Down On Luck, page 1
part #3 of Saga of the Shamrock Samurai Series Series
Down On Luck
Saga
of the
Shamrock Samurai
Folktale 3
By
Dean Floyd
Table of Contents
Title Page
Down On Luck (Saga of the Shamrock Samurai, #3)
1 Dobhar-chu
2 Muck Water
3 Burger King
4 He’s Back
5 Spill the Beans
6 Magic or No
7 Stifled
8 Gallop
9 Overload
10 Teacher & Chiropractor
11 Jade
12 Cunningham
13 I’m Done
14 Drive-by
15 The Morrigan
16 Saving Enbarr
17 Tir fo Thuinn
18 Headache
19 Fragarach
20 Hostage
21 Down on Luck
22 Retaliation
23 Avenger
24 Denny’s
25 Insecure
Afterwords
Saga of the Shamrock Samurai Series
Tough Luck
Out of Luck
Down on Luck
Lady Luck
Hard Luck
Pure Luck
*Bad Luck
Dean Floyd Hangs Out Here
Deanfloyd.com
Goodreads Author Page
Amazon Author Page
*Typos and such can be emailed to dean@deanfloyd.com
1 Dobhar-chu
NEXT TIME I HAVE AN emergency, you’re helping me for sure. Plus you owe me a new staff.
The wizard’s words echoed in my head.
I raced down back roads between Vallejo and the neighboring city Benicia in my black ‘69 Mustang Fastback with my hobgoblin riding shotgun. Speaking of shotguns, I had my dad’s old Mossberg in the back seat along with the holster and lanyard.
Beneath my jacket, under my t-shirt, my chest irritated me. Well not really my chest. It was a cursed scar that I obtained a month ago now. Wow, had it really been a whole month? Anyway, all you need to know about the Keening is it makes me feel pain almost constantly, but especially when monsters are nearby. I already had the innate ability to sense monsters somewhat, but the Keening amplified those sensations. It also draws monster to me. Win, win. As I suspected, the nearer I drew to Benicia the stronger the sensations in my chest grew.
I drove on an overpass, cars on the freeway passing underneath and turned into the Benicia State Park. By now the sun plunged beneath the horizon, but had not quite set yet, so it surprised me to find the entrance to the state park gated and master-locked up for the night. "Crap! They’re not supposed to lock the gate until sunset exactly."
"Why do you always expect these things to go according to plan?" said Rob.
I glared at my sometimes lovable, sometimes annoying shapeshifting hobgoblin companion, otherwise known as Rob the Hob. "Zip it, shortstop."
I'd saved Rob's life a few weeks ago. Supposedly that now meant he was indebted to me forever or until I died, either or. Since he was roommates with me now, I told him he needed to dress more modern and not like he’d popped straight off a Lucky Charms cereal box. "I'm not a leprechaun!" he had said, stamping his foot to make a point. He didn’t clean my house for two days after that. Which is crazy for Rob, because he loves cleaning.
Then one day I came home from my part time job and I find Rob head to toe in Celtic's gear. And I don't mean a plaid kilt, I mean the American basketball team. The freckled fool wore a white and green jersey with a matching green and white flat brim sports hat. I told him to ditch that crap around me because I’m a Warrior's fan. Steph Curry is my boy. But he really fell in love with the hat. He wouldn't take it off for nothing, even when he shape shifted into a cat. So even now in the dark as we were about to go monster hunting, he was sporting the emerald abomination.
I looked around the area, but didn't spot Nehemiah's car. "Where's the wizard at?" That guy was so hard to reach. He didn't have a cell phone. Something about his Bad Luck magic interfering with modern tech, blah blah blah. Even homeless people had cell phones these days. To find the guy you had to call the landline at his house. Yeah, a landline. Or you had to respond to the nearest otherworldly disturbance, the weekly Bat Signal as it were. "He’s the one that called me. Where’s he at?"
His pickup truck was nowhere to be found. Since I wasn't actually in the parking lot of the state park but outside of it, my car could get towed if I left it in the turn-around zone. Thank goodness my car is jet black. I pulled off to a dark corner and killed the lights.
Rob squinted back in the direction we came from. “You gonna wait for him?"
"A few minutes," but even as I said it, the Keening's pulse grew stronger. I waited for what seemed like eternity. In the meantime I turned off the car, stepped out, donned the holster and placed the Mossberg in it. I looked in the backseat for my katana but then remembered that it had been shattered two weeks ago.
"Missing your blade? How many times are you going to look in the back seat for it?" said Rob.
I shook my head. "I need a new sword."
Swords were second nature to me. My parents put me through years of kenjutsu training, as well as basic Jujitsu, and Taekwondo. I’d even picked up a little wuxia. But kenjutsu was my favorite. In fact even now I volunteered a couple of times a week at the dojo I frequented all those years of childhood. So running into a life-or-death situation without a sword was like stepping onto a basketball court without a basketball. It left me feeling empty handed, naked, and purposeless.
But I wasn't completely unarmed. Besides the Mossberg I also had my Good Luck. I patted my pocket where I knew I had an Oak leaf from the tree that guarded my mom's front yard. That was my backup, all-else-fails plan, though. Unlike Kendo, I'd only been using my Good Luck for about a month, since the night I met Nehemiah. At the thought of the wizard my Keening pulsed even stronger. "Let's go," I said to Rob, who shifted into a large barn owl, complete with a backwards Celtic's hat. I shook my head at the hob and locked up the car, hopped the State park gate with Rob flying ahead of me.
We moved along a two-lane asphalt road. It was meant for small cars, bikes, and foot traffic. Like many a kid who grew up around this town and the neighboring cities, this state park was a particularly good bike ride alongside the waterfront. My dad brought me and my siblings here plenty of times.
The cool air smelled of muddy wetlands mingled with wild five foot tall fennel that grew everywhere, meaning it smelled like stagnant licorice. Not a great combo, but only one that could occur in the great outdoors. On the right side of the path tall trees rose into the night sky, dead bark peeling away from them, like hangnails. On the left side of the path, wind rushed through armies of tall cattails and a massive blackberry thorn bush.
I wanted to reach out and try to sense the wizard, but so far I wasn't too good at distinguishing between magic users and mythological monsters. All I knew was that something bad was out here in the state park and that some people almost drowned here a few nights ago.
I'm in shape, but jogging in jeans sucks. So does carrying a shotgun in a holster while trying to move quickly. A scream cut through my thoughts, severing the silence of the night. It came from my left, the side of the path that was sticky, muddy, and wet. "Crap," I said, as I started running towards the scream.
"There's a footpath up ahead," hooted Rob. He landed on the ground and shifted into an orange tabby. Yeah, my companion is also an Irish Garfield. He's not into lasagna so much as mayonnaise, or as he calls it, "salty ice cream." Yuck.
My high top black and white Chuck Taylor All-Stars crunched over dead weeds on the dirt path. Another scream sounded in the night. This time it was a lot closer, but I couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from. Definitely a man though. I hefted the Mossberg and pumped it. Magic was my fallback. Ole' faithful is my go-to.
The weeds and cattails died down and I came to a place where the path ran alongside the water. I could hear struggling and splashing and screaming. Then I saw her, a blonde in a long loose t-shirt and yoga pants with her cell phone flashlight pointing into the water. Tears streamed down her face. I followed her gaze towards the water and that's when it decided to strike.
From the water erupted a huge creature. At first I thought it was a wide-headed snake, which sent shivers down my spine. But the way it moved told me it had four legs. Moonlight reflected off its sheen coat of wet fur. The only detail I noticed about its massive oval shaped head was the sharp teeth that held a man captive, latched onto his shoulder.
"Jeremy! Jeremy!" the woman screamed.
The dude, Jeremy, scrambled, trying to break free from the monster's hold. Blood stained his tank top, running down his back. Jeremy was no punk though and slugged the thing, managing to get free for a moment. But then, another identical monster emerged from the murky depths.
"Dobhar-chus!" I yelled to Rob.
These were large demon otters. Don't sound that frightening? Imagine a normal otter but then make it ten feet long on stubby muscular legs with teeth the size of a man's forearm and round glossy eyes on either side of its head. Then add a hunger for human flesh and a jaw that can probably dent the hood of a car. The rib cages were visible underneath the sleek wet fur which meant that they were starving.
Without hesitating I yelled at the woman, "Get down!" I brought up the Mossberg to eye level.
2 Muck Water
CRACK.
The shotgun blast cut through
Crack.
This time I scored a hit along its left flank.
At the same time Rob shifted into an owl and began dive bombing, trying to scratch the monster otters' eyes out. While it was distracted I ran at the monster, cocked the gun a third time and leapt into the air, sending my trajectory into the monster's face, effectively putting myself between the monster and the woman. My knee sunk into the otter's snout and it rolled over, howling in pain grasping at its face with its claws. As it exposed its underbelly to me I shot it point-blank in the stomach.
Crack.
Guts exploded, running down into the muck of the wetland mire.
With the second threat eliminated I turned to the first Dobhar-chu. This would be more complicated. I couldn't shoot it because a bloodied and battered Jeremy slumped between me and the monster. I tried to circumnavigate and get a better angle, but muddy water rose up to my ankles.
The wet cool water seeped into my socks and shoes and I was painfully aware that the water more than distracted me. Don't think about the water, don't think about the water. But all the inner chanting to myself over and over did was make me think more about the water. The shotgun was useless now and I put it back in my holster. Time for a little Good Luck.
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the Oak leaf holding it with both hands in front of my face. The Dobhar-chu took notice of me. The same Keening that enabled me to sense monsters also drew them to me. I was basically a walking target for mythological monstrosities. And this creature of Chaos was literally made of the antithesis of my very power.
Its eyes locked on mine and began shuffling towards me. Pure instinct drew my hand to my sword hilt, except it was not there. I cursed under my breath as my muscle memory betrayed my actual memory. Quickly I switched tactics dug into my pocket for the Oak leaf. Closing my eyes and focused on the leaf, feeling the power of the Oak tree flowing through the leaf. I drew on that power and felt it building up in my chest. I pushed it out of my chest to my hands and they began to glow with warm emerald light. But a small part of my focus was distracted by the water and the fact that a ten foot long otter from hell barreled towards me. I couldn’t get a full draw from the well of power.
I opened my eyes as the Dobhar-chu lunged right at my face ready to crush my neck between its jaws. With my Luck magic coursing through me I dodged backwards at the extreme last second and rolled out of the way, long claws narrowly missing my face. The otter flew clean over me. "Haha," I said, my heart thumping fast with power and adrenaline.
I sidestepped out of the water and found firm footing on the more solid dirt path. Relief rushed over me as I let go of my breath. I widened my stance, fell into one of my kata forms, and began launching raw magical energy blasts at the otter from my hands.
Swirling Celtic knots of raw Luck magic exploded all over the Dobhar-chu’s body, entangling and entwining its neck. I grasped at the magic strands and pulled them towards me, tightening the knots like some kind of marionette puppeteer. The knots tightened around its neck like a noose. It thrashed on the ground, rolling over and over, its tongue protruding from its open maw. I pulled so hard that its eyes popped out of its head.
"Hey Sean," said Rob, "Otter pop! Get it?"
"Shut up," I said grinning.
The swelling pride of eminent victory welled in my chest until it was rudely interrupted by two more demon otters exploding from the water.
Again I reached for my katana. Again it was not there.
Even with Rob trying to claw their eyes out and my Luck magic, I wouldn’t stand a chance. That sinking feeling of nausea hit my stomach.
By this time the battered and bruised boyfriend Jeremy had made it back to Blondie. But the Dobhar-chu seeing blood, figured he was an easy target and went after him and not me or Rob the Hob. I whipped out the Mossberg pumped it and fired a shot.
Crack.
But I missed horribly.
Jeremy placed himself between the monsters and his girlfriend as I did, but he didn't have any of my weapons and was already bleeding. The water was so close. What if I fell in? What if I had to go in after Jeremy or his girlfriend?
I fired off another shot.
Crack.
I missed again. The two oversized otters latched on to Jeremy's arms and begin tugging at him, each one fighting to get their scraps. Together they dragged him back into the water. Jeremy kicked and screamed the whole way. Without thinking I jogged into the water until it was almost knee-high then realized where I was and froze.
An image of my sister’s face submerged in water, eyes wide and skin deathly pale flashed in my head and there was nothing I could do to shake the memory.
I was rudely ripped out of my own head when a fifth Dobhar-chu emerged from the water and latched onto my arm. Its teeth didn't sink deep but they did puncture my long sleeve jacket. Pain laced up my arm into my brain snapping me out of my stupor momentarily, only to be dragged back under the very water that sent me into shock seconds before.
Water rose all around me seeping into every pore, moving through every article of clothing in every fiber of my being. I wanted to hyperventilate but subconsciously my body kept me from doing that. Water rose over me, and if nothing changed in a few minutes it would be moving through me, into my lungs. I thrashed violently kicking at the monster. I wish I'd had the tenacity to summon my Luck magic again, but all that I could think of was the wet darkness that completely enveloped my being.
My lungs burned and I involuntarily coughed underwater, water finding its way into my lungs. I brought my other hand over my mouth to keep myself from swallowing even more water. Stars flashed behind my closed eyes. And then, when all was lost, an amethyst flash of light surrounded me and suddenly I was being tugged out of the water, not by teeth and claws but by the strong grip of a firm hand.
I fell on my hands and knees and half vomited, half coughed up all the water, and in between heaving, gasped for breath. The foul odor of the stagnant water covered me completely, but I was simply thankful that I could once again breathe through my nose and smell anything at all.
I tried to rise to my feet but fell over and rolled on my back looking up at the night sky.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
The shots from a .357 Magnum revolver echoed in the night. The flash from the muzzle mingled with the flashes of purple Bad Luck magic.
I stumbled to my feet shaking the water out of my red hair. In front of me Nehemiah the wizard stood keeping the Dobhar-chu at bay. He holstered his revolver and attacked the Dobhar-chus with a glowing spinal whip, like a black Castlevania character complete with trench coat, a much younger Jamie-Foxx-looking Belmont.
I found my gun but couldn’t get a clear shot without harming the injured man.
As Nehemiah struck at the beasts, the cursed whip turned on him and he struggled to control it. It wrapped itself around his arm like a boa constrictor, preventing him or me from getting close enough to rescue Jeremy.
The monsters recoiled into the darkness, back into their murky dwelling. They took with them Jeremy the jogger, leaving us to deal with the aftermath of his shocked girlfriend.
3 Burger King
NEHEMIAH AND I STAYED with the girl until the ambulance and the police showed up. Once they did, we conveniently disappeared but left Rob the Hob to talk to them. Due to his Glamour they would simply see a homeless short Irishman and would write him off as sunbaked and crazy.
The girl’s story wouldn't make any sense and I doubted they would be able to get much out of her since she was in complete shock. Nehemiah wouldn't even have to do his memory wipe trick.
We retreated to the nearby Burger King in my ‘Stang. He hit up the drive-through and got the four for four deal.
He handed me the bag.
"I'm not in the mood to eat bro," I said.
"You're extremely pale Sean. Put something back in your stomach."
