Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt – Reading Thirteen: Foul Moon

So far on Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt…

Delinquent Liss Decker found herself caught between combatants from a strange alternate world called the Sphere, and afterward found herself with the ability to transform into Tarock, a warrior of awesome powers. Tarock's creator, a mystical immortal being called an Arancum, asked Liss to become a champion for his people, who were being plagued by the reappearance of monstrous beings they call the Mythos. Mainly seeing an escape from her oppressive everyday life, Liss agreed.

But as she battled the Mythos and searched for the special cards that were the keys to unlocking each of Tarock's special powers, Liss found her self-righteousness shaken by the gratitude of the beleaguered people of the Sphere. After spending weeks recovering from a terrible battle she returned to Earth only to find the Arcana who'd been hoping to have her champion their cause had appointed another warrior who happened to be Ben Corland, her obnoxious ex-boyfriend.

But Ben persuaded Liss to come with him to where a monster hideout was in the city sewers that he was meant to destroy as his "final exam." The Arcanum named Jack was pleased at their initiative at not waiting for his guidance to find the hideout and destroy it, but after the battle Liss left him a recording revealing the nature of the Mythos's leader…

"…How long have you and Tarock been partnered? Just how many of those monsters have you fought together?" Sue Gand fired off questions one after another, hardly giving Ben a second to recover after answering the last question she'd fired at him.

He gave her his most winning smile and said, "We've been operating on our own mostly, but after today I'm seeing an even stronger force protecting this city. But Hopefully not caving in the ground anywhere else."

As confident as he managed to sound, Ben was hoping Sue planned to call it a day soon. His vision was a blurred on the edges and his feet felt like he was dragging lead weights. That attack he'd used to destroy his last enemy had taken a lot out of him.

Sue was smiling at his answers, though. He hoped that meant she had enough for her next piece and was willing to leave him and Liss be. "Interesting," she said. "What exactly are you planning next, now that Tarock's back from the other world?"

"As soon as we've had a chance to get that all mapped out, you'll be the first person we tell," Ben said, sweating inwardly. How long could she keep this up? Probably a pretty long time…

She nodded and clicked off her recorder. "I'm holding you to that, son," she said, and Ben scowled lightly at her choice of word. "Can I get your number?"

"Uh, well," Ben said, "My phone sort of got broke when the monsters attacked the school. And my folks…"

"They don't know about your powers," Sue finished for him. "This is a hell of a thing you're asking me to walk away from with no way to follow up."

Ben smiled and spread his arms. "We're supposed to help inspire people," he replied. "That's easier if people know about what we're doing right? We'll be in touch, Sue." He turned around to walk back and discuss things with Jack, but the strange traveler was gone.

As they watched, the strange plant-creature helped the woman out of the coffin, then she jumped down and walked out of sight. The projection from the blue Ora Stone flickered away, but its meaning was not lost on its observers.

"This is unsettling news," said the image of Master Shardak, stroking at his ghostly beard. Although certainly the old wizard had heard plenty of that sort of news of late.

"Indeed," Jack told his old friend. "I can only venture to guess how long ago this took place before Liss discovered it, and that was weeks ago."

Shardak nodded thoughtfully. "How's she recovering?"

Jack chuckled lightly. "Well enough to be hunting down Mythos on her own with our other new champion. They found the nest all by themselves and defeated a rather nasty Mythos that was guarding it. They're doing quite well."

"Good, good," Shardak said. "Then hopefully we can afford to step things up. I fear the Mythos have had much more time to consolidate their power than we thought."

"Indeed," Jack agreed. "Is our little masterpiece ready?"

"A few more hours and it'll be finished," Shardak promised. "Shall we summon our young champions now to move forward with the now, do you think?"

Jack canted his head and fixed the visage of the wizard with a strange look. "I thought these were your plans."

"I'm not here to give orders," Shardak sighed. "We're trying to lessen people's dependence on the protection of the immortals, aren't we?"

Again, Jack chuckled. "True enough, true enough. But no, not yet. Someone's needed to guard the other side if the Mythos are indeed making use of it themselves, and another night at home is the least we can do for Benjamin, with what we're asking of him."

Ben Corland was up unusually early the next morning, a Sunday. He was out the door before his parents even tried to wake him up. He went over to the kung fu school where he'd seen Liss go the other night, but the person who answered when he bounced a rock off the window this time was a hulking black man who said nothing but gave Ben a look so menacing he was a little surprised he didn't burst into flames right there. This was clearly someone only an idiot would mess with.
So Ben didn't. He ambled away slowly so he wouldn't look intimidated, and once he was out of sight of the school he dialed Liss's number on his phone that wasn't broken despite what he'd told Sue Gand. It was still there, after all this time.

But Liss didn't answer even after two tries to dial her. Was she ducking him? Especially after finding out he had powers now too? That wasn't what was supposed to happen…

Just then there was a strange tingle in the air, not like the weird "stretching" feeling of the area around him when someone was about to arrive from the Sphere. Ben spotted the cause a second later when blurred figure rounded the end of the street and came toward him. He was grabbing at his transformation card when the blur slowed, revealing itself to be Jack. The Arcanum smiled as he stopped a few feet away from his protégé.

"Ready to defend yourself at a moment's notice, eh?" Jack asked.

"You didn't hire just any idiot off the street, ya know."

Jack tossed back his head and laughed, and for his part Ben wondered how his hat didn't fall off when he leaned that far back. "Hired, eh?" Jack grinned. "Next you'll be telling me we're not paying you enough!"

Ben clenched his teeth at that. "I got my reasons for wanting in on this."

A somber expression slowly spread across Jack's face. "Good, because thanks to Liss's efforts we've made an unpleasant discovery. The Mythos do indeed have a leader, and she's likely been free and directing their actions for quite some time now."

"And what's that mean for us?" Ben asked.

"It means we dare wait no longer in going to the Sphere," Jack answered. "If the Mythos have a leader of some sort, and she's been free for some time now, we can't afford to wait to look into this and gather our forces."

"Great! Let's go get Liss!" Ben exclaimed, but Jack grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Now that Liss is back she can be contacted whenever she's needed, and who will protect your city if both of you are on the Sphere?" asked Jack.

Angrily, Ben pulled away from Jack's grip. "You said I'd be helping her fight!" he protested.

"We said you'd be helping to fight the Mythos," Jack corrected him, his look turning disapproving. "Are you in, or are you out?"

His fists balled in anger at Jack's question, but Ben ultimately sighed in defeat. Jack had a point: the snake-hair lady and the Gremlin hadn't been the only monsters he'd fought before Liss came back. There would be probably others. Someone had to be around if one showed up.

And most importantly, there was that. He couldn't let this be taken away. It was his only shot. "Okay, fine. But what about those rewards you promised us?" Ben reminded him.

A smile returned to Jack's face, even if it was tinged with a bit of weariness. "Yes, indeed." He reached into his bag and pulled out two white cards he handed to Ben. One had a picture of a moth on it, and the other a snake.

Ben couldn't help grinning. "The Wild Cards are ready?" he asked. Jack had said his partner had been working on these, special cards that could be changed into a small animal and sent to search for anything he needed to find. Having a couple extra pairs of eyes would sure come in handy in a weird place like the one Jack wanted them to save.

"And that's not all," Jack promised. "Shall we be off, Master Ben?"

Ben waved his card in front of his bracelet. "Change, VAGA!" it said, and in a green flash he was garbed in his armor once again. The air around them felt as if it was stretching, and then they were gone from where they'd been, and flying through the black void outside the transparent wall of the Sphere. With the protection of their powers they flew through the wall as if it wasn't even there and came down near barren hillside. Jack, with Vaga behind him, walked right through it into a small cave.

It had certainly changed a lot since Ben had been brought there to meet Jack's partner for the first time. Thanks to him, that was. In the center of the cave was a small rock pedestal, but now arranged in a circled around it were several rounded gems of various colors, along with a similar circle jutting from the ceiling. Above the pedestal floated a ghostly bearded face, but this time he looked at them with alert eyes.

"You're here a bit sooner than I would've expected," said Master Shardak, stroking a transparent hand through his transparent beard.

"Liss and me went and trashed that monster hideout by ourselves," Vaga declared.

Jack nodded with a light smile. "Indeed. Commendable initiative, wouldn't you say, Shardak?" Then his face turned serious. "But we are here for more serious reasons, after all. Is the Air Talon ready?"

"The what?" Vaga asked.

"Yes, it's ready," Shardak answered. He unfolded the fingers of one hand and dropped something small onto the floor. Within seconds it grew into a metal-skinned creature with the body of a lion and face and wings of an eagle. Jack had made Vaga fight plenty of those during his training: it was a Gryphon.

Jack placed a hand on Vaga's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. "Listen closely Ben, because this is very important. This, Ben, is the Air Talon. He'll take you to a fortress a ways away. Find a man there named Valerian, and convince him to come to Avalon. He's been investigating ways to create more powerful weapons, and what he's discovered is crucial to fighting off the Mythos."

"What about you?" Vaga asked, looking down uncertainly at the metal creature they were asking him to ride.

"I have others I need to contact," Jack said matter-of-factly. "We are much further behind the Mythos than I already feared. Find Valerian, then we'll speak again." Then Jack left the cave, moving with incredible speed, but still looking as if he was only walking as he receded toward the horizon.

Vaga just stood there for a second, staring at the opening after Jack had disappeared from sight. "If he gave most of his power to me, how can he still do that?" Vaga muttered.

A soft chuckle escaped Shardak's image. "I hear knowledge is power, young one. And Jack's been walking and learning for a very long time…"

"Uh…sure," Vaga said. He'd only met what was left of the wizard a few times, but knowing he was in the presence of a real one had made his skin crawl even then. Wizards usually turned guys like him into geckos, or something stupid like that, didn't they?

And he'd just been worried about that when Shardak could barely use his powers anymore, before Jack had had Ben help him put those Ora Stones in the cave to help Shardak magnify his powers. Enough so that he could create things like the Wild Cards and the metal creature nudging Vaga's back with a paw, with enough time. What might he do if Vaga didn't laugh at his jokes?

"Yeah…maybe I'd better go for a walk too, see if I learn anything," Vaga replied.

Master Shardak smiled slightly behind his beard. "You'll get there faster if you let him do the walking."

Vaga looked down and the metal Gryphon looked him in straight back in the eye. It didn't seem fair: Liss got a kickass motorcycle, and he got a bird-lion? Still, it looked him in the eye and he could see intelligence and devotion that put both German Shepherds he'd owned to shame. The Gryphon, the Air Talon, lowered itself to the ground, and with hesitation Vaga climbed onto its back.

Then Air Talon galloped through the hills. After a little while, Vaga even started to enjoy the speed. No wonder Liss had wanted this. The incredible strength, speed, power they had now…he felt like he could do anything.

And he would.

The sentinel's replacement walked past Valerian's door while the old soldier drew listlessly at some of his notes. He'd volunteered for this, he dimly remembered. To go someplace isolated with a handful of his fellows to devise new defenses while eliminating distractions. That had been before the Mythos had resurfaced, when all he'd thought he'd have to worry about was a distant possibility the empress of Mazones might finally go over the edge and declare war. Something to keep a few aging members of the army busy.

"Val?" asked Jaxom, the bags under his eyes seeming even bigger and darker than the last time they'd seen each other. "We were gonna try to make a run for it tomorrow…" he said, trailing off, and they both knew why.

They'd "tried to make a run for it" twice already, to get back to Avalon and some semblance of safety. Almost as soon as they'd gotten outside the walls of the old fortress, they'd known they were being trailed. It seemed like the Mythos had only waited so long to launch their attack to make Valerian and his comrades stew in knowing it could happen at any time as long as possible.

"And why is this one going to succeed?" Valerian said, not even looking up from his figures.

Jaxom frowned at that response. "It's better than sitting here waiting for them to break their way in."

"Is it?" Valerian said, still not looking away as he completed a diagram.

"You ask that, and yet you keep making those damned doodles of yours we came up to let you work on in the first place!" Jaxom shouted.

Gently, Valerian set down his pen, rolled up the plans and put them into a bin with the others. He took another roll of paper out, spread it on the table in front of him and started writing on that one. "Because," he said, "we can hide these away if nothing else, and others might come one day and find what we've planned."

A few minutes passed, and Valerian realized Jaxom had walked away. It didn't matter, he had a few insights to finish recording, and unless Avalon could actually spare any of its defenders to come and retrieve them, the fortress would eventually be their tomb.

Not long after, Valerian walked along the outer wall of the fortress. When they'd first arrived the thick forest surrounding them, split only by a single road that the forest had started to reclaim long ago, had seemed peaceful and revitalizing. Now, he scarcely even dared to guess

how many Mythos were staring at him, waiting for the most shocking chance to attack.

Maybe Jaxom and the others were right, though. Had it truly been so long that he had no desire to resist, to deny his enemies their goal? Was he just going to piss away the time he had left waiting for the Mythos to break in and drop the axe on him?

All of a sudden, Valerian could feel his old soldier's instincts coming back to life. He could definitely feel someone nearby watching him. He turned slowly so not to betray his awareness, then saw a group of four men in tattered uniforms standing just at the edge of the trees. The one in front of the group had a patch over his left eye and a thin black mustache. It took Valerian a minute to recognize him; the man had been at least twenty-five years older the last time they'd seen each other.

And that had been on their last attempt to flee to Avalon.

"Saal…?" Valerian asked guardedly. Affen. Eldurn. Nicode. They'd all been lost during the group's attempt to make it to safety.

The man with the mustache nodded and smiled. "You're looking spry, old friend," he said.

"You as well," Valerian said. "I suppose you've come to tell me how."

"So suspicious after what we've been through?" Saal asked, and held up a dark metal cross. "Remember when I got this? For saving your sorry behind when we were bringing those families back from Raijan?" Valerian did. The hand holding up the medal was even missing the two bottom fingers Saal had lost in that trip.

Valerian frowned. "Yes, I'm suspicious. You died a week ago. I saw you fall."

A few of the soldiers chortled, Saal among them. "You think so lowly of someone who's been on as many battlefields as we have, and always managed to return to tell the tale? We survived because we're strong, and as it so happens we're stronger than ever now. And this is a strength my brothers deserve to share. Tell the others we will return."

Valerian blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, they were gone.

His mount slowed as they entered the forest even though the road they were following was wide and clear. Vaga didn't blame the Gryphon, with how literally anything could be waiting for them, and he had no desire to go barreling into a Mythos ambush.

A tense while later, something huge and gray in the middle of the forest road came into view. It was an old stone fortress, which looked strangely empty. Its metal-bound doors were closed tight, but Air Talon stopped when they were about fifty feet away from the wall. Then all of a sudden it jumped, spread its wings and glided over the wall, landing in the courtyard. A surprised Vaga suddenly finding himself with a bearded man brandishing a glowing blue pike in his face.

But with superhuman speed Vaga drew his Warder and swiped it in front of him, forming a transparent barrier that was only there for a second, but that was long enough to deflect the burst of electricity aimed at his face. "Hey! I'm a good guy!" Vaga cried.

A blast of electricity caught him across the shoulders. Not much more than a painful sting through his armor, but he jumped off Air Talon's back and turned to face another bearded man carrying another glowing spear. And then another emerged from the shadows, and moved to surround Vaga, but he easily jumped over their heads to get a little breathing room. "I said, I'm a good guy!" Vaga insisted. "I'm here looking for a guy named Valerian!"

The first man appraised him suspiciously. "Who sent you?"

"Jack did," Vaga answered.

"Jack?"

"Yeah. Him and Shardak," he added, with Jack's name not seeming to get a reaction out of them.

The men raised their spears straight up, and away from Vaga. "If you're on our side, take off that fancy armor and prove it," the first one who'd attacked him said. Slowly Vaga raised the wrist with his bracelet and then held his free hand in front of it. His transformation card appeared in his fingers, the glow on his bracelet's stone went out and Vaga flickered away, leaving Ben Corland in his place.

"Doesn't look like any Mythos I ever heard of," one of the men said. "But what about this animal of his?" Air Talon hissed at the question.

"Shardak made him," Ben replied.

The men exchanged glances. "Why has Shardak sent you here, boy?"

"I'm here to find a guy named Valerian and make sure he gets to Avalon in one piece," Ben answered. "They need him to help make new weapons, or something like that."

Again the men exchanged glances. Another of them stepped forward, his beard gray and his eyes weary. "Telling, wouldn't you say? Avalon sends no one to help us, but a renegade Arcanum does. And he's confident enough in a single boy to be our savior."

"I ain't no frigging kid!" said Ben. "I bet I killed more monsters'n you!"

"I bet that would be true if I had that fancy suit of yours," the man retorted.

"Leave him be, Leson!" one of the other said, but Leson ignored him and took a menacing step closer to Ben. Air Talon tackled him to the ground, hissing angrily. The other men leveled their spears, but another man sighed and smacked the closest of them on the back of the head.

"Help's finally come and this is how you react?" he said reproachfully. "What fools have we become?"

"Fools enough to agree to come this far from Avalon," said one of the men.

Fools enough? Who talks like that? Ben thought, and caught himself right when he was about to look over at Air Talon and see what the Gryphon thought of the remark.

The man who'd rebuked the others sighed. "I'm Valerian, young man. You seem to have some formidable powers."

"I wasn't even getting started," Ben said. "But that's because I'm a good guy, like I said."

Valerian looked Ben hard in the face, and Ben did his best to look confident. Then he looked up at the other soldiers. "What do you say, fellows? Can we trust this…young champion?" As he spoke he turned to face Ben again, staring hard at the young man. Ben swallowed and steeled himself, thinking over and over to look as confident and heroic as he could.

"Beats waiting for the Mythos to send something big enough to smash through the walls," said one, and his sentiment was echoed by several of the others.

"Then let's prepare," Valerian said. "The sooner we're gone, the better. Young man, you come with me."

"So, what? Is there some kind of super-secret thing you need to trust me with in case anything bad happens?" Ben asked as soon as they were out of earshot of the other soldiers. He froze as Valerian turned and looked him in the eye.

"Why are you doing this, boy?" he demanded.

Ben hid most of a wince. "I told you, I'm a good guy. They help people in trouble. We help people in trouble, I mean."

"Boy, I've seen your like a thousand times. You want me to think you're doing this out of the goodness of your heart, that you're a normal kid who just couldn't stand the chaos he was seeing anymore. You're not. Why are you here?'

"Look, mister, I just want-"

"Cut the crap, boy," Valerian snapped. "You want me and my friends to put our lives in your hands, a little honesty would be appreciated."

Ben sighed and clenched his eyes for a second. "There's this girl," he answered. "She's the new Tarock. And I want to show her how brave I can be too."

"I see. And the suit, and the Gryphon? Those make you brave?"

Ben opened his eyes but looked away from Valerian's face. "Look, this is the only way I can keep up with her! She's the new Tarock!"

Valerian shook his head slowly. "Tarock? Son, do you have any conception of what you've gotten involved with?"

Immediately Ben nodded in answer. "Yeah. I'm helping Liss save people and fight monsters."

A silent moment passed, during which Valerian gave Ben another hard, penetrating look. "Gods, you're serious about this, aren't you, son?" Valerian finally said, laying heavy emphasis on the last word. "But you're probably the only salvation that's coming. Help me get some things together and we'll go."

But Ben clamped a hand on Valerian's shoulder. "Hey, I notice stuff too old man. Like you wanna go right now instead of tomorrow morning. What was up with that?" he demanded.

With a sigh, Valerian pulled away from Ben. "It's because I saw someone not long ago, who I shouldn't have been able to see. He said he'd be back soon, and I have no intention of being here when he does."

Ben nodded. "Guess we better get going."

"Yes, guess we'd better," Valerian agreed.

As the old soldiers finished gathering everything they dared to bring, Ben took out the pair of cards Jack had given him. He focused on the flat images of the moth and the snake, and pushed a tiny bit of his vital energy into each. The cards glowed for a moment then changed into a red-scaled snake and green-winged moth, both seeming to be made of thin sheets of transparent crystal.

"Okay guys, head into the woods and keep an eye out for any monsters," Ben directed them, but they were already vanishing into the trees before Ben had finished talking.

Forty-five minutes later, Ben was at the head of a ragged procession of old soldiers, Valerian leading behind him. Air Talon brought up the rear, a couple long cases strapped to his back while Ben and Valerian carried similar cases themselves. Inside were the weapon designs Valerian had been working on.

They were a few miles from the fortress already, and the trees were starting to thin out. That was a good sign, Ben figured, if they hadn't been attacked when hiding places were everywhere. Out on the grasslands the Mythos would be easier to see coming. If they were even still thinking about attacking the group with Ben around to take care of any monsters that showed up, that was.

"I don't like it," murmured Leson, lifting his spear off his shoulder. "We never made it this far before without walking into an ambush…"

"You never had a super-strong ass kicker like me watching out for you either," Ben said. "I got eyes everywhere."

"Oh wonderful, another one of these," the soldier said with disgust. "A kid who's just grown his first beard and thinks that means he can beat the whole world."

Ben glared over his shoulder at Leson, but didn't say anything. He wasn't in this to impress some old man. But as he walked, he made a point to look into the trees for anything moving in the shadows, including a flash of color from the little spies he'd sent.

A while later the trees ended completely, and still no sign of any Mythos. The sky above was starting to darken and the glowing crescent shape was glowing the brightest of the three shapes in the sky. "Do we make camp now?" one of the soldiers asked. "I'm not the daring young warrior I once was."

"There's a defensible cave about an hour's walk from here," Valerian said. "We should wait until we get there, at least."

Leson stamped the butt of his spear on a rock. "We should settle something far more important right now. Why are we entrusting our protection to this boy? Give me that bracelet of his, let someone who knows how to use it see to our protection."

In a blink Ben's transformation card was in his hand. "You want it, you're gonna have to take it from me, old man." Then he looked away as he spotted a frantic flashing of light coming from the trees. The Wild Cards had spotted something dangerous. "We're about to get jumped!"

The tip of Leson's spear swung at Ben, singing the hair on his arm. "That's all the reason you need to give that trinket of yours to a real soldier, boy."

"Stop this!" Valerian yelled. "Leson! He won't betray us. He has a goal he's too dedicated to."

"And what could inspires such unshakable loyalty?" a voice called out from behind the group. They turned, and there stood four men in the same uniform as Valerian and his comrades, but dirty and torn. The one in front had a thick black mustache and a patch covering his left eye. "Valerian, you didn't even tell the others of my offer, did you? Youth, power, immortality…and you not only ignore it, you run from it!" He clicked his tongue in disapproval.

"Saal?" someone asked, nervously.

The man with the patch smiled. An evil, superior smile. "That and so much more now, my friends! Valerian seems hesitant, but I can give you back the strength time's taken from your bodies! Even you, young man! You think you've tasted power, but with what I've been granted, you could be a god!"

Tightly, Ben gripped his transformation card and raised it in front of his bracelet. "I don't want anything you're giving away, asshole," he said.

"Then perhaps a demonstration will move your minds more than just promises," Saal smiled, and he exposed the long fangs he'd suddenly grown.

"Change, Vaga!" Ben yelled. The card had vanished from his hand and seconds later his armor had formed around him. Saal and the other men with him were far along into their own change, their faces having become those of snarling wolves, and their hands ending in claws and their feet in digitrade paws. Saal himself had a thick golden fur, while the other three were a strange dark blue.

Leson had already leveled his spear at them and fired off an electric burst, but the wolves seemed to disappear from where they were gathered and then reappear all over the area. One of them ripped Leson's spear from his hands, then sent a fountain of blood into the air with a swipe of claws.

The other two wolves surrounded Air Talon, and Vaga rushed to help when Saal jumped in front of him and knocked the young warrior down with a powerful kick. "The Arcana's power is nothing compared to ours, boy!" he snarled.

"Vaga Bowgun," said a voice, and Vaga suddenly whipped around and fired a glowing arrow that blew Saal off his feet.

"Call me 'boy' again, asshole. I dare you!" Vaga yelled. Saal looked at Vaga with glowing red eyes, then there was a flash, a burst of agonizing pain across Vaga's chest and arms, and he was flying backward. He came back to earth with a powerful crash, and could see Saal standing a ways away before glowing darts shot from his fingers. Vaga changed his weapon back to its Warder form and waved it around to block Saal's shots which exploded harmlessly at his feet this time.

Saal raised his claws and was about to fire again when something bright green zipped in front of his face. He swatted at it but while he was distracted a red snake slithered out of the grass and sank its fangs into his ankle, and he howled in surprise. The Wild Cards were coming to help Vaga again, and he wasn't going to let their effort go to waste. He dashed up to Saal and changed his weapon into its rapier form before slashing it quickly across Saal's chest six times before the monster could retaliate. A fierce kick from Vaga knocked the wolfman onto his back.

Meanwhile the other three wolves circled around Air Talon. Suddenly one sprang, aiming its claws not at the Gryphon but the straps of the bags slung across its back. But just as suddenly Air Talon jumped as well, smacking the wolfman out of the air with a powerful swipe, then mauling the fallen monster until blue ooze coated its metal paws. The other wolfmen tackled it and the three of them went tumbling down a hill, spilling the sheafs of weapon plans everywhere.

The wolves' claws raked across Air Talon's sides, sending up sparks. As they stopped at the bottom the two Mythos were on top of Air Talon's belly but it vaulted them off with its hind legs. By the time it righted itself so had the wolfmen, and one threw himself at Air Talon while the other turned and dashed for the fallen weapon plans. Air Talon sank back for a second then stretched out its head and bit the attacking wolfman on the neck. The wolfman howled as blue blood oozed down his neck from the bite, and Air Talon raised a glowing paw and swatted him into the air.

Air Talon screeched at the last wolfman, who looked up and saw his comrade lying on the ground seventy-five feet away and already starting to dissolve into blue smoke. For just a second he hesitated, and in that second Air Talon splayed its wings and jumped, tackling the wolf. Its claws glowed as it came down and smashed the last wolf to the ground.

And all was quiet except for the sounds of battle from on top of the hill.

Again Saal's claws raked across Vaga's armor leaving vivid gashes. They hadn't gotten through yet, but as the battle continued to rage Vaga's strength was starting to dwindle. Yet he refused to give into the urge to sink to his knees and let it end. Another swipe came but Vaga swung his sword at Saal's arm and the tip sank into the inside of the wolfman's elbow. Saal jerked his arm back in pain and Vaga delivered a scissor kick to Saal's jaw.

But in the blink of an eye Saal was back on his feet again. He dropped to all fours and charged Vaga. "Vaga Lancer," announced Vaga's bracelet and it shifted into the form of a long spear. He jabbed at Saal's side and the golden wolf darted away from Vaga's attack, but this gave Vaga the second he needed to gather his strength for the blow that he hoped would end this fight.

"Vaga Punch," his bracelet said as he concentrated completely on his attack. Saal snarled and lunged at Vaga, who threw his weapon aside and punched as hard as he could. His fist connected with Saal and an explosion of green light ripped through the prairie around them. Saal went flying back and only had time to look up at Vaga in disbelief at his defeat before he fell down, and this time he didn't get up again.

Blue smoke started to rise from Saal's body as it always had when Vaga had killed a Mythos before. As the body disintegrated this time, it wasn't like the others where nothing was left but a spot of blackened ground. Once the monster's body was gone and the smoke was cleared, the body of an elderly man with gray hair, a moustache and a scarred left eye was left in his place.

Valerian descended the hill, but stopped when he saw Vaga looking down at the corpse. A minute later he came down and stood next to Vaga. "What troubles you, son?" Valerian asked.

"That wasn't just a monster who could make himself look like a real person," Vaga breathed. "It was a real person the Mythos was controlling."

Valerian nodded. Vaga didn't say anything for a while, then asked, "What now?"

"First, let's gather up the blueprints. Then, I'd say we should bury them," Valerian answered. "It's the least we can do."

A few hours later Ben and the soldiers were at the cave where they'd be spending the night. The dirt from the graves was still all over their arms and coating the insides of their fingernails.

Some of the men stayed up a while, discussing how seeing Vaga and Air Talon in battle had fired their old soldier's blood and made them eager for the rest of the trip to Avalon. Ben barely heard it, deciding to turn in early.

When he closed his eyes all he could see was the sight of Saal's corpse lying there, cleansed of the influence of the Mythos. But had he killed a man, or saved him from damnation? Was the Mythos possessing people something Jack and Shardak knew about and didn't tell him? Would it try to tempt him, and would his powers protect him if it did?

He had to have faith they would, Ben reminded himself. This was his big chance. He had to see it through to the end.

He had to.

He had to…

Next time on Kamen Rider Tarock, Re-Dealt…

(Liss faces down the White Lady, then wakes up breathing heavily)

Liss: Why do I keep seeing her when I'm asleep…?

(Ven and Donis stand before the Arcana who gave them their powers and are given new weapons, a bow and a saw-edged dagger)

Empress Maeve: Take these and find the lost soul before the Mythos do.

(Ven and Donis arrive at a fort, and a soldier standing behind them changes into a faceless white Mythos)

White Lady: Scramble as fast as you can, you're too far behind.

(In her Swords Form, Tarock faces a shadowed Mythos in a long cloak and wielding a staff with a glowing purple gem on the top)

Narrator: Your fate is in your hands.

This chapter's an homage to episode #39 of the original Kamen Rider.