The Duelist 6, page 18
It was nice in theory, but Thas stepped forward from the crowd and crossed his arms over his barrel chest.
“That is all?” the large man demanded. “Some paltry words as we face the biggest challenge our people have faced yet, and you offer nothing else?”
“What would you have us offer, youngling?” the chief asked as his wolf-ears flickered.
“You have numbers and weapons that could aid us in our plight,” Thas said as he cut right to the quick.
“Our function is to not interfere in the ways of your kind,” the wolf-man said with a sneer. “We are impartial. The Greatest Neutral, so this world can remain in balance.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, this island is as unbalanced as can be.” Thas scowled. “Where is your ‘function’ now?”
“Thas,” the Major warned, and the other man backed off but not before he spat in the dirt at the wolf-chief's feet. “Forgive my son. His passion has not been tamed through duty just yet. Let us part now with both of our debts struck clean this day.”
“Hm.” The wolf-man stroked his chin in thought even though he still appeared mildly offended at Thas’ harsh judgment. “I am inclined to let the matter lie.”
“Great,” I interrupted once again before anything could threaten this newfound peace between the two sides. “So, meet Horus and Shay at Snake Tree, got it. Are we all set here?”
“There is one more thing,” he said and handed over an envelope. “Some irksome beast delivered this missive to your wife.”
“But it has my name on it,” I said and then raised my eyebrows when I spied Jenner’s familiar handwriting.
“I know,” the wolf-chief said. “Your wife was most displeased when the beast insisted on harassing her.”
“Yeah, that sounds about right,” I snorted and then looked around. “So where is the little devil?”
The wolf-chief simply pointed at the tree above him.
“Screech.” The yellow pest dubbed ‘Crackers’ glared down at us with his beady black eyes.
“Please,” the gray-furred man said. “Take it with you once and for all.”
“Screech,” Crackers said. Then he turned his back, lifted his bony lizard tail, and took a shit as if to tell us exactly what he thought of the whole thing.
Fucking jerk.
With the potential crisis averted, we parted ways with the wolf-chief, and our caravan continued its slow but steady trek toward the village.
Because we had such a train of people this time, the journey that would have taken a handful of hours was now shaping up to take most of the day. So, to prevent boredom, Amaya and Zoie suggested I work on drafting a reply as quickly as I could so we could all get rid of Crackers and his surly attitude.
“What does our loyal butler have to say?” Zoie asked me after I’d read over the letter twice.
“Apparently, Jenner, Rylan, and Captain Nemis made it back to Nata Isle,” I reported. “Things are going good there… sorry, that was an understatement. Apparently, things are going really well if Jenner’s fast scribbles were anything to go by. Some of it was unintelligible, but he was getting really excited about something called ‘Serf Contracts?’ What are those?”
“Serf Contracts are requests from No-Ranks who want to tie themselves and their own plots of land to you as their Lord,” Amaya said as she walked next to me and then slipped the letter out of my grasp. “According to Jenner, most of Redburn’s serfs want to transfer to the land surrounding Ithaca. It seems as if our friend Dreadful is going to stay on as the Lord of Gatetown, and his peasants want to take shelter with Asher Brightwood. They are all offering more than the standard percentage of whatever yield their crops or livestock make.”
“I don’t think I want to take anybody’s money,” I said uneasily.
“It would be an homage to you for promising to keep them safe in the surrounding lands,” Anwaar added. “It would be an insult to refuse payment as such.”
“Oh,” I said. “I suppose if it’s rude, then I better… accept.”
“I brought along the required materials for you to compose your response,” Zoie said as she shuffled around in her pack for some stationary.
“Excellent,” I replied, and I climbed up onto the skitter next to us so I could use my lap as a surface. “So I should just accept the contracts, I guess?”
“Yeah,” Amaya said. “Accept all of them. You will never go hungry again from how many there are.”
“Contracts… hm.” An idea revolved around in my head when I sat down to attempt to write despite the bumpy ride.
It was always good to have something written in stone to back up the whole Overthrow the Government thing, and in my letter to Jenner, I specifically requested if he could get Lord Mec to draft up some trade agreements with Terr about all of the enterprises this island could bring to the table.
Hopefully, if the timing was good, the response would show up juuuuust when I needed it…
Now the only thing I needed next was the cooperation of the infamous Crackers.
“Heyyyy, buddy,” I cooed, and the screecher popped its head out from under its wing. “I need you to take this to Lord Griss first so we can let him know what’s up, and then I need you to take this other letter back to Jenner on Nata.”
“Screech!” Crackers shouted.
“I know,” I tried to placate. “But I made sure to tell Griss to give you some nice juicy meat when you get there.”
The screecher still glared at me, but he pointedly stuck out his scrawny chicken-leg so I could attach the letters. He then hopped up on my forearm, and when I launched him into the sky, the pest scratched me just because he could.
Ass.
The rest of the caravan ride after that was pretty uneventful, and Sskern, Thas, and I had taken to doing rounds throughout the line to check on everyone as we made the trek to the village.
Things were pretty monotonous, and I was so bored I’d taken up a subtle game of Catch and Chase with Zoie. She would go the opposite direction from me, and I would try to catch up with her as I attended to my duties.
Eventually, Amaya caught on to what we were doing, and in order to draw Anwaar out of her shell a little more, they both started to bet on who would catch who, or how long it would take for us to intersect.
It was actually really fun, and I was almost disappointed when Lieutenant Vertiss shouted out that he could see the Pit as well as Snake Tree coming up. I stopped passing out water to the people who chose to walk most of the way due to limited seating, and I looked up at the sight of the Ancient Spirit looming over us even though we were still quite a ways away.
Then I stashed the water skeins and ladle away in one of the carts and felt the urge to draw at least one of my blades.
The eerie droning of the wind whistling through the large gaping chasm was making the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Something was off, and I could tell some of the other Terrans could feel this as well. The closer we got to the Pit, the more things started to feel like they were wrong, but nothing made itself overly apparent.
In fact, things almost seemed entirely too quiet, like the world itself was holding its breath. Unfortunately, I had the sinking suspicion this peace was temporary, and my eyes darted around for any signs of a threat.
When we finally made it to the large rift that divided the village from the rest of Lower Terr, I could see we were met with an entourage, with Leader Zerr heading up the front.
“Captain, Regent, Ambassador,” the alligator-man greeted Tharfin, Sskern, and me from across the jagged channel.
“Actually, it’s Major, now,” Tharfin said, and the village Leader nodded respectfully. “We have come to seek passage through your lands. Any supplies or equipment you can spare us would be much obliged. If we can rest here for the night, we can leave you by morning.”
“There is zero chance of you leaving us behind,” Zerr said as he stabbed his walking stick into the dirt with a thud. “We spotted all of you from the middle of the village. There can only be one reason why all of you have come, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say we are going to be joining you.”
A massive cheer of agreement rang out from the villagers amassed on the other side of the Pit, and slowly but surely, the folks of Minetown began to cross the divide.
It was an interesting operation to witness, that was for sure. The only time I’d seen how the skitters could make a halfway decent bridge with their bodies, there’d only been two of them.
Now, there were at least half a dozen of the centipede-like creatures, a few sets of those giant pill-bug grubs, a handful of wagons and carts, and finally the two squallers. who were helped across the skitter bridge by Mozz.
“Is that everyone?” I asked as I stayed behind with Zoie, Sskern, and the Major.
“Looks like it,” Tharfin said. “Let’s go join them.
I nodded and hurried my way over the Bridge with Entirely Too Many Legs, and I breathed a little easier when we were all on the same side.
Then my relief died an abrupt death when that terrible noise shook the ground and harkened forth the dread of the Red Sky.
“The Scourge!” someone screamed through the almighty din. “The Scourge has come again!”
“But we’re so close to the Pit!” another person shouted frantically.
The sounds of chaos overtook any semblance of order, and the voices all around stopped making sense.
Clods of dirt molded up from the ground by an invisible hand, and more demons than I’d seen aside from a Herald Frenzy quickly filled the area as the Lower Terrans attempted to get away.
“Sskern!” I yelled over the crack of the raptor-man’s whip. “We have to corral them so some of the people can get to safety!”
“Form ranks!” the Regent bellowed, and several sergeants assembled their rock launchers.
Bang. Bang.
Crack.
I pulled my herald blades out and quickly called upon their dual powers: Swiftness and Decisiveness.
There was a high possibility I would need every magical advantage I could get.
One. Two.
One. Two.
I tried my hardest not to think about Zoie or Amaya or Anwaar. We all got scattered due to the sudden onslaught, and I couldn’t catch sight of any of them in the midst of the fray.
“Diiiiieee!” I screamed as a stump-demon attempted to reel in one of the lizard-men with its gross tongue tentacle.
I scissored through the fleshy rope, and then I kicked the fucker in its already crooked jaw.
“Reeeeaaarrrrcchh!” the demon squealed.
Crack.
Sskern’s whip wrapped around the rest of the stump-demon’s face and basically twisted its head off its stubby shoulders.
It was nasty.
“Ahhhhhh!” A high-pitched wail pierced the air, and I turned in time to see a group of scourge-mites surrounding five or so women who were attempting to defend themselves with garden tools.
They were too far away, so in a split-second decision, I drew out the power dwelling with me and summoned my time powers.
Tick.
The world slowed, and I saw one of the lesser demons aim its hideous barbed tentacle at one woman’s back while another was preparing to pounce through the air. At this rate, I could tell I wouldn’t make it on time, so I needed to actually make my own time.
Tick.
Everything went even slower, and right as the second demon sprang toward one of the brave farm ladies, I threw my right sword into its spindly body. As it curled up on its back like a spider in a hot shower, time snapped back to normal just as I landed in the middle of the circle.
Then, with Swiftness, I sliced off the barbed tentacle going for the other woman, and the demon shrieked.
“Riiiiiooooowwwwll!”
“Zoie!” I shouted, and even though I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the battle, I could feel her land next to me with her typical agility. “Back-to-back!”
I yanked Decisiveness out of the demon carcass at my feet and then twisted around so my warrior-wife and I were fighting in tandem with our backs pressed together.
Boom.
A bright red flash signaled that Anwaar had just unleashed a large amount of power, and I caught a glimpse of scourge-mites being blasted into the air followed by the bangs of the rock-launchers.
“Arrrrghh!” I yelled as I sliced through another tentacle aimed at my cat-wife.
She blinked at me in shock, but the moment didn’t last long because another subterranean howl erupted all around.
I tensed and whipped wildly around to see where the next wave of demons was coming from, but something even more sinister was happening.
The remaining demons that weren’t stunned or ashed were running.
Specifically, they were all running back toward the large rictus of the open Pit.
A celebratory cheer rose up above the stark silence, but I still had a really bad feeling blooming in my gut.
“Alex, this seems abnormal,” Zoie said as she walked up next to me.
“I know,” I said as I watched them all disappear over the ridge. “What are the chances we scared them away?”
Before Zoie could answer, another drone vibrated through the ground louder than before, and it was so strong I felt my molars rattle in their sockets.
“Not good,” the cat-woman stated right before a deafening cracking noise like a thousand cannons made her sensitive ears fly back.
Then the cheers from the Terrans got cut off at the knees when the cracking crumbling sound increased in volume.
After a secondary sound that reminded me of something large and sinewy, my imagination went crazy when I realized these other noises were coming from something trying to climb its way out of the Pit.
“I hate being right,” I muttered to myself when a giant tentacle that would put the Kraken to shame slithered over the ridge.
“What is that?” Zoie shrieked as twenty stories of maroon-colored tentacle rose into the air.
And kept rising.
“Our cue to move!” I ordered, and those who were able to see the logical end of this scenario ran as fast as they could to get out of the appendage’s way.
“Alex!” Zoie called out as we tried to stick together in the fray, but the Terrans were panicking left and right, which caused us to be wedged apart.
“Zoie!” I yelled, and I got a shoulder to the solar plexus for my trouble.
The giant tentacle groaned and creaked, and then like the climactic moment in the Titanic, the appendage began to fall forward.
“Everyone, clear a path!” someone familiar cried out, and I wondered for a second if it could have been Thas, but as the shadow loomed, I stopped wondering about everything aside from avoiding being crushed.
Tick.
My adrenaline spiked as I automatically slipped into another time-trance. Now that the world had slowed once more, I knew I had plenty of time to get out of the way, but that didn’t do everyone else any good.
Tick.
The tentacle fell closer, and I pivoted on my heels so I could face the thing.
“Come on,” I muttered to myself, and I held my palms up. “Work.”
Ti--
The bubble around me shrank, and I felt the tension between my hands like a film of soap. If I was careful enough, I had the feeling I would be able to wrap this invisible forcefield around certain things if I wished.
I glanced up at the towering appendage still on its collision course with me and everyone else who was moving at about the same speed of frozen molasses. Then, with all the concentration I possessed, I pushed the invisible force field around the tentacle, and when I felt like I had it trapped, I let the rest of time snap back into place.
“Hurry!” I bellowed as the natural order of things like time and gravity strained against my power.
The people who were still in the shadow of the falling arm ran as fast as they could to get clear.
My powers groaned under the strain, and I was forced to let the thin barrier collapse so time could resume its forward march.
“Fuck,” I said as I put the pedal to the metal in order to avoid the tentacle intent on crushing at least one person before the day was out.
“Run, Alex!” Captain Tharfin shouted at me from somewhere, and despite the burning in my legs, I pushed harder than ever, and at the last second, I dove to the side as the whole thing came crashing down like a giant redwood tree.
“Booooooorrrrrrr!” A subsonic roar caused the dust from the ground to kick up as more cracks made the Pit widen.
More tentacles crawled their way out of the fissure, until a grotesquely huge face filled with eyes and fangs like an angler fish pulled its bloated way up so it could flop over the edge of the cliff.
“There hasn’t been a tidebeast in close to one hundred seasons!” someone screamed.
“How do we plan on getting rid of that?” Thas asked as he helped me to my feet.
“Booooooorrrrrrr!” the monstrosity roared again
“I have no clue,” I said, and I was truly completely out of ideas.
Then, as I watched the tide beast prepare to wallop us all again with all four of its tentacles this time, something caught my attention.
On the breeze a faint, but familiar sound could be heard…
“Aaarrroooooo!”
The wolf-men.
They were coming.
Chapter 16
“Aaarrrroooo!” The cry of the wolf-people caused the terrifying tidebeast to pause in the middle of pulverizing us.
“Get ready to die, Scourge!” A voice I had sorely missed split the air with a mixture of rogue mischief and deadly promise.
“Horus!” Anwaar screamed, and suddenly the kraken abomination turned to face the new threat, which happened to be a wolf-army led by the falcon-man.
On the other side of the rift, the reinforcements shot arrows and grappling hook devices with sturdy chains attached. With these weapons, they were able to pull one of the tentacles down and secure it to the ground.
“Booooooorrrrr!” the thing roared, and it tried to blob its way out of the Pit even more, but another one of its large arms was pinned to the ground.
