James Maxey - Greatshadow

Or as if I was. Infidel had fully emerged into the physical realm, and I was left behind, still a phantom.

“Infidel!” I screamed, as she dropped away, feeling the full tug of gravity. The Jagged Heart flashed past me, following its parallel path. I hovered in mid-air, no longer touched by gravity. I felt for the spirit tether of the bone-handled knife to pull me closer to Infidel but didn’t move at all. I looked down, and saw the knife tucked in my belt. My link to the material world was trapped with me on the other side.

I gave chase with all the speed I could muster, drawing close enough that I could see genuine fear in Infidel’s eyes as she tumbled toward the black caldera below. Even if Infidel had still been invulnerable, I don’t know if she could have survived a landing on volcanic stone without a net of vines to cushion her.

Then, rising from the caldera in a pale blue mist, a humanoid shape flew to intercept Infidel a half-mile above the ground. The foggy wraith reached out with ethereal fingers, stroking the shaft of the Jagged Heart. Light flashed from the tip of the harpoon, striking the stone below, and suddenly there was a hill of snow heaped a hundred feet tall, its base sizzling on the black rock. A second later, Infidel punched into the snow mound, leaving the perfect outline of her splayed limbs in the surface. The Jagged Heart dropped into the snow several yards distant, far enough away I didn’t worry she’d been impaled.

The ghost of Aurora continued to drift upward, raising a hand in greeting as she saw me. “You can see why my people built a temple around the harpoon.”

“Will she be alright?” I asked, staring down into the hole Infidel had left in the snow mountain. I couldn’t see anything in the shadows. The whole pile was melting at a frightening pace, an ever-growing puddle boiling off at the edges.

“It was like she fell onto a mountain of feathers,” said Aurora.

“I can’t tell you how happy I am to see you. You’ve stuck around longer than the others did after they died,” I said. “Does that mean I’ll have some company from now on?”

She shook her head. “I couldn’t leave until I saw the Jagged Heart had returned from the land of the dead. I assume your efforts were successful?”

I shrugged. “We’ll need to wait a few weeks to find out if she’s pregnant.”

Aurora gave me a blank stare.

“Oh! You mean did we kill Greatshadow?”

She nodded.

“She let him live. He let us go.”

She raised a blue eyebrow. “Why?”

I shrugged. “She had her reasons.” I didn’t want to admit that I didn’t fully understand Infidel’s choices. I hoped Aurora wouldn’t ask any follow-up questions.

Aurora looked north. “It doesn’t matter. The call of my ancestors is strong. I hear the songs they sing as they chase the ghost whales in the Great Sea Above. I want to join their hunt.”

“Go,” I said. “The Jagged Heart is in good hands. We’ll see that it gets home.”

Aurora gave me a smile that said, I know, then faded from my sight.

A half-mile below, Infidel climbed from a pile of slushy snow now only a few yards high. Her lips and fingertips were completely blue. She stumbled forward, dragging the Jagged Heart behind her, limping toward the circle of light atop the dragon skull where Zetetic and Relic waited. I flew toward Relic and said, “You’re in big trouble.”

He didn’t respond.

“Hey!” I shouted, waving my fingers in front of him.

Nothing. Yet, I was still relatively solid, as a phantom goes. I could see my own fingers, and was pleased to see I was still wearing my braided wedding ring. I seemed to have my full phantom body; I even had the clothing Zetetic had dressed me in. Why couldn’t Relic hear me? Or, maybe he could, and was just being spiteful?

Infidel climbed up onto the skull, her teeth chattering. She tossed the harpoon to Zetetic and said, “You. Carry this. Carry it over there, in fact. I’m freezing.”

He nodded and backed up about ten feet, so that she was no longer in the range of the harpoon’s aura of cold. He said, “You’ve changed since last we met. I like you with long hair. You could use a comb, though.”

“I could use a jacket even more. Brrr.” She leaned down and picked up the Immaculate Attire. “I wondered where this went.” She slipped the pants and vest on and the magical leather adjusted to fit her. With her arms outstretched as she dressed, her eyes lingered for a moment on the braid of hair still on her finger. I wondered why it had made the transition while mine didn’t?

Infidel didn’t dwell on the ring for long, however. Instead, while she pulled on the boots that went with the armor, she eyed Relic (we didn’t yet know he’d changed his name). “Your daddy is going to kill you one day. But he wants to build suspense first.”

“Greatshadow’s alive? How can he still be alive?”

“You’re the mind reader. You already know why I did what I did.”

His reptilian eyes narrowed into slits as he stared at her. “I… I can’t read your thoughts.”

She looked surprised.

“Oh no,” said Relic, rising up. “I could feel it earlier. During his sadistic assault, his spirit moved within me, ripping my mind as he snapped my body. But, with no other minds near that I could look within, I didn’t realize what he’d done. He’s torn the part of my mind that senses the thoughts of others! I’m blind!”

“It won’t matter once you’re dead,” said Infidel.

“Isn’t it enough he crippled me physically?” Relic growled, as his eyes burned like cinders. “He had to cripple my mind as well?”

Zetetic cleared his throat. “You may not be as crippled as you think. One of my teachers was the world’s foremost scholar on dragons. I could introduce you to him, if you’d like. He’s studied dragon skeletons at every stage of development. Reptiles possess amazing powers of regeneration. He might know how to break your bones and reset them properly.”

“That sounds painful,” said Relic.

Zetetic shrugged. “Just a suggestion.”

Relic nodded. “I will… consider the offer.”

He looked back toward Infidel. “I don’t suppose my father… that he… did he, by chance…”

“What?” she asked.

“Did he happen to mention my gender? Did he refer to me as ‘my son’ or ‘my daughter?’”

“Um, no. He called you ‘offspring.’”

Relic looked crushed by this news.

Infidel leaned over and picked up the Gloryhammer. She slung it over her shoulder. “This is mine now.”

“Really?” asked Relic. “What gives you a claim to it?”

“The fact that I will flatten anyone who tries to take it from me.”

“I find your reasoning quite persuasive,” said Zetetic.

Infidel’s feet lifted from the ground a few wobbling inches. The light of the Gloryhammer gleamed on the silver trim of her new boots. “This hammer will come in handy. Flying will make getting to Aurora’s homeland a lot faster.”

“Why are you going there?” asked Zetetic.

“To return the Jagged Heart,” she said. “Stagger told me that Aurora’s dying words were a plea to see that the harpoon was returned to its rightful home. I intend to make that happen. I need to do this mission fast. I can’t afford to spend a few months aboard a ship.”

“Why not?” asked Zetetic.

“She thinks she’s pregnant,” said Relic.

“I thought you couldn’t read minds,” she said.

“I knew of the Black Swan’s prophecy. I take it you reunited with Stagger?”

“I have the Jagged Heart, don’t I?”

“But he remains in the realm of the dead?”

She frowned, looking down at the braided band on her finger. “He sort of… faded out on the way back. But… but I…” She swallowed hard. “He’ll always be with me in my heart.”