Deric swore as he dove for cover behind a small outcropping. Half a dozen arrows dug into the terrain where he had just been. Deric grabbed the two nearest him, preparing to try and hit the target the arrows had originally been aimed at.
‘Worst game of catch ever…’ Deric thought as he nocked one of the arrows. After taking a few moments to steady his breathing, Deric sprung out from behind the rocks he was using as cover and fired. Unfortunately for the Irishman, the arrow fared as well as the previous ones he had loosed… i.e. not well. The arrow stopped a foot or two before they could hit Maelstrom, who grinned that sadistic grin, before sending the arrow, along with a few of the ones he had stopped previously, back at the archer.
“Yep,” Deric grumbled after taking cover again, “this game sucks.” A small tremor got his attention, and it alerted the ACME agent to the fact that the walls of sand continued to inch closer on both sides. “When it rains…” Deric grumbled, as he peeked around the rock to check the rest of the battle.
To his relief, the wolves were still holding their own against Maelstrom’s hounds. He spied Inky taking out two hounds who were trying to corner Clyde. Ghost grabbed one by the scruff of its neck with his jaws before hurling it into another batch of the mutts, turning the beasts back to the sand from which they were spawned. Deric couldn’t see Pinky or Blinky but he could hear their growls and barks. The man let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
Deric’s moment of pride was interrupted by an alien snarl coming from behind. The detective turned around to see one of the hellhounds eyeing him hungrily. ‘Googly,’ Deric thought while slowly reaching into his quiver for an arrow. Despite moving deliberately so as not to spook the creature into attacking, the growls intensified as it dipped deeper into an attacking crouch.
“Oh, cr…” Deric began as the creature burst out of his crouch and sprinted towards him. He fumbled the arrow trying to nock it. As Deric picked it up, the hellhound leapt at the detective. Deric frantically drew and loosed.
As Deric’s grandmother would say, fate smiles on fools, little children and Irishmen named Storm; the arrow buried itself right between the creature’s beady eyes in mid-leap. The dead creature turned back into the black sand it had been formed from, covering the young detective from head to toe.
“Blech,” Deric said, spitting black sand out of his mouth. Shaking himself like one of the wolves, most of the remaining sand fell off the detective. Rustling a hand through his hair, Deric was able to get some more sand out. “I will never feel clean again,” the Irishman spat with a shudder. His reverie was interrupted by another arrow burying itself into the sand near his feet. Deric dove back behind the safety of the rock.
A growl of frustration bubbled in the young man’s throat. Things were only going to end badly if they stayed the way they were. The sand walls continued to inch closer; it was only going to be a matter of time before they shredded the entire battlefield, stone, psycho and sheamus alike. Deric needed to put down Maelstrom and figure a way out before that happened.
‘Riiiight,’ Deric thought, rolling his eyes, ‘such a simple plan… Wonder why I haven’t done that already?’ Every time he popped his head out, Maelstrom launched arrows at him from atop the rocks. Even without those, it would mean trying to make his way up through a horde of bloodthirsty mongrels. Another rumble in the distance reminded the ACME detective again that he was also on the clock as well.
Deric growled again as he tightened his grip on the arrow he pulled from his quiver. His options were extremely limited and the chances of success were damn near anorexic. A glow suddenly appeared from the tip of the arrow he held, causing Deric to drop the arrow.
‘What the hell?’ Deric thought as he reached down to touch the arrow which no longer glowed. Picking it up, Deric decided to test a theory. Focusing on the arrowhead, Deric was pleased when the tip began to glow even brighter than before. ‘Great googly moogly’, Deric thought, trying not to burst out laughing, ‘All this time, I was thinking Robin Hood when I should have been thinking Zelda.’
Nocking the arrow, it glowed even brighter. After taking a steeling breath, Deric stood and loosed the arrow at Maelstrom. The madman held the same self-satisfied smirk on his face as he reached out to stop the arrow like he had all the others. However to both the detective and villain’s mutual surprise, the arrow exploded when it was stopped, eliciting a scream of pain from Maelstrom.
Deric’s brief moment of triumph was dashed as Maelstrom fired back by unleashing most of the arrows he had floating around him at the young Nebraskan. Deric dove back behind his cover as shaft upon shaft rained down upon him. When the rain subsided, Deric let out a small chuckle.
“Well, that was different,” Deric thought aloud. Well, now he had a way to distract, now he just needed a way up to where Maelstrom was. Deric placed a hand on the rock to boost himself up when the hand sank into the rock. The detective yank his hand away like he had touched a hot skillet.
‘What the hell?’ Deric thought as he looked at the stone, a small wave still rippling from where his hand had touched. He reached out tentatively and touched the stone again, sending out more ripples. Seeing his hand was unharmed, the farmboy decided to take a chance and stick his head into the rock. After taking a deep breath, Deric took the plunge. Sticking his head in, it felt like he was poking his head above water. Looking around, Deric could tell he was near the top of the outcropping. Taking a look up, the detective could see Maelstrom hovering only a few feet up.
Quickly pulling his head back through, Deric quickly started to formulate a plan. Reaching into his quiver, he grabbed an arrow and aimed it right at the portal in the stone. However, a thought popped in his head: “what if he missed?” If he missed, Maelstrom would be able to figure out where the arrow came from and Deric would have nowhere to hide. If Deric was able to get Maelstrom distracted, he’d be able to sneak up and take the madman out. But how to do it…
A bark from one of the wolves sparked an idea. Deric created the wolves out of the sand, maybe...
The farmboy closed his eyes and focused on creating an image of himself. When he opened his eyes, a near perfect double crouched before him. Deric sent the clone out to start firing at Maelstrom; the clone lasted about 30 seconds before he was hit by a returning arrow, collapsing back into the black sand.
Deric then created about ten more clones and ordered them to fan out and continuously fire arrows. As his squad fanned out, Deric sank into the stone portal, quietly emerging at the other end atop the outcropping. Seeing Maelstrom occupied taking potshots at his doppelgangers, Deric realized his plan might work. Drawing the short sword at his back, he stealthily made his way towards his target.
When he was only a few feet away, the young detective pounced on his quarry. As he flew through the air, Deric caught what seemed to be a smile on the madman’s face. When he was inches away, Maelstrom suddenly spun and buried his own sword into the detective’s left shoulder and slammed him roughly into the ground at the outcropping’s peak. Deric screamed in pain when he landed, though the scream was cut short by Maelstrom’s weight landing on the man’s torso, expelling the breath from his lungs.
Maelstrom wrenched the sword from the Irishman’s shoulder, drawing another hiss of pain. The villain clenched the sword in both hands and drove it down at the detective’s sternum, only to be stopped at the last moment when Deric caught the Norwegian’s wrists, keeping the blade from striking home. Maelstrom looked down at the boy, his face locked in a grimace of agony doing everything he could to stave off his fate.
“You should have joined me, boy,” Maelstrom snarled, putting all of weight into trying to plunge his blade into Deric’s chest. “Such a waste of potential.”
A snappy comeback died in Deric’s throat as fresh pain rushed from his bleeding shoulder.
“What’s the matter, boy?” Maelstrom said, a wide sneer on his weathered face, “No witty comeback? No inane joke?” Maelstrom put even more strength into his attack, pushing the tip of the blade even closer to Deric’s chest.
Deric strained as hard as he could against the madman. If he had been uninjured, it wouldn’t have been a contest; Deric was bigger, stronger, and much, much younger. It pissed the detective off that a simple stupid misstep was going to cost him everything here. Another rumble drew his eye away from Maelstrom. The sand walls were dangerously close now, probably about 20 yards from wall to wall remained of the battleground.
Also appearing in the edge of Deric’s vision was something that gave him a flash of hope.
“Last words?” Deric rasped with a snarl. “Yeah, I got your ‘last words’.” Taking as much of a deep breath as he could with Maelstrom’s weight across his torso, Deric let out a shrill whistle.
A confused look momentarily crossed the Norwegian’s face before a grey and white blur knocked him off Deric’s chest.
Deric gasped, finally able to take a full breath now that Maelstrom’s weight was removed from his diaphragm. The action elicited a sharp lance of pain from his wounded shoulder, almost taking that same breath away. The young detective directed his gaze in the direction the blur had headed with the mad scientist. He saw the dust settling around Ghost who stood hunched over the prone form of Maelstrom, jaws wrapped around the Norwegian’s neck.
The madman’s eyes blazed with fury as he ranted and raved; in fact, Deric thought he saw literal foam at the corners of Maelstrom’s mouth.
“Release me at once, you foul beast,” Maelstrom bellowed. “I am the master of this realm; all that happens here must be according to my will. Without me this place would be nothing… Release me or I will obliterate you and all who…”
Deric had had enough.
“Ghost…” Deric barked. The giant wolf looked up at him, Maelstrom’s neck still firmly grasped in his jaws. The motion caused the wolf’s quarry to turn his attention and his insane ravings towards the detective. Deric heard none of it.
“Kill him.”
The command cut through the space as sharply as the blade at Deric’s side. It had the secondary effect of cutting through Maelstrom’s insanity as the finality of the situation dawned on the madman.
“Wait, wait,” he pleaded. “I can…” Maelstrom’s words were cut off by the violent snapping and wrenching of Ghost’s massive jaws on the fragile bones in his neck. As his life was violently ended, the Norwegian’s body exploded into the fine black powder that formed the matter of the hellish dreamscape. Deric could hear the whimpers and whines of the mongrels he and his pack had struggled against as they too faded from existence.
With that done, Deric returned to a prone position and looked up at the red sky. The sand walls were getting taller as he could feel the outcropping beneath him melt back into the sand from which it had been formed. Deric could feel a slight breeze rush through the canyon that had been his battlefield. The scouring walls were close enough now that the farmboy could see the individual grains of sand as they rocketed skyward.
Soft footsteps broke Deric’s reverie as Ghost padded into view and laid down next to his master.
“Good boy,” Deric said, scratching behind the giant wolf’s ears, which made the giant wolf’s tail wag happily. Ghost reached over and began to lick Deric’s face as the wolf disintegrated in fine black sand as well. The particles floated into the ether, probably to join the looming walls. “See you on the other side.”
Another rumble made Deric shift his gaze to the tops of the walls as the black sand crested and began to fall, rushing towards him in order to fill the space between the walls. As the black tide raced towards him, all Deric could do was close his eyes and wait for the sand to envelop him.
maybe one of the curators could dress up like him
