Taryn stood in a solid stance with legs apart in front of the avian almost four times her height, not showing any sign of being cowed. "Don, stand down! What madness to take in such unknown power with no idea what it'll do to you. Put the sword down and cease your connection with it, if you can."
"We already tried that," Gavin said. "He doesn't seem too open to reason."
"No! I, the Light Emperor will be a champion for Plasbias and spread awe of us across the continent."
Taryn gave a little smirk. "I'm not sure having a giant bird 'championing' us powered by the same source as the nemesis of a past Saint Princess will do wonders for our kingdom's relations with others."
"It is irrelevant what our neighbors think! This power should rightfully stay with us!" He shot an array of beams from his wing tops, which Meg and Gavin dodged while dancing away from him. Taryn advanced instead as she weaved between them, aimed a chop at Don's leg which he hopped out of the way of. He cut back at her with blistering speed. Meg's heart skipped a beat fearing she might be sheared in half, but instead Taryn parried one slash, then whipped her axe up to intercept another in a deafening clash.
"The gaps in his armor are vulnerable," Meg said while Taryn held the mammoth sword over her head in defiance of Don's efforts to push it down. Incredibly she shoved the blade up a bit, giving her room to dart in under it. Her axehead plowed into the bird's middle to a noise of whining metal. He staggered back, a great rent in his hide, and crashed to his back. Meg gaped. Every time she thought she'd seen the limits of Taryn's strength, the tall warrior soon impressed even more. "Or maybe you didn't need to know that."
"I would have guessed as much from looking at him, but my axe is a bit big and unwieldy to be targeting such small weak points. So I'll just have to beat him down the old fashioned way."
Don lurched to his feet, black—goo?—stuff leaking from the gap in his torso. "From where do you get such power?"
"I have some thick thighs and hips. When you turn your body properly, the bulk of power comes from there."
Gavin blinked. "That's her explanation? I was expecting something more fancy."
"She is just an extraordinarily brutish human, I suppose," Meg said.
"Hey, don't call me that..."
Don opened his beak, launching rapid-fire bolts which Taryn blocked with the blur that passed for her axe. At the end of the volley, he angled his head up and released a bigger blast at the ceiling above her. Broken stone rained down. She caught one large chunk on a raised forearm and tossed it aside with a growl, leapt and twisted into a big swing. It ripped the right side of Don's chest open, releasing more dark substance. "You call yourself the Light Emperor and you bleed black? Take a look at yourself and wake up, realize you've been corrupted."
"Corrupted? You are corrupt, complacent in your ease of bending to others' will. Like old King Ian, we should forge our own path and make this nation strong in its own right again."
Taryn smacked her head. "You blind fool! Isn't it plain to see that we're already trying to make ourselves strong again, considering you all were just recruited to the army? We can't even use the sword, except in the blind, exceptionally ignorant and perilous way you are, so why should we cling to it when we have allies who can help figure it out? As for forging our own path like King Ian, that was how long ago again? It's not as if that ended up well for us in the long run either."
"The other nations took advantage when King Ian passed from old age. Underhanded of them, that we perhaps ought to pay back. But I as the Light Emperor will never grow old and die. So under my hand, which is as the hand of god, we will bask in eternal prosperity."
"Wanting payback for ancient history, talking like you're a god? You piss me off, maybe I should show you my strongest blow." She brought her axe far back.
"Wait," Meg said, "remember he's under the influence! I'm sure Don wouldn't go this far in his right mind, he's probably expressing the darkest thoughts he's had that he would suppress under normal conditions. Don't kill him."
Don cleaved down. Taryn met his strike with her own, metal squealing against metal as his blade slid along hers. "Fine, I'll try not to. But still, I have to get this thing away from him!" She accelerated her offense, whipping her axe about faster and faster though Don matched her speed with parries and counters. Meg wasn't sure what seemed stranger, the gigantic woman fighting like a person half her size or her even larger and clumsy looking adversary being able to keep up. The tip of Don's sword gashed Taryn down the chest, but she neglected to react except for gritted teeth. His weapon drew back for another swing. Instead of staying grounded as she had for the most part, she leapt toward his sword arm while it swept forward. Her axehead slammed into the ground with a crunch, splitting it.
Don's metal-encased hand fell beside her axe with fingers still curled around the hilt, her edge having passed through his wrist on the way down. He clutched his stump and stumbled away. Meg wasn't sure Taryn should have resorted so soon to lopping off his hand... but at least she hadn't killed him. Now change back, she thought, please change back.
He reached towards the dropped sword with his remaining hand, and it flew out of his severed one back into his grasp. He ran towards the entrance, jumped and took flight. Having moved to the side in her last attack, Taryn couldn't stand in the way to stop him, and neither did Meg and Gavin react in time as he flew overhead. Taryn stepped after him, raising her axe to throw. "No, don't!" Meg said, and dashed in front of her.
"What are you doing?" Taryn barked.
"Please, we can't give up on him that easily."
She turned away with a groan. "I wasn't going to kill him, just clip his wing. Too late now since he's already out of range, genius."
Meg bowed her head. "Sorry. Though that is one heavy weapon, so it would've been risky to throw it at him if you hit the wrong spot."
"Maybe, but now he's gotten away and we don't know when we'll find him. I guess what's done is done. You two all right?"
"Just a scratch," Gavin replied.
"Same," Meg said. "What about you, Captain?"
She fingered the wound down one of her breasts with a grimace. "Probably more of a scratch than yours."
"You're unbelievably strong. I daresay you might actually be one of the strongest fighters on the continent, or am I wrong?"
Taryn smiled bashfully. "Julianna and her husband are better than me, Roland and the other High Knights too I'm sure. I'm not famous enough to have a widely accepted ranking, but some knowledgeable folk believe I might be in the top fifteen or so."
"On the continent? That's amazing for someone so young. Why are you only a captain then? Seems a bit of a lowly rank for such a great warrior."
"My organization skills aren't on par with my fighting skills yet, so I'm stuck taking it easy until they catch up enough to justify a higher position. By the way, don't think flattering me will make you forget how you screwed up my throw."
"Oh, that wasn't my intention." Meg paused. "Now that I know what I'm dealing with, I'll be better prepared when we have our match."
She shrugged. "Doubt it'll help. Anyway, let's go and figure out our next move."
With no need to guard the now missing sword, Taryn rounded up all the soldiers to hold a meeting in the square at Bergin's center. With hands on her hips, she asked, "So, exactly which of you told Don about the sword's ability to empower others?"
Meg looked at Joel, who wore a stoic expression. But then Christopher spoke up, and she realized she'd been mistaken in her assumption. "I did. I, er, listened in on you and Baxter, and thought about trying to master the sword myself but decided against it. Don was looking for new material for a song, so I suggested the story of a young hero tempted by darkness only to reject it."
"You, a hero?" Patrick asked. "Also, ironic that he heard about the hero resisting only to eagerly give in himself. Did you tell him it was based on your own experience?"
"No, seems I just didn't disguise the sword being my inspiration well enough. But I had no inkling of unstable he was."
"He may not be that unstable," Meg put in, not wanting everyone to think too badly of Don before all the circumstances were known. "He could've tried touching the sword thinking he could stop only to find otherwise, and he might also have been drinking."
"I don't know. It seems like it would take some forethought to have climbed up with a grappling hook, which isn't standard gear for us, as I saw."
"It can't be that hard to find a grappling hook, anyway..."
Taryn exhaled. "In any case," she said to Christopher, "I'm glad you at least didn't turn yourself into a Night, or Light Emperor giant monster thing."
"It wasn't worth losing my humanity over."
Agatha walked up to Taryn, looking aggravated. The villagers must have told her what transpired. "One of your soldiers took the sword? This operation wasn't well run. How did they steal it when it's fifty feet long?"
"The soldier and sword changed size to meet in the middle. As for your critique of my operation, this situation was pretty unpredictable."
"Who expects somebody to want to become a giant monster?" Patrick agreed. "But what are we going to do now?"
Taryn looked into the distance in the direction Don had flown. "Since we lack a way to track him, we might have to wait for word of him being spotted. I expect Agatha's countrymen will get here before then, though."
Just two days later, the crew from Ostuh arrived outside town. They had brought a giant drill on wheels, along with a multi-segmented cart longer than most buildings were tall and pulled by multiple horses. It must've been custom made to carry the sword back, but unfortunately that would not be happening at the moment. "You say it was lost?" the slick-bearded researcher in charge demanded after Taryn told him so. "How did you lose a fifty foot object?"
"Your colleague already asked that. It's not too hard for somebody to steal a fifty foot sword if they grow to twenty-five feet with wings, and the sword shrinks down to match."
"Still, you let one inclined to do so near it? Utterly irresponsible."
She pursed her lips with annoyance. "I'll admit maybe we should have kept a closer eye on our own soldiers than we did. But it's not as if Ostuh bears absolutely no blame for this. If not for your over-complicated bureaucracy, you could've gotten here earlier, and it might never have come to this."
"We are often dissatisfied with how long it takes our massive council to get things done as well, but it can't be helped. Anyway, what are we to do? Must we stay here just waiting until the sword is recovered?"
"It does seem a hassle to have your whole crew stay when we don't know how long finding it might take. Considering I don't anticipate needing to use the drill now, maybe you could leave the cart with us and we'll have our people bring it to you once we have it?"
"I suppose that's acceptable. It should be enough to have Agatha stay and keep us updated on new developments."
The soldiers returned to the fort, taking Agatha and Freddy with them since they didn't have any more to do in Bergin with the sword gone. Some days passed with no news of Bird-Don, then one morning Taryn approached Meg and the others at lunch. "You know yesterday was the last day of your agreed upon trial period, right Free Fangs?"
"We do," Meg replied, "but weren't sure if you'd remember. Are you going to make us decide now?"
She let the question hang in the air for a bit. "No. You and Patrick were the first ones to get involved with the sword, so you should be allowed to see it through to the end. We'll push the deadline for your decision back until after this is resolved."
"Thank you. Does that mean you plan for us to take part in resolving it, though?"
"Bird Kid is your meal table friend. I figure you might have a better chance of talking him down than most of us."
Gavin looked skeptical. "We couldn't talk him down before."
"Maybe you can't when he's in a position to fight back. But if we could subdue him first, your words could possibly get through to him."
"And convince him to break his bond with the sword?" Patrick asked. "I understand, though I worry if he even can break it voluntarily. I guess we'll have to see."
They soon received word that a metallic winged creature had been sighted flying over the southern mountains, under which there was known to be a labyrinthine network of tunnels. If a twenty-five foot bird with arms and a suitably sized sword could hide anywhere, it would be there. Meg didn't know how easy it would be to find Don in such a maze though, but expected to hear that they'd be going to try soon. "It looks like we'll be traveling together again, huh captain?" she asked Taryn right after the messenger relayed the news in the courtyard.
To her surprise, the tall woman shook her head. "I was expecting to come with you. But I'm sorry to say I can't."
"What's going on?" Meg glanced at Baxter beside her. "You can leave the fort in the lieutenant's care like before, no?"
"It's not that. I just found out this morning an old enemy has challenged my father to a duel. I have to go and represent my family on his behalf. If not, the way he is, he'll probably try to fight despite not even being able to walk and..."
"I see. In that case, your kin do take priority, though I question if the military will see it that way."
"They can see it however they want, won't change my mind. Besides, like you said I have Baxter to watch over things here. If you don't feel like going after Don without me, you're welcome to wait until I come back. I shouldn't take too long, unless I don't make it."
She turned to Patrick and Gavin and they exchanged some whispers among themselves. Then she faced Taryn again. "We don't need to wait. If it's okay with you, we can go ourselves."
Taryn gazed questioningly at them. "Are you sure?"
"Sure that we'll succeed? Admittedly not, but there's no guarantee we would even with your company. Sure that we can give it a shot? Absolutely. It wouldn't say much for the expanded Plasbian army if it always had to rely on its officers to do anything."
"You aren't even from Plasbias though," Baxter said, "to be invested in our military's reputation."
"Maybe not, but as long as we work for it, it's a matter of professional pride for us to enhance its image. Besides, if we don't pursue Don now when we have a good idea of where he might be, who knows that he won't go elsewhere and make it tough for us to find him again? You may not take that long to come back, but even a day's delay could make the difference. Me and Gavin were holding our own against him before you stepped in. So with us in better shape now and Patrick there too, we shouldn't be at an overwhelming disadvantage. We'll take him down and make him part ways with the sword... hopefully."
"I'll go too," Christopher said, having stepped up behind them. "I don't know how much I can do, but since I was at least in part responsible for this happening, I should provide what aid I can."
Joel added, "And I as well. It would feel wrong for me to not help my friends, help my other friend."
Baxter looked them over and smiled. "It seems the lunch table takes initiative admirably. Reminds me of when I was an enthusiastic young soldier in my youth."
"There's someone missing, though," Gavin said, meaningfully eyeing Rich who stood off to the side.
Rich raised his hands in exasperation under their expectant looks. "All right, I'll come! I don't like being near that sword, but I'm not such a coward as to refuse my friends help over it."
"How will we separate Don from it?" Joel asked. "We've been talking about well, talking him out of it, but what if he can't just choose to give it up? I would be a lot more confident if we had a mage like Julianna with us who might be able to do something with magic."
"Contacting Julianna and waiting on her response seems ill advised for the same reason waiting for Taryn to get back is," Meg said. "And it would be even more embarrassing for Plasbias to be unable to deal with this themselves, and have to go running to the Saint General so quickly."
"I suppose you have a point."
"We could ask Agatha about this," Patrick suggested. "Being a scholar of magical phenomena, maybe she'll have an idea of what to do if Don can't free himself from the sword's influence?"
They visited the researcher in her guest room and told her of their dilemma. She cupped her chin in thought, then after a while said, "Maybe you could break the sword's physical form? I'm not sure that would totally destroy it, given its exotic abilities to change size, transfer its energy and such, but it might at least loosen its hold over him."
"How would we break it, though?" Christopher asked. "It's probably pretty tough."
Meg smiled. "The explosives a certain band of monster hunters left for us might do the trick."
"There is still the question of how we'll locate the sword and Don with it amid all those tunnels," Gavin said. "If the system under the mountains is as extensive as I hear, we could be down there for weeks and still not stumble onto them."
Agatha raised her hand. "I can help with that. In the course of my experimenting, I attuned a magical magnet to the blade, which will now act as a compass towards it. It only works within fairly close range though, which is why I didn't mention it until now. You'll likely still have to do some blind wandering around under the mountains before the magnet reacts. But once it does, it should be quite useful in pinpointing it."
"So you bookworms are useful for something!" Rich said. "Thanks!"
She gave him a cold look. "Not exactly the most inspiring compliment."
Meg tried to wave it off awkwardly. "He isn't that used to interacting with, um, educated folks, you know how it is."
Christopher began, "B-but..."
"You don't count," Joel said. "Your voice is drowned out in our group by all the... masculine roughness."
"I hope you don't mean who I think you do," Meg mumbled. Sure he probably meant most of the boys too, but she suspected she was also included. "Anyway, you want to come with us Agatha? You might have more insights that could be useful for us, and I'm wondering if you'd want to see this to its conclusion too."
"This won't be the conclusion for me if you manage to retrieve the sword. Still, I'll come to increase your chances for success."
Rich frowned. "I hope you can keep up with us. It could make things difficult if we have to piggyback you around after you get exhausted from walking around too much."
She rolled her eyes. "I had not realized how—never mind, I wouldn't come off very tactful either if I said it." Rich just blinked in confusion while Meg held back laughter. "I will be just fine, thank you very much. Though maybe I could have you carry my gear, since Freddy would be too much of a hindrance..."
"If we've had enough small talk," Meg said, "let's go and prepare for the journey."
After putting together the equipment they expected to need, including plenty of torches and the explosives, they headed south taking turns with the heavy cart. "Ironic that the explosives we stopped the hunters from using might end up being used by us for the same purpose after all," Meg mused. "I wonder if we were wrong to kill them, and would have been better off letting them destroy the sword like they planned."
Gavin sighed. "We might've been better off. But we didn't know back then what would happen later, and don't have the benefit of hindsight until after the fact. They didn't exactly show reluctance to kill us, so you shouldn't feel remorse over them forcing our hand."
"I suppose you're right. Hard to say I won't regret it if we wind up failing or losing more friends, though."
"Then let's do our best not to," Patrick said.
"What do you think Don is doing now? He said he was going to be a champion of the nation, but fleeing to the mountains doesn't seem very in line with that goal."
"Maybe he's figuring out his next move." He frowned. "Or maybe the sword's influence is growing, and nudging him towards actions not intuitive to him." To what end was the big question, and the one that worried Meg the most.
Because the mountain range was almost at the southern border of Plasbias and with their burden slowing them down, it took weeks before they neared it. Meg feared Don might already have abandoned it for some other hiding place, but prayed that wouldn't be the case causing them to have wasted all this time. They entered the town at the foot of the northmost peak and asked around for specifics on where the metal bird had been sighted. The villagers directed them to the house of someone who claimed to know where it nested.
They knocked on its door to be greeted by an elderly man with a hunched back and shiny bald dome. "You are some heavily armed strangers," he said, posture bent enough to be almost eye to eye with Meg, "albeit also quite young. Would I guess accurately to think you must be here about the flying monster?"
"Yes," she replied, "that's what we want to ask about. Do you know where it is?"
"I do. While gathering herbs, I saw it land in a gorge between the mountains. Out of curiosity, I crept closer. I spotted an opening in the valley wall, but heard loud footsteps within and dared not approach any further. I don't know if it might have moved deeper or to a different spot by now, but I could lead you there for a price."
Crafty old fellow, though it wasn't particularly surprising somebody might demand compensation in exchange for help. Good thing they'd brought all of their coin along in case of a scenario like this, not that they had much of it. "We'll pay you," Gavin said. "But only after we see you've made an honest effort, and aren't just leading us to a random cave for your own monetary benefit."
He dipped his head as in acknowledgment of their savvy. "Very well. I wish you would trust me as the honest man my neighbors will vouch for me being, but if you insist I'll guide you there before accepting payment."
They traversed rough ground and perilous slopes on their way deeper into the mountains, the old man not slowing them down much despite his age. Partly it must be his familiarity with such terrain, but another part was how they struggled to get the explosive-laden vehicle through some spots. Pulling it up inclines took a good bit out of them even with an extra person assisting by pushing from the back, and on narrower trails they sometimes had to take all the crates off, carry it sideways and then bring the crates across separately. After a few days, at long last they gazed upon the wide cave their guide mentioned.
"Phew, we're finally here," Rich said, holding onto the back of the cart to keep it from rolling down too fast as they descended a natural ramp into the valley. "Let's hope there's merit to our friend here's claim, though?"
The old man scoffed. "You still doubt me? Would I waste so much time coming here if I wasn't confident you'd find it warranted to reward me? Try looking inside, I wager you'll find claw marks indicative of your quarry's presence."
"Is your magnet reacting?" Patrick asked Agatha.
"No, it doesn't seem the sword is close enough. But that could just mean he's gone deeper underground."
They went inside and examined the floor. It pleased Meg to find some parallel gouges in the rocky surface that appeared likely to be made by claws. "It seems Don was probably here, though he isn't now. Still, being able to track him from this starting point is a lot better than searching blindly. You've earned your fee, respected elder."
They haggled a little, Gavin the most spiritedly though they would all split the cost. Agreeing on a relatively meager sum, they paid the man and sent him on his way. There was no need to take him farther with them, especially when having to watch over him might well hinder them in battle. They lit torches and entered the tunnel. "Do you think Don can see in the dark as a bird?" Joel asked. "He must if he's making his home here."
"That or he can light his surroundings with his power," Christopher said. "If we come to an unusually bright chamber underground, it'll probably be a fairly good bet that we've found him."
"Will we be able to find our way back out of here?" Rich asked anxiously. "It seems like we could very easily get lost..."
Gavin chuckled. "Not a problem. We should just be able to follow Don's tracks back out. But if not because he flew part of the way or something, you're mapping our path as we go, right Pat?"
"Of course." Patrick looked up from his piece of parchment and winked. "This isn't our first foray into unknown depths."
"I hope he can do it accurately," Rich muttered.
After several hours, they saw light coming from past a bend. "Look!" Joel said. "Don might be nearby."
Agatha shook her head. "The magnet still isn't being drawn to anything. And I think that's just sunlight."
"That's disappointing."
Then there was a thud sound, as of something large moving in the area ahead. "Did you hear that?" Rich asked fearfully. Of course, everybody had. "Maybe he's here after all."
"But that doesn't make sense," Agatha said. "The magnet... unless he's discarded the sword..."
Another thud, and Meg drew her blade. "I wouldn't put it past him, or it to have a way to avoid magical tracking. Anyway get ready, here they come!"
The heavy footfalls drew closer as they gripped their weapons tight, sweat beading foreheads already. Even Meg had her doubts. She and Gavin had survived against Don for a short time before, but could they really subdue him when it came down to it even with the others' help? Without Taryn's inexplicable striking power, they'd need to use their wits and strategy to level the playing field.
A massive foot came into view—looking rather more golden and reptilian than Don's had. Though its scales possessed a metallic sheen, the hide overall seemed much less rigid and more organic. Meg gazed up to the head which had turned the corner with it, to find it not beaked or avian at all, but resembling that of a crocodile with a short snout attached to a thick serpentine neck. The reptile larger than a house fixed amber eyes on them and roared, blowing their hair back from their heads.
"We've been had by the old man!" Meg said. "That's no bird, that's a dragon!"