Devil Ash Days (Devil Ash Saga) (13 page)

“Ladies are not for hitting,” he
said. “They are for hitting
on
.”

Oh no he didn’t!
Ash thought, suppressing a grin and enjoying the spectacle.

“Whatever,” Shiva replied, lunging back at him again. This time, Aura jumped straight back. Shiva launched into a volley of punches and kicks, which he continuously avoided by hopping straight backwards. Finally, she cornered him against the wall of the castle. She thought she had him.
The girl rushed forward, raised her leg and aimed it directly where his chest would be.

In one flowing motion Aura bent his knees and leaned backwards, then stepped forward moving right under Shiva’s leg. He limbo’d forward, stroking her lower-thigh as he passed underneath and vaulted himself out behind her.

A shiver of rage ran down Shiva’s spine. She spun around to see him standing nearby, arms folded behind his back, a pleasant smile on his face as if they were buddies meeting for a nice chat. She readied a ball of flame in her hands, her agitation feeding the flames quickly.

She held up her hand with the fireball in it and launched it forward at Aura. He swatted it down easily with his own flame, which he gathered in his gauntlet-hand. His lack of effort was beginning to grind Shiva’s gears. He didn’t seem to be taking this training session seriously. Her frustration gave way to even more flames being gathered in her hands. Without warning, she started tossing fireballs at Aura. He jumped, dodged, rolled, and sometimes swatted at the balls of flame. Whatever he did, he never allowed himself to be hit by even one.

Growing tired of this, Shiva once again dashed headstrong into battle with him. This time, Aura did not retreat. He simply spun, turned, or deflected all her punches. Occasionally, he’d tap her on the shoulder or back, or anywhere he could reach if the moment was right. Although they were only light touches, they enraged Shiva even more than a full-forced punch would. Every touch symbolized what could have been a fatal blow and made Shiva realize her defense wasn’t as perfect as she had thought.

Ash and Goddard stood watching in awe. “His ability to avoid taking damage at all costs is top-notch,” Goddard noted, writing down his findings on a sheet of paper and a clipboard he’d brought. “He’s even able to defend against Lady Shiva’s speed and expertise.”

Ash was amazed as well.
There’s no way I looked that cool while running away from her,
he thought. He paid attention to Aura’s footwork, noting that every parry consisted of very slight, precise footsteps. This was definitely a learning experience that he’d be taking advantage of.

After ten more minutes of this ‘fight’, it
became clear that Aura was not just a lazy, no-talent bum. Aura possessed superior skills, for sure… at least in the area of running away. After all, that was how he’d managed to stay alive for so long with such a cocky and narcissistic attitude.

Shiva
grew tired. In all the time they’d been sparring, she had yet to land a single hit on him. This never happened to her. She’d
always
been the victor in any of her sparring matches, except those against her brother when they were younger. She was certain Aura was not on the level of her brother, so she’d
have
to hit him sometime.

“I’ll cut you a deal,” Aura
said, narrowly avoiding a kick because he spoke. “I’ll fight you seriously if you just admit that I am more skilled than you thought.”

“Never!” Shiva cried, her stubbornness getting the better of her. In her fury, she overstepped her kick and wobbled. The break in her attack was all Aura needed. He spun around her, bringing his arms up and placing his hands on Shiva’s chest.

“Oh my,” he whispered in her ear. “Hard to tell with your armor on, but I’m guessing you’re a C-cup, correct?” Despite her best effort to avoid it, her face turned beet red.

“What’s he doing?” Ash asked Goddard, from their position across the yard.

“I believe he has beaten her at sparring,” Goddard said, taking more notes.

“I don’t want to grope
you
, though,” Aura told Shiva, dropping his arms. “I only wanted to teach you some humility.” The sudden appearance of many Royal Guards taking to the skies distracted the group. Shiva used this distraction to elbow Aura as hard as she could in his gut. He dropped to his knees in pain, his face now the bright red color.

“Is there a training drill scheduled?” Shiva called to Goddard, eager to cleanse herself of Aura’s lecherous ways.

“Not that I’m aware of,” the Royal Advisor replied.

“Then what is going on?” she
asked, as hundreds of Royal Guards filled the skies above the castle. The group did not wait long for their question to be answered, as the artificial sun above was suddenly blocked from sight by something very large, bathing the land in a terrifying eclipse. The creature moved past the artificial sun, and several more joined it in the skies above. Their enormous wingspans reached over twenty yards long, their tails close to thirty yards. Their armor-covered bodies looked impossibly heavy for flight but defied gravity anyway. Their long necks connected to heads with rows of sharp teeth and intense, dangerous features.

Ash froze in terror.

Dragons?
he thought.

“I suppose this
will be your first job,” Goddard informed them.

Chapter Eleven: I Fight Dragons

“Flame-Rainers,” Goddard called out over the terrifying shrieks and piercing cries coming from the beasts in the skies above the kingdom. “That’s what we call them.”

Call them what you will,
Ash thought,
but they’re dragons to me.
The enormous red and black creatures did resemble dragons, albeit more nightmarish incarnations. They swooped and dodged the Royal Guards flying and launching fireballs towards them. The few fireballs that did manage to hit one seemed to have little effect. Finally, Goddard’s words a few moments ago sunk in.

‘That will be your first job,’ he said
. Ash couldn’t believe what Goddard had told them.

“You want us to fight those things?”

“Do you have a problem with that?” Goddard asked, his tone indicating that he did not at all caring whether Ash genuinely had a problem with it.

“It’s just that…” Ash struggled with words, trying not to sound like a whiner. “They’re so…
big
.”

In a display of exactly why they were labeled ‘flame-rainers’, one of the enormous demons hovered over the castle’s private yard, in plain sight of the group. The monster
gathered fire in its mouth, and once the ball reached the size of a minivan, it blasted the flame down toward the Kingdom. Ash and company did not see where it landed, but they didn’t need to in order to know the blast would cause a massive amount of destruction.

“Protect the castle!” Royal Guards all around the castle
were heard shouting, and in moments the invasion siren was going off. Ash recalled hearing it before when the vulture demons attacked. Now he’d give anything to have to deal with those monsters again, instead of these dragons! Guards scurried this way and that, taking their places atop the castle’s wall, ready to defend the palace with their lives. And for many of them, that is exactly what it would cost.

In the sky, the flame-rainers snatched members of the Royal Guard out of thin air with their powerful jaws. Although they were under attack, the demons did not seem to care. It was feeding time for them and the devils were the main course. Several more gigantic fireballs rained down on the city, and in the wake of chaos the flame-rainers would dive down and snatch people off the streets. Their victim’s screams of terror were barely audible over the sirens.

“Very well then,” Goddard picked up the conversation as if nothing had changed, speaking up over the siren. “Five hundred skorch for every flame-rainer you fell.” This grabbed Aura’s attention.

“
Five hundred
skorch? Seriously?” He looked up at the beasts once more, and any shred of fear that showed on his face before was gone. “With my ability, this’ll be a piece of cake. Consider me rich.”

“
If
I decide to leave any for you!” Shiva said. She released her wings and took to the sky at once; leaving behind the so-called ‘team’ she was supposed to be leading.

“Well, I guess that leaves you and me,” Aura said, turning to Ash. He could see the fear in the human’s eyes.

“I suggest we move up there,” Goddard pointed to the castle wall where the Royal Guards were assembling. “We’ll have a better view of the action.” The group brought out their wings and jumped/flapped their way to the top of the castle’s protective wall. From there, they counted the flame-rainers in the sky: eight. Not a single one had been killed yet, or even looked in danger of being killed by the devils.

They could also see the pandemonium that was unfolding on the streets below. The kingdom was mostly deserted by now, but there were still people left out in the streets. Some were merchants, busy bringing in their valuables. Others were children, running home crying. Buildings were burning, forcing their inhabitants out onto the now-dangerous streets.

“Now where could
he
be…” Goddard muttered. “I know he’s bound to turn up somewhere.” Ash and Aura didn’t know of whom he spoke, but scanned the sky with him anyway. It didn’t take long until Goddard, spotting who he was looking for, shouted “Aha! There!”

As if fired out of a cannon, Prince Darko Satan shot up into the sky directly at the largest dragon he could find. There was a strange crimson glow surrounding him that Ash had never seen before. As The Prince neared the flame-rainer, he pulled his giant sword Infernos from his back and plunged it deep within the beast’s chest. The dragon cried out in pain, its voice shattering the eardrums of many soldiers in the sky. Before The Prince could pull his blade out, the dragon took off with Infernos still plunged inside it.

“Give that back!” The Prince shouted as he darted after the fleeing beast.

“Well then,” Goddard
said, “isn’t it about time you two got up there and showed me what you’re made of?” Ash was still in pure shock at the creatures. He had thought the vulture demons he fought before were bad. These dragons were a hundred times worse. He sank to his knees, not knowing what to do. Sensing his hopelessness, Aura decided to step in.

“Listen up, partner,” Aura
said, crouching beside him. “You and me, we’re a team. And I’m going to help you out.”

“Oh yeah?” Ash replied, reluctantly. “How?”

“I’m going to give you a little tip,” Aura said. “These demons look tough, but they’ve actually got a pretty big weak spot that not many people know about.”

“Really?” Ash began to regain some hope.

“Yeah, it’s on the backside of their necks.”

“Oh.” Ash lost his confidence. “I don’t know how that helps me. Maybe you haven’t noticed, but I’m not exactly the most experienced flier. Getting anywhere near those things, let alone on their backside, is impossible for me.”

“Right,” Aura agreed, “maybe
you
going to
it
is impossible…” His mind began racing with possible resolutions. He scoured the epic battles going on around them, hoping a solution would present itself. He saw a flame-rainer still being chased by The Prince, attempting to retrieve his precious sword. Shiva was chasing around another demon, although this one did not seem to even notice her presence as she lobbed tiny fireballs at it. All the other flame-rainers were occupied with Royal Guards, swarming and attacking.  All but one.

One of the smaller invading demons skirted off to the sides of the battle, avoiding all attacking members of the Royal Guard. It swooped through the sky, losing altitude until finally it landed on the ground in North Hell.

“That’s it!” Aura shouted, alarming Ash. “Let’s go!” Aura jumped from the castle wall, gliding down to the ground using his wings. Ash, trying to imitate him, jumped after him. His landing was not so smooth, but he was unhurt and quickly followed after Aura. He grew nervous as they headed down the street towards the grounded demon.

“Do you have a plan?” Ash asked
. He could see the tail of the beast swinging around up ahead, the rest of it pointing away from them. It didn’t see them coming.

“We’re going to sneak up on it,” Aura said. His plan actually sounded somewhat reasonable to Ash. There was no way
the boy was going to approach the thing head-on, that was for sure. His confidence grew a little. “Quick!” Aura said, grabbing Ash and turning down a side street, just as the demon turned around. They hid behind a building, narrowly avoiding being spotted. The dragon continued its business of scouring for food.

Spotting a nearby ladder to the top of the building, Aura
began to climb up. “This way!” he called. Ash followed.

“How do we sneak up on it?” Ash whispered, afraid the demon would hear them. They reached the top of the building an
d crept to the ledge, where the boys peered down on the creature. It was busy tearing apart some poor merchant’s livestock pen. Demon-pigs squealed for mercy, but to no avail. The flame-rainer ripped them apart and chowed down.

“Come on, follow me,” Aura motioned forward, ignoring Ash’s questions. They hopped across the small gap between buildings to the next roof over, and one more after that to land on top of a weapon shop. The roof apparently served as a storage area, probably for older and worn-out weapons. Aura picked up the best-looking sword he could find and handed it to Ash. “You’ll probably want this,” he told him. Ash did.

They crept to the edge of the building, knowing the dragon was directly below them now. No more squealing could be heard. There was silence, save for the demon invasion siren, and the crunching of bones coming from the dragon chewing on its food. Aura peered over the edge. They were right above the demon.

“Okay,” Aura
said, “Since I’m such a nice guy, I’ll give this one to you.”

“Gee,” Ash said, “thanks.”

“Remember: the neck!” And with that final imparting of wisdom, Aura shoved Ash off the side of the building. Ash didn’t have time to scream or even comprehend what had just happened. He landed on top of the demon. The dragon immediately started bucking. It was all Ash could do just to grab a hold of whatever he could find, which turned out to be a small, bendable spike on the demon’s back.

“You got him!” Aura shouted from above. “Good luck!” He ran to the opposite side of the building and leapt
up, taking to the sky himself.

Ash did not hear the last words shouted by Aura over his own screams. With the dragon jerking around so violently, Ash could only hold on for his life. When the shaking didn’t remove the intruder from its back, the demon instead tried to grab at Ash. It was a good thing the creature’s arms were too short. They lashed at the air only mere feet away from Ash, who screamed even louder.

He decided that he’d had enough and was ready to abandon the suicide mission. Ash attempted to jump down, but that’s when the flame-rainer took flight. In a matter of seconds they were airborne. He thought his flight to South Hell was amazing, but the speed and altitude the dragon flew at was unmatched by anything the boy had experienced. The demon dragon did all sorts of twists and flips, attempting to dislodge its passenger, but Ash managed to hold on through it all.

Finally, the demon gave up its attempts to throw him off and started flying straight for a spell. Ash was able to regain his wits and get a good look at the aerial battlefield around him. In every direction, he saw devils fighting demons. They all looked so small, whizzing around above the kingdom. He saw someone that looked like Shiva, though he couldn’t be sure. She was still chasing after a dragon, lobbing fireballs at it while it ignored her.

Ash was higher up than he ever thought he’d need to fly. Below him, the massive Kingdom looked like a child’s play set. The flame-rainers flew dangerously close to the devil’s artificial sun, so much so that Ash began to sweat. Although, that could have also been from riding a demon dragon a mile above solid ground… Either way, Ash was heating up. He wished he could have surveyed more of the scenery, but it was eerily dark beyond the walls of the kingdom.

He scanned around and saw The Prince, who’d apparently retrieved his sword from the chest of the largest demon and was once again battling it head-on. Ash could hear his insane laughter, even over the loud siren. As they flew over the castle,
the boy thought he could just make out seeing Goddard still standing where they’d left him.
I wonder if he can see me up here,
he thought. Aura shot past him on his way to claiming his own kill. The death-toucher flew above a particularly feisty flame-rainer and rocketed down toward it. Removing his gauntlet, he slammed into the beast with his right hand stretched out.

What appeared to be a blue jolt of electricity shot through the demon. It flinched a little, but otherwise had no reaction. It just died instantly, dropping from the sky like a stone. A small orb of purplish light
floated out of the demon and vanished. Aura moved on to his next target.

He makes it look so easy,
Ash thought.
Better get on it with it, then
. With the demon flying straight and smooth, he knew that now was the best time to attempt to slay it. He released his grip on the spike, struggling to steady himself with the wind whipping against his face. He held the sword high, having no idea how hard he’d have to strike to pierce the dragon’s skin and kill it. An unexpected shift in the demon’s flight course caused Ash to lose his balance. He would have liked to grab the dragon’s spike again for balance, but in his panic he did something entirely different: he rammed the sword straight into the creature’s neck.

He lost his footing, slipped, and was holding on only to the hilt of the sword now as the dragon spiraled wildly in pain. There weren’t butterflies in Ash’s stomach; it was more like pterodactyls. The flame-rainer dipped, spun, twisted, rolled, dove, and occasionally rained down some flame on more than a few buildings. Ash’s equilibrium, well…it didn’t exist anymore. For a while, he couldn’t tell which way was up. When he saw the kingdom of Hell
above
him, he realized something was off. His perspective flipped, and he found his footing.

The flame-rainer
screeched loud enough to hurt Ash’s ears. As the dragon eased its flight pattern again, Ash decided he had to finish the job, and quickly. Gripping the hilt of the sword with both hands and firmly planting his feet on the dragon’s back, he struggled to pull the blade. It came sliding out, loosened by all of Ash’s flailing around and tugging on it.