1. Storming the Castle
By Clay Curcio
Try as I had to free myself, theirs was a prison designed to contain my ilk. But they are
right to fear my magic. Judging from my inability to shatter these cuffs, they must have been
forged from the steel bark of the Hinter-Ents. Their hide was nearly impossible to penetrate with
an incantation or curse. Clearly, they spared no expense or ethical concern in securing users of
magic. These were the kind of people I was dealing with; these were the people who stole my
Valkyrie from me; the kind of people who would fell a great and peaceful Ent so that they may
craft its skin into tools of war and enslavement. Servants of the Dark Lord Obamzsis, twisted by
his perverse and sadistic will. But I would not be theirs on this day. The Ur-Wardens, The
keepers of Obamzsis’s cruel law who had stormed my home, only suspected me of having a
magical affinity, and they could only keep me overnight for the lesser charge of defending my
homestead and my love. So when the new day’s dawn broke, they came to release me from my
dank and putrid cell.
“One digital watch. One duct tape wallet. One flip-top cell phone. One sharpie. And
One…traveler's cloak? Is that really yours? You going to a comic convention or something?” the
stuffy little woman behind the desk laughed haughtily as she pulled the mass of dark folded cloth
from the box, as if the person who had booked me had made some kind of clerical error.
“Yes, my traveler's cloak”
She glared down at me from her elevated station, quite literally. The desk, as well as the
rest of the other side of the room was a good 3 feet higher than where I was standing. So even
sitting down in her desk she could look down at me and the rest of the criminals who pass
through here with casual disdain, never having to even shift her weight.

2. Her look spoke of a nonchalant dismissal of my tools as utterly fungible and not even
worthy of a sewer brat’s reliquary. This caused my rage to bubble forth, threatening to contort
my countenance into one of basest hatred, to propel me over the desk and onto the throat of the
corpulent little toad sitting in front and slightly above me... but I had wasted enough time during
the last nights passing, and who knows how long they would keep me if I assaulted one of their
own in their stronghold, or even if they would let me live. Val needed me, and for her I would
stare stone-faced into those beady cataract orbs until I went blind. So I did just that. I stared into
her, unblinking, emotionless, boring into the vast empty abyss that was her mind.
“Oooook. So you, Hubert Maywood, confirm that all your personal effects are present
and accounted for?”
“Yes”
“Then your time for misdemeanor assault and breach of the peace has been served and
you are free to go… back to your mother’s basement.” This drew a boisterous laugh from not
only the clerk, but the two other warden’s manning the vault of possessions as well.
Having already steeled myself against their ridicule and mockery, I collected my things
and left without saying another word. As I exited the complex, I had to shield my eyes from the
sun as they adjusted from the perpetual night of this prison. I drew my hood over my head,
providing me with shade, but more importantly denying those who walked these streets witness
to my identity. They knew of me now, they’d be watching my movements. Had I simply allowed
them to take my love from me, had I been weak, I could have walked the streets with my head
held high, a proud member of this community. The memory of last night still burned within my
mind, however, and I could forgive just as well as I could forget.

3. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Sorry Bernie, we hadn’t received word that you were coming down to question him, or
we wouldn’t of let him go until you were done. The books said he was to be released today, so
we cleared him out as fast as we could. You know how it is.”
“Heh, yeah Stacy, I do. It’s no problem. How long ago did you say you let him go?”
“About an hour an half, give or take.”
“Could you give me his current place of residence then? One of your deputies drove
down there yesterday, I don’t think I can find my way back. Maywood's probably still there.”
“Sure thing. Give me a second to pull it up.”
She scribbles up a note and passes it to me. I exit the little suburban outpost and walk
back to my squad car. As I settle in the driver’s seat I just sit there for a minute for a moment
before turning the car on. I don’t usually come out this far out of the metropolitan area on work,
but this being a favor for some old friends, I gladly made the exception. I’ve been here more than
once though, and I pull out of the police station’s officer’s lot without having to look around to
find my place. The note that Stacy gave me puts him at about a five minute drive from the
station. John and Martha said they needed help with their daughter, Valerie. Said they were
unable to help her on their own, anymore. They told me that they were afraid that she was in a
bad way, that she losing her sanity again - that she had fallen in with a bad crowd, in particular, a
bad man. I pictured the bright-eyed little girl I used to see running around and giggling at family
parties, the shy adolescent who used to bury her head in stories about fantastical places, and the
moody teenager who would scream at the top of her lungs that no one understood her. She was a

4. sensitive kid, too sensitive for a world like this one. Sometimes something would get to her, like
an animal being hurt, and it just wouldn’t let her go. That million dollar smile would turn into a
grimace that wouldn’t leave, wouldn’t stop. It became too much for her when she was around 16,
and she had to be hospitalized. After a few months though she seemed to be alright, and she was
back at John and Martha’s until she graduated High School.
But that was a few years ago. When her parents called the other day, she’d been off at
college for the past three years, and I hadn’t seen her since. They told me what caused them to
resort to calling me. It’s not that we weren’t close, but you don’t call in a detective who works in
metropolitan vice for something you think can be handled peacefully. They told me they tried to
get her to come home for breaks, but she kept coming up with excuses not too. Understandably
worried, they got in the car and came down to see her. When they knocked on her door a man not
much older than she had answered, telling them some nonsense about ‘not having placed the
proper charms’ before knocking or some such nonsense - and that he couldn’t let them in. They
told him that they were Valerie’s parents and they wanted to see her, at which point she came to
the door. When they asked her what she had been doing and if she would come with them to
lunch so they could talk, she repeated what the man had said, adding that they had done great
offense to the specters that inhabited their “dominion” and that she would have to hastily conduct
a ritual to prevent them from harming her. She proceeded to engage in some unintelligible chant,
raising her arms and wailing at the sky. When asked again to please come with them, she looked
through them as if they weren’t there and quickly went back inside, locking the door behind her.
This worried me as much as it worried them, and I told them I’d take care of it as fast as could
legally be done. Thankfully things went as smoothly as could be expected when I went down
there to take her in. All I had to do now was check up on this guy and see if I can make sure he

5. stays away from her, be it with a restraining order, court-ordered institutionalization, or good old
prison time. A simple yet clear warning may have to be enough, given I don’t have any concrete
evidence of any misdoings on this Hubert’s part. So long as he stays away from Valerie, it was
good enough.
We were close, in the uncle who isn’t really related to you kind of close. She was a good
kid, smart, compassionate. I involuntarily clenched my fists around the steering wheel of my car
as the thought of some psychopath taking advantage of Valerie passed through my mind. I calm
myself, she was safe already. Her parents had some pull with the Asylum where they had sent
her when she was a teenager, so they were able to get them to legally commit without too much
bureaucracy. Yesterday night I had taken some deputies from the local department along with
orderlies from the hospital down to her and her boyfriend’s place.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was dusk, the sun lazily hanging onto the horizon for just a few more minutes. It had
been a beautiful day, and we had done much good. But it was not to last, for when night came, so
did they. The Ur-Warden’s were not the ones who took her. They simply provided the martial
presence required to safely make the capture. No, those who took her were far worse. Clothed in
white robes they came. Much more subtle than the Wardens, trained in the ways of deception and
torture; these were the anti-mages, the denier’s of Magic. They came calmly at first, asking to be
let in as if they would have left had we not permitted them entry. This was but a façade. When
they finally accepted that they would not be permitted voluntary entry, the wardens broke the
door down. They charged in first, securing the portal so that the anti-mages could subdue and

6. capture their prey without it escaping, or attacking. They came in single file, cooing their
hypnotic suggestions as they poured into the gateway of our house,
“Everything is going to be okay, Valerie, were not going to hurt you”
“Stay calm. Just come out and come with us”
“We just want to help you, you’re not well”, they spoke in turn, creating a fan of ivory-
clad bodies in front of us, blocking us into the hallway that connected our bedroom to the
entryway.
“Please Hue, don’t let them take me”, she whispered into my back, pressing her cheek into me as
she clutched at my chest from behind.
“I won’t. Stay close”, I made a sweeping motion with my arm, telling her to fall in behind
me.
“I won’t say it again: get out of our home”, I stared down the middle one as I said this, a
burly man in his mid-40’s, graying, but still a wall of muscle. There’s little chance I intimidated
him. I was fairly average for a man of my age, neither particularly small nor large. But I was a
scholar, not a warrior. I used my magic for discovery and adventure, not war. I had not the
incantations that would allow us to make a clean break. So I turn to the only recourse I have left,
my body. I lunge at the burly hunter-seeker, yelling at Valerie,
“Run Val! Out the back. RUN!”
I know not where she will run too, but so long as she gets away, I will find her.

7. I crash, screaming with rage, into the phalanx of bodies in front of me and hardly even
make a dent. I’m quickly overcome by a flurrying throng of arms and legs straining to control
me, to pin me down. Knowing my distraction will be extremely short lived if I don’t try to put
up a fight, I blindly swing my only free arm into the air and hear as well as feel a satisfying
crunch as it connects with one of my assailant’s noses.
“Aaargh”
After a few moments they finally got all of my flailing parts under control. The Anti-
mage I first charged, the big one, sat squarely on my back,
“I got this fucker under control, go after the girl. Try not to hurt her.”
“I know, I know”
She hadn’t made it far, having tripped over one of the gnarled tree roots that filled our
yard. I saw them escorting her into their red white and black carriage, her head low, tears mixing
with the dirt on her face as they marched her along.
She Pleaded with them meekly, knowing they would not hear her words,
“Please, I don’t want to go back there. I’ve been good. I haven’t hurt anyone.”
“We know, we just want to help you get better, that’s all. Come along now,” said one of
the white robed men as he put her into the carriage. That was the last I saw her, my arms chained
behind my back, watching through the front window. I didn’t see where they went, but I knew
quite well where they were taking her.

8. I keep my magic’s guarded in mixed company, unlike Val. She’s too trusting, too kind.
That’s probably why I love her. But the world is a harsh place for someone like Val. It takes
everything you have to give, and then it keeps on taking until you have nothing left.
They would have liked to take me where they took my Valkyrie, but I gave them no
ground to go on, no grand displays with which to determine my affinity with magic. I’ve seen the
place they took her, from a distance. It hasn’t a name. It never needed one. The horrors that
transpire within its walls are unspeakable, so lurid and vile are their “treatments”. It is there that
they strip the magic from one’s soul. They cook up noxious concoctions, meant to dull the
wonder and power of that shines from the eyes of all fey-walkers. And once the mind has been
subdued, made malleable by their pills and potions, they hook up the poor souls to their
inscrutable machinations, which pull and break the strands of their reality until it splinters;
falling away. I have seen the once-mages who walk out from their doors. They are never the
same. That beautiful spark of creation is gone from their eyes, stolen to fuel the insatiable war
machine of their new lord.
I break myself from my reverie and I begin walking back home with posthaste, as there
was telling what they may have done to her already, how much of her mind they have already
dismantled. Time is of the essence.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I’m about two blocks away from Maywood’s place when an APB is broadcast over the
radio,
“WE have an APB out on a twenty three year old white male, 5’ 9”, name of Hubert
Maywood. The suspect robbed a HCV Sporting Goods on Belmont and Clark - Broke into a

9. secure gun cabinet - injured a store employee and shot a security guard when fleeing the
premises. Both are in stable condition, but require immediate medical assistance. The suspect is
armed and considered highly dangerous, approach with caution.”
As soon as I heard where this was going down, I flipped my lights and sirens on and pulled a 180
in the next intersection, accelerating hard into the opposite lane of traffic. Whatever this
psychotic was up too, I had to stop it fast. He was my problem now.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This bazaar was one of the more lavish ones I had the opportunity to frequent, and it was
generally a pleasure to make the trip down here to peruse their goods. Today, however, pleasure
was not on the table. I had already purchased all the survival accoutrements and alchemic
catalysts I had cared too on previous ventures. Today’s visit was poinent, as there was only one
thing I needed from them. Having walked through the majority of the expansive marketplace, I
reached my destination nestled at the back of the market. A lone trader manned this stall, a man
not much older than I, but certainly a fair bit more sullen. The merchant’s calling was not his.
Behind him lay the reason I had come here. Ensconced in enchanted glass lay the finest selection
of blunderbuss I had ever laid eyes upon. I shame myself for having to resort to such savage
weaponry, but I have no other recourse. The fortress they took Valerie too is the headquarters of
the Anti-Mages. The castle, as well as its guardians, will be hardened to all kinds of magic. How
else would they keep such powerful beings caged there?
No, magic was out of question. In order to get in I had to employ more straightforward
tactics. Brute force for brute force. Savagery for savagery. I approach the sedentary man at the
counter and ask him,

10. “How much for the semi-automatic assault rifle, sir? The one directly to your left.”
Starting slowly, taking a moment to register both my presence and my query, he looked
at the rifle and then at me,
“You mean the Remington M4A1 variant? She’s a beaut, isn’t she. I can tell you know
your firearms. You know, we have a special right now on this night-vision scope attachment that
is totally fucking awesome. I’d be willing to hook you up with-”
“I know everything I need to know about this firearm. How much does it cost?”
“Whoa, chill out man. I was just trying to be friendly. The gun itself is $750. But for only
75 more bucks we can hook you up with the night-vision scope AND a leather carrying case for
both the gun and the scope. It’s Pretty good deal, I have to say.”
“No thank you, just the rifle will do. $750 for the gun you said?”
I rifle through my pocket for the large wad of currency I had taken from my safe. I didn’t
know how much the rifle would cost, so I brought much more than was necessary. I’m about to
hand him the money as he tells me,
“Oh, sorry man, we have a one week waiting period before you can get your gun. Put
your name and social down on this pad here and come back in seven days. We’ll let you know if
you can go home with your sick new rifle.”
This was going to be a problem. I didn’t have a week. I’ve wasted enough time in that jail
as it is.
“This is going to be a problem. I need that rifle tonight.”

11. “No can do man, the laws the law. Don’t worry though, Most people get checked through just
fine, so long as they aren’t felons.”
“If I were to pay you twice the guns listed price, would we have an understanding?” I wave the
wad of cash around suggestively.
He looks on, sorely tempted, but returns to that look of fear he must get when he imagines his
superiors find out he allowed his palms to be greased,
“Sorry dude, I can’t. You must really want to go hunting with your buds tonight, and I can
sympathize, but my manager will crack open my head and eat my brain if I let this gun go
without a proper security check.”
“I understand”
And I really did. He wasn’t the only one unfortunate enough to be employed by a mind-
consuming demon witch, as I had my own workplace memories with which to couch this fear.
But today, unfortunately, was not his lucky day. After waving me off and beginning to turn
around to inspect the gun I had wanted, I grabbed the base of his skull from behind, ramming it
as hard as I could, face-first, into the plane of glass in front of him. Some blood spurted from his
blood and his mouth as he groaned. Almost as quickly as he had hit the glass, he plummeted
towards the ground. I detached his keys from his waist and open the arms closet. I grabbed my
weapon of choice and slung it over my shoulder. I was short on time. Nobody was at the back of
the store when I had mashed the merchant’s face, but someone had heard the noise and was
starting down the aisle. I took as much ammunition into my bag as possible, loading a clip into
the rifle, and took off towards the front of the store. The guard at the front of the building took
immediate notice of my hasty exit and large firearm, ordering me to stop and drop the gun. I

12. could not stop, nor would I. I raise my weapon and sight his knee, pulling off two rounds. He
drops quickly, screaming with agony. He had not wronged me, but he would have stopped me
and turned me over to his dark masters, which was unacceptable. The knee was a courtesy. I had
what I needed. Now it was time I storm the castle.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maywood was long gone by the time I got there, even blowing every red light across town. I
didn’t have much time to determine where he was going next. He had stolen a dangerous gun and
most likely planned to use it. The gun clerk and security guard had little to say, angrily nursing
their injuries, and had no idea where the “crazy asshole” was going next. A woman who had
been exiting the store at the same time as Maywood had heard something however,
“He was talking under his breath, so most of it I couldn’t understand. I do remember
quite clearly hearing something about ‘storming a castle’ and ‘rescuing his valkyrie’, whatever
that means.”
Storming the castle? Rescuing his Valkyrie… Valerie. Oh no.
I didn’t even tell the woman thank you. I just tore for my car as fast as my aging body
could take me. I knew where Maywood was going next, but not if I would get there in time.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The clerk at the front of the building had been helpful enough, once my gun had been
pressed firmly against his temple.
“She’s in room 324, alright. Room 324, I swear. Now I told you what you wanted, just
please don’t kill me.”

13. “Thank you”
I pull the trigger, his brains splatter. He would have had me believe he was innocent, that
he was blind to what happened within these walls. He wasn’t innocent, and he did see. So he
died. I take a quick look at the floor plan hanging on the wall next to him. She’s on the third
floor, near the stairwell lying to my left. That was good. If she couldn’t walk, I could carry her
out.
As I race up the stairs, I hear footsteps patting hurriedly down towards me. The racket
caused by my weapon probably resounded throughout the castle, inspiring fear in the captors and
hope in the captives. Two ivory-clad men rounded the stairwell as I ascended the last set of steps
to the third floor. Anti-mages. Fools.
Seeing my weapon, they gestured at me, speaking softly,
“Whoa, calm down there bud. You don’t want to hurt anyone. Just put the gun down and
lets have a talk. Just a talk.”
“No”
They fell as quickly as the one downstairs, but made quite a bit more noise as their now-
limp bodies cascaded down the stairwell. I pressed onwards. I was so close now. I could see the
numbers on the door. Three. Twenty. Four. I steeled myself for what I was going to see, as there
was no telling what they had done to her. I peered through the small glass pane that sat atop the
door and I could see her.
As she lay there; her face bespoke a peaceful rest. But it was a lie. She was shackled by
her arms and leg, like some beast, the leather manacles taught against her supple skin. I didn’t

14. need to see anymore. I was going to get her out of there and this place would be but a long
nightmare washed away by the new dawn. I took out a pair of pilfered keys and unlock the door.
I swung it open hurriedly, not worried about waking her. As soon as I reached her side I go about
loosening her cuffs,
“Valerie. I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you. I’m so sorry. But I’m going to get you out of here
now. Val. Val!”
I got the cuffs of her arms and legs and began to raise my voice, shaking her. I noticed bruises
around her wrists and ankles. She hadn’t gone without a fight. That’s my Valkyrie. The last thing
I wanted was to be hard with her. How I would have loved to welcome her back slowly, gently,
as she would have. But time was not on our side. There could be no doubt that the authorities
were closing in on me.
“Val. My sweet Valkyrie, please wake up. We need to get out of here. Now”
Finally she stirred, opening her eyes. They took a moment to adjust to the low light of her
darkened cell, but she soon recognized me.
“…Hue. Hue, it’s you. You came for me. I thought they had taken you, that they were
trying to change you too. I thought I was going-”
“Hush. No being, demon or god, can take me from you. We’re going to leave and never come
back. They’ll never be able to find us again. But we need to go now. Can you stand?”
“I think so, but I feel a bit weak.”
“lean on my shoulder. Got it?”

15. “Yeah, I’m good”
“Good, we’re getting out of here.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Damnit. Damnit. I was too late for these people. Too late for the clerk at the desk and too late for
the orderlies lying in a bloody pile mid-stairwell. But his car was still parked out front, engine
running. So I could still save her, I could still stop him from hurting her. I bolt up to the third
floor, keeping my eyes off the dead men lying at my feet. As I reach the third floor I see him.
The man I saw last night, eyes full of fury. But there was no fury in his eyes now, just cold
determination. He carried Valerie on one arm as she limped languidly behind him, half asleep
from the narcotics in her system. He carried the rifle in the other arm, ready to make a hip shot if
necessary. Seeing me, he turned her behind him, shielding her as he had the previous night. He
released her arm and steadied her on the wall, all the while keeping the gun trained on me. He
steps away, clearing Valerie from the line of fire. But Had I risked drawing my gun, all three of
us could end up dead. I put my hands up, trying to appear as non-threatening as possible. I
needed to get close enough to disarm him without hurting Valerie.
“Please, don’t hurt the girl. Just let her go and there doesn’t need to be anymore blood on
your hands tonight.”
“Any more blood on my hands? You think I mean her harm. You couldn’t be further from the
truth. I’ve come to set her free!”

16. “You’re not in your right mind Hubert, you wouldn’t know if you’re hurting her. If you love her
like you say you do, let her go. They can help you two, and maybe one day you can be together
again.”
“You're right, we might find our way back to each other, but if we did, it would be only out of
instinct. You would return her to me, and me to her, as little more than soulless husks. Placated
into your vision of reality. Devoid of magic.”
He stares at the ground, mulling my proposition over a final time,
“I think not.”
I try to reach out to her, perhaps all of this has wakened her to her senses,
“Valerie, please, stay with me. Your parents miss you very much. Your dad wants to see
his little girl again”, I pleaded with her, trying to free her from his mental grasp.
She recognized my voice, but didn’t raise her eyes to look at me. Stating simply,
“Hue is right. I’d rather die than go back in that room. I’m not going anywhere with you.”
She looked at Maywood, trying to say something, but started to pass out before the words
could come out.
Maywood broke my gaze to look at her, which was his mistake. Seeing my only chance
to get her back safely, I unlatched my gun from its holster and drew it as quickly and as steadily
as my arms could manage. I tried to Draw a bead on Maywood, but it was too late, I Saw the
barrel of his gun pointed down at me, eyes fixed, as mine just barely came to level. Then it all
goes black.

17. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------
My iron steed carries us as fast as it will go, its innards thrumming with the heat and power of its
motion. We were free, our magic intact. Val lays beside me in the passenger’s seat, asleep with
her head crooked into the neck of the chair. I could tell she was dreaming from the movement of
her eyes. What dreams she had. Great visions of things past and yet to come. Warnings and
signs, for Dark portents lay ahead. I must remember to ask her what she saw upon waking, if we
are to have any hope of weathering the coming storm.