The Duelist 3, page 25
“Yeah, alright,” I groaned as I dragged myself to my feet.
Just in time, too, because the Flame Guardian transformed his arm into a sword and slashed at my head, which forced me to duck and roll to the side.
“Reeeeeooooorrrrr!” the Guardian shrieked again with a sound like twisting metal, and it came after me with two sword-arms now instead of one.
“Alex!” Amaya screamed, and I managed to deflect one blow meant for my head and then leapt backward to avoid the second meant for my gut.
The Guardian stumbled forward when the power behind its second swing caused it to overbalance and fall to one knee, and I took my chance and brought my blade across its faceless head.
My sword went right through my opponent like a poker through a campfire, and when the golem’s head reformed, it even added eyebrows so it could glare at me.
“Fuck.” I brought my blade up last second to guard my left flank, but it was sloppy, and with the added heat of the monster, I dropped my sword with a clatter as I was forced back.
Shitfuck.
Okay, regroup.
I was fighting a boss made mostly of magic, fiery plasma, and it could somehow phase in and out of existence.
No problem.
I just needed to rely on being faster than the cumbersome Guardian, and I would be fine.
Hopefully.
Even though Zoie wasn’t here, I took this opportunity to think of this as another training exercise and took a deep breath.
Instantly, my heart rate calmed like I’d been training it to do every morning with my meditation exercises. Still, it was a bit of a struggle to drop immediately into the headspace I needed in order to focus, especially since the Flame Guardian was now jabbing at me here and there as if it was testing me and learning my moves.
Focus.
Don’t forget to dodge, but focus…
Tick.
My heart pulsed a half a beat slower, and the Guardian glared at me as if it knew what I was up to.
Ti--
The Guardian rushed at me a lot faster than I was anticipating, and I was shaken out of my trance so I could focus on dodging the onslaught of attacks by the golem’s dual blades.
Both swords swung at me high, and I had to lean back at a sharp angle in order to miss them as they slashed through the air one after another. The heat from the flaming blades nearly evaporated the sweat right off my face, and I fell flat on my back in order to avoid losing my eyebrows.
“Shit, shit, shit,” I said, and I rolled over and over to avoid the Guardian’s next attack as it tried to slam its dual blades into my head.
“Alex!” Amaya’s voice cut through the air, and I jumped up to my feet.
The Flame Guardian looked around as best as it could without eyes, which gave me just enough time to try and center myself.
If I could focus, I could use my time-trance powers to get around the fat ass and get my weapon.
The scar around my arm tingled with phantom pain, but I breathed deep.
Tick.
My heart thudded slow and steady, and the world slowed like it was moving through molasses.
Tick.
I needed to act quickly because if my theory about the Guardian was correct, he was definitely clocking me for any weaknesses, and I still felt some discomfort in my arm that restricted how long I could hold the trance for, which would suck if the dude figured that one out.
Tick.
The Guardian charged after me once more with both flaming blades, and right as they swung toward me, I made like I was sailing into Home by sliding under the behemoth’s legs.
Snap.
Time resumed its normal pace, and I was able to snatch up my fallen blade.
“Reeeeerrrrrccchhhh!” The behemoth let out another sound like a train derailing and whipped around in search of me.
I brought my sword up to guard my head right as both of the Guardian’s blades came down in a shower of sparks.
“Arrrrgggghh!” I roared and shoved with all my might in order to throw the golem off me.
Which was easier said than done because it was like trying to move a parked bulldozer.
“Strength, Alex!” Amaya encouraged me from behind the phalanx of statues.
I dug my heels in and finally managed to make the Guardian falter back a step. Then, while it took a second to regain its balance, I swung my sword low to take out its legs.
Whoosh.
My blade flowed through its kneecaps like water, and the fat ass didn’t even blink.
“How do I kill this thing?” I growled and danced back as it started for me like an enraged bull.
“You’re not supposed to kill it, you’re supposed to prove you are worthy to take what it’s guarding!” Amaya shouted. “Remember, you are being tested on your fortitude and bravery.”
“I’m not really sure how to put those things in action more than I already am!” I leapt back and then ducked a moment after, and it seemed as if the Guardian was picking up steam.
“Try to visualize!” Amaya had run around the outside of the circle in order to be closer to me.
“Visualize what?” I yelled as I blocked two gut shots in a row, sidestepped, and then zipped around the golem.
“I don’t know!” Amaya yelled back and jogged to join me on the other end of the circle. “Think of a time where you were tested beyond the limit, that might help!”
“Okay, okay, uuummm…” I wracked my brain and decided to summon the time-trance again in order to buy time.
Breathe.
Tick.
The Guardian’s next footfall slowed, and I pictured all of my will being contained inside that seed-pod.
Tick.
Some of the cracks in the seed-pod’s shell widened as I let the power leak out in a more controlled manner.
T-i-ck…
The Flame Guardian froze mid-step, and I abruptly felt a strong yank as if the power of the time-stop was a pit bull pulling at the end of a chain.
“Reeeeeeoooorrrrrrr.” The golem somehow fought the restraints I was trying to impose upon it, and the yanking sensation grew so violent a sharp sick-feeling clamped down on my gut.
I closed my eyes and reached deep for that still water well where the power could be released like a flood, but instead of water, the image of a wall of fire flashed through me. It startled me so much, I lost control of the time-stop, and time snapped back into place.
“Ahh!” I hissed as I crashed down to one knee and rubbed my suddenly sore breastbone. When time retracted so abruptly like that, it felt like being hit in the chest by a bungee cord.
The Guardian roared its shrieking metal roar and glared at me with its eyeless face. Its flames hissed and spat, and the golem suddenly grew into a giant column of fire that was slowly moving toward me.
The heat of the inferno was so immense, it almost hurt to keep my eyes open, and tears and sweat poured in rivulets down my face. I moved backward until my back was up against the phalanx, and Amaya reached her hand out to touch the back of my neck.
“Focus, Alex,” she whispered, and I somehow heard her over the roaring Pillar of Death.
The coolness of her fingertips reminded me of raindrops on glass and gave me a point to focus on that wasn’t just hellfire.
Something about the wall of flames struck me as familiar, but I couldn’t put a finger on it…
The conflagration crept closer, and the heat cracked my lips.
“You can face this trial, you only have to believe you can!” Amaya’s voice pierced through my growing panic, and something about her words triggered my memory.
Trial.
When I was in the midst of the Trials, the same wall of fire flashed in front of me when I was in the Dark Realm.
Suddenly, it clicked.
I understood what the Realm was trying to tell me.
“I have to prove myself, right?” I yelled at Amaya over my shoulder and pressed myself more firmly against the shields at my back.
“Yes!” she cried.
What better test of fortitude than walking through fire?
“Here goes nothing!” Before I could lose my nerve, I charged at the solid wall of angry flames like I did in the Dark Realm and prayed I didn’t just make a horrible mistake.
The minute I plunged through the inferno, the column of fire disappeared as quickly as flipping a switch.
“What the?” I whipped around with my sword still brandished, but the Flame Guardian was gone.
Well, not quite gone.
A dim blue flame no bigger than my fist pulsed and hovered in mid-air where the Guardian used to be.
“You did it,” Amaya breathed in the deafening silence, and I finally lowered my sword. “Go, see what it has for you.”
I nodded dumbly and stowed my weapon as I walked toward the ball of quietly flickering flame.
The Flame Guardian’s metamorphosis made it look more like the Zelda fairy now that it wasn’t so angry. The little ball of fire fluttered brightly in front of me for a moment before it flew over to the bier in the center with a sputter and a spit until it hovered over a cracked stone plaque at the base of the bier.
When I got closer, I could see something gold sparkling beneath the old stone, and I reached out two fingers like a pair of forceps to try and retrieve it as if I was playing Operation.
With only a little bit of struggle, I was able to free the object from where it was wedged, and when I was finally able to examine it, I noticed it looked like a jagged lava rock with veins of gold shot through it.
A loud stone grinding sounded, and I jumped up from my crouch and spun around with my hand already reaching for my sword again.
One by one, the stone statues lowered their shields back to rest at their feet while they returned to their spots in the wall.
I was still gripping the handle of my weapon just in case, but it looked as if the danger had passed.
Now that its task was complete, the Flame Guardian fluttered over to the stone bier and wreathed the place of rest once more with its pyre-like glow.
I breathed out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and locked eyes with the oryx-woman.
Amaya brought both hands up to clasp at her heart, and as one, we both ran for each other full-tilt.
“You were amazing!” she giggled as I twirled her around in an excited embrace.
“That thing was huge!” I exclaimed and set her back on her feet. “Thank you. You were a huge help.”
“Oh.” She blushed and twirled a curl around her finger, and my smile faded slightly as she blinked her rain-colored eyes.
Then the flames from the bier abruptly flared and broke us apart.
“Does this guy respawn, or…?” I asked as I backed us toward the corridor.
“The Elemental Guardians are said to be caught in an endless loop since they are only tasked with guarding the place or object they were created to protect,” she said. “You have the object, so by that logic, we should be safe.”
The Guardian roared again, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out if Amaya was right.
“I say we go!” I declared, and we both turned tail, raced down the corridor, and thundered up the stairs.
When we made it out into the crisp night air, it was almost like being reborn, and I couldn’t help but fall to my knees and breathe in great draughts of cleansing air. My eyes closed as I let the breeze mop my brow, and I just sat there glorying in being above ground and away from the heat.
“Here.” Amaya sat down in front of me with a couple of woot fruits, bit a chunk out of one, and handed it to me.
“Thanks,” I rasped out and sucked the water greedily out of the woot husk. My scorched throat sang, and I didn’t even feel bad when the oryx-woman offered me hers as well.
“What was it the Guardian was protecting?” she asked me after I discarded the last husk, and from the ground next to her, she started pulling up a few greenish mushrooms and put them in her lap.
“This rock-thing,” I answered and pulled out the object I’d liberated. “Do you know what it is?”
She let me drop it into her palms, and I watched as she brought it up to her face and scrutinized it with her flashing silver eyes.
“I-I don’t know,” she said and lowered the lava rock. “But it feels familiar.”
“Familiar how?” I asked.
Instead of answering right away, the oryx-woman took my right hand in hers, bit the stem off a mushroom, and then squeezed a gel that reminded me of aloe into my palm.
“Ah,” I hissed and blinked down at the blisters on my hand.
“I know it stings at first, but give it a moment,” she said and then tenderly massaged the ointment into my throbbing skin as she continued. “When I was auguring at the Battle Hall, Archus Doler left behind a strong aura when he died, and I was able to glean much. There were several violent impressions about you, of course, and there were several particularly about his children.”
“Horus?” I flexed my fingers as a cooling sensation took the place of the sting. “I know the man didn’t care for his son, but it wasn’t until you channeled him that I realized just how much. That whole ‘should have drowned you at birth’ part is definitely what I would call violent.”
“Yes, Archus hated Horus with a passion, this is true,” Amaya said. “But he harbored even darker thoughts about his Fledgling daughter.”
“What?” I asked, but then a second later I wished I’d never had because going by the look on the oryx-woman’s face, ‘dark’ was an understatement.
“I don’t know for sure…” she said, and the space between her eyebrows puckered. “It’s like he knew something about her. Something even the Council has no precedent over.”
“It’s a good thing he’s dead, then,” I said with a scowl as I rubbed the scar around my arm.
“It is good his darkness cannot pollute this island anymore, this is true, but it remains to be seen just what kind of company he kept,” she said as her eyes shimmered under the moonlight. Then she held up the lava rock again. “May I keep this for the time being?”
“Sure,” I said. “What are you going to do with it?”
The oryx-woman didn’t answer me, and instead a set look on her face formed as if she was searching her memory for something, but after a moment, her eyes stopped glowing, and she frowned.
“Amaya?” I nudged when her expression grew more and more distant.
“It’s like an itch…” She rubbed the center of her forehead where her ostensible ‘third-eye’ would be. “The familiar something. It’s just out of my reach. You must take me with you to Doler’s estate.”
“Um, what? Doler’s…” I faltered at the sudden whiplash. One minute, the oryx-woman was practically murmuring to herself in la-la land, and the next she was staring at me with her clear and intense gaze. “You want to go to Doler’s estate?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if the Council decides to act immediately once they’ve deliberated on the evidence of your case,” she said and then stood so she could help me up. “I Know you seek something within its walls and plan to go there soon before the estate is no longer viable. I would like to go with you and Horus, and I think it would also be best to take along my sister. There might be more she can sense especially because Archus dabbled a lot with enchantments.”
“Alright,” I said as I let her pull me to my feet by my left hand. “We can probably go there tomorrow. I think you’re right about the Council. They seem to be just as interested in Doler’s estate, but for what reason, I have no clue. The sooner we can go there, the better.”
“I know my brother has his suspicions, but he will not reveal them to me,” Amaya said with another frown that wrinkled the patch across the bridge of her nose in a really adorable way. “Gavlain is quite trying at times.”
“Isn’t he, though?” I snorted as we made our way back through the glen and back toward Ithaca. “He tells me nothing.”
“Yes, he has always been a master strategist and has always had a way of only revealing information when necessary,” she explained. “Although, his version of ‘when necessary’ is quite different from other people’s.”
“Very true,” I laughed and then frowned when Amaya veered left. “Hey, where are you going? Ithaca’s this way.”
“Oh, I know,” she said in her windy voice. “I’m actually going back to the Battle Hall for a second look.”
“Now?” I glanced around the dark forest glen lit only by the moon and stars. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“I don’t sleep much,” she said airily.
“Not what I meant,” I said and plucked a purple leaf out of her hair. “Will you be okay?”
“I will be fine,” she said as she took the leaf from me and twirled it between her thin fingers.
“But what about Mercenaries?” I asked and stepped closer as that resonate hum vibrated in harmony between us.
“I am part of the Order’s augur-mages,” she said and dangled the sun pendant up for me to see. “Punishment is harsh and swift for those who harass the Goddess’ Appointed Ones.”
“But what if there’s a Red Moon?” I murmured and unconsciously dipped my head toward hers.
“There won’t be,” she whispered and feathered the leaf down my nose and lips.
“What if…” I cut myself off, and I was stuck in a moment of indecision that paralyzed me right on the edge of something huge. Then I swallowed around the sudden tightness in my throat. “What if I don’t want you to go?”
Amaya let the leaf flutter to the ground and then cupped my face with her palm.
I closed my eyes and breathed out as the warm sensation that accompanied her Knowing Touch filled me with safety.
“I know what you’re doing,” I muttered and peeked open an eye. “You’re trying to make me feel okay with you traipsing around the dark forest all by yourself.”
“Is it working?” She smiled up at me and caressed my cheekbone with her thumb.
“No, because I really want you to stay, and it’s confusing because I’m also married, and yet I really want to kiss you,” I admitted but held her hand against my face.
