********************
Opera stared at him blankly for a few moments
without replying. Finally - "What kinda question is that?"
Regis swallowed. "I beg your pardon, Ms. Opera,
but it's just that I don't believe I've ever seen a person with
three eyes before..."
A few moments worth of thought percolated
through her head before she could properly grasp the situation. She brightened.
"Oh yeah, that's right! All you guys here only got two of 'em!"
"I wasn't aware it was possible to
have otherwise..."
"Oh, all Tetragenes have three eyes. It's
nothing major. But you wouldn't believe the trouble I have buying shades..."
What she said failed to register beyond the
first sentence. "Te-tra-genes?"
"I'm a Tetragene," she agreed, before finally
clueing in about the problem. "Oh, I guess you've never met any before,
huh?"
"I don't believe that anyone ever has before."
"Oh well. Nice to meet you. Now as I was saying,
I'm trying to find someone..."
Rummaging through her pack, she produced the
photo of Ernest. "This guy here. See, he's got three eyes like I do. He's
an archeologist, and he's around here somewhere. You seen him?"
Regis shook his head. "I can assure that such
a person has not passed through this village. An individual with three
eyes like yourself would most certainly be noticed..."
"He has to have come through here.
There's a big ugly hairball in that forest that was killed with an energy
weapon. You guys sure don't have them around here. He's the only other
person around who might have 'em."
"Again, no one here has seen anyone resembling
him... As for the creature you mention, we did have a traveler come
through recently. A young man by the name of Claude. He had a strange weapon
that we mistook for a Sword of Light. He rescued a young lady from one
of the forest monsters. Perhaps you saw the remains of that battle."
Opera narrowed her eyes. Ernest often had
funny ideas about not standing out in undeveloped cultures. She'd never
really bought into it herself. Perhaps he had disguised himself? "What
did this 'Claude' look like?"
"Blond hair..."
"Yes..."
"Strange clothing..."
"Yes..."
"Medium height..."
"No..."
"Rather slim..."
"No..."
"He seemed rather young. Certainly younger
than yourself."
Opera coughed loudly. "Excuse me... are you
trying to tell me that I'm OLD?!?"
To his credit, Regis withstood the triple
glare of death she gave him. "Not at all. I think I'm a case study in old
age, really. You certainly have many years ahead of you. But he was even
younger than you are, I daresay."
"Then it probably wasn't Ernest," she decided,
focusing on the situation at hand. Ernest looked young for his age, but
his age was thirty-five. And he was a fairly heavily-built individual by
most humanoid standards. "Where is he now?"
"He left with a young lady on a quest for
the land of El."
"Where's that?"
"To the far North of here."
"Is there anything else you can tell me about
this 'Claude' guy? What did his clothing look like? Did he say where he
was from? Who was the lady with him?"
"I cannot compare his clothing to anything
in my experience. He seemed to have some hidden motive for not revealing
his origins. He only said that he was a traveler. I got the impression
that he was rather lost. The young lady's name is Rena. She
herself is a unique individual."
Very strange. The young man named Claude might
bear some investigating, if he also had an energy weapon. Maybe he also
had a spaceship around here. But Ernest was the important issue.
"I'd better get going. I've got to find Ernest.
Any good places to check out?"
"Indeed. If you follow the pathway North from
here, you will encounter the town of Salva, which is considerably larger
than Arlia here. Beyond that lies Cross Castle, which is larger still."
Opera stood up, re-hefting her weapon. "Great.
Thanks for the drink. And if Ernest comes by here, pass a message on to
him - 'If he leaves, Opera will rip him a new asshole', okay?"
Regis nodded slowly. "I will convey that...
message... to him if he appears. Are you certain you are up for this? There
are many dangerous beasts out these days. The dead monster you saw before...
there are many others around."
She shrugged. "Well, there's about fifteen
less of 'em since I came through. I can take care of myself just fine."
If such a feat were physically possible, Regis'
jaw would have hit the floor at that instant. "F-fifteen?!?"
She lovingly kissed the barrel of the field
gun. "Nothing this baby can't handle!"
"Is that some sort of... club?"
She smirked. "Club? You can use it like that,
I guess. It's a Heraldic Field Cannon. Point, shoot and destroy."
Regis seemed to have recovered from his surprise.
"It is... a Sword of Light, then?"
"No, it's a Heraldic Field Cannon."
"Does it create beams of light?"
"Well... I guess it kinda looks that way."
"Then you may wish to refrain from using it
around people. There is a great deal of folklore surrounding a Warrior
wearing Alien Rainments, wielding a Sword of Light. If you are not careful,
they may take you for such a person. Young Claude already had that problem.
He is presently using a sword instead."
"No prob. I've got other weapons I can use
around people. Thanks for the tip."
"You are quite welcome. I wish you success
on finding him."
********************
She left the village immediately afterwards,
reasoning that the less time wasted, the better. It wasn't as though she
had any money on her to spend on food (or some decent walking footwear).
It was a sobering thought, really. Give her
an electronic cash outlet, and she could probably buy the entire village
with plenty left over. Instead, she was completely broke and without transportation.
She'd heard stories about people put into
situations like this. If they got lucky and survived it all, they came
out with a renewed respect for the comforts they'd always taken for granted.
Some of them turned into monks or gave away their possessions to the poor
or other stupid things like that. A few rare cases immediately ordered
a planetary bombardment of any regions that had caused them particularly
nasty amounts of grief.
Her?
Neither. This wasn't anything particularly
new to her. Her and Ernest both were no strangers to living without modern
conveniences. Ernest's countless archeological romps had taken the two
of them everywhere imaginable. They'd gone miles
underground, scaled giant mountains and found forms of life that had
yet to be catalogued in any database in the galaxy. Sometimes it simply
wasn't practical to drag everything along with them. But they both knew
how to rough it with the best of
them.
The problem was, Ernest had always done the
cooking. She'd caught the animals, and he'd made them edible. A great system.
Until now, that was. No cook, no food for her. And she was no judge on
how fit something was to eat on this planet. And she hadn't brought
along any sort of poison analyzing equipment. She would have to figure
out how to get food to eat...
She sighed. She would worry about that. Maybe
she could flame-broil one of the monsters and eat that. It wasn't
that she couldn't stomach it. She'd eaten worse. Her own cooking, for example.
But who knew if her digestive system could even handle it? Tetragene's
had digestive tracts that made legends on their own, but she'd still managed
to find things that it couldn't handle. The last thing she needed was to
get sick. It would be smarter to make due for now. She wouldn't need food
for a few
days, what with her beer and chocolate bars, after all.
***********************
Two days of travel, five bottles of beer and
two chocolate bars brought another village into view. The town of Salva,
Opera would have guessed, since she'd followed the elder's directions to
the letter. It hadn't been very difficult really. She'd seen one or two
funny creatures with knives or clubs approach her, clearly bent on malice.
Blasting a few five-foot craters in front of them had sent them running
faster than their stubby legs should have ever permitted. Kind of funny,
really.
The village itself seemed somewhat dirtier
than Arlia, but definitely larger. Her knowledge of sub-modern cultures
suggested that the somewhat dusty air was on account of some mining or
digging operations going on. But a place like this would surely have some
traffic going through it?
An elderly lady was near the entrance, and
this qualified her to be the first interrogatee.
"Hey you!"
The lady blinked, looking up at her. "Were
you talking to me?"
The photo was thrust in her face.
"And who might that be?"
"I'm looking for this guy. Seen him anywhere?"
***********************
"I'm looking for this guy. Seen him anywhere?"
"What d'you take me for? He's got three
eyes! Is he some kinda loony... oh... you've got three too... geez, this
beer must be stronger than I thought. No, this is the first time I seen
three-eyed people..."
Opera sighed as she turned away from the man
at the bar's counter. This was hopeless.
"You gonna order anything?" the bartender
demanded for the third time.
"Shut up!" she snapped.
"You're distracting the patrons," he retorted,
unmoved.
"Like I even care about your stupid drunks.
If you want me out, then give me directions to the biggest city around
here!"
He eyed her with a strange look. "You want
a big city? Go north, then east to the port of Herlie. Take the ship across
to Hilton, and head south to Lacour. Biggest city in the world. Now go
back to whatever circus you came from, girl."
Opera briefly debated the merits of opening
fire on him and turning him into a thin organic paste on the back wall,
but eventually decided against it. He wasn't worth the energy. She had
more important concerns. And more importantly, she had
the location of the biggest city around. That was as good a place as
any for asking around.
Disdaining a parting comment, she stalked
from the bar, leaving a quiet buzz behind.
"Damn, was she ever hot!"
"D'you think she was all there?"
"Of course not. Who paints an eye on their
forehead? And carries around a weird looking club like that? She's completely
lost it!"
"Maybe she's from some weird religious cult.
They do stuff like that, you know."
"Trust me, man. You don't want to get mixed
up with a crazy chick like that!"
*******************
Leaving the bar, the first thing Opera did
was look for the exit. She could mix with the lowest of the low when necessary,
but the stares she seemed to constantly get wherever she went were getting
to be too much for her. She had directions, so
she was leaving.
"...reward just got upped..."
"Again?"
The conversation was difficult to miss, courtesy
of two big men endowed with equally large vocal boxes.
"Stupid monster is gonna own the mines at
this rate..."
"Maybe that one guy will be able to do it."
"He didn't look like much..."
"I've heard stuff about him. He's better than
he looks. Unlucky as a thirteenth child, but a good swordsman."
A tap on their shoulders got their attention.
Turning, they look down at the somewhat more petite form of Opera.
"I couldn't help but overhear you," she began
slowly. "But I heard the words 'reward' and 'monster'. Can I have the details?"
They gave her the now-customary incredulous
looks before the one on the left answered her question. "There's a two-headed
dragon in the mines right now."
The other pointed towards a large cave. "None
of the workers even want to go into the mines right now, so that city's
in a slump. So there's a big reward for anyone who kills the dragon. You
thinkin' of trying?"
They both laughed until they realized she
wasn't there anymore. She was headed into the cave.
"She's loony. She has to be."
"No kidding. We saw nothin', got it?"
"Nothing at all."
"Right."
********************
"No entrance into the mines right now," the
man informed her. Judging from the primitive looking sword at his side,
he was probably a soldier.
"You want that dragon dead or not?" Opera
snapped, not even slowing her pace.
"You want to be dead?"
"Screw you. Don't take me lightly."
"Just turn around and go home, lady-"
*CRUNCH*WHAM*POW*CLUNK*
The soldier slumped to the ground, now unconscious,
courtesy of three punches and a cannon barrel to the head. Opera smirked
and continued onwards. The Kaleidoscope was a fantastic weapon in more
ways than one. Aside from being a
enjoyable piece of personal artillery, the barrel could be electrically
charged to pack one hell of a punch when used as a club. The soldier would
probably have a splitting headache when he woke up.
"I said, don't take me lightly," she
growled, advancing into the mines. "Especially when I've had nothing but
warm beer to drink for the past few days."
*********************
The interior of the mine reminded her of more
than a few caverns her and Ernest had explored at one point or another.
Except that this one was well-lit by torches along the walls. All the same,
she would much rather have done without the light, and simply used the
sensors on a properly working headpiece. It was a wonder that the mine
hadn't been blown to pieces by a gas explosion, really. There were picks
and wheelbarrows scattered throughout, no doubt used by the miners under
normal
circumstances.
She could still remember back in the older
days, when she was just another paid lookout, hired by Ernest to help keep
him alive. How she was forever ordering him to watch where he stepped.
Him constantly reminding her not to accidentally shoot any structures until
he'd gotten a chance to read them.
Well, she could shoot wherever she wanted
in a place like this. Provided she didn't accidentally cave in the entire
ceiling on herself. And she didn't have to concern herself much with where
she stepped.
The obviously deserted state gave everything
an eerie tone as she crept forward without a sound, despite the pin heels
she was wearing. This was more her style. She knew more than many professors
did when it came to archeology, complements of
the constant journeying she did. But that stuff was Ernest's specialty.
Her specialty came into play when places were less than secure. Whether
from hostile natives, carnivorous lifeforms, unsprung traps, or anything
else dangerous, dealing with it was her specialty. An overgrown lizard
would be child's play for her. She knew she was smarter than it was,
and had the attacking advantage. If she was quiet enough, the only way
it would ever know she was coming would be to smell her. And that wouldn't
do it a bit of good when it found itself looking down the barrel of a Kaleidoscope
assault rifle set at 100% power.
Natural selection could really be a real bitch
sometimes. But it was either she got her hands on some of this planet's
currency, or she regulated herself to drinking nothing but warm beer for
the rest of her stay on this planet. And her mouth was
beginning to get a funny taste in it.
It was half an hour later that she finally
found signs of life within the caves. Or rather, evidence of past-life.
It amounted to a pair of furry little creatures with short swords. They
had both been killed recently, judging by the lack of scavenging insects
and fresh blood. Whoever had done the killing had used some type of sharp
edge. That sounded normal on this technologically- deprived planet.
The sound of footsteps up ahead got her attention.
"WHERE IS THAT STUPID BEAST!?!"
She frowned, peering around the corner at
the source of the voice. True to expectations, there was an individual
standing in the middle of the cavern up ahead. He had a sword in each hand,
and was looking around in irritation.
This wouldn't do at all. He'd alert the dragon
before she ever found it.
A warning shot at 10% of full power got his
attention really fast.
"For starters," she hissed. "Shut up.
Are you trying to let every person in that village know where you are?"
"Who are you?" he demanded. His straight dark
brown hair hung down in a clean-cut fashion. He might have been considered
handsome, but for lack of a smile. And the fact that he was clearly itching
for an excuse to attack her.
A second blast into the ground a few feet
in front of him discouraged that thought for the time being.
"Who... are you?" he repeated, looking at
the small crater in front of him.
"None of your business," she snapped. "I'm
here to get myself a dragon. And you're not helping. Get lost and let a
professional do the work."
"I will be the judge of what constitutes a
professional," he replied. "Who are you?"
"Opera Vectra," she retorted. "You?"
"Ashton Anchors, swordsman for hire," he informed
her evenly.
"Well then, Ashton. Let me explain things.
I need some money, and I'm in a hurry. The longer you're around, the more
dangerous things are going to be. So get lost."
"I am here to slay a dragon. It will take
more than your toy to turn me back."
"You're going to die," she informed him. "You're
noisy, have nothing but those butter spreaders, and don't move quietly."
He frowned. "What does that matter?"
"First rule of hunting wild beasts is that
you try to sneak up on them."
"It is not a wild beast. It is a demon."
"Whatever. It can die. And it'll die faster
if it doesn't know I'm coming. Get lost."
He shook his head. "Work has been scarce lately.
I need to earn a living."
This was ridiculous. Opera was the furthest
things from a pacifist. Actually, it was her tried-and-true opinion that
violence solved a lot of problems quite nicely. But killing intelligent
beings was fairly high up on her list of least favorite things to do.
"Listen, I'm in a hurry. How big in this reward?"
"Don't you know?"
"No. I'm in a hurry."
"30000 gil," he informed her.
"Is that a lot?"
He gave her a strange look. "What land are
you from?"
"REALLY far away, okay?" she snapped. "How
much is it?"
"An extremely large amount of money," he replied
slowly.
"Great. Then I'll be happy to split it with
you as soon as we get it. Just... don't get in my way."
He looked thoughtful. A glance down at the
ground before him decided him. "Very well. We will split the reward. But
I refuse to let you out of my sight."
"I don't care what you do. Just stay behind
me, and don't make any noise."
"Why?"
"I can't believe you consider yourself a professional!
Just take my word for it! Now which way is this dragon?"
"The only way I haven't explored is that
way," he informed her slowly.
A whine briefly filled the air as Opera set
the rifle back to 100% power. "Time for a new fur coat," she muttered.
"I do not believe that demon dragon's have
fur," Ashton pointed out. "Only scales."
"Then a scale coat. Whatever. Quit talking."
"Why do you have three eyes?"
"Shut up. You're just missing one. No more
noise!"
They continued down the passageway for about
a hundred yards.
"This passageway is long."
*WHAM*
Ashton doubled over from an elbow in his gut.
"Ack! What is the matter with you?"
"No noise!" Opera snarled. "Or I blast a hole
through YOU!!!"
"You are the most uncouth lady I ever met
in my entire life," he muttered. But he said nothing further.
"You better believe it," Opera muttered, easing
forwards again.
***********************
"Miss Opera?"
"Quiet!" she hissed. "We're getting close.
I can feel it."
"But this is quite serious."
"It can wait!"
"I must insist we deal with this problem immediately."
"Oh, for cryin' out loud! WHAT!?!"
"There is a two headed dragon following us."
"It can wait - excuse me?"
"There is a two headed dragon following us."
Opera froze in mid step. "Ashton. Duck down
on the ground."
"Why?"
"Just. Do. It."
"I am not quite certain what you mean to accomplish,
but very well-"
Like a spinning top, Opera whirled around,
pulling the trigger back. A massive pulse of light blasted out of the gun,
completely ripping several cubic meters of rock from the wall of the mine
tunnel before connecting with something else.
"By the Sorcery Globe!" Ashton gaped, scrambling
backwards from the pyrotechnics display. "What is that device?!?"
*Two more insects for me to play with!!!*
Opera ceased firing, skipping backwards to
give herself room. She didn't know what that voice was that she had just
heard, but it hadn't been Ashton by a long shot. What's more, it had come
after she'd fired, and there was only one other living thing
nearby, which seemed like a bad thing.
"It is enormous!" Ashton observed, also backing
up slowly.
It was, Opera had to admit. It wasn't often
she found lifeforms this big. It looked like a standard reptile-type
form of life. Albeit, about forty feet long, with two heads. One head was
red, the other's scales were blue. It's green scaled body sported
a discoloration on its shoulder, testament to where she had hit. If
that was all a full-powered blast would do, perhaps there was going to
be some trouble.
But she had plenty more to offer, and a target
to shoot at. Two of them, actually.
Two more bursts from her gun lanced out, each
one striking squarely on a head a piece.
Both heads flinched from the impact, but were
left intact. *Pathetic little worm.*
Interesting, Opera noted. Whatever this creature
was, it seemed to be capable of limited telepathy. That alone would be
worth cataloguing once she found Ernest.
"What is that device?!?" Ashton demanded
in disbelief.
"Heraldic Field Cannon," she muttered. "And
it doesn't seem to do much to this thing."
"Of course not!" he snapped. "This dragon
is a demon! Heraldry has little effect against it! You must use conventional
weapons to defeat it!"
Just in case Ashton was wrong, Opera let off
a few more blasts at the dragon, creating several more mild burns on the
creature's scales before it closed the distance between them.
Throwing herself sideways, she felt the ground
shudder as the blue head smashed into the wall where she'd just been, dislodging
a shower of rocks.
A screech from the red head briefly got her
attention. Ashton seemed to have done a chopping job on the neck with his
swords. While it didn't even begin to look fatal, his swords had done far
more damage than her gun had. Maybe he was right.
In retaliation, Ashton was knocked flying
backwards, a deft roll letting him get to his feet relatively unhurt. He
looked over at her disgustedly. "Your magic will not work! Don't you have
anything else?"
Approach number two. The blue head was still
stunned from hitting the wall. Winding up, Opera smashed the barrel of
her gun down on top of it, giving it the benefit of a nasty electrical
shock in the process. In response, the head swung at her like a baseball
bat, knocking her back in a similar fashion as Ashton. The fact that she
was still holding her gun prevented her from landing as nicely.
*Worthless*
Ashton was already attacking again, his swords
moving faster than she'd ever have believed possible. However bad his stealth
(or lack thereof) technique might be, Opera had to admit that he knew how
to use his swords. As for her own gun, its
power reserves were already below 50%. And the first half hadn't done
a great deal of damage.
"Attack the heads!" Ashton shouted, recovering
from being knocked down again.
The blue head seemed to have singled her out
for a meal, lunging for her again. Giving a brief prayer of thanks to whatever
deity had arranged for the lighter gravity, Opera leapt sideways in time
for the head to impact the wall once again.
"Eat THIS!!!" she snarled, pointing the gun
point-blank in the creature's face. One pull of the trigger, and the entire
remaining charge was immediately put to use.
The resulting explosion of energy knocked
her backwards like a rag doll, her now-powerless gun clattering noisily
on the ground some distance away. The dragon's head was motionless for
a moment, probably reeling from being smashed into the stone wall so hard.
Some of the scales were actually dripping off of the side of its
neck, the rest all pitch black from the heat of the blast. Staggering to
her feet, Opera watched the head hopefully. Surely nothing would
have survived that...
With a shudder, the head trembled, then rose
up again. It spotted her quickly.
*You will die now*
"Oh crap," she muttered in disbelief, backing
away. She would have given a lot to have a personal rocket launcher in
her hands right now. Anything with an explosive yield of at least 5 kilotons
per shot would be about right.
Ashton had been sent flying yet again, this
time colliding with her. "It is quite strong," he observed, gasping for
breath.
"No shit," she agreed, rubbing her hip. "Any
ideas?"
"My swords cannot seem to harm it enough,"
he admitted sheepishly, "and your magic also appears useless. And it has
blocked the exit. It appears that our luck has run out."
"That's bad," she agreed.
"For what little it is worth, I do not think
we would have lasted this long on our own."
"Probably not."
"Perhaps you could hit on the head with your
pack? While it is distracted, I will attempt to chop a head off."
Opera unshouldered her pack. "You think that'll
work?"
"No, but we do not have much choice."
"Gotcha. Get ready to start chopping."
The pack was heavy. Perhaps it would have
some effect. There must be more beer in it than she'd thought...
"I am ready," Ashton prompted. "And we are
running out of space to retreat."
Opera abruptly began to laugh. "I'm an idiot,"
she exclaimed, ripping open the top of the pack.
"And I, no less," Ashton granted. "But we
must try something-"
"Shut up. Keep backing off." Opera pulled
out a beer bottle and flung it at the dragon. It struck squarely on its
head, clattering to the floor undamaged. Wow, those Meryti lagar bottles
really were strong...
"What are you doing?"
"Killing this thing."
"With bottles?"
"No, with THIS!!!" With a relish, Opera produced
the objects of her hunting. One AP-5 automatic handgun and a fifteen round
clip of splinter ammunition.
"What is that?"
"Anti-demon weaponry, I hope," she supplied.
Snapping the two pieces together, she took aim and fired off a test shot.
"MERCY!!!" Ashton shouted, backing away from
the ear-splitting gun shot.
The splinter bullet impacted the red head's
neck, smashing clear through it and exiting in about twenty new locations.
The dragon roared in pain, halting in its tracks.
Ashton took in the damage with awe. "That
is a very powerful weapon!"
"Oh yeah." Opera agreed, flipping the gun's
switch from "semi-automatic" to "automatic". Exiting the barrel in a fraction
of a second, the remaining fourteen bullets all contacted squarely with
the red head, literally blowing out the back of its skull as they all exited.
The red neck fell to the ground, dead.
"Why didn't you do that before?" Ashton asked,
placing more distance between the noisy weapon and himself.
"Forgot I had it," Opera admitted, pulling
out a second clip of ammunition and loading it.
*Perhaps a deal is in order...* the dragon
began hesitantly.
She smirked at the creature. "Yeah. Your
scaly hide and my share of the reward cash, lizard-" Fifteen rounds
later, the blue head had been shot clean off its neck, and the entire body
slumped to the ground.
Ashton's face displayed a healthy measure
of respect as he watched her repack the weapon. "What manner of weapon
is that?"
"AP-5," she replied. "Nickname - 'Lady's Kiss'.
Cute little toy. But splinter bullets don't use Heraldic energy."
"It seemed... strong enough to kill the dragon,"
Ashton admitted, approaching the remains.
"Oh yeah. Anyway, how do we prove we killed
this thing?"
Without hesitation, Ashton made several hard
slashes with his swords that severed the red head from its respective neck.
"I believe showing the two heads will suffice. At least... what is left
of them."
"It's a little messy," Opera admitted, grabbing
the already-severed blue head. Bending down, she picked up a few loose
scales that had been knocked off the body. No harm in taking a few souvenirs,
after all. "I've got this one. You get the red one."
Ashton obeyed, also retrieving her gun for
her. He made a face upon lifting it. "This is... a heavy device," he observed.
"Hey! Hands off!" Opera snapped, yanking it
from his grasp and deftly shouldering the weapon herself. A quick inspection
of the weapon revealed no damage, although she was going to have to polish
that scratch another time...
Ashton raised an eyebrow. "That appears to
be an awkward weapon."
"It's worth its weight," Opera observed, checking
on the charge. To her delight, the screen told her that it would probably
be recharged by the end of the day. This planet was a literal gold mine
where heraldic energy was concerned. Starting back
down the way they had come, she commented, "That was the first animal
I've ever seen that could take that much punishment."
"Monsters are getting dangerous these days,"
Ashton agreed, falling into step with her. "It makes for more work, but
the work is much more dangerous. My share of the reward will tide me over
for a long time, however."
"So are there a lot of these demon things
around?" Opera hoped not. That monster had cost her two clips of ammunition,
and she only had two more left. Unless she found Ernest quickly, there
could be trouble.
"This is the first I have ever gone up against.
And I have heard of few others in this area. They only began to appear
with the advent of the Sorcery Globe."
"Sorcery Globe?"
"You have not heard?"
"Nope."
Ashton seemed to be getting used to her ignorance
of local news. "A mysterious globe of power that appeared some time ago
in the land of El. Since its arrival, there have been many monsters appearing
throughout the lands. But rarely have they ever
been this dangerous. Perhaps the effects are worsening."
So they were still rare. That was just fine.
"The land of El?"
"A land to the far north. It is where the
Sorcery Globe landed. Right now, it has been all but taken over by demons.
I understand that Lacour is expected to be the next target."
"Lovely. That's where I'm headed."
"With such weapons, you should be quite alright.
I have travelled far, and never seen such a demon as what we have just
fought. You evidently are a professional."
"Been dealing with this kind of stuff for
seven years now," she agreed.
"Seven years? How old are you?"
"None of your damn business!" she snapped.
Ashton didn't take the hint. "But you cannot
be over twenty..."
Opera face brightened, her irritation vanishing
without a trace. "Oh my. You really think so?"
"You are not twenty?"
"Uh... I'm twenty-three, actually."
"Incredible. Why do you have three eyes?"
It took her a moment to realize the topic
change. "Well... I'm from really far away. Just leave it at that,
alright? And where I come from, it's weird to have two eyes."
Fortunately, the answer seemed to satisfy
Ashton. "You are well-traveled also, I see."
That gave her an idea. Producing the
photo of Ernest, she held it up to his face. "You seen this guy? He's got
three eyes, just like me. I'm looking for him."
Ashton shook his head. "I am afraid I have
not. Is he your father?"
"Um... no. He's my boyfriend."
The young man frowned. "You... already have
a boyfriend?"
"Yeah, we normally work together, but he up
and left without telling me. So I'm tracking him down. He's somewhere around
here, I just gotta find him."
He looked somewhat downcast. "I see... I...
wish you luck, then. I am... sure he is a good man."
Opera finally noticed the tone in his voice,
and took a good guess at what he was thinking. "Hey, don't think that way,
buddy. You're a swell guy. Just smile a little more, and you're find a
cute girl in no time."
"I think not. I am notoriously unlucky."
"Oh, you're the guy those men were talking
about? The one who's as unlucky as a thirteenth child or something?"
"How did you know?"
"Know what?"
"That I was a thirteenth child?"
Opera rolled her eyes. "So are you really
that unlucky?"
He nodded. "I daresay I might have been dead,
had you not been there."
"So there you go. Your luck is changing. You
just killed a monster, and you're going to get a load of money. Your bad
luck spell must be over now."
He appeared to give the matter some thought.
"Perhaps you are right... no bad luck can possibly last forever..."
"Right. You've got to be optimistic. Thing
have been pretty lousy for me so far, but I'm not about to give up."
"Perhaps... I should test that theory."
"That's the spirit."
"I will enter the Lacour Tournament of Arms."
"Huh?"
"I will enter the Lacour Tournament of Arms."
"What's that?"
"You are obviously from very far away.
There is no one who does not know of the tournament."
"Shut up. I've never heard of it, okay?"
"It is the biggest tournament of arms in the
world. Fighters from all over the world come to compete in it. I almost
competed last year. I daresay that I could have taken second place quite
easily, too. But the blacksmith accidentally broke my swords, so I was
unable to compete..."
"Rotten luck."
He nodded miserably. "It is a curse on my
life. But perhaps my luck is changing..."
"Right. So you're headed to Lacour?"
"I believe so. I must test this newfound luck
of mine."
"Great. I'm headed there too."
"Really? Perhaps we should travel there together.
You seem like a lucky individual... and with my newfound luck, perhaps
I may actually make it there in time!"
"Did anyone ever tell you that you were obsessive
about good luck?"
"Many times," Ashton agreed. "But after they
see my bad luck..."
"First rule of being a hired gun, Ashton.
You make your own luck."
"What is a ‘hired gun'?"
"A hired sword. Whatever. But you gotta forget
about all that garbage about luck. There's no such thing as luck. Sometimes
things are good, and sometimes they really suck. But you've just got to
push ahead, no matter what you run into! The person who wins is the last
person to give up."
Both blinked as they finally exited the mine,
the sun glaring into their dark-accustomed eyes. Several shouts of disbelief
echoed through the village as they were spotted hauling the two dragon
heads with them.
"Perhaps you are right," Ashton agreed sagely.
"Perhaps that is my problem. I must learn to take control of my life! I
must stop blaming my misfortune on things beyond my control. I must instead
push forward and overcome even my misfortunate!"
"Right. So let's get our reward, and get to
Lacour. And then you can kick some ass in that tournament, and I can find
out where Ernest is."
*******************