A Gleaming Path

by Jeffrey Pawlak

  Tsunari smiled and nodded to him. “I’m certain of it,” she replied, handing the blast orb back to Hinton. “And I’m also certain that they’re going to be just as impressed by your ingenuity as I am.”

  Hinton and Pauma were almost overwhelmed by the praise. “It’s nothing that special, I swear,” Hinton said as he waved a dismissive paw. “We’re just making do with the time we got on this island of yours. We Bachus aren’t much used to being surrounded by water on all sides.”

  “Well, I would say that the two of you have settled in quite well,” Tsunari said. “I know it was unfortunate circumstances that brought you and your friends to Onda Reef, but I cannot express how grateful I am for it. Before your party arrived, no member of the other races had stepped foot here in my lifetime.”

  Pauma’s eyes broadened. “Are we really the first folk you Onda have seen in so long?”

  “At least on this island, yes,” Tsunari answered. “In the last few decades, we have only ever made contact with humans out in the ocean, either returning those who have fallen overboard back to their ships, or meeting with them upon their crafts. Even those instances have been far fewer in number than I would like. I regret to say that the Onda have grown reclusive in recent ages, so much so that my people have become content with keeping to the ocean and our own islands, rarely bothering with the rest of Tordale. I have tried to change that in my time as our leader, but my efforts were halted after Baldaron brought Garadev and his brothers back to prowl these waters.”

  The Bachus nodded understandingly at Tsunari. “We know all about that,” Hinton began. “We Bachus back in Sleekleaf Forest decided a while ago that we would close ourselves off in our caverns and tunnels and never deal with the rest of Tordale anymore. Our own leader, Boss Blairo, was the one who decided that, but what he says goes with the Bachus, and the rest of us never had the mettle to stand up to him.”

  Pauma took over as soon as Hinton finished. “So, at least you’re trying to make an attempt to mend some relations, Tsunari. No one can fault you or the Onda for that!”

  The guilt and regret quickly evaporated from Tsunari’s face. Her appreciative smile soon returned to her. “That is very kind of you to say,” she told the Bachus. For a moment, her gaze drifted, and she appeared as if a wonderful vision came to her. “Once all of this is over, and peace has returned to Tordale, perhaps we can work to have both of our races reconnect with the rest of our world, including one another. If I can learn so much from just you two, I would love to see what all Onda could learn from all of the Bachus.”

  Hinton and Pauma expressed their approval with bright smiles of their own. “No doubt about it!” Hinton said. “And if anyone can do that—”

  His response was cut short when a rumbling cry passed over Onda Reef. It sounded as if the largest trumpet in all of Tordale blared a signal of war. Hinton, Pauma, Tsunari, and several nearby Onda fell silent as they exchanged confused, worried glances. A second, booming cry split the air again, and it was followed by a number of nervous shouts and hollers from the southern shore.

  Tsunari and the Bachus hastened in that direction, anxious to learn what caused the commotion. Several Onda warriors joined them, and dozens more poured over the beaches and rocky outcroppings. There were just as many Onda who ran about in complete panic, some fleeing from the scene as if it was their only hope for survival.

  When Tsunari and the Bachus came to the island’s southern edge, they understood why. Not half a mile off in the ocean, Rotour and Saphos surfaced from beneath the waves. Their long necks stretched high above the water, their ferocious eyes fixated upon Onda Reef as they advanced. Another half mile behind them was Garadev, uttering his strident roar as he followed his beastly brethren.

  Tsunari acted before hysteria could overtake her people. Her calls rang out across the island, silencing all commotion and murmurs. She directed all Onda off the beaches and into the island’s core. The Onda seemed inspired by their leader’s poise, moving swiftly and calmly in the face of the approaching danger. It was not long before each and every one of them crowded into the island’s central hall and the surrounding halls. The warriors did not remain there, but instead gathered as many weapons as the armory held and hurried to the cliffs outside. They set up formations along Onda Reef’s mountainous core, setting down as low as the rocky crags just above the beaches, and as high as the caves, like where Alamor and his company had slept. By then Rotour and Saphos, advancing faster than Garadev, had already reached the beaches, and began to move onto the island.

  When the monsters were close enough, the Onda commenced their desperate assault. They showered Garadev’s brethren with spears and stones flung from slings made out of kelp, showering the monsters with so many projectiles that it looked like a cloud of bone and rock descending to the beaches.

  But all that struck the monsters merely bounced off their thick hides. Rotour and Saphos waded through the salvo and soon came to the lowest crags along the island. They sent their long necks swinging down at the Onda who had taken up position there, snapping up doomed warriors in their jaws and trampling others underfoot.

  Most of the Onda began to retreat into the island’s inner chambers. Only a small group remained behind—the Waveweavers who had not ventured out with the humans to Waverock. With the tides crashing all around them, the Waveweavers took command of the waters nearby. They focused their magic to direct the water at the approaching monsters, expelling it in the form of furious jets. Their violent streams were so powerful that they tore away at boulders littering the shore before their aim found Rotour and Saphos.

  The ocean beasts could not wade so easily through the Waveweaver’s attacks as they could through the spears and rocks. Although their armor-like scales withstood the water pressure, their advance slowed to a crawl. Rotour and Saphos roared in defiance as they fought doggedly to press on through the jets of water, each step a great struggle under the might of the Onda’s Waveweaving.

  The ploy bought enough time for the other Onda to find refuge inside the depths of their island, but it could not stop Rotour and Saphos for good. Like any form of magic, the Waveweaving took its toll on the Ondas’ physical being, the strain taxing them until even their willpower could no longer allow them to maintain their spells. When their water jets were silenced, the Waveweavers also retreated, leaving Rotour and Saphos to begin pulling themselves up over the cliffs in pursuit of the remaining Onda above.

  With no other opposition to the approaching creatures, Hinton and Pauma decided to see how effective the repaired blast orbs would prove. They took to the edge of a precipice high above the shores, and began to hurl the explosive inventions down at Rotour and Saphos. They threw so many and with such haste that they barely took the time with their tosses. Still, the Bachus were surprisingly accurate, striking the monsters with nearly every blast orb that flew from their paws. The blast orbs slowed the monsters’ advance, jarring their huge forms with explosions and bathing them in fire.

  But Rotour and Saphos came on. They pressed through the Bachus’ barrage and began to pull themselves higher along the cliffs, slowly creeping up to where Hinton, Pauma, Tsunari, and many more Onda watched on. The ocean beasts were more than halfway up the slopes when Hinton and Pauma made a last-ditch effort to halt their advance.

  Hinton filled his satchel with nearly half of his remaining blasts orbs, some fifteen in all, and tossed in a lit one among them. With Pauma lending her strength, the Bachus lifted the bag over their heads and cast it down toward the monsters.

  Just as it hit Saphos square on the forehead, every blast orb inside the sack went off. The enormous explosion threw the azure monster off the cliffs and sent him crashing into Rotour. Both beasts tumbled down the slopes, hollering in fury as they crashed back onto the beaches.

  The Bachus’ desperate plan succeeded in buying Onda Reef’s defenders some time, but it did little harm to the ocean beasts. Saphos and Rotour soon got back on all fours, Saphos the only one weari
ng any visible damage—a fresh wound above his left eye no bigger than a knight’s shield.

  They quickly became the least of the Bachus’ and Ondas’ worries. Garadev at last stepped onto the beaches, and the leviathan wasted no time unleashing his terrible might upon Onda Reef. His great jaws fell open and spewed a beam of scalding water, the same that sliced the Balcryst in half. The nightmarish stream swept over almost the entire length of the island, ripping apart the slopes and shredding solid rock and coral. A number of unfortunate Onda were caught within its devastating reach, suffering a grisly end as they were either thrown from the force of the beam tearing into their surroundings, or as they were instantaneously scalded beyond recognition from the water’s frightening heat.

  When Garadev’s beam dissipated, no one upon Onda Reef continued to challenge his and his brothers’ approach. With the Ondas’ defenses all but subdued, Garadev uttered a savage, dominant cry. He looked to his brothers, barking orders in their beastly tongue. Rotour and Saphos started forward, and Garadev followed. Ready to tear the entire island down until it lay beneath the waves, the three monsters marched upon Onda Reef, once more.

  Until a thunderous roar flew from the ocean behind them.

  * * * * *

  Samuras burst through the ocean’s turquoise surface, sending geysers of water shooting into the air. She sped toward Onda Reef, moving faster and with greater power than any warship in the Tordalian navy. Her eyes glowed with hatred for the three malevolent foes ahead of her. Her lips curled into a snarl that contained merely of a hint of the fury she harbored for the beasts who trapped her beneath Waverock and dared to attack her domain.

  Garadev leapt back into the waters and propelled himself forward, showing no hesitation to meet with the Onda’s guardian and prove himself the mightiest of the ocean’s monsters. He only did so now because he knew that Samuras did not yet possess her full strength. Being trapped beneath Waverock for so long and laying idle under that island had left her weakened. Her true might was only gradually returning to her.

  But for Samuras, any amount of strength was enough to fuel her vengeance and her longing for battle. No matter the disadvantage, she would make Garadev pay.

  The two behemoths came together in a collision that sounded like a thunderclap. Their impact nearly split the waters around them. They rolled over and under the surface of the ocean, locked together in a violent struggle that saw them rip away at one another with fang and claw. They ignored the blows that the other landed even as they tore into their armor-like hides, both behemoths fixated on inflicting the most crippling strike that they could muster.

  Samuras raised one of her front legs and brought it down in a brutal arc. Her claw slammed onto Garadev’s head, smashing his jaws together and sending the vile beast plummeting beneath the waves. Samuras hastily followed after him, and they rejoined in battle, exchanging barrages as they sank to the ocean floor. In time, Samuras’s ferocious assault began to wear on Garadev, her crushing swipes slowly breaking his will.

  Realizing that she gained the upper hand in their close quarters encounter, Garadev finally pushed away from Samuras and put his body’s superior reach to use. His long neck darted forward, and the serpentine giant sank his teeth into Samuras’s shoulder just beneath the mane of white frills.

  Samuras’s agonized cry rang throughout the waters. Her fore claws worked frantically to get a hold of Garadev in an attempt to rip him off, but his lengthy neck kept the rest of his body just far away enough to avoid her grasp.

  The Onda’s guardian soon gave up in the attempt, and employed another. She steadied herself for a moment before thrashing about so forcefully that she threw Garadev clear off. Even as the serpentine monster’s teeth shredded her hide while being removed, Samuras ignored the wounds and launched herself at her disoriented foe.

  She slammed into Garadev’s flank with bone-crunching force, her head working like a battering ram as she pushed him across the ocean floor. Samuras finally slowed once she sent Garadev spilling into a huge rock formation. The towering monolith shattered as the leviathan smashed into it.

  Samuras was ready to pounce onto her foe, but Garadev replied with a whip-like strike from his sinuous tail. It raked over Samuras’s face and nearly spun her around. Rather than press his advantage, however, Garadev sent himself shooting back to the surface of the ocean. When Samuras recovered, she promptly gave chase, ready to catch up to Garadev and continue their battle.

  But as soon as she surfaced, Garadev unleashed his nightmarish beam of scalding water. It struck Samuras on her sponge-like mane and washed all across her body, searing her hide and momentarily paralyzing her with agony.

  Garadev did not waste a second opportunity while she was incapacitated. He threw himself onto Samuras, striking out with both claws as he landed, and the duel between the two giants continued.

  * * * * *

  Far behind the clash between the two gargantuan monsters, another battle ensued. By the time that Rotour and Saphos were back on their feet and ready to resume their assault on Onda Reef, the brave warriors who ventured to Waverock emerged from the waters and poured onto the beaches. Sharq, his fellow Onda, Rawner, Tridian, and the Prince’s loyal King’s Fangs charged to meet the ocean beasts, using their numbers to encircle Rotour and Saphos and harry the beasts just enough to keep them from moving elsewhere.

  Only Alamor and Tiroku did not join them. Tiroku was in no shape to do battle with either of the malicious creatures after summoning nearly every fiber of magic within his spirit to free Samuras. He was physically and emotionally drained, his body like an empty shell that had once contained his wise and powerful form.

  He had been incapable of much movement since the journey to Waverock. As the Onda scouts swam hurriedly behind Samuras in their return to Onda Reef, Tiroku had barely enough strength to simply hold onto the tideweed and the additional Onda who offered to assist him. Even now, hours later, the Champion of Light was hardly able to walk, instead hobbling about with Alamor holding him up and helping him along.

  They eventually stopped near a small tide pool far down the beaches on the eastern side of the island. Alamor gently set Tiroku down, letting him sit against a boulder. Tiroku’s face was drawn and devoid of any expression, his eyes clouded with exhaustion.

  But still, Alamor sensed an unquenchable resolve resting within the man. It told him that Tiroku was not in any grave danger, and that Tiroku still dwelled on a very important subject.

  “Leave me here, Alamor,” Tiroku told him, his hoarse voice almost a whisper.

  “Will you be all right?” Alamor asked, even though he already knew the answer.

  Tiroku returned an emphatic nod. “I will recover, eventually.” The Champion of Light then turned his eyes to their companions as they attempted to fend off Rotour and Saphos. “Your abilities are needed elsewhere at this moment.” He looked back at Alamor. His face gained life, hardening with fiery conviction. “You know what you must do to make sure those beasts are stopped.”

  Alamor understood the charge. It was a charge that Tiroku had placed upon him more than once in his lifetime, one that had always terrified him.

  But as he stood and looked back at the battle between the ocean beasts and his companions, Alamor cast away all uncertainty and all fear for his task.

  He would unleash his Serenity—solely by his own command.

  “I won’t fail this time,” Alamor said, and sped off down the beach.

  As he ran, his sword’s steel blade began to pulsate with white light. Alamor could feel the symbol of Serenity blaze upon his forehead once again.

  He watched the battle unfold further down the beaches. The warriors defending Onda Reef managed to separate Rotour and Saphos, drawing the two huge creatures away from one another so that they would not strike at any of their group in unison. Although the weapons they hurled at the monsters hardly grazed their hides, and most of their efforts were simply to distract them from joining Garadev or moving in upon the is
land, they courageously continued with the endeavor. Sharq and his fellow Onda had expended most of their magical reserves on their way back to Onda Reef, using their Waveweaving ability to propel themselves faster than their bodies, alone, could swim. Without the aid of aqueous constructs, they were forced to wield only their spears, swords, and bravery against Garadev’s breathren.

  Eventually, Saphos seemed to grow bored with the Ondas’ and humans’ attacks. He turned and began to advance back to the cliffs that rose to Onda Reef’s central chambers, but not before Sharq and two other Onda scouts climbed to a tall rock formation and leapt onto Saphos’s back. Holding onto the azure beast’s spines, the three Onda relentlessly drove their coral blades into Saphos’s scales, scraping away at his armor-like hide and doing everything they could to keep him from moving ahead. Saphos tried to reach for them with his terrible jaws, but even his serpentine neck did not allow for him to rid the Onda that pestered him. With a sudden, violent buck, he threw Sharq and the other Onda clear off, and started up the cliffs.

  Rotour remained on the beaches, where he was encircled by a number of Onda scouts, along with Tridian and the King’s Fangs. The vermilion monster was never stationary, turning in a new direction every instant. He made both ends of his body work tirelessly to claim an unfortunate victim, his jaws snapping forward and his tail swinging about wildly as his tiny foes continued to pester him with insignificant attacks.

  His tail was too fast for a pair of Royal Guardsmen at one point, slashing at them before they could evade it in time. The whip-like appendage flung their crumpled bodies across the beach, one of them clipping Tridian over his shoulder and knocking him clear off of his feet.

  Rotour immediately spun around and charged after the fallen Prince of Tordale, his eyes gleaming with devilish anticipation and his jaws falling open. Tridian might have been devoured, if not for Tagran. The veteran King’s Fang lobbed his spear and struck Rotour just beneath the eye, momentarily bringing the beast’s advance to a halt.