Melody of the Builders 4

“Oh~, now that’s just cruel Chainmaid. Leaving me for dead.”

“Seriously. What does it take to kill this guy?”

“Are you really surprised at this point? This muscle bound idiot is a Hero and if it was so easy to kill them the Builders wouldn’t have a reason to sing about them.”

♪~ Chiseled man in paint of war ~♪
♪~ Marked by scar of greatest hunt ~♪
♪~ Piercing eyes with mane of flame ~♪
♪~ Darkness splitting the spear he wields ~♪
♪~ Beasts weep and flee for all are prey ~♪
♪~ Even man and maid are trophies all ~♪
♪~ Ever ambitious the fisherman ~♪

Looking upon the shirtless man who addressed her and Varen the inhuman voice of the Builders’ Song rose up in verse amidst the rest of the song to meet Chain. Unlike Varen who wore a look of disbelief Chain simply sighed and clutched at her left temple at the sight of the Hero. As the title implied the man seemed nigh invincible with his torso and arms scorched black from electrical burns and blood running freely down his chest from where a blade that looked as though it belonged to a rapier rather than the hefty two handed grip it had protruded from behind him. Offering Chain a smile the Hero coughed up a gout of blood before smiling again allowing more of the red fluid to dribble from the corners of his mouth.

“A Hero of the great kingdom of Bright Rift Chainmaid. You forgot that part.”

Snapping the fingers of her left hand Chain summoned a small sphere of magical light in her hand and then pulled back on it with her right. The sphere of light transformed under the stress and took on the form of a bow and arrow which Chain leveled upon the Hero.

“That’s because I simply don’t care. As far as I care your headstone can say here lies another idiot who challenged the Chainmaid.”

“Now that’s just harsh Chainmaid. And here I was going to return your sword, though it looks like the tall man could use it more right now between your spell and his worthless hilt. “

“Apparently being on Death’s Doorstep isn’t enough to make you remember that I said it’s Varen Elcourt, Hero.”

“I felt we were close enough to use pet names after a battle like that, but if you insist on being formal you should remember that it’s Kyte Ardea.”

“I don’t think it really matters since in your shape I can drop you right now and then neither of you idiots will have to worry about what to call each other. And the best part is then I get my sword back and don’t owe a dead Hero a favor.”

“Can you drop me though Chainmaid?”

As the Hero, Kyte Ardea, asked his question he held out his right hand and Chain herd a simpler verse rise up out of the Builders’ Song.

♪~ When stalking prey beneath the waves, how to fish must be asked ~♪
♪~ When hunting prey on land and sky surely spear will pierce them all ~♪
♪~ To conquer all and split the dark, none more known than – ~♪

“Harvelin.”

Speaking the name of the spear that the verse Chain heard spoke of Kyte summoned a combat spear out of thin air into his outstretched hand. Despite his injuries with the newly summoned weapon he easily knocked away the magical arrow that Chain fired at him. Clicking her tongue Chain prepared to fire another while Varen took up a combat stance in naught but simple defiance.

“And here I thought we destroyed your spear too.”

“Give up trying to understand how a Hero works Varen. If an idiot like you could figure it out then the mysteries of the Builders’ Song would have been unraveled a long time ago.”

“Yeah, but you said the Builders’ were singing. And what else could they have had to sing about if not that we defeated a Hero?”

“The problem is all we did was beat his attack but the nature of that clash seemed to make the Builders think of the clash between the Dark God Cometia and the human goddess Cardinal. I’m not particularly surprised considering the nature of the weapons you were both using.”

“Oh~ you could tell huh Chainmaid?”

“Crimson ice and references to comets was more than enough to put two and two together. But those verses were out of tune just like the one sung about that kid you were with back in Nest Cliff.”

Kyte’s smile widened and he twirled his spear into a relaxed position behind his back. With his left hand he grabbed the blade of Chain’s sword and pushed it back out the way it came in through his back spilling an impressive amount of blood as he did. Once it was far enough out he shifted his spear to push on the grip-like quillons of the sword to finish extracting it from his body. With a clang the sword hit the ground along with a splattering of yet more blood from Kyte’s wound and the Hero staggered for a moment before straightening back out.

“Seriously, what are you made of? Most people would have died from that wound alone no less having the sword pulled back out like that.”

“You’re one to talk Varen. You just fought a Hero and you’re in better shape than any of us here. In fact, I don’t see a single injury on you.”

Chain did not relax her proven futile aim on the Hero as she split her attention between Kyte and Varen. As she said, despite the condition of the Hero and the pain that she felt in her left shoulder Varen looked none the worse for wear. If one looked at him compared to Chain and Kyte one would not have thought he had partaken in the battle that left Chain and the Hero in such a bloodied state. Kyte though did not consider just Varen’s peculiar durability as he pointed out Varen’s ability.

“It’s not just his toughness Chainmaid, the way he wielded that borrowed verse I could swear that I had indeed squared off against another Hero. But tell me Chainmaid, when you look upon the tall man there do you here the Builders’ sing?”

“I don’t see why it matters. None of us are really in a position to continue this fight and I doubt I could come up with any ploys right now to put you down for good.”

“Don’t you think that’s all the more reason to entertain my question Chainmaid? It seems like a good place to mend this troublesome meeting. Oh~ I know. How about if I promise to get you to Misthead in one piece? You look like you could use the help all things considered. That is unless the reason the tall man there hasn’t let go of that worthless hilt beyond sentimental reasons is because he thinks you can summon that borrowed verse again.”

“I’d like to try but drawing on the Seventh Well again in my condition would probably be a bad idea.”

“Seriously? You’re just going to tell him we don’t stand a chance anymore?”

With a sigh Chain lowered her hands and dismissed the magic she had summoned.

“Unless you can convince the Builders to start singing about you Varen then we don’t.”

“Oh~ so I was right, the tall man is special. Now you’ve got me itching to find out how a humble adventurer like him could fight so naturally with a borrowed verse.”

“From what I can tell it’s just the nature of the verse. It had the same effect against the Bandit King when we fought him over a six-day ago.”

“Really? Yet I can’t help but feel like there’s more.”

“Think what you want Hero, but don’t expect me to get friendly with you just because Chain has decided to stand down.”

A groan escaped from Chain and she shook her head as Kyte smiled at Varen’s open hostility. Walking up to Kyte, Chain began to step past him and stopped for a moment. Curious what Chain was thinking Kyte looked down at the maid.

“What’s the matter Chainmaid, having a change of heart?”

“No, just curious.”

Chain flashed Kyte a malicious smile and in the next instant her left hand struck out into the Hero’s exposed abdomen. A smile spread across Kyte’s face as he easily caught Chain’s attack in his empty left demonstrating that he could easily stand against her despite his wounds. Withdrawing her hand Chain stepped past the Hero and retrieved her sword promptly returning it to her scabbard.

“Well, you’re welcome to follow but I have no intention of relying on your aid.”

“Seriously? You’re just going to let him tag along?”

“Give it a rest Varen. We only pulled off what we did because he was holding back from the start. If he had seriously been trying to kill us I never would have gotten that spell off.”

“You really are cruel Chainmaid. You knew that and still you tried to kill me.”

“Of course.”

Chain flashed Kyte a smile that legitimately unnerved the Hero and he caught himself instinctually stepping away from the maid. The fact that she could terrify him so wet Kyte’s appetite for battle but he restrained himself from again engaging Chain as she explained her ruthlessness.

“What you don’t get about me Hero, is I believe in making it perfectly clear what will happen to anyone who messes with me. Now that I’ve got Heroes messing with me that means I’ve got to really drive that point home because honestly every single one of you I’ve encountered is nothing but a pain and I’d rather explore ruins like this than deal with a world full of idiots.”

Copyright © 2018 Joshua D Tarwater