But first, on earth as vampire sent,
Thy corse shall from its tomb be rent:
Then ghastly haunt thy native place,
And suck the blood of all thy race;
There from thy daughter, sister, wife,
At midnight drain the stream of life;
Yet loathe the banquet which perforce
Must feed thy livid living corse:
Thy victims ere they yet expire
Shall know the demon for their sire,
As cursing thee, thou cursing them,
Thy flowers are withered on the stem.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Vampire!” High Elf Archer screamed.
✦ ✦ ✦
§
✦ ✦ ✦
Had the field of combat ever fallen completely quiet until this moment?
The people in the packed grandstands, from every corner of the capital, stared down in mute amazement. The silence was enough to make your ears hurt. Finally, one thing resounded through it: the clopping of hooves.
Surely there had never been in all the Four-Cornered World a donkey who stepped so proudly. If there had been one, perhaps it was Dapple, the beloved mount belonging to the servant of that knight with his mournful countenance.
What was more: Behold the hero who rode astride that animal. Sword by side, shield in hand, lance by elbow, a knight as fine as any in the sagas. Armor of the purest white, like unblemished snow, helmet crowned with wings of white as well.
Peeking out from beneath the helmet’s raised visor was the face of a blushing, sweet, but quite gutsy young woman. Her small body, tucked inside all that armor, was soft and delicate and beautiful—though few knew it.
Yet one only had to look in order to learn.
The entire place waited with bated breath for the moment when she would draw the lovely tempered steel within the elegant white scabbard.
She was a bud, someone said. The bud of a white rose. She was in that one fleeting instant before she bloomed in her pride.
No one recalled the mirth to which she had been subject when she first appeared in the coliseum only a few days before. No one remembered snickering at the rhea girl’s modest size and unimpressive form.
As they all focused upon her now, no one suspected…
He was all upset because he thought I would find out he was practicing his painting!
…that she had completely the wrong idea about what had happened.
Regardless, the rhea girl felt her heart pounding with every step her donkey took—indeed, it had been since the moment she left the greenroom. She felt it jump with each clop of the hooves. Her whole body felt itchy. But she smiled.
It had started the moment the wizard boy had painted her armor with some magic paints. He’d meant to save them for the finals, he said—but he’d decided to use them now.
He waved his brush in the air, and her helmet had become striking, her armor had become wonderful—and somehow, it made her feel as if she had become wonderful, too. If she hadn’t been sitting in the saddle already, she would have jumped up and hugged him.
She no longer felt nervous; instead, she buzzed with excitement. She squinted at the knight across the field, eager to go.
I’ve made it this far. You’ll see what I can do!
“Why, in that armor, she hardly looks like a rhea at all! You’ve made her a display piece. It’s disrespectful to her!” groaned the paladin of the Supreme God, whose voice had, until a moment before, been lost in the thunderous applause of the crowd.
He wasn’t looking at the girl, sitting upon her trusty mount. Well, he was looking at her, but in the same way that one might look at a stone on the side of the road.
“The rules regarding armor will have to be tightened up. This tournament is a disaster. And worst of all…”
For the first time, he seemed to really look at something. His eyes swept upward, toward the royal box. The king was nowhere to be seen, but his sister was sitting there, wearing a gorgeous white dress. She was waving reluctantly, first to the crowds and then to the knights on the battlefield.
Behind her stood two women, dressed in the latest fashions and all but expressionless. One of them looked entirely proud of her attractiveness, while the other was making no effort at all to hide her ample bosom. The knight glared at them as if they were the most despicable kind of evil, then slowly shook his head.
“…I swear, I can’t stop shaking.” He literally spat the words, then lowered his visor and secured the fastener.
It didn’t really matter, though. The rhea was watching her opponent only in order to win. For herself. Not for him.
She touched her own visor, then stopped and looked back with…was that hope?
“…”
She saw the wizard boy standing there.
He was fiddling with his small staff, touching the boomerang at his hip, looking around and grumbling. To any outside observer, he would simply have looked anxious—but Rhea Fighter knew. This was how he acted when he was busy thinking of something to help her. She didn’t understand the more arcane aspects of what he did—but it was all she needed to know.
“…Hey,” he said when he noticed her looking. That was all, a brief sound of affirmation.
So she replied, “Right!” and lowered her visor with a clank.
I’ve come this far. All that’s left is to do it…
Wizard Boy watched her go; as she rode toward the list, she seemed at once like both the smallest and the biggest presence on the field.
“Do—or don’t! There’s no try!” he remembered the nasty old rhea bellowing at him. But yeah—he was right. You couldn’t try killing goblins. You couldn’t try slaying a dragon. That just wasn’t how it worked.
As that faraway paladin had proved, it was the choice to do that enabled one to overcome a dragon.
Even the stupidest burglar wouldn’t just try to filch a gem from a dragon’s treasure hoard.
Screw it, the boy thought as he watched the girl go. He took in a breath, as if he was breathing in everything in the world along with it. Spells? The hell with ’em.
Just look at the great sorcerers. They showed that not using magic put it on an even higher level.
What he needed? He already had it all. The silence. More eloquent than any words. Thus, he drew another breath.
Just watch me, you old shithead. You could never do this. Just hurry up and die. Like my sister.
Imagining that bastard with his crusty laugh was here in this very stadium, the boy yelled: