The real Surtr proved less fearsome than his reputation suggested. Hiro accepted the offer to make another attempt at his head, returning time and again to the Lord’s lair. Each time, he brought a gift of liquor, and after the Lord drank his fill, they fought.
“I respect your tenacity, brat. But you really should know when you’re beaten.” Surtr took another hearty swig from his bottle.
Hiro lay on the ground before the Lord, coughing violently. Again, he had failed. He had tried everything—catching him unawares, even sneaking up on him in his sleep—but he had yet to land a single blow. The gulf between them was too vast to bridge. One soared the heavens while the other crawled upon the earth. Yet that was all the more reason to keep trying. If he could somehow make that strength his own, then perhaps... Just perhaps...
“I’m running out of time,” he groaned.
“Whazzat?”
“I have to get stronger or she’s going to die.”
Surtr scratched his cheek awkwardly. There was an earnestness in Hiro’s voice that was hard to simply disregard. It was, it seemed, to save this “she” that he had embarked on this doomed quest.
“What, she sick or somethin’? Hate to break it to you, brat, but killing me ain’t gonna—”
“She’s a vessel.”
The Lord understood at once. He looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. “Ah. Well. That’s a rough hand and no mistake.” He stepped closer, wrapped an arm around Hiro’s shoulders, and held up the bottle of liquor in an attempt to cheer him up. “Best forget about her. Dunno which of the Lords she fell foul of, but once you catch their eye, nothin’ to be done. Plenty more fish in the sea, eh? Now, drink up and forget your sorrows—”
Hiro shrugged his arm away. The bottle flew through the air and shattered on the ground.
“You think I should just let her die?! Do you know how much she means to me?! How can you just sit there and say that?! You could save her!”
With a helpless shrug, Surtr got to his feet and started to pace. “So that’s why you turned yourself into a fiend? You think you can help her with a bellyful of curses?” With a sigh, he picked up a new bottle from beside his rock and glared back at Hiro.
Hiro sensed the accusation and shook his head. “No, I—”
At that moment, an explosion rocked the cavern. Hiro spun to look. Sunlight streamed in through a hole in the roof that swirled with white smoke.
“Surtr. It has been far too long.”
The smoke cleared to reveal a woman—one who spoke with the voice of an elderly man.
“Well, well. The Demiurgos.” Surtr drawled. He took a swig from his bottle and narrowed his eyes. “Takes real nerve to break into a Lord’s lair, you know that?”
“Why do you hide yourself away in this dreary place?” The Demiurgos spread his arms wide in exultation. “And in such an unsightly form. Have I not made you a perfectly good vessel?”
“So it was you who made the brat a fiend, eh?” Surtr seized Hiro by the head and glared back up. “Now why’d you go and do that?”
“Why, I could hardly bear to see one of my own siblings so diminished. Can you blame me for wanting to intervene?” The Demiurgos’s grin grew broader as he pointed at Hiro. “Surely even the mighty Surtr would find a fiend to be a worthy vessel.”
“I ain’t in the market.”
Surtr turned the offer down without so much as a moment’s consideration. The Demiurgos looked a little stunned.
Surtr smiled wryly as he looked around the cavern. “There ain’t much left for me on the outside. ’Sides, I like it here. I ain’t doin’ no one no harm.”
“A grave to rot in.”
Surtr shrugged. “I’m a Lord. I ain’t goin’ nowhere. I’ll live here quietly until the end of time, and that’ll be that.” He took another swig from his bottle and gave a satisfied sigh, as if to say the matter was settled.
“Will you indeed.”
The Demiurgos’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. A shadow fell over his eyes. When next he raised his head, he was barely recognizable. His face was twisted in fury, his eyes were bloodshot and brimming with tears, and he had bitten his lip in such chagrin that blood trickled down his chin.
“Very well.”
He thrust his arm out to the side. A tear appeared in space from which a spear emerged.
“Then I have no more use for him.”
The spear rocketed forth. It cleaved through the air with a dreadful noise, forging straight for Hiro. There was nothing he could do to save himself. It moved too fast to see. He felt the wind of its approach, and then he saw only red. He remembered little of that moment. Only the stench of blood, warm wetness on his cheeks, and a smile seared forever into his mind.
So ended his short but memorable time with the black dragon, Surtr. By the time he recalled this story was long over—by the time he realized he was dreaming—he was already awake.
He opened his eyes to darkness. As they grew accustomed to the gloom, he recalled where he was: Fort Caputo’s war room. Despite the prestigious name, it was a threadbare affair, with only a rotting table and chairs to serve as furnishings.
“I haven’t thought about him in a long time,” Hiro murmured. He looked down at his chest and laid a hand on the Black Camellia. “What’s got me dreaming about him now, I wonder? Is he trying to tell me I’m running out of time?”
The dark had no answer. As he eased himself to his feet, he caught sight of Luka out of the corner of his eye, Huginn dozing uncomfortably in her arms. It was unusual to see Luka in such a deep slumber. Usually she was there to glare at him the moment he awoke, but it seemed the protracted battle had left even her exhausted.
He padded to the door. As he slipped out into the corridor, he sensed someone beside him and glanced across to see Claudia.
“You slept well, I see,” she said. “Do you feel better for it?”
Hiro owed her a greater debt than he could repay. It was only because she had struck the monsters from behind that he had managed to repel them.
“Well enough.” He set off, and she fell in beside him. “Thank you for coming. If it hadn’t been for you, we wouldn’t have made it.”
Claudia’s intervention had evened the odds, and there was little question the resulting victory had bolstered the imperial forces’ flagging morale.
She giggled. “Please. It was no act of charity. I joined the side with more to offer me, that’s all.”
Her implication was clear: She preferred her gratitude in a more material form. Well, Hiro thought, she had little to worry about there. If the empire survived this war, she would be richly rewarded.
“You’ll have to speak with Liz about that.”
“Negotiating with Lady Celia Estrella... Why, just the thought exhausts me.”
Liz’s pleasant nature fooled many into thinking she would fold to any demand, but she became a different person entirely once she sat down at the negotiating table. Still, she was generous enough to those who had earned rewards...provided they did not ask for too much.
“This war will grow harsher yet. Lady Celia Estrella is still campaigning in the west, is she not?”
“She’s holding off the Triumvirate now. But she’s still too far away to get here in time.”
They emerged onto the balcony. A scattering of soldiers were visible in the moonlight, but aside from the groaning of the wounded, the night was quiet. The troops were exhausted, and the monsters’ forces seemed endless. There was no relief in sight. With that knowledge weighing heavily on their minds, Fort Caputo languished in a weary silence. Faced with such insurmountable odds, they were beginning to lose hope.
“We shall have to fight again tomorrow. Do you believe we can win?”
Hiro did not answer in so many words. He reached up as if to grasp the moon. “We’ll do what we can. And if we do, maybe fate will smile on us.”