Fantasy The Battered Lamp

There was a break in the thick trees ahead, a gravel road disappearing into the evergreens. Kyle slowed the car. They were close, only a mile away, and fear squeezed his heart harder and harder. Please be alive, Aaliyah.

He took the turn, gravel kicking up in a spray. The road was narrow, twisting, and his car bounced up and down as he raced down it. The dark trees swayed, lit by his headlights. The sun had set almost an hour ago, and the thick brush seemed to swallow light. The road took a hard right, the car sliding on the gravel as Kyle slammed his breaks and fishtailed around the corner.

Fatima let out an exhilarated whoop, bouncing in the back. "Let's go! I'm ready to kick some skanky, witch ass."

Kyle slid around another turn, driving far more reckless than he ever had in his life. There was a straightaway and a distant cabin, glowing softly silver. He floored it. The engine roared and the car bounced down the road, hurtling towards a wooden bridge crossing a ravine.

"The bridge! Stop!" Britney shouted.

Kyle saw it. "Shit!"

He slammed on the brakes.

The middle of the bridge was gone, leaving splintered edges. The brake pedal pulsed as the car slid down the gravel. They were going too fast. The rumble of tires on gravel turned to the screech of wood on rubber. The car skidded to the left, aiming at one of the bridge's support beams.

Metal crashed. Airbags exploded. White smoke filled the car. Pain flared across Kyle's chest, the seat belt digging into his ribs. Panic filled him, the car was on fire. He struggled to move, to unbuckle his seat belt, when he realized the smoke poured out of the airbags.

"Damn," Fatima muttered.

"Is anyone injured?" Britney asked, far too calm.

"I'm fine," Kyle groaned. "Fumi?"

She said something in Japanese. "I'm all right. I bit my lip."

Kyle finally unbuckled his seat belt and almost fell out of the car. The front end was crumpled, and he could smell radiator fluid cooking on the engine block. More of the sickly-sweet, green liquid dripped down onto the wooden bridge.

"I thought you were a better driver," groaned Fatima, crawling out the backseat.

"The bridge is out," Kyle answered.

Fatima blinked when she saw the hole. "Shit."

Britney stood at the edge of the hole, peering down into the ravine. The sides were steep, covered in thick, green ferns, and a brook babbled at the bottom. It didn't look easy to climb down, especially in the dark.

"We'll have to go around it or something." Kyle looked up and down the ravine. It was steep and choked with ferns, a brook babbling in its dark depths. "Fuck, that's not going to be easy."

Britney shook her head and made a disgusted growl. Then she stepped off the broken edge of the bridge.

Kyle's cry ended in a strangled grunt. Britney floated in thin air. He frowned. It was more like she was standing on thin air.

"A glamour," Britney answered. "The bridge is not really out. If you look, you can see pine needles and other debris resting on its unseen surface."

"Then we have our way across," Fumi nodded, opening up his trunk and retrieving her bow. It was a yumi, a Japanese longbow made of a dark wood inlaid with a bright, green metal that seemed to flex with the limbs. Unlike most bows, a yumi had an asymmetrical grip, the bottom of the bow's limbs shorter than the top.

"Let's go and make these witches pay!" Fatima grinned, gripping her yari, a spear tipped with a long, straight blade. The blade was three feet long and set with a pattern of red metal. The haft was tall as his sister, made of the same dark wood as Fumi's bow. His sister pulled out his katana from the trunk, and threw it to him. Earthbones seemed to vibrate in his hands and it reminded Kyle of nothing more than a dog's energetic tail wagging. It's happy to be wielded by me.

"Let's save Aaliyah," he declared, drawing the beautiful blade from its sheath.

Kyle stepped up to the illusion of the gap, took a deep breath, and stepped forward. Even seeing Britney do the same thing, didn't make it any less terrifying. His foot touched solid, if invisible, wood. Swallowing, he took another step, and another. It was easier to look ahead.

Fatima raced by, completely unconcerned, her feet pounding on unseen wood. She reached the gravel road, turning around, grinning. It was all a game to his little sister.

The bear rose up out of the brush behind her. Big, brutish, topping ten feet tall. Its eyes glowed bright red. Claws swiped at his sister. She just smiled, unaware that a massive paw tipped with gleaming claws raked down at her.

Green streaked by Kyle, trailing a wind that rustled his clothing. The arrow embedded in the bear and erupted in a gale that blew Fatima onto her hands and knees. The bear's swipe missed his sister. It roared in pain, flinching from the green shaft embedded in its chest. A second arrow whizzed past, scraping across the bear's skull. It bellowed, landing on its front legs and charged the bridge.

Britney leaped out of the way, black strips forming on her face as she hissed. Fatima scrambled to her feet, the tip of her yari trailing a tongue of red flame. Kyle took a deep breath, focusing and falling into a stance, katana held high two-handed grip. He would get one swing, and he'd need every ounce of strength to fell the beast.

Sharp claps clattered on wood, the bridge groaning beneath the awkward gait of the bear. Red eyes fixed behind Kyle--on Fumi. Wind rushed past. Green flashed by. Another arrow embedded in the shaggy beast's shoulder. It didn't even flinch.

"Kyle," Fatima shouted, charging the beast from behind.

He could smell its fetid breath, and feel the heat of its growl. Kyle roared, focusing all his energy, his kai, into his stroke. Earthbones flared golden, bathing the bridge in truth. Wood appeared beneath his feet, the glamour broken by the reality of stone.

Kyle swung.

His sword bit into the bear's shoulder, driving deep into its chest. Far deeper than it should have, cleaving through thick hide, tough sinew, and heavy bones. Blood splashed warm and salty on his face, then the hulk slammed into him. Breath whooshed, the world tumbled around him. Wood rushed up and a painful thud shot through him.

He rolled, gasping for air, staring up at the dark sky. Fumi knelt at his head, her beautiful face twisted with concern. She grabbed his hand. He squeezed.

"I'm fine," he wheezed.

"You killed it," she whispered.

Fatima stood over him, grinning. "Goddamn, that was awesome!"

"We do not have time," Britney stated. "If the car crash did not alert them, then surely the bear's roar did."

It was getting so hard to find the energy to keep the light at bay. No matter how many Aaliyah pushed back, more silvery leaches kept coming. She forced her will to lash out. I have to hold on. I have to give Kyle a chance.

"He killed the bear, Celestite," Onyx whispered. "He killed the fucking bear with a single swing of his sword!"

"And that glow," Opal hissed. "He dispelled my glamour."

Is that panic in their voices? Hope blossomed in Aaliyah's breast. She drove back the leaches with renewed effort. Kyle's here! He's come to save me.

Five of the witches crowded at crystal ball that shown with silver light. The ball was between the thighs of coffee-skinned Garnet, drawing off the sexual energy leaking from her pussy. Jade was the only witch not with them, she stood at the circle, maintaining the spell trying to siphon away her powers.

Hope blossomed within Aaliyah. Kyle's coming.

"Tourmaline, do you still have that spirit bound?" Ms. Franklin, their leader, asked the honey-blonde girl.

"The Maniae?" Fear tinged the tanned witch's voice. "I do."

"Unleash it. Opal, Onyx, send the other bear familiars out. I want Kyle and his bitches crushed and those talismans recovered!"

"Yes, Celestite!"

The coed witches quailed.

A new bear charged out of the brush at Britney. The Rakshasa nimbly side-stepped the charging hulk like the sea parting before the prow of a ship. Black stripes darkened her face, and she hissed and punched with her katar. The triangular blade sank into the bear's flank. Blood spurted and the hulk stumbled. Fatima roared and rammed the straight blade of her yari deep into creature's skull.

More bestial roars filled the night air and more hulks moved through the shadowed underbrush. Kyle's back ached, bruised from impacting the bridge, but he pushed the pain down and readied himself to face these new attackers. Green arrows flashed, zipping at the shapes. Brush rustled, burst of wind throwing debris into the air. Fur rose before him, his sword flashed. Hot blood and pained growls filled the air.

Kyle was not about to let these creatures, twisted by the witches spells, kill him. Or kill his friend and lovers. The bear drew back, its right foreleg useless. It raised up on its hind legs, compelled by magic to keep fighting, and lifted its left forepaw. Thick, sharp claws glinted. There was no time to be afraid and worry about those claws ripping into his flesh.

Bellowing his kai, focusing his strike. He sheared through the thick, raised foreleg. The beast bellowed in agony, collapsing on the ground as arterial blood pumped quickly out. It struggled to rise; Kyle reversed his blade and thrust down, putting the poor beast out its misery.

Fatima screamed her kai, thrusting with her yari at another bear. Her stabs seemed wild, undisciplined, but Kyle could see her flowing through her forms, the blade stabbing into the bears chest and shoulders, driving the beast back. Britney danced around her bear, flowing gracefully, and lashing out with her katar.

He scanned the clearing before the cabin. A hulk charged past him, two green arrows sprouting out of its shoulder. Fumi stood her ground calmly, drawing her bow back, an arrow forming green out of thin air, and releasing. The bear didn't flinch. Anger and fear surged in Kyle. He roared: "Fumi!"

Power surged in his sword.

He didn't understand what he did, but somehow he reached through his sword into the ground. He felt a boulder, one of the Earth's bones, and commanded it to rise. The ground rumbled and bowed. Dirt fountained and the boulder thrust up in the bear's path. The charging bear locked its forelegs, but it was too late. The heavy beast slammed into the boulder, bones cracking.

Kyle ran towards the staggered bear. He hacked into the bear's flank, bringing the beast down. It struggled on the ground. With a word swipe, Kyle dispatched it.

"How did you do that?" Fumi asked. She smelled so wonderful. Kyle fought down his ardor.

"The sword," he answered.

"Right," she nodded.

"Kyle," Fatima shouted. He glanced at his sister. She pointed at the cabin.

Someone had stepped out of the cabin. A naked, young woman, her skin spray-tan orange and her dirty-blonde hair glowed as it was backlit by the cabin. Kyle knew her from college. Sable Purcell. He had shared English with her last semester. She threw something.

The object was red, glinting in the air. It was a gem, its faceted sides catching the dim light as it spun through the air. It landed with a thud on the ground. Red, angry brilliance exploded from the gem and a wave of hatred washed over Kyle. A cloud of scarlet hovered in the air, and then it contracted. Long, thin limbs grew about a scaly body. A head, triangular shaped, ended with thick mandibles like some monstrous ant. It hissed, swelling larger and larger, until the monster stood over the height of the cabin.

"What is your command, Mistress?" it spat out in a hissing voice. A chorus of screams accompanied the hiss, chanting, "HATE! HATE! HATE!" Over and over, battering Kyle's ears.

"Kill them," Sable commanded, "and bring me their talismans."

Its scaly fists clenched, then it swung at Kyle and Fumi. It was so fast. Kyle tried to make his body move, but he couldn't react fast enough. They were dead. A wind burst around him, the currents lifting his body and pulling him and Fumi out of the way. A boom resounded as the fist crashed into the ground where they had stood, rents furrowing the hard-packed dirt.

The wind flew him across the ground, his stomach lurching and his body twisting. It set him down gently twenty feet away, Fumi alighting next to him. Her almond-shaped eyes were wide with shock and she stared at her bow in amazement.

"Nice," Kyle grinned at her.

"I just did it," she said in awe.

"HATE! HATE! HATE!" The chorus screeched louder as monster turned on Kyle. "I will crush your bones into powder, Mortal. I will feel your flesh squish to jelly beneath my fist."

"Run," Kyle shouted, giving her a shove, than taking off in the opposite direction.

"A Maniae," Britney yelled. "An Elemental of Anger. Kill the witch. She controls it."

"No," a new voice yelled.

Kyle turned, and flinched.

Christy strode across the bridge. "I will deal with it."

Kyle stared dumbfounded at his treacherous wife. The pain of their argument, of Christy's betrayal, twisted in his gut. What is she doing here? Britney ignored Christy, dashing for Sable. Hissing, his friend charged across the field, her katar level at the witch struggling to control the hulking elemental.

"Stop, Britney," Christy screamed. "If you kill her, the elemental will rampage out of control. I need to put it back to sleep."

Britney ignored Christy, a feral growl rumbling from Britney's throat.

"Hecate, protect your servant and deliver pain to her foe," Sable shouted, pointing at Britney.

His friend shrieked, her katar falling from her grip. She hit the ground, writhing and spasming like she was being tased.

"I will deal with the Maniae," Christy shouted. "Save Aaliyah."

Kyle nodded at her.

"Ishtar, calm this Spirit of Rage," she chanted, rainbow light flashing about her. "Bring sleep to the Maniae."

"HATE! HATE! HATE!" the elemental screamed.

Its body spasmed, its limbs struggling to move. It fought some hidden power. Sable fixed her eyes on Christy. Sable's face reddened with strain and a tourmaline pendant flashing between her naked breasts. Then Sable began her own chants, fighting for control.

The Maniae clawed the earth, ripped at its flesh, screamed its rage at the heavens. "HATE! I will rip every sinew from your body, witch. HATE! I will drink your blood. HATE! I will make a necklace of your bones. HATE!"

Kyle gave the writhing elemental a wide berth as he skirted around it. Fatima joined him, grinning. The tip of her yari burned with a yellow flame. Christy's chants grew louder, more confident. The hellish, hateful chorus dimmed, the thrashing of the spirit lessened.

"She's doing it," Kyle said. Pride mixed with the betrayal.

Fatima spat, "She's just trying to weasel back into your affections. Don't let her."

Kyle's heart was split. He did love her as much as he hated what she had done. Kidnapping Aaliyah, wiping their memory. All those were monstrous. And yet she had come back to help them.

"It's her fault we're in this mess, Kyle."

He glanced at his beautiful sister, her dark eyes burning. "If Aaliyah lives..."

"And if she's dead?"

"I don't know."

They had skirted around the elemental, almost to the door. Something crashed inside, shadows moving in the windows. The log cabin wall exploded outward. Kyle grabbed his sister, turning his body to shield her. A chunk of wood slammed into his back. They fell, landing in a tangle of limbs. A bear snarled, and Kyle struggled to gain his feet and face the beast.

It was all metal, its fur, its claws, even its tongue, transformed into dull, gray iron. An augmentation. "Shit." He leaped to the side, metal claws raking the ground and sending up clods of dirt.

A naked, pale-skinned woman strode behind it, joining Sable, and added her voice to the spell controlling the Maniae. The chorus of hate grew louder. Kyle couldn't worry about that now. He slashed a hurried blow at the beast, his sword clanged harmlessly off its iron hide.

"Oh, fuck!" He dived out of another claw swipe.

Fatima lunged in, her yari's blade blazing red-hot. Sparks burst, the beast howled and spun. She raised her yari's haft, catching the metal bear's swipe. But she was light, barely a hundred pounds, and she couldn't stand against a regular bear's swipe, let alone one made of metal. She flew back and landed in a ball on the ground.

The metal bear charged after Fatima as she stood up. He reached into the earth through his katana, finding another boulder. The boulder erupted from the ground in the bear's path. Metal crashed into stone. The bear plowed through it, chunks of rock bursting in a cloud of flying debris around the charging beast.

Wind rushed by Kyle, lifting Fatima into the air. She spun over the hurtling metallic hulk. It crashed into a pine tree. Wood snapped, the tree toppling over with a heavy thud. Fatima landed next to him, grinning. The bear thrashed around, looking, then turned and saw them.

It roared its frustration.

Kyle's mind raced, struggling to come up with a plan. Sticking boulders in its path won't do anything. The bear leaped over the rubble left by the pulverized boulder. An idea popped into his head. Would that work?

"Fuck it." Kyle reached through Earthbones into the ground, willing it to split open.

The ground groaned in protest, shaking. Trees rustled. The earth opened up before the charging hulk, a great rent. The bear bellowed, dirt furrowing as it locked its forepaws and tried to stop its momentum. It couldn't. The metallic monster was swallowed by the crack, crashing down into the earth. It snarled, clawing at the hard soil and rocks, struggling to climb up the rent.

He sealed it shut.

"RAGE! RAGE!"

The elemental was struggling. Karrie Robertson, naked, her ebony skin hard to see in the darkness, had joined the other two witches. Kyle sat next to Karrie in Chemistry and she was in his Math class. The three witches were sending their voices at the elemental, rousing the spirit to new violence. Christy was losing, but she kept chanting, sweat beading her forehead as she strained to pacify the spirit. Kyle's heart was stirred at the sight of her.

"We have to help her," Kyle said. "We need to take out the witches so she can put it to sleep."

"Yeah," Fatima nodded. The metallic bear seemed to have knocked some of the enthusiasm out of her. "I'll take the Black girl."

Kyle nodded. "On three?"

"Three," she roared and charged before he was ready.

"Damn it."

He chased after his sister, leaping over a rent of disturbed soil. One of the witches, Lorrie Gore, turned, her brown hair swirling about her naked shoulders. She pointed at them, opening her mouth. "Oh, Hecate, defend your--"

A green arrow feathered her throat. Lorrie looked so young as astonishment painted her face, then she collapsed to the ground. Karrie saw Fatima's charge at the last second, her dark eyes gaping in horror. Fatima didn't seem to hesitate, and rammed her yari into the Black witch's guts.

Sable was too focused on keeping the elemental under control to realize what was happening. Kyle swallowed. He couldn't kill her. She was practically helpless. So he hit her with the hilt of his katana in the face. Her nose broke, she stumbled back, then collapsed into an unconscious heap.

"Rage!"

"Sleep," Christy yelled.

"rage..."

"Your rage is spent. Sleep, Maniae."

"ra..."

The hulking spirit became still, then red light pulsed upon its skin, glowing brighter and brighter until the entire clearing before the cabin was filled with a harsh, crimson light. One last, hissing cry, then it contracted. A single, red gem glinted on the ground.

Christy exhaled, then stumbled, her shoulders slumping as she trembled. A look of amazement crossed her face and her lips wordlessly moved. Kyle thought she whispered, "I did it."

Britney groaned nearby, climbing painfully to her feet. She saw the unconscious Sable, and hissed at her, angry as a storming sea. She retrieved her fallen katar and stalked towards the witch. Her green eyes glowed in the dark, reflecting mur*er.

"No," Kyle stated.

She froze, then gave him a nod.

Fatima's eyes were fixed on Karrie's corpse. "It was so easy," she muttered. "I didn't even think."

"C'mon, Fatima," Kyle whispered, touching her arm. "Aaliyah needs us."

She shook herself, then looked at the cabin. "Bansai!" she cried out, and charged in through the open door like a Samurai, headless of danger.

Kyle followed, Britney at his heels. His sister leaped the porch steps and dashed through the open door. He took the stairs in one step. Through the door he could see Aaliyah huddled in a glowing circle. A young woman with long, black hair stood at the circle, eyes closed, and chanting.

The biology professor, Ms. Franklin, strode forward. She was naked and beautiful. Her gorgeous, fiery hair fell in curtains about her round breasts. Her green eyes flashed, her lush lips moved, and she pointed at his charging sister. "Hecate, send this girl into an everlasting nightmare."

Fatima dropped like a marionette's whose strings had been cut, landing hard on the wooden floor, bouncing, and rolling to a rest on her back at the professor's feet, her yari clattering to the floor beside her.

Kyle went cold inside, his emotions wiped away. He was stone. Hard, unfeeling, unmoving stone. He raised his sword. Ms. Franklin had killed his sister, one of his wives, and the witch would die. He was vaguely aware of Rashawn Underhill chanting a spell beside the professor. Britney leaped past him at the witch, katar flashing like sunlight on a rippling lake, striking straight for the coffee-skinned witch's heart.

Kyle had hard eyes only for his former professor.

"Hecate, protect your servant!"

His sword flashed.

"Strike down my enemy--"

Her words died. Her head separated from her body. She remained upright for a moment, before she collapsed into a crumpled heap. As dead as his sister.

"Kyle," moaned Aaliyah, looking up at him. The silver light glowing in a circle was attacking her, reaching out with tiny, silver tendrils that kept trying to attach to her body.

The chanting witch with dark hair blinked her eyes, and her words caught in her throat. Britney stood at his side, growling, the Black witch's blood staining her katar. The silver light around Aaliyah vanished.

"You came for me," his Genie wife whispered.

"Please," the witch--Phillipa Stoddard--begged, a pendant made of jade hanging between her naked breasts. "Please don't kill me."

"Kyle," Britney purred, her voice thick and husky. "Let me take this one. I will interrogate her and keep her out of mischief. We need to learn all we can about this coven."

Kyle glanced at his best friend. She actually sounded...horny. He always thought she was asexual. He had never seen her show any interest in men or women. Well, the naked witch was very attractive, with nice, round breasts and dusky, olive skin. He vaguely remembered that Phillipa was half-Korean.

"Yeah, she's all yours."

Aaliyah struggled to rise. He was at her side and hugged her in a crushing embrace. Fatima was dead, but Aaliyah lived. It didn't seem fair to lose the one to save the other. He wanted to cry, but he still felt dead inside, his soul petrified.

"What happened to Fatima?" Fumi asked.

He glanced at his Japanese love. She knelt next to Fatima's corpse. His sister looked so peaceful, like she only slept. Fumi shook her gently, an envelope clutched in her hand.

"Ms. Franklin killed her," Kyle said, his voice empty, dead.

"No," Fumi objected. "She's just unconscious."

Life exploded inside him, hope spreading green across dead soil. "What?"

"Celestite cast a nightmare spell," whispered the captured witch.

"Who?" Kyle asked.

"Ms. Franklin," Phillipa answered. "We all went by the color of our auras. I'm Jade, she's Celestite, and that's..." she swallowed, glancing at the corpse of Rashawn Underhill. She had been the fastest runner in his class. "That was Garnet."

"How do you break this nightmare spell?" Kyle demanded of the witch.

"Only Celestite could..."

"So she'll sleep for how long?"

"Forever."

Christy had tears in her eyes as she started her car. I'll probably never see him again.

"Have faith," Iris whispered.

Her guide and companion appeared in a burst of rainbow light. Ishtar had sent her own daughter to lead Christy on her journey of redemption. It was the only way to break Hecate's hold on her and to be free. Helping to rescue Aaliyah was merely the first step.

"He won't want me back."

The spirit reached out, touching her hand. "Love is very powerful. It can do great harm or great good."

"That's so true," Christy muttered, looking at the wreckage in front of the cabin.

She turned her car around, driving across the bridge. Fumi had her letter. It would explain her feelings to Kyle. She needed to get moving before Hecate's daughter caught up. Erinyes was close; she could almost hear the spirit's skittering legs.

"Where to, Iris?"

"Mount Shasta."

Celestite's crystal died. The raven familiar cawed.

Irritation flickered inside him. She had been one of his most promising witches, building that delightful coven of hers. None of his other followers had ever shown such initiative. Pity she had been so stupid and rash. He would have to find out exactly how Kyle Unmei had defeated her. The youth was far more formidable than he had assumed.

Two other crystal's glowed on his desk--Shadow and the Vicar--the other members of his coven. He would need to move more carefully against this youth. Ms. Franklin had been far too direct and she had paid for that mistake. But he was patient. He had hunted for the Djinn and her battered lamp for eight hundred and fifty-four years. In the end, the Djinn's powers would be his, along with whatever powerful talismans Kyle and his compatriots must possess.

Then he would have the power to challenge his Goddess and cast her down.

His phone rang.

"Hello," he answered, sounding pleasant, slipping into his mask.

"Hi, Dean Burke," the woman answered. He smiled. Celestite was dead, but there were always other pawns to be used. "I'm free this Friday."

"Great," he answered. "And call me Stanley, Faiza. If I'm taking you to dinner, you should be able to call me by my first name."

Her laughter was rich. "I guess so. It seems a little..."

"Weird?"

"Yeah." She paused, then added. "I guess, I'm a little nervous. I haven't been on a date in years. Not since my husband..."

"I understand. If you don't want to..."

"No, no!" She sounded eager. Good. She had been widowed for years, denying herself pleasure for her child's sake. She was ripe to be plucked by him and turned into a knife to stick at her son's throat. "I need to move on. I loved my husband, but he would want me to be happy."

"And your daughter Fatima won't mind? Or Kyle? I know you've practically raised him."

She sighed. "I don't know. Kyle's acting so weird lately. I'm going to kill him when he gets home. He stole my car and the front door has been kicked in. His concubines are not telling me where he went. And I don't even know what happened to my front front door. Alexina, one of his concubines, claims they were horsing around. I don't know what I should do with him. He's married to my daughter, so I can't just kick him out. She'll go with him..."

"And you don't want your daughter to be homeless."

"Yeah."

"Sorry to hear that. I'm sure it will all get better."

"Maybe," she said, sounding wistful. "So what time should I be ready?"

"I'll pick you up around seven?"

"Sounds good, Dean Bu...I mean, Stanley."
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