The duelist 2, p.40
The Duelist 2, page 40
“It definitely does!” the falcon-man hollered back, and then the four of us proceeded to spend the next few hours absolutely pummeling each other in a free for all that was as vicious as it was insanely fun.
Eventually, it was the familiar cawing of Roofus that finally put a halt to our frolicking as he swooped into the arena.
“Skra!” he said and then landed on the barrel of my crossbow, which caused me to accidentally pull the trigger.
“Oof!” Shay said and then looked down at the newly powdered green circle added to the myriad of other colors on her white blouse.
“Roofus did it,” I blamed and lowered my crossbow to the ground.
“Krrt!” the crow-moth clicked in an annoyed way, and he flew over to perch on Shay’s shoulder with a fluff of his tail feathers.
“Touchy,” I huffed. “But I think he’s here to tell us we should be heading to the Village Square soon.”
“He must know you have your meeting with Tovish tonight, and he’s probably most eager to see his owner,” Zoie said, and going by the way the gold-seeker drooped just a little, I figured she must be right.
“Since only those with a standing invitation may stay at the Club Inn, Zoie, Rylan, and I will stay at another inn, but we better get on the road so we can make it before the sun sets,” Shay said. “We all need a quick moment to freshen up, but let us all reconvene as soon as we are able.”
“Good thinking,” I said, and we all collectively separated in order to scrub up and hit the road.
“Has anyone seen Rylan?” Zoie asked as she loaded a bag of hers into the carriage.
“He is bringing Prosper up from the stables,” Shay said. “He’s been awfully quiet today.”
“The boy was up even before we were after you tucked him in,” Zoie said to me with a slight frown.
“Maybe he was embarrassed?” I guessed as I watched the stable-boy lead the black and orange butterfly-pegasus up the hill.
“Maybe…” Zoie mused and then left to go meet him so she could walk with him, and as I saw her loop an arm around his shoulders, I felt pride at how great of a mother she already was.
“The poor darling has been troubled lately, hasn’t he?” my phoenix-wife asked as she finished braiding her hair into one scarlet rope that cascaded over her shoulder.
“He’s just settling in like we all are,” I murmured as another little ‘something’ niggled my brain, but I was too wrung out to try to catch hold of it.
The tremor in my hand started up again, but I flexed my fingers and ignored the sense of foreboding creeping through me as I looked at the brand around my forearm. From the angle I was observing it from, I could see the impression where Doler’s thumb overlapped his middle finger and created something that looked like a snake eating its own tail…
“Chief?” Horus’ hand on my shoulder jolted me out of my weird trance-like state, and I shook out my hand.
“What?” I asked, and I figured he’d been trying to get my attention more than once based on his expression.
“How’s the arm?” he asked and moved in close so the others wouldn’t overhear as they finished up preparations.
“It’s… okay for the most part, but it still aches,” I admitted. Part of me wanted to hide the fact and brush off his concern, but I was too weary for that. Maybe that second round of vigorous paint-ball was a bit of a mistake. “I think I need to meditate some more.”
“Do what you need to do, friend,” Horus said as he opened the door to the cab.
“I was going to sit up top with Rylan,” I protested, even though I stepped up into the carriage anyway. That cushioned bench looked awfully comfortable all of a sudden…
“I’ll sit with him, and you get a nap or something, alright?” The falcon-man patted my arm before he helped first Zoie and then Shay up into the carriage.
“Something is bugging the boy,” I murmured absently even as Zoie guided me to lay my head in her lap.
“Ol’ Uncle Horus will lend an ear, never you fear,” the dorky falcon-man said and closed the carriage door.
“Let me know if sum’thn happens,” I mumbled into Zoie’s stomach, and before I could hear either of their replies, I was already tumbling into a fitful slumber.
Numerous times I was in and out of sleep as the carriage trundled ever closer to the Village Square.
At first I didn’t notice it, but the brand around my arm started to feel warm, then prickled unpleasantly, and finally burned fiercely like an Indian burn as the ouroboros twisted, throbbed, and ached, ached, ached…
“--be okay?” A quiet voice like sunflower honey filtered through the surface of my uneasy doze.
“Alex is strong,” another voice replied, which was cool and soothing like the other side of the pillow.
I turned over and curled around my burning right arm while deft fingers carded through my hair and soothed me back into a weird meditative state.
“His eyes are open,” Shay said as she lightly cupped my face.
The green of her irises was so deep they transfixed me, and I breathed deeply.
In…
Then out.
That golden pool flashed cloyingly again, and I was drawn to the edge as if magnetized.
I looked down, but instead of the wraith-like Shadow-hybrid with the dead eyes, there was only the image of a snake eating its own tail as it circled over and over, and my heart beat louder and louder--
“Alex!” someone shouted. “Horus! Quickly, he’s burning up again!”
“Darkhells,” came a familiar curse, and the carriage slowed to a stop.
“My love, you need to wake up,” that cool-water voice whispered against the shell of my ear, and I tried to swim to the surface, even though my arm was on fire and dragging me deeper like an iron ball-and-chain.
Something was removed from around my neck again, but before Horus could do his alchemist Voodoo on me again, the chain suddenly broke, and I snapped awake irritated and confused.
“What?” I growled at everyone staring at me like a wounded animal, and I ran a shaky hand through my hair. “I’m sorry. It’s just… my arm keeps burning, and the meditation doesn’t seem to be working.”
“Let me see your amulet, Alex,” Horus requested as he held out his hand.
“What is it that you’re doing?” I asked as I removed the red gem from around my neck.
“I’m focusing the protection to surround the part of you that was branded as it seems to be acting up again,” he explained as his eyes flashed gold, and he helped me sit upright.
“Do you have any idea why?” I asked as my teeth chattered again from the chilled air against my flushed skin.
“I don’t, but whatever you are reacting to, the amulet will try to buffer it for only so long before it breaks,” the alchemist said.
“I thought you said red and orange cores don’t shatter like the rarer ones?” I frowned as he made me clutch the gem in my right hand.
“Alex, by all rights, you should have been dead the second Archus touched you,” Horus said, and he chafed my arm so the burning would ease. “From what I can tell, you are expending a tremendous amount of inner power just to stay as conscious as you are. Everything has its limits.”
“Oh,” I said as my mind began to clear while the amulet radiated soothing waves up my arm and reduced the burning sensation to something I could easily ignore.
“Whatever our father has done to harness such power must have come at such a grave price,” Shay said from her place to my right. Very carefully, she picked up my branded arm and tenderly prodded the inflamed skin around the raw circle of burnt flesh. “I fear little of his soul remains.”
“Pity for him,” Zoie growled. “No one will mourn for him when he is dead.”
“Woah, calm down, wildcat,” I tried to tease, but my joking tone fell rather flat. I still felt groggy as if I just woke up from a sweaty flu-nap, and I wished I had access to another shower or something. “Where are we anyway?”
“We are just on the edge of the Village,” Rylan answered from outside and then poked his head upside-down through the window. “Is Alex okay?”
“I’m alright, bud,” I told him and then turned to both my wives. “Have you decided on a place to stay that’s near the Club Inn?”
“There is a tavern right across the Square from the Battle Hall,” Shay said. “The innkeeper owes me a favor, and she will board Prosper for free.”
“And Tovish?” I asked Horus.
“The forest where he wants to meet you is a few leagues north of the Battle Hall,” he said.
“Great.” I nodded and slipped the red amulet over my head and under my tunic again next to my Duelist Stone. “Let’s drop the ladies off first, and then you and I can walk to the forest. I think the fresh air will do me good.”
With our plan in place, we then resumed course to the Starlit Tavern, unloaded and boarded up the canterfly, and then said goodbye to Zoie, Shay, and Rylan.
“Stay safe and come back to us in one piece, both of you,” Shale-lea said as she framed my face with her small hands and kissed me on the lips.
“Keep your eyes and ears open and remember your training,” Zoie added as she embraced me strongly while the phoenix-woman did the same with her brother.
“I will.” I nodded to both of my beautiful wives and then ruffled Rylan’s messy hair.
“Take care of him, Roofus,” the stable-boy said and nudged the yellow crow-moth off his forearm so he would perch on my shoulder. Then Rylan wrapped his arms around my torso and squeezed. “Don’t die.”
“I won’t,” I whispered and then planted a kiss into his chaotic mop. “Take care of Shay and Zoie while I’m gone. I’m trusting you.”
“I won’t let you down,” he said and then pulled back with a suspiciously wet sniffle.
With one last wave over my shoulder, the falcon man and I set off around the edge of the Square with our hooded travel cloaks up in order to blend in with the twilight shadows.
The evening air was crisp in a good way that brought a little vigor back into my weary body with every breath I took. The exercise of stretching my legs felt nice, and Horus and I spent the journey weaving in and out of side streets and narrow alleys mostly in companionable silence.
“What do you think Tovish has to say?” Horus asked as we entered the trail head that led away from the Village. The large Battle Hall was still visible with its odd pagoda-like roofs as it rose above the canopy.
“I’m not sure, but I have a suspicion I’m not going to like it,” I said as we came upon the clearing that was marked with a stone obelisk Tovish vaguely mentioned in his brief letter.
“Skra!” Roofus suddenly cawed and flapped toward the sound of a metallic ringing noise in the darkness.
“Roo!” Horus called as both he and I ran after the trail of golden dust the crow-moth left behind.
“He’s on the trail for some gold,” I said as I tried not to let Horus get too far ahead of me. I still wasn’t feeling up to my peak physical fitness, but for now I was thankful I could at least keep up with the falcon-man’s long-legged strides, whereas an hour ago this would have been unthinkable.
“Look, through the trees!” Horus gestured with the tip of his bow at an orange glowing light down by the riverbank.
Roofus’ silhouette led the way to a portly figure in a brown cloak with enormous white fluffy koala ears, cracked half-moon spectacles, and a fresh scar in the end stages of healing across his wizened face.
“Tovish!” I called out just loud enough to be heard above the rushing water.
The koala-elder waved at me just as Roofus landed on his shoulder and began pecking at the old man’s shirt pocket where, evidently, a piece of gold was hidden inside.
“Good to see ya, lad!” Tovish said and hurried toward me with his arm outstretched in greeting. “I haven’t much time, but I must pass along this grave warning.”
“Okay, well, wait--” I said, but when I extended my branded right arm without thinking, I was met with a sharp gasp as the innkeeper startled so badly he fell down on the ground.
“Oh, merciful Mercedes, no, no, I’m too late!” he gasped as his beady eyes locked onto the twisted ouroboros snaking around my forearm.
Fuck.
I knew I wasn’t going to like whatever the koala-elder was bound to tell me next.
Chapter 26
“Do you know what this is?” I asked the distressed koala-elder as I pointed to the brand around my right arm.
“It is the sign of a dark curse specifically used on Travelers,” Tovish said as Horus helped the old man back to his feet.
“What did you mean when you said you were ‘too late?’” Horus asked and let a concerned Roofus perch on his arm.
“I came here to warn you about Archus Doler’s nefarious plot to try and kill you, young Brightwood, but it appears as if the crafty bastard has beaten me to it,” he said and brushed some dirt off his backside. “How are you even alive, by the way? My sources tell me that within a second in which the curse is transferred, instant death should take place. However, you bear the mark and yet, you are still standing.”
“That’s a question I don’t have an answer to, although I wish I did,” I said and wiped the sweat off my clammy brow.
“You’re feeling poorly now, aren’t you?” the old archivist asked as he scrutinized me with his shrewd eyes. “In fact, I would wager the closer you get to Doler, the weaker you will become. He has challenged you, yes?”
“Yeah,” I huffed and sat myself down on a fallen log. “But I redefined some parameters, and I told him we’ll be fighting just like that Duelist guy, Helix.”
“You are going to imitate the great failure of Elmert Helix?” the koala-elder clarified.
“Yeah, only I’m going to do the opposite of that and Not Fail,” I said.
“This might have spared your life, good thinking,” Tovish mused as he twirled his beard in thought. “The more distance you can put between the two of you, the better. And whatever you do, you mustn’t let him touch your skin again. If that were to happen, whatever strength of will you have that’s blocking the enchantment from completing its objective will shatter and consume you.”
“Is there anything we can do to remove the enchantment?” I asked as I tenderly rubbed the inflamed area around my forearm.
“There is not much known about something like this, and the only reason I know of it in the first place is because of Gella Vane,” he said in a hushed voice despite the fact the rushing rapids prevented any eavesdroppers from listening in.
“So, you don’t work for my father after all,” Horus stated.
“No,” the koala-elder sighed and hunkered down on a tree stump across from me so he could stretch out his wooden leg. “After I left you and Miss Zoie back at the Gate’s Inn, Bala Ren and his cronies captured me and tried to get any information of your whereabouts out of me. When I proved too stubborn, Ren then took me to Gatetown’s Magistrate. I think he was hoping Gella Vane would put me to death, and at first I thought that’s exactly what was going to happen, especially because I often barter with tithe stones, which is highly illegal, and I don’t take much care to cover up the fact. What does the Magistrate expect when he barely gives us any tithes to survive on? The bastard.”
“But Vane spared you?” I asked in order to keep the old coot on track.
“He did when he found out I was an Archivist on Eng.” Tovish smiled a clever smile. “Vane has a vast personal library surpassing even Archus Doler’s archives, and it’s been decades since he had someone who knew what they were actually doing catalog it, which is why he let me live.”
“It sounds like you’ve got it made, working right under the Magistrate’s wing like you are,” Horus said with a suspicious glare. “You’ve made yourself invaluable. Why would you risk sneaking out like this and aiding an enemy of your master?”
“Ah, it sounds like you’ve come to suspect my current employer, Gella Vane, as being the one who wants Alex dead, and not just your father,” the wily codger said with a knowing smirk. “And just for that, I’ll forgive you of your suspicions, because you’re half-correct. I am eating better than I ever have, but there are more important things besides just survival, laddie.”
“And in your opinion, what would those things be?” the falcon-man quizzed, and part of me was touched at how protective he was being, even though I felt slightly bad he was giving the old coot the third degree.
Horus could be formidable if he really put his mind to it.
Tovish, however, seemed more emboldened at being challenged to defend his character, and he grinned a crooked grin as he looked up at my friend.
“Those things are loyalty, justice, and above all, truth,” he said and nodded his big-eared head.
“And what is the truth?” I asked wearily. “What’s going to happen to me? And be honest. I can’t keep this up indefinitely.”
Horus crouched down to my side and hovered his hand over the brand on my arm as his eyes glowed faintly in the dusk.
“We can only hope you kill him at the same time as you destroy whatever enchantments he has surrounded himself with,” the koala-elder said.
“His eye,” Horus said at once. “You’ll have to kill him with a shot through his glass eye. It’s been enchanted for as long as I’ve known him, so it’s logical he just kept adding layers on top of the enchantments that are already there.”
“That is the most likely place, I agree,” he said as his white-furred ears twitched. “In theory, this should break the curse, but because you are a Traveler, it is anyone’s best guess.”
“Of course,” I muttered and shook my head. I was resigned to the fact that once again, I was a bit of a freak of nature on Aventoll, and what first was a hard task suddenly quadrupled in difficulty.
“You mentioned the fact my father might not be the mastermind behind this supposed revenge plot,” Horus addressed Tovish. “How do you know this is the case?”
“I’ve suspected it for a while now simply because Vane considers me doddering and half-senile,” he chuckled. “Gella thinks he’s so clever manipulating everyone like a puppet, even Doler, but he’s not so clever compared to the likes of me. But the more interesting question is how did you all stumble along the same assumption?”
