Dragon's Claws #16

"Great deeds are usually wrought at great risks."
- Herodotus, 'The Histories of Herodotus'

He's laughing at me, toying with me, knowing at any time he can finish me and I'll be helpless to stop him. I knew that when I came in here, but I need to keep going, to fight past it all so that Jessica can do what she needs to do. I'm on my own for this and the Red Lord's going to win. I remember what she said to me when I told her what I was planning.

"If we're going to spring this trap, then we're going to need a few surprises." Jessica looked at me, wondering what I had in mind.

"Such as?"

"I'm going to take on the Red Lord. Alone." The look of horrified amazement in her eyes said it all, but I knew there was going to be words said as well.

"Are you insane? The only one of us who stands a chance against him is me, because of Caliburn, and even that might not be enough."

It was pretty much what I was thinking as well. "I know. You think I'm looking forward to getting my arse kicked from one side of his castle to the other? You've got to trust me." I wasn't sure of how much of a kicking I was going to get, but it was going to hurt. The question was how much could I take and would it be enough.

"And what am I supposed to do?"

This was where I was working on a wing and a prayer. With any luck the others would have been taken, and their belongings left. "We'll go back to the camp and get the image inducer Roberto had from when we went to Japan. You'll get as far away as you can, find the Knights of Pendragon, come back and beat the big red pillock senseless." Of course it the image inducer wasn't there we were screwed and I could tell from the look on Jessica's face she didn't get what I meant.

"But we…"

"I know." We can't get help from the Pendragons in this era. Or the Clan Destine. Or any of the heroes of this time. That only left one option.

"But…"

"Make use of all available resources. If something's not available, make it available." Realisation dawned on her face as she realised what I meant.

"Oh…"

We didn't mention it to each other again because we both knew the Bane had spies and the odds that we were being watched were pretty good. It didn't matter because she got it after that and what my plan was. The image inducer had been left, and once she used it she made sure that Caliburn was protected, safely away in her PPG, so it's at a miniscule size and locked in her ring. Whatever happens, the Red Lord can't get hold of the sword because if he does, there goes the future.

I don't know if we're on the right track or not because in one of the fights I lost the second medallion that Kate gave me when we first got here. It's out there somewhere, buried in the mud and dirt of the Welsh mountains. I can't talk to her, make sure what I'm doing is right and she's got enough on at the moment to come and bail me out again. I wonder what the archaeologists will think when they find it and try carbon dating it? Another mistake - I should have been more careful. I was fighting for my life, I know but I didn't even realise it was missing and it wasn't at the camp, and it wasn't back at the stone circle. God knows where it was and without the Scourge suit to locate the thing, it's gone.

For all I know it's sitting in the British Museum right now, well, in our time anyway. I wonder… what will that mean when the Barrier comes down? Could it be a way of contacting the people on the other side, of letting them know what's happening out there? I figure they already have an idea, there's been a few crossings, but they don't know everything. If we mess this up, or we can't get back, it may be the out that Kate needs. That said, I don't want it to be the last resort, which brings me back to the battle.

As I throw my hot knives here, there and everywhere, I can hear the Red Lord talking, taunting me about what he will do to my friends as I watch. He sounds so much like every other all powerful villain I've ever faced - Apocalypse, the Shadow King… I wonder if that idiot from the Folding Circle counts, I mean he did get some serious power. Nah, not in the league of the others.

The Red Lord's getting bored now though. I've killed too many of his troops with my random attacks. He did tell them to stay out of this, but they were watching and fair game. My attacks wouldn't hurt him anyway. The power of the Bane's a lot stronger than the power of my mutant abilities and the Red Lord is the first prime of the Bane. To be honest I'm getting tired. We've been fighting for nearly half an hour now. I'm battered, bruised and bloodied, but I'm still standing. No idea how much energy I've got left either so my hot knives could fail at any time.

I'm just hoping I've got this right. I was so confident when I came in.

"Y'know, for someone so powerful and stuff, you think you'd have better security." I stood in the main antechamber of this castle and there were very few people about. It was either way too easy, or I'd caught them completely off guard. Which wasn't that likely.

"Pen Dragon, also known as Peter Wisdom, a stranger from another world." The Red Lord was suddenly before me and where there had been nobody there was now a multitude. This was more like what I'd been expecting and he walked around me, taking stock of me. "You have the taint of Merlyn about you."

"I don't doubt it. Sneaky son of a bitch is probably still playing his games even now."

"I also sense the Bane."

"Yeah, there's that as well. Used to work for you guys, directly and indirectly."

"Hmm. Black Air." Now that was something I'd not been expecting. There's not many in the world who can just reach in to my brain and pull stuff out unless I want them to. "Yes, your mental blocks are very strong, I am only able to sense the things touched by the Bane within your mind."

"Ah." That would make sense now, why the Bane and Black Air worked together, how Black Air had gotten so big, so fast. They'd worked with the Bane a long time and I could hazard a guess as to why - I just told the Bane everything I knew. Maybe it was what was supposed to happen, but maybe - if the timeline hadn't been under so much stress - I could have gotten away with them not finding out. What damaged was I doing? How much of a mistake had I just made? "Strange though, where I come from, you're not exactly a big deal. More a footnote in history…"

"Or perhaps it just isn't our time. Perhaps simply by being here you have allowed the Bane to rise in this reality. Perhaps you have given us the very things we needed to become powerful."

"You'll never get your hands on the sword." He chuckled, a deep, evil, noise.

"Really, man of the future? You are so certain of this, so sure that the sword doesn't become ours, that the power that will rise in the future is not all part of some elaborate scheme? Do you truly know what occurs behind the Barrier?"

"If I know my friends, you're getting your arse kicked from one side of the United Kingdom to the other?"

"United Kingdom? So, the unification will occur. Perhaps if we cannot stop it, we can take advantage of it, place our resources elsewhere…" I winced inwardly at that. At this point in history, there's not quite a United Kingdom as such.

"Not that it's going to matter. I'm going to kick you shitless, free my friends, kill the alien you're harbouring and go the hell home. And when the Barrier falls, I'll be watching and laughing at the great Bane and how it came so close, only to fail in the end as it always does." Fingers crossed.

"Arrogant mortal, what makes you think that you can best me? You're not Arthur, you're not a Knight of the Pendragon, you're just a man, clinging to a name in the hope nobody will see you for what you truly are - a nobody, a lapdog to wizards and ghosts and gods."

It was at that point I shrugged and punched him in the face, sending him sprawling to the floor. Sometimes giving someone a good smack is the only comeback you ever need.

"A worthy shot," he said standing up, his forces staying exactly where they were, knowing this battle was his. "Now let me show you why even the real Pendragons fear the Red Lord…"

Then we fought, physical blows progressing eventually to powers. His armour kept him from being hurt too much by me and he was toying with me more than anything, occasionally hitting me with a real shot, just to remind me who was in charge. It was all being done for his amusement, so I started killing his minions for mine. That was some time ago now, and I'm certainly tiring and he's getting bored. I think it's about to end, one way or another. Suddenly he's gone and then I'm hit dozens of different ways from all angles at speeds I can barely comprehend.

Either he's moving very fast, or there's a spell on me to slow me down. Either way I can't do a thing to defend myself and I can feel bones snapping as he hits me. I cry out, in pain and anguish because I don't think I've done it. I can't sense what I was hoping for and I think I'm too early. If I am, it's over because as soon as he's finished me the Red Lord will sense what's going on. I'm a distraction, it's all I ever was while Jessica frees the others. I have to keep going, I have to give them more time, but I can barely stand.

I'm down to resting on one knee, I can't see out of my right eye and my arms are limp and broken. There's a salty taste in my mouth that can only be blood and I don't feel right inside. Got to be internal injuries from that assault. I try and say something to him, something like 'is that all you've got' but my jaw's broken as well and it comes out a garbled noise. He's talking to me but there's a ringing in my ears and I can't understand, but he's laughing at me, his people are laughing at me and the pounding of my heart says I'm in trouble.

They think I've lost, but I'm not done yet. I can give them one last show, put everything I have in to one focused kill. I close my eyes, feeling my head throb but I push past it, let go of everything, the pain, the feeling of hopelessness and trust this one final thing and hope that it's enough. If there was ever anything of the Pendragon legacy in me, I need it right now, for this one thing, this one moment and one word comes in to my head - 'Die'. Everything I've got focused in to one hot knife, set with every bit of control I can muster, thrust towards the Red Lord.

He turns, realising the danger but it's too late. He tries everything he can to raise a mystic ward or to get out of the way, but the only thing in my mind now is to kill him, to make him dead, or destroy his mortal form, or whatever the hell it will take to stop him and it strikes him in the head, slicing in to him, searing through bone and brain and sinew, bursting out of the other side of his head like an arrow and then it fades, evaporating in to nothing, it's job done. If I could move my head I'd smile, because I did it I took the bastard. He'll be back, I've no doubt of that, but right here and right now, he's as dead as it'll get.

"An excellent stratagem."

My hearing is clear, my wounds healed and I realise that something is wrong. There's no pain, but the Red Lord is standing there too. The room is different, and we're alone. There's no minions, no evidence of damage and I'm held aloft in the air, can't speak, can't move but I'm aware. Can't even fire off my hot knives.

I hate magic.

"Futile, but masterfully played." He looks at me, wondering if I know what's going on and I'm slowly working it out. It had to be some kind of trick. "You really would sacrifice yourself to kill me and ensure you had a noble end. Perhaps there is more of Pendragon in you than any would know." There's a look of cold amusement on his face and I can't not look at him, but I do everything I can to make sure he knows through my eyes exactly how much regard I have for him. "Whatever made you think I would ever allow you to lay a hand on me?" How long was the illusion, did it last as long as I thought it did, or was it all in my mind? "Let's see what you have to say for yourself…"

"You should kill me now, before I get free…"

"Nothing useful to say at all." I can't speak again. "Now we see why you're a lapdog, you're good at hunting and killing but what good is it to send a dog to battle a lion? Not that it matters, because I can create any illusion I need, or I can do whatever I want to you and then put you back as if nothing had ever happened to you." He puts his fingers through my eyes and I cry out in pain but then I realise he never touched me. "You see?" My breathing is ragged, through the anger and frustration of it all. "You will live the rest of your days wondering what is real, what is not, whether the people you are with are figments of your imagination or if they are as real as can be - you will find no difference." He looks me right in the eye. "Perhaps you won't live forever, but it will certainly feel like it." He moves behind me, out of the range of my vision and I know something bad is going to happen.

"For your information, this pain will be real…" His fist slams in to my back, and I feel a snap, but other than a moment of intense pain, that's all and the magical grip on me is released and I fall to the floor, unable to move. I've not feeling in my lower body, no control over anything. I'm crippled and unless he puts me back together again, I'm like that. There's no medical miracles in this time line.

"Be pleased. That blow could have killed you, instead of breaking your back. You're helpless, powerless against me." He gestures and I'm healed, put back to normal. I can move my arms and legs again but before I can do anything he kicks me in my back, snapping my spine once again, and my legs go numb. "You are my plaything, to do with as I wish and you will serve the Bane." He tears open my shirt and places his hand on my breast. There's a surge of mystical energy and I can smell the searing flesh. "You carry the mark of the Bane now, and wherever you are the Bane will seek you out. Your old names no longer matter, you do not exist here, you will not exist anywhere, but I shall be magnanimous, I will give you something to call yourself." He picks me up by the throat. "I name you… Fool. Fool, of the Bane. What do you say to that?"

I want to say 'Yes, my Lord', but he's not going to break me that easily. I give everything I can to my voice. "Fuck. You."

"So spirited. Breaking you will be amusing beyond compare." I'm restored in body again and he smiles. He's going to test my limits for a long time, and he could theoretically do this to me forever, but physical torment and the mental torture he's going to put me through will take their toil way before that. I'm not able to fight on his terms and he knows it, but I'll never stop trying. As if he senses it, With a wave of his hand I'm bound to the wall, my arms and legs entombed in the rock and one of his servants enters. "Bring me the woman, the scarred one who believes that she is his wife. She will be the first to be consumed by the Bane."

"She's already a witch of the highest order. Hates my guts too, so I won't lose any sleep over her joining forces with you."

"What you think is inconsequential, Fool," the Red Lord replies, "however I agree. She is not worthy of becoming one of my people. I said consume and I meant it. We will eat of her flesh and you, Fool, will be anointed in her blood. The mark gives us your body, but with a blood sacrifice, we will possess your soul, and when the child knows that it is all because of you, he will in his turn kill you, and take his place at my right hand. The world you knew will come to be, at least beyond the Barrier. Within, all will change…"

"Keep dreaming." The Red Lord turns and he sees what I've been waiting for. It's Jessica, she's here and the others are with her. Jack, Sam, Elena, Bobbby. No sign of Kimiko, Fudo or Lei Kang. I don't know where they are, but if the Claws are here, then Jess freed them too. Damned if I know how, but I was the distraction. The image inducer kept her masked and that was good enough to get close and do what was needed. Caliburn's there in her hand and the Red Lord takes a step back. He fears the sword, but we all know he needs it as well.

"Give me the sword or Pen Dragon dies."

"Jess, you know what to do." She nods at me. She knows that I'm dead either way. We all are.

"One of you, five of us, and your minions are having one hell of a time getting past the barrier Sam's built. You really think you can take all six of us?"

"I certainly do, but I am prepared to offer you your freedom, in exchange for the sword. In your time, you will be at the other side of the barrier, so we will meet again." She doesn't believe him, neither do I.

"Strange how it doesn't quite ring true…"

"If you doubt me…" He reaches over towards me and then there's an intense pain in my chest as my heart bursts free of my body. I can't breathe and I know there's a maybe a minute or something before I actually die. "I can replace his heart, or…" He begins to squeeze, his fingers digging in to the still beating organ. I'm getting cold, my body's taking in the shock.

"I can't let you have the sword," she says, but her voice is wavering. "I will kill you, you know I have the power."

"You hope, and I sense that my minions have just gotten past your little barrier," he says. "You're running out of time…" Jess's sword falters and she lowers it

"Jessica," says Sam, but Jessica closes her eyes. "We can hold off his minions, avenge Pen and kill this bastard."

"We can't let him die, he's our only way home." She holds out the sword. "You can't fight them all."

"A wise choice," he says, grasping the sword and I'm sure the ground trembles, unless it's just my body. "I don't need you anymore." He looks at her but it's directed at me and I can only watch in horror as he crushes my heart in his hand. I'm a dead man.

"NO!" Jess shouts as the minions of the Bane burst in, surrounding them and her eyes look at me and I nod. He bought it, the fool bought it. It's cost me my life, but the Red Lord has no idea what's just happened. We've got him, and he's finished. I can live with that.

So to speak.

"Kick his arse," I mutter and then close my eyes, knowing I won't be opening them again.

It'll be good to finally rest…