Gjallarhorn: The Canis Legion

It’s the enchantment you don’t see coming that always comes back to bite you. The chilling descent into slumber before the sun’s rise, only to be eternally imprisoned in the darkness; a martyr to the frailties of your own assumptions. The eye sliding shut against the light is not guaranteed to open again. And if it does…
Certainly not to be greeted by light.
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“Cashus.”
Sir Guven’s knightly voice cut through the darkness. Cashus’ ears perked up immediately. Starlight wrestled in vain against the clouds hazing the night sky, the moon concealed bashfully at the apex of her rotation as Death charted his wicked course. Sir Guven removed his gauntlet, exposing his chalky fingers to the muggy air. Two snaps sounded. Followed by a pause and a terse whistle pitched low.
Kill every living creature.
Establish perimeter when done.
Cashus crouched low to the ground, the muscular tendons lining his haunches quivering in anticipatory delight. The scent of warm blood and slow cooling embers reached his keen snout, rousing the horde of battle dogs arrayed behind him. Each canine in Cashus’ elite pack was handpicked by Sir Guven himself, and forced to survive a bloody duel with their fierce leader. Every dog knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Cashus was the Alpha- their narrow survivals of those lethal duels hadn’t come without price. Without being marked. Blue Fang had suffered the most out of them all; his refusal to cower or lie down and die, had cost him his right eye, but both Sir Guven and Cashus begrudgingly gave him their respect.
And he’d become all the more vicious for it. His lone white pupil shone menacingly from where he kept vigilant guard, creeping about at the rear of the pack. Cashus pawed the ground deftly with a single paw, baring his teeth. This was it. A black and white streaked wolf hound slunk up beside him, but he knew she was barely registering his presence, so zeroed in was she on the kill to come.
This was Suge. The only female in the pack. Cashus still had nightmarish flashbacks in his dreams about the one dog who’d very nearly defeated him, until he’d been forced to rip her gullet open to the heavens; even then barely managing to strike the finishing blow to the match. The two had never fought again since, but there was a mutual understanding between them. Under different circumstances… on a different day… things could have ended differently.
Cashus leaped.
And his pack leaped with him.
Sir Guven watched grimly, waiting for the signal heralding him and his small troop of warriors to make their advance. Seuzen grasped his staff tightly. He’d only just recently passed the trials and been inducted into the Magehood. This covert operation was his first time in the field assisting a Knight. He knew things would be hectic- such was the nature of battle- what he did not know was that Sir Guven was the most unruly and unconventional of their small kingdom’s knights.
So far this was very much not what he’d prepared for.
With a deadly snarl, Cashus effortlessly tore through the hide walls of the nearest firelit dwelling killing the human nearest him with a single devastating swipe. A woman screamed deliciously in his ears, until he whipped around, hackles raised and tore her throat out before leaping through the opening into the common area. All around him he could hear the jarring, mushy sounds of families being torn apart by claws and rows of dagger sharp teeth. A red streak dashed by him, setting him off ease for a moment.
Other dogs?
Then he howled in joy and leapt back into the fray. There were no other dogs here. That was Suge, already coated in so much blood that she wore it like a second skin.
Sir Guven could see that the dogs were making quick work of their enemies; the surprise of their approach was working marvelously. He raised a fist, sharp eyes probing the flickering shadows. Ah. There. Coming from the outer edges of the encampment. Soldiers. Sir Guven straightened his fingers, curled the middle three, then aimed only his index and middle fingers, wagging them forward twice.
Seuzen stood, but otherwise remained motionless as the warriors around him swept down the small hill to engage the newly armored soldiers before they could direct all of their attentions to the dogs. Sir Guven looked him in the eye.
“You’ll know when.”
Sir Guven dropped the visor of his helmet with a satisfying clunk, and took off for battle.
Blue Fang looked up from the skull his snout was engorged in. His eye narrowed to a slit as he saw Sir Guven and his warriors swoop in to intercept the warrior protectors of this little village of humans. Almost as if… as if he thought they needed his assistance. As if men equipped for battle were genuine threat and not exciting challenge. A low growl rumbled deeply in his throat that had nothing to do with the sticky tendrils of gore meandering slowly down it.
Across the way, he caught the eyes of Suge’s drenched red form. Her attention had been arrested by the same phenomenon. Something silent passed between them. She turned her head. He barked ferociously, knowing that to whom her eyes beckoned. Cashus. With another snarl, the two dogs turned away and went back to laying waste among what remaining humans were left.
Up on the ridge Seuzen noted this exchange with interest. His earth toned fingers drifted upwards, stroking his oaken beard pensively, pinching out a single grey hair.
It was done.
Cashus and his cadre of warrior dogs lined the perimeter of the camp. Sir Guven dragged an old white man with a damp, disheveled, waist length snowy white beard to center of the common area. Without the slightest preamble he sheathed his sword and, two fisted, rammed his spear through the old man’s stomache deep into the dirt on the other side. Sir Guven crouched down, speaking roughly.
“Now, elder knave. Speak thy truth, while ye yet have streaming life to speak.”
The old man looked up in defiance. Blue and green veins creased his face.
“I shall tell you nothing!”
“You will tell me where the keystone doth lie. You and your kin believeth valour flies to thy honor by defending the Mortal Dragon. But ye have failed to consider that, less he be vanquished, all reality shall trail meagerly in the scorching wake of his sweeping tail. There won’t be anything left!”
Light crackled around the old man’s wound. He was clearly dying, but just as clearly, fighting it every step of the way. This was a man of magic, Seuzen realized. Cashus’ ears flattened against his head. The Mortal Dragon? The swift glance flashing between Suge and Blue Fang didn’t complete its sail before dropping anchor in his own eyes. They knew just as well as he did exactly where the Mortal Dragon’s hibernation nest was located. The keystone was a powerful totem that served as both a homing siren to the Mortal Dragon’s lair as well as access through the portal evoked on the sacred grounds known only to the Magehood. It was the only way humans could cross over.
But Cashus and his army weren’t human.
They were dogs.
And they’d deduced their own methods of access.
There was a shift in the air as the pack of canine fighters withdrew from their posts, drawing tightly around their leader. Cashus intercepted another passing glance, staring fully at Blue Fang and Suge, each in turn. They each held his gaze meaningfully, not looking away even after he averted his own eyes. A rumble echoed in Blue Fang’s throat; Suge’s razor sharp claws rent apart the fabric of the dirt itself.
Their meaning was clear.
We don’t need them anymore.
This destiny of theirs could be denied no longer.
Cashus padded softly into the clearing, sitting down beside the dying old man and staring into the eyes of his former master. Sir Guven was temporarily taken aback.
“Cashus. To the perimeter!” Nothing. “Cashus! I said to the-”
WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF, WOOF!!
Sir Guven straightened in shock, stumbling back a few steps. Cashus had never barked that ferociously at him like that. Hands coming up cautiously, he lowered his own voice.
“Cashus. Cashus it’s me lad. Calm down. A thousand times hence have we done this very thing.”
Cashus growled.
Sir Guven opened his mouth to speak again, when a piercing white light lit the entire area as if it were the peak of day.
Seuzen floated above them all.
“Seuzen!” Sir Guven hissed. “What manner of action is this??”
“You said I would know when twas my time. And now, sir knight, tis my time.”
Cashus barked again.
Then he raised his claws, claws that had dealt so much death over the years, and in one smooth motion raked the old man’s throat down to the spinal cord.
He died instantly.
“CASHUS!”
Sir Guven roared in anger, jerking the spear out and leveling at his once reliable companion. Hackles raised on the backs of the other dogs and they started to slink in; Sir Guven’s warriors crouched with swords drawn. A single bark from Cashus halted the dogs in their tracks. Seuzen lowered himself to the ground.
“Your dogs no longer have need to serve you Sir Guven. They know whence the Mortal Dragon lies. They possess the might to slay it. They possess more power than you know.” Seuzen seemed amazed at the words even as he spoke them. “It is time for a new world. One not erroneously controlled by humans whose lust for blood blinds their knighthood, and whose fear of the unknown curses their magic.” Resignation lowered Seuzen’s shoulders. It was almost as if- he understood.
Cashus barked approvingly.
“You have but two options,” Seuzen continued. “You, and all your men, either swear allegiance to Cashus and his… legion. Or they will kill you where you stand.”
One of the knights scoffed.
“That’s preposterous. Whoever heard of a man serving a do-”
Suge had streaked across the grounds and bitten his face off before he could finish his sentence or Cashus could call her off. His lifeless body hit the floor with a soft thump. Sir Guven looked up and really looked this time. The eyes of every dog present rang with this truth. His gaze fell back on Cashus. Man and Beast stared at each other with infinity behind their eyes.
Then Sir Guven dropped to his knee, one hand braced readywise upon the hilt of his sword.
“Sir!” One of the other knights was incredulous. All it took was a growl from Suge to convince him to drop his position. One by one each of the knights followed the actions of their leader. Seuzen stared round at it all; men and dog alike. And suddenly his purpose became clear. Magic itself was the offshot, a rippling causality you might say, of Creation Energy itself. Though applied to many falsified, darkened, and personal ends- the point of magic was the same as that of Creation Energy itself.
To bring forth something new.
“Simply repeat after me. ‘From this present moment until such time as I do so die or pass irretrievably from reality, I swear my allegiance, my resources, my life and that of my family to the outermost regions of the planet, interminably to Cashus and his legion.”
The men swallowed.
They knew there was no real choice here.
Sir Guven led the recitation.
“From this present moment. Until such time as I do so die or pass irretrievably from reality. I swear my allegiance. My resources. My life. And that of my family to the outermost regions of the planet… interminably… to Cashus. And his Canis Legion.”
Seuzen looked up sharply at the alteration, then relaxed as he heard the affirmative growls being emitted from all of the dogs. Cashus looked Seuzen in the eye.
It is good.
Now. Time for the real work to begin.
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Joshua Evans is a prolific writer and sci-fi/fantasy enthusiast who believes story is central to everything and that mythology can change the world. He currently hosts two youtube shows- The Truth About Superheroes and Comic of the Week. If you would like to further be a part of his cosmic psyche, you can join him on Twitter and Instagram (@comicsinspire) or simply subscribe to this story reel… and remember- sharing is caring! Cheers!
