Chapter 8: No Battle Plan Survives First Contact with the Enemy

Chapter 8: No Battle Plan Survives First Contact with the Enemy

A large, thick-boned arm with a massively oversized hand grasped the wooden beam, anchoring the bone demon in place as it slowly swung side to side like a deadly pendulum. The main mass of the creature was balled up, limbs curled tight and difficult to distinguish from each other. Visible at the top, though, was a row of skulls in a strip like a mohawk, five in total, all of them decidedly human in appearance.

Jadis’ eyes stayed locked on the demon as she thought about what she should do next, watching for the slightest indication it had spotted her. Aside from the gentle rocking, the bone thief was as motionless as the dead.

Should she attack it? She had made the stone clubs specifically for the purpose of fighting any bone demons she came across. Her heart was beating like a drum and shivers were running up and down her spine, not from fear but from anticipation. This monster was the adventure she was looking for, the fantasy turned reality she’d been dreaming of whenever she read a book or played a video game. She had to admit, she’d come back to the dwarf village half because she was looking for a fight, not just because she needed to scavenge supplies.

Still, now that she was staring down the barrel of impending combat, she hesitated. Not for fear of the fight, but for simple logistical purposes. How exactly was she supposed to start the battle with the bone thief? It was hanging from the top rafter of the roof of a two-story stone building across the road from her. Her instincts screamed at her that the best thing to do would be to attack it while it was unaware of her presence, get the drop on it.

She doubted she could, though, since she had no confidence she could climb up that building without making enough noise to wake the monster, if sleeping was what it was doing. For all she knew, the second she stepped out into the road it would roar to life and come leaping down upon her, skeletal claws coming for her flesh.

“What do I know about these things?” Jadis whispered quietly, watching her foe.

“Other than they are made of bone?” She replied, both heads tilting a bit in thought. “They don’t die unless you kill the eyeball hidden in the core. That, and they can run pretty fast. Aggressive, too. At least the first one, was.”

Jadis recognized that everything about the first one might have been specific to it as an individual, but with how Oros’ reality was built like a game, she felt as though a bone thief could be relied on to act as any other bone thief would.

“Besides,” she murmured, plans forming in her mind, “A dog will act like a dog. Let’s throw this one a bone...”

Having gotten into position a few moments later, Jadis found a fist sized stone and tested its weight. She doubted she could do much damage to the demon’s skeletal shell, but she took careful aim. Maybe her surprise attack would get lucky and she’d kill it with one toss of a rock?

With a grunt of effort, Jadis hurled the stone at the hanging demon, the projectile flying farther and faster than she had expected. It zipped through the air and struck with a loud crack. Unfortunately, what it struck was a wooden roof beam several feet to the side of the bone thief.

“I never did do much pitching in softball.” Jadis shrugged, taking a few steps back and readying her club as the demon stirred.

The skeletal monstrosity unfolded itself from the ball it had made, far too many arms spreading out around the egg-shaped torso. The demon had two improbably large arms and two smaller pairs below the big ones in a triangle pattern on either side of the body. What Jadis at first took to be a tail turned out to be a third leg jutting out the rear, each leg terminating in a horse’s hoof. The row of skeletal heads all clacked together like a macabre Newton’s cradle.

Jadis had only seconds to process these details as the creature unfurled itself, spotted her, and immediately launched itself out of the roof. It landed on the road two stories down in a clatter of bones on stone, seemingly unaffected by the fall.

“Come and get these bones, fucker,” Jadis snarled with a savage grin, backing a few more steps away, club raised overhead. She stood ready, just beyond the corner of the stone building she’d last searched.

The demon rushed directly at her, leaping over the wooden fence with ease. It charged with single-minded purpose, using its huge arms to lope along like a malformed gorilla. Just as it passed the edge of the building corner, Jadis sprung her trap.

The thief reacted wildly, letting go of Jadis’ neck and trying to switch targets, bucking and thrashing at the unpinned Jadis.

Dropping her club, Jadis picked the bone thief up and swung it around, tossing it away and off to the side with a scream of effort. She knew she didn’t have time to follow up on the overturned demon, though. Despite the blood pounding in her ears, Jadis could hear the sound of the first bone thief crashing through the trees towards her.

Getting her coughing body to her feet, Jadis dashed inside the hut, managing to get within just in time as the tripod-gorilla monstrosity came into the clearing. From what she could see, it had put some of itself back together, having regained its other large arm, though she could still see many cracks and breaks in the bones of both arm and shell.

Readying herself, Jadis realized she’d left one of her clubs on the ground outside.

“Fuck it,” she coughed, tears still streaming down her snarling face, “I only need one hammer to deal with you!”

Perhaps reacting to her shouted challenge, the bone thief rattled its four remaining skulls together, jaws snapping and clacking. It ran forward, barreling into the open doorway where Jadis stood, club raised high.

As it reached the door, Jadis’ second self slammed the door shut, the impact jarring both woman and demon, but the demon taking it worse. Its large body caught in the door, she held it shut on the creature and pinned it in place with all her strength.

With a rage-filled shout, the other half of Jadis brought the stone club down on the demon, shattering a hole in the curved back of the skeletal torso, exposing a wriggling mass of purple flesh. She swung again, muscles burning from the effort as she aimed for the newly made hole, trying to land a death blow. The skeletal monster struggled and twisted about, arms and legs flailing, throwing off her aim but unable to effectively attack or defend itself.

By the fourth swing, Jadis’ club struck purple flesh with a squelching, popping sound. The bone demon’s struggles went wild, desperately trying to pull itself out of the door. At that moment, the second bone thief charged, crashing into the door with enough force to momentarily send Jadis reeling back.

However, the demons’ action acted counter to each other. With one trying to pull back and the other rushing forward, neither were able to act to full effect and take advantage of the few seconds it took Jadis to get back into position at the door.

Once again, Jadis slammed the door shut, this time catching both demons between door and stone frame, cracking and breaking several of the smaller limbs on both creatures. With perfect coordination, Jadis attacked at the same time she crushed the demons in the doorway, breaking two of the smaller demon’s heads off the body completely.

As the dog-like bone thief flailed, one of its legs went deep into the hole Jadis had cracked open in the larger demon’s protective shell. With a disgusting squelch, the clawed skeletal paw sunk into the purple flesh, dark goo spurting out in a fetid torrent. With a shudder, the bone thief ceased its struggles, going still as death.

Seizing the initiative, Jadis grabbed hold of the still fighting demon’s arm with both hands. Putting one foot against the door and leaning back hard, she yanked the demon against the hard edge, holding it firmly in place while her second self lined up another blow.

With two swift strikes the un-grappled back arm of the smaller demon was broken off. Held in place, it had no means of defense at all as Jadis bashed through the bony torso. Once a large enough hole had been made, she jammed the end of the club into the wriggling mass and pulped it like a mortar and pestle, not stopping until all movement from the demon ceased.

All went quiet in the hut with the death of the second demon. Jadis stood there, heart beating in her ears and gasping breath rough against her throat.

Speaking as one, both bodies expressed the only ineloquent thought her numb mind could think of in the silence of victorious combat.

“Holy shit.”