Dragon/Slayer: Part 6
by Jared Cantrell
Part Six
Dawn was beginning to break as Eric pulled his small car up to the deserted docks and stopped. Beside him, Max whined expectantly while Eric turned off the motor and gazed out the windshield. An open gate stood nearby leading into anold abandoned warehouse district abutting the docks. Dock 72 was waiting for them on the other side of that gate, and Eric was hesitant.
'I lied to her,' Eric thought to himself. 'I probably will die here. Mortain will finally finish what he started all those centuries ago and I'll have failed.'
Max looked over at his master and nudged his shoulder with his wet nose. He tried to reassure him with a few wet licks on his cheek. Eric reached up and petted him in response.
"I'm scared, Max," he told his friend. Still, he opened his car door and stepped out onto the concrete, his dog jumping out after him. As he closed the door, he reflexively locked it and berated himself for bothering.
'I probably won't ever be coming back. Why did I bother?'
He walked over to the large open gate that lead to the docks. Max followed him closely, with his senses searching. He looked up at Eric when he stopped at the front of the gate. The young man knealt down to his companion and looked into his eyes.
"You don't have to come, Max. This isn't your fight."
Max growled angrily at him and barred his teeth at his master's suggestion.
"No, Max. I'm not trying to ditch you. It's just that I don't see any reason for you to get involved in this. You've been with me for more years than I can easily count, but you don't owe me anything. I love you, buddy, and I don't want to see you-."
Max barked at him some more and Eric rubbed the scruff of his neck.
"I'm not trying to insult you, Max. You know that. It's just that I don't want you to follow me in there just because of your oath to my father. This goes beyond weird Wookie-life-debt things. You know what the score is. You know better than most what the stakes are here, not just for the world, but for our very souls. There's not gonna be any afterlife for the loser. There's no coming back. This here's for keeps. Mortain and I have the power to utterly destroy each other, and I don't want you to get caught in the crossfire. Are you sure you wanna do this? Is this what YOU want to do?"
Eric looked into Max's eyes and Max looked back. In his determined eyes he found the answer to his question.
"Alright then, if that's what you want. Lord knows I need all the help I can get. But I want you to know something, Max: I love you. I couldn't have asked for a better companion or protector. I couldn't have asked for a better friend. Whatever happens today, I want you to know that." He hugged his friend to him and Max's tail began to wag. As he held his friend to him, Eric began to feel the empathic bond they shared awakening. It had been dormant since his last death and he had almost forgotten that they shared it. But now Max's feelings of friendship and love began to pour through to him. The dog's confidence in him bouyed his own flagging doubts and he drew strength from his support.
"You really think that we can do this?"
Max's wordless thougthts reassured him. His images seemed to convey to him that he had been asleep too long. Eric had forgotten all that he was capable of and that he was certain that Eric would prevail. That Mortain was crafty, but with his faithful friend by his side, how could Eric lose?
Eric stood up smiling down at his companion.
"Alright then. Lets do it." With that, Eric moved purposefully through the gate towards the docks with Max following close behind.
The walked together through the maze of deserted warehouses. The smell of the salt sea air was strong in their noses, and the sounds of the lapping waves against the pylons were clear, but not a soul stirred in the area. The only movement came from the morning wind blowing up off the waters.
Soon, they came out on to a long pier and at the end, a robed man stood staring out at the ocean. Eric strode onto the wooden planks towards the man with Max flanking him. The boards creaked beneath his feet loudly but the man did not turn at his approach. Finally, they came to the end of the dock and Eric and Max stopped facing the robed and hooded man. Only ten feet separated them but still the man stood unmoving, his gaze cast out over the blue green waters. Eric challenged him.
"Mortain... I've come."
Slowly the man turned.
"So you have, Friedrich. So you have." The hood stayed up but Eric knew the man with the voice for his long time nemesis. This was the creature that had destroyed his life, his family, and would destroy all creation if given the chance.
"You're not surprised to see me, I take it?" Eric asked him cooly. Beside him, Max snarled at Mortain, his hackles rising and his eyes glowing.
"I'll admit, I had hoped to see you dead, but I planned for your survival."
"Are you ready then?" His hand began to glow, and a sword formed there which he held at the ready. Mortain never moved.
"I'm afraid we won't be meeting this day, Friedrich. I have other plans." It was then that Eric noticed that nothing on Mortain was moving. The strong breeze blowing off the surface of the water did not stir the folds of his robe. Eric quested out with his mind but he found nothing where Mortain should have been. He began to get a sinking feeling. "I do wish the Slayer had been here," Mortain continued. "My friends will be so disappointed, but you should suffice. It just means they'll have to work a little bit harder for their meal."
"This is between you and me, Mortain. SHOW yourself."
Mortain laughed. "Oh, Friedrich. This was never about you and me. This is simply about you dying. It's nothing personal. You're just an obstacle I must overcome. I don't carry around any foolish notions of honor or fair play that you can appeal to. I just want you out of the way."
Eric began to feel wind pick up. The waves started to beat hard against the dock and a bolt of lightning stretched across the sky for a split second. The air behind Mortain's image started to stir and bright arcs of energy began to form a circle of green light.
"I believe this is the end of our little game here, once and for all."
The swirling lights coalesced into a circular portal and Eric felt the fabric of space ripped apart by the spell of opening that was being unleashed. The barriers that separated the dimensions fell like walls of building blocks.
"I sent that sorcerer to Sunnydale for a reason, Friedrich," Mortain calmly informed him while the energies from the portal stirred the air and waters violently. "If he succeeded, great! An old one appears on the earth and devours the west coast. Chaos galore! And if his spell went awry, as I forsaw it might by the meddling of the Slayer and her friends, it would at least seriously weaken the bonds that keep many lesser demons from entering this world." Eric began to discern shapes moving on the other side of the portal and Max growled and barked beside him. "I have enlisted the aid of several powerful demons, former lieutenants of the Old Ones who have fallen out of favor with them. I must say, they are anxious to regain that favor. When I told them I could provide them the Slayer, THE Slayer, the foretold one, they were quite enthusiastic. But there masters will be equally pleased, I believe, should they return with your head. After all, you are the Dragon." Beneath the hood, Eric could make out the feral smile that accompanied his last words.
"Farewell, Friedrich. And good-bye to you as well, Maximillian," he said as is image began to fade from view. "It will be enjoyable watching you both die this day." At last his apparition disappeared completely and the portal yawned wide. The light from the morning sun peaked up over the eastern horizon at that exact moment and the portal glowed brighter and stronger.
Eric stared into it, his anger rising at having been lured into an ambush so easily. Mortain had outmaneuvered him again and it looked like he would not even be able to take his enemy to the grave with him. He had failed again, perhaps for the last time.
Through the portal, a hulking shape stepped out silently, followed by another, and then two more. Before him on the dock stood four of the most powerful demons that had ever existed. These creature's powers were second only to the Old Ones themselves. There powers were such that normal weapons could never pierce their skin. But even with their magical powers, weak and untested Eric and his spirit hound companion were to face them alone. With a thought, Eric's armor formed around him in a flash of light. He was not going to die easily.
* * *
"Oz, doesn't this thing go any faster?" Buffy anxiously coaxed him from the passenger's seat. Oz's van was filled to capacity as they wound through the foothills towards LA. "It's almost dawn and that's when everything's going down. I can't let Eric face that guy by himself!"
In the back, Giles, Willow, Cordelia, and Xander were crammed in among the various musical instruments. Xander had a large duffel bag near his feat, and a sniper rifle in his arms which he was loading with a fresh clip. Willow, sat behind Oz looking over his shoulder as they drove through the pre-dawn morning. Giles had a bag of various weapons and books, and Cordelia was just bored.
"Uh, 'can we go any faster?'" Oz looked over at Buffy then down at the speedometer. "Let me see. Umm, no," he answered nonchalantly and continued to stare out at the road ahead.
From the back, Giles reached forward and touched Buffy on the shoulder.
"Now, Buffy, I'm not quite sure I understand what is going on here. You say that Eric, you're new boyfriend, the young man you've been going on about for the last week, is in fact the knight we met in the netherworld?"
Buffy tuned around in her seat, exasperated. "Don't make me tell that whole story again, Giles. It's just too much. But yes, he is, and yes, he's in trouble. And there's something big going on having to do with destinies and fates and all that crap. If we don't take out the bad guy, he could destroy all your precious prophecies and then where would you be?"
"You're dating the knight guy?!" Cordelia exclaimed "See! I knew you were hot for him!"
Buffy pulled her fist back threateningly. "Don't start with me! I've been getting the snot kicked out of me all night and I'm just looking for someone to take out my aggressions on!"
Xander quickly set his rifle down as to intervene himself between the two girls. After convincing Cordelia that bating Buffy was not the best way to ensure a long and healthy life, he looked back at Buffy.
"You know, I just can't believe that my old friend Eric is some kind of god-like hero in the battle of good and evil. Guess it just goes to show that ya never really know someone."
"C'mon. C'mon!" Buffy urged the straining van.
Willow looked out at the road ahead them over Oz's shoulder and tried to calm her down. "This road's been blocked up all night, Buffy. They just said so on the radio. Some kind of pile up. It just cleared up not even fifteen minutes ago. Eric probably got caught up in it and we're just behind him. Besides, we're only a few minutes away from the ocean. We should just make it there before dawn."
"Here's the off-ramp we're looking for," Oz informed them all as he steered them off the highway. "LA harbor just ahead."
Buffy sat back in her chair and nibbled at a stray length of hair in worry. 'Eric, you moron,' she thought to herself. They rode in silence and Buffy glanced anxiously at the brightening eastern horizon. Behind her, Xander checked his weapons for the umpteenth time. She sat in silence as they approached the harbor and made their way to Dock 72 in an abandoned section of the harbor. As they neared the complex, Buffy began shouting impatiently.
"That's Eric's car! Right there! He must have gone in already."
"You want me to park here?" Oz asked her laconically as he pulled up beside the car. "Because he's plainly parked in a red zone. We could get a ticket."
"No, no! Don't park! We don't have time. Drive on in. We've gotta find him, fast!" She glanced back and saw that the sun was just nearing first light. Oz put the van in gear again and they drove through the gate. When they neared the dock itself, Buffy told him to stop and she leaped from the vehicle, running to the corner of one of the buildings and peering around. Giles, Xander, Cordelia, Willow, and Oz followed her quickly and they all took up a position behind a cluster of empty barrels and crates so they could get a look at the pier.
They could see the green portal at the end of the dock with two men and a dog standing before it. Suddenly, one of the men faded from existence, then four monstrous shapes stepped through the portal to confront the remaining man and his dog. A flash of light engulfed the man, and in his place stood an armored knight with a sword.
"Looks like the party's starting with out us," Xander commented.
* * *
Before him stood his enemies, the lords and masters of demons. Eric had never encountered them, but he knew their names easily enough. The first to come through the portal had been Hawk-Ra, with seven foot tall humanoid bird man with the great wings and skull adorned armor. In his hand, he wielded a wicked looking sword dripping acid onto the wooden boards.
Next to him, a smooth green orb three feet in diameter bobbed a few feet above the ground with eight tentacles protruding from all around it's body. It's name was Xamot and at the end of each tentacle, a single eye looked at Eric and blinked.
Next had been the hulking eight foot tall cat demon, Hirune. He wore no armor and carried no weapon, but his body was weapon enough. He stood on his hind legs like a man, claws extended out from his paws, and his giant muscles rippled across his furry frame. This was not shaping up well.
The final one to come through had been Eric himself. A man looking exactly like him had stepped through the portal and stared at him blankly without expression. Eric knew instantly what he was, and he despaired of ever living through this battle. Before him stood Mimic, one of the most feared of Demon lords. He could take on the aspects of any enemy he fought and use their own powers against them. Mimic singlehandedly evened the score leaving the rest of the demon lords to add their own strength against Eric, easily out-matching him. When Eric transformed into his armored state, Mimic followed suit, his own armor matching Eric's almost exactly except for the symbol on his chest. Mimic's own symbol was reversed and did not glow as Eric's did. At seeing the change Eric despaired even further. But he still had Max, and from the angry barks and growls, he could tell that he was anxious to begin the fight.
Max's wishes were granted when, without preamble or warning, Hirune leapt at Eric, his claws slashing out at him. Eric dodged the attack by jumping straight up, avoiding the deadly claws by inches. Max attacked the cat demon fiercely and the evil beast hissed as the powerful canine spirit struck.
Eric hovered in mid-air above the fight and looked down at the remaining three demons. Hawk-Ra, Xamot, and Mimic took flight lifting themselves effortlessly off the dock and into the air. Xamot's eye- stalks looked at Eric and began to glow. Eric knew what that meant and shot into the sky, evading the beams of light that began to shoot out from them. Hawk-Ra and Mimic took off after him. They followed him as he flew through the air ducking and weaving as Xamot continued to blast away with his powerful eye-beams. Eric flew about through the sky climbing higher and higher with the two demons following him move for move. Below him Max struggled with the cat demon, and Eric wished him well, but all he could do now was to take the brunt of the monster's attacks so that his friend could have a fighting chance.
* * *
Buffy watched as the fight ensued and Eric took to the sky, luring most of the demons away. Max fought bravely against the giant humanoid cat but already the dog's flank was ripped and bloody. The cat was taking vicious wounds from Max's teeth but she could see that they were rapidly healing even in the midst of the fight. Up in the sky, Eric dodged blast after blast from the tentacled demon, and the other two pursued him relentlessly. Sometimes the blasts would connect and a transparent green field around Eric would materialize and absorb the beam. As blast after blast struck the field, she could see it begin to weaken in strength and she knew that he could not hold out forever against them.
Buffy reached over into Gile's bag and drew out a battle axe and a short sword like she had used in the netherworld against the demon dogs. She stapped the axe to her back and hefted the sword.
"Xander, you set up here with your toys. I'll try and give you a chance to blow stuff up. Maybe I can get him into position for you. I'm going out to help Max and Eric."
"Buffy," Giles stopped her. "What do you want us to do?"
"Uh, I don't know. Research something. That's what you guys usually do. I gotta go!" Buffy was off and running for the far end of the dock leaving Giles, Willow, Cordelia and Oz scratching their heads.
She raced towards the fight pulling her battle axe from behind her back. She ran up to the wild melee between cat and dog with sword in one hand and axe in the other. She came screaming at the top of her lungs, something about the axe making her feel like a crazed viking. The cat demon must have heard her coming but it ignored her attack, being so bold as to present it's undefended back side to her as it battle with the dog. Buffy swung her axe down on the back of the creatures neck with all he might but the blade rebounded off it's skin like she had struck a stone wall. She stopped in shock and looked at the blade in surprise. The demon turned around and tried to backhand here but Buffy dodged low and swung the sword this time at it's mid- section. The blade bounced off again and before the cat could counter- attack a second time, Max was leaping for the cat's throat, ripping a deep gash that began to spill its blood onto the boards. The blood stopped almost instantly and the wound began to knit itself up in seconds. Buffy ducked back from the now enraged beast to consider the situation.
'My weapons aren't hurting it, but Max's teeth are. I get the feeling that I'd need something magic to pierce his skin. Why can't I have a magic sword too!' Max began barking frantically at her as he dodged around the cat demon's attacks, keeping it busy.
"What? What are you saying, Max? What? Timmy's trapped in the well? What are you trying to tell me?!" In response, Max barked at her again then made a dash at the cat demon. His teeth ripped a chunk of flesh from its hide but the wound began to heal up. Max took another wound of his own from the demon's claws but his wound continued to bleed.
"Wait! I understand now! Good boy! You know where to go for! I'll do the rest!" Max barked at her again this time in assent. But the demon was through fighting the dog. "Slayer!" it screamed in a cat- like yowl. It charged with it's claws out-stretched trying to lay her throat open. Max blindsided it knocking them both over and rolling on the ground. Max's teeth and claws dug into the demon's chest while they wrestled and fought. Finally the cat grabbed Max's small body and threw him off. The demon stood up and faced Buffy, its chest a matte of blood and gore that was already healing over. But she wasted no time. She rushed in with an attack of her own, darting under the swiping claws and burying the axe head deep in the creature's open rib cage right where the heart would be.
'If this thing has a heart,' she hoped. She plunged her sword point into the demon ripped open chest as well driving it into the cat up to the hilt. Then, with an ear piercing shriek the creature exploded. The unexpected blast threw Buffy back and knocked her off her feet. When she opened her eyes, she was covered in demon cat gore and her sword was gone, but she still held the battle axe tightly in one hand. Max rushed over to her and licked the clean parts of her face until she pushed herself up and looked around.
"You didn't tell me they explode!" Buffy chided the dog.
Eric flew through the sky, twisting and turning, trying to evade Xamot's deadly beams of energy. Hawk-Ra and Mimic tried relentlessly to close with him so that they could use their swords against him, but Eric had no desire to feel the acid burning of the bird man's blade. Mimic's own blade was an exact replica of his own and he was in no hurry to discover the destructive capabilities of it first hand. But Eric could feel the way that Xamot's blasts were steadily herding him into a confrontation with the two other demons. He could not dodge them all indefinitely.
'I've gotta start somewhere,' Eric thought resignedly. He veered around to make an attack on the floating spherical demon, and as he did he noticed a new addition to the fight with the cat demon on the docks below.
'Buffy! No! What are you doing here?!' he thought frantically. 'There's no way I can afford to lose now. Somehow, I've got to defeat these creatures!' With grim determination he made his dive on Xamot. The demon continued to blast away at him with his glowing eye-stalks but Eric deftly dodged and weaved among the energy attacks. He raised his hand and let loose a rapid barrage of blasts like a machinegun. Xamot was not so quick to dodge them and instead erected a force field to deflect the beams. But under Eric's onslaught the shield soon failed as Eric dove in at him. Eric continued to blast away and the beams struck home piercing the demons green surface and exposing a pulsating glow at it's center. Eric raised his sword as he fell and drove the blade deep into Xamot's beating heart. With a fluid motion, he withdrew the sword and swooped away from the dying demon just as it burst into pieces.
Xamot perished at the exact same moment as Buffy and Max dispatched with Hirune on the docks below.
'Two down,' Eric smiled triumphantly as he spared a moment to glance over at Buffy. 'She's definetely the Slayer alright! Damn, she's good! Even without the true power of the Slayer to call upon, she still succeeded in killing a demon lord! I have to win this battle, if only for her!'
Hawk-Ra and Mimic were coming around for another pass, but this time Mimic was holding up his empty hand and pointing it at Eric. Electrical discharges began to play around the demon's arm and bright beams of light shot out towards Eric.
'This is not good,' he thought as he dived away from the blasts.
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