Fate’s Pawn

Raziel watched his friend for a long moment and nodded. He wasn’t worried for himself. But injured or not, there was no way that Hoeru was leaving before dealing with the wolf. Raziel could see that in his eyes.

So Raziel set his feet, closed his eyes, and reached out to everything around him. He could feel the eggbeast and the wolf, the gremlins, even Mask and Kusa fighting at almost the complete opposite side of the courtyard. All of the combat was stirring up the magic.

It filled the air like steam. But that wasn’t all. There was magic in the trampled grass of the courtyard, in trees surrounding the fort like sentinels, and in the moon and starlight streaming down from the sky. It was all swirling down into the courtyard and down into the earth. There was more magic available than Raziel could have possibly taken in. But that didn’t mean he couldn’t try.

Raziel drew in everything he could, pulling magic from every direction. It was like trying to continuously inhale without exhaling. He burst into sweat as his whole body began to burn with the effort of containing the magic. The air around him was swirling, turbulent and constantly shifting directions. Soon it felt like his veins were filled with liquid fire and thunder pounded in his head.

When he couldn’t take anymore, he began to force the energy up his shoulder and down his arm into his right hand. Everywhere the magic left felt like it was freezing, but his arm felt like it was being dipped in molten metal.

Raziel opened his eyes to find his hand engulfed in a blazing ball of blue light. Hoeru was transfixed by it. There were a few gremlin bodies on the ground nearby, but they weren’t attacking anymore. They were running from the light Raziel held.

He knew he couldn’t hold it for long, but he also knew he would only get one shot at this. And he still wasn’t sure that it would be enough to hurt such a huge monster. There had to be a way to make it more powerful, to make the attack stronger. And then he remembered something his grandfather had told him. It needed a name.

The wolf danced back, muzzle covered in fresh blood. Raziel saw his moment coming. The name of the spell came to his lips.

“Howling Burst!” he screamed and hurled the spell with his whole body and soul. The spell left his hand with a sensation like a ball of flesh being torn from his body. The ball of light shrieked as it rent the air with its passage.

The wolf turned to look at the spell and there was a frozen instant where Raziel could see the blue light reflecting in its dead eyes. The impact was like a thundercrack. The explosion blinded Raziel. He felt bits of something hitting him like falling hailstones. When his sight returned, he saw white chips of bone scattered all around the courtyard.

The one he was looking at seemed to be growing. Raziel realized that he was falling just before he hit the ground. There wasn’t anything he could do about it though. He was floating away from his body into a dark sea.

Someone was shouting his name he thought, but that didn’t matter. It was so far away. There was nothing to do but sink into that warm darkness.

Sharp pain blossomed in his cheek, and he was in his body again. He couldn’t breathe for a moment, and then Hoeru slapped him again and his body seemed to lurch back into life. His whole body felt like it was being stabbed with white hot pins and needles.

“Raz! Wake up!” Hoeru screamed. “We have to move!”

Raziel tried. Technically he succeeded. But he didn’t think gently flopping was what Hoeru meant by move.

Hoeru dragged Raziel up off the ground, all but screaming in pain as his injured leg took some of their weight. The wolf was staggering towards them, its eyes dead and lifeless in it’s ruined head. The mask it had worn was shattered, though pieces of it still clung to the wolf’s skull. Where the mask had been there was neither fur nor flesh. Just blood and bone and a great black scorch mark between its hollow eyes.

Raziel tried to take some of his weight, but his legs seemed to belong to someone else, someone drunk. He wanted to scream for Hoeru to leave him and run, but the only sounds he could make were a dull incoherent mumbling. Hoeru couldn’t move any faster than a slow walk, and with each step the wolf took towards them, its feet grew steadier.

The eggbeast hit the wolf so hard that the gigantic beast was thrown, flipping, into the air. The eggbeast leapt onto the fallen wolf, hammering it with blows that echoed through the courtyard like beats on an enormous drum. Raziel’s jaw would have dropped at the sight if it wasn’t already hanging open from exhaustion.

The wolf should have fallen from the hits. Raziel could hear its bones snapping under the eggbeast’s monstrous strength. Any sane creature would have simply laid down and died. But there was nothing sane left in the miserable creature.

The eggbeast rose up on its hind legs to deliver the finishing blow. The wolf saw its opportunity. It surged up like a snake and sank its teeth into the eggbeast’s throat. The eggbeast let out a surprised, gurgling yelp and tried to throw itself backwards to get away. It just overbalanced and carried the wolf on top of it as it fell on its back. The wolf shook its head, viciously tearing at the flesh.

The wolf shook so violently that it lost its grip and fell to the ground. It couldn’t get to its feet. The eggbeast had broken its hips. But it could crawl. And its eyes were locked on Raziel.

Raziel was finally beginning to be able to move on purpose, but he didn’t have the strength to crawl, much less run. Hoeru held him up, but the changeling still couldn’t carry them both faster than the gigantic creature could drag itself toward them.

Hoeru bent and slipped himself out from beneath Raziel’s arm before lowering Raziel into a sitting position. Then he started walking towards the wolf.

“What are you doing?” Raziel asked. Well, tried to ask. The words were only somewhat intelligible.

“What I have to,” Hoeru answered. Despite his injured leg, he walked with purpose. There was no hesitation to his movements, even when the wolf turned its head towards him and let out a growl so deep Raziel could feel it in his chest.

Hoeru just kept hobbling forward. The wolf stopped, waiting for the changeling to come close enough to strike. The instant Hoeru was within range, it surged forward, roaring, jaws snapping. Hoeru leapt over the wolf’s muzzle, catching hold of a jagged piece of what remained of its mask just over its left eye.

The wolf tried to shake him off, but Hoeru held on. He planted his good foot on the wolf’s muzzle and twisted his whole body to slam his free hand into the wolf’s skull, right where Raziel’s spell had hit it.

There was a disgusting wet pop, and the wolf dropped as Hoeru’s arm sank in up to his elbow. The beast twitched and shuddered as death came for it. Hoeru had lost his grip and fallen when the wolf’s head hit the ground.

Raziel pushed himself up, his legs shaky but strong enough to carry him. Hoeru came to his feet as well, watching as the wolf died. Raziel put a hand on his shoulder, though Hoeru didn’t seem to notice.

“Go now and come back,” Raziel heard Hoeru whisper to the wolf. The words were heavy, solemn. The wolf’s shuddering stilled, and its enormous chest fell with its last breath. Hoeru bowed his head. Raziel saw tears fall, but he said nothing. There was nothing to be said.

Raziel hoped that with the wolf dead, the gremlins would run. He’d thought they would either try to flee or come for them now that they were injured and tired. Then he saw them gathering near eggbeast like buzzards. The huge creature wasn’t dead, but it was badly hurt, laying in a pool of its own blood. It tried to swat at the gremlins with its paws, but the swipes were weak. The gremlins were beginning to get the timing and sneaking closer.

Raziel felt terribly tired, but he reached to the gem for strength. It came in a trickle, but it came. Hoeru looked at him, then to where Raziel was looking. Neither of them had to say anything. Together they began to limp towards the eggbeast.

With the new purpose, a little of their strength returned. Hoeru’s limp was already getting noticeably better. The gem’s magic continued to grow in Raziel, but it wasn’t filling him with strength now. If the gem’s power had been a flood before, now it was just mist. His exhaustion didn’t leave, but it faded a little.

“Can you keep them off me again?” Raziel asked.

“Yeah. No problem,” Hoeru answered, something feral in his eyes

Hoeru picked up the pace and took the lead, Raziel jogging behind him. Hoeru grabbed one of the gremlins by the back of its neck and, with a quick jerk, broke it. He flung it at another gremlin that was close by. Raziel ran past as the cowardly creatures scattered briefly to reorient on the new threat.

Raziel came up short as he neared the edge of the eggbeast’s reach. He couldn’t help but remember the creature’s hot breath on his back when it was trying to eat him just a few days ago. It turned its huge brown eyes on him. Raziel wasn’t sure, but he thought he saw a hint of recognition beneath the haze of pain.

“Hey,” Raziel said, trying to keep calm as he as he took his first step into the wet, sticky, red pond of the eggbeast’s blood. “I’m not gonna hurt you. I just want to help. Please don’t eat me.”

The eggbeast continued to look at him with its steady, wet eyes. Raziel tried to keep calm and move slowly, but he knew he couldn’t take too long. Hoeru wouldn’t be able to keep the gremlins off them forever.

“Alright, can I touch you? I’m gonna touch you,” Raziel said, extending his empty hand slowly out. The eggbeast just watched with surprisingly peaceful eyes. Maybe it just didn’t have the strength to eat him. Raziel’s hand touched the black spot of its nose. It was wet and cool like a dog’s, but each breath from it was a blasting gust.

“I really hope this works,” Raziel said, more to himself than to the eggbeast. Then he reached out to the eggbeast with his mind. There was a moment’s resistance from it, a dull questioning to it. Raziel tried to think his intention over to the creature. He had no way of knowing if that worked, but the resistance faded and Raziel felt a piece of himself sink into the creature’s mind.

Pain flooded Raziel, and he gasped. He thought one of the gremlins had attacked him and was tearing into him before he realized that it wasn’t his own pain that he felt. The wolf and gremlins had bitten and cut and stabbed the creature dozens of times. Most of the wounds weren’t deep enough to cause real damage, but together the tiny wounds added up. The bite wound in its neck was the worst. Without help, the eggbeast would die soon.

At the same time, Raziel had the strange sensation of perceiving himself the way the eggbeast saw him. He was so small and delicate. He had his own smell, but there was an undercurrent of Kusa. The eggbeast wasn’t smart enough to have very cohesive thoughts. More like a series of impressions and reactions. Raziel could tell that it was the scent of Kusa that was keeping the eggbeast from eating him in one big gulp. He could feel the love that it had for the little spirit, its happiness at having been of use to its friend.

Raziel fought to keep his own mind, to separate his thoughts from the feelings of the eggbeast. He was pretty sure he was lucky that the eggbeast was so dumb. With a smarter creature, it might have been much harder to find himself.

When he felt he was mostly himself, he reached to the gem. If he’d understood what it was telling him, Kusa had said the gem was connected to all the energy beneath the fort. That had to be enough power to help the eggbeast. He knew the trickle of energy it was giving him wouldn’t be enough. He just had to push harder, try to draw more from it. The experience was like trying to suck an apple through a straw but as Raziel dug in and pulled harder, more and more of the magic began to flow through him and into the eggbeast.

The eggbeast almost jerked away when the magic began to flow into it, but the part of its mind that was connected to Raziel, the part that in some small way was Raziel, sent out soothing calm emotions. The eggbeast quieted, and Raziel let the magic stream through him and into it. Raziel felt its pain begin to fade and strength return even as he felt his own body burning. He had to work to keep the connection going, and the feeling was strange, like someone else was sucking the air out of his lungs to breathe.

Raziel’s legs wobbled and he fell, losing the connection to the eggbeast and the gem. He sat, dazed and breathing hard. His whole body felt burning hot and freezing cold at the same time and stung with the pins and needles of a limb that had fallen asleep. He looked up and saw the eggbeast had come to its feet. Its mouth was hanging open and all Raziel could see were the dozens, maybe hundreds, of white teeth and the gaping hole at the back of its throat. The mouth was moving towards him.

“Wha…. are you…. do—” he tried to say. He tried to run, but he was too tired to do more than flop back.

Then he saw the gremlin that had been closing in on his back. It looked up from him just in time to scream before the eggbeast’s great maw closed around it.

The eggbeast chewed contemplatively for a moment before it looked down at Raziel, and Raziel realized that the connection between them was still there, but tenuous. Raziel could feel the eggbeast’s gratitude towards him. He could also feel its confusion about what to do. The wolf was dead, and Kusa had only told it to fight the wolf.

Raziel looked at the still bleeding wounds of the eggbeast. He’d given it enough strength to stand, hopefully enough that it would live if it didn’t fight anymore. It was probably strong enough to push open the gate and leave. On the other hand, the eggbeast could kill a lot of Mask’s gremlins if it fought on. But it would probably die in the process. It wasn’t smart enough to be able to make that decision for itself. Raziel was the only one who could.

“Go. You’ve done your part,” he heard himself say. The eggbeast tilted its head like a dog hearing a strange sound. Raziel pointed at the gate.

“Go,” he said. The eggbeast turned and looked at the gate. It looked back down at Raziel, and Raziel felt its concern for him.

“I’ll be fin—” The eggbeast’s enormous tongue lolled out and licked, not just his face but his entire body. Raziel wanted to feel disgusted, but the eggbeast’s thankful emotions overwhelmed him. It turned and lumbered away then.

“Was that a good idea?” Hoeru asked.

Raziel twitched his shoulders in an exhausted shrug. “No idea. Get me back to the tower.”

Hoeru nodded and got beneath one of Raziel’s arms. As they neared the tower, they saw several charred and twisted gremlins around the door. The smell of blackened flesh was enough to turn Raziel’s stomach. Hoeru gave Raziel a confused look.

“What do you think happened to them?”

“I don’t know,” Raziel said, just as confused. Then Miles poked his head out from inside the doorframe. He looked paler than usual but seemed to be uninjured.

“Raz? Hoeru? Oh thank god you’re still alive,” he said relieved. Then he blanched. “Look out!”

Raziel turned and fell as much as dodged out of the way as a gremlin leapt at him, its mouth open wide. Hoeru jumped as well in the opposite direction. Two more gremlins attacked the changeling, biting and tearing at his legs. Raziel tried to scramble to his feet, but his body was still too shaky and wouldn't obey him. The gremlin towered over him and began to reach down.

“Hey!” came a small, wavering shout. A rock bounced off the creature's heads. Raziel and the creature both turned to see Miles, shaking so hard it looked like he was barely on his feet. His legs were moving beneath him, one at a time in weird, nervous patterns. “C-c-come get… get me,” he said, abjectly failing to sound confident.

“Miles, run!” Raziel said, too tired to shout. The gremlin turned and began to waddle in Miles’ direction. Miles didn’t listen though or maybe was too afraid to hear. He kept making those weird nervous motions with his feet for a few seconds and then started to backpedal away. Raziel tried to force himself up, reached for the magic in the gem but couldn’t pull any of the energy into himself. It slipped away like he was trying to drink mist.

Miles tripped over one of the charred bodies of the other gremlins and fell to the ground, shielding his eyes from what was about to come. The monster let out a cackling, wicked laugh and stepped onto the spot where Miles had been standing.

And exploded.

The blaze was brief but so intense that it hurt Raziel’s eyes. The heat stung his skin. The disgusting smell of burnt hair filled the air and blackened smoking pieces of the creature fell to the ground.

“Did… did it work?” Miles asked, still covering his eyes.

“Yep,” Hoeru groaned more than actually said. He’d killed the two gremlins that had attacked him, but he was bleeding from new wounds. Raziel could see the bleeding cuts already knitting back together, but it was slow.

“Oh. Oh good. The theory was sound, and it worked on all these gremlins that I lured here, but I couldn’t be sure if I was drawing the symbol correctly, and I think I made it too big and connected to way more magic than I intended, but if I’d made it smaller, it might not have been enough or I could have drawn it wrong, but it looks like the spell is more variable than I—”

“Miles,” Keira interrupted, stepping out from the tower

“Yeah?” Miles answered breathlessly.

“One: breathe.”

Miles took a deep breath and nodded.

“Two: help Raz inside. You can ramble in there.”

“Right! Sorry. I didn’t think about what I was doing. Besides they wouldn’t really know what I was talking about. I might be able to explain it if I had….” he kept going as he moved to help Raziel to his feet and more or less dragged him inside. Keira did the same with Hoeru, though she didn’t have to do quite so much.

Raziel felt a tingling sensation as Miles drug Raziel past Roland, who was guarding the entrance. He guessed the odd sensation it had something to do with the weird chalk symbols drawn all over the ground by the doorway, but Miles was still talking a mile a minute and Raziel didn’t have the energy to even try to slip in a word edgewise. Once Miles set him down by a wall, Raziel just slumped, closed his eyes, and concentrated on his breathing. Everything hurt.

“By the way, Raz, what was that big flash of light a minute ago? I felt it in here.”

“He hit the wolf with a spell,” Hoeru said.

The room was silent. Raziel cracked open one eye to see Miles staring at him agog.

“What?” he asked. “You did what?”

Raziel told him in quick, short terms about the magic he’d used to break the wolf’s mask. He could tell that Miles was positively vibrating with unasked questions. By the time he was finished, he wondered if Miles even remembered the remaining gremlins outside.

“That’s incredible Raz. There are so many things wrong with that.”

“Huh?”

“You shouldn’t have been able to contain that much energy. You should—”

A gentle knocking on the tower’s door frame interrupted Miles.

“Hello,” Mask said from just outside the doorway.