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Scarlet Ruse

Chapter Three: Fearless

I gulped, we're we really going to do this? Fight a Shade? I wanted to run, screw fighting, you don't fight a Shade; no that was just a death sentence. Belmont Charged first, bellowing, Digger followed after him whilst I just stood there and watched. Belmonts poleaxe just seemed to slip through the Shade with no effort, as if it were made of water or smoke, Digger however dashed off to Kaiber, fruitlessly trying to tug him free of the invisible grip that held him. The Shade just ignored the both of them, as if they were just tiny little insects buzzing about, irritating at best and nothing more.

“Pathetic, all of you" came that cold ethereal voice, the Shades voice, its head turning backward to face Belmont and me, as if such a moment was natural; most sickening cause it made no sound. Belmont reared back his poleaxe and made to cleave the things neck, but with a simple wave of its free arm he was sent tumbling back across the icy stone flooring.

“Consider your contract with us, void, useless assassin whore" the thing spat at me, those stitched lips unmoving, the empty eyes somehow cutting into me with their hallow gaze. Yet the words he spoke were what made me recoil, if what Hazel had said was true, then it meant Alt was being held captive by Shades, it only confirmed it, that HE was back, risen from the dead somehow.

I shook off the sick feeling that twisted in my gut, my face contorting to one of anger, I had no contract now, no coin to pay of my debt, I'd been screwed, I hated being screwed. The grip on my dagger tightened, I forgot all about the pain in my arm as I used it to fish about in my belt pouch for something very specific. I was an Assassin, I had a tool for every occasion, magic was no exception.

“Belmont, distract the fucker"! I yelled out as my fingers closed on the small orb of glass, bound by a net of thing rope and corked with wax; an alchemical bomb designed to temporarily nullify magic. Belmont said nothing as he charged the Shade yet again, bellowing and swinging wildly, trying to dice the monstrosity to bits, again, ineffective. All I needed was one good throw, but with my striking arm damaged my confidence was shot, I had to be smart about this, every second we wasted was another second Kaiber didn't have. His struggles were already losing strength, he'd be dead in two, maybe three minutes; I gritted my teeth, pulling one of the bombs free and reeling my arm back to throw.

Belmont ducked away left, giving me a grunt as I swung my arm forward as hard as I could, pain riveted up my arm as I loosed the small glass orb. It sailed over the Shades shoulder and off to the left, detonating with a sharp bang and a blinding flash of bright yellow light; I cursed under my breath. The Shades head whipped around to face me again, this time he looked less confident, that stitched mouth of his contorted into a foul sneer that made me grin. I was a threat all of a sudden, but I only had two bombs left, I had to make them count, I needed to make a clean hit and fast.

The Shade swug his free arm around toward me, it sickened me the way its joints gave no resistance to bending in such a way. Belmont was quick to intervene, brining his poleaxe down on the limb, it passed right through as before but by then I had dug out another bomb and was ready to throw. But this time I was aimed at his feet, at the floor, even if the shot was wide or short, it'd still hit him, he had to evade, it was the only option. He'd have to let Kaiber go as well, if he wanted to be clear of the blast, it was a gamble but it was all I had; I swung my arm forward, wincing in pain.

In that instant the Shade dropped Kaiber, he fell heavily to the floor, coughing and gasping violently as the Shades body dissolved into a thick black vapour. It snaked across the floor toward me and I grinned, the bastard had played right into my ruse. I jerked back my arm at the last second, cocking it out and brazing my shoulder as the vile abomination reformed beside me, towering over me with a raised arm and bared claws. Belmont was waiting off to my other side, ready to end this, it was going to hurt, I gritted my teeth as I flicked my wrist and loosed the bomb right at the Shades gut.

A point blank throw, it was the only way I was ever going to hit him with my messed up throwing arm. Pain tore through me as a deafening crack filled my ears and a bright flash blinded me. Sending me tumbling across the stonework a good dozen feet or so. Whatever armour or garbs I was wearing upon my left side were now scared with burn marks and pocketed with large holes, exposing bruised skin to the biting cold wind that swiftly numbed the pain. Blood washed up into my mouth, my vision was split and swung about drunkenly as my ears rang.

The shot had landed, now it was up to Belmont to deliver the killing blow, he had at most a few seconds but that was all he needed. Or at least I had thought so, my vision came back into focus just in time to see the Shade hurl him off the side of the mountain. Nausea flooded my throat, my arms buckled as I propped myself up upon them, the Shade was clearly injured, Belmonts poleaxe stuck out from its shoulder, a sound that steadily dropped a horrid black blood; and yet he'd just been tossed to his death so easily. This, this is what being valiant got you, it was over, hopeless, I was too injured to put up any sort of fight, that had been a last ditch effort and it had failed. Yet as I dragged myself to my feet, there Kaiber was, standing, defiant, growling like a beast, he had no weapons, barely any armour not that it'd matter. How was he able to keep going like that, how was he so fearless in the face of certain death?

I had one bomb left, I fished it out limply, there was no point but fuck it, what'd I have to lose at this point, I spat a wad of blood and gritted my teeth, ready to yell something, to try and give Kaiber an opening of any sort. But before I could say anything there was a deafening roar, booming impossibly loud, so much so that it drown out the howl of the blizzard. My vision was still blurry, but even I could make out the shadow that quickly drapped the entire foreyard in a darkened hue of dull snowy grey.

It was a Dragon, a big one at that, some sort of wyvern, the beating of its huge wings broke the blizzard, forcing the freezing winds to belt mercilessly into the foreyard, causing the Shade to stagger back a step. But the abomination was determined to end the teal lizards life, swiftly raising an arm once more, swinging it upward, sending the stonework flying forward as if propelled by some unseen force, seeking to pepper Kaiber with stone shrapnel. But the attack never landed, the Shades hand simply burst into pieces as a bolt of writhing lightning struck it from the heavens.

“Bow before the might of Th'aa's wrath foul aberration"! Bellowed a deep and thunderous voice as a steady column of crackling lightning slammed into the Shade without warning. The seething arch of white hot plasma enveloped the dark mage, pieces of him began to crack away, flake and fall apart. I could barely see the event unfold, having to shield my eyes and brace myself from the beating wind. The Shade however let loose a high pitched and shrill scream that built and built and built as more and more of it was cracked away by the merciless onslaught of lightning. Until the vile mage detonated, sending a shockwave radiating outward, it cracked the doors to the Grand Hall to splinters, it knocked me to the ground and sent chips and chunks of stone brick flying, it thrust the walls of the blizzard ajar, shattering the storm in its wake.

All that was left of the Shade was a lone figure, wrouth to its knees in a shallow crater of destroyed stone, the grey skin had been seared to the sinew, the arms were but smoking stumps at the shoulders. It's chest heaved in and out in shock and I watched as the Dragon landed upon the lips of the foreyard, the stonework giving and groaning under its talons a single tall figure sliding down from its back.

I couldn't make out who it was, the shadow of the dragon and the darkened night time skies obscured them completely. Yet I watched as the figure marched up to the Shade, and without hesitation brought down upon the monsters head a huge two handed warmace, crushing the Shades skull to the spine as if it were a hollow pot; killing it once and for all.

Shakily I forced myself up to my feet, everything hurt by now, I could see Kaiber also forcing himself up, helped by his scaled friend Digger, a slight pang of relief washed over me, only a slight one.

Who had saved us though?