Hammer Out A Path (Cart-Dragger Saga Book 2) Read online

  The elemental dipped close to the ground and she hopped on, climbing its metallic feathers until she could straddle its back. Despite the weakness from her wounds threatening to overwhelm her, the cool wind that tugged at her face as they flew energized her. "I fly rather quick. But maybe not quicker than that."

  "As long as you can keep up with him until he has to slow down. By the way, since we're working together now, what's your name?"

  "Egweiotgafuiweryhjf," it—or she—said. Or something like that.

  "Um, I think I'll just call you E." Watching Ambition sprint across the barren landscape ahead, something disconcerting came to mind. "If he gets to a cave system or somewhere you can't fly, he could lose us! We have to catch up." E rose higher, so that their pursuee became an even smaller dot. "What are you doing, aren't we moving farther away from him?"

  "Duchess, I'm going to dive. Hold on."

  Cart-Dragger clung tightly to her neck. "All right, go for it!" E folded her wings about herself and plunged downward, the wind pulling at Cart-Dragger's features hard now with the speed they attained. Their target grew in her vision, and her spirits rose. "Yes, we're doing it! Just get me close enough so I can jump off and hit him."

  "What should I do after, should I help in the fight?"

  "No need." She didn't want to get the bird killed, plus her pride did encourage her to humor Ambition's desire for single combat even if it might not be the most prudent idea. "Go back and get my friends, if they haven't found their own rides." After she finished this odd part-metal man, Scott would no doubt want to examine him.

  Just before their rapid descent would have caused them to overshoot Ambition, Cart-Dragger leaped from E's back. He turned to block as she swung her hammer, the impact knocking him down nonetheless so they both went rolling over and over across the dirt. They came up to meet one another's eyes while E wheeled around overhead, back towards the city. "Even in your state, you still confront me alone," Ambition said. "I suppose I cannot fault you so much for your friend's actions."

  She stood up with a grin. "Glad to see you can make a fair assessment, even if we must fight to the death. So you're fortified with metal and can use magic. Any other secrets you're keeping?"

  "I will tell you when the time comes."

  They ran at each other, weapons ringing together for what seemed like the thousandth time. Cart-Dragger felt exhausted, she had to admit—there weren't many single foes that pushed her to this extent. Again and again they clashed, broke off, and clashed again; him using his speed, her trying to mitigate that by keeping him on his toes with the secondary threats of her chain and javelins. "Why don't you use your magic offensively more?" she asked after a few minutes' stalemate. "I don't mind you bringing your full arsenal to bear." Indeed, she hoped for him to be less practiced and skilled at using magic in battle so that he might make a mistake for her to take advantage of.

  He regarded her contemplatively, then said, "Even with this body, we are too evenly matched. So perhaps it is time to change the complexion of this fight. You want to know my secrets? Magical attacks have not availed me so well against you, so why not stick with increasing my speed with it as has troubled you before?" Cart-Dragger's mouth opened in shock, as she processed his words with disbelief. "I see you understand. I am he who slaughtered your best friend—I am Maximilian Rouge, and I will be the victor in the end!"

  It shouldn't be possible, he was definitely dead... with a combination move from her chain and hammer she had torn him in half. This wasn't even his face, nor body—yet his moves were quite familiar now that she thought about it, and his line about his spells failing against her rang true. The sword even resembled Maximilian's, though it must be a replacement since his old one rested in her vault. "You really are him... you bastard! How the fuck do you still exist?"

  "Through magic my spirit is able to inhabit bodies other than my own provided they house my blood. Since that of the late Ambition was infused with it as part of the procedure to prepare me a replacement..." He smirked. "All 'killing' me did was give me a stronger body. You thought you avenged your friend? Your painstaking efforts amount to naught. And today you will see her disappointed face when you join her in the afterlife!"

  She rushed him, pouring on the attacks in rage. But her fury lessened her focus on defense, exactly as was his probable intent. Within seconds he slashed her down the chest and then across her middle. She wailed at the fiery pain, almost unbearable added on top of that which already assailed her. Maximilian attempted to impale her through the gut. At the same time, she swung her maul. It hit his blade and the force spun him around. She couldn't bring her hammer back around to strike him before he recovered, so she whipped a boot up into the base of his skull instead. Still hard, maybe some metal under the skin, but she figured there was a brain in there to be rocked. He turned to face her a tad slow, caught the haft of her descending hammer on his sword but stumbled back as she snuck a upward kick to his chin past it. She tried to toss her chain loop over his shoulders. He saw it coming and batted it aside, but her thrown hammer smashed into his face immediately after. She burst forward, caught the maul before it hit the ground and sent it arching up at his head. It just missed as he jumped away. But Cart-Dragger was ready. She threw her chain low, so that it landed around where his foot came down. His eyes widened while she smiled.

  Comprehending his plight he made to lift his leg, too late for she already yanked the chain back and jerked him off his feet. Almost simultaneously, she leapt. As he fell back-first towards the earth, the spike end of her maul drove down into his abdomen, hastening his descent. He slammed against the dirt, a good portion of her hammer buried inside him, choking while blood bubbled from his mouth.

  Cart-Dragger fell to her knees before him, puking out dark crimson fluid herself. "You would've been better off not telling your identity," she breathed. "You may have made me a little sloppier with anger. But you also put me into overdrive! Do you see? You're the one whose efforts amount to nothing."

  "You are... wonderful," Maximilian said, and his eyes fixed. A warmth seemed to come into her, perhaps relief at having settled things with her archenemy.

  She coughed violently and grabbed her bosom, blinked at the new gore that speckled his corpse before realizing it came from inside her. Only now did she notice how heavy her head felt. No dammit, she couldn't die yet. It was just a little poke to the chest, and some minor cuts... she gazed down to see a large puddle of blood around her knees. Those last two slashes had gone deep. Still, she wouldn't... She planted a foot under her and thrust herself upright.

  "I won't die!" she screamed. "I am Cart-Dragger, defender of humanity, and until our place in the world is secure, I will never stop fighting!"

  "That's great and all," a female voice said above her, "but isn't it a bit useless to be talking to yourself like that?"

  She looked up. Scott and Ruth flew towards her on the backs of bird-lizard God Soldiers, E just ahead of them. She assumed that teasing line had come from her mercenary friend, unless the bird's tongue was smarter than she thought. "I was, uh, gathering my thoughts."

  Her friends dismounted and walked closer. "I see you beat Ambition," Ruth said. "Amazing that you could overcome one of the Four Virtues with enhancements. You really are all that."

  "Well, Scott did help a little."

  He pointed his tube weapon at the dead man. "Guess I won't have to use this again."

  "Actually though, that isn't Ambition. It was another in his body—Maximilian Rouge."

  Scott gaped, and aimed the tube at Maximilian again. "How in the... he's dead now, right?"

  Cart-Dragger opened her mouth to say yes, though she hoped he didn't have any other spare bodies infused with his blood stored somewhere, but something stopped her. The warmth she felt had increased to an uncomfortable heat, and she didn't know why. Then she heard—words? A whisper?—in her head. It grew louder and louder, becoming intelligible at last, and she froze with dread.

  No
, a voice said from nowhere and everywhere at once. Hahahaha, this has worked out better than I ever thought! Now your wonderful body... is mine!

  Chapter 4

  Cart-Dragger felt herself step towards her friends without intending to. Shit, the evil bastard was trying to take her over! She fought against it, planting her feet in an attempt to keep him from moving her, but her left arm rose of its own volition to aim a javelin at Scott. She willed it downward just as it threw, so that the spear stuck into the dirt at his feet. He and Ruth stared in shock. "Willow, what's wrong?" he asked.

  "Stay back, don't come any closer!" she said while turning back and forth, her hammer swung wildly through the air as she battled Maximilian for control. "H-he... he's inside me!"

  "He's inside you?" Ruth looked down at the corpse, then back at her. "Huh?"

  "His spirit, or soul or whatever, somehow..."

  My, my, I never thought I could jump inside you! Maximilian taunted inside her head. My blood must have gotten into you at some point during our previous battles. Now I'll make you watch as your friends die by your own hands!

  She shook her head determinedly, features so contorted with strain Scott went saucer-eyed at the sight. "No, never! I won't let you harm anyone I love like you did Jen, ever again!"

  You talk a good game, but do you really think you can win? If two spirits inhabit a single body, one must take control. You may have great willpower, but between us I am the one who has honed their concentration through meticulous training. Your resolve cannot hold before my discipline.

  "Oh yeah? Don't think training is the only factor in who's stronger! You may have more practice focusing your mind as you say, but I've plenty of experience exercising my resolve in the face of hardship. You lost our contest of wills as much as you did our contest of skill before, and you'll lose again!"

  Scott started to step forward. "Isn't there something we can do to help?"

  "No! I mean, I don't know, but stay away!" She lost control for a moment and her body lurched towards him, flailing her maul so that he hopped back. "It's too dangerous for you to get near me, I can't..."

  See, you admit it! You can't prevail, you know you can't. I'm not some physical foe in front of you that you can hit anymore. I'm inside you, and sooner or later you must succumb.

  "You know when I hear you say that 'inside me' crap, it sounds really annoying?" She got an idea. "If I'm not going to get anywhere struggling against you like this, how about... I go inside me too?"

  Huh?

  "Huh?" Ruth and Scott parroted him. Though she shouldn't fault them, that was a tad irritating too.

  She raised her hammer before her eyes. "When you dream, that's kind of like going inside your head isn't it? So maybe if I put myself to sleep, I can go where you are!" While her friends watched in disbelief, she swung the blunt side of the hammer at her own face and snapped her head forward to add to the impact. She saw a flash of light, followed by darkness.

  #

  Cart-Dragger landed on her feet in what seemed to be a desert, visibility limited to a short distance due to all the sand blown through the air by strong winds. Before her stood Maximilian Rouge, looking again like the arrogant red-armored young man she was all too familiar with. "You got here!" he said, blinking incredulously. "Is there no limit to the absurd things you can do?"

  She still felt excruciating pain from her wounds, along with a splitting headache. But she was used to battling on and on regardless of injuries. She pulled what she took to be a mental or spiritual copy of her maul off her back, and its weight felt good in her hand. "This is my mind, isn't it? So I should be able to enter it. One question though, is this my dream or yours?"

  He glanced around, seeming uncertain himself. "It appears to be where you lost your beloved friend." He drew the magical sword he had battled her with many times before. "A fitting place for you to lose your body at my hand as well."

  "You think you can overcome me? If so you're sadly mistaken."

  "We'll see about that." They both charged, launching once more into a duel quite similar to the five they'd had in the physical realm. The force of their weapons meeting jarred her bones as usual, and when they hit each other they felt pain and bled. Like always Maximilian seemed quicker and could use magic, while Cart-Dragger was the more resilient and adaptable. Eventually she gained the advantage, putting him on the back foot more often than the other way around as he showed increasing desperation. He attacked recklessly and got punished for his efforts. She heard bones crunch inside him at the blows of her maul, until he tottered on his feet barely able to stand. "No," he mumbled, despondent. "Even here I don't have the strength..."

  Cart-Dragger knocked him to his back with an upswing that shattered his jaw. "What, is that a surprise? You've never defeated me before. Outside or in here, you can't be the number one warrior. That hurts you, doesn't it?" He averted his gaze. "Maybe it'll be a relief to you that it won't anymore." She brought her hammer down, crushing his skull.

  As she lifted it back up, she gaped to hear laughter issue from the pulp of his head. "Oh, don't think your victory is anything but a minor setback for me. As long as my blood remains within you, you cannot kill my spirit. Once I recover enough strength, I will make my bid for your body again."

  "Then I'll just beat you down again. But don't think you'll get another chance very soon either. Dreams are the realm of imagination, right?" She raised a hand.

  "What are you..?"

  "Meteor Prison!" Where her fingers pointed, five molten rocks the size of mountains materialized in the sky. She hopped back out of the way and brought them crashing down on top of Maximilian with a wave. Fusing together, they formed a monumental smoking cairn for the buried villain. "See, I can do magic too. In my dreams, anyway."

  #

  Cart-Dragger opened her eyes to the familiar ceiling of her room, and felt gratitude towards her friends for bringing her to safety. All the pain returned, searing anguish in her chest and lesser agony all over the rest of her. But she felt satisfied at her victory, though she knew Maximilian's soul still existed within her and she had probably not heard the last from him.

  Then she felt the weight on her, a lot more than would be accounted for by a blanket. She looked down to find herself bound snugly in chains, loop after loop coiled around her to form a metal cocoon of sorts. Gazing about, she saw Scott and Ruth sitting at her bedside. "You chained me up? What the heck do you think you're doing?"

  "She sure wakes up fast," Ruth remarked. "Thought that hammer and headbutt combo would put her out for most of the day at least, but we've barely had time to tie her up."

  "However long I was out must've been how long the fight took. I came running right back once I beat him. Now, why am I bound like this?"

  "We weren't sure if you would be you or Maximilian Rouge when you awakened," Scott said. "I wanted to put my faith in you, but Ruth convinced me we should err on the side of caution." He started to reach for her, then stopped. "Wait—how do we know you aren't Maximilian, pretending to be you?"

  She took on a flustered frown. "Ask me something only I would know the answer to."

  "Back when we visited my brother's grave in the former lands of the empire," Ruth asked, "what did you say to me?"

  After a moment, she replied, "I don't remember, that was a long time ago!" Besides, being concussed made dredging up old memories hard.

  "Seems like we might have to keep her, or him chained up for a while."

  Scott looked sidelong at her. "Oh, stop fooling around." He tried his hand. "What did you have to eat last night?"

  Cart-Dragger licked her lips just to recall it. "One roast chicken, three bowls of soup, a side of spicy ribs, two large buns, and a pitcher and a half of the finest beer."

  "That's Willow all right. I think we can let her go now."

  "Would've been funny to keep her like this for a bit. But yeah, unless Maximilian also has a ridiculous appetite..." Ruth and Scott opened the multiple padlocks holding tog
ether Cart-Dragger's cocoon and painstakingly unwound it. "Sorry about that, Duchess. We knew you would have easily torn free of regular ropes, so..."

  After the chains were off, she saw happily that they had bound her wounds before binding her. Though it hurt to stretch her stiff joints, she grinned. "I don't mind, it was prudent thinking to restrain me in case I woke up not myself."

  "How did that battle in your head go?" Scott asked. "Did you kill, or eject him?"

  "No. Like you bound me, I've sealed him in a mental prison. But it seems like he won't be easy to remove completely as long as his blood remains inside me."

  Ruth's brow wrinkled in confusion. "His blood? You mean you're related somehow?"

  "No, his um, his blood got into me once during our fights. Maybe more than once."

  Scott bit his lip. "That's disturbing to ponder. Moreover, it's awfully worrisome to not know when he might try and take control again. We need to figure out a way to rid you of him as soon as possible."

  "I would like that, but it can't take priority. Humanity has bigger problems right now than an unwelcome ghost sharing my body."

  "Do you think Maximilian sent those monsters? I assume if you knew for sure, you would've mentioned it already."

  She thought about it. "I wish I could put the blame on him, but I kind of doubt it. If he was responsible, it would be in character for him to gloat about us being unable to stop them from doing so much damage. He could have been lying, but he also sounded pretty genuine to me when he asked what I meant by the race of evil. So I'd lean towards him not being behind that, although he might have other schemes we should remain wary of."

  Ruth crossed her arms. "That complicates things. I was hoping we could put a face on the enemy. If remnants of the empire aren't the culprits, who are?"

  "Are you okay, with those wounds?" Scott asked. "If the monsters attack, will you be able to fight?"