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Chapter 5

The Princess of Spades

“Hello little frog,” The demon said. His voice seemed to ring out in the courtyard, coming unnaturally from every direction. “What’s wrong? Are you scared?”

Tears streamed down Penny’s cheeks as she shrank down in her fountain. Still, she shook her head at the demon’s question, trying her best to be brave. “Well then,” The demon reached for his chest and tore it open to reveal dozens of clawed hands tore at the air from the gaping wound, “How about now?”

Penny screamed, but as the demon reached for her something stopped him. Tek had slammed into the side of the demon and was stabbing at him violently with his spear. The demon cried out, slapping the spear from the rat’s hands, but Tek didn’t let up. Balling his fists, the rune tapper began beating down on the demon, refusing to relent.

“Interloper!” The demon cried, “Do you wish to die again?” The demon moved to swing his scythe, but Tek bit into the demon’s arm. The bite tore through the demon’s paper-like skin, revealing yet more clawed arms pouring from the wound. It seemed the demon was nothing more than ragged cloth and paper holding together some kind of nonsensical being.

With a swing of his scythe, the demon cleaved off Tek’s legs. The rat let out a scream of pain as he fell onto his back. His spear now within reach, Tek grabbed his weapon and shoved it into the void where the demon had ripped his chest open. It had little effect as the strange hands simply grabbed onto his spear and snapped it to pieces. “Die rat.” The demon said, raising his scythe. Tek met the demon’s eyes and spat in defiance as the scythe was brought down, staining the stone beneath him red with his blood.

There was a flash of silver light, and Tek felt his legs go numb for a moment. His entire body went cold as the kiss of death washed over him. Taking a deep breath to clear his head, Tek focused on the rune beneath him in the dirt street. The massive soul splitting rune still ablaze with runic light. The demon bellowed out in anger, before he spotted where Tek had soul split from.

“Clever rat.” The demon growled.

“I’m just getting started.” Tek slammed both hands onto the massive rune and four glowing copies erupted from his back and charged the demon.

One by one the copies fell. Each sending a wave of pain back to his original form, threatening to break his focus. Every time a copy was slain, Tek would summon another to replace it. Slowly but surely, the demon’s form was being whittled away by the onslaught of his attacks.

Or so it seemed.

Although the demon’s form was being damaged, the strange energy that was bound within the creature’s physique seemed to be growing as the clawing arms poured from each of the demon’s gaping wounds. Its form began to swell from its own magical instability. With a wild arc of his scythe, the demon managed to cut through all four copies of Tek as well as the top of the fountain, sending a slab of stone to shatter in the street. Penny leapt from the water and hid behind Tek.

The sensation of four souls dying at once hit Tek in an instant, dropping him to his hands and knees. The rune tapper’s vision blurred and it took everything he had not to faint. Slowly the light of the rune drawn beneath him began to fade.

“Tek, get up! Please get up!” Penny pleaded, as she shook his arm. His mind screamed in defiance for him to stand and face the demon. He needed to protect Penny, but his body refused to let him stand.

She’s going to die if you don’t get up. A female voice spoke from just outside Tek’s blurry range of vision. It was Iary’s voice.

Get up you useless piece of shit, Tek thought to himself. He strained every muscle in his body, desperate to rise to his feet. Useless fucking body. I said get up! A claw took the rat by the throat and lifted him into the air. The rodent wheezed as he attempted to gasp for air.

“As fun as it was killing you over and over again. I think this kill will be the most fun of all. Die knowing you did little to save your little frog. I’ll make sure she suffers for your-”

Before the demon could finish, a blur of pink fell from the sky and with a loud snap, something broke the demon’s neck. Chou Chou had leapt onto the creature’s shoulders, and cracked the demon’s head nearly a hundred and eighty degrees. The rabbit then jumped mere feet away, a horrified look on his face as the demon let out a growl, still alive and seemingly unaffected by the attack.

Before the demon could attack, its body contorted unnaturally and it let out what sounded like a pained cry. To Tek’s surprise the demon's body exploded in a violent display of crimson fire that shot across the courtyard. Tek dropped to the ground, gasping for breath, then looked up at Chou Chou who seemed just as confused at what had just happened. They shifted their gaze to see well-equipped soldiers flooding the area. At the front of their lines stood a skunk with burgundy fur, her arm outstretched with the crimson fire hovering inches above the palm of her hand.

The Princess of Spades had arrived.

*****

“What is a civilian and a rat doing, fighting in the princess’s courtyard?” A goat asked, stepping out next to the skunk. Tek could tell by her uniform that she was a high ranking officer in the kingdom’s army.

“Millie Billie!” Chou Chou said, cheerfully extending his arms as if to hug the goat from afar.

“You know her?” Tek asked in a whisper, his voice barely audible from his damaged vocal cords.

“I was in the military.” Chou Chou shrugged.

“You’re a baker.” Tek said, still stunned by the rabbit’s ability to snap a demon’s neck with his feet.

“I said I was in the military. Now I bake cakes.” Chou Chou whispered as the goat and skunk approached them.

“I told you never to call me that. You’re in too deep this time, Chou Chou. Look at what you’ve done!” The goat said, gesturing to what was left of the courtyard.

“What they’ve done,” The skunk interrupted, her voice remaining calm and collective, “was save a precious civilian’s life at the cost of some stone that can be replaced. Tell me, Millie, what is the tactical advantage of having this courtyard in presentable shape?”

“For fighting demons? None, my princess.” The goat said, bowing her head respectfully.

“Then I suppose we can forgive them for the damage. Return to your inn, Chou Chou, and try to stay out of any more trouble.” The skunk said.

Chou Chou made an exaggerated bow, causing his ears to flop down to the ground. Then he returned to his inn.

“As for the rat,” the princess continued, “I don’t recall ever granting permission to any of my guards to allow your kind into the kingdom. That being said, I’ve never actually seen runic magic used before, nor did I expect to see a rat wielding it. You’re peculiar, and you fight with an incredible passion to protect those from a foreign kingdom. Who are you?”

“My name is Tek. I’ve been sent to warn the world that The Iron Doors have weakened. I need to find a way to repair their wounds, or they may open once more.” Tek warned.

The soldiers behind Millie and the skunk princess began muttering quietly until Millie ordered them to be silent. The princess hardly flinched upon hearing the news. “Very well, I will grant you an audience with the royal family. However, our cooperation comes with a price.”

Tek hesitated for a moment. “What price?”

The skunk princess turned from him, and Tek could see the stripe on her tail distinctively ended in the shape of a spade. “That is to be discussed at a later time. Now come, we have much to discuss, and in the morning I will grant you an audience with my sisters.”

*****

The strange looks Tek received from the civilians didn’t change much, despite being within the presence of one of the four princesses. In fact, it only seemed to increase the unwanted attention as guards followed closely behind them at all times. “So The Iron Doors have finally begun to weaken? How unfortunate that it should happen in our lifetime. Yet how intriguing.” The princess of spades said, leading Tek through a gate that would bring them into her section of the kingdom.

Tek kept his eyes focused on the strange ball of crimson fire that the princess of spades kept hovering above her palm. He was close enough where he should feel at least some warmth, but it seemed to give off no heat. “Do you have an archive that I may look through, or perhaps another rune tapper that may be able to return to The Iron Doors with me?” Tek asked.

“Rats truly are isolated from the rest of the world, aren’t they? You seem to be under the impression that magic is so common that anyone can wield it. Rune tappers are few and far between, rat, you’d be lucky to find a single one in our kingdom within the past ten generations. You’re welcome to use our archives, but if you want to learn more about rune tapping, you’ll need to travel to Acria.”

“And where is that?” Tek asked, as they approached the princess of spades’ palace.

“Several miles upwards.” Was the only response the princess gave as she led Tek inside. Her palace made him feel unnerved. If there ever were to be a haunted castle in the land, this had to be it. It looked to Tek as if it should be in the fog lands rather than the grasslands of the skunk kingdoms.

“So what do I call you anyways? Just princess?” Tek asked.

The princess sighed. “I suppose you are a prince, so I should have you drop the formalities for now. You aren’t very good at them anyway. My name is Lolli.” the princess said, leading Tek to a room so dark that it reminded him of The Burrow. Lolli gestured for him to follow, but he hesitated. Not even the guards were following them into the room. “Come along rat.” Lolli called back to him.

Scurrying after Lolli, Tek made sure to stay close to her. The crimson fire cast strange shadows on the wall that looked like silhouettes of demons. The room seemed cold. No, not cold. Freezing. He could see his puffs of his own breath the further they traveled into the room. “What is this place?”

“A prison.” Lolli said, her voice still as calm as ever. Her eyes began to glow with crimson light as the princess breathed in the magic in the air. Torches lit the walls with magic fire. If Tek hadn’t been unsettled before, he was now. The most ominous stuffed animals he had ever seen lined the walls and shelves in the room. Each looked unlike anything he had ever seen before - from strange goat-like demons, to bat winged monstrosities, and fanged monsters with unnaturally large maws.

“I’d avoid looking at them for too long.” Lolli suggested. With her free hand, Lolli began outlining a strange circle full of ominous symbols he had never seen before. It looked as if she was marking the floor with some sort of glowing ink, but it manifested out of thin air.

“What kind of magic is this?” Tek asked, studying the symbols closely.

“Demonic.” Lolli said, finishing the last symbol and holding the ball of crimson fire over it. A demonic roar pierced the air, accompanied by that strange ticking noise that Tek recognized to belong to the demon he’d fought in the courtyard. The sound shook the room. Tek half expected the walls to start crumbling, but as the demon’s tormented cry reached its climax, all fell still. The crimson fire spun and twisted, and Lolli placed what looked like a featureless stuffed animal on the circle, The fire funneled into it, like water down a drain. The stuffed animal seemed to contort and writhe, as if the process brought it physical pain. To Tek’s astonishment, the doll began taking on features of the demon. Finally the crimson fire disappeared into the stuffed animal, which now looked as if the demon from the courtyard was a literal child’s toy. Lolli picked it up, and placed it on a shelf near the others.

“There, one less demon.” Lolli said, clasping her hands together proudly.

“You just… keep these here?” Tek asked.

“Better to bind them, than to let them roam free. Killing them would only send them back to their realm, wherever that is. This way they are my prisoners.” Lolli said. Tek began hearing whispers coming from the bound demons. Lolli must have noticed his eyes darting around the room because she spoke up again, “They’ll get to you if you let them. Best to ignore the voices. Sometimes I will bring one out to talk to, but they refuse to tell me anything about where they come from or the origin of the crimson moons. You’re all a bunch of stubborn jerks.” Lolli shouted at the dolls.

“Is it safe to bring them out?” Tek asked.

“With the proper binding spells I can completely control them. My studies at Acria have helped immensely.” Lolli added.

“You keep bringing up this Acria. What is it?” Tek asked, following Lolli out of the room and watching her carefully turn several locks on the door.

“The floating academy. The only school in the world that teaches magic. Demonic, runic, illusionist, elemental, all the good stuff.” Lolli said.

“That’s where I need to go!” Tek said excitedly. Never did he imagine such a wonderful place would exist.

Lolli chuckled to herself. “Well good luck. You need the sponsorship of a guardian, and Rodentia may be the guardian of The Burrow, but her authority isn’t recognized. When you seclude yourself from the rest of the world, the world stops wanting you. Trust me, the guardian of The Burrow would have sent you there first, if only she had the power to do so.”

Tek could feel his ears and tail droop in disappointment. “So how did you get in?” Tek asked.

“You mean besides being exceptional? I got a sponsorship of course.” Lolli said, leading Tek into an empty bedroom.

“Lolli, I need a sponsor. I have to get into Acria.” Tek pleaded.

“No guardian will sponsor you if they do not think you are capable, Tek. Even if the world depends on it. Guardians are stubborn and prideful things. They would sooner let the world end, than change their ways. Getting into Acria is the most difficult thing a person can do. If you fail to impress a guardian, they will kill you for wasting their time. Tomorrow you will meet with me and my sisters. We will decide your fate from there. We can’t have you wasting your life if we don’t believe you will survive a guardian’s trials. Rune tappers are too valuable to waste.” Lolli said, heading towards the door.

“Until then, please make yourself comfortable. There is a library down the hall, but you will find no books on rune tapping. Such texts are exceedingly rare. Sleep well, rat.” Lolli said. Then the princess took her leave.

Tek flopped onto his bed face first. He hadn’t realized just how exhausted he was until he actually hit the mattress. Beside his bed was a small bedside table. Tek opened the drawer to find a quill and ink, along with several sheets of parchment. Placing the parchment on the table he began etching out what he could remember from the rune he had stolen from the dragon’s hoard. If he was going to have to impress a guardian to gain access to Acrai, he would need to know as much about rune tapping as he could. After an hour of nothing but scribbling down runes, there was a knock on Tek’s door. Tek opened it to find a guard holding a book out to him.

“Princess Lolli has ordered this to be delivered to you.” The guard said.

Tek took the book and returned to his desk. Flipping through the pages he realized it was a book on the guardians. There were far more of them than he realized, although he grew frustrated upon realizing the section that should have contained Rodentia was completely empty.

“Spindle, the guardian of The Endless Web,” Tek said, reading through the different names, “Hilda, guardian of The Burning Ring.” Tek turned the page and felt a chill run up the length of his spine upon seeing the illustration of the next guardian listed.

A massive sphinx with razor sharp teeth and claws.

Tek scoffed. Just what he needed, a feline with wings. He already wasn’t a fan of cats. He had too many bad encounters with mountain sabers, sneaky hook toothed lions that stalked the mountains around The Burrow. “Prieda, guardian of The Shifting Sands.” Tek read below the image. He closed the book and set it on the table. Then rolled over and began to drift off to sleep.