Fate’s Pawn

You’d be surprised what you can do with magic if you don’t know it’s supposed to be impossible.

- Kirkathrax the Mad

Raziel called up his light again and walked down the stairs with Kusa. This time he was more careful with the magic and there was no blast of light, but he could still feel the magic swelling inside him. Hoeru, Keira, Roland, and Miles were waiting at the bottom of the stairs. The eggbeast was pressing its face against the doorway, trying to get to a position where it could look in with both eyes. It didn’t seem to understand that its head was significantly wider than the doorway.

“So, are you guys waiting on something?”

“Sort of,” Hoeru said.

“They came to see what you and I were doing, but now we can’t get out,” Miles explained, gesturing at the eggbeast. The eggbeast slumped, pressing its furry face against the doorway, apparently giving up and settling for having neither eye in a position where it could see.

“Uh, Kusa, can you do something? We will need to get out,” Raziel asked as they reached the bottom of the stairs.

Kusa nodded but didn’t move towards the eggbeast. Instead it went to the circle where Raziel had lost his father’s book. There was almost no buildup. Just a small ripple in the magic filling the tower.

Kusa reached forward, putting both hands out over the circle, and Raziel saw the air, the space beneath its fingers, bend and press in, like the fabric of reality was bread dough or wet clay. Kusa strained, pulling its fingers apart, and space parted as well, like a book opening to a new page. Through the hole in the air, Raziel saw a rooftop and beyond it the rest of Peritura’s calm nighttime visage. Then Kusa stepped aside and gestured with one hand at the window.

Raziel’s jaw dropped. He looked around to see similar expressions on everyone else’s face. Even the eggbeast seemed surprised, sniffing at the air in interested snuffling gasps. Miles was the first to speak.

“Can… we go through?”

Kusa nodded and picked up a piece of chalk leftover from the patterns Miles had drawn on the room’s floor and threw it through the window. It clattered on the rooftop as though it had only gone a few feet rather than several miles. Kusa nodded at the window again.

“Are we just going to leave?” Miles asked, his tone clearly trying to hide his desperate desire to escape.

“I can’t. I have to stop Mask.” Keira said, her posture rigid. “But… could we send someone through to bring back help?”

Kusa shook its head solemnly.

“I doubt it could hold open the gate the whole time. And Mask could show up at any time,” Miles said, licking his dry lips.

“Then I’m staying,” Keira said, resolved. Beside her, Hoeru nodded in grim agreement. He still had business to attend to with Mask and the wolf. And Raziel had promised to help. There hadn’t really been many options at the time. But Raziel had promised.

“Raz?” Roland asked.

Raziel looked at Roland and Miles. Roland was still, his face calm and ready. Raziel wasn’t sure, but he thought Roland would go along with whatever he decided.

Miles looked like he was on the verge of panic. Raziel could see him struggling under the weight of his horrible options; leave his friends for safety or stay with them and face the very real possibility that he would die.

Roland and Miles at least were looking to him to make the decision for them. Raziel didn’t know that Roland would go along with it, but he could tell that Miles would feel much better about the situation if Raziel decided to leave first.

But the more he thought about it, the more certain Raziel became that he couldn’t do that. It wasn’t just his promise to Hoeru or the fact that Keira was staying. Raziel still needed his father’s book and to ask Kusa about the flying city, but that wasn’t what kept Raziel from walking through the portal.

Raziel could not leave. The part of him that was afraid wanted to. But he couldn’t forget Kusa’s trembling hands. He knew if he left, he’d never forget. And he wouldn’t be himself ever again.

Raziel turned to Miles, who looked pale and shaky, like he was going to throw up. He wished there was some way he could tell Miles that it would be fine for him to leave the rest of them here. But that wouldn’t solve Miles’ problem. It wasn’t just fear of pain or dying that was stealing the color from his face and making sweat break out on his brow. It was the indecision. It was the desire to help warring with his fear. And Raziel couldn’t help Miles in that fight. He could only give him the opportunity to stay here and win it.

“I won’t go, Kusa. I’m going to do my best to help you,” Raziel said at last. Roland paused for a moment or two and then he set his face and nodded his agreement.

Miles was the last one. He looked from them to the window. He took a single, hesitant step towards it and stood there, shaking like a leaf in the wind. He looked sick. He looked like he wanted to cry. But then he turned away from the window, clenched his fists at his side so hard that his knuckles turned white. He tried to say something, but nothing came out. Then he just shook his head.

Kusa looked shocked. Its hands fell to its sides as it stared at them. The little spirit’s eyes traveled to each of them one by one while the opening behind it shrunk. Kusa bowed its head as the window shut completely.

As if on cue, a howl that set Raziel’s hair standing on end came from the direction of the fort’s gate.

The eggbeast swung its head around to look at the noise, and Kusa ran out, quick as a bird taking flight.

“He’s here,” Hoeru said, ears flicking towards the door.

“Wha-wha-what do we d-do?” Miles stammered.

“You stay here,” Raziel said firmly. He gestured at the floor. “Do whatever you’re doing with all this.”

“Someone else should stay back. Whatever Mask wants, it’s here,” Keira said.

“You’re right. You and Roland should stay.”

“What?” Keira almost shouted, outrage in her voice.

“Roland’s the toughest one here, but he’s not fast. And you can do that explosion thing if Mask gets in here. He might get away from it out there, but there’s no way he could in here.”

“What about you and Hoeru?”

“I guess we go kill that wolf.”

Hoeru nodded.

“And if it goes bad, you guys can try to grab us and drag us back here.”

Raziel gave them a grin and walked out behind Hoeru, hoping he looked braver than he felt. As they stepped out, the wolf’s howl came over the walls. The trees shook as a gale of wind passed through them, the sound of their rustling like screams. The eggbeast had come to stand by Kusa’s side. Kusa watched the gate and stroked the eggbeast’s foreleg soothingly.

“Okay so what are we gonna do?” Raziel asked.

“Kill the wolf.”

“Yeah, but how?”

“I’m still working that part out.”

“I think you need to work faster.”

“It’s coming,” Hoeru breathed.

“What?”

Raziel heard a new sound, the pounding of huge feet. The great wolf spirit soared over the gate with a screaming howl. It looked weightless in the air but struck the ground so hard that Raziel felt a tremor under his feet. Just as Keira had said, there was indeed a large and noticeable crack in its mask, but that combined with its empty eyes only served to give the wolf a colder menace.

Mask rode on its back, up high where the fur was raised in a ridge. The wolf was covered in dozens and dozens of gremlins that slipped or sprang from its back as it landed. They crowded around it like chicks beneath a mother hen.

Mask came to his feet, slowly and carefully surveying them. He crossed his arms and held his head high, cocky in the pale moonlight. The grin painted on his mask was the garish red black of dried blood.

“No one needs to die. I don’t want to fight. Your meaningless deaths will give me neither profit nor pleasure.” He paused for a moment and locked eyes with Raziel, seeming to have only just noticed him. “You…. Raziel, is it? I did not expect to see you again. When my friend,” gesturing to the wolf, “told me he’d run into you and your friends in the woods, I almost didn’t believe him. I certainly didn’t believe that you managed to hold him back. Especially since it cost me my ogres to gain his friendship. But here you are.”

“I’m not afraid of him. And I’m not afraid of you either.” Raziel called, trying to make himself believe it.

The wolf let out its low vicious growl, and Raziel felt the rumble against his chest.

“He says he’d like nothing better than to taste you and your friends. But I do not wish to hurt you or anyone else. Please, stand aside.” Raziel was surprised by the sincerity he heard in Mask’s voice. The plea seemed genuine. Mask, seeing Raziel hesitate, continued. “I don’t know why you’ve chosen to stand against me, but I do know this. You do not know my goal. I want to help all of Arcas, to protect it, to save it. Terrible days are returning, and if we do not act, Arcas will be torn apart.”

The words threw Raziel off-balance. They did not feel like lies, and even though Raziel was sure that the best lies wouldn’t, he still felt a natural pull in what he was saying. He was on the verge of something, some decision that he felt utterly unable to make. The image of Mask standing on the rooftop with Alban and Lucas came into his mind, Lucas wrapped in his father’s chains while Mask looked on. That was what Mask had to give, and the memory of it steadied Raziel. The rage that Mask had unleashed in Lucas was enough to tell Raziel where to stand. Mask saw the firming resolution in Raziel’s face.

“Very well then. I see I cannot dissuade you with words. That is a pity. Are you willing to risk this boy’s life on this, Kusa? He and his friends stand with you. If you step aside, I am sure they will, too. If you let me pass, I will swear to you, by my power, that no harm will befall you or any under your protection from me or mine. I know the mask I wear makes it difficult to trust my words, but you know the power of oaths, Kusa. Please accept mine.”

Again the words had a ring of honesty to them that Raziel couldn’t ignore. Kusa turned back, looked at Raziel, Hoeru, and then the tower. For a moment, Raziel thought he saw his own uncertainty mirrored in the little spirit’s eyes. Then Kusa’s eyes moved to the tower and to the sky above with its twinkling stars. Its eyes stayed there for a long silent moment, and when Kusa’s eyes closed, its decision was made.

It crouched and leapt to stand atop the eggbeast’s broad back. It crossed its arms, copying Mask’s brash stance, and stared at his opponent with defiance. When it spoke, its voice echoed across the whole courtyard as though the fort itself and everything within spoke with it.

“Kusa!”

Absolute rejection.

Mask lowered his own head, shaking it sadly. “Very well.”

The wolf crouched, the eggbeast roared, and the battle was on. The two titanic beasts surged forward to meet with a crash like a landslide. The gremlins sent up a howling chorus and followed in the wolf’s wake, parting around the two furry combatants to come for Raziel and Hoeru. Mask and Kusa fought with inhuman speed and grace, one moment atop the eggbeast, the next atop the wolf.

Gremlins poured forward in a hideous tide. Raziel clenched the gem in his hand and reached for the magic inside. The gem had been providing him a slow trickle of energy. This was like trying to drink from a bucket thrown at your head. Raziel was only able to grasp a bit of the magic as the lead gremlin leapt at him teeth first.

Raziel had been taught to use magic while sitting, almost meditating. Using magic that way had always been terribly difficult. He had to think about each and every part of the magic, do it with precision and care. Doing it when his life was on the line was so much simpler.

Magic coursed through him, filling his whole body. The magic flowed down into his arm as he stepped forward to punch the gremlin out of the air. Only he didn’t just punch it. He hammered the hideous monster’s face like his fist was God’s own hammer. The gremlin’s face crumpled, and it flew back like it had been fired from a cannon. It struck the pair of gremlins coming behind it, and they all fell in a heap.

Pain lanced up from Raziel’s hand, and for a terrified moment he thought he’d broken it again. But he’d just torn his knuckles on the gremlin’s toothy maw. His hand was fine otherwise. He could do this. He could fight.

A ferocious smile split his lips, and he found himself howling defiance alongside Hoeru as they charged into the oncoming horde of gremlins. The gremlins quickly realized that they wanted no part of that fight. Only the bravest ran straight into Raziel and Hoeru. The rest scattered, running towards the buildings and the tower and giving the pair a wide berth.

The next few minutes were nothing but a chaotic blur. Raziel and Hoeru had been in so many fights together over the years that guarding one another was pure instinct. None of their fights had been on this scale, but all the same they knew how to watch each other’s backs. The gremlins couldn’t be ignored, but they also couldn’t touch either of them while they worked together. Raziel wanted to check on the tower, to see if Roland and the others were doing okay, but there was hardly time to breath, much less look around. He just had to trust that they would be able to handle themselves.

Hoeru had the power and confidence to take the fight to the gremlins, viciously tearing at any that got close enough. Raziel was still getting used to his own speed and had to wait for opportunities to land counters. He had to focus on keeping track of every gremlin, timing his movements perfectly.

A huge gremlin, nearly as tall as Raziel and much wider, threw itself at Hoeru’s back just as another, smaller one leapt at Raziel. Raziel knocked the smaller one away and drew in all the magic he could, trying to make himself faster. The huge gremlin slowed until it was barely moving at all, but Raziel was too far away. He’d never make it.

The image of a blue ball of light smashing into Lucas’ stomach hit him, and Raziel slammed all of the magic he could into his right hand. He threw it, and it soared across the distance, gathering speed as Raziel willed it faster. The gremlin had just enough time to notice the light before the spell hit it.

The ball of light smashed through the gremlin’s teeth and into its mouth. It didn’t stop or slow. It carried the screaming and now glowing gremlin into the air and didn’t stop until it crashed into one of the buildings. There was a flash of light and a crack like a firework going off. The gremlin slid down the wall, leaving a sticky black trail.

All the other gremlins screamed and scattered. Raziel almost laughed and found that he couldn’t breath. He sank to one knee, his legs giving out beneath him. A shadow fell over him.

“Raz!” Hoeru screamed, and then Raziel was flying through the air. The eggbeast and the wolf trampled through the area he’d been in. Where Hoeru still was.

Raziel hit the ground hard, but panic drove him back to his feet. He was by his friend again in seconds and what he saw sent ice through his veins. Hoeru’s right leg was broken, his knee bent completely inward. Hoeru’s face was white with pain. Raziel tried to grab Hoeru under the arms, to start dragging him away. Hoeru threw him off.

“Keep them off me. Just give me a minute,” Hoeru said through gritted teeth. Raziel started to ask a question. Then Hoeru grabbed the lower part of his broken leg and with a howling shriek popped it back into place. Raziel wanted to retch as his friend writhed on the ground. He had to look away.

The eggbeast and the wolf had carried their battle away from them. The wolf constantly slipped away from the eggbeast’s powerful blows, ducking in to take nips and bites that had left the eggbeast’s fur matted with blood. But the wolf couldn’t have dodged all the attacks. The cracks in its mask were noticeably deeper. But there was a closer threat.

Gremlins were closing in around them. Raziel had been moving on adrenaline, but now that he was still, the toll the magic had taken on him made his arms and legs feel like they were made of lead. But there was no time to be tired. The gremlins were surrounding them, moving closer.

Raziel’s heart hammered in his chest, but he fought to stay calm. To think. The gremlins were cowards. He didn't have to beat them all. He just had to scare them enough to give Hoeru time to heal. However long that took.

Raziel stayed still for a few moments, forcing himself to catch his breath and drawing on the magic in the gem. It steadied him while he tried to watch in every direction as the gremlins crept forward. It wasn’t long, but it was enough.

He moved suddenly, and the gremlins flinched back. He started stalking around Hoeru, twisting and turning erratically. Every time he turned to face a different bunch of gremlins they took steps back, but the hunger in their eyes couldn’t be denied. Neither could Hoeru’s pained groans. Raziel kept the gremlins away like this for another few precious moments. But he knew it wouldn’t last long.

There was a rush of pounding feet behind him. Raziel turned and time slowed as the magic he’d gathered sped up his mind and body. As he’d expected, one of the gremlins was in mid air, leaping at him. Raziel didn’t punch this one out of the air.

Instead, he grabbed it by the throat. Stopping it cold drove him back a step, but the magic he’d gathered gave him the strength to hold it. He let it hang there, as it scratched at him and tried to bite him. Its claws drew lines of blood along his arm that stung, but the pain was distant. Raziel turned, picked the biggest gremlin out of the bunch behind him and flung the one he was holding with all of his magic-enhanced strength.

The big gremlin’s eyes went wide. The two slammed together with a wet crunch and went down in a tangle of limp body parts.

Before the gremlins could regroup, Raziel turned in a new direction and sent some of the magic into his hand. Not all of it but just enough. Again he picked the biggest gremlin he could see and flung the magic at it. The blue ball of light smashed into the side of the gremlin’s head, twisting it. There was a grotesque pop, and the gremlin collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.

“Who else wants some!” Raziel screamed, and the gremlins scattered. He stood there panting, as darkness crept in at the edges of his vision. It took everything he had for a few moments just to stand straight. But the gremlins didn’t know that.

“Good job,” Hoeru hissed, clearly still in pain. Raziel took a moment to gather himself so he could answer.

“Thanks. You okay?”

“No. But I’m good enough for now.”

Hoeru stood but his face went white when he put any weight on his injured leg.

“You don’t look good enough,” Raziel said.

“I don’t have time to be hurt. Look,” he said, pointing at the eggbeast and the wolf. Things were going bad for the eggbeast. It was bleeding heavily from deep wounds over its eyes, making it hard for it to see. It was swinging wildly, but the wolf was no longer having any trouble dodging the attacks. It circled the eggbeast, nipping and biting at it, wearing the lumbering creature down.

“You have a plan?” Raziel asked.

Hoeru grimaced. “No good ones. You?”

“N-” Raziel started to say but the cracks in the wolf’s mask caught his eye and an idea struck him. The magical attacks he’d hit the gremlins with had been powerful, but they’d been thrown hastily. How hard could he hit something if he took a minute to really focus on gathering power?

“Yeah. Can you keep the gremlins off me for a minute?”

Hoeru tested his leg gingerly. He winced and sucked air through his teeth. Gremlins were coming close again. Not as many, but still more than Raziel would have liked. But then the wounded eggbeast let out a hideous, pained lowing sound. Hoeru’s jaw clenched and his face set with determination.

“Yes. Hurry.”