Another time, another place
The axe swung down sharply with a heavy “thunk”.
The wood split in a pretty satisfying way, shards filling the air. Heh, I’ve still got it. I gathered the kindling fragments into the basket, it was full enough now. I paused to look around our little property. Can’t help but feel a little proud, y’know? Built it all with our own hands and I reckon we did a great job since Squirrel’s only four and my right leg isn’t so great these days.
Our little cabin is mostly made of logs with a thatch roof, a bit of clay filling the chinks and keeping out the worst chill of the night. Our front yard’s got a great view over the valley, the path leading down to the village about five miles away. The vegie patch was coming in a treat this year and I reckon we’ll even have some spares to trade this year. The forest brackets us on three sides, heading up into the mountains, but we’ve never had trouble with wild animals yet. All in all it’s a good place to live and raise my daughter.
“Squirrel, time to come in love!”
After a few moments she came running around the side of the house, silver hair flying out behind her, a huge grin on her face, holding a basket full of blackberries in both hands. I paused a moment just to watch her. Squirrel didn’t look four; she looked about seven, getting tall and all gangly as kids do, y’know? Her white teeth and silver hair stood out against her very pale, purple skin and she moved like a gazelle, all quick and smooth. No clue how it happened or where she got it from, but my little Squirrel’s something special. She stopped about a foot away and gave me her best serious frown.
“Daddy, My name is Violet, not Squirrel!”
“Heh, I know, love, I know. Come on, time to wash up and eat. What you got there?”
“They’re –blackberries- daddy. They are very tasty, you’ll like them! I have calculated that I have enough to make your skin purple like mine!”
She broke into her little grin again, her silver eyes sparkling. Like I said, she’s special, y’know? I couldn’t help but laugh.
“That’s great love, but I think it’d be better if I eat them, that way I’ll be purple on the inside!”
She giggled and hugged me, ignoring a few spilled berries.
“I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you too, Squirrel.”
“Will mommy be home this week?”
She asked me that every night, but it always caught me off guard, a spike through my heart. I replied the same way I’d replied every night for the last year and a half, managing to hold my voice steady.
“Not tonight, Squirrel, maybe tomorrow, y’know?”
She grinned up at me and took her basket inside. I paused for a moment to compose myself before following her inside with the kindling. Our cabin wasn’t huge, but it worked well for us. Inside, the house is basically square; with my bed and Squirrels cot off to the left, kitchen and scullery in the back and the fireplace and dinner table off to the right. My big old chest sat at the end of the bed, dark, brassbound and scarred, hadn’t had to open it in more than a year now, and I’m glad of that, y’know? Amy’s violin rested in its case on the mantle over the fire. I’d have rather it stayed in the trunk, but Squirrel insisted. When mommy got home she’d make her play, first thing, she always said. Another stab: guilt and pain and loneliness. I can’t afford any of them right now though, Squirrel needs me.
We washed up (Squirrel helpfully pointed out the bits I missed) and had our dinner (Squirrel chattered on about the birds and fieldmice she’d played with today and managed to purple my entire hand with blackberries) then we went to bed.
It was in the pre-dawn gloom that I woke up, someone hammering at the door, Squirrels silver eyes blinked at me worriedly as I moved to the door, collecting the wood axe on the way. I opened the door and a dark shape all but fell inside.
“Violet, light a lamp love.”
She moved in the darkness, she’d never bumped into anything at night as far as I could remember and she’d soon coaxed a lantern into life.
I picked up the young man that’d fallen at our door and moved him to a chair by the embers of the fire. It was young Mika, from the village, the blacksmiths boy. He’d fainted dead away when I’d opened the door, he was sheened with sweat, soot and blood. I felt a chill run down my spine. Lucky Mika, didn’t look like it was his blood, unlucky someone else, to be sprayed like that it would have had to be a fatal wound.
“Violet; water.”
She dutifully brought the bucket, her silver eyes huge in the dim light and at the sight of blood. She looked too young to me, but then, I guess she always would. I splashed Mika a bit, he stirred, then sat bolt upright with a cry, arms flailing. I was ready and caught his wrists before he could smack me one. Gods he was strong, though, he calmed a bit when he recognized me.
“Easy, Lad, easy.”
His words came out in a panicked rush
“Sir James! Thank the gods I found you, please, sir, please, you have to come! They… they’re killing people! T-they say they’ll kill one person every hour until you come… w-with your little girl…”
He looked away from my expression, his face pale. I felt like I’d been kicked in the stomach. They wanted Violet. Who? Why? I was still for a few thousand years or so, then:
“Describe them.”
The boy swallowed, his adams apple bobbing.
“Um… there are six men with crossbows and um… something else… it looks like a big, man-frog thing… it, it picked up Dimi and just… ripped him in half like it was nothing! Oh gods, oh gods…. It’s going to kill us all…”
Squirrel still stood off to one side, listening, her beautiful silver eyes huge and filled with tears. She’d always been sensitive, y’know? Right now she was getting a whole whack of fear from the boy.
I left Mika in the chair, mumbling to himself. I could tell he wouldn’t be any use to me tonight. Might not be any use to anyone ever again, y’know? He stared blankly at the fire, shivering, and his eyes distant. I didn’t have time to feel sorry for him, but I know how a first meeting with the Slaadi can take a man. I might have ended up like him if it hadn’t been for Amy, but now the past was catching up and they were after our daughter, it’s at least half an hour to the village, which means if I didn’t set out right now people were going to start dying. A Slaad means a mage… that’s big trouble, y’know…
“Squirrel, get dressed. Travelling clothes.”
“Yes Daddy. What about Mika?”
“We’ll come back when this is done, he’ll be safe here for now, let’s be quick, ok?”
“Ok, daddy.”
I couldn’t help but smile as she scurried about, she’s always been an orderly child and I knew she’d be ready in just a minute. I turned to my chest and took a deep breath, resting my hand on the lid for a moment. I opened it and lifted out the winter blankets and false partition at the bottom. I smiled again, bittersweet as the lantern light gleamed off leather and steel. I reached in and grunted slightly as I lifted out my Breastplate, greaves, gauntlets and my axe, Harlequin. They all hummed slightly under my hands in greeting, their enchantments had kept them free of rust and razor sharp, all this time. They were ready. I also fished out another small bag filled with an assortment of gems and the Cube. The Cube is a little metal box, about an inch on one side and it rotates along the central line of its axis, delicate clockwork is engraved over every part of its surface. Right now it was unaligned, looking more like two rectangles stuck together, y’know?
“I’m ready, Daddy.”
I looked over and smiled at my daughter, she was dressed in light travel clothes suiting the season, but I could see her pack had heavier clothes, a cloak and hood and some dried food supplies packed inside neatly. Special, y’know? I grinned at her reassuringly and passed her the bag and the Cube, she examined them both curiously.
“Put the bag in your pack, Squirrel and keep this little box close to hand, alright? When I say, twist it so the little marks right there line up, alright?”
“Yes, Daddy. It’s pretty!”
“That it is, Squirrel, but concentrate now. This is important, y’know. When I say, what do you do?”
She regarded me solemnly.
“When you instruct me to I will rotate the upper section of the cube in a widdershins direction until those two marks are aligned.”
Heh. Special.
“Good girl.”
She beamed at me, her tiny, perfect teeth white against her purple skin.
“Alright, help me get my armour on and we’ll go. Mika, don’t move, you should be safe here.”
We set out at an easy jog, Harlequin strapped across my back. Squirrel kept up just fine, she’s always been fit, fitter than me, probably, definitely fitter than me in my armour, y’know?
I could see a fire in the village from her in the pre-dawn gloom, probably one of the bigger cottages, or the inn. A cold, hard anger settled over me as we got closer. These things had no right to come here, to hurt these people. They were going to pay, and pay dearly.
The town square was dead silent as we arrived; all the village folk were on their knees not far from the burning inn, watched over by two dirty looking men holding extremely efficient and clean looking crossbows. In the centre of the square lay Dimi, the town watchman. He’d been a merc in his younger days and now… well. Let’s just say it was going to be closed casket… maybe two closed caskets, y’know? Violet let out a quiet whimper at the sight and I can’t blame her, I felt like whimpering a bit, myself. The two guards turned their crossbows on us and one opened his mouth, revealing brown, rotting teeth in a mouth of pale, sickly gum.
“Yer tha ‘Sir James’ bloke? Send the girl here an we’ll let this sorry lot go.”
“Look, mate, I talk to the organ grinder, not the monkey. Where’s your boss?”
The dirty merc grinned, but all his friend managed was a sickly smile.
“Yer not gonna be so mouthy soon, asshole. Give us the girl an you can slink off back to your hole.”
He jinked his crossbow up and down a little, making sure I could see the barbed head. Showy, good against unarmoured peasants, but armour could catch the barbs; make a fatal shot merely nasty. Amateur. I met the eyes of one of the kneeling men in the group, Mikas father, Haem.
“Well, get him out, then. I’d better get home before that messenger you sent eats all my food. Let’s get this over with, bring out the mage.”
The man was as strong as an ox, but that’s not much use against a crossbow. Haem shared a look for a fraction of a second and I nodded very slightly, his jaw relaxed almost imperceptible and his gaze softened a bit in thanks.
“Heh. You asked for it asshole. Oi! Boss!”
I braced myself, taking deep breaths, willing my heartbeat to slow. I couldn’t afford to panic; there was too much riding on this, thirty lives, not including myself and Squirrel. At his call a shadow detached itself from beneath the eaves of the general store. A big shadow… A huge shadow. It stood eight feet tall if it was an inch, black slimy skin covering a squat frame thick with muscle. Heavy grey scar tissue covered its left shoulder, neck and face, jet black eyes glittering malignantly. Oh Shit. I stared for a long moment; I swear my jaw was on the ground. The creature’s slimy lips didn’t move, but I heard his voice in my head none the less, cultured and refined.
“It has been some time, James of Darkmar, I trust you are well?”
“Kvass. How the hell did you survive?”
“Fortune favours the bold, I fear, James of Darkmar, and now I am here to collect on my debt. I will consume the girl before your eyes and then kill you very, very slowly. When your line is wiped out I will have my revenge upon that whore of a wife of yours.”
“Over my dead body!”
“A poor choice of words, I fear, James of Darkmar, but then, you never were very good at making choices.”
Kvass just stared at be calmly for a moment, but I saw out of the corner of my eye the crossbows of the mercs snap up towards me. I hate telepathy. I dived to one side, but they’d been ready for that, agony ripped through me as a bolt thudded into my left thigh, spinning me in the air as I dove. I crashed to the ground, blind for a moment from the pain. There was a sound of scuffling, then my daughters scream cut through the agony.
“Daddy!”
I looked up; Kvass had covered the distance between himself and violet without apparently having moved through the intervening space, he lifted my little girl easily in one hand, turning to me, his ugly frog mouth open in a wicked grin. Violet kicked and squirmed, her face a picture of absolute terror, but there was no way she could writhe free of the ugly frog beast. I struggled to rise, but my left leg wasn’t responding.
“Daddy, daddy, help me!”
Tears of helpless fury rose in my eyes as I struggled to rise.
“Observe closely, James of Darkmar. I wish for you to remember this.”
The black slaadi lifted my little girl like a toy, opening his huge maw wide, ready to bite off her head. Malign glee danced in his eyes as he observed my horror, tasted my agony, but then I saw. Violet still had one hand holding tight to the cube, I suddenly grinned through the fear and the pain. Kvass paused for a moment, his slimy brow furrowing.
“Squirrel, Now!”
Still whimpering, she made a little twisting motion with her hands and suddenly a field of energy sprung up around her, a painfully bright light that made everyone shy away, and she was gone… along with Kvass hand. The black Slaadi howled in agony and rage, black ooze pumping from the stump of his arm. A dark joy took me then and I rose, despite the blood and the pain, and I brought Harley out over my back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the mercs desperately cranking their crossbows, but more importantly I saw Haem rising behind them like the wrath of the gods themselves.
Kvass glared at me, holding his stump, huffing and wheezing in agony.
“WHERE IS SHE, WORM?!”
Not so polite now, y’know?
“Where you’ll never find her, you massive bag of guts. Are you ready to dance?”
Kvass bellowed his fury and charged, remaining claws outstretched towards me.
The axe swung down sharply with a heavy “thunk”.
