Thornwatch: Copper and Gold

This chronicle follows the events of Thornwatch: Foreign Shores...
==Directions and Dreams==
"Where are you taking me?" Liberty had been walking with the cloaked figures his Lord and Lady had given him over to for almost an hour now, and the entire time they had been completely silent.
The five men stopped. Four of them, all but their leader, removed their hoods. One bearded man with long brown hair and an eye-patch turned and addressed him. "We march towards a small goblin encampment fifteen miles from here. From there, we will continue onward in the morning."
Liberty was cautious, but not afraid. "Onwards towards what, may I ask?" He was feeling better; these men seemed to harbor no ill will towards him, although he steeled himself to run from them if he needed to. Still, the truly fresh air and the beauty of the thorns around him kept a smile on his face. He was finally free, and he had attained his freedom on his own merit. He was proud.
"We hoped you could answer the question yourself. We are, after all, trying to take you home." A second man with skin grey and irradiated responded.
"Then, who are all of you?"
The hooded figure did not turn but spoke with a voice which chilled Liberty to the bone. "We are the bladed arm of the Gilded Thorn. We travel the Thorns guiding the Lost towards salvation and keeping fae-kind honest and peaceful towards each other. We are Thornwatch."
==Wood and Flame==
Thornwatch brought the copper Liberty to the corner of the group. They were wary of this freed slave; too many of their brothers fell to ruses more elaborate than this, but duty is duty. Liberty was undaunted by them: their presence was normally intimidating, even to their own wards. Liberty was different. For a man alien to the Thorns, their visage made bright by the campfire beside them washed over him. He was only curious and helpful, offering to carry the men's supplies. Even now, at the behest of the Magister, he sat beside the flame to hone their blades with flint. He regaled them with tales from his life before and after his capture, and his protectors were quickly growing attached to him despite his obvious conversation quirks and lack of social skills. There was a certain charm to him.
The Magister spoke. "As much as I regret to interrupt our new 'friend', I am not accompanying this regiment to hear one lost soldier's tales of glory. Now, Liberty, I need to know your destination. The very world around us moves; I need time to get bearings and plot our route through the Thorns, and we must plan carefully if you are to survive."
Liberty knew the question was coming. He'd been thinking about the answer since he started planning his final show over a decade ago.
"I don't have a home; no, that's a lie; I don't have any attachment to the home I have, if it's even still there. My parents are gone, and ever since my father passed the rest of my family hasn't spoken to each other."
"Then where would you have us take you?"
"I think here is far enough. I've always wanted to travel and help people find freedom, and this seems as good a time as any to start!"
With a smile on his face Liberty stood to leave. Two of the men still taken aback by his decision stopped him, giving him a pack full of supplies and a hunting rifle to get his journey off to the right start. The Captain, the man with the eyepatch, stroked his beard, musing aloud, "Procedure would have us leave this man, Magister, and never think of him again. What, in your opinion, path should be taken with this peculiar fellow?"
The Magister sighed, creeping dread smoking out of his mouth and he pointed at The Lieutenant. "Trail him. Record everything he does and report your findings in their entirety directly to me."
==Thorn and Brambles==
It'd been a long five years in the Hedge for Liberty. The once-itchy scruff he had neglected to shave since leaving the museum had grown into a thick beard concealing his mouth and neck, and the rifle he'd been given was becoming harder and harder to maintain from wear and tear. Liberty thought when he first set out to become a savior of the oppressed he would find his calling in the world of men, but everytime he came close he'd find another reason to stay amongst the Thorns. Countless creatures needed help within the briars and Liberty was growing weary of trying to help them alone. Often he'd hear of Thornwatch sightings by goblins he'd meet. A good number of them confused him with a Thornwatch agent.
In the quiet of night, with a cold breeze in the air and the innumerable sets of glowing eyes in the darkness staring at him and his camp, Liberty always felt loneliness seep into his normally focused mind. Joining Thornwatch seemed to be his best option to stave his Sorrow off: he could continue his vigil but with the support of kindred spirits. At the very least he'd have some authority when navigating the Thorns to find and save those forsaken within its labyrinth. These feelings had pervaded Liberty's mind for months before their sad requiem began to depress him further. He didn't know how to even find Thornwatch without summoning them, and they were known for coming down harshly on those who used the wrong briar knot for calling them. Local goblins didn't exactly know the "hopeful recruit" knot.
Liberty wanted to get off on the right foot with Thornwatch; he just couldn't figure out how until the light of inspiration shined on his copper exterior. On a rainy morning under branches lined with amaranthine Liberty awakened with a plan. Tying the Crow's Loop, the knot for lost travelers, Liberty stood at attention and waited. Appearing before him, Thornwatch officers materialized in formation. "You are Lost, to be sure traveler. But where is your home?"
"Amongst your ranks, sir, if you'll have me!"
==Oath and Punishment==
Ivor the goblin merchant gasped for air as his head was pulled out of the water urn just to be slammed against his own armoire.
"WHERE IS SHE?"
Ivor's interrogator may have been a Silverthorn, but he had the strength of a Captain of Thornwatch.
"I-I don't know! Sh-she just d-disappeared from the garden-fields near the market a few days ago!"
Another impact with the armoire cracked Ivor's tribal mask. Pulled back for a better view, Ivor's royal blue mask completely shattered after a hard left hook from the Silverthorn's fist, its purple plumes scattered across the shop's floor. The skin on the top half of Ivor's face hadn't seen light since the mask was placed on him when he was born sixty years prior. His pale flesh sizzled and steamed from the exposure.
"You mean the fields you wander every dusk and dawn?"
Ivor's thrown body shattered the sculpted birdbath in his shop as the Silverthorn grabbed onto the merchant's legs for another thrashing. Jagged stone still pressing into his back, Ivor shrieked as the Silverthorn held the goblin's leg in place to break it under the force of the Silverthorn's boot.
"Wear whatever garb you want, Bargain, you're still the street scum you've always been! Now answer me, Beggar, WHERE'S LEAFOS?"
The caged animals for sale behind Ivor's counter screeched and howled as they helplessly watched the shopkeeper thrown past them into the shelves nearby. Sliding over the counter, the Silverthorn drew a knife, holding Ivor down as he scarred the goblin across the face.
"THIS ENDS WHEN YOU TALK, BEGGAR. YOU STILL HAVE PLENTY OF THINGS FOR ME TO BREAK."
The Silverthorn plunged the knife into Ivor's shoulder and left it there. When Ivor did nothing more than begin to sob, the Silverthorn began bending each of Ivor's fingers backward until they fractured. When Ivor ran out of fingers, the Silverthron moved on to Ivor's palms and wrists.
"T-The... the mines... she's..."
Ivor was silenced by the Silverthorn's fist, slumping over into a pool of his own blood and teeth, but the Silverthorn was gone before Ivor hit the ground.
The local miners, all bearing masks of gold, guided the harried Silverthorn through their narrow caverns. There had been a mysterious cave-in a few days prior, which lined up with the disappearance. With the assistance of three locals, the Silverthorn cleared the blocked path to Captain Leafos. Mouth gagged and body bound to a chair, Leafos breathed a sigh of relief when the Silverthorn released her.
"Kidnapped in your own hometown, Captain? These are dark days."
With a smirk, she responded, "Well, with capable officers like you on the force, I'm sure we'll brighten things up!" She had never seen him look so happy.
"Silverthorn Liberty, in honor of your continued efforts to make The Hedge and its travelers safer, you are now ready to take the next step and join the Magi of the Gilded Thorn and their enforcers, the officers of Thornwatch."
It was a rare honor to stand before the Magister of Thornwatch, and a rarer honor to see his ranking officers in their ceremonial uniforms.
"Now, to complete your joining, pledge your oath."
"I, Liberty, pledge to journey and pacify the Thorns, to guide and protect the Lost, and to seek those who seek the Gilded Thorn."
The Magister layed an officer's cloak onto Liberty's outstretched arms, a freshly forged badge already pinned to its lapel.
"Now, Officer Liberty, get out there and make us proud!"
==Transformation and Sacrifice==
The carnage was impressive, even for her. The Captain had to use a crowbar to pry the fingers and bolts from the chains holding the gate closed. The metal corpses scattered across the derelict factory's front yard made the walk inside treacherous; a serrated cog The Captain missed made itself known by skewering itself into the ball of his foot. With a grimace and a grunt he ripped the gear out and tossed it into the rest of the scrap.
The handle of the front door rusted away at his touch and the door wouldn't budge. The Captain took a step back, surmising the factory to be modelled after turn-of-the-century buildings of the same strain; the shipping bay was right where he guessed.
There was a thin mechanical man with his wrist caught in the latch. The robotic foundry worker wasn't moving, and the way his arm joint was wedged into the lock was intentional. It fit her modus operandi, but it still sickened The Captain's stomach. As he moved to pull the dead man's arm loose, the free hand of the corpse reached up to stop him. Oil streamed from his eyelids as whimpers escaped from his mouth bolted shut. The Fear in the wretch's telescoping eyes pierced The Captain's stern demeanor. Fear only grew stronger as The Captain drew his saber; he knew she had set this scene up to force him into doing exactly what she wanted him to do. He left the man with enough arm to slip the man free; everything from just above the elbow stayed attached. Tossing him an amaranthine, The Captain slung the man's intact arm over his own shoulder before pressing inside.
The factory's interior had already been decorated to match her twisted mindscape. The local margravate had wasted its ransom offering; she never let hostages live. This industrial housing was perfect for her needs; the ceilings were high enough for multiple rows of corpses riveted against them in the same pose: one arm raised and bent to flex the bicept, the other arm cut off at the elbow and left dangling.
"I... tried to run... but she caught me at the shipping garage." The lone survivor was wasting his breath.
"I know." This was far from the first time The Captain had dealt with this killer. If her plan today was the same as it always was, he needn't look for any others. She always left one, always for the same purpose. The Captain had learned that playing along with her game was much easier than fighting it. The ground floor was empty and the only thing above it was a narrow catwalk to the foreman's office. The stage was set. The Captain need only wait for the second act to begin.
"I... I'm so sorry for this... but please, she said she'd let me live if I did this..." The Captain knew what was coming better than the survivor did. He even sighed as the man he tried to save stood on his own feet and pulled the railroad spike out of his leg to stab into The Captain's back. The Captain even managed to roll his eyes of his own accord as he blacked out.
"Captain Liberty, you look as darling as ever!" Her voice roused The Captain, who quickly assessed his predicament.
"Riveter, you multitude of merciless massacres have gone on too long! It ends here and now!"
"I find that improbable, Captain, seeing as you'll be tied up while I see myself out. That said... I wouldn't mind sticking around a little longer. After all, you always look so steamy in chains... but let's see if I can't turn up the heat!"
The over-sized industrial piston Captain Liberty and the lone survivor found themselves chained to began to stir. The large metal vat below them apertured open to reveal the molten lava hidden inside. The Riveter cackled as the piston began lowering itself into the infernal chamber below. Captain Liberty could feel his copper feet heat up; they had already turned bright red and molten hot.
"You... you said you'd let me go if I did as you asked!" The survivor was only serving to embarrass himself. Just like the other hostages, him surviving was never part of her plan. It was, however, part of Liberty's.
Tapping into The Elements, The Captain's purple heart was stilled silent as a pyre of flame erupted out of the lava to engulf the piston and burst out the top of the building.  As the chains binding him and his savior melted away, the lone survivor felt no heat or pain. As the piston began to fall he hit the ground first, a melted out hole in the hollowed piston landing over him, containing and concealing him from The Riveter's pair of cultists hidden along the catwalk with her.
Staring into the flames The Riveter's eyes went wide. She had no idea Liberty was capable of such a feat, but she did know what came next. On a wave of fire The Captain rode in the form The Thornwatch assigned him: The Primal Woods. With wooden skin on an agile frame, The Primal Woods shed the fire and ash from his branches as his feet gently lowered to the catwalk. The Riveter had backstepped, allowing her two broken cronies to take her place and stand in his way.
The two women were like all the others. Young, emaciated girls stolen away from street corners and sanitoriums to be indoctrinated. The Primal Woods called the pillar of fire and lava down in front of him, turning the catwalk to melted goo. The two girls feel to the floor below as the rest of the walkway collasped.
Gliding across a torrent of leaves The Primal Woods made his way to the foreman's officer where The Riveter had retreated to.
"Liberty, please! Let me go this one last time! I promise I'll be good!" Placing her hands on his shoulders she pulled him in close. Her heavy metal arm was unbalanced against her soft flesh one. "Can't you see we are meant to be together? This... all of this was meant to be a present to you, you know... that's why I chose this place: they were all made of metal like you... so I could show you that I still care." The tears from her eyes seemed genuine, but he knew she cared far more for killing than she ever did for him. "You don't need to be empowered like them... they were so weak before I found them. Most of them even ran away from me. Not you. You always walk straight back to me!"
"Rosie, for your actions here and elsewhere I sentence you to six hundred years in a Dragonslayer jail cell, which is fitting since you're about to be hit with six hundred year-old oak!" The Primal Woods pulled back and landed his punch straight into the center of her face, crushing her nose and knocking her flat. Cuffing her and tossing her over his shoulder, Liberty went back for the lone survivor.
"I... my name is Post Man, sir, and I swear if it takes me the rest of my life I will repay you for this!"
"In that case, solider, you're carrying her!"
==Lucidity and Omen==
Liberty stood triumphant, his spatha stabbed deep into the jowels of the jawpig. It was still a newborn only the size of a washing machine, its mouth a comparable width. Liberty shook the blood from the sword, sheathing his blade on his back behind its matching shield. Examining his fallen feral foe, the young Thornwatch Captain ran his fingers over the bizarre branding on its flank. The symbols formed what his lieutenant, Rave, could only describe as an arcane circuit of some kind.
"Soldier, it's always 'some kind of arcane circuit' to you."
"I'm serious, Cap! Look at how the line twists and curves, forming four circles on the corners of the rectangular center!"
Liberty had to admit Rave had a point. Rave had been teaching his commanding officer the ins and outs of modern computer technology, and this seemed to resemble one of those silicone things Rave made him manufacture. Still, there was something profoundly familiar about its layout to the captain, but he couldn't place it.
Rave stood, his bright glowing veins subtly shifting to a red hue offset by his pitch black skin. His pupilless eyes stared down a nearby trod as he ran a hand through his long, spiked hair which always matched the glow darting over the rest of his body.
"Looks like Crumbs found something, sir. He just sent out an alert to the unit."
"I know soldier. Go see what he's got; I'll finish up here."
Rave burst down the path, the snaking light show of his Hedge-trail quickly following him. It didn't take long for the captain to finish his investigation; after dissecting the jawpig and identifying the remains found in its gullet there wasn't much else to do. Invoking his unit's Contracts he found that Crumbs and Rave were still together and requesting assistance, so the captain picked up their trail.
Crumbs was a big man. The fairly tall Captain Liberty almost reached the middle of Crumbs' chest. Crumbs got his name for the bread-like substance which coated his insectiod skin in place of sweat. He was normally covered in it, even thought it constantly appeared to flake off.
Crumbs and Rave were surrounded by jawpigs and vileshrikes when their captain reached them. Crumbs was crushing a jawpig between his hands and Rave was clipping the wings of the vileshrikes above with his rifle. The goblin carcasses of the creatures they had already slain were beginning to form a barrier between them and the rest of the horde.
Bearing his Torch, a worn metal gauntlet spouting flame and firing death from its fingers, the captain cleared the way to join the other two. When the packs were routed, the three Arcadian veterans wiped the blood from their brows. Crumbs tossed the others some bandages made from Hera Pear skins to patch up any vileshrike scratches. It was the safest way to extract any poisons from such a wound.
With a silent glare over his shoulder the captain brought his indoctrinated men to a military attention, their bodies standing straight upwards and their left arms in a rigid salute.
"Officer Crumbs, what can you tell me about the matching brandings on all of these foul beasts?"
Rave looked over. "Yeah! Don't they look like-"
"I don't believe you were the one given permission to speak, solider!"
Rave was silenced.
Crumbs squinted. "Gee, sir, it looks like a map to me."
Liberty was dumbstruck. "A map? You might be onto something, Crumbs."
A wave of his arm later the three were circled around one of the vileshrikes, examining the image closer.
Rave slapped his forehead with his palm. "Of course! It's an aerial view of the islands around those old ruins Queen Nimmue is always going on about!"
"You mean The Lost Temple of Avalon, solider."
"But why would someone use this to guide people there, Cap?" Crumbs scratched his head.
Liberty clenched his fists. "No, not guide. They're trying to scare people away."
"But who-"
"This reeks of Ministry dealings. Prep yourselves for assault on Scarecrows."
The Lost Temple of Avalon has a misleading name. The open-air, circular bastion of stone atop a grassy island was discovered by the local College of Worms under the direction of the Avalon monarchy centuries ago, but the title of Lost Temple stuck. The numerous wide archways made the building hardly defensible, but it also made sneaking inside without being seen almost as difficult. The rectangular island also stands much higher than the four at its corners, so attacking at range was more trouble than it was worth.
A stop in Avalon's capital on their way to the temple unveiled more of the grisly situation: a mad Scarecrow Minister had kidnapped Avalon's sovreign, Queen Nimmue, and had started to spread their goblin horde around the area to keep away any potential meddlers. According to the queen's Wax Aedile, an ancient ritual practiced by the original archetects of the Lost Temple required the pure heart of a leader and the death of a great evil. The ceremony was supposed to grant its practioner a great power to protect the righteous and smite the evil plaguing the world.
"Knowing Scarecrow extremists, they have Queen Nimmue expressly to act out this story, whether they think it will work or not! Rave you enter the temple from the West, Crumbs the East. I'm on point at the South arch.
Rave elected to swim the shallow lake to his position; Crumbs requisitioned a rowboat to heft his massive form. Liberty mounted his blind horse Justice, whose hooves sped across the water as if on solid ground.
"Finally, you've arrived. I knew pigs like you would get the message if it was emblazoned on kindred animals. But to think I'd lure the greatest swine among them, well, you never disappoint, do you Liberty?"
"Caliburn, scourge of Avalon! I should have known!"
"That's Minister Caliburn to you, Magus! You don't understand, do you? Take another step and the queen's heart gets a breath of fresh air! Or would you support that, her heart being liberated from its corporeal prison?" The Minister placed his wretched black claws on the center of the queen's chest, the queen bound to an altar attached to a stone effigy at the temple's center. The black buttons stitched onto Caliburn's sunken eyes darted around to his two apprentices, who moved to separately intercept Crumbs and Rave.
Caliburn's flesh, the color and texture of red Autumn leaves, stretched as his jack-o-lantern grin twisted wider.
"You're sick, Minister! I won't allow you to harm her!"
"Really, You, who preaches of true freedom, forbid me my righteous work? One heart and one sinner, Liberty, is all I need to gain the power to save the world. Even if the ritual is a dud, the Fear Nimmue's death will spread will save a thousand more lives! People will think twice before setting foot in this Hell you call home, Magus, and thousands more will see you and your ilk as the demons you really are! So much time in the Thorns has ripped the last shred of your soul from its moors, Captain, and all that's left is a devil citing scripture to entice more weak minds astray!"
Liberty tried to slide his hand subtly towards his spatha, known amongst the Tarot as The Death, but Caliburn spotted him reaching for the tarnished-grey weapon.
"Well, it's not like I wasn't going to do it anyway..."
Stabbing his claws through the queen's white robes, her robin's-egg-blue blood sprayed as she screamed and convulsed in her bindings.
"You'll PAY for this, Scarecrow!" Drawing his blade and its shield, The Tower, Liberty charged Caliburn head on.
"Stay still, freak!" Rave muttered as he reloaded. Minister Hooks was the spitting image of the legend he drew his inspiration from; the pea-coat clad acrobat wielded two large meat hooks stained red from repeated use as he flipped and darted towareds the Magus firing shots at him. Throwing a chained hook over the archway between them, Hooks leapt and swung towards Rave, slamming his boots laden with bladed talons deep into Rave's shoulders.
Hitting the ground, Rave watched the Minister hanging above him cackle as he continued to swing back and forth, one hand clutching his wide-brimmed fedora to his head. Rave clenched his Spark, his own take on his mentor's Torch, and dragged the clawed gauntlet across the stone wall beside him. As electricity spread from his fingers, Rave called upon his Contract with Lightning, pulling the volts through his body and channeling it into the hook holding the Minister's chain in place. The electricity coarsed through the metal, frying the suspended Minister who couldn't ground himself in time. Rave laughed, relieved his gambit panned out.
"Aren't I supposed to say your name three times before you try to kill me?" Crumbs lugged his numbed leg backwards; it had already swollen to twice its normal width from the hundreds of bee stings.
"I think I'll make an exception today." The Minister known as Candyman dressed in business attire, a red bowtie fastened to an otherwise white outfit. Bees crawled across his leathery skin but avoided his clothes. Extending his arm and whispering otherworldly curses sent another swarm towards Crumbs.
Thunder clapped as the Magus smashed his hands together. Rubbing his hands against each other, Crumbs smirked as the dead insects fell to the ground. "You're really starting to bug me Candyman, so I won't sugarcoat this!"
A hard uppercut to Candyman's lower jaw rippled it with fractures, rocketing his broken teeth upwards. "Bam! And there goes his sweettooth!"
The queen's heart was a four-chambered pearl, her ribcage the image of a clam. As Liberty ran for the altar, Caliburn jammed the Heart of Avalon into the stone effigy before him. Before the Thornwatch Captain could reach the Scarecrow Minister, the latter grabbed hold of the hilt stemming from the effigy's top, pulling forth a mystical blade from within it. The longsword bore the queen's heart in pieces along its blunt sides, a macabre accoutremont to the blade's dull shade of gold.
In a blur of speed uncharacteristic of the lanky Caliburn, the lost sword of Avalon parried Liberty's blow. After a few strikes to The Tower, Caliburn flourished, disarming Liberty of his weapon. On the defensive, Liberty cowered behind his tall shield, gritting his teeth and hoping for an opening to counterattack. A horizontal slice from Caliburn cut deep into Liberty's arm, making him drop his shield.
"It has the pure heart. Now all it needs is the death of a wretched soul and this mighty sword will be complete! While you may feign hero, Liberty, your lies of making peace within the Thorns have spread courage and contentment amongst the Lost, and there are few evils more wretched then such thoughts!"
A lunge forward with the temple's blade sunk deep into Liberty's chest, his bright purple blood seeping into the sword, turning it pitch black. As the blade swallowed Liberty's breath, black armor began to form in the air around Caliburn, plating itself to his skin.
"A suiting visage for the saving Fear I'll spread with it! And to think after all our struggles you died from my first try at wielding this blade!"
Liberty's pupiless eyes bellowed turquoise smoke as his head raised off the ground. "Try again."
Leaping to his feet, Liberty caught Caliburn's second stab between his palms, twisting the blade before striking Caliburn's wrist to make him drop it. As Caliburn's armor melted away, Liberty continued to strike the Minister with his open palms. Neither saw the queen pick the mystical sword off the ground, nor did they catch a glimpse of her skewering Caliburn through the chest, its point barely missing the mending wound on Liberty's own. Draining the Minister of whatever life was left in his body, the blade began to shine, the gold of it taking on the shade of the finest jewelry. For a second Liberty swore he saw some kind of energy connecting the cavity in the queen's chest to the pearls of Caliburn's sword, but he shook the thought as the queen collapsed and he ran to give her aid.
==Hours and Artifice==
"Stand, Sir Liberty, before all of Avalon!" The massive crowd below the royal balcony cheered. Their sheer volume was deafening, although a flick of the queen's wrist silenced them in an instant. Liberty raised as the queen had asked. "I'm just glad we came along when we did, Queen Nimmue."
The queen's smile widened. With barely a movement she called for her nearby servant carrying a long purple case. She presented it to her knight Liberty, who opened the case to find the sheathed blade of his vanquished foe, Caliburn.
"Take it, Our knight, as a trophy of the valiant deeds you're performed in the name of Our kingdom."
Liberty paused. He ran his fingers over Caliburn's sheathe and then sighed as he closed the case. "I can't accept this, Your Majesty. I haven't done anything in the name of Your kingdom. I just did what I could in the name of Life, Freedom, and Happiness."
The queen's smile turned to a saddened frown. "Please, Liberty. I insist."
He looked into her eyes with a coy grin. "Alright, I will. But not as Your knight. Only as your friend."
The queen's pale skin was flushed pink, her eyes growing wide. Matching his eye contact, the queen smiled again. "As you wish, my friend."
Crumbs gave a haughty laugh as Liberty walked back into the hallway outside the royal chambers. Rave was leaning against an ornate pillar with a sinister smile on his face. He walked over to his captain and began inspecting the older man's face. Liberty swatted Rave's hands away while looking rather confused.
"Sorry, Cap. I just wanted to see if the royal lipstick left a mark."
Liberty's expression soured. "You know as well as I do that's not what the queen and my relationship is like. Now where are we headed next?"
Crumbs' bellowing voice echoed in the largely empty corridor, "Back to business..."
The captain didn't wait for his men; his two subordinates had to jog to catch up to his unerring cadence. Rave began to report, "Um.... well, Scorch and Wedge have new leads into that cold case against the Order of the Blinding Sun. They're still investigating a related case file about five Hedge-units from here. Meanwhile we have three Crow's Loops in the area."
The captain did not slow his pace. "Alright, I need you and Crumbs to take the Loops, and, while you're at it, keep an ear open. Three at one time raises red flags, and it may be connected with the Blinding Sun's charges of alleged kidnapping of mortals and fae-kind. Meanwhile I'll regroup with Scorch and Wedge. Remember, contact at every sunrise and set."
Without another word the three officers of Thornwatch exited the castle into the market outside. Mounting their horses at the gates, Rave and Crumbs spurred onward as their captain stopped to salute the onlooking Queen who stood on her balcony, waving her kerchief at her hero. Without a word he pulled on the reigns of his blind horse Justice and left Avalon behind him.
Across mountain and meadow, snowfield and sea he rode to reach The Summit of Knowledge where Scorch and Wedge waited for him. Liberty grit his teeth as he pressed through one of The Tunnels of Illusion, mines which serve as the only passages to the land beneath his destination. The Order of the Blinding Sun used to use these mines as dungeons and torture chambers for their captives back in their darker days. The shrieks of those who died here still echo around in circles throughout their innumerable caverns and shafts, making it only harder to investigate if any of the pained sounds had a living source awaiting rescue.
Bats and mice followed Liberty up the steep incline out of the final stretch of the tunnel leading to the grassy clearing on the other side, but the rodents quickly recoiled and turned back inside their subterranean habitat after being exposed to the intensity of the miniature sun shining down upon them from barely twenty feet above the center of the meadow. The caverns behind him were simply a part of the mountain range surrounding and secluding the entire area, and Liberty was already wishing he could return to their mild darkness to escape the unending light he was now exposed to. It was this low floating orb the Order of the Blinding Sun took its name. The Order had committed countless atrocities in the name of this allegedly-sapient sphere, but fifty years ago they began attempting to turn over a new leaf and atone. In fact, most of the Order's members responsible turned themselves in for their crimes. As per procedure, however, the Order still ranked high on Thornwatch's security risk list.
Riding into the town build beneath the Sun, Liberty had obvious trouble adjusting to the light. The white buildings styled after ancient Athens in Greece only served to refract the light further into Liberty's eyes. Liberty counted his blessings when he realised heat exhaustion wasn't a worry he needed to have, the Sun gave off no heat.
"Boss? Git ouvva 'ere!" It was Wedge yelling from a distance. When Liberty had trouble following the sound, Wedge came and grabbed him by his shoulders, pushing Liberty towards the lake at the center of town. The giant man with an underbite and canine fangs forced Liberty to drink the water there. Wedge, with his tiny bulldog ears and his forearms three times as thick as a human's, explained the water would help his captain's eyes adjust, but it would still be a long process before the sun would not functionally blind him. Wedge had been at the waters for weeks as Scorch tried to find evidence of living captives in the tunnels of illusion.
"Twas just about this time last week I could walk about town wit' no troubles. The locals say they can look right inna ball with no pain!"
Liberty coughed and winced. Even the Sun's reflection in the waters was almost too much for him to handle. Wedge couldn't stand to see his captain like this. "Now I don't need to remind you, Cap, but the people 'ere don't take kindly to outsiders blocking the light from their eyes. It's a serious faux pas and I've already seen them get outright hostile to a traveling merchant who used a ball cap for shade."
The captain's head was reeling from the pain. Even with his eyes closed the Sun continued to burn his retinas. "Scorch..." The captain could barely concentrate enough to speak, "... when was your last contact with him?"
Wedge became withdrawn as he thought. "Well, prolly a day or two before my eyes started to adjust, methinks."
Liberty struggled to look his subordinate in the eye while grabbing onto the man's cloak to pull him closer. "You... haven't had contact in a WEEK?"
Fearing the punishment he realised his inconsideration had earned, Wedge mounted Justice and charged at top speed to find his partner. Meanwhile, Liberty lowered his head back to the water as the sound of galloping faded, replaced by the slow march of the townspeople coming to surround him and the angry murmur of their opposition to another Thornwatch agent in their midst.
Wedge had gotten frantic. It had been two hours since he left Liberty behind and he was no closer to finding Scorch. The caverns were a maze and Justice's acute nose hadn't picked up a scent. In need of support, Wedge called Metal and Rock to his aid. For Metal's contract, the rusted chains and prison door from one of the former torture chambers ripped away from their moors, binding themselves to the man and horse reshaped into armor, the small barred window off the door making an adequate visor for Wedge's artificed helm. Rock sought out the locations of anyone else in its caves, guiding Justice through them with a conjured echo only they could hear.
Scorch woke. It was the first time since he was ambushed the was only seeing double. Hanging by his wrists in the underground chamber without anything to eat, dehydration had already started to muddle Scorch's mind. Some kind of light was projecting images onto the wall in front of him, but he couldn't turn himself far enough around to see. The more he stared a the pictures, though, the more real they seemed: images of a mortal life, a life without the involvement of the Fae, the life of Trent Taylor. As Scorch watched the projections, he felt himself start to believe them. The Green General had never kidnapped him out of that sandbox when he was four years old. He was never covered in molten wax until his body turned into plastic, his skin and bones dyed green like the rest of the "army men". He stayed Trent Taylor. He grew up. He had a highschool sweetheart and a solid job as a welder. He never had to fear the General and his very real threats of fusing Scorch's feet to a flat green base.
Scorch tried to focus himself, tried to remember his time with Bravo Company and Thornwatch. He knew giving in to these illusions was the easy route, so he strained his neck to look away. There, just in the corner of his eye, he found hope. The illusions flickered and shifted in the breeze coming into the room from outside. "An electric projector wouldn't flicker like that, but a flame would!" Binding the fire behind him to his will, Scorch directed the flame to his chains, melting them just as his jailors realised their shadow images had been rendered askew by the movement of their light source.
The jailors, both longtime members of the Blinding Sun, grabbed their whips and clubs and vaulted over the edge of their platform above the cell down to the ground below. Like all fully indoctrinated members of their Order, the men stood over seven feet tall with skin of solid gold. "You should of just accepted your lot, meddler. Were it not for the kindness of the Blinding Sun we would have struck you down when we found you snooping through our catacombs. Instead it proclaimed you to be worthy of joining in the light of truth, and yet still you struggle!"
The speaking jailor was fixated on Scorch, who was struggling to stand from exhaustion. The other jailor, however, was far more concerned with the loud sound of galloping getting ever closer. As the first cultist raised his club to knock out his prisoner, Justice came swiftly into the room, its rider wielding a lance artificed from abandoned armor of Hedge Hunters unlucky enough to cross the Order's path. In a flash of steel against gold the jailor was impaled, the point of the lance through his chest and buried into the cavern wall behind him. As the jailor's partner wrapped his whip around Wedge's hips, pulling the Thornwatch officer to the ground, Scorch called once again on the power of the flames above him, latching them onto the cultist's face until it had melted off.
"Miss me?" Wedge bellowed as he laughed, throwing the limp whip aside.
"Are you kidding, big guy? They were playing me a movie and I was just about to get to the good part!"
A golden phalanx surrounded the good captain who was still in too much pain from the light to even realise how many of them there actually were.
"It appears another has bypassed the caves to steal our light, brothers, and this one wears the metal of his caste-"
"-With our minds connected to the One Truth our bodies have been embraced with gold. Under the Blinding Sun we see everything in its true form, and this invader is merely copper, a sign he has not the constitution to withstand the pains of knowledge!"
Struggling to his feet, Liberty felt the familiar rush of his squadmates linking their minds to his. The information sent was always incapable of being complex, but this time it was all Liberty needed to know. "Guilty."
"The plebian fool has not been chosen by our Sun. He has not undergone the Trials of Illusion. Yet still here he sits, soaking in the light of knowledge as if it is freely given. This, the third of his kind to come here. Why, Copper, why have you come? Are you here to bring justice for the lesser minds who failed to accept enlightenment when we forced it upon them? You cannot. Besides, hidden in the furthest depths of our caves have have hundreds more we have plucked from their ordinary lives as mortals and fae. You are incapable of dealing justice here!"
Raising to stand, the knight of Avalon panted and grimaced from his efforts. "Justice is my horse. The name's Liberty!"
Manipulating the fire which formed the Blinding Sun above him, Liberty thrust his arms downwards as the contracts he wielded grabbed hold of the burning orb and plunged it into the water below it, snuffing it out completely.
In all but an instant, the entire town was plunged into darkness.
"In the name of the Gilded Thorn..."
Liberty broke a cultist's golden arm.
"and in honor of freedom and knowledge.."
Another's hand.
"for unknown counts of kidnapping and torture..."
A leg.
"I, Liberty, Captain of Thornwatch..."
A rib.
"find you and your ilk Guilty beyond pardon!"
A neck.
The cultists had bathed in the light so long the pure darkness around them was crippling. Even in their caves they always carried torches alight with their own illusions. Grabbing hold of their own weapons, Liberty continued his work.
A broken skull from a mace's blow. A punctured lung from a spear's thrust.
"Now I may not shine of gold like you..."
A severed artery from a sword's swing. An arrow stabbed into the back of a neck.
"...but I know what it means to seek Truth in the madness of the Hedge."
An arm twisted until it broke from the tension. A ribcage imploded from the impact of a shield.
"In seeking enlightenment in an existence born from cruel monstrosities, you have become cruel monsters yourselves!"
A whip straggles a man until he collapses. A chestplate is punched inward so breathing becomes taxing.
"You may be cast in the name of Truth, but you are not worthy of it!"
Silence befell the broken hamlet blanketed in darkness as two soldiers astride a single horse rode into town, guided by their connection to their stalwart leader and given light from a small fire hovering above a plastic hand. A crowd of over fifty men were sprawled out on the ground in a circle around their captain.
"Weeks on this assignment and all we got was my arms chained up in a cave! Cap shows up for a few hours and the whole town gets their verdict!"
Falling to his knees, satisfied with a case closed, their exhausted captain responded, "All that says to me, soldier, is the two of you have been slacking off. So why don't you boys start making up for lost time by cuffing and tagging our perpetrators here. After that you can deliver all their captives below to their rightful homes."
The two stared at each other, speechless in the firelight.
"Need I repeat myself, soldier? Get off my horse and get to work!"
==Mirrors and The Board==
"Please, Officer Liberty, I know we've had our differences in the past, and our superiors are largely against it, but..."
"Ms. Deep, this really isn't the best time. In fact, I don't think you could have picked a worse one."
The purple wyvern carved of stone destroyed the massive tower wall with the force of its wail. Carrying them on its back, the two changelings were proportionally the size of ticks to the angry creature flying at incredible speeds to escape the giant's fortress the three of them had been captives of. The ground outside the sundered wall was sunken below miles of magmatic acid, and the clouds hovering above them were made of the blades belonging to fallen soldiers dating back to the wars of the Gentry before mankind took its first step.
"I beg you to reconsider. A story about a strapping young Thornwatch Captain would be highly mutally benefi-"
"Duck!" Liberty pushed down on the dwarven pikes driven into the beast's neck to guide it as it barrelled through the sky with the speed and force of a bullet. However, to their chagrin, the mothmen had already arrived, calling forth swarms of frostbirds to assault the fugitives of their master. A flock narrowly missed Raspberry's head as she curled herself up at the captain's barked directive.
The wyvern's yellow eyes spewed like-colored smoke as a four-winged eagle the size of a bulldozer pushed its razor-sharp talons into the larger beast's side. Holding onto one of his control rods, Liberty drew a pump-action shotgrun overgrown with briars using his off-hand before leveling his shot and putting three shells into the eagle's thick skull. Feathers splattered with blood rained from its corpse as it fell towards the acid below.
Out of ammunition, the captain let loose of his gun with the perfect timing to collide it into a mothman flying up from behind their mount. Two more of them met their end from the spined tail of the wyvern cracked back and forth to knock them out of the sky. The wyvern's insane speed was not slowed.
"Liberty, look out!"
Whipping around to grab the other control rod, Liberty veered the dragon starboard, a frostbird's wing cutting deep into the officer's cheek. Ice began to crystallize within the gash, spreading across his face.
"The fire-heart, now!"
Frantically digging through the captain's satchel with one hand, gripping the back of his coat with the other, Raspberry found the red artichoke he spoke of. Pushing her fingers between its petals, she reached the sap inside in just enough time to apply it to his intensifying wound.
The blade-clouds grew restless, lowering their altitude over the fields of molten acid to force the two and their adversaries to fly in the narrow channel between them.
"An interview is all I'm asking! I don't even know if the story will see the light of day!"
"MS. DEEP, NOW IS NOT THE TIME-" Liberty was interrupted by a collision with a mothman, already stabbed to death by the blade-clouds crashing into him. Liberty's hands slipped off the rods, the only things keeping him on the massive beast flying hundreds of miles per hours. As Liberty began to fall off the wyvern's back, Raspberry lunged forward, grabbing one of the spears while maintaining her grip on Liberty's clothes.
The wyvern released a deafening roar, wiping out a squadron of mothmen and their frostbird entourages. Eyes facing their rear flank, Liberty could see the giant known as The Zookeeper, whose fortress he had just escaped from. The Zookeeper was waist deep in the acid pits, harmless to his caloused skin, and was chasing after them.
"This is going to take a more direct approach..." Regaining his footing on the dragon, Liberty assumed the form of The Primal Woods, a dryad juggernaut and a symbol of Liberty's rank in Thornwatch. Leaving Raspberry at the control rods, Liberty climbed to the base of the wyvern's head. Using his incredible wooden strength Liberty urged the dragon faster while swatting away any foes foolish enough to enter his reach.
"There, I can see blue skies through that ravine!"
Raspberry guided the wyvern towards the escape the captain spotted. Just as The Zookeeper's hand was about to engulf them, Raspberry turned the dragon perpendicular to the world to fit between the cracks in the cliffs ahead. Navigating through the narrow twists and turns, Raspberry piloted the beast out into the open skies beyond, with beautiful sandy beaches and blue ocean below. Releasing a final screech, the wyvern landed to drop off its passengers in the tropical sands before taking off towards its feral life in the wild. The two changelings were grasping their knees and breathing heavily.
"Please, officer, you'd be doing the Ministry and myself a favor we would return..."
"Alright, Ms. Deep, you'll get your Story. Tonight.... Casa Luca. Paris. France. Eight o'clock, and don't be late. I don't wait on my own soldiers so I certainly won't wait on a scarecrow."
Raspberry smiled wide and clutched the journal slung around her shoulder, her dark red eyes and matching curls looking radiant against the seaside view behind her. He couldn't help but smile back.
Liberty examined his reflection in the pools of water beneath the Eiffel Tower. The collar on the charcoal grey suit felt too tight regardless of how the store clerk said it should fit. Liberty was just grateful he found a diamond exchange which didn't ask too many questions. He needed the cash to afford his current outfit and the rest of the evening he had planned, and all he had to show for it was a pouch full of goblin jewels. Thornwatch officers normally aren't paid in francs, after all.
When Liberty walked into the restaurant she was already there, wearing a beautiful red dress sprinkled with starlight and earrings bezzled with rubies the size of half-dollars. Her hands held a matching clutch.
"You're early, captain."
"I should say; you beat me here! How long have you been waiting?" The captain had a charm to his voice, but the sight of her had taken him off-guard.
"You know, captain, I never figured you to be a fan of french suits. The color really brings out your eyes."
"You, um... look like a gem yourself, Ms. Deep."
"Please, tonight, I'm Raspberry."
"Liberty. Call me Liberty."
Their eye-contact was interrupted by the matradee. "Table for two? Right this way. What are we celebrating tonight?"
The two glanced at each other blankly.
"Certainly lovebirds dressed to the nines must be celebrating something, no?"
Liberty cleared his throat. "Being alive, I suppose."
"Ah, to being alive then!"
The two were seated at a small, candlelit table across from one another. Raspberry ordered the wine; Liberty didn't know anything about the beverage other than it was made from grapes, so he felt relieved when she made the decision. Pouring a glass for each of them, Raspberry then pulled a notepad out of her clutch. "So, rumors persist that before Thornwatch you were known by a number of titles including the Copper Crusader-"
"-Please, Raspberry. There will be time. What are you thinking for an entree?"
She blushed. Her compliment hadn't just been flattery. The suit honestly brought out the turquoise in his eyes, and she couldn't stop looking at him. She was so entranced by him she didn't notice how deeply he was drawn into her own eyes. Neither saw their dinners served nor said a word to interrupt this quiet moment in their respectively chaotic lives. Their silence was accompanied only by the music of an accordian player performing songs to match the italian restaurant's atmosphere.
It was Liberty who first broke the tension in the air. The intoxicating smell of his food finally snapped him out of his trance; he hadn't eaten anything since the bread and water The Zookeeper fed him in his cell that morning. Raspberry, on the other hand, could only smell Liberty's sweet cologne but jarred back to attention as Liberty clumsily clinked his fork against hi plate by accident. The two looked down at their plates, each snickering at their own awkwardness. The trend continued as they would make coy eye contact as they ate without a word. By the time dessert was on its way, conversation had budded as the two Autumn courtiers told tales from their lives since their escape from Faerie. Finishing their shared slice of cheesecake, Liberty put his hand on Raspberry's and sweetly asked, "Now, about the interview..."
She gingerly replied, "I think you've already given me everything I want."
Settling the check and strolling back to the Eiffel Tower, the Minister and the Magus opened separate portals to the Hedge in two side-by-side reflecting pools. As Liberty placed one foot into the gateway, Raspberry stopped him.
"I thought I'd given you everything you wanted."
"Maybe there's one thing left..."
Her lips met his, and her kiss was literally intoxicating.
==Fang and Talon==
The six-winged linnorm continued its steady climb into the stratosphere; the vibrant city lights fading to miniscule specks below them. As the three-headed beast continued its efforts to shake its unwanted passengers off, the duo of men clinging to its back yelled at each other over the wind.
"This is fruitless, captain; we can't managage to pierce its skin! How are we to slay this fell monster?" Liberty's companion struggle to maintain his grip on the shoulder joint of the dragon's front-wing. The heavy wooden pack on Liberty's back weighed him down, the guan dao known as the Jade Dragon sheathed in its holster between the oaken device's gears, making the climb up the side of the monster from Liberty's position on its lower leg cumberson, if possible at all.
"I thought you said this spear cut through even the toughest dragon's scales! Meanwhile I have three cold iron bolts left and I can't even see anything vital enough to waste them on!"
His companion's demeanor shifted from worried to angered. "How was I supposed to know the creature would have skin of smooth steel? There isn't a scale on his body!"
"You know, for a Knightmaster of the Dragonslayer, you'd think some lore about your founder's Title would come in handy in situations like this, Trygg!"
One of Trygg's hands came loose from his hold, though he quickly recovered and grabbed the wing again; the linnorm releasing roars from all three of its mouths. "What on Earth makes you think George the Dragonslayer ever fought a beast like this? There is nothing even close in our scripture!" The linnorm flew higher, putting the clouds far beneath them.
"Damn, alright. I've got a plan. Throw me down the rope you've got around you."
Trygg unraveled the maiden's hair rope he had across his chest, tying one end to the wing and letting the rest dangle for Liberty to climb up to him. Reunited, Trygg held onto the handle atop Liberty's pack to support the captain as he pulled up the rest of the rope and wrapped it around one of his crossbow bolts.
"Hey, hey dragon! Over here!"
When the closest head twisted around its long neck to spew its green, glowing acid at them, Liberty shot the tethered rope deep into the monster's lower jaw, the cold iron penetrating the linnorm's cursed skin. Untying the rope from the wing, Trygg held on as Liberty swung both of them closer to the heads. Angered from its wound, the beast thrashed its neck, flinging the two Hedge warriors upwards so the center mouth could swallow them whole.
"Now what, Liberty?" Dangling from the maiden's hair stuck between the dragon's teeth, Liberty reloaded, using his last two bolts to puncture this mouth's twin acid sacks.
"Now we take a gamble!"
Drawing the Jade Dragon, Liberty sliced through the rope and stabbed into the soft flesh inside the dragon's throat, taking Trygg, still holding onto his pack, down the monster's windpipe with him. Cutting an exit out of the lungs, the Magus made way for the Knightmaster. Trygg, brandishing his templar crosses built into brass knuckles, brought down the Wrath of Judgement on the infernal beast's heart. With each flurry of blows the scars of the immoral burnt deeper into the beast's vital organ until it shriveled up and blackened. As the linnorm began to fall from the sky, its head drooped downward, allowing Liberty to grab Trygg and slide back out the beast's agape maw. Pulling the drawstring on his wooden pack, Liberty jerked upwards as the device's wings of wood and cloth unfolded.
Gliding above the clouds, the two men watched as the monster crashed into the bay outside the city. Veering down into a dive-bomb, the blistering wind and freedom of flight crashed into Liberty as Trygg's plate mail pulled them down faster from the weight. Landing without a sound in the middle of a cathedral of sparkling lights and speeding cars, the two men dusted themselves off.
Liberty stuck his hand out for a shake as the wooden wings folded themselves back up. "Look, today was rough, but, uh, good hunting with you, Knightmaster."
Trygg turned and walked away without reciprocating the handshake, anger flushing across his face. "You, you are a wildman! You must be insane! You Magi are a reckless lot and I should have seen it sooner! I will not assist your kind in a hunt like this again. I am a man of judgement, conviction, and clarity, and, as I have long been told, you and the Gilded Thorn have you own skewed definitions of such things. You use your knowledge of the Hedge to militarize yourselves," Trygg looked over Liberty's unconventional equipment, " and I cannot travel with those who take the toll of the Thorns so lightly! That said..." Trygg's expression changed from Wrath to simple disappointment, "I will not deny there is some merit to your ways, and so you may continue to use our Towers for the sentencing of any fae more deranged than you! You are a good man, Liberty, but you tow too thin a line!"
Liberty grumbled as Trygg crossed the street out of Times Square. "Self-righteous pin-eyes! Good luck finding your way back to your Tower without Thornwatch to guide you!..... You know what, just for that I'm taking the next few days off here in town! There's a certain lady nearby begging my attention, and its time I paid my respects!"
==Stone and Steel==
It was a warm Autumn night in Taipei, and the so-called White Leviathan was proving even more elusive than he was reputed to be. Liberty had started having doubts about whether or not the wise sage even existed; the Thornwatch captain was unable to track the man despite his Contracts of Directions and its ability to find anyone with only the most vague amount of information.
Liberty was hunting for the kind old man based on allegations of harboring dangerous fae criminals within his flock. Liberty had been pouring over the derelict slums in town, and all he had to show for it was a series of goblin marks he couldn't decipher. That's when the taxi pulled up.
"White Leviathan, sir?" The dark-skinned cabbie wearing the hood up on his black jacket smiled, bearing his bright white teeth.
Liberty noted the compass rose embroidered on the boy's hoodie; he was a Sacred Courier. Knowing full well this could easily be a trap, Liberty got in the back seat. Before shifting into gear, the cabbie put on an ornate white mask, which made the two of them and the cab they rode in vanish into the aether, allowing them to pass right through other cars completely invisible to mortals.
"Why are you doing this?" Several minutes of silence had put Liberty further on edge.
"Consider this a favor freely given by the Court of Spades, captain. Just do what you are here to do and we are even." Pulling up alongside a small, family-owned restaurant, the cabbie pointed across the smoky street to the ally there.
As Liberty exited the cab, the low-lying fog in the street began to clear. Sitting in a small alcove in the alleyway was the White Leviathan, an elderly man with white-scaled skin and whiskers for a moustache which bended and curved down to his feet. The fog in the area came from the smoke released from his nostrils with every breath. The draconic man had company, and it barely took a second for Liberty to recognize her heraldry as a Fae loyalist. She was a young hispanic woman whose skin had been stretched and beaten into the shape of Spanish armor from the brutal days of old. She held a crimson halberd tightly in her hand as the White Leviathan finished what appeared to be some kind of instruction.
"Now your mind will connect with hers and you can follow that connection right to her." The old man smiled, nodding at Liberty as the latter approached.
"We're far too connected as it stands, but with this I will rectify that." The fleshknight began to seethe with anger just thinking about her apparent bounty.
"Mindfinder," Liberty spoke, knowing this to be talk of the very clause of Directions he had been mastering for years. It was a standard part of training for all Silverthorns before they are allowed to join Thornwatch.
The White Leviathan chuckled, "Yes, my son, very astute! Now hopefully Arawna here will use it to find the direction her life must take toward happiness!"
The girl, Arawna, was eyeing Liberty's badge. "What business do you have here, Watchman?"
"I'm here to see loyalists like you to jail, Terror, unless you can prove you show the Innkeeper no loyalty!"
"I am Arawna the Head-Taker, Vindicator of Cynvar and Terror of Kerrville! I fear no Watchman and I certainly don't fear you!"
Liberty smirked. "I was hoping you'd say that!" Grabbing the Jade Dragon, the guan dao gifted to him from the Third Kingdom freehold of Hong Kong, Liberty got into stance, but Arawna was too quick. Her spear, Cynvar, jabbed deep into Liberty's left shoulder, making it difficult to wield the Dragon as it was intended. Blocking Arawna's successive blows proved increasingly difficult, and Liberty could feel the Dragon's hilt buckle as he pressed it against Cynvar's. Arawna far outmatched him in strength, which she further proved when she cast the Dragon aside and knocked Liberty across the alley, shattering a section of the brick wall in the process.
Floored, Liberty had trouble keeping conscious when he felt his blade, Caliburn, shake in its sheathe at his hip. Liberty carried the blade but had never used it, much less see it act like this. As his vision returned to normal, he saw the pearls set into the blade emitting a faint glow. He also noted the Head-Take closing in the finish the job and the group of mortals gathering at the street, confounded and entranced by the two obvious foreigners brandishing medieval weaponry.
"Nothing will stand in my way back to Faerie, Watchman, and I will not be followed." Spinning Cynvar around, Arawn was a fright to behold. In a flash the practiced lancer lunged, but was blocked by the mythical golden blade. Liberty hardly remembered drawing Caliburn, but the sword did not disappoint. Even might Cynvar could not get past him. Leaping to his feet, Liberty felt a weight lift off his shoulders with Caliburn in his hand. The sword was light as a feather and seemed to subtlely guide Liberty's hand to redirect Arawna's attacks. It may have looked like a normal longsword made of steel to the onlookers and their camera phones, but the golden Caliburn put Fear in mighty Arawna. As she began to backstep towards the street, she had to stop and wipe the sweat from his leather brow. Seeing his opening, Liberty knocked her back with a blow from Caliburn's hilt to the side of her face.
Rallying, Arawna leapt forward, successfully sweeping Liberty's legs. The two of them saw the hole in Caliburn's defenses; they weakened significantly if the blade was used offensively.
Calling upon the Red Rage of Stone, Arawna's muscles rippled and her strikes quickened. Dodging backwards, Liberty channeled his Wyrd through the blade. As the light from the pearls became blinding, shining golden plates materialized from nothing, forming thin-fitting armor over Liberty's body. As the crowd tried to figure out where he pulled the riot gear from, Liberty pulled down the helm's crystalline visor over his eyes.
Cynvar's strikes were furious, but Caliburn was faster than the wieldly spear, and as Liberty and Arawna took their fight to the open street, Arawna's skin burned from the showering of gold and crimson sparks.
Not even with the Red Rage's strength could Arawna break Caliburn's armor when she was lucky enough to get past Liberty's torrent of steel. Their battle lasted through the next eight hours in stalemate, spanning two city blocks, a mile of train tracks and several Hedge systems, during which Arawna did not let up her assault. Liberty never struck back; he knew full well any distractions or weaknesses in Caliburn's defenses would give Arawna the opening she needed to end the fight in her favor. If the sword hadn't been so light weight, Liberty wouldn't have lasted.
When Arawna finally ran out of the glamour she needed to keep her stamina afloat, they had found themselves coming out of a Hedge Gate onto the helipad atop a skyscraper in downtown. The Red Rage gave up on Arawna, making her pass out as a result. She wouldn't regain consciousness untill Trygg, Knightmaster of the Dragonslayer, pressed the sin-punishing crosses into her skin, burning her for her trespasses against mankind and her fellow fae.
Liberty and Caliburn managed to book both the Leviathan and the Head-Taker. Despite other harbored criminals getting away and the Head-Taker's eventual escape from the Dragonslayers, the case was closed as a success by the Magister.
Category:Fiction