A Sword to Remember
Part III
Paper lanterns hung from ropes strewn overhead down the path and across every opening to every turn. The calm orange glow illuminated the darkness of night. People laughed and drank and celebrated. They dealt cards and told stories. Slabs of basted red meat twirled over fires in slow motion. Chefs chopped sweet foreign fruits, and the ale never stopped pouring.
"It doesn't get any better than this!" Taro grinned, rubbing his hands together as a steaming tray piled with exotic dishes was placed on the table in front of him.
I nodded in sober agreement, occasionally sipping sweet honey wine from a tin cup. Taro gnawed on a juicy leg, stopping only to pour more ale down his gullet. On the platter between us sat a single, isolated, odd looking cracker. I examined it thoughtfully before breaking it apart. To my surprise, it was hollow, and there was a thin slip of parchment with a handwritten scratch across one side.
"Chase your dreams. Passion outweighs both success and failure."
"What's that?" He looked like an absolute buffoon, with his greasy lips and lean strings stuck between his teeth.
"Hm? Oh, nothing." Crumpling the paper, I tossed it down the table. It landed inside the stack of logs in the fireplace, forever lost to ashes.
Completely unannounced, a hefty body bumped against my back. A heavyset man with receding brown hair and a beard that matched his suede apron dropped a circular tray lined with full glasses on our table.
"Round of cider for the hunters! On the house!"
All eyes in the hall turned to us. The patrons hollered and cheered, applauding in our name. Taro examined the smooth looking beige colored liquid. With a shrug, he raised a glass and tipped it back. When it slammed back on the table it was empty. His eyes widened as he coughed and wheezed.
"Man, this stuff's got a bite to it!"
He reached out to grab another. I laid a set of fingers on the back of his hand.
"Let's not overdo it."
"Lighten up, Kai. Celebrate! Let go for once. Come on, have one with me." He gripped the glass and extended it in my direction. That sly smile, those sloped eyebrows. It was too much to refuse.
"All right. Just one."
I took the cup, Taro picked up another. They made a satisfying "Clink!" as we tapped them together. The cider was hot, sweet, and delicious. Then it began to sting. Over the next few hours, one turned in to two. Two to three, and then I lost count. We laughed like grown old friends and giggled like little girls. We jested each other for slurring and stuttering our words, doing the same thing as we poked fun at each other's mistakes.
"Whose idea was it to use the tail? Oh, mine! That's right."
"And who told you to deal with it in the first place? Oh yeah, I did!"
Taro blankly examined the last emptied glass. "Well, the drinks are gone. I guess that means it's time to turn in."
"You said it. I'm beat."
Standing up was a lot more difficult than it should have been. With one hand on the table, I stepped cautiously toward the door. Taro tipped back over the bench, jarring the table and tumbling on to his back. A glass rolled off the edge and shattered on the ground. Laughing, he moved his arms randomly in a sorry attempt to pick himself up.
Shaking my head, I stood over him. "You're lucky we're not wearing our armor anymore."
I gave him a hand and hoisted him over my shoulders. Slowly, we made our way outside, tripping this way and that.
"Kai, can I ask you something?"
"Of course."
"Do you think that this is destiny?"
"What?"
"You know, like... fate."
"That's not what I was talking about."
"Oh. I mean, when we met back in that fishmonger's shop."
"And when we decided to be something more?"
"Exactly. Do you think it was meant to happen? Made to be?"
"Yeah. I do, Taro."
He nodded with unspoken understanding, either accepting or pondering our conversation. We shuffled through the night toward our cabin, listening to the crackle of dying fires and the chirping of crickets.
"Kai?" His voice was just a peep.
"Yeah?"
"Look up."
All the blue of day, and all the violet of evening had passed. The sky was black. Brilliant, beautiful, little lights littered the heavens. Hundreds, thousands. More than you could ever count. I stopped immediately and gazed up, beguiled with wonder.
"The stars..." I didn't know what else to say.
"No. Look!" Taro raised a finger weakly. A bright form blotted out the far away lights as it sailed across the horizon. I could make out wings flapping slowly in the distance.
"What do you suppose it is?"
"I don't know Kai, but I don't think it's good."
A loud screech broke the present calm. The form closed in with haste, dropping out of the air like a raven on the point of an arrow.
"And when is it ever?"
Butting my shoulder in to Taro's underarm, we groggily sidled to an alleyway. The form crashed down upon the path, shaking the wood piles and thatched roofs. Our last hunt was huge for a Rathalos, massive. This one was even bigger, yet it was slender, with a less prominent wingspan. The scales that ran down its body were the color of cherry blossoms.
"What is that?" Taro inquired in a simple-minded manner.
"It's a Rathian. A queen, I think."
"She's not very happy, is she?"
"No, Taro. I don't think she is."
Her glowing blue eyes darted down the alleyway and locked on the two of us. She raised her head and cried. I knew what that meant. With a quick jerk on his shirt we both fell to the ground. Holding on with both hands, I rolled us behind an old wooden wheelbarrow. The moment we hit the wall, the cart burst into flames. Burning chunks of wood flew on top of us. I never let go of Taro, and in just seconds I was up and dragging him behind a little shelter made of logs.
"You know what we have to do, right?"
He started to curl up in the dirt. "Yeah. I guess it is about bed time."
I slapped him, once across the cheek with a callused palm. The eyes that were as good as dead a minute ago peered up at me. Sad, drunken, puppy eyes that seemed to ask me "Why would you do this?"
"I'm serious, Taro! I don't want to die!"
The thought of this apparently had some effect on him. He pushed himself up against the wall and unlatched the clasps on his back. While he still couldn't stand straight, he was ready, sword in hand.
"Remember what we did last time?"
Nodding nearly put him off balance.
"Okay, same thing. Just go for the tail. If you can't, then try the neck, or the wings, or take out the legs. Just do some damage!"
"All right, let's do it!"
Dashing back across the alley, I readied my own blades. The queen growled when she spotted me. Disappearing behind the next hut, I kept running. A little ways down I cut back on to the path. Her tail was turned to me, and her neck twisted down the alleyway where Taro waited. Grabbing a hold on the lip of a thick scale, I vaulted on top of her back. She lost interest in the alley rather quickly as I jammed the tempered red claw in to the side of her spine, following with the other blade on the opposite side. The weapons were my handles, and the Rathian bucked and spun like a bullfango as I held on for dear life. Her head came around and she snapped at me, but I was just out of her reach. Pulling out the mundane sword, I shoved it back in to the wound again and again. The break between her scales grew bigger and bigger as flakes cracked off and fell away, the claw ripping deeper into her innards. She cried, the base of her neck bulged and her maw opened wide. The inside of her throat was glowing.
"Oh no."
I let go. Her strong legs threw me from her hips, and I took flight. There was no sense of control. My limbs twisted and tangled as they pleased. The wind was pushed from my lungs when my back slammed against the only stone house in town. I dropped to the ground in a heap. The queen gradually moved toward me. Her menacing teeth almost seemed to form a twisted smile. I never wanted it to end like this, but somehow I always knew that it would. Something flashed before my eyes. At the time I thought it was my life. But she stopped, and it happened again. Her head turned away from me, and a hand sized stone bounced off of her forehead.
"Over here, ya' big bitch!"
Taro stood triumphantly, wide legged, holding another rock. I would never forget that image for the rest of my life. No longer stunned, the queen rushed down the path, leaving me sputtering on dust. Rolling to my knees I crawled, for I could not stand. The hulking pink behemoth stopped and stood on her hind legs. When she came down, she brought two sets of claws. Eight talons, each half the size of a grown man. Both of us had always known that death was a part of the job. At that moment I remembered how I had always believed that if one of us were to die in the line of work, I would die defending Taro. I felt as though the world was lost to me as the vengeful mother dropped to release her fury on my only friend.
"Taro..."
I couldn't believe what I saw next. The tip of a wide, curved, spiked blade the color of blood. It protruded through the wyvern's backbone. There was no scream. No cry. She hung suspended in the air for what seemed like hours. It began to rain. Finally, she slumped and collapsed in the center of town.
"Taro!"
Somehow I found the strength to run. Screaming, I plowed into the Rathian's ribs. She was far too heavy to even budge. Hopelessly I rammed my beaten body into her sharp scales. People began to open their doors and walk out of their homes. They stared in quiet astonishment as I endeavored in vain to topple the body of the slain beast. Young men and their fathers came forward one by one. Guards, guildsmen, farmers, fisherman, and the blacksmith came forth to aid. Even a few small children jumped in to help force over the heavy load.
She rocked, slowly at first. Each time she came back she would roll further over her side. With a final great heave, she toppled on to a shoulder. I fell to my knees. Taro was sprawled on his back, his head to the side. Eyes closed. The citizens observed as I crawled closer. I couldn't breathe, I didn't know what to do. Slowly, I placed a shaking hand on his chest.
It moved.
The corner of his mouth twitched, only slightly. "I wasn't lying when I said it hurts."
Taro chuckled. He lay on the ground, and I stayed kneeling over him. We laughed and cried for a lifetime as the rain began to pour.
