So, with the taste of Sir Andres’ fart stuck in my mouth, I grumpily manifested all of my magic outward and upward into Nakoda’s lance. Ivory light manifested around it. It also flowed into my brother’s body, slowly healing the wound the blaze had dealt him. We become of one mind. I charged at Sir Andres. The Reaper sidestepped my attack, but Nakoda predicted as much. The little Rider swung his lance around more like a spear, stabbing it into Sir Andres’ side, between the gaps in his armor.
“Aaaargh!” he howled. “You little shit!”
“Sapphire!” Lilian cried out, struggling to be heard over the Reaper’s scream. She had her bow drawn and was shooting at the blazes. “Go to Belkross!”
Pulling Wyrlynd along with her, Sapphire hurried towards the mercenary. As they ran she grabbed a bomb from her belt and threw it at the two nearest blazes. It struck the ground and bombarded them with ice. Their armor reduced the damage to their bodies, but their unprotected faces became pincushions for the shards of ice. Belkross was moving at an angle as he ran. Towards Sapphire and Wyrlynd, but also towards the ship.
Ah, I realized, chancing another glance over at Lilian. She shot an arrow at one of the blazes chasing after the trio. It struck one of the android’s calves, making it stumble. Never one to let an opportunity pass by, eh, Lilian?
A swing from Sir Andres’ harpoon forced me to refocus on the here and now and not getting decapitated. I used my horn to shine light in his eyes, blinding him for the precious few seconds I needed to exit his weapon’s range of attack. But while Nakoda and I moved out, Paco and Turtle moved in. Turtle swung his tail up into Sir Andres’ belly with a resulting BONG! It still wasn’t enough to crack through the armor, but it made black spittle burst from the Reaper’s mouth. Refusing to give Sir Andres time to recover, Paco put a bullet through his neck.
Black blood seeped from the wound. Sir Andres grabbed at his neck with his free hand as he shuddered back. “….You h-hurt me,” he grumbled, black ichor smearing his lips like lipstick. He sounded more surprised than hurt. Maybe even impressed. He removed his blood-covered hand and stared at it for a moment.
He then leapt sideways. Paco shot, but the bullet bounced off of the Reaper’s pauldron, allowing Sir Andres to wrap his giant hand around Turtle’s face. The lizard’s body went stiff. A dark wave flowed through his body, rippling his scales. His body returned to normal almost as quickly and Sir Andres jumped back before Paco could shoot again. A hint of corruption remained around the edges of Turtle’s eyes, though I could still see it around the rest of him. Dark fumes curled around him, wrapping around his neck and limbs like chains.
“Good boy,” Sir Andres said to Turtle. He then giggled to Paco, “Time to dance, one on one, horn boy.”
“Paco!” Nakoda cried.
I tried to move in to help, only to be intercepted by a blaze. Not having it, Nakoda rammed his lance into its chest. The thing kept trying to swing at us, which was both horrifying and highly annoying.
Meanwhile, blazes went after Rupold and Revalynd respectively. The Rider’s lethargy was fading, allowing him to evade the android’s strikes with something almost resembling grace. It was going on the offensive where he was struggling. He kept hesitating just the tiniest bit too long to attack. Revalynd suffered from no such hesitations. The weretiger was going to work on the two blazes Sapphire had hit with her bomb.
“Rider!” he bellowed at Rupold, the androids’ oily blood and meat falling from his fangs as he spoke. “Recover your resolve!”
“Resolve,” I saw Rupold mouth.
He shifted his weight low and lined the blade of his bardiche with his opponent’s throat. He and the android charged at one another. The Rider came away from the clash unscathed. The blaze lost its sword hand. Rupold spun the weapon, flicking blood across the grass. He then started to glow.
And he wasn’t the only one.
Paco, Nakoda, and Lilian gained identical warm-colored auras. I immediately pegged the latter as the source. She’d taken a hand off of her bow and aimed it at her male comrades. She retained some of the magic for herself. Unlike Salim or Alton’s magic, my aura (and by extension Nakoda’s) didn’t nullify it. It filled my brother’s pupil’s and made him bare his teeth like a predator.
I was vaguely aware of Sapphire, Wyrlynd, and Belkross rushing up the ramp and entering the ship. No worries, I thought dryly. We’ll just stay here and keep being distractions-Wait, what? Paco?!
“Turtle!” the gunslinger cried. “C’mon! Move!”
Turtle twitched in response. The fumes of corruption latched onto his legs and gripped his face. His eyes glazed over. I’d seen Turtle sleepy, sure, but this was different. Whatever curse Sir Andres had infected him with kept him from moving. Realizing this, Paco had no choice but to abandon ship. Paco shot Sir Andres in the face, tearing open one of his cheeks. But that was more so that he could jump off Turtle’s shell and run like hell. Fueled by Lilian’s magic, the gunslinger ran and disappeared behind one of the nearby buildings.
“Huh,” Sir Andres said, his voice slurred by the damage to his cheek. “Ownersh these daysh. No loyalthy.” He pointed at Turtle. “You sthay here. I’m in tha marketh for ‘nother stheed, y’know? Think ‘bouth it-Waith-“
He narrowed his eyes at Nakoda.
“…Waith…Oh, yeah! Yer tha capthain’s kith, yeah?” He gestured for Nakoda and me to come on over. “Well, uh, ya wanth meh tha thake ya tha yer dath?”
Um, what? I thought, but Nakoda apparently understood him fine.
“You know where my dad is?!” the little Rider exclaimed, lowering his lance an inch.
“Um, yeah. Lasth I checked he was mosthly alive.” Sir Andres than held out his hand and said to Nakoda with what I believe to be utmost sincerity, “Wanna come with?”
Linked by magic, I felt what my brother felt then. I felt his want. His desperation. I felt how close he came to saying yes…
And he would have if another voice hadn’t screamed right then and there, “NAKODA, LOOK AT RUPOLD!”
Nakoda flinched. He turned and saw both Lilian and Rupold approaching.
“Look at what they did to him,” she continued, pointing at the Rider. “This ‘Sir Andres’ may know where your dad is because he’s now part of the people who took the Riders and Don’s mother. And those same people broke him. If you go with him, they’ll do the same to you! You’ll save nobody!”
Sir Andres fixed her with a dark look while taking back his hand.
He then shrugged and said nonchalantly to Nakoda, “She’s goth a pointh there, Nampoda.” He laughed then. “Once a Reaper, always a Reaper, and we’re always in tha marketh fer more! AND I’M NOTH EVEN THA WORSTH ONE! THA OTHERS ARE SOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH WORSTH!”
While the Reaper half-laughed, half-sobbed, Nakoda shifted in my saddle and realigned his lance so that it was back on target. One of his eyes burned ivory and the other amber as he said through a wolfish snarl, “Then, Reaper, the only way for me to save you is to kill you.”
He braced his weapon. I ran, head low. Sir Andres grinned and swung his harpoon with both hands this time. Not that it mattered. Nakoda’s lance knocked the harpoon aside and kept going.
This time the impact did break through Sir Andres’ armor, creating a gap in the stomach area. Nakoda let loose a primal scream as he twisted his weapon upwards, into the Reaper’s ribcage. Sir Andres’ scream joined Nakoda’s, but his was one of rage and agony as he doubled forward.
That left him open for me to jump and drive my horn into the gunshot wound in his neck. Black blood sprayed across my face, but I didn’t care. It was nowhere near as horrible as his fart. Sir Andres lurched back, ripping the lance out of his body. I landed back on the ground. My momentum made me slide across the grass, but not enough to get out of the giant’s shadow.
And that’s where I really messed up. I should have let myself slide further away, out of his harpoon’s reach, before catching myself. Hyped on success, I stayed in close so that I could attack again as soon as possible. Nakoda paid the price because of that tactical error.
Sir Andres swung twice, but these weren’t wild, emotional swings. They were methodical and precise. The first shattered the front of Nakoda’s breastplate, and the second split open his chest, revealing muscle and bone. The shock made Nakoda’s heartbeat stutter, and for one terrible second I was sure that he’d just been killed. But then he collapsed against me, still breathing shakily, lance still gripped in one trembling hand.
“…D-Don,” he wheezed, “On g-guard, S-Sir Don…On ga-aurd…!”
I nearly didn’t make out what he was trying to say until it was too late. I leapt aside just as two blazes attacked me from the rear. One of them was the one with the arrow in its calf. Covering up the hole in his stomach with one meaty hand, Sir Andres barked out an order at the androids. They returned to his side to support him. I was running on magical fumes keeping Nakoda conscious. If he fell asleep, there was the chance he’d never wake up. One more hit from the Reaper or even the androids and he was goner…
“No!” I whispered in horror as the blazes drew their pistols from their belts. One aimed at my head and the other at Nakoda. “No, no, no, no, no, no-!”
My whimpering was cut off as I suddenly found myself being picked up like a baby. A large arm wrapped around my belly, picking me up. Sir Rupold took mine and Nakoda’s place in front of Sir Andres and the blazes, dropping us within Lilian’s reach.
“Sir Rupold,” he exhaled, his breath shining with its own brand of holy light. “I am Sir Rupold of the Riders of the Wing. Of that I am now certain.” As he spoke, that breath expanded and flowed around him before solidifying over his right shoulder into a weapon. A glowing ranseur floated in place by his head as if it were being wielded by an invisible hand. “And of that I will remind you, Sir Andres.”
Behind Sir Andres and the blazes I spotted Revalynd stalking forward, using Rupold’s show as a distraction. I doubt Sir Andres noticed. The Reaper’s eyes were dead set on his old friend. The blazes had their pistols fixed on Rupold, but their master waved them down.
“Rupold,” he said, “it didn’t have to be this way.”
“You’re right,” the Rider replied somberly. “It didn’t. I promise that I will remember who you were, my friend.”
The Reaper and the Rider moved in unison. Together they created a dome of constant sparks around them. Sir Andres’ harpoon’s reach was longer, but he was forced to sacrifice that advantage to keep both of Rupold’s weapons at bay. The ranseur seemed to posses a will of its own, blocking any attacks to Rupold’s person. This allowed the Rider to focus all of his attention on attacking.
The constant clash of steel sent ripples through the air. The force pushed Lilian and I across the grass. The blazes were knocked back into Revalynd’s waiting arms. The androids didn’t stand a chance. He bashed their skulls in, popping them open like melons.
A gunshot rang out, nearly drowned out by the clanging of blades. The bullet struck Sir Andres’ left forearm, ruining his tempo. I didn’t bother searching for Paco. I knew the shot was his, and it gave Rupold the edge he needed to push in. For every attack Sir Andres blocked, Rupold got in two or even three. The Reaper’s eyes steadily filled with panic.
“Oh, fuck thish!” he blubbered.
He took another hit from Rupold as he spun around, pointing his butt at us. He farted again. A cloud of mist erupted from his body. Within seconds it filled the air, making Lilian and I gag. It also shrouded the Reaper, providing ample cover for him to run away through.
Not that it saved him.
Rupold’s body seemed to move on instinct. This time he reached up, grabbed ahold of the ranseur’s shaft, and threw it into the mist. There was a flash of light followed by a meaty thunk, and then all of the mist dissipated in an instant.
Unfazed by the sudden clarity, Sir Rupold trudged over to his fallen friend.
“Oh, Andres, my brother,” he sighed, his voice drenched with a pain that had nothing to do with the physical.
The mound of mutated flesh that had one been Sir Andres lay completely still. It was a deformed thing. Something that was neither Sir Andres, nor the Reaper, but a disgusting, pitiful amalgamation of both. The ranseur remained stabbed in the back of its skull. With a heavy sigh, Rupold yanked it free. Both weapons in hand, I saw tears stain his stony cheeks.
“Better not regret waking him up later,” Lilian grumbled. She gestured for me to lower myself onto the ground so that she could reach Nakoda more easily. I did so. She took his bone-white face into her hands. “Nakoda.”
He flinched away.
“No, no,” he whimpered. “No fire needed here!”
“Stop being a baby,” she snapped. She bit open her thumb and drew a sigil across his left cheek. Very, very slowly her magic took over from mine and began to fix the wound on his chest, stitching flesh together. He released a trembling sigh before falling unconscious against my neck. He was still in a great deal of pain, but no longer on death’s door.
With that emergency taken care of, Lilian turned to me.
“Don,” she said forcefully, “I know you’re tired, but I’m going to steal a ride from you. We need to get up into that ship.”