Valor and Violence

Calris unhooked the canteen from his belt and took a few sips. The heat was getting worse the further inland they got and cooling breezes became a distant memory, but unfortunately, the distance from the coast did nothing to allay the humidity. Probably all the damn swamp water. Out here, it wasn’t as pervasive as by the coast, but dry stretches of more than a few hundred meters were still rare.

Staying hydrated on the march was still a delicate balancing act. Drink too little, and you dehydrated and died. Drink too much too soon, and you either cramped or ran out of water before the next clear river, and then you died. He spotted Jasmine drain the last of her canteen and start on her spare, and he shook his head as he put his own away. At this rate, she would be out of water by midday.

Calris had worried about how the locals would take to her after her comments about ‘primitive cultures’, but Levi had said something to her and after that she had done an admirable job of pulling her head in, thankfully. For some reason, he felt invested in Jasmine being accepted by the tribe just like the company had been.

As he watched, she reattached the half empty canteen and approached a guide to strike up conversation. Calris decided that, not only were his fears unfounded, but she was now more popular with the locals than he or Ban.

“It’s not fair, is it? You help keep the village safe from raiders, and they forget all about you when a pretty young fire mage comes prancing along.”

The voice came from beside him, so close he jumped. He turned to find Ferez strolling along, following his gaze to where Jasmine had the guide giggling like a child.

“There’s nothing to be jealous of. I know where their loyalties lie.”

“Then why are you jealous?”

“I’m not jealous.”

“You look jealous.”

Calris grumbled and turned away, ignoring the belligerent old man. To his dismay, Ferez followed him around, a cheeky smile plastered to his face.

“Unless… It’s not Jasmine you are jealous of. Maybe you’re jealous of the strapping young lad she’s charming at this moment?”

Calris felt his face grow red, and he could tell Ferez had noticed it too.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Calris growled.

“Oh, I think I do, young man. With age comes wisdom and with wisdom comes a keen perception.”

“Really? Because I saw you squinting at those scrolls of yours last night and it seemed to me your perception was getting pretty shitty.”

It was a low blow, but the best Calris could think of on the fly. Ferez scowled but pressed on.

“There’s nothing to be ashamed of, Cal. She is a wonderful young woman. Abrasive, at times, but I think it adds to her charm.”

Calris threw his hands up in exasperation. “By the gods, Ferez, you’re terrible! Why are we even talking about this? There is nothing going on between us.”

Ferez’s grin spread, stretching almost from ear to ear as he wagged a finger in the marine’s face.

“Nothing going on yet.”

“Gods damn it, I’m not going into it with you. Not now,” Calris said, pushing past the old man and wishing to the Pantheon he would just leave him alone.

“Why not now?”

“We are in a hostile jungle with poisonous vegetation and giant, killer lizards everywhere.”

“As much as your argument makes a degree of logical sense, I believe you are concealing the truth from me.”

“Believe what you want, I don’t care,” Calris replied, continuing to storm off. It was hard, though, when he was required to remain in a specific position within the formation. As such, Ferez kept pace with Calris’ storming by simply strolling along next to him.

“What is it, son? I like to think I know you reasonably well, and it seems that something has been wrong with you these last few days.”

Calris stopped and turned to Ferez. “Was talking about Jasmine a distraction? Were you trying to get me to talk about my feelings?”

“A fairly basic one but, yes. Although we should revisit that topic at a later stage. I think she likes you.”

Calris let out a frustrated sigh, letting his hands fall by his sides. “Look, I appreciate the concern, really, but it’s nothing you need to worry about. I’m handling it.”

“Handling what, Calris? I’m concerned about you. You’ve been off for a few days now. Is it the experiments? It’s the experiments, isn’t it.”

“No! Gods, you’re persistent! It’s not the experiments, it’s-”

Calris shut his mouth when he noticed a small ripple on the water’s surface behind the old mage, just off the causeway.

Ah, shit.

“Move!” he roared, grabbing Ferez by the collar and hauling him back, throwing the bewildered mage to the dirt as a swamp drake burst from the water’s edge, jaws snapping shut where the old man had been standing a moment before.

The beast was about six metres from tip to tail, all muscle and armoured scales and teeth. It glared at him and opened its long broad snout, releasing a chilling noise somewhere between a hiss and a growl as it stalked towards them. Calris backed slowly into the centre of the causeway, his eyes locked onto the drake’s as he raised his javelin. He was dimly aware of the guides running back and forth around him, Levi bellowing orders to surround it while one of the guides scaled a nearby tree, but Calris’ world had rapidly narrowed down to him, his spear, and the drake. He sensed a shift in its body, the tiniest hint of tension in its corded muscles, and then it exploded at him. Calris shrieked and charged, matching the beast’s assault with his own as he thrust his spear up and into the roof of its mouth.

It took a second to process what he’d just done. Or the fact it had actually worked. The drake roared in pain and rage, thrashing as Calris pushed forward, driving over a tonne and a half of angry reptile towards the water. He grinned, feeling his spear slowly working its way through the roof of its mouth and towards its brain, and he dared to hope he might slay the beast with relative ease.

And then it clamped its jaw shut, snapping the spear like Calris might a twig. He stared at the broken shaft in his hand before dropping it with a curse.

Damn, useless, pointy stick!

He drew his sword and looked around for Levi, finding the Mardukian yelling at the others to stay back. Behind him, Asim stood protectively between the mages and the danger, halberd at the ready, while Ban twirled his axes, a look of nervous excitement on his face. To their credit, the mages themselves looked composed and ready, flames dancing around their hands. For all Calris knew, Ferez may have faced one of these before, but Jasmine had likely never encountered a real-life swamp drake before. She was remarkably composed.

“Levi, what’s the plan?” Calris called over his shoulder as the guides put themselves between him and the drake, presenting a wall of spears to the pissed off lizard.

“Just stay clear. We can handle this. Men! Just like we practiced, get it under that tree, Argus, be ready to drop onto its back!”

“You’ve done this before?” Calris asked, his voice betraying his scepticism in spite of himself.

“Yes, but… not on one this size. In theory, it’s all the same, though, right?”

“I’m not sure this one is scared of our pointy sticks, Levi!”

The words were no sooner out of Calris’ mouth than the beast shot forward and snatched a guide in its powerful jaws, the spear splintering harmlessly on its flank. It squeezed, the muscles in its jaw bunching and the man in its grip screaming, before something in the guide’s body gave with a resounding crack and he fell limp. With one of its prey dealt with, the drake swung its head and let go, hurling the corpse into the swamp before rounding on the survivors.

The jumper, Argus, heroically leapt at the beast only to be snatched out of the air and shaken like a dog’s chew toy before being unceremoniously dumped, broken, onto the ground. The man’s feeble movements were stilled for good as the beast advanced in search of more victims, crushing his rib cage beneath one of its clawed feet.

“Get away from it!” Ferez called, summoning a white-hot ball of flame and hurling it at the drake’s head. The blast staggered Calris and knocked a few of the guides to the ground.

“Boom!” Ferez shouted, pumping a fist into the air and laughing, until the drake burst through the cloud of smoke and dust, making a beeline straight for the mage, ignoring the guides throwing themselves at it. Ferez swore and prepared another attack before Asim stepped between them and brought his halberd down in a heavy, overhand blow.

The force of the blow snapped its head to the side and it crashed to the ground, momentarily stunned. Asim drove his halberd down again to finish the job, but the drake rolled aside and shot to its feet, snapping and hissing at the guardsman as it backed away.

Backed away, but didn’t retreat. It started prowling around the group, shepherding the humans into a shrinking circle.

“What do we do now?” Calris yelled to Levi.

Levi stared at Argus’ crushed corpse, his face betraying no trace of fear or hesitation.

“Everyone keep back,” he said, marshalling the surviving guides. “High Mage, would you mind giving us a hand?”

“I’ll help how I can, which may not be all that much, unfortunately,” Ferez replied as another stream of his flame washed harmlessly over the drake’s scales.

Levi looked around at his tribesmen and the marines, a plan forming in his head. “The damn lizard’s hide is too thick for our spears to pierce. We need to hold its attention and hurt it with steel before it chews through us, one after the other.” Calris grimaced at the choice of words as Levi continued. “High Mage, can you and Asim keep it entertained without being eaten?”

“Yes. Although I’ll admit I would have been more comfortable with the plan had you used a different choice of words.”

You and me both, Ferez.

Undaunted, Levi forged ahead. “Jasmine and Ban, I want you to work around to his flank. Miss, target its eye. Ban, when he’s blinded, I want you to get in close and hamstring him. The armour is much thinner on the legs.”

Ban cheered, eager to finally draw blood in the fight.

“Cousins, do not let any harm come to the clients, but don’t take foolish risks. And if you do fuck up, have the courtesy to choke him with your corpse!” Levi called to the guides.

To Calris’ surprise, a few of them actually laughed. Certainly, none of them looked put out by the comment or the deaths of their peers, and they swarmed protectively around the others. Brave bastards, one and all. But Calris noticed Levi had still left one person out of the plan.

“Levi? What do you want me to do?” he asked.

“Well, our jumper is dead.”

“Uh… alright?”

“And the easiest way to kill one of these things is to drive a spear or sword through its eyes.”

“Not liking where this is going, Levi!”

“Calris, relax. It’ll be half blind and lame. Just come up behind it, climb on up there and put your sword through its eye socket. Simple!”

“You do it!” Calris snapped back.

Levi waved his spear. “These clearly aren’t working and you, Ban, and Asim, are the only ones with steel. Swap jobs with either of them if you like, but make it quick.”

Calris cast a quick glance at the drake and realised Levi was right. The guides were doing an admirable job of holding the thing back, but its armour was just too thick for their spears. They wouldn’t be able to hold it for long.

He swore under his breath. Asim’s halberd would be far too unwieldy to use in close, and Ban’s axes were ill suited to deliver the penetrating blow required.

“You’re a dick, Levi. Ban, I swear to the gods you had better damn near take that leg off!”

“I’ve got your back, Cal, let’s do this!” Ban replied, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

As one, they jumped into action, Ferez keeping up the flames while Asim pushed through the ring of guides to bludgeon the drake about the head. The two veteran fighters worked in tandem, Asim scoring deep gashes on its snout, while Ferez shot flames down its throat every time it tried to take a chunk out of the guardsman. To the flank, Jasmine and Ban ran past the snapping jaws, before cutting back in towards the beast. Jasmine grunted as she summoned a concentrated ball of flame that struck with enough force to knock the beast down, and Ban charged, delivering a heavy blow to the beast’s leg. The drake hissed and collapsed, half turning and snapping at him, but Ban danced out of the way. It was a narrow thing; the jaws snapping shut within a hair’s breadth of the marine, but still, the ruse worked. The drake now had its back to Calris, and he shot forward, leaping through the air, sword poised to deliver the death blow.

And then the creature turned its head, and stared him right in the eyes.

He realised he was in trouble around the same time the beast shot to its feet and swung its tail, catching Calris just below the ribs. The air left his body as it hurled him through the air, hundreds of kilograms of muscle launching him like a rag doll. As he flew, he was vaguely aware of Jasmine and Ban flying as well, towards the swamp. He realised it must have caught them with its skull as it spun, but further analysis of the situation became untenable as Calris smashed into the ground. He squirmed in the dirt, struggling to draw breath into his lungs as he watched the monster turn its one good eye on where Jasmine had hit the water. With a hiss, it limped after her.

Shit!

Jasmine hadn’t yet broken the surface and would have no idea she was the next target. Ignoring the pain in his side, Calris scrambled to his feet and started running. The drake had a sizeable lead, and if it made it to the water’s edge before he could stop it, there was nothing he could do to save Jasmine. He couldn’t move fast enough though, and he roared in frustration as the beast reached the edge of the causeway, slipping into the water with its mouth already open in anticipation of its meal.

But then Jasmine burst out of the water, surprising Calris and the drake both, as a river of fire lanced from her hands and scorched the tender flesh between its jaws.

“Fuck off, you ornery prick!” she screamed, though whether it was in rage, fear or just to sound brave, Calris could only guess. The assault only caused a moment’s delay, but it was enough. Calris covered the last few paces to the water’s edge and launched himself off the causeway. He thumped onto the beast’s back, letting the momentum from his dive drive his sword down into the beast’s remaining eye.

His world became chaos as the drake death rolled, foaming water filling his vision as his body was buffeted by every submerged log and rock it could find. He screamed as his bruised side smashed against something particularly hard and sharp, his cries engulfed by the swamp.

By some miracle, he held onto his sword, and he used it as an anchor, drawing his body close to the beast and wrapping his legs around it. With a firmer purchase, he grasped the sword in both hands and worked the handle, scrambling the soft tissue inside the monster’s skull. It panicked, thrashing wildly, its controlled death roll giving way to violent spasms as it made a last ditch effort to crush Calris. Despite being slammed against every god’s damned fallen tree and rock in the immediate vicinity, Calris held on and was rewarded as he felt the beast weaken beneath him, its spasms growing sporadic and weak, before, with a final twitch, it stilled.

Lungs burning, Calris ripped his sword free and broke the surface, gasping for air, then wincing as fresh pain lanced through his ribs. He lowered himself back into the water, eyes closed and tilted to the sun as he let his breath slowly return and the desperate hammering in his chest subside. A small laugh bubbled up in his chest. By the time it reached his throat, it was a roar, until the stabbing pains overwhelmed his mirth. Still, this was going to be a hell of a story when he got back to the ship.

When he felt sufficiently recovered, he explored his ribs with his hand, grimacing whenever he found a particularly painful area. His floating rib was almost certainly cracked, and maybe a few of the others as well, though he doubted any of them were clean breaks. Satisfied his injuries weren’t worse, somehow, he gingerly stood and turned, looking for Jasmine, ignoring the cheers from the causeway.

He found her; hair plastered across her face, chest heaving from the adrenaline, and clear, green eyes as wide as dinner plates. She looked unharmed, thank the Pantheon, and a smile so wide it hurt burst unbidden onto his face. He waded towards her, trying to think of what he should say.

He had decided on a one liner, and was timing his witty hero’s remark for maximum effect, when a hidden log tripped him up and sent him tumbling face first back into the water. Frantically clawing at the dirty water as it shot up his nose and ran down the back of his throat, he pulled himself back to his feet. The intense burn in his ribcage was now matched by his burning face as he found Jasmine laughing hysterically.

“Shut up! I saved your life!” he said, sounding petulant even to himself.

“I am sorry, Ape, but that was too funny. Let me guess, you didn’t notice the log because you were thinking of something stupid to say, right?”

Calris glared. The worst part of it all was that he knew she was right.

Actually, the worst part was that she knew she was right.

“You look like a drowned rat,” he shot back. Not his best insult, but it was the best he could do hopped up on adrenaline and on the verge of passing out from pain.

“And you look like a drowned arsehole,” she laughed. “Come on, I’ll help you back to the causeway,” she said, offering her hand to help Calris wade through the water. Calris had to admit, despite the pain in his body and the adrenaline coursing through his veins, he felt a little thrill as her hand met his.

The absurdity wasn’t lost on him, of course. In the water beside them, so close he could touch it, was the body of a colossal monster that had just slaughtered two men. Pit, it was a miracle it hadn’t slaughtered them all, and yet here he was, giddy because a cute girl was holding his hand. Or was he giddy because of the monster?

He looked sideways at Jasmine. Even now, covered in muck and having very nearly just died, she still looked composed and in control. She noticed him staring and flashed him a dazzling smile as she asked him what he was looking at. He quickly turned away, disguising it as a wince and clutching at his ribs. Definitely not the monster.

The pair tenderly clambered back onto the causeway, Jasmine helping Calris sit first before settling down next to him. He could tell she was coming down off the extreme adrenal dump that comes from a life-or-death fight as she unhooked her canteen and held it to her lips with shaking hands. She cursed softly and laughed as she realised it was empty, dropping it to the ground and flopping onto her back.

“But of course, I am out of bloody water.”

Calris unhooked his own spare and held it out to her. Jasmine regarded him warily out of the corner of her eye.

“That’s very sweet of you, Ape,” she said cautiously.

“My pleasure, Princess,” he replied, giving her the smoothest smile he could manage. “After all, I’m a gentleman.”

“So I see,” she replied, shooting him a smile in return that he couldn’t quite figure out, but he took it as a good sign. He decided he was fine, going without a bit of water, to see her smile like that as she accepted the canteen and started guzzling the contents.