Guinevere raced across the raging tides of the vast river, leaping from one rocky outcropping and frost-washed foothold to the next, mindful of each step while trying to go as fast as she could.
Because Sheena was already in the middle of the river, on the largest landmass, fighting alone against five Sword Dancers while also trying to keep her brother from escaping.
Her brother.
Even knowing from Sheena what to expect, seeing Asbel in real life was hard to accept. This vicious, nightmarish beast, grotesque from head to foot, completely unrecognizable from anything human… was Sheena’s little brother?
Of course he is. This is what she’s trying to save him from. Such a cruel fate… enough to make his own people send out hunters to kill him, rather than cure him.
We can’t let that happen!
Ava was right behind Guinevere, following her footsteps with sure leaps and bounds, and Alice followed after her with Ninian. Ava’s confidence in Guinevere speeded the Promised Queen’s own steps, urging her onward.
And even with her best efforts, even having started long before Elliot, she was only halfway to Sheena when Elliot and Hector bounded past her, darting across the river far faster than she could hope to match.
“What about Tobias?” Guinevere asked. For she’d glanced back, and seen the Oldest Hunter. Knowing Tobias’ story about him, she couldn’t believe that Tobias would fight him alone.
“He’s got it handled!” Elliot called back. He didn’t sound the least bit confident — and Guinevere’s heart quavered. Time and again, Tobias had done the impossible, and Elliot had smiled, like he’d expected nothing less of his best friend. Not once had he shown doubt in Tobias’ skills.
Now he was terrified.
“We have to hurry!” Alice said. Elliot understood her meaning, giving her a nod and speeding onwards.
That must be why Elliot had come here rather than stay. The sooner they saved Asbel, the sooner Bandersnatch would lose his prey, and the greatest danger would pass.
They were fighting as much for Sheena and Asbel as they were for Tobias.
Hang on, Sheena!
Sheena still fought alone — and she was awe-inspiring. A graceful, dancing whirl of red and purple, her azure blade slicing through the night, tracing currents of liquid steel that warded off five opposing blades time and again. Her bracelets and anklets, the bells in her hair and on her sword’s hilt, rang out a symphony of fierce dedication, stinging with the bitter ache of betrayal and isolation.
You aren’t alone anymore, Sheena. And you’ll never be alone again.
——
Sheena danced alone.
She had her oldest friends in front of her. Her brother behind her. Her newest friends on their way to her. Akko tucked in the folds of her shirt.
But in the midst of the dance, her sword cutting a pattern like that of the river raging all around her, her heart was alone. The eye of the storm, aching and crying out and bursting with emotions that words could never express, with longings that seemed foolish to hope for, and yet she’d hoped for them every day since things had gone so horribly wrong.
Where words failed, music spoke. She danced, and expressed to her comrades, her friends-turned-foes, what lay deepest in her heart, desperate to be known.
And her foes danced in kind, their denial of her hope a bitter sting. Their resolute desire to kill Asbel, seeing him as no more than a monster now, was a raging flame that Sheena wasn’t sure she could quench.
But all she needed was an opportunity. She couldn’t lose herself in the dance, in the raw emotions brought forth to the surface.
Asbel was here. She’d found her brother again at last! And while she had no cure, no wish yet to make him whole again… she had a way to safeguard him. All she needed was a chance. As soon as the kantetsubo at her hip was opened, and the sealing jar’s opening pointed towards Asbel, it would lock onto his essence and pull him into the jar, sealing him — imprisoned, yes, but also alive.
Imprisoned, yes, but also safe. Safe, and alive. For so long, that had been more than she could have hoped, and far beyond her own power.
Now it was in her grasp. And from there, the journey to Elysia, the wish, the restoration of her brother at last!
But her five foes weren’t going to give her even the tiny opening she needed.
“Taichou!” one of them called out, her eyes blazing with fire. Rukia, once Sheena’s lieutenant, her right hand when Sheena had still been with the Sword Dancers, before all had gone wrong, what seemed a lifetime ago. She’d been as close as a sister to Sheena — they’d been born just days apart, their parents dearest friends, and had spent their whole lives together.
To be here now, clashing swords, for Sheena to have to defend her brother from her best friend?
Something had broken in the world.
“You would imprison him?” Rukia asked, her glare blazing hotter as she spied the kantetsubo. “Trap him in a jar? Asbel deserves better than that.”
Sheena could hardly believe what she was hearing. “He deserves better than being saved from death?” she asked.
Just then, the other four Sword Dancers broke off. Asbel swiped at them with monstrous claws, and for a moment Sheena thought her brother lost — he’d spent so long running rather than fighting, but now he’d actually intentionally enact violence against those he’d once called friends?
But then she noticed that Asbel’s attack wouldn’t have struck them. It was a warning, a shot across the bow — and with the opening it gave him, he started to run, shambling away from his pursuers.
“No, brother!” Sheena cried out. She started to pull the sealing jar from her hip, but Rukia renewed her attack, and Sheena could only defend as two of the other Sword Dancers headed off Asbel, slowing his escape. It was too obvious there, as well — Asbel was strong enough to tear through them, but instead he retreated, looking for a way around, trying to fend them off without actually targeting them.
Sheena’s heart flooded with hope. Somewhere beneath the monstrous appearance, choking within all the dissonance that drove her brother wild, his tender heart still beat, fighting against the monster that had burst from that same heart.
“He deserves to be set free from his cursed existence!” Rukia said, she and two others battling Sheena, with every step trying to force her farther from her brother.
And then a silver sword flashed, and Elliot engaged the two Sword Dancers who fought Asbel. Hector ran circles around them — and Asbel — barking loudly, harrying and distracting and then darting away from danger when swords quested for him. And Asbel shrank back, not even lifting a hand of warning against the noble canine.
“He is not lost!” Sheena said, disarming one of Rukia’s officers, forcing her to disengage, pitting Sheena now against Rukia and only one other. The tide turned in her favor — for all their shared training, Rukia was no equal to Sheena in the sword, and one extra Dancer wasn’t enough to even the odds. “I’m going to keep him safe — and then find him a cure.”
“There is no cure!” Rukia said, deaf to all of Sheena’s hopes. And yet Sheena saw the pain beneath the defiance.
“Death isn’t the only way to save him,” Sheena said, finding a moment of clarity in the dance, shifting from desperate warden to serene defender.
“Don’t let love blind you to the truth!” Rukia cried. She and her officer pushed the attack, and the second was returning with her sword in hand.
But then Guinevere charged in, intercepting the second officer. Just their opening exchange showed Sheena just how much Guinevere had learned — and learned to apply her training. She fought like a court fencer, like she’d been taught for years, yes. But she also danced, and she understood the movements of her Sword Dancer foe from just a few training sessions with Sheena. She wasn’t caught off-guard like so many were when first encountering the unique swordplay of Haruo’s Dancers.
I knew she was a quick study, but this is even better than I’d expected.
Sheena almost smiled — but then Guinevere glanced at her, a wild fear in her eyes, and said one word in a taut, urgent voice.
“Hurry.”
——
Tobias leapt at Bandersnatch, taking the initiative on offense against an ancient master of combat who could bat him aside like a hurricane rips through a tree.
But when the Bandersnatch swung his massive cleaver-sword to intercept Tobias’ attack, Tobias lowered his sword and tucked his head and shoulders down, turning into a ball in midair.
The great vorpal sword snapped through air — inches above Tobias’ head. He felt the breeze of its passing, a stinging cold that sent the shock of near-death flooding through his veins. It should set his heart into a desperate flight, make him run like panicked prey.
But Tobias hit the snowy ground, rolled, and leapt back to his feet inside Bandersnatch’s guard, a mere five feet from the Old Hunter. Sword in hand, he didn’t flee, but fought, slashing at the Hunter’s chest.
Bandersnatch’s free hand swung in at Tobias, wicked claws slicing faster than a diving falcon, to tear Tobias apart…
But Tobias dropped, his own speed far beyond where he’d been the last time he and the Hunter had met. His heart lurched into his throat from the nearness of his own death, the terrifying speed of the Hunter as claws sliced over his head. A few slender strands of black hair fluttered down before Tobias’ eyes to land in the snow.
Tobias charged again, but the vorpal sword came slicing inward. Tobias dropped to slide, powdery snow blasting into the air in a wintry cloud. The blade of the Hunter’s sword passed mere inches from his face, humming with power.
Tobias slid through Bandersnatch’s legs, then immediately reversed course, darting back at the Hunter. Because, as soon as Tobias had passed out of sight, Bandersnatch was already making to move towards Asbel.
Tobias’ heart was pounding in his chest, sweat breaking out on his face despite the cold.
From his initial attack to this moment, only four seconds had passed.
Bandersnatch moved with urgency now, though — likely drawn by the sound of clashing swords. Other hunters had closed on his prey, and he wasn’t about to let them claim what the Oldest Hunter pursued. Catching up to Bandersnatch, cutting him off, would be difficult even for Tobias’ speed.
But, like he’d told Elliot, he wasn’t facing Bandersnatch alone.
Flynn darted in, barking up a storm. And when Bandersnatch initially ignored him, Flynn snapped at his heels.
Bandersnatch tried to kick the dog away — but it was a casual effort, underestimating Flynn’s speed and determination. Flynn leapt out of the way and continued harrying the Hunter.
When Bandersnatch turned to face Flynn, swiping down a hand to crush this persistent annoyance — Tobias was there. His obsidian blade sliced through the air, and this time it caught flesh and bone.
Even then, the impact and effort it took to knock aside Bandersnatch’s arm sent a shock through Tobias’ wrists that rattled up to his shoulders. And despite his sword biting into Bandersnatch’s arm, no blood flowed from the wound, and the Hunter swiped with that arm in an unhindered backhand.
Tobias slid under the attack, but had to drop so low he was flat on his back in the snow.
Right in the path of Bandersnatch’s sword, the follow-up attack to his backhand slap.
Tobias dug his heels in, caught solid ground, and kicked himself up, flipping over the lightning-fast vorpal sword, and landing lightly in the snow. He whirled on his foe, only to have his vision filled with Bandersnatch’s clawed hand. He got his sword up just in time, but five claws on long, strong fingers were too much to block with one human blade. So Tobias leapt up, kicked against Bandersnatch’s palm, leveraging himself away from questing claws…
And taking the full impact of Bandersnatch’s impossible strength. He yelled in defiant resistance, but it was futile. He was knocked free, sent flying through the air. He crashed into the snow and nearly blacked out, the air knocked out of his lungs as he slid and rolled roughly across the ground, again and again. The world was a dizzy whirl of earth and sky, back and forth, too rapid to make sense of — and he couldn’t stop himself. He barely had enough concentration left to hold onto his sword and keep from cutting himself on it.
When he finally rolled to a stop, it was halfway in the riverbank, flat on his back, gazing up at the sky, spots in his eyes. Every inch of him hurt, and it took him three attempts to take a breath — and when he finally did he coughed, roughly, his lungs protesting at the action.
Move!
He had to rise, had to fight again, had to keep Bandersnatch away. The urgency the Hunter now had meant he’d close on Asbel in no time — and in the chaos of so many combatants, there would be no way for anyone to keep the vorpal sword from cutting through Asbel, striking down Sheena’s brother and putting to death all she’d fought for.
In his ringing ears, Tobias heard faintly the barks of Flynn, carrying on the fight even in Tobias’ absence.
Move!
Flynn was just as tenacious, just as fast, just as skilled as Tobias. But against a foe like Bandersnatch, anyone fighting alone was doomed to fall.
Get up!
Tobias screamed at himself, coughed again, and again, and then finally sucked in a breath. Spots cleared from his eyes, and he rolled out of the water, pressing bleeding knuckles into the snow. His first attempt to push himself to his feet failed, and he got a face-full of snow. His legs were like jelly, his head spinning, struggling to turn what he wanted to do into real action.
He coughed again, and saw blood spatter the snow. And he realized that wasn’t all of it, so he coughed again, hard, and then pushed himself up.
His feet were under him, and they held. He swayed once, but didn’t fall.
There, on a hill far too close for comfort, Flynn harried the Hunter, and Tobias’ heart leapt with terror at every narrow brush with death his dog made, dodging claws and kicks and the legendary sword by mere inches every time.
Tobias grimaced, spat blood from his mouth, and rolled his shoulders. Everything hurt.
But nothing was broken. He was standing.
He wasn’t out of this fight.
“Come on!” he shouted, taking two unsteady steps before he found his strength and started running, straight towards death incarnate.
Flynn slid under another slash from the vorpal sword, saw Tobias charging in, and darted away. Bandersnatch turned back towards his goal, only to be forced to bring his blade in to block the obsidian sword that quested for the Hunter’s heart.
The clash of the two swords rang with a note that would be heard for miles around, a single tone that carried the weight of an entire song, a ballad of legend that the snow and stones beneath the Knight and the Hunter’s feet would remember long after the two of them were dead.
The clash also set Tobias’ teeth on edge, and nearly popped his shoulders from their socket. He pulled his sword back and ducked, losing another few hairs to how close the Hunter’s slash came to taking off his head. He darted forward, a whirl of magicked volcanic glass, spinning and striking, ducking and darting away, making every advantage he could out of how much smaller he was than Bandersnatch. When Tobias became overwhelmed, Flynn came to the rescue, pulling the Hunter’s attention away — and then Tobias repaid the favor, when Flynn came within a hairsbreadth of death.
The back-and-forth, push-and-pull of this clash was a lighting-paced struggle, every second a flurry of dozens of moves and counter-moves, every moment supercharged with Tobias’ desperation, knowing the futility of his fight.
He couldn’t kill Bandersnatch. There was no weapon that could draw blood from the Oldest Hunter, not even the sword Tobias had once wielded, before the obsidian blade he now fought with. The Jabberwock, fiercer even than the Dragon Devas, had contended with Bandersnatch in a battle for the ages, one passed down in epic song.
And the most terrifying of dragons, of beasts, a monster the likes of which the world had only ever seen once and never would again, had not just lost its legendary battle with the Oldest Hunter.
It hadn’t left a single scar upon its foe.
What was Tobias against such a mighty legend? Nothing.
But he didn’t have to be enough to win. He just had to hold on. To give more of himself than he ever had, for the sake of time.
Every second — and each second was compressed, stretched, warped by how fast he and his foe moved, by how much happened in every blink of an eye, every heartbeat — was a precious gift to Sheena.
Every second gave her another chance to save her brother. So Tobias fought for every second, his heart pounding, his lungs burning, every instant another brush with death that sent a shock of icy dread through his veins even as sweat drenched his hands, stinging his bleeding knuckles.
The little Knight and his little dog fought, second by second, against their towering, storied foe. Not for one second did they back away.
Bandersnatch had already come too far. He wouldn’t get one more step closer to Asbel.
——
Sheena couldn’t imagine the terror that Tobias was facing. All she’d heard was one note, one clash of Tobias’ obsidian blade and the Oldest Hunter’s vorpal sword, and that single tone had frozen her in a panicked dread like nothing she’d ever felt. Rukia, the other Dancers, Guinevere, Elliot, Hector and Ava, even Asbel… they had all frozen for a full three seconds, paralyzed by the absolute dread only a living legend could inspire.
When the fighters in the middle of the river could move again, Rukia stared at Sheena with a desperate plea. “At least let us be the ones to put an end to Asbel’s curse,” she said. “Don’t let it come at the hands of an outsider.”
“It won’t,” Sheena said. And she leapt on the offensive, putting Rukia and her officer off their balance. Guinevere resumed her own duel, holding up admirably, and Elliot and Hector continued to keep Asbel from leaving — and from getting attacked by the remaining two Sword Dancers.
Rukia and her officer, for all their skill, couldn’t hold up against Sheena when she pressured them this heavily. She disarmed and kicked the officer in the chest, and then it was a brief series of clashes between her and Rukia before she twisted Rukia’s sword from her grasp and swept her legs out from under her.
Rukia said something — but Sheena wasted no time on conversation. This was the opening she needed, the moment that Tobias and Flynn were fighting so valiantly to give her, the moment she’d been pursuing for too long.
She ran straight to Asbel. When he turned towards her, a nightmarish hulking monstrosity, for a moment it was hard for her to see her brother. For a brief moment her resolve wavered.
But then she saw, in the midst of that grotesque mass, a face. And the eyes of her brother — small, haunted. And her resolve was stronger than it had ever been.
She pulled the kantetsubo from her belt, undid the seal, and held it towards her brother. He saw what she was doing, and his eyes widened. There was a plea there, a single glimpse that tore open Sheena’s heart.
He wanted to die.
But the sealing power burst forth. And Asbel, man turned monster, was taken by a rushing wind. In an instant, he was flung into the tiny ceramic jar. Sheena replaced the lid and sealed it.
And exhaled. This wasn’t the end. It wasn’t a cure. But in her hands, she held her brother. She stared at the jar, and then held it close to her chest, hugged it as tight as she could. She bowed her head, closed her eyes, and sang a prayer of gratitude to the Creator.
Asbel… I have you. I’ll never let you go. I promise, I’ll set you free from this curse. Not with death…
With life.
She lifted her head, and didn’t wipe away the tears that came. When she turned, she found Rukia standing, staring at her not with anger, or defiance…
But acceptance.
“This is your victory, Taichou,” she said. “I only pray you are not wrong.”
Sheena nodded, emotions making it too hard to form words for the moment.
This was her victory. She would treasure it, and make sure it didn’t go to waste.
——
Alice beamed at Sheena. But her joy over Sheena’s victory swiftly turned to worry, and she looked towards the shore.
For Tobias. For Flynn.
She saw them, then. The Knight in black looked so small, standing across from the Oldest Hunter. But they were standing — not fighting. Bandersnatch lifted his head, blind eyes gazing across the river towards the little island where his prey had once been.
And then, Alice shivered. It seemed like Bandersnatch turned his head towards her — and then inclined his head. A sign of respect.
The Oldest Hunter did the same for Tobias. He sheathed his Vorpal Sword, turned away…
And departed.
Alice exhaled. Tobias was alive. Flynn was alive. The fight was over!
Seeing how Tobias and Flynn turned and started their way towards the rest of them gave Alice pause, though. It was a weary trudge, and it was several steps before Tobias sheathed his sword — as if he’d forgotten, for a moment, that he was even holding it.
Alice ran to him, leaping from stepping stone to stepping stone, picking her way quickly across the river. She didn’t meet him halfway — she made it more than three-quarters of the way to the shore when they met.
She looked up at him, but before she even saw the state of him she heard it. His breaths came heavy, ragged, uneven and at an uneven tempo. Some were like tiny hiccups rather than a breath, and even his deepest breaths were worryingly shallow. She saw blood on his knuckles, his neck, his face — but all from scrapes, shallow cuts. No major injuries, then — not any that she could see, at least. There was a spot beneath his left ear that was darkening, a bruise starting to make itself known.
His eyes, though — there was life in them, at least. He looked slightly distracted for a moment, but then he saw Alice, and met her gaze. “You did it,” he said, his voice whisper-thin.
“You did it,” Alice said. “You gave Sheena enough time to save her brother! Come to think of it…” She pursed her lips, slightly frustrated. “I’m the only one who didn’t do anything.”
“You stayed alive,” Tobias said.
“Thanks to Guin,” Alice said. But she saw the genuine relief in Tobias’ eyes that she was alive and unhurt, and her heart danced.
Guinevere and the others were joining them, and Alice looked out across the river to see the Sword Dancers they’d been fighting walking away, finding their own path.
“Are you insane?” Elliot asked, a panicked joy in his voice as he leapt over and wrapped Tobias up in a bear hug. Tobias winced, groaned, and didn’t immediately hug his friend back. When he finally did, his return hug was weak, and Alice noticed his hands were shaking.
“Don’t you ever do something like that again!” Elliot said, pulling away and looking Tobias up and down.
“Don’t be a mother hen,” Tobias said in his thin, exhausted voice.
“You’re…” Elliot started, then shook his head. “Insane. Totally, completely insane.”
“Probably,” Tobias said.
Sheena brushed past Elliot and held out her hand. Tobias stared at it for two whole seconds before slowly reaching to grasp it. Sheena held his hand firmly, looking him in the eye. “Words can never be enough,” she said. “Thank you.”
“This is just the first step,” Tobias said. “Let’s get your brother cured.”
Sheena blinked at tears, and nodded. “Let’s,” she said.
“Are you all right?” Guinevere asked. She’d noticed his breathing, and probably everything else — but who could miss it? It had been a few minutes now since the fight had ended, and Tobias was still breathing fast, uneven, each breath sounding painful.
“I will be,” Tobias said.
Flynn barked then, an instant before Elliot drew his sword. “It’s not over yet,” he said.
Alice looked up to see on the shore a full two dozen Sword Dancers, led by Itsuki, the man who’d confronted Sheena in Cuindeigh.
“Mad Hatter…” Alice said softly, thinking of how Tobias’ mad rival had flung himself into battle to secure their escape. He couldn’t be…
“Don’t worry,” Tobias said. “He’s too stubborn to die.” And he reached, wearily, for his sword — and Alice noticed how his hand missed the hilt the first time. Tobias looked down, as if confused, and then grasped his sword and drew it.
“Itsuki!” Sheena cried angrily.
“He won’t listen to reason,” Tobias said. Alice could hear the effort it took him to talk, and she wanted to tell him not to waste his strength. But then he turned to her, and fixed her with a serious gaze. “Can I take you to meet Merlin now?”
Alice’s heart skipped a beat. That simple request flooded her with a whole host of mixed emotions. But when faced with the offer, right in front of her…
“Yes,” she said.
Tobias nodded. Wearily, he stepped to the edge of the rocky outcropping, and struck his obsidian sword against a stone. A serene chord rang out, and then, in the midst of the river’s raging rapids, a circular section about four feet in diameter rippled, and then stilled. Water as placid as glass, as clear as…
A Looking-Glass, Alice realized. This was a hidden passage, and in a moment she saw the mirrored water ripple again, their reflection changing to a vision of a clifftop waterfall.
“Let’s go,” Tobias said. “Everyone — follow me.” He took a step and dropped right into the Looking-Glass, vanishing through its mirrored surface. Flynn was hot on his heels, an urgency in his steps, determined to look out for his weary, wounded human.
And Alice went immediately after them, with the same thought as Flynn. Tobias had fought the fight of his life — and he hadn’t come out of it unscathed. He needed every set of eyes that could be spared on him, until he got a chance to finally rest and heal.
One by one, the others dropped into the Looking-Glass realm behind Alice, and they followed Tobias through the ghostly, whisper-filled world. Away from the fight. Away from their pursuers. Away from the danger.
< Previous Chapter Next Chapter >