, and something else that I didn’t want to label in case I was wrong.
“Mahini, you know that I’m stronger than the phoenixes from the legend,” I said as I brushed her cheek with the back of my hand. “This isn’t a decision I am making lightly. I can only be in one place at one time, and if any of the men manage to sneak past me into the town, I need to know that everyone will be safe.”
My dark-haired goddess leaned into my touch with a quivering sigh, and she closed her eyes. “I understand, and I will do as you ask. But you must promise me one thing, Sebastian.”
“Anything besides you coming with me,” I whispered.
Her eyes flashed open and pierced right through me. “You must give it everything you’ve got, and you must return to us.”
“Of course,” I murmured just before I pressed my lips to hers.
I spent the rest of the day with my two ladies, and we talked about anything and everything under the sun. Despite coming from very different backgrounds, Mahini and Elissa got along very well. When the redhead brought up some facts about the world she had read in a book, the desert warrior quickly added on with her own world knowledge from traveling with the Golden Swords. The two of them were able to paint a decent picture of the world that we all now lived in, and I vowed that I would take them to see it all someday.
Elissa was ready to drag me by the ears to the bedroom when the darkness crept into the town, but I joined Mahini on the porch to look up at the stars for a while.
I had never seen so much of outer space in such a raw setting. There were always too many lights burning in the city where I lived on Earth, and I rarely got to spend time in the country where the sky was just open like this.
“I wish I knew the constellations,” I murmured.
“I bet Elissa knows them all,” Mahini joked as she rested her head on my shoulder. “She knows so many things for someone who has never traveled.”
“You know many things, too, Mahini,” I praised as I laid my head on hers. “More than I do, that’s for sure.”
“You know so many things that nobody else could ever possibly know. About me, about the Golden Swords… You… You always surprise me, Great One.”
The warrior woman was quiet for so long that I wondered if she had fallen asleep. When I lifted my head to glance down at her, I found her staring right back at me.
“You will win, won’t you?” she asked in a whisper.
She knew as well as I did that these men were unlike anything I had encountered so far in this world. Any normal man would be shredded the moment he stepped onto the field.
Good thing I wasn’t “normal” anymore.
“Of course, I will, Mahini,” I said. “I promised that I would return to you and Elissa.”
A single tear slid down her cheek. “I couldn’t bear it if I lost you, too, Sebastian. You… You mean everything to me. I never thought I would feel this way about anyone. Especially after… they died.”
Her vulnerability left her wide open, and if I dared to press her, I probably could have gotten her to take me to her bed, but I didn’t want to take advantage of her like that.
Instead, I pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “You won’t lose me. Not to some idiot like Lucian. I always win. Hell, I might as well be God of Winning instead of God of Time.”
The laugh she gave me was enough to fill me with all the courage I would need for the battle to come.
When dawn finally arrived, the whole town was awake and lined up in the streets to cheer me on and wish me luck. They had no doubts that I would destroy the army outside their town and protect them once more. I was the God of Time, after all, so how could I fail?
I tried not to think of myself as a cow going off to slaughter, but after seeing the army that was waiting for me, that was exactly how I felt. There was no way I was going to make it out of the first round of fighting with my life. It would take me a hundred attempts just to figure out how to kill the first six guys, and there were well over fifty.
This was the burden of my powers. I knew that I would fail a thousand times over and that death was imminent, but all that mattered was the final attempt, the one where I danced through the army like it was just the rehearsal for an epic dance, and I annihilated them all with ease. That was the part the town would see, the part that they were all so confident I would reach on my very first try because I was so awesome.
Knowing that made walking toward a thousand deaths a little easier.
I passed Mahini and Elissa last, and bo
th women gave me radiant smiles that could have fooled anyone. Only the wavering in their eyes told me what they really felt, and I gave each of them a quick kiss.
“I’ll be back soon,” I said to Elissa as I squeezed her hand, and then I turned to Mahini. “Get that gate closed as soon as I’m clear. Don’t let a single one of these fuckers in.”
The desert goddess nodded and squeezed my armored bicep. I closed my eyes and could almost imagine the warmth of her hand on my skin. It wasn’t as good as reality, but it was enough to get my feet moving again.
I made a new save point as I walked alone to face the army.
The field of tents was gone from the plains, replaced with an organized platoon of soldiers. Each man was armed to the teeth, and it wouldn’t be long before the sun glinted off the metal and created a new obstacle for me to overcome. Only the spearmen at the wings of the army had their weapons at the ready, but I knew it wouldn’t take more than a glance from their lord for the rest of the men to draw their swords. I couldn’t see any archers in the front line and could only assume they were standing at the back stringing their bows and testing the draw.
“Well, this is gonna be fun,” I muttered as Lucian came trotting into view.
Or rather, his horse did. The Loser Lord was sitting on top of one of the largest horses I had ever seen. It was a reddish color, but most of its body was hidden beneath plated armor that left only the legs and tail fully exposed. It was built like a living tank with feet that were probably bigger than my head, and the creature probably weighed over a ton. If that horse was going to be part of the battle, I really was screwed.
The man himself was decked out in really fancy armor that gleamed in the growing sunlight. The breastplate had a blue and gold shield with griffins on either side of it. I assumed that was the Bullard family crest. The shoulder plates were flared out at the tips and looked sharp enough to pierce leather, and the fingers of his metal gloves looked like they had little thorns on them. Only his leg armor seemed to lack any flair, but even the metal shoes came to a point at the end that could probably cut exposed skin. His helmet rested in his lap where I couldn’t see it.
“I do not see the Lady Elissa with you,” Lucian observed as his horse brought him closer to me. “Does she want me to fetch her with Cotinus?”
“Wait a sec.” I put my hands out in front of me and couldn’t keep myself from laughing. “Your horse’s name is Cotinus? What kind of stupid name is that?”
The brown-haired man-child got all red in the face. It must have been his favorite color. “And what would you have named such a regal beast?”
“I don’t know, maybe something epic like Warmonger?” I offered. “I’ve got a few more if that one doesn’t do it for you. Tank of Destruction, Bloodstain, Tiny--”
“Tiny?” he mocked. “Cotinus is one of the largest horses in my father’s cavalry, and you would name him Tiny?”
“It’s a joke, you fucking idiot,” I scoffed. “Where I’m from, it’s kind of a thing to call big people Tiny. I have no idea why, but they do.”
“That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard,” Lucian said as he shook his head.
“Look, we’re not here to make fun of your poor horse, we’re here to talk about my terms,” I said.
“Your terms?” His gray eyes narrowed as if he knew what I was going to say next.
“Yeah, you and your boys here may as well just go home. You’re not getting Elissa, and this town is protected by me. If you leave now, I won’t kill you.”
The townspeople erupted into loud cheers from behind me, and I couldn’t keep the grin off my face.
“Then you and your town have chosen death,” Lucian growled.
“Hang on a second!” I called as he turned his horse to run away. “I agree that it has to come down to a fight, but this is between you and me, Lucian, not your men.”
His eyes narrowed. “What are you suggesting, then?”
“You and me,” I said as I threw my arms out. “Right here, right now. One on one battle, to the death. Unless you don’t think you can take me on.”
Chapter 13
There was a long silence while Lucian thought over my request, and from the way his teeth gnawed on his lower lip, I figured it must have been a difficult task to grind the gears in his brain. On the one hand, watching me get torn to pieces by his army would probably be enjoyable for the annoying duke’s son. On the other, he would get all kinds of glory if he single handedly killed the God of Time, plus he would get the girl.
Seriously, what was there to think about?
“I accept your challenge,” Lucian said, and he leaped off his horse rather than dismount down the side like a normal person. What a showoff. “We must set some rules, however, as I do not trust that mercenary of yours.”
“Yeah, she super wants to kill you,” I agreed.
“Single combat,” Lucian began in a powerful voice that even the townspeople must have been able to hear clearly. “We each use only our sword and shield, so those little daggers of yours need to be set aside.”
“That’s fine.” I unfastened the dagger sheaths from my right side and tossed them to the ground behind me. I was accustomed to the weight of the sorcerer’s dagger, and I had hoped that the weapon meant to kill me would be the weapon I used to kill this son of a bitch, but I couldn’t argue with his rules.
“Sword and shield only,” I agreed. “And when I kill you, your men can’t just swarm me and kill me for it. Your death means my victory, and they need to pack up and leave.”
“You seem so confident, Great One,” Lucian sneered. He looked to the man who now held his horse, and he gave the spearman a nod. “My men will not attack you, and your town must also acknowledge your defeat.”
I turned back to the makeshift gate. There were several faces peering through the cracks, and I spotted Mahini’s piercing blue eyes as though I was drawn to them. The others might accept my defeat, but I knew she never would. We were bound together by the most grim oath, and she wouldn’t rest until my death was avenged or she had died trying.
So I just couldn’t get defeated.
Easy.
“You have a deal, Lucian,” I said as I held out my hand.
We shook on the terms and put several paces between us. Lucian snatched his helmet from his horse’s saddle before the animal was led away. It was one of those full-coverage helmets, similar to my own, but there were a pair of wings resting over where his ears would be. The hinged part that covered his face had two small slits that my sword would never fit through, and the grating that would protect his mouth was criss-cross rather than slats.
I wouldn’t be stabbing him through the eye or mouth unless I knocked the helmet clean off, and it would probably take me a million attempts to manage that.
As the Loser Lord put the helmet on, one of his men came forward and attached a handsome metal kite shield to Lucian’s arm. It was shaped like an arrowhead with the shorter edge at the top, and it had the same crest on it that his breastplate did. The griffins’ eyes had been colored red, and it looked like they were glaring at me. The shield was long enough to cover his entire body if he crouched slightly, and it made my own shield look like a joke.
It didn’t matter if his shield was bigger than mine if he didn’t know how to use it, though.
I thought about making another save point, but I didn’t know for sure if I really wanted to commit to going down this dueling path. While I was pretty much immortal because I could Chime and restart, I realized that I could accidentally create my own version of Hell if I made a save in a situation that I couldn’t win. Then I’d live my own death for the rest of eternity.
Yeah. That would suck.
I figured I could kill this idiot after a few attempts, but then I didn’t know for sure if his men would attack me. If they did, it was going to be a bitch to beat them all, and if that would be the outcome no matter what, I’d be way better off not even bothering to challenge him to a duel so
that I could fight them all from behind the walls of my village.
The man that stepped forward to signal the beginning of the fight was not part of Lucian’s army. He wore no armor, held no sword, and his blond hair was so ruffled that I guessed he had just woken up. He said nothing as he looked between me and Lucian, and his eyes were wild with fear as he lifted his hand. When he dropped it down to start the duel, he ran away so fast I imagined the Roadrunner’s meep-meep sound effect.
“Where’s the coyote?” I joked to myself.
Almost immediately, the air filled with the cheering and jeering of the Loser Lord’s men, and I could hear my name being chanted behind me from the townspeople.
I expected the duke’s men to circle around Lucian and I, but they stayed back in their formation where they could cheer and mock from a safe distance. Either they were confident their lord would not lose, or they took their oath to not kill me when I won very seriously.
Lucian gave me no time to think about tactics. He lunged forward as soon as the pageboy was gone and swung his blade down in an overhead slice. I just barely managed to block the attack on my own sword, and the air filled with the metallic sound as they met. He didn’t even pause as he followed up with a vicious swing of his shield to my side. The edge might not have been as sharp as a sword, and my armor protected my ribs, but the impact still rattled through me like I had been thrown into a tree or something.
I stumbled away from the duke’s son, but he stormed after me. His blows came fast and hard, and I realized immediately that I was outclassed with this guy. He had clearly been trained from a very young age, and while I had sparred with Mahini a thousand times over, he was just significantly better than my tutor with a shield and sword combo. I guessed that royal people probably got the best swordsmanship training that could be afforded, and while I was a bit annoyed at how good he was, I was also super excited by the fact that I had a lot more to learn about swordsmanship. Hell, there were hundreds of different weapons, and I could become a master of all of them with only a few thousand Chimes.
