by Lori Hyrup
“Most are unconscious,” said Kharra. “I can’t pick up many thoughts. They’re in some sort of haze, but their fear is very strong.”
“Is Prince Kiem—” Zephyron began.
Kharra held up a finger, and her brow furrowed. She sighed. “I can’t tell,” she said, disappointment evident in her tone. Kharra opened her eyes and scowled toward the passing creatures.
“Never in all my years as a kruusta have shard beasts ever taken captives,” Aria said. “I have no idea what this even means.”
Zephyron crossed his arms. “I guess we’ll just have to find out.”
Aria glanced at the Guardian sideways. “What do you suggest? Should we follow them to where they’re going? Or should we attempt to rescue the captives?”
“How difficult are splinter maws to fight?” Zephyron asked. “Normally, I mean.”
“Not really difficult at all for a kruusta. As I said, normal ones are no bigger than a dog, and while they do sometimes hunt in packs, there are usually less than twenty together at any given time. They are not terribly bright, just voracious…oh, no.”
“What’s wrong?” Kharra said suddenly, her eyes flashing open and her face transfixed on Aria’s expression. Zephyron glanced at Kharra and then looked at Aria. He had not picked up on Aria’s sudden anxiety, but Kharra’s empathy certainly had.
Aria licked her lips. “Splinter maws are voracious eaters. This behavior, it’s not normal for them. That suggests to me that perhaps someone is controlling them, much like the shard drakes in Murali. What if there are periods of time when that control slips a little against that natural instinct?”
This time it was Zephyron who blanched. “That arm…”
Aria nodded.
Zephyron rubbed his forehead. “I think our decision has been made for us.”
Kharra did not hide her pained expression nor her resigned sigh.
As much as Aria disliked their odds for success, she found herself nodding in agreement. She brought her finger and thumb to her chin and thought for a moment. “We can’t run in there blindly,” she said at last. “We could quickly find ourselves overwhelmed, and if they are being controlled, then we have the controller to worry about. I don’t know what the range is on their ability, but I’m guessing it can’t be too far. The shard drakes attacked me within Murali, which was only a few hundred yards from the temple. They then chased me for several miles afterward, but I think once they were called to the village, their natural instincts took over. For the controller of these splinter maws to keep them from eating the captives, my guess would be that he or she would not be very far away from them. Also, someone was observing us when we fought the creature in the fog, though they left before we finished.”
Kharra nodded. “That’s probably not a bad assumption,” she agreed.
“So,” Zephyron started, “we find this controller, take him out, and then…what?”
Aria tapped her finger against her cheek, her eyes staring in the direction of the leaf-covered ground but not focusing on any one thing. “We don’t know what might happen if we killed this person. The splinter maws may just go on a rampage and eat all of the captives. But…I have an idea.”
Both Kharra and Zephyron looked up at her.
Aria frowned. “I don’t know if it’ll work…”
“I’ve got nothing,” said Zephyron. Kharra shook her head, indicating the same.
“We whittle them away. They don’t know about Zephyron’s talents, so we use your tigron form. You run in, make like you’re a savage, hungry wild cat looking for something to eat, and then get out.”
“Ah,” said Zephyron. “And you think they will send a few of their splinter maws after me?”
Aria nodded. “I do. Kharra and I will situate ourselves in specific spots on either side of the trail. You lead the splinter maws to us, and we take them out.”
“And in the meantime,” said Kharra, catching on, “Zephyron repeats the behavior in the other direction?”
“Yep. I think we’ll get a few passes before the controller wises up and changes his tactics. Like I said, I’m not sure if it’ll work.”
“Actually, I think it could,” Zephyron replied.
It did not take the trio long to locate the controller, or rather controllers. There were five of them in total, and Aria’s stomach sank as soon as she saw their robes—four blue and one blue with a yellow collar. It revolted her that they did not even attempt to obscure their association with the Order of the Shard. Like Priest Malechi, the four in solid blue each wore a thin glowing bracelet on their wrists. The fifth one, identifiable as a shardhealer by his robes, did not. Aria had hoped, naively, that her encounter with the corrupt priest in Murali had been a fluke. How could this type of corruption have spread without her being aware of it before now? She suppressed her personal disappointment. She needed to focus on the job at hand. Her mind was already weary, and she did not need any additional distractions.
I’m in position, came Zephyron’s thought.
I’m ready here, Aria responded, utilizing Kharra as her mental conduit. How comfortable she was becoming with this mode of communication.
As am I, Kharra added.
Less than thirty yards in front of Aria rode the five robed riders. One was nodding off in his saddle. A second priest and the shardhealer were riding quietly, keeping their eyes trained straight ahead. The last two priests were conversing together in hushed tones. Their voices were too quiet for Aria to make out what they were saying.
From out of the brush beside them pounced a giant savage white cat, its fur practically glowing under the light of the moons, snarling fiercely and raking its claws into the hindquarters of one of the passing splinter maws. The shard beast howled in pain and reflexively turned to defend itself. The cat, though nearly equal in size with the creature, was too quick and bounced around to its opposite side. It attacked the shard beast again, this time in its right front shoulder, before the priests even realized the attack had taken place.
The two priests who had been conversing shouted at the cat and rushed toward it with their horses. The shardhealer said nothing but fought to control his spooked horse. The priest who had been dozing almost fell out of his saddle as the fourth priest slapped his arm. The sleepy priest sat up, finally alert to the attack. He shouted at the three nearest shard beasts in addition to the one under attack to retaliate against the cat. His bracelet glowed brighter as he issued the command.
Seeing its peril, the cat bounded out of the way of the new attackers. It hissed and swatted at the face of the nearest splinter maw, connecting with its eye. The cat’s white paw came away with greenish gore. The creature flinched, reared its front two feet off the ground, and howled savagely. It shook its head back and forth, splashing more of its gore across the ground, clearly unaccustomed to such pain. The three other creatures tried to push each other out of the way in an attempt to get at the cat. Instead of standing its ground, the cat turned and fled into the brush. The four splinter maws pursued.
Aria adjusted her grip on her krusword as she waited for the white streak to pass by her. So quickly he moved that had she not been ready for him, she would have had no chance to move into action in time. As Zephyron passed, Aria stepped toward the crashing footfalls, arced her krusword upward, and sliced through the throat of the first splinter maw before it even realized she was there. The creature crashed chin first through the brush; it would not get up again. Its shoulder appendages fell away, and the people who had been restrained on its back slid off. All were still unconscious, but Aria had no time to spare them attention.
The second splinter maw crashed through the brush on the heels of the first. Ignoring its fallen companion, the beast launched its slavering, tooth-bladed maw toward Aria’s face. The kruusta stepped to the side at the last moment, sliding her krusword down low along its shoulder. The undergrowth kept the beast from turning, and it snarled furiously as it became tangled in the surrounding branches. Out of the corne
r of her eye, Aria saw the white cat back among the main column of shard beasts, attacking them in seemingly random fashion. The priests were shouting at each other as much as at the creatures they were trying to control, though Aria could not make out the words.
Without waiting Aria met the third splinter maw head-on, driving her krusword through the roof of its mouth as soon as it opened to snap at her. She withdrew her weapon, flinging the smelly gore from her blade, and rushed to intercept the last of the four creatures. This one slowed before meeting its attacker. Its beady black eyes stared at her down its long, ridged snout. Aria crouched low with her krusword poised in front of her as she stepped around it. The creature bucked its head and snorted. It attempted to back up a step but caught itself on a branch. The creature panicked and began swinging its head from side to side. Aria took advantage of its predicament to slash at the hamstring of one of its far back legs. Though covered in a fine-scaled shimmering skin of crystal, armor enough to resist simple attacks from basic steel weapons, the splinter maw had no resistance to a krusword. Its back leg buckled, and before it could compensate, Aria slashed the hamstring of one of its middle legs as well. The shard beast stumbled to the left beneath the burden it carried on its back and its own unnatural bulk.
As the splinter maw thrashed on the ground, Aria moved in to relieve it of the three people it carried on its back, dragging them one at a time through the undergrowth toward a clearing just a few yards away. As she returned for the last of the three individuals, she slashed the beast’s neck and put it out of its misery. She located the soldiers who had been on the backs of the other splinter maws and dragged each of them to their comrades. While such work would have proved difficult for an ordinary human, with her kruusta-enhanced strength, the activity provided only a mild workout.
Incoming! called Zephyron’s mental voice. As before, he sped past her in a blur, a bolt of white lightning. He vanished long before the next splinter maw stumbled into view. The smaller versions of the creatures were quite nimble, but these were among the clumsiest shard beasts Aria had ever faced. Still, their sheer size and dagger-long teeth were enough to keep any fighter respectful. This time Aria was facing six of the beasts, but due to the snarl of trees and undergrowth, they could not use their numbers against her. She and Zephyron had carefully selected their place of ambush, and their plan was being executed even better than they had hoped. In less than fifteen minutes, six more shard beasts lay dead and twenty more soldiers had been dragged into the safe area.
With each of the soldiers safely out of harm’s way, Aria made her way back toward the road so that she could further assess their progress. All of the priests had dismounted. One of them was struggling to calm the panicking horses. Two of them were shouting back and forth at each other, one pointing aggressively out into the surrounding trees. One pointed at his bracelet and then threw his arms up. Aria caught the words “cat,” “maw,” and “prince,” and started to piece together the context of the argument. She also noticed that the line of shard beasts had diminished significantly.
How are you doing over there? Aria thought, hoping Kharra was able to pick it up.
The ninth one is about to fall, Kharra replied. And we’ve got Kiem, she added hurriedly. How are you holding up?
That’s great. We’ve cleared out about a third of the shard beasts they had. I’m clear at the moment. I have thirty-nine soldiers over here, but none of them are awake yet. Now I’m watching the priests. We’ve definitely thrown a tangle into their plans.
Oh? Kharra responded. We’re done here now, by the way.
Great, she responded.
Aria listened as the arguing between the priests escalated. Priests and shardhealers in the Order of the Shard only had very basic combat training. These priests relied on people’s fear of the shard beasts and their own control over the creatures to keep problems away. With their weapons running off and not returning, they were becoming unnerved. They somehow knew the beasts were dead. One thing was clear—they had specific instructions regarding Kiem’s capture.
Aria felt the other woman’s mind fade briefly and then return with a mental chuckle. It seems they’re afraid to go off into the trees. They believe there’s an entire pride of insane giant white ghost cats that they’re now calling “shard eaters.”
Aria found herself grinning at the description of Zephyron’s hit-and-run tactics of attacking them rapidly from different places up and down the line of shard beasts.
If Zephyron attacks again, Kharra sent, I don’t think they’ll send the shard beasts after him. It looks like they’re going to round them up, use them defensively, and camp nearby. They don’t seem to care much about the rest of the soldiers, but they need to track down Kiem. Since the shard beasts that chased Zephyron ran off in all different directions, they’re going to have to spend some time searching for him.
Aria thought for a moment. Before they can collect themselves enough to search, we should probably try to get the prince and soldiers on their feet and withdraw from this place.
Kiem is going to want to rescue the rest of his men, Kharra said.
I know, Aria responded, but we don’t want them near enough to find the prince.
I agree, Zephyron added. Let us retreat to our rendezvous and regroup.
The three companions met up together and, with the assistance of Kharra’s mental coaxing, roused the soldiers from their stupor. Despite their confusion, the large group followed Zephyron’s lead to a spot he deemed far enough away from the priests. When they finally stopped, Aria fended off questions from Kiem as she wiped down Xierex. She understood the prince needed answers, but every muscle in her body ached, as did her head; she struggled to think straight.
“Crown Prince Kiem,” said Kharra as she walked up beside him. “Kruusta Aria’s exhausted. Let’s allow her some rest. I’ll do my best to answer your questions.”
“Oh, of course. My apologies, Kruusta. You go get some rest.”
“I will.” Aria placed her fist over her chest and bowed her head in salute as Kharra led the prince away. She did not even recall climbing into her bedroll before slumber overtook her.
12
THE RESCUE
The biggest shard Aria had ever seen loomed before her. She peered up at its thirty-foot height, noting every edge and facet. Unlike other shards, this one was dark, nearly black. The blackness though was not solid. Within the tall structure, just beneath the surface, the blackness swirled. She had no idea what that implied. Aria placed her hand on the shard and closed her eyes. As in Braylore, her awareness flowed outward from her and melded with that of the shard. She felt a rhythmic beat. A heart, she determined. It was slow and steady, comforting. She allowed her senses to expand. Beside the shard was someone or something, but it was encased in crystal, both in the physical sense and in the metaphorical sense of the mind. It too was shrouded in darkness. The crystalline veins surrounding the cavern pulsed with the same swirling darkness.
The beating intensified, growing louder and stronger. She could not place the source. Aria opened her eyes and pulled her hand away—or tried to pull it away. Her hand was somehow attached to the larger shard. She saw that the crystal embedded within her hand had released its own substance, the very same substance used to call forth her krusword. Instead of a sword, though, the substance had covered her entire hand and fused with the shard before her. She tugged on her hand, but the substance from her crystal continued to discharge, and the mercury-like liquid rolled farther up her arm. Connected as it was to the shard, the substance began to change color from its normal bluish green to the same dark hue as the shard.
Aria began to panic. She put her metal-heeled boot up against the shard and, with all her strength, pushed with her foot. At last the hardening substance shattered. She pulled away forcefully, falling down to the ground. But despite the severed connection, the substance from her shard continued to roll out and cover her arm. It moved up and over her shoulder, across her chest, and
down the other arm. Soon her entire body was coated. Her skin ignited in burning agony as if her flesh was being devoured by the substance that now coated it. She screamed as she fought to tear it from her body, but she could do that no more than she could remove a limb. Her back erupted in pain as if stabbed with several swords. Her throat grew hoarse. Finally though her screaming stopped. It was not for lack of trying but rather because sound no longer came from her throat.
Aria looked down at her hands or what had been her hands. In place of her once strong, delicate fingers were long, needle-like ebony-black claws, each razor-sharp. She looked up at the shard to which she had been attached and saw her reflection. Six protrusions splayed out on her back, three fanned out to either side. Her facial features were alien, inhuman. Her teeth, like her fingers, were needle-like and pointy, capable of tearing flesh from any creature. Her eyes burned violet, though they seemed devoid of emotion. She tried to scream again, but all that came out was a hiss.
A misty fog rolled into the area. It began to swirl about her hands and feet. It lifted her from the ground and carried her away from the shard. She attempted to move away, but her body would not respond to her.
The smell of cooking meat dragged Aria from her unpleasant dream. She opened her eyes slowly, thankful for the shade of the tree limb above her. The morning sun was bright and the sky clear. Aria sat up and rubbed her eyes. Her head still throbbed. She could not tell if it was due to her exhaustion or her excessive use of power—perhaps a little of both.
To Aria’s surprise the clearing was bustling with activity. It took her a moment to locate her traveling companions. They stood on the far side of the clearing, speaking with Kiem. The crown prince’s face burst into a smile when he saw her approach. A red line ran down the side of his face from his temple to his jaw. He was going to have a scar.