Without light, Marian couldn't tell exactly what had happened. She knew she'd been hit in the head, and hard - the pain brought to mind the time she'd been kicked by a horse. But the angle was strange, and there was no follow-through like she'd expect from a physical strike. She felt herself fly through the air, but it was less like she'd been knocked over and more like something was pulling her along, like a fierce current carrying a twig. She opened her mouth to cry out, but no noise accompanied the expulsion of breath. The only sound to her flight was the ringing in her ears from the explosion of pain.
And then, the lights kicked back on. Marian found herself on her belly in the middle of the room she'd been spying on. Six pillars surrounded her, each cracked with age and disrepair, and each bearing a burning torch. Her own torch lay discarded on the floor some feet behind her, and her poor hat lay overturned an arm's reach away amid dust and flecks of red.
Buleyak stood before her. Marian knew it was staring at her from the tilt of its head, even though she couldn't see its eyes. In fact, she couldn't detect any details to the shadow beyond its wispy outline. She could see no body or shape to cast the shadow, nor was it obscured or impacted by the light. It was darkness itself given form.
"Aoh, now what are you doing 'ere, girlie?" Picking her head up, Marian turned and saw Barney lumber over from another part of the ring. Between her sudden motion and the head trauma, her vision was indistinct, resulting in the pillars, the lights, and all within swimming around her.
She gritted her teeth as she concentrated. Forcing his shifting image into a single fixed point, she was able to see the large man before her. "Barney," she groaned through the pain. "Last time I saw you, you were burned to a crisp in the middle of an alleyway."
"Aye, and last time I saw you, ye were fighting alongside the 'Unter, playing 'ero." He squatted down so he was face-to-face with her prone form. With a leering grin, he whispered, "Guess a lot's changed in five years."
An indignant snarl bubbled in Marian's throat. She started to rise, but Barney delivered a cruel boot to her ribs. The sudden kick sent her tumbling down to the ground on her back.
Marian tried to speak, but the fall had ripped the air out of her lungs. Barney filled in the silence. "Now, I dunno what all ye 'eard, but the fact of the matter is, ye dun made me look bad in front of me new boss."
He jabbed a meaty thumb at Buleyak, who made no move to acknowledge the statement. In fact, beyond its billowing hair, the shade hadn't moved an inch since Marian had been brought in. It continued to stand still, its head trained on Marian, as Barney continued, "And fer that, I'm afraid I can't let ye live."
With a gasp, Marian could breathe once again. Her mind desperately searched for the next move as she tried to regulate her breathing. Wendy usually knew what to do in situations like this. The fiery-haired archer had demonstrated time and time again that even when she was down, she wasn't out so long as she could keep talking.
Marian put on her best defiant grin, though it felt little better than a grimace. "Throwing in with a Dark Lord? That doesn't seem like your style, Barney."
"Bandit King to you, girlie," Barney reprimanded with another kick to her ribs. He smiled at her yelp in pain. "And this ain't no ordinary Dark Lord. We're dealing with things bigger than us. There's 'ole 'nother worlds out there, full o' bigger toughies than yer 'Unter ever fought."
Marian coughed as she struggled to push herself up. "So, what? You come face-to-face with something you don't understand, and it scares you so bad you swear loyalty to it?"
He shrugged. "It's like I told ye all them years ago. Ain't nothing wrong with self-preservation. 's just being smart."
Talking was getting Marian nowhere. She needed to get away, and fast. She hadn't yet found the strength to stand, but with her hands beneath her, she could at least scoot away from danger. She frantically dragged herself backwards but had to stop when she bumped into a pillar.
Barney followed lazily, a patronizing look in his eyes. "Aoh, the things I could tell ye, girlie. I've only seen the tip of the iceberg meself, but whatever's out there in them other worlds, ye don't want no part of. Lucky for you I'm 'ere to save ye from it." He reached for the cudgel on his back as he advanced.
Feeling for the pillar behind her, Marian grabbed it and used it to foist herself up. She had managed to leverage herself to a standing position, her back still to the pillar, when Barney reached her. Marian opened her mouth to retort, but all came out was a pathetic whimper.
That's it, she thought. I'm out...
Barney moved his cudgel in a single, deft swing. The powerful overhead strike came for the space right between her eyes.
Marian hadn't known she was cringing from the blow until she realized it wasn't coming. She opened her eyes to see the man lowering his weapon, chuckling. A vile light flickered behind his eyes as a grin split his filthy face.
"On second thought," Barney said as he stepped backwards, "it'd be a right shame if'n ye never saw at least a li'l of what lurks out there. Might be... edjumicational." The big man glanced over his shoulder and shouted, "Oi! Haitchsy! C'mere!"
Twin red lights suddenly pierced the darkness beyond the pillars. From somewhere in the shadows came a wheezing rush of air, followed by a slow, rhythmic thumping. Marian watched as the lights approached, moving left and right in time with the sound. Before long, an iron boot audibly impacted with the stone floor as a man dressed in a full suit of silvery armor emerged from the darkness.
None of the armored man's movements appeared natural: not the trepidatious gait to his walk, nor the calculated swing of his segmented arms, which terminated in iron pincers. There was no sway to his body beyond that dictated by the motion of his limbs. The twin lights, burning circles peering through the deep blackness of his visor, never wavered from the witch. Everything else in the room - the chill of the subterranean air, the flicker of the torches, the eerie stillness of Buleyak, Barney's beckoning hand - was ignored as though it failed to exist.
It was only when the armored man reached his spot a few feet behind Barney that Marian realized how large he was. The armored man was a head bigger than the thief, standing tall on rectangular legs. His torso dwarfed even the bandit's bulging belly. The red eyes peered down at his target. As her gaze shifted upwards to meet his, she spotted writing engraved on the armored chest: 'HC-0064'.
"Haitchsy, mate." Barney turned to regard the armored man. 'HC' did not look back. "Looks like we missed one earlier. Be a darl' and pop 'er clogs fer me, wouldja?"
HC issued a long, trailing breath through the grille at the bottom of his cubical helmet. Then, without so much as pausing to blink, he lurched forward. Barney was forced to step out of the way as HC jerked towards Marian. As he advanced, he raised one of his pincers and pointed at his target. Because he was so close, Marian could see that the armored man's pincers were coated in vibrant, dribbling scarlet.
Marian's eyes bulged as she saw the arm suddenly shudder, its claw snapping open in a ruby spray. Raw fear made her lose her grip on the pillar. She slid back to the ground like a sack of wet potatoes.
This saved her from being skewered on the spot. The arm launched forward with abrupt agility, extending like a telescope to clear the fifteen feet between HC and the witch. The pincer whizzed overhead and gouged two holes into the stone pillar, embedding itself deep within.
"Holy Lady!" Marian cursed as she scuttled out of the way.
As she jumped back up, Barney stomped in angry protest, his attention focused on HC. "Oi, what was that?! Dun tell me yer knackered after all them scrapes earlier!"
The armored man ignored Barney. Another jet of air rushed through the grating on his helmet as he concentrated on his embedded arm. Then - without repositioning his arm or rotating his shoulder - the whole appendage retracted, dislodging the claw with little difficulty. HC's head slowly rotated on its axis until the burning red eyes were again trained on Marian.
"That's the ticket, Haitchsy! Now finish 'er off like you finished off the others!" The bandit jabbed an eager finger towards the bewildered witch.
"Th-this thing is responsible for...?!"
HC only clacked his pincers in mute acknowledgement as he started towards his prey once again.
Terror swelled in Marian's heart. She was no warrior. She wasn't sure she was ever anything more than a little girl who played at being a hero. If the real heroes had met their end at the pincers of this armored monster - she could no longer think of this thing as a 'man' - what hope did someone like her have?
The light from a burning torch caught the metal of HC's armor at a new angle. For the first time, Marian could see that the monster bore many dents and scrapes on its torso. The luster of its armor had faded, scored by the telltale marks of fireballs and other magical attacks. Doubtless from when her comrades' fates were-
A thought struck Marian. Barney had implied that this thing was exhausted from many fights beforehand. Even if it had defeated her friends, they wouldn't have gone down without a fight. She couldn't possibly have stood a chance against the monster if it was healthy, but with it winded, just maybe...
Marian clenched her jaw, raced her hand down to unholster her magic tome, and snapped it open in a fluid motion.
"Aoh, now this should be a right bubble," Barney chuckled. "C'mon, girlie, let's see what ye can do, then!"
Marian shot a quick glance at Buleyak. The shadowy wraith had kept silent so far, but she wasn't sure if it had any contributions to this turn of events. As before, it peered at her in an unflinching stance, the smoky dance of its shadowy hair the only hint that it was more than a statue.
However, Buleyak seemed to offer her no resistance at this juncture. Though she was wary of it, Marian let the strange presence fade from her focus as she shifted her gaze back to HC.
Her first order of business was to defend herself from those pincers. She couldn't help but stare at the cracked pillar in her periphery as she flipped through her book. She shuddered to think what those claws would do to her if she didn't blunt the impact. She found and cast "Bolstr" on herself, feeling a cooling rush on her skin as the blue-tinted magic washed over her.
She looked up from her spell book in time to see the iron-coated fiend's claw rushing towards her. It was too late to brace for impact. All she could do was watch as the rending pincer collided with her stomach.
She was treated to the sight of an almost imperceptibly thin layer of cerulean light absorbing the impact a fraction of an inch above her clothes. It wasn't enough to completely block the attack - Marian felt like she'd taken a haymaker to the gut - but at least the monster hadn't been able to shred her intestines.
"Yer losing yer touch, Haitchsy!" Barney hollered. "Hit 'er like ye mean it!"
Doubled over in pain, she looked back at her list of "Defensive" spells. "Bolstr" had helped, but it would be far easier if she could avoid hits altogether. Fortunately for her, the very next spell listed on the page, "Hustle", would do the trick.
Her eyes glanced over the transcribed memory. She remembered the time she'd watched Sandra effortlessly duck and weave through a tunnel full of arrow traps without breaking a sweat. An orange light filled her hand, which she felt cascade back over her in a rush of refreshing warmth. She took this opportunity to stand back upright, her eyes once again catching HC's oncoming attack.
The pincer drew near at a languid pace. Marian knew this was just an optical illusion - the spell didn't slow down the world around her, it sped up the rate at which she processed information. Still, the effect was the same: Marian had ample time to perceive the threat, then call upon her magically heightened reaction speed to lean out of the way.
The claw whizzed past her harmlessly. There was a satisfying crunch as it sank into the pillar behind her.
Barney stamped his foot in futile anger. "Aim, ye dumb blighter! She's just standing there!"
HC responded with an angry breath of hot air as it concentrated on its arm. Watching it strain against the pillar, Marian realized she had a couple seconds to react while it attempted to extract itself.
Flipping through her book, she found the page of "Offensive" spells. Reading through the inscription for "Burn 2" was a bittersweet affair, but it helped her recall the magic and started the power pulsating in the back of her head. With fiery orange energy building in her hand, she prepared to add another scorch mark on HC's armored chest.
...but the sight of the monster's embedded arm gave her an idea. Marian took a step backwards from the extended arm, then thrust her own towards it. The magical fireball flew from her open palm and collided with its target. The force of the impact caused the arm to buckle outward. For the first time since she'd seen them, HC's red eyes left her, drawn to the unnatural angle of its arm.
The effect Marian was waiting for came a second later when the fireball exploded. She shielded her eyes to protect them from the burst of hot air that followed. Even with her gaze averted, she knew her idea paid off she heard the loud scream of metal being ripped out of place.
Marian lowered her hand from her face to see that HC's arm had been blown apart. She had expected a violent display of gore, so she was surprised when she saw only scrap metal from the monster's armor littering the ground. The pincer and a foot or two of armored limb remained embedded in the pillar, with the open end having been melted over by slag. The retracting remainder of the arm, similarly cauterized, swung uselessly as a stump on HC's side.
"Cor blimey, ye blew Haitchsy's arm off!" Barney howled. "What in blazes is wrong with ye?!"
"'What's wrong with me'?!" Marian couldn't help but shriek her bafflement. "What's wrong with you?! You're the one who sent this monster to kill me!"
"Oi, shut yer North 'n' South, girlie, afore I shut it for ye! Haitchsy ain't no monster! 'E's just putting in an 'onest day's work, 'e is."
"Oh! Well! In that case, it's fine that you want him to kill me! Water under the bridge! You hear that, H-Se-?"
Marian turned in time to get sucker punched by HC's remaining claw. She flew back a few feet and fell on her stomach in the middle of the floor. The throbbing ache in her jaw hurt, but not as much as the knowledge that the stupid bandit had successfully distracted her.
Said stupid bandit was pointing at her and guffawing like an asthmatic donkey. "Ah, but ye are daft! Now stay down and let Haitschy finish ye off already!"
Marian picked her head off the ground and watched as HC trudged towards her once more. Hot air rushed out of the grille on its helmet in time with the thunderous step of its iron boots. The red eyes that traced her were no longer emotionless orbs adrift in inky blackness. Now they glowed, burning bigger and brighter with a vermillion rage. If murder hadn't been in those eyes before, it was now.
The witch stretched her arm out to where her tome lay on the ground. She dragged it over and started pawing through it. She needed to get HC away from her before she could risk standing up. She couldn't risk the kickback from "Burn 2" erupting while she was helpless to defend herself from it. "Soak" came to mind as an alternative, but if it hadn't toppled Barney all those years ago, it sure wouldn't work on an iron-clad creature now.
Luckily, she knew how to cast "Soak 2". The spellslinger's mad rush through her tome brought her back to the list of "Offensive" spells. She flitted her eyes to the bottom-most entry, where she knew the spell was transcribed.
The accompanying memory came from the only time she'd had the privilege to help the Wyvern Hunter take down a dragon. Despite herself, she smiled as she recalled the genius strategy Wendy and Nathaniel had concocted to lure the dragon out of its mountain burrow and into the geothermal valley basin below. It had taken the team weeks to figure out the pattern of the geysers, but it paid off: the first one kicked the beast back, the second pushed it to the side, the third took out its wing, and the fourth knocked it prone. Even though the subsequent fight was overwhelmingly one-sided against the scaly brute, it was a battle she'd always cherish being a part of.
Calling upon the emotions from that day, Marian felt the magic brew inside her. She concentrated the building power into her fist. She lifted it towards the approaching monster, which was far closer than it had been a few moments ago and was busy aiming its remaining pincer. With no time to waste, she twisted her wrist and opened her palm.
The jet of water that erupted from her hand was not as big as the geysers from her memory, but it was still several inches wider than her palm. The sheer power of the concentrated stream was strong enough not only to force HC a few feet away but to also push Marian backwards across the floor. She clutched her tome with her remaining hand and gritted her teeth as she felt her belly rub against the loose pebbles along the floor. She was grateful for that pain, however, when she saw HC's claw embed itself in the floor mere inches away from where she had been.
"Oi! Fancy yerself a snake, girlie? Maybe Haitchsy should stomp yer bloomin' 'ead off!"
Marian ignored Barney and concentrated on her spell. She got a foot under her and rose to a kneel, then slowly stood up. HC's trapped arm kept it from sliding backwards any further, so rather than attempt to extract its limb, the creature set its armored legs in place and focused on standing upright. There was a groan as the plate armor over HC's stomach began to warp.
The stream of water died away, but Marian didn't let up there. Her eyes snapped back down to her spellbook and reread the entry for "Burn 2". Loose condensation on her glove from the previous spell evaporated as a raging fireball replaced the jet stream. The witch chucked her spell towards HC's trapped arm, then covered her eyes before the fireball exploded.
Marian felt a headache starting. She could only keep up her string of spells for so long without giving herself a mental hernia. Still, as she lowered her hand, she saw she'd managed to give better than she'd gotten: HC was armless and had a dent the size of a minotaur's fist in its torso. Air wheezed from the creature's helmet with some difficulty.
"Had enough yet... monster?" Marian panted. She could only hope it was as tired as she was.
HC responded by shuddering. There was a rattling from within its dented torso as the creature did something. Marian raised an eyebrow in confusion, then the other in shock as she watched two new arms erupt from the creature's sides, directly below the two stumps. The claws on these new arms clacked angrily as HC lurched forward, barely slowed by the injury that should've mashed its innards into pulp.
"Oh come on! How are you even still standing?!"
"Ain't no one tough like Haitchsy," Barney gloated. "'E don't mind taking a beating if'n it means 'e can give a beating!"
"Yeah, well," Marian muttered. "If a beating's what it's after..."
Before she tried to make good on her unspoken threat, the witch searched for where she'd written down her healing spells. If she was going to hunker down into a drawn-out fight, she needed to keep up her energy. She placed her finger on the strongest healing spell she knew, "Salve2", and quickly washed herself with a refreshing wave of pine-scented emerald energy. While she couldn't perform the same miracles Gordon could through his connection to the Goddess - the event that had inspired this spell had seen the friar call upon the Divine Lady to mend a broken leg - she was able to dull the pain in her ribs, jaw, and belly.
She stood a little straighter and watched the metallic monster lumber towards her. "Alright, you dastard," she grumbled. "Let's do this."
HC lifted a fresh arm and pointed the exposed claw at Marian. With her reaction speed still heightened from "Hustle", she had little trouble ducking out of the way of the attack. There was no pillar behind her, so HC's arm simply reached the end of its range and stopped in midair.
HC then surprised Marian by pivoting its torso, swinging its arm into the young woman. The outstretched arm clotheslined her and sent her back to the ground.
"Now that's the Haitchsy I've been waiting fer! No more faffing around, now, cave 'er skull in!"
Marian let out a loud groan. "Do you ever shut up?!"
"Aoh, are ye being sore...? No one likes a sore loser, girlie!"
She shook her head and stood back up. Trying to prop herself back up while clutching the tome proved an awkward undertaking. However, as she watched her hands push against the ground beneath her, she had an idea.
Marian backpedaled a few steps as she started flipping through her tome. She felt the solid stone of a pillar against her back just as she'd opened to her "Offensive" spells. She reread the memory for "Soak 2", then let loose another jet of water from her open palm. With the pillar to her back, she stayed rooted in place as she found the same furrow she'd made in the creature's gut before.
HC slid a foot before it deliberately launched an arm into the ground at its side and set its legs. The three solid points of contact with the ground prevented it from moving any further across the floor. Secured in its place, HC raised its remaining arm and leveled it at Marian. Its claw opened, ready to tear at her face...
...but Marian surprised the armored foe by abruptly moving her arm. The water stream traced down HC's torso to its iron-clad legs. While the creature had been able to withstand the force of Marian's attack so far, it had done so strictly because of the stream's original angle. Its legs, not braced for a direct impact, were abruptly kicked out from under it.
HC toppled forward, resulting in its planned attack falling far short of Marian's spot against the pillar. The arm instead sunk into the floor some feet away, unwittingly catching HC before it could crash into the ground. The creature set its legs beneath it once again, vented another blast of hot air from the grille on its helmet, and looked back up at the witch.
...only to see her "Burn 2" coming right for its face.
Marian's headache briefly overwhelmed her, forcing her to lean against the pillar as she looked away from the erupting inferno. When the pain subsided and she looked back, she saw HC turned into a charred wreck. Its arms were still embedded into the ground, but the torso had been blown off. The metal all over its prone body had been burnt black by the blast.
Impossibly, the creature was still trying to force itself up. Marian watched as its eyes - dulled now, but still red amid a well of black - quivered as its legs flailed, trying to find purchase.
Marian's head hurt too much to try another magical attack so soon. Instead, she trudged over, pausing only once to pick up and put on her hat. When she reached the creature's prone form, she raised her tome overhead.
"Stay down," she intoned as she brought the book crashing down on HC's skull. The cracking of glass and the smashing of metal were the only sounds she heard as the monster finally stopped moving.
Marian rested a hand on HC's metal chest. She leaned over as she caught her breath, shutting out the rest of the room. Her nose was filled with the strange musk of the creature's thick, black blood as she pulled covetous air into her lungs. She wanted more than anything to lie down and take a nap on the floor.
Instead, she looked back over to Barney and Buleyak. They stood still, watching her in silence. The expression on Barney's face was hard to read.
Marian was too tired to try interpreting it. Instead, she simply chose to say, "I beat your monster, Barney."
Barney's expression faltered for a second, but he composed himself just as quickly. He crossed his arms and stared for a long moment before nodding once. "Aye... ye dun 'im in. Not bad, girlie."
His carefully neutral expression cracked and slid into a wide, leering grin. "Too bad fer you I got more where Haitchsy come from."
Before Marian could say anything, the shadows encircling the room abruptly retreated. They condensed into four additional shades, standing slightly shorter than Buleyak. Each made for a distinct silhouette: one was wide and round, one was thin and asymmetric, one was tall and straight, and one was short and hunched. Despite the different shapes, all five appeared to be cut from the same cloth: shadows without forms to cast them, hair billowing like smoke, a haziness that made details beyond the shape indecipherable.
As the four additional figures manifested, the retreating darkness revealed the full lay of the room. The chamber had been shaped like a great circle, with another ring of torches dotting the outer wall. These had been obscured by the shapeshifting darkness, as had been...
Marian saw many creatures lining the walls. There were leering skeletons and undead in various states of decay. There were man-sized bats that stood upright, wearing gaudy outfits and wielding glittering weapons. There were feral beasts like albino ravens, wolves baring their teeth, and even a pacing tiger. There were men dressed in drab, mottled green who held strange black tools. And there were more iron-clad monsters, each with glowing red eyes, limber arms terminating in pincers, and its own nameplate: "HC-0063", "HC-0059", "HC-0086"...
Marian had no idea how all these creatures had managed to pile into this room, or how they had remained silent this whole time. All she knew is that there were scores of them, and there was only one of her.
"I got a lot more where Haitchsy come from," he gloated, seeming to revel in the witch's expression. Was the dawning comprehension of her own doom so plainly spelled on her face?