The Epic of Captain Tory: Captain Tory's betrayal

Yes, this is based off the scene from that one book (Harris Burdick Mysteries)




Torresen waited anxiously at the pier with the orphan Charlie, slouching slightly and holding Charlie with one hand and his lantern with the other. Overhead the sky was dark, threatening to rain. He considered leaving when he suddenly caught a whiff of the familiar stench of sulfur. He stood up straighter and waved the crimson lantern at the fog thrice, which then parted, revealing a ghastly ebony schooner. The vessel docked and immediately a figure emerged from the depths of the ship and stepped onto the pier. Torresen recognized the demon. Azardana was an imposing figure, standing a head taller than Torresen even though the monster was hunched over. Azardana wore a black cloak, black gloves, and a top hat. A silver mask concealed his face, open only at two little holes that revealed luminous, golden, feline eyes. As well as sulfur, there was a distinct odor of decay, which Torresen believed to come from the creature’s unexposed skin. After seeing his master again he began to feel slightly guilty at what he was doing.
“I see you remembered the boy this time, Torrese-noth*. Now we may begin the ritual,” bellowed Azardana in an odd, eerie voice that sounded as if he were whispering. He then drew a knife with a flamboyant blade curved to the point it almost resembled a tilde, like a keris, from the folds of his cloak. Charlie and Torresen gasped simultaneously.
“ Vorazardana, you s-said you w-were j-just going to harvest his m-mana**, not his soul! He is only a ch-child!” stuttered Torresen, stunned. At this point Charlie, now absolutely terrified and feeling utterly betrayed by the man he trusted most, decided to run away, but Azardana caught him with a bolt of black lightning and paralyzed the miserable child. He then grabbed Torresen by the beard and held him up.
“ It’s either the boy’s soul or both your souls that are harvested tonight, Torrese-noth. Which would you rather have done? It would be a shame to destroy such a good servant,” he whispered straight into Torresen’s ear. He then threw Torresen onto the ground. As he lay on the ground, Torresen considered the situation. He knew one should never make deals with devils, but his lust for power got the upper hand. How would he keep his promises to Charlie, his friend, and follow his duties to his master, Azardana. His obligations were too much for any mortal to deal with. He sprang to his feet and dusted himself off. He remembered that after making his deal with this devil that he was no longer fully mortal.
“I see I don’t really have a choice, but I have one thing to ask. If you really need an entire soul, why must we sacrifice this boy, and not some senile geezer or a villainous murderer? They do not need or desire more time in this world, as this boy does.” Torresen calmly asked.
“Youth still have strength within their souls. Their destinies are not completely formed yet, so the souls have much power”
“But why this boy? Why not a terminal cancer patient, or another who finds nothing left in this world? They might happily die for a cause.” Torresen started walking while speaking slowly drawly closer to the demon.
“Ones who are dying and those that are depressed have weakened souls. Besides, this boy has an especially strong soul.”
“I think such a strong soul is better in its own body” and with that Torresen suddenly cast his lantern at Azardana, setting his cloak aflame, and drew his own knife. Azardana roared in agony and through off his cloak, uncovering the wretched fiend’s pale white skin. He then stretched himself out to his full height of more than 10 feet. As he rose his hat fell, showing that he was indeed a horned demon, though his mask still obscured his face. He spun his blade from reverse grip, a grip used for lethal downward thrusting, to forward grip, where the tip blade is above the hilt. The knife then grew to the length of a greatsword. He then laughed like the stereotypical diabolical genius.
“You think you take on a demon lord with only mere knife? You are lucky that you are immune to my magic, but that slight advantage over most mortals means nothing to me. You are but a Jjarloq ^† to me now.” The demon lord swung his sword at Torresen, but Torresen managed to parry it with great effort. He stepped back from Azardana and placed his empty hand on his breast pocket, keeping it there while making a speech.
“BRING it on demon. You don’t even frighten ME. Even with the SWORD Ezaq you cannot defeat the greatest man alive. I’M unconquerable and will bring you eternal misery. AT this PIER the earth shall tremble. I, TORRESEN, shall prevail!” he declared rather arrogantly, purposely emphasizing certain words. Now he could only hope that she got the message and that he can fend off the demon until she comes.

* * *

Elizabeth answered the phone.
“Hello?” she asked the caller. It ignored all that she said and spoke on its own, like a message.
“Bring…….me…….sword….…I’m….…at...pier….…Torresen.” Then the caller hung up. She wondered why Torresen would suddenly want a sword, as he was just showing Charlie to a friend. If he wanted to some sort of demonstration with a sword why didn’t he ask her for one before he left? And why did he send the message in such an odd manner? Of course she knew Torresen was somewhat unpredictable and to never question what he asked. He was like a father to her after her real father disappeared unexpectedly after saying he was meeting with an associate. She grabbed the katana she had in her closet, got in her Prius, and headed towards the pier.
As she approached it she saw two figures of vastly different sizes doing an odd “dance”. When she got close she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Torresen, who was now had a cut across his face and on his hand, was using his knife to fend back a vaguely human creature wielding a wicked sword, while Charlie lay unconscious on the dock. The creature was about twice Torresen’s size and wore nothing but what appeared to be a black Speedo. It had black horns like those on a ram, and its flesh was pale and corporeal. She instantly knew why he needed a sword, though she couldn’t explain the abomination. She was also puzzled why he wanted a sword instead of a gun, something that much more effective weapon against people wielding swords longer than you are tall. She got out the car while carrying the sheathed katana ran onto the pier. She then shouted at Torresen to alert him to her presence.
“Torresen, I’ve a sword for you! Hurry and take it!” Torresen threw his knife at Azardana, distracting him long enough for him to run to Elizabeth and draw the katana as she held the sheath. He then immediately engaged the demon again, while Elizabeth ran to the sidelines and watched from there. Torresen disengaged from a sword lock and ducked under Azardana’s blade, which the demon was forced to swing because of the force needed during the sword lock. When Torresen’s adversary’s sword struck the ground he took the opportunity to move behind the demon, and struck such a blow on the monsters waist that would have cut a human in half. Orange ichor ^{† †} gushed from the demon’s wound and he roared in agony. Azardana quickly retaliated with a horizontal slash, but Torresen backed away fast enough so that only that tip hit him. However, the wound was still relatively deep. They continued with their duel.

After fighting for several more minutes with only a few scratches the two of them disengaged and went into a stand off. Elizabeth felt like crying at seeing the damage that was done to Torresen, but she decided to try to hold back her tears at least until the battle was over. After several eternal seconds Torresen charged at Azardana and attempted to impale him. There was brief and frantic conflict, and then there was silence. Once again the two disengaged, but this time they were no longer tense and in the stance of battle. Then Elizabeth noticed that Azardana’s blade was covered in blood almost up to the hilt, not noticing that there was also a fresh wound on his torso. She then looked at Torresen and to her horror, saw blood spurting from Torresen's chest. He swayed for a few second then fell.

The storm finally fell upon the earth.




*Oth is title in the demon langue that ones servant is referred to. Vor is the opposite.
** Magical energy. The term was originally of Polynesian origin, but is now a quite popular term in Rpgs and various fantasy series.
† This is obviously a demon curse. The jj is the sound in treasure and the French Je. The q is a sound similar to a k, and is found in Arabic, as in Iraq and Qu’ran.
† † An ethereal liquid that is similar to blood. Named after the fluid within the Greek gods. Ichor can also mean a watery, bloody discharge from a wound in medical uses.


Final note: This is written to be a chapter of a book (the currently non-existent The Epic of Captain Tory) that is near the climax. Some details are different then how it would appear in a full novel, as the reader does not have prier knowledge of what happened earlier in the book in this selection. You may have to read through this twice to get all the details included and attempt to understand what is happening, and you must make some inferences. This also explains to somewhat shocking “ending”. This is not the end; it’s only the end of a chapter (“Captain Tory’s betrayal”).