Legacy Clause

By CJ Knight

Photo by Kevin Schmid on Unsplash

Story created for Maryellen Brady 💗📚’s Millcreek Village prompts.

Legacy Clause

Let’s see if you’re as great as you think you are, Thomas Creek. The jagged stitched line that was once a mouth, twisted beneath Drake’s mask. His pale blue eyes flared to life as he rushed forward, swords angled down, the tips of the blades tracing through the dirt. Thomas raised his pistol and fired. Steel blurred as Drake deflected the bullets. With a slash the pistol barrel fell to the ground. Thomas leaned away as the sword blade missed his throat by inches.

Thomas smiled, threw the pistol handle away. “Not bad. Not bad at all.” He removed his suit jacket, folded it, and placed it on the ground. His cufflinks clicked and two blades descended from his sleeves. “Show me what else you’ve got.” Thomas raised his own blades and held his stance.

Zofia held her breath. Ketting was picking himself up from the ground nursing his hand. Blood trickled between his fingers from the hole Thomas had blown through it. He picked up his whip, but he wasn’t interested in her. Rozclad wasn’t either. Like Zofia, both men were mesmerised by the fight about to unfold.

Drake’s first strike came. Steel screamed as Thomas caught it with his own blade. And that was how it began. The two men became a blur of blades flashing through the clearing with impossible speed. Drake, precise, deliberate. Thomas with smaller movements appearing almost bored. For Thomas this seemed effortless, his strikes appearing where Drake least expected.

A branch cracked in the trees. Thomas and Drake separated. Drake noticed Nathan first. Veronica wants that boy. He nodded toward Rozclad and Ketting, pointed at the boy. Both understood. Nathan ran as the men rushed toward him. Nathan tripped, air left his lungs as he hit the dirt.

“Got you!” Rozclad reached forward. Fingers wrapped around his wrist and twisted. Rozclad screamed as the crack of bone cut through the air. He looked from his arm hanging limp, into the eyes of Jay Tufore.

“It’s rude to put your hands where they aren’t wanted, Rozclad.” Jay punched Rozclad in the side. The sound of snapping bone filled the air again as rib bones cracked beneath Jay’s fist. Rozclad dropped to his knees. Ketting swung his chain whip toward Jay. Elle stepped forward. The whip wrapped around her forearm. The whites of her eyes flooded black. Her veins rose on her skin with the same colour as the rage virus fuelled her. She turned to her son. “Run!” He froze in fear.

Drake pulled the syringe from his hip pocket. Lunarium’s white glow shimmered in the sunlight. He threw the syringe across the clearing. It landed in Rozclad’s chest. Jay stepped back. Rozclad’s scream became a roar. His skin rippled with the sounds of snapping bone and tearing skin. His uniform ripped open, dark fur exploded across his body. Fingernails fell to the dirt as claws tore through the ends of his fingers. His jaw lengthened as human teeth dropped in a pile of saliva and blood. Blue eyes disappeared, replaced by luminous yellow. He knocked Jay into the trunk of a nearby tree, and his yellow eyes found the terrified eyes of Nathan. Jay picked himself up. “Run, Nathan!” This time the boy listened. He disappeared into the trees. Rozclad let out a deafening roar, and gave chase. Jay followed.

Elle shook the chain whip free of her forearm, her eyes wild, she hurried through the trees to defend her son. The chain whip wrapped around her ankle bringing her to ground. “We’re not finished here!” Ketting shook his injured hand spraying blood across the ground.

Zofia remained in the clearing. She would help Elle save Nathan, but she’d help Thomas first. Zofia pressed the button on her wrist and activated her suit. Drake and Thomas circled each other in the clearing. Zofia moved in silence, waiting. Then she made her move.

I see you. Drake raised his blades and took two steps toward Thomas then turned. Zofia understood too late, she’d been found. The slash came toward her. Thomas jumped between them. Drake’s blade cut through his wrist, sending his severed hand to the ground. Drake thrust his other blade through Thomas Creek’s chest. The blade punched through his back. Drake pulled the blade free and stepped back. Thomas dropped to his knees, coughed blood, and fell face down. Zofia’s eyes blurred. Just like Poland, Thomas stepped between her and a blade. He always had. Just like that, her entire world was gone. Drake turned toward her, no hesitation. He charged. The first slash caught Zofia’s shoulder. The second opened her thigh. A third tore her hip open. Drake kicked her across the clearing. Zofia crashed and rolled through the dirt. She tried to rise, and Drake kicked her again. She pulled herself up against the trunk of a tree at the edge of the clearing. Her suit flickered, and died. Drake rushed forward, driving the blade of a sword toward her eye. CLANG. The blade flew from Drake’s hand. He jumped back. Zofia looked up. Blood ran from the stump where Thomas’s hand had been. His white shirt soaked red with blood from the hole through his chest, and yet he stood, and yet he smiled. “Before you start another fight, you should make sure the last opponent is actually dead.”

Drake looked at the sword in his hand, his other sword on the ground, then at the blade in Thomas’s remaining hand. One sword each seems fair. He’s earned that. Drake slashed first, and their dance resumed, a blur of blades and screaming steel.

Zofia clawed at the tree trunk and pulled herself to her feet. Blood pooled from her wounds to the ground beneath. You have to help him. Zofia felt for the knife scabbard on her shoulder. She pulled the knife free, blade already covered in blood. Her shoulder wound had soaked through the scabbard. Zofia took one breath, then ran. The two men traded blows, Zofia moved in and jumped. Drake thrust the blade of his sword upward. Thomas parried it last second. It missed Zofia’s throat and split her chin open. Blood sprayed, but she didn’t stop. She brought the blade of her knife down driving it through Drake’s chest. He dropped his sword. Thomas stepped through, his blade flashed. Drake’s head sailed through the air. His body swayed, then collapsed. Thomas collapsed to his knees, and fell backward. Zofia caught him before he hit the ground. “Thomas.”

His eyes flicked between Drake’s corpse and her. “Are you hurt?”

Zofia shook her head. “I’m fine.”

Thomas smiled. “Liar.” Blood ran from his mouth. His breathing now shallow. “Zofia.”

“I’m here.” Tears fell from her eyes.

“The key. The one I gave you.”

“The safety deposit box?”

He nodded. “Do you still have it?”

Zofia reached into her clothing. Her fingers closed around the small brass key.

Thomas saw it. “Good.”

She gripped his hand. “Thomas, don’t.”

His eyes closed. “Everything you’ll need…” He coughed blood. “…is in that safety deposit box.”

Zofia shook him. “Thomas?” The man who had found her on the streets of Poland and raised her as a daughter was gone. She buried her head against his shoulder and cried.

***

Veronica Mill sat alone at her desk. Her screen displayed intelligence reports. She paused on one file. Her eyes narrowed. “A new mayor, hmmm.” The mystery surrounding Maple’s disappearance was of little consequence to her, or her goals, and yet, she’d found the whole thing intriguing. No body, no ransom, no evidence of murder. Veronica even went so far as to put two operators on the case of her disappearance. Whatever happened to Maple remained a mystery. But Millcreek continued in the mayor’s absence, and now there was a new mayor. “An opportunity perhaps?” She thought of all the recent complications, many of them unexpected. “Perhaps a relationship with the new mayor should be considered. Someone on the inside who can influence the population and prevent future problems from requiring corporate personnel.”

Veronica’s phone vibrated on the desk. The notification brought a smile to her lips. Thomas Creek – Deceased. Legacy Clause Enacted.

Veronica closed the intelligence report tab and opened her email. Time to schedule an emergency board meeting with the controlling shareholders. Then I’ll talk to the new mayor.

For anyone interested in the key Zofia received from Thomas, or Rozclad’s lycanthropy, further reading in the two linked stories below.