Chapter 17

Blue light errupted around them, the lizardman in charge was yelling something, but neither of the two guards closest to Arthur were in shape to respond.

The sword was blinded, disoriented by his own exertion and the sudden loss of blood. So it took him a moment to realize the slightly weightless feeling he was experiencing was not internal, but was in fact because he and Arthur were slowly rising above the ground, Arthur held him in his arms, supporting his legs and his head.

“Do you think you could spare a finger?” Arthur asked conversationally, as they continued to rise. The sword heard the clink as the chains around Arthur’s wrists and neck trailed beneath them.

“Take it,” the sword said. “I don’t need them.”

“Excellent!” Arthur grinned. “Haven’t seen Tarbus in months.” He shifted slightly, and opening his mouth in a way that suggested he was about to literally bite the sword’s finger off. Then he paused, made a face. “Cadmarius would be really upset with me. Serps it is, then.”

The leader had retrieved both guards, and the one the sword had knocked out was awake, groggily struggling to his feet while the other two prepared to charge them.

“Sapphire Summon: Lord’s Prerogative,” Arthur said.

A typical warlock couldn’t summon a demon without a circle, drawn in the dirt or carved into stone, or, as Arthur had done at Crossroads, into a cafetaria table. It was one of the main powers of [Demon Lords] that that wasn’t actually required. The air in front of them rippled, and a circle of blue light spun into being in front of them.

The imp Serpenedos appeared in its center, flapping his small wings, one hand scratching under the chain fixed around his belly.

“Do you have any idea what time it is?” The imp growled, his deep voice rumbling.

“Complain later Serps!” Arthur said. “Fight cattle now!”

On queue, the lizardmen charged, spears crackling with lightning.

“Them again,” the imp grumbled. A single ball of blue fire appeared above his head, and he dove with that same incongruous speed he’d displayed in the dining hall.

The lizardmen were well trained, they didn’t flinch as the new threat appeared and attacked them from above. And they got a few well aimed shots of lightning off with their swords, one that nearly hit one of the imp’s wings.

He flitted back to Arthur and the sword.

“Surely there’s enough blood to give me a little more freedom,” the imp rumbled.

“Huh,” Arthur said. “Great point. This guy, he really doesn’t do things by halves. Uh, Second Flame, Authorize.”

“Second Flame. It’s like working with an apprentice warlock” the imp grumbled, then winged away.

“Hey! Take that back you little turd!”

The sword caught a glimpse of the imp, flanked now by two fireballs, and then the world went black.

The world went black.

“I believe he fainted, my Lord.”

“Oh, crap! Hey! Nick! Hey!”

The sword blinked, his skin felt cold, and the world was spinning.

“What happened?” The sword mumbled. “Did we win?”

“We’ve got em on the ropes,” Arthur said, “But you fainted from blood less. I’m gonna set you down, try to tie you up while Serps handles them.”

“Ok,” the sword said. “Sorry about this.”

“No, no, should have paid more attention to your delicate emo constitution,” Arthur said, slowly descending back to the ground. “I don’t know a thing about first aid, by the way.”

“That makes two of us,” the sword said.

With Arthur’s help, the sword was arranged in a position that minimized the blood leaving his arm, and made him feel a bit clearer than before. He was at last focused in on the fight.

Serpenedos wasn’t just ringed in fire, he seemed to himself have become a blue ball of fire, hurtling back and forth between the lizardmen, at speeds the sword wouldn’t have thought possible given his tiny wings.

The lizardmen were trying to keep steady, trying to get off shots when they could, but they were already covered in burns, and were clearly not succeeding.

“But where’s the third one?” The sword asked.

“Huh?” Arthur asked.

“Where’d the third one go?”

“Uh…”

“I don’t see him.”

“Me neither,” Arthur admitted. “He must have run away. Crap. Hopefully Serps will finish off those other two soon. Looks like we gotta get out of here before reinforcements show up.”

The lizardmen were retreating, still somewhat organizedly, towards the portal.

The sword considered this, his mind still working slowly. His arm had stopped bleeding, thanks to a piece of Arthur’s shirt he’d ripped into an uneven bandage.

“You don’t think he went through the portal do you?” He asked.

“Uhhhhh…” Arthur said.

A moment later, their missing lizardman reemerged from the portal, breathing heavily, his throat pouch inflating rapidly.

“Serps!” Arthur called out. “Reinforcements!”

“Hopefully,” he added to the sword, “Just a few more grunts. Serps is playing around, he can handle grunts, no problem.”

It was at first hard to parse what was coming out of the portal. The sword blinked a few times, wondering if whatever was wrong with his body was now affecting his vision as well.

The problem was scale. It was a long, black object, with two holes at the end. Much larger than the small blue portal. As it emerged, the portal expanded around it.

It was a snout.

As the rest of the creature emerged, a taloned foot, a towering thigh, it became easier to make sense of it.

It was still ridiculous.

“Are you kidding me?” Arthur swore. “What is it, a T-rex on steroids?”

The creature was wingless, but large as any dragon the sword had fought, towering above the lizardmen, long and lean, and standing upright on two legs, with shorter arms hanging from its sides.

Its eyes glowed with purple light, and lightning crackled from its mouth.

Much faster than it looked, its long tail whipped around, slamming into Serps and sending the imp spinning into the trees.

“Right,” Arthur said growling. “Looks like I’ll be needing one of your fingers after all. We’ll tell Cadmarius it was either that or get electrecuted by Tiny over there.”

“Surrender now,” the lizardman called out from the portal. “You cannot defeat the [Lord of Lightning]. Surrender, and your friend will be treated before he bleeds out.”

The sword looked down, he was indeed bleeding again. “Take two,” he wheezed to Arthur.

The lizardmen weren’t waiting for their decision it seemed. The dinosaur roared, a sound so loud it pounded through the sword’s head and seemed to shake the trees themselves.

Then it hunched low to the ground, unslung its jaw, and unleashed a helix of purple lightning at them.

“We’re heading up,” Arthur said in his ear, and they rocketed into the air, just barely avoiding the lightning, its crackle so loud it eclipsed all other sound.

“Crap, I need time,” Arthur said, seeing the dinosaur already reoriented to their new position, the lightning blossoming in its mouth, about to fire. “Where the hell did Serps go?”

The sword kept blinking and wanting to keep his eyes closed. It was getting harder and harder to open them again, he was so tired.

He closed his eyes.

Was he going to die?

Did he care?

Much to his surprise, the answer was a resounding yes.

He really, really didn’t want to die.

Even in this floppy, liquid filled body.

The realization felt like it had come too late. He was too weak to do anything himself. Hopefully Arthur would dodge in time.

He heard the crackle of lightning as the next helix arced toward them.

Heard Arthur swear.

But the lightning never arrived.

He thought at first he must have blacked out again.

Then he heard Arthur swear again, and opened his eyes.

A figure stood between them and the dinosaur monster. Dressed in synthetic black clothes, loose fitting, bright white sneakers, a baseball cap fixed to the top of her head, with her long hair tied into a pony tail running through the back. She wore a scabbard on her back, black leather with silver patterning. What was a little more unusual was the sword which ostensibly belonged to the scabbard.

For one thing it was much too big for the scabbard, at least six feet long, double handed, and though the base of the blade was that of a normal long sword, it had all these extra prongs sprouting from the sides, ending in the tip which had four prongs. There was no way it would fit in that scabbard at her back.

There was no way it was anything but a [Unique Sword].

The sword nearly fainted again, this time in pure, unadulturated jealousy.

The [Unique Sword] rotated gently, generating a soft whirring sound, audible even above the incipient crackle of the dinosaur.

The wielder turned back to them for a moment, cocking her head. Making sure they were alive, the sword thought.

It was Ms. Lopez.

She nodded at them, then turned back to the dinosaur.

“Right,” she said. “Get the hell away from my dumbass students you sorry excuse for a dungeon boss.”