The Foolhardies 176 Identity

The part of it I could see sticking out of Edo was a shadowblade with a distinctly wavy edge. I'd seen something similar before. It was a kris dagger, a weapon commonly used in arcane rituals.

I'd never seen Luca use a dagger before much less use one preferred by fairy magicians. That was my first clue.

Luca pulled out the kris from Edo's back and jumped away just as Edo launched a sweeping swipe of his glaive at my brother.

I noticed then that Edo hadn't used his usual deadly power in that last attack. Whether it was because he was worried about hurting Luca or because his movements had gone sluggish, I wasn't sure. It might have been the latter.

Aurana rushed to Edo's side but he waved her away with a hand while his other hand gripped tightly onto the glaive which was helping to keep him upright.

At the same time, Ashley positioned herself right in front of Aurana. Her s.h.i.+eld faced forward and aimed at my little brother.

The only one who hadn't moved a muscle was me.

Even Luca had made preparations. He'd thrown his broadsword to the floor and pulled out a second kris from the bag of holding I had him carry all the time. Not a dagger like the one in his left hand, but a three-foot-long wavy shadowblade that might as well have been a sword.

"Luca! What the h.e.l.l are you doing!" Ashley screamed.

My little brother remained silent. But that smile which distorted his features unnerved me. Luca would never show off that sort of malice. This was my second clue.

"He's not Luca," I said in a voice that was barely a whisper.

But everyone heard me because they all turned my way.

Even Edo who was struggling to stand looked over his shoulder so he could see me and ask, "How do you know?"

I didn't. Not for sure. I tried with Fool's Insight, but no insight came to me. Whatever and whoever it was who'd taken Luca's place had done it perfectly. By all accounts, my brother had just betrayed us to our unseen enemy, and this more than anything else was something I couldn't believe.

Why did I have so much faith in Luca, you ask? Couldn't it be possible that all the time spent in the Fayne, all the darkness he'd witness, all the death he'd cause had finally made him snap and sent him plunging down to the dark side? Sure, that would have been possible—for me, but not for Luca.

I may exude confidence and optimism like a toddler, but Luca was moody to begin with. The kid suffered from anxiety issues, after all. And that's how I knew he'd never go darker. Luca was constantly second-guessing himself and at war with the dark thoughts in his mind, and every time this happened, he came out winning.

That Luca who strived to be good every day — something I would definitely fail at as I identify more with Darth Vader than Luke Skywalker — that was the Luca I believed in. And this imposter distorting my little brother's face was going to wish he'd chosen someone else.

"It's not Luca," I insisted while pointing my falchion forward in a decisive manner.

 "Are you sure about that, Dean?" Luca asked.

It was his voice but distorted somehow. Like something creepy was speaking from within the skin of Luca.

"I am going to hurt you very badly for this emotional cl.u.s.ter f**k you're putting me through," I growled. I tightened my sword hand's grip on my falchion. "What did you do with the real Luca?"

"B-but I am Luca, Dean!" he said in a voice filled with regret and worry. But that sudden change was temporary as he reverted back to the twisted version of Luca. "he-he-he-he…"

By Idunn's light, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d was laughing like that d.a.m.n clown from that creepy movie with all the kids fighting against it. It was also the movie that gave Luca nightmares back when we first saw it.

"How do you have my brother's memories?" I asked it.

"Um, maybe because he is Luca?" Ashley suggested.

"He's not," I reiterated.

"How are you so sure, Dean?" Ashley countered.

"Same way I'd know if someone was impersonating you, Ash… My gut," I reasoned.

Ashley visibly went red in the cheeks. Why? I didn't know. But she did come with a counter of, "Your gut? I would have believed you more if you said your eyes were sure, idiot!"

"Well my sight isn't being really helpful right now," I reasoned right before I took a step forward.

I noticed fake Luca stepping forward toward Ashley who was still s.h.i.+elding Aura behind her.

It was at this moment when Edo dropped to his knees. His glaive fell off his limp hand as the rest of him threatened to topple over.

"Edo!" Aurana screamed.

"Poison!" Ashley yelled.

"Do your s.h.i.+eldmaiden thing then!" I ordered. "Heal him!"

"I didn't bring my healing tools, Dean!" she countered.

"You didn't bring your most important tool during a stakeout?" I asked incredulously.

"My most important tools are my sword and my s.h.i.+eld… I'm a s.h.i.+eldmaiden, not Florence freaking Nightingale," she shot back.

Ashley was referring to the celebrated British nurse from the old, old days. It was a pretty good comparison considering that s.h.i.+eldmaiden acted as healers and protectors of the less fortunate here in the Fayne.

"Dean… my body will work through the poison on its own… you better deal with this imposter by… the time I wake up," Edo said right before he collapsed face-first on the floor.

"Edo!" Aurana yelled again.

She tried brus.h.i.+ng past Ashley but the other girl held her back.

"Cool your jets, princess!" she ordered. "Your bodyguard is made of st.u.r.dier stuff to fall prey to some pathetic poison."

True that. Being half-ogre, Edo actually had a pretty strong resistance to poison. It was one of his many innate talents he didn't like to boast about. Dude hated being b.a.s.t.a.r.d. But that's a story for another time.

"Aura… I'll deal with fake Luca over there… you can use Healing Flame on Edo then," I instructed.

Healing Flame, one of the three new spells in Aura's repertoire, and it was a pretty impressive one too.

"Dean… are you sure about this… about him?" she asked.

I nodded, and without another word, I launched myself forward with my falchion raised high in one hand.

Fake Luca didn't move. He waited for me to get in range and then blocked my downward swing with a cross block using both his shadowblades.

"Are you really going to hurt me, Dean?" Luca asked in his normal voice, the one filled with worry.

Then the creepy smile was back, and with it was that hollow clown laugh, "Hhhha!"

At the end of the laughter though, I detected the exhaling of a deep breath, the kind a pract.i.tioner used right before launching an attack.

If that little hint wasn't enough, Fool's Insight revealed the minuscule movements his body made in the moments right before his attack came, allowing me to predict the future a second or five ahead.

I pulled back just in time as his kris dagger came sliding into the s.p.a.ce where my stomach was only a second ago. Then I feinted pus.h.i.+ng forward but pulled back just as his kris sword came cras.h.i.+ng down the s.p.a.ce where my head was a moment earlier, leaving him slightly off balance.

In that gap between his last attack and his next one, I managed to charge in, shoulder first. I shoved fake Luca back with my right shoulder and then swung my sword arm forward in a rising arc that would have impressed a golf pro.

Swing and swish. My sword's shadowblade went up, cutting into the scale mail armor I'd spent hard-earned money gifting Luca just a few weeks ago. Man, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d imposter was going to pay.

Unexpectedly, fake Luca didn't pull away as far as I thought he would so he did take more damage than I predicted, but that meant he was close enough to counter which is why I felt a stinging sensation pierce my side.

My eyes caught his left arm's movement in the last second which is how I managed to twist to the left and avoid the dagger plunging straight into me.

Following the motion of my shoulders, I went a full hundred-and-eighty degree turn and sent my falchion snaking into fake Luca's side.

He stepped back to avoid it. I stepped forward in response.

Then, with a twist of my wrist, I sent that sideward slash hurtling in the other direction.

I felt my falchion connect a second time with fake Luca's body and smelled the iron scent of blood as it leaked out of the second cut I'd given him.

Wouldn't you know it; the fake b.a.s.t.a.r.d was willing to take that hit just to catch me unaware from above. His sword-arm came cras.h.i.+ng down on my shoulder and it would have been a deathblow if Fool's Insight hadn't warned me in time.

My sense gift really was a cheat, and I could understand why guys like Chris Pint and Rita the Inquisitor were held in such high regard. If a noob sense knight like me could walk away from critical attacks like I just did, then the sense knights who'd been at it longer could probably have dodged it all together without getting hurt.

Unfortunately, I wasn't at their level yet, and so I did feel the cut that bit deep into my shoulder.

"Argh! Muddamit!" I roared in pain.

Then I pulled away just as he launched an attack with his dagger.

One step, two steps, and then a third long step out of his reach. After making sure there was a good enough distance between us, I inspected my two wounds.

The one on my right side was a shallow stab that barely scratched me but the second one cut deep into my left shoulder. Not only did it hurt to high heaven but it also made my left hand all but useless.

"Sh**, you're good," I admitted to fake Luca. "But you're not Lucgood."

"Dean… why do you keep insisting I'm not who I'm supposed to be?" Luca asked with a curious expression on his face.

It was honestly annoying to see. He had two larger wounds than me with blood pouring out of the deep cuts I gouged into him but the dude didn't even look like he was in pain.

"For one thing, Luca would be screaming curses at me right now for taking a sparring session into this kind of dangerous fight," I reasoned.

"F**k you, Dean! You hurt me!" fake Luca yelled in obvious mimicry of what I'd just said.

It was that grotesque smile again, and the sight of it was really grating on my nerves.

"And if you were Luca, I'd have been beaten by now," I added. "Or didn't you know that I've never won a serious fight against him in all the years we've trained together."

That was a fact that I mentioned much, much earlier in the story, I believe. And it was still true to this day. Even with Fool's Insight, I still couldn't beat my little brother in a sparring match.

"I know that, Dean," Luca grinned that malicious grin. "But this isn't just a regular spar. It's a battle to the death."

"Wipe that smile off my brother's face, b.a.s.t.a.r.d!" I growled.

"You're losing your calm, Dean," fake Luca responded. "Didn't dad tell you never to lose your calm in a fight?"

"My dad also told me to kick the b.u.t.t of anyone who hurts my family," I countered. "So how about we put our cards on the table, hashas.h.i.+n…"

I wasn't sure it would affect him, but the sudden change in expression, the raising of an eyebrow and slight frown that appeared on his face, that was just more proof that fake Luca wasn't Luca.

"You think I'm the hashas.h.i.+n?" Luca asked, tilting his head as he did.

"A master of disguise and able to blend in any scenario," I enumerated. "Isn't that how you guys are?"

He failed to respond.

At the corner of my eye, I saw Aurana leaning over Edo, whispering arcane words I couldn't quite hear. Ashley stood in front of her, ready to defend the princess if it came to it.

I turned my focus back on fake Luca who was kind enough to wait for me, and said, "I a.s.sume the real Luca is still in the infirmary where I left him…"

My brow furrowed heavily.

"He was knocked out from all the healing… doc said that someone did a number on him… signs of a mental attack as well as a physical one…" I explained as rationally as I could. "I should have known you were an imposter the moment you showed up at the tower looking all better… but you acted exactly like him and you even have his memories… Honestly, I'm impressed."

Finally, instead of continuing to lie in my face, fake Luca acknowledged my deductions with a slight bow of his head.

"Yes, I am the hashas.h.i.+n," he admitted in a deep voice that didn't belong to my brother. "And your brother lives because he was not the one I came to kill."

He raised his sword and pointed it at me which was right around the time where I began to feel the numbness affecting my shoulder spread out to the rest of my body. I stumbled in place, my vision swimming suddenly.

That's when I remembered what happened to Edo, and I sighed, "Poison..."

"You are not on my list," he said matter-of-factly. "But if you do not step aside now and allow me to fulfill my contract then your death will be excruciatingly painful… that is my promise."