The Legend of Kimberly: Inheritance

  She was now off balance. Trey pressed the advantage, drawing his blade twice across her torso, his arms powered by his sword’s magic. Elurra blocked each strike, only to be knocked back by the sheer strength behind them. The sound of metal on metal made his ears ring.

  Turning to attack, Trey saw Kimberly kneeling beside Ip out of the corner of his eye. Elurra, seeing the distraction, stabbed forward. Trey caught the sword with a mailed fist and pulled her close, twisting her around.

  “You just made two mistakes.”

  Elurra punched him in the face with a free hand. He ignored it, focusing all of his power into holding her still.

  “Your first mistake was forgetting about the girl.”

  Kimberly was behind Elurra now. Willow blossomed from Elurra’s chest, tendrils sprouting from Willow’s hilt and wrapping all around Elurra. Willow’s edge ignited in blue fire, filling the air with the scent of burning flesh. Elurra screamed and tried to twist away, but Trey struck her head from her body.

  They both froze as Elurra’s head rolled across the ground. Her body stood there, black ichor pouring from her wounds. Her head came to a stop, her surprised eyes still focused on Trey and Kimberly.

  “Your second mistake,” Trey added, “is that you made her mad.”

  “Is it over?” Kimberly pulled her blade free, letting Elurra’s body sink to the ground.

  Trey said nothing, his eyes on the head. Elurra looked at the two of them and smiled. Black fluid dribbled from her mouth.

  Laughter came from the severed head, laughter that made Kimberly cover her ears. Trey ran forward and gave the head a kick, sending it over the edge and into the ocean below. The laughter echoed up the cliff wall for several seconds, and then it was gone.

  Kimberly stumbled and fell back. Trey dispersed his armor with a popping sound and ran to her side.

  “You were the Black Knight?” Kimberly asked.

  “I was,” Trey answered. “Not by choice.”

  “It was the dark magic, wasn’t it?”

  Trey nodded. He had been cursed at some point, a memory long forgotten. The magic had taken him over, trapping him inside his magic armor. Forced to commit violence and bring chaos, he had watched silently from behind his visor, dreaming every day of escape.

  “When Elurra freed me from my prison, I begged her to end my life. She pitied me and let me live. I have been trying to atone ever since. I’m sorry, Kimberly. I didn’t know it until now, but when she defeated me, the curse clung to her instead. Elurra was just a peasant girl who found a magical sword, she couldn’t be controlled like I was. Your father, however, is the son of a mage. He was controllable from day one. I am the source of your family’s misery.”

  Kimberly opened her mouth to say something, but a groan came from Serra. They both stood and hurried to her side. Serra was gasping for air, bloody bubbles forming on her lips.

  “Quick, cover her.” Trey helped Kimberly drape a cloak over her body. “If we can keep the sun off her skin, she’ll make it. How is Ip?”

  Kimberly turned to look at the fox. He had reverted to his regular form, blood crusted on his muzzle. He barked and tried to limp toward her.

  “I think he’s okay.” Kimberly walked over and picked him up.

  “Good.” Trey smiled in relief. “Let’s go find your father. I have something I’d like to share with him.” He tapped the hilt of his sword.

  Something wrapped around his foot. Looking down, he saw a thick, shadowy tendril wrap its way up his calf. Turning, he saw that the rope of darkness connected him to Elurra’s false Willow, held in the hands of her headless body. It stood at the edge of the cliff.

  Elurra’s corpse jumped backward. He was yanked to the ground, breaking his nose. He struggled to draw his blade and summon its magic. Kimberly screamed his name and the air shimmered with heat. As the magic wrapped around his skin, he realized he was out in the open air.

  The fall took a long time. The impact took his breath away.

  Alone

  “Trey! Captain!” Kimberly screamed over the side of the cliff. She had seen him hit the water, seen him disappear beneath the surge of waves. Still, it was impossible to believe it had killed him.

  She sat there for several minutes, searching the water for a sign of movement. Nothing happened.

  “Where is he?” Serra had lifted a corner of the cloak. “Where is Trey?”

  Kimberly turned to look at her, tears in her eyes. She just shook her head.

  An inhuman wailing sound came from Serra then, bringing pain into Kimberly’s heart. Kimberly clenched her fists and put her hot face in her hands.

  “What do we do now?” Kimberly walked over to Serra’s huddled form. It would be a few hours before darkness fell. Her friend was vulnerable until then.

  Serra mumbled something from underneath the cloak. Kimberly knelt down, unsure of what she had just heard.

  “Go ahead; I’ll catch up.”

  “I can’t leave you here. You need help.” Kimberly sat by her friend’s side.

  “Ip will watch out for me. There’s nothing out here we can’t handle.” As if in agreement, Ip limped over and plopped down on the edge of the cloak. “Once the sun goes down, I’ll come find you.”

  “I can’t do it. I need to stay here.”

  “Dammit, quit arguing! It hurts to speak…” A bloody cough came from Serra, making her choke a little. “If you let him get away, everyone will have died for nothing.”

  “I can’t do it alone. I’m still just a kid.”

  “That is your curse, Kimberly. Forced to grow up so fast. The magic has aged you; your body is no longer a child’s.” Serra shifted and a hand came out to hold Kimberly’s. “Just don’t let the darkness claim you. Now go. Find your father and tear his head off.”

  Kimberly nodded and stood, wiping tears from her eyes. This was all her father’s fault. Trey, Helena, Ronnee, they had all died protecting her. If she hadn’t come…

  No. She couldn’t think that way, it changed nothing. This life was supposed to be a dream come true, living in her grandfather’s world. Now it was a nightmare, chasing and being chased by monsters. She felt the anger build in her chest.

  “I’ll come back for you.” Kimberly petted Ip, who licked her hand. “When I’m done, we’ll make everything right again.”

  Walking toward the clearing’s edge, Willow pulsed at her hip. Kimberly looked up at the steep trail before her and smiled. The thought of killing her father made her heart race.

  She found the energy to run.

  * * *

  Serra kept her body covered, doing her best to keep the sunlight out. Squeezed tightly into a ball, she wondered how long Kimberly had been gone. Would she find her father? If so, could she beat him?

  She felt Ip shift beneath her arms. Shortly after Kimberly had left, Serra had pulled the little fox inside the cloak for her own comfort. Ip had been content to let her; he was hurt pretty badly. Every so often, he would whimper or cry out. Serra hoped he would make it. Kimberly would be crushed if he didn’t.

  Her thoughts turned again to Trey. The man had seemed invincible since the day they met. She kept expecting to hear him walk up, softly calling out her name.

  If things quieted down by nightfall, she would scale the rocks and at least try to retrieve his body. He deserved a proper burial.

  Sitting in silence, she heard soft footfalls approach. They were far too noisy to be Kimberly’s. Serra’s heart soared.

  “Trey, is that you?”

  In response, the cloak was torn from her body, letting in the sun and blinding her. As her vision adjusted, her blood ran cold.

  Everywhere she looked, she saw men in white cloaks. The Brotherhood of Zor had found her.

  Nathan

  She had seen him from a mile down the trail, just staring off into the distance. Her head pounded with the exertion of running. There had to be a faster way. Drawing closer, she yelled, trying to get his attention. He ignored her. The only path
up to her father was long and winding. She chose the direct route; using Willow’s vines and her bare hands, she scaled up a sheer rock face, ran along the trail beneath him, and climbed again.

  Kimberly pulled herself up over the plateau by her fingertips, her cheeks red with the effort. Nathan stood facing away from her, his leathery wings spread out wide as he stared down into the Wizard’s Forest.

  “Why? Why did you have to come here? Why did you kill all those people?” She heard him chuckle.

  “My daughter. You ask such silly questions. Does a mouse ask a snake why it is getting eaten?”

  “You’re a monster.” She slid Willow free from her hip and the magic fire hummed along the blade, hungry for his flesh.

  “Indeed.” Nathan Stone turned around. His lips had stretched into a permanent grin, deformed by all the teeth in his mouth. The skin of his arms had turned black below the elbow and he clenched his fists at his sides as his wings stretched. “Maybe I am a monster. The term is relative, you know.”

  They stared at each other. Nathan’s eyes were dark pools that failed to reflect the light. They said nothing for almost a minute and the tension between them built.

  “Will you show mercy?” Nathan asked.

  “No,” she replied. “I will grant you none.”

  “That’s my girl.” He laughed, staring up into the sky. Opening his arms wide, he summoned black flames from the ground.

  She was already moving, Willow held high before her. The first wave of magic broke on Willow’s edge and shattered outward like broken glass. The second wave made Kimberly stumble. The third began to overwhelm her. Kimberly clenched her teeth, making Willow’s flames grow brighter. She let out a yell and ripped Willow up, through the oppressive magic, slicing through its hold on her.

  He appeared before her and drove his fist across her jaw, knocking her down on her back. Standing up, her knees shaking, she opened her mouth and spit out one of her teeth.

  “I hate you,” she mumbled through bloody lips.

  He laughed, driving her rage over the edge, and she charged. She connected briefly with his leg but was knocked back again by another blow to the face.

  “Have you learned anything?” He took a step forward and smoke began to fill the air, curling at her feet. When he got close, she drove Willow hard into the ground, blade first. A vine whipped out and pulled Nathan off his feet. He hit the ground with a thud. Several more vines followed, sprouting from the earth to hold him in place.

  He cried out and began ripping his way free. Kimberly pulled Willow from the ground and lunged forward, aiming for his heart. She almost made it, Willow’s blade glowed hot, but Nathan wrapped his long fingers around it. An eerie cry issued from his mouth as she tried to push Willow through his fingers, the magic burning him.

  Opening his mouth, he belched darkness in her face, stinging her skin and her eyes. She swung Willow around frantically, her eyes filled with shadows.

  Rubbing the darkness from her eyes, she heard the sound of ripping flesh. Nathan tore a giant hole in his own shoulder, digging in with his fingers. Kimberly retched a little at the sight; it was disgusting.

  From the self-inflicted wound, Nathan withdrew a weapon made of bone. Turning it over, she could see it was a sword. The blade was blacker than midnight. He waved it menacingly at her. Steam still rose from the healing burns on his hands.

  “Do you know how you cure a disease, Kimberly?” He ran his fingers along his sword. Dark flames soon engulfed it, reaching out at her hungrily.

  “Yeah, I do.” Willow’s blue fire hummed in response. Kimberly watched as her father circled her.

  “So you do listen.” He rushed her and their blades clashed. The blue and black flames struggled to consume each other. Nathan ducked out of view. Stepping to the side, he tried to outflank her, only to meet with a bundle of tendrils that had been hiding beneath her hair, tendrils that threatened to stab and tear him apart.

  “Clever.” He spread his wings and jumped into the sky. He started to fly away and Kimberly dropped her guard, screaming at him in response.

  It was a ruse. As she followed his flight, he flew into the path of the setting sun and turned around, sending the dark fire at her. Blinded by the sun, it caught her off guard and she fell back, her body going numb.

  Inside, she could feel the changes begin. The dark fire was awakening something primal, something deep inside. Something akin to insanity began clawing around in her mind. She pushed it away.

  He swooped down and blasted her with more fire. Kimberly deflected it with Willow, barely able to hold up her arm. Laughing, he tried to circle behind her and did it again. The fire washed over her like water, consuming the light. The flames were ice-cold; when they parted, the ground was covered in frost.

  Willow pulsed in her hand and Kimberly loosened her grip on the blade. Vines wrapped around her wrist and forearm and she tensed her legs.

  Nathan, giggling with glee, swooped overhead and tried once more to bury her in magic. Kimberly leapt to the side, a leap that carried her almost twenty feet. Standing, she threw Willow as hard as she could.

  Nathan was stunned as Willow sank deep into his stomach. He started to jerk away, but wooden tendrils had wrapped around his body, pinning the blade in place. Frustrated, he grabbed onto the hilt and yanked as the blue fire burned him from within.

  “Bitch!” Unable to free himself, he started to fly away. Kimberly’s feet began to drag across the ground as he gained in speed. Her feet caught on a few stray rocks as the ground began to gradually drop away. Her vision soon filled with the Wizard’s Forest, a very long distance beneath her. Her eyes widened as the edge of the mountain approached. Thoughts of Trey ran through her mind and her resolve hardened. The tendrils on her arm clasped her tightly as Nathan pulled her into the open sky. Swinging down, she hollered and reached deep inside for the magic, causing blue fire to race up the vines and burn her father again.

  Twisting around, Kimberly saw that Nathan intended to drag her through the Wizard’s Forest. Clenching her arm muscles, she swung hard into a copse of trees, the branches tearing at her flesh. Nathan cried at her in rage and began to ascend. He dropped suddenly. She let out a breath as her body hit the ground, dragging along at a fast pace. Dirt went up her nose and dead branches were catching in her hair. Nathan began another ascent.

  The trees themselves began to grab at her. She was a trespasser in the Wizard’s Forest; her life was now considered forfeit. Seeing a particularly big tree looming ahead, she kicked her legs back and forth. When she got close to the tree, she leaned all the way back, causing her to swing dramatically to one side. Her momentum, coupled with her sudden direction change, caused her to swing high up into the air, high enough that she could see the panic on Nathan’s face as he was pulled hard from the sky.

  Howling in triumph, she felt gravity take hold of her body as she fell back to the ground, her limbs pinwheeling in circles.

  Giant wooden fingers caught her and began to squeeze.

  * * *

  Nathan fought his way free of the local flora, then clutched the burning blade in his gut and pulled. He swung several times at the iron-like tendrils with his own sword, frustrated when they wouldn’t give. Blue fire raced down the vines before reaching the sword’s edge and burning him.

  The bitch had stabbed him. His hands shook as he grabbed onto the hilt and yanked. Chunks of his body pulled free as the tendrils fought for purchase.

  His daughter had stabbed him. Him!

  With a howl of triumph, he ripped part of his sternum away, freeing himself. He bled only a little, even though a couple of pounds of flesh were on the ground. The fiery blade hit the ground and raced away from him, toward the source of his animosity, the girl.

  He stomped forward, his wings crippled in the fall. It would take some time to heal, he realized, as he stared at the giant, crusty wound in his stomach. The blue fire had hurt him severely.

  A tree reached for him. He was surpri
sed, but a single swing of his blade set the tree ablaze in darkness. It stumbled away before falling to the ground, drained of its life essence. Strange things raced out of the woods around him, reaching for him with gnarled hands, fangs, and fire. He fought them all, knocking them away with little effort. He was focused now, one goal on his mind.

  The girl. It was all about the girl.

  His daughter.

  He needed to kill his daughter.

  His face grew into a devil’s grin, the flesh pulled tight as the bones beneath it shifted. Something the size of a gorilla barreled toward him from the forest, something that he knocked away with one outstretched hand. On the ground, Kimberly’s sword had left a perfectly good scorch mark to follow. In the distance, he could hear her hollers as the forest tried to consume her, as well.

  As he got closer, he broke into a run, yelling in delight.

  * * *

  Struggling to pull free of the giant tree’s clenched hand, she had been grateful to feel the familiar heft of Willow return to her fist. She stabbed the tree. It dropped her.

  All around her, the forest erupted in unfamiliar sounds. All at once, the creatures of the forest attacked.

  Kimberly fought hard, swinging Willow around her in giant circles. The Wizard’s Forest was mentioned several times in a few of her grandfather’s stories. It was a testing ground for a mage aspiring to the rank of Master. A place where wizards put their greatest successes and failures, a place where the forest breathed with a life of its own. Kimberly decided that the place sounded cooler in the books as she cut down a two-headed bird that leaped at her from the bushes. Jumping to the side, she was just missed by something that resembled a cross between a troll and a grizzly bear.

  She heard the trees part behind her. Turning, she saw Nathan step through the forest, his body covered in dark flames.

  “Kimberly!” he screamed. She barely crossed her blade with his. He drove her back, hard, for several feet. Up close, she could see motes of darkness circling the hilt of his sword.