Mythos: Last Stand

  Chapter 18 — To Kill a Firefly

  by Caide Fullerton

  Annelys knelt within a cluster of bushes, her mind racing through all the unfortunate events that had led her life to this very moment. She knew she should stay focused on the job at hand, but having something to think about actually helped to keep her hands steady as she performed menial tasks like reloading.

  Practical applications aside, she knew it wasn’t worth trying to hold back the torrent of bitterness that gushed about in her mind right now. It was best to let her thoughts be true to herself, even if they were the sorts of thoughts that an Evendelian soldier ought to be ashamed of.

  She’d known from the earliest stages of this mission’s planning that her role in it would be the most dangerous; knowing ahead of time still didn’t make her like it. She’d never wanted to put herself on the line like this. Being a monster tamer was meant to be a cushy post where she’d spend more time doing research and hanging out with big, scary animals than actually fighting out on the field.

  Even so, she didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. She couldn’t exactly disobey Lieutenant Marjoriee, and her role in this stratagem was an essential one. Someone had to be there to wrangle the Firefly, lest it fly off in some random direction or suddenly decide it felt less tame than the day before and eat one of the soldiers it was meant to serve.

  That someone ended up being Annelys. She should have foreseen this and specialized in taming monsters that were less useful, but that opportunity was long past.

  While that stood at the top of her grand list of ‘Things Annelys Ought To Have Done’, right below it on the list was ‘not miss that Harpy’. She’d thought for sure she’d lined up a perfect shot, but the bullet had merely hit the pirate’s wing. To make matters worse, that hadn’t even been enough to completely prevent the Harpy from flying, and she and her companion had flown off to hide in some other tree.

  This was exactly why such an important role shouldn’t have been entrusted to someone like her. She’d made the hasty decision to open fire and missed; someone like Beihart or Gildern wouldn’t have missed, and better yet, they probably wouldn’t have taken the shot in the first place.

  She could feel the judging eyes of her bodyguard burning into the back of her head, which did little to help her focus. Yet another thing to be bitter about. The man, a burly, serious soldier who rarely spoke, was her only human—that was human with a lowercase ‘h’, of course, since the capital variety had been extinct for hundreds of years—companion here in the jungle, as all the other forces had formed a wide encirclement around their prey.

  Continuing to think about everything or wallow in her own self-pity wouldn’t solve anything—she understood that much, at least. With a sigh, she focused her mind and rushed through the final step of reloading her weapon. It was a simple gunblade, a basket-hilted rapier with a trigger within the handguard and a short barrel running along the base of one of the blade’s edges—standard issue among Evendelian footmen.

  I’m neither a foot nor a man, so she thought, but that was just the bitterness creeping out again; she shook it away and readied herself to move. Her pointed ears twitched, picking up the sounds of the nearby Firefly scampering around the jungle undergrowth. While she’d been reloading, the curious monster had been dutifully searching for signs of its escaped prey. Sparky could be a good bug, when it felt like it.

  With a nod to her bodyguard, they both rose and began creeping through the brush, moving nearer—but not directly towards—Sparky. Their eyes scanned the canopy above; with luck, Sparky would draw the Harpy’s attention and let them seize the initiative again, though Annelys didn’t dare think herself that lucky.

  She’d only gotten a brief look at him, but she was pretty sure the Harpy’s lanky friend had been carrying a bow. She didn’t particularly feel like getting shot today, so it was time to take the situation back into her own hands.

  She ducked behind another bush and cupped a hand around her mouth, turning in Sparky’s general direction and making a clicking sound. The monster stopped in its tracks, turning to her momentarily before obeying the command. Its wings emitted an all-too-familiar buzz as it took off, beginning to weave its way between trees and branches as it renewed its search for prey.

  That pair were hiding in the trees somewhere. No doubt they were hoping to bide their time, perhaps land a surprise attack on Annelys—and maybe not miss like she had. Rather than grant them that chance, she’d have Sparky force them out of hiding. She did feel a little bad about this course of action, since it was likely to result in Sparky getting shot, but that was still vastly preferable to her getting shot. Arrows hurt, and Sparky had a lot more flesh to go around.

  Thwip.

  A sharp sound struck the trunk of a tree, higher up near the canopy on Sparky’s level. The monster wasted no time in whirling its large body around in the air, zipping off towards the sound. Annelys craned her neck to search for the source as well, readying her weapon.

  It was hard to tell from afar, but her elven eyes could help with that. As she narrowed them, her vision gradually magnified until eventually the small object stuck in the distant tree was just large enough to make out.

  It was an arrow.

  Thwip.

  It took her a moment to realize what was happening. That moment was all it took for Sparky to zip away after the second sound—a second arrow, shot into a second tree much further away from her.

  They were luring Sparky away.

  No sooner was she about to let out a hasty chirp than she heard rustling nearby—something approaching her, and fast. An enemy? Did they know where she was, or was it just a guess based on Sparky’s presence?

  If it was the latter, chirping out another command to the monster would only alert the approaching enemy to her exact location. The pirates should have no way of knowing her position already, so it would be better to land a surprise attack on whoever was approaching. Sparky was smart, as far as monsters went; it would return to her when it heard the gunshot. Probably.

  The footsteps drew close, so she shot up to her feet, sword arm outstretched. Just ahead, perhaps ten meters away at the most, she saw a pirate—a grey-skinned man with several swords at his hip, sprinting along through the jungle.

  He caught sight of just as she caught sight of him, and he pivoted, dashing straight for her.

  She fired.

  Unlike her previous attempt, the shot met its mark. The bullet hit the man in head, a splatter of crimson blood painting the undergrowth behind him as he stumbled.

  He was dead on impact, surely. And yet, something about that brief interaction unsettled her. He hadn’t made any attempt to evade or defend himself, simply running right into her line of fire. Was he a sacrificial pawn, sent to die in order to reveal her position?

  What would be the point in sacrificing someone just to save two people?

  Her bodyguard realized the ruse before she did. He stepped forward and shoved her aside and behind him, whipping out his own gunblade, the same model as hers. Just as he did, the pirate—who was very much not dead, despite the bullet hole in his head—leapt up from the brush, drawing a curved, two-handed blade from his hip in a fluent motion.

  The two men’s blades clashed, the steely clamor ringing out across the jungle. Annelys held herself back from muttering a curse, instead chirping for Sparky to hasten its return as she began reloading her weapon once more. Their attacker was a Zombie, and bullets would therefore do little against him, but she doubted he was alone.

  The approaching buzz of Sparky’s wings was interrupted by a hoarse screech. A third arrow had been fired, this one striking the Firefly. A single arrow wasn’t enough to knock the large beast off-course, nor to seriously wound it. It was, however, enough to hurt like shit and goad the bug into abandoning its course, charging off in the direction of the attacker.

  Annelys had seen where the arrow came from this time, but she didn’t have a clear shot at the archer, nor even a loaded bullet, for that matter. Sparky made up the majority of their combat power, but now it was running off on its own.

  They were completely exposed.

  The clash between her bodyguard and the pirate broke, each warrior sliding back from each other with swords to their sides. They each dashed forward and past each other, rotating as they exchanged a flurry of blows, swords clattering together. With the speed of his strikes, her companion seemed to be gaining the upper hand, but—

  A rustling sounded, and then it was over in a moment. A figure rose from the brush off to the side, a Spriggan woman wielding a spear. No sooner had she appeared than she thrust her arm forward. It stretched, first by a meter, then two, then three, its shape unraveling into that of a long wooden spring. The hand at the arm’s end remained intact, the spear clutched in its grip.

  The spear thrust right for Annelys’s bodyguard, who was forced to twist his body away in an awkward ducking motion. With him now off-balance, it was child’s play for the Zombie to bat his blade aside and slash him with a second strike.

  Of course, Annelys was barely able to keep up with the action, since she’d been targeted, as well. At about the same time the Spriggan revealed herself, an Alphiccan woman shot out of the brush on the opposite side, a blur of bright red as she rushed towards her.

  Though they lacked wings, Alphiccae could fly via jet propulsion. This was information Annelys was factually aware of, one of the many things she’d learned in training. She’d never had a chance to see it in person.

  She wasn’t prepared at all for how fast it was.

  Compressed air shot out of chitinous armor on the woman’s heels, shins, and forearms, and in the blink of an eye she’d closed the distance between them. The jets cut off all at once as the woman twisted her body, swinging her arms and legs in a circle. Those jets shot back into action, stopping her momentum and transferring it all into a wildly-spinning kick which was planted firmly into Annelys’s head.

  The attack sent her tumbling backwards into the brush, rolling across the mud as her head spun from the impact. Her vision was blurry, ears ringing. Even so, despite the assault on all her senses, her mind was calm. Through the pain and the rush of motion, what she felt most strongly was a sense of shame, guilt, perhaps a bit of embarrassment.

  She’d let herself be defeated in a single attack.

  What she didn’t feel in this moment, not even the tiniest bit, was bitterness. No, she was quite thankful, because somehow, she was still alive. She was quite sure her companion hadn’t been so lucky. She’d been knocked away from the fight, as well, so that gave her a few seconds to collect herself before someone tried to finish her off.

  Would pirates even honor an attempt at surrender? She had no clue, and she was honestly inclined to say no, they wouldn’t, but she didn’t have much of a better choice, either.

  And so, forcing her body to move through the pain, a very delirious Annelys planted her palms against the dirt and forced herself to rise to a sitting position, then raised her arms in the air. Her vision was still spinning, but she was able to make out the vague silhouette of an approaching figure.

  The figure stopped in front of her for a few moments, saying something she couldn’t quite understand to someone she couldn’t quite see. Then, just as she was expecting to be killed, the figure stepped over and seized her arms, yanking them behind her and crudely tying them together.

  She was officially a prisoner. On one hand, that was quite a relief, but on the other, she was starting to regret not just dying instead. Being a prisoner was only marginally better, especially when the people she was now prisoner to were pirates. Would they torture her? That was a dumb question; of course they would, and that quite firmly placed her position in ‘worse than just dying’ territory.

  Though, wait a minute. They were still inside the entrapment. These pirates would have to get past her comrades to escape, so surely they’d rescue her? That, or the pirates would use her a hostage to escape. Just great—now, instead of being useless, she was actually helping the enemy. There came the bitterness again.

  Not all hope was lost. She and her bodyguard had only been present out of necessity. The real force here inside the entrapment was Sparky, and a well-trained Firefly was more than enough to take down a dozen soldiers. While she wouldn’t exactly call Sparky ‘well-trained’, it was as ferocious a beast as any. She’d counted… a lot fewer than twelve enemies.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Things would work out, right?

  ? ? ?

  Sam’s part in the plan was to distract the giant lightning bug. It seemed a simple role, but it was an essential part of Jackie’s strategy. Luring the monster away would grant the others an opening with which they could take out the handler.

  Thwip.

  And so, he loosed the first arrow, hitting a tree near the monster. He couldn’t see the handler, and thus didn’t know exactly where they were, but he had a rough idea, so it was relatively easy to lead the monster away from that general area.

  Thwip.

  The second arrow was loosed, and the Firefly was lured even further from its master. The dutiful insect surely thought it was doing a wonderful job, proactively investigating the strange sounds without even an order from the handler; Sam almost felt bad for tricking it.

  Almost. It was a monster, and its master was part of an operation trying to kill his… comrades? He wasn’t sure what exactly his relationship with the people of Heapwatch was at this point. He wouldn’t exactly call any of them friends, not yet, though they seemed to be good people.

  Bang!

  A gunshot rang out from below, no doubt aimed at Jahd. The sound signaled the next stage of the plan, and it was shortly followed by a metallic clang as two blades clashed against each other. The clamor caught the Firefly’s attention, and it turned to buzz its way back over to its master.

  Thwip.

  Sam loosed the third arrow. Rather than a tree, this one was aimed for the beast itself, and though he’d aimed for its head, he wasn’t quite able to account for its speed. The arrow struck its abdomen instead, and the monster practically spun on a dime as it changed course to zip towards them. This direct attack had finally alerted the monster to their location.

  Naturally, that was exactly what they’d been hoping for. The creature shrieked, zipping towards them, and Sam felt the talons on his shoulders grip him tighter. Viz took off, and in the next moment he was whizzing backwards through the air, the Harpy carrying him through the forest as the Firefly gave chase.

  The monster was, to be frank, utterly terrifying, but ‘utterly terrifying monster’ was something life in the Forgotten Heap had desensitized him to. He had a feeling its appearance wasn’t entirely faithful to the animal it shared its name with. Its exoskeleton had an orange hue, a long, bladed proboscis extending from its head and two pairs of wings buzzing on its back. Its bulbous abdomen glowed an almost sickly yellow, sparks of electricity occasionally dancing along its surface. Its antennae were constantly twitching, its large, jet-black compound eyes staring blankly at Sam and Viz.

  The Harpy weaved through the jungle, trees whizzing past on either side. Branches and leaves occasionally brushed past him, but Sam forced himself to stay focused. The Firefly was closing the distance between them rapidly; in this phase of the plan, slowing it down as much as possible was his job.

  He plucked an arrow from his quiver—quite a difficult thing to do with somehow gripping his shoulders from above—and drew his bowstring back, trying to aim at the beast before him as his body was jostled this way and that. He shot and, predictably, he missed.

  The Firefly shrieked as it closed in, and that served as more than enough motivation for him to nock another arrow and try again. This time his arrow landed true—the Firefly was quite a big target, thankfully—but the attack did little to actually slow the beast down.

  He and Viz drew a wide arc across the jungle, circling back towards where the others had attacked the handler. They shot past several thin columns of smoke, careful to never pass them. Sam fired off as many arrows as he could to whittle the monster down—and to delay its claws from reaching him as long as he could.

  Jackie: [Use the fires as a reference to avoid getting close to the perimeter soldiers. You two will lead the Firefly around as long as you can while we take down the handler.]

  So Jackie had said during their impromptu strategy briefing, but it was quickly becoming apparent that ‘as long as you can’ wouldn’t be nearly as long as any of them had hoped. The monster had already nearly closed the distance between them, and it didn’t help that Viz was working with a wounded wing, even if he’d done his best to patch it up. It seemed like the Firefly would catch up before they even reached the others again; they certainly wouldn’t be able to fly another loop like this. They were going to have to resort to plan B.

  Jackie: [If we’re lucky, while you’re luring the monster around…]

  Something appeared. He caught only a brief glimpse of it, a rising flash of white. The monster saw it at the same time, but both of them were moving too fast to properly react. It came from below, shooting out from the ground and rushing past, or perhaps through, the Firefly. The beast shrieked, white blood spurting out of its thorax as one of its legs was separated from its body; the monster promptly crashed to the ground.

  Jackie: [...the survivors will see you and jump into action. Then we’ll have everyone together, and we can finish off the Firefly together.]

  Viz came to an abrupt stop, lowering Sam to the ground and stumbling down behind him; it seemed that really was taking a major toll on her wing. Sam leaned on a nearby tree and crouched down as he looked to the white flash, which was not a flash at all, but a girl, one who was now levitating in the air.

  The girl had long, platinum-white hair, many of its messy strands standing on end as if the very tips of each lock were floating independently from her. She wore a dark teal tabard, chainmail sleeves beneath it and a grey muffler around her neck. Clutched in her shaking hands was a claymore, one that seemed far too large and heavy for her but which she held with relative ease.

  ???: “i-i-i won’t let you h-hurt them..!” Even as she tried to muster a shout, her voice was soft, breathy, almost like a strained whisper.

  The monster turned to her with a snarl like a chorus of clicks. Accompanying that sound, its body began to stretch, a flap of skin extending between its thorax and abdomen, causing the latter to curl up into the air like a scorpion’s tail. The organ’s glow intensified, casting harsh light on the surrounding jungle as more and more electricity began to dance across it.

  Sam blinked at the sight before him, refocusing his mind. [Jackie, we found a survivor..! She attacked the Firefly. We’re roughly southwest of you.]

  The message was transmitted in a fraction of a second. Immediately after, the Firefly unleashed a terrible bolt of lightning from its new tail. Several bolts lurched out from the glowing organ, striking trees and crackling through the air around the floating girl, all signaled by a terrifyingly loud crashing sound. The girl screamed as she dove away behind some trees; Sam couldn’t blame her.

  Jackie: [Understood. Handler’s dealt with, we’re on our way.]

  Sam turned to Viz. “The others are coming. We just have to hold out.”

  Viz nodded and stepped out of cover, slowly approaching the Firefly, which had focused its full attention on the white-haired girl. One of her legs rose behind her, bending to grasp in her talons the haft of a halberd strapped to her back, silver in color with a large, heavy axe head. With a yank the leather clasps holding it in place gave way, and she flipped the weapon out in front of her.

  Viz: “Celeste, hold its attention! Help is on the way!”

  A weak voice came in reply. “o-okay..!”

  The white-haired girl—Celeste—floated back out into the open, her expression tense as she met the gaze of the Firefly. “c-come on, you monster..! t-try and get me..!”

  In response to her taunt, the monster wasted no time before trying to get her. Its tail tilted forward as it launched a bolt of lightning right at Celeste. She flinched and let out a pathetic yelp, but the bolt passed harmlessly right through her body, crackling at the open air before crashing into a small tree. Beholding the strange sight from the sidelines, Sam realized that Celeste’s entire body, including her outfit and the sword in her hands, had become translucent.

  At the same time as the Firefly launched its attack, Viz lunged forward with one of her own. She had only one foot on the ground, the other wielding her halberd; the motion she took was less like a leap and more like she flung her body forward. She swung her axe wide, and though the Firefly began to turn and dart aside, her blade managed to scrape the skin of its extended tail, drawing putrid white blood.

  The Firefly’s wings went abuzz, carrying it a short ways into the air. With a snarl it took both Viz and Celeste into its view, curling its glowing abdomen closer to its head as it raged with arcs of static. Both women dove to cover as the Firefly unleashed a storm of lightning, bolt after bolt emerging from its tail and crashing into trees and bushes in whichever general direction it pointed. The area went up in flames in a matter of seconds, embers licking their way across thin branches and tough bark.

  The thunderous crashes came to a stop as the Firefly realized its attacks were only striking its surroundings. It shot forward and perched against a tree, using the surface as an anchor with which to turn and launch itself towards Viz.

  Thwip.

  It was then that Sam fired. He hadn’t dared make a move during the chaos of the thunderstorm, but the distracted bug was a perfect target, and his arrow sung true, sinking its metal tip into the Firefly’s thorax.

  It was in that very moment that he realized what separated this creature from the ones he’d spent his entire life to this point combating.

  Almost every creature found in the Forgotten Heap, even the more bestial ones like the Kuzumade, were intelligent. Whether the intellect of a person or the strategic instincts of a hunting beast, every foe he’d ever faced possessed the means of outsmarting its opponent.

  In contrast, the Firefly possessed very little intellect. Its movements were incredibly predictable, in fact. Sam had identified a pattern which the beast followed with almost perfect consistency—when it was attacked, it would instantly give up on whatever it was doing and turn its ire towards the attacker.

  And he, the defenseless archer, had just landed a hit.

  Oh, shit.

  Sam: “It’s coming for me!” He shouted, his voice nearly cracking into a squeal as the beast did, in fact, turn to come for him.

  The Firefly’s tail flexed backwards as it charged, unleashing several small bolts of lightning to keep Viz from following it. It shot towards Sam in a perfectly straight line, bladed proboscis aimed at his head. He pedaled several steps back, and was just about to turn and run—

  Something shot down from above, its colorful glint catching his eye. It struck the Firefly, and a moment later something much larger crashed down atop it—another monster, its weight enough to send the low-flying bug careening down into the dirt.

  No, not a monster. It was the other survivor, Sam realized—the Kritta Jackie had mentioned, a wide smile on his face as he stood atop the Firefly’s back, two daggers sank into its flesh. What had they said his name was?

  Kritta: “Kah-ha! Bug no match for Earpiercer! Earpiercer need stronger prey!”

  Well, that answered that question.

  The next moment, Celeste whooshed in, a blur of white and blue, and yanked the Kritta away from his spot atop the beast. No sooner had the two whizzed away than the Firefly unleashed a burst of lightning from its tail, bolts and sparks flying in all directions, burning the world around it. As he was whisked to safety, Sam saw Celeste’s translucence spread across the Kritta’s body, as well.

  He hadn’t the time to ponder how that worked, or what exactly it signified. The monster was mere feet away from him and staring right at him, though it, quite predictably, chose to turn towards Celeste and its previous attacker. Sam raised his bow, nocking an arrow as the beast charged after the pair, but he was having second thoughts as he pulled back the drawstring.

  What would he do when the beast charged him again? He wouldn’t be saved a second time.

  Before those thoughts could progress further, someone else’s thought intruded on his consciousness—a message from Jackie.

  Sam: “Celeste!” He called out the name of the unfamiliar girl, who was currently fleeing from the raging beast, dragging the Kritta along with her. “Keep it distracted! Uh, try to pin it down in one spot!”

  Viz: “Pin it down? I’ve got it.” The Harpy appeared beside him, flipping her halberd around in her talons to sink its spearhead down into the dirt. “Celeste, keep it moving straight!”

  It was unclear if the white-haired girl even heard the order, but she continued fleeing in a relatively straight line regardless. Watching this, Viz leapt up with a beat of her wings, perching atop the shaft of her halberd. Her weight caused the weapon to start to bend down, and after a moment of careful observation the Harpy leaned into the movement.

  She crouched down and curled her body inward, tilting her weapon until it was torn out of the ground and over her head. She released it at the peak of its arc, sending the halberd flying into the air, a ring of spinning silver death. It whizzed between trees before finally finding its mark, the axe blade crashing down on the Firefly, its edge embedding deeply into its flesh and pinning it down into the dirt.

  With the monster down, Sam took aim. A countdown sounded in his mind.

  Jackie: [Three, two, one.]

  He loosed his arrow, sending it cleanly into one of the Firefly’s eyes. From the other side, a javelin came hurling through the jungle and sank into the monster’s side. It shrieked in pain, writhing in its rage, eager to exact vengeance on the dual attack, but the movement only had Viz’s axe biting deeper into it.

  Jackie: [Get everyone clear.]

  Sam blinked. “Everyone, get away from—“

  He wasn’t even able to finish before a red blur plummeted out of the sky, slamming down into the immobile monster with two feet. The attack kicked up a wave of dust, the ground beneath the Firefly painted white with its strange blood.

  The remains of electric fires dissipated into wisps of smoke as the dust cleared, revealing only the corpse of a once-terrifying monster and the red-clad girl standing atop it. A sense of relief came over Sam at seeing the beast felled.

  The feeling was soon replaced by urgency. They were still inside an enemy entrapment, even if the immediate danger had been dealt with. Everyone rushed into action to prepare for the next fight, Sam included. He ended up following Viz over to the fallen Firefly, her to retrieve her halberd, him to see if any of the arrows he’d spent were salvageable. Most weren’t, on account of the beast’s exoskeleton.

  Hearing a meaty sound across from him, he looked up to find Jackie yanking their javelin free from the Firefly’s body. They were followed by Jahd and the Spriggan woman whose name Sam hadn’t actually picked up on. The latter was dragging along a prisoner—the monster handler?

  Jackie: “Looks like everyone’s here?”

  Sam: “Yes! Both survivors. No major wounds, aside from Viz’s wing.”

  Viz: “I’ll live. What next?” She turned to Jahd, who in turn nodded to Jackie,

  Jahd: “How’re our reinforcements lookin’?”

  Jackie: “Already moving. I gave the word before we took down the Firefly.” They surveyed the others, their red eyes lingering on the two new faces. “After all that noise, they might’ve figured that we dealt with the threat in here. They may be closing in already.”

  Jahd: “Then we oughta prepare ta break through. Ear, can ye find the edge o’ their perimeter?”

  The Kritta, Earpiercer, gave an eager nod as he ripped his daggers free of the Firefly’s corpse; he’d been separated from them when Celeste saved him from being fried.

  As the discussion continued, Sam caught a frown spreading across Jackie’s face, a hand to their ear.

  Sam: “Jackie? What is it?”

  Jackie: “That might not be necessary.” They lowered their hand, gazing at everyone again. “The enemy’s retreating. We won.”

  Chapter Glossary:

  Annelys - An Evendelian monster tamer working for Lieutenant Marjoriee. She participated in this ambush along with her late Firefly, Sparky, and is having a very bad no good day.

  | Sparky - Annelys's tamed Firefly. May it rest in peace.

  | Lieutenant Marjoriee - The commander pulling the strings?

  | Beihart - A name that will definitely never be mentioned again!

  | Gildern - Another name that will definitely never be mentioned again!