Facing the Music

In a rush, I became aware of myself again, mainly becaus Ravyn was shaking, or at least trying to shake me. “You damn fool stoopid zombie! I don’t even know why I care! I can’t believe he grabbed the blade like that!”

That and more than a few expletives flew from her lips as she was trying to pry the blade from my fingers without actually touching the hilt of it. Herne stood nearby clutching his side, a look of bemusement and concern on his face.

I must say, I was a bit bad as I let her continue on for a bit, just to see if she could actually pry the blade out my hand. It was amusing to listen to her tirade. (And boy am I gonna hear it when she reads this!)

“Rusty Bones, you better snap out of it before I burn this thing out of your hand. We need to destroy these cursed blades!”

“No.”

She just about jumped out of her skin at hearing me respond to her last comment. She recovered far quicker than i normally do after being surprised though. She stopped trying to pry the hilt loose and instead whipped around to face me, hands on her hips with a very defiant glare in her eyes, which were flashing bright orange warning signs. “What do you mean, ‘no’ to?”

“No, we cannot destroy these last two blades.” I stood back up, glad that I never had to worry about tightness in muscles, or at least not having to worry about feeling it. “The Spirits in the blades do not wish to be released just yet.”

Herne spoke up, “Look Rusty, these blades are abominations beyond belief. They must be destroyed so that those poor innocent Spirits can be released. It was the only on the condition that we finally dispose of them that Moira allowed the blades out of her eyesight.”

Ravyn piped in, “Have you been possessed by one of those damn things?”

“No I haven’t been possessed, at least not by the blades. But the Spirit of this blade, Diego, did draw me into the Spiritworld for a discussion with his sister, Herlinda, she’s the Spirit in the other blade.”

Herne cocked his head, “The Spirits spoke to you? What did they have to say?”

I told them what had happened and about how the twins wanted to remain as they were until they had a chance to help destroy the man who was most responsible for their being trapped within the blades and forced to kill other magickally talented people...Drake.

Ravyn’s eyes grew wide as saucers, flashing brighter than ever before, “That bastard again! How is that even possible?”

I shook my head, “I don’t know for sure, but I have my suspicions, especially after reading the messages he has left on that PDA he left for me. Now, the Spirits in these blades tell me that they saw their creator in my memories when I was being separated from Ma Grendel. When we spoke during the struggle, Ma Grendel did refer to him as my father, and said that she had met him many times.”

Herne spoke up, “Somehow that doesn’t surprise me all that much. There was a similar feel to both Grendel and Drake when I got near either of them. Perhaps they are of a kind, and perhaps that explains his seemingly extraordinary age. They are not of the natural world, that much is for certain.”

I was still holding Diego’s blade in my hand, I brought it up to look at it a little bit better. Something seemed changed about it, the blade actually reflected a little of the light being shed by Ravyn’s floating flame orbs. He felt lighter in my hand, the blade seemed to want to dance and play, much like the youthful, playful spirit contained inside it.

Reluctantly, I sheathed the blade in the sheath that been for another weapon, now destroyed. Nothing happened as I sheathed it.

Ravyn had gasped as I made the motiuon to sheath it, but the gasp died down quickly as nothing happened. “You shouldn’t have been able to do that.” She said it very quietly, almost like speaking it louder might bring about some sort of reaction.

“Look, I told you, Diego and Herlinda have promised to work with me, to help destroy Drake. Maybe because we are all abominations created by the same bastard, their curse doesn’t affect me like it would someone else, or maybe it’s because I am already dead, but I do know that they have said they will serve me, so long as my cause is Just, whatever the Hell that means.”

I walked over to Herne. “Let me have the other one. I can promise you that they will only be used against creatures and foes like these things we just killed, and against the likes of Drake and whoever he gets to serve him. Once Drake is gone, I have a feeling these Spirits will allow themselves to be released.” I held out my hand.

Herne looked hesitant at first. Herlinda was still sheathed on his belt. With a glance over to Ravyn, who wasn’t looking too sure herself, he reached down to his belt and undid the ties that held the sheath in place, handed me the sheathed blade.

“Thank you.” I drew Herlinda from her sheath and examined her blade as well. Was it me or did her blade seem slightly longer, slimmer and more graceful than her brothers? Her blade also now reflected the orange flames of Ravyn’s orbiting flame balls. Herlinda didn’t seem to be as eager to play as her brother, there was a far more serious feeling of deadly purpose about her. She had killed many, many times but took no joy in the activity. I could feel her deep desire to kill just one more time...

I sheathed her quickly, again no reaction. I tied her sheath to my belt for the moment, with the intention of finding a way to mount both blades on my back for easier, quicker access.

Ravyn was strangely subdued as she spoke up again, “We need to get out of here. Let’s tend to Fang’s remains and get back to the Frau for some much needed healing. I’ve had enough excitement for awhile.”

Herne looked relieved that someone else felt the same way, “Yeah, I need to get home and do some ‘splaining to Moira. She’s not going to be happy about this turn of events. We also need to let Fang’s family know that he died a hero.”

“Yeah, I’ll take care of the Bureau paperwork. Ravyn, can you manage to transport you guys back to the Frau? It will only complicate things if you guys are still here when I make my reports.”

“I think so. Once we get back to the home of that unfortunate fortune teller, I think I saw a Portal we can use.”

With nothing else to say, we turned and headed back the way we had come.