by R. J. Batla
Leona ran toward Celeste, and I rushed to Josey, but I clearly was too late. Her body was even more ravaged than I had thought. Sadness and grief overwhelmed me as I crossed her arms in front of her and closing her eyes to give her some sense of dignity before I draped her cloak over her. Then I moved on to check on Gilmer.
Between our healing powers and Leona’s Guide power, we were able to get everyone started in the reviving process, and within five minutes, everyone was stirring more and more, except for Corbman’s two guards Orgen and Derno. They were dead, sliced and stabbed many times, with several chunks of their skin and muscle missing.
Royn was the first to come fully awake – thank God the Shifter had lied about killing him. With a start, he jumped up and drew his sword, pointing at us, while his left was cocked behind him as he conjured a small tornado inside it. “Stop right there! Who are you, where’s the impersonator, and how many Shifters are there?”
“What the hell are you talking about, Royn? The fake-Euless is gone. He was a Shifter.”
“I know! I figured it out half a second too late. It had bothered me that he needed help with his bowtie prior to the beginning of the tournament party, since he taught me how to tie one in the first place. Once we were all down here, out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw his face turn into a snake. Knowing that couldn’t be right, I used my Mimic power to see his power set – and it wasn’t what I’d expected from the Manu. Something had changed from before. He made a sudden move and we were all knocked out. But that doesn’t mean he worked alone, or isn’t still here – so, like I said, I need you to prove that you’re Jay and Leona. Right now, or this is fixing to get messy.”
What could I say that would prove...
“Mimic our powers.”
“What?”
“We’re the only ones with our exact power sets, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then use your Mimic and identify us, like you did with the fake-Euless.”
Royn considered it for a second and then nodded. Apparently, he went through the mental exercise mimicking our powers, because I saw no external show, but after about fifteen seconds he said, “Okay, you pass that test, but I’ve already been fooled once. The Ignis isn’t easily duplicated, even for a Shifter, and I don’t think anyone could have replaced Jayton at this point.” He turned slightly to Leona. “And while Guide powers are rare, they’re not unheard of. Tell me something that only you and I would know we discussed.”
She didn’t even hesitate. “When I came to you about my feelings for Jay, you encouraged me to make a move because he was too thickheaded to do anything about it.”
I opened my mouth to say something, and kinda started to get mad, but I snapped it shut when I realized that they were both probably right.
“Okay, your story checks out too,” he said with a grin. “And since everyone else is knocked out, or was knocked out, I’m going to assume that the Shifter was working alone.” He shifted his sword and looked at us. “So what happened in there?”
I quickly relayed to him what happened, the others slowly standing up and listening the story. They were all amazed, and questioned everything, but it seemed that we all believed that Gabe was an oracle. And that we needed to do what he said.
Royn shook his head. “I still can’t believe Euless was the Shifter. The last thing I remember seeing was him transforming just before he stabbed Josey...Josey!”
Everyone frantically looked around, just now realizing that one of our own wasn’t standing.
Royn especially was frantic and moved to find her. He spotted her behind me. “Oh no.”
“Royn, she’s gone. I checked her myself – she was gone when we got here. Same with Corbman’s guards.” I put my hand on his shoulder and squeezed.
“Oh no,” he said again. “Not another one.”
Corbman, for his part, said nothing to us, but knelt beside his fallen kin, singing a song I had never heard before in some language I didn’t recognize, slowly positioning his comrades in a more dignified position.
“She knew this would be dangerous, Royn. We all do,” Troup said. “We’ve got to push through this. There’s still a war to fight.”
Royn nodded, but I could tell he was stressing out. “I understand and agree. I don’t like losing soldiers. But we’ll have to grieve later.” The older Ranger took a calming breath, and was back in leader mode. “All right, we’ve got to get in the fight at the West Gate, just like Oracle Gabe said.”
“We’ve got you covered, Royn,” I said. “We can use the Ignis and Amplify to get us all out of here at once.”
Royn nodded again, an absent look on his face like maybe he forgot this was part of the plan. The Shifter really did a number on everyone. “For us to do this, I need everybody as close together as possible and holding hands. We need to make this as efficient as possible.”
“Is everybody ready?” I asked and was met with nods.
Corbman dragged the bodies of his guards closer to us. “Would someone grab my neck so we can bring their bodies?” He reached down and touched each of the guards’ ankles. “It’s not right to leave them here. We can bury them later. It’s the least I can do.”
Morgan reached down to touch Josey. I saw a lone tear go down Morgan’s face.
Royn stepped between Leona and me, and everyone else joined hands. “Jay? Leona? Power up,” he said.
I could feel Leona using her Amplify power, pushing it into Royn. I turned the Ignis on, and asked mentally, “What do we need?”
“Everyone needs to power up and send their power to Royn. You’ll be the link between everyone.”
I relayed the information to the group. The room practically hummed with power as everyone sent their energy flowing to our leader. I addressed my Ignis power again mentally. Tell me when we’re ready to go.
Then out loud I said, “Royn, I’ll tell you when. Not yet.”
He nodded. We waited for maybe thirty seconds before I got the mental cue. “Power sufficient, commence teleport.”
“Okay, Royn, let’s go. We’ve got another fight to get to.”
In a much larger flash of blue than I had ever seen, the entire group was sent to the West Gate.
Chapter 67 – Jayton Baird
I’D TRAVELED WITH ROYN several times via teleportation, and no matter how far we were traveling, it only took a few seconds – sometimes only a moment. This trip took longer. After twenty seconds, I started to get a little worried. After thirty seconds, my brain started to tell me that I was running low on oxygen. After forty seconds, my body was screaming at me to take a breath, not to mention being squeezed from every possible angle imaginable.
When I thought I could stand it no more, we burst from the in-between into a forest clearing, but not on the ground. We dropped three feet and landed in a heap, each of us gasping for air. Our training took over and we quickly scanned for threats. Finding none, we took a full minute to catch our breath and find our bearings.
I stared at the three bodies we’d brought with us.
Sonora said, “We can’t carry them and fight. This is as good a place as any to bury them. We can always come back and build a marker later.”
“I agree,” I said, everyone else nodding in agreement.
Troup parted his hands, and three perfectly carved rectangles of earth opened up, just the right size for our friends’ bodies. With a wave of her hand, Sonora lifted each on solidified air, gently lowering them into the hole. When the body reached the bottom, Troup covered it with earth. He raised three simple square headstones, engraving each of their names into them.
Sonora nodded. “This is the best we can do in so short a time. Let’s say our goodbyes in silence and then we have to go.”
After about twenty seconds of silence, prayer, and goodbyes, grim determination settled on everyone’s face. We all wanted to avenge their deaths, to kill the Shifter who did this, and most of all, to stop Malstrak before he killed more people.
Gi
lmer asked, “I know we go east, but what’s the best way? Where exactly are we?”
“We’re somewhere between the Wall the West Gate,” Royn said, pointing to the east. “The Gate’s that way. I was trying to land us closer, but maybe it’s better that we landed here. We might have the element of surprise now. I’ll open up the mental channels; I want silence otherwise. Now, move out.”
Following Royn, we made our way through the forest. With all our senses on high alert, it was easy to find the few scouts and sentries the enemy had set out here to watch their backs.
Each met with a swift death, and a silent one, from one of our party. Leona shot one through each eye with her energy arrows. Troup opened up the ground beneath another, and he fell so fast he didn’t scream. Others were taken out with slashes across their throats or the air being sucked out of them by Sonora.
After twenty minutes of walking and taking out sentries, we neared the edge of the trees, where I finally got my first look at the enemy army.
It was much bigger than I expected.
Remaining hidden in the trees on a slight rise, we saw the back of the sprawling army two hundred yards in front of us, and it extended at least a mile to the base of the Wall, the flat terrain allowing us to see from our elevated position. Thousands and thousands of creatures, most so much larger than humans, and all heavily armored and looking fierce. Siege weapons and blasts of elemental powers pounded on the Gate, the defenders firing back with everything they had. They’d come to a stalemate by the looks of it. Shields and drums were pounded on, the cranks of the siege weapons creaked and groaned as they flung their payloads, and so many growls, barks, and yells assaulted my ears that I was amazed the army could communicate at all.
“Royn, can we get any communication to the Senturians on the Gate through our earpieces?” Troup asked.
Royn tried first. “I’ve got nothing, anyone else?”
We all tried and got nothing, not even static.
Celeste said, “I guess that’s a no. So what’s our plan?”
Royn looked at me, and I turn on the Ignis. Scanning the battlefield, I could see how their lines were moving and how they were positioning troops. Mentally, I asked what was the best form of attack to help out our compatriots, and I got an answer: “Attack from behind. Divert their attention to you and their forces would be divided. It will give the defenders of the Wall a chance to regroup and attack with more ferocity.”
I relayed the information to my team, and they all nodded.
Royn said, “Hit them hard and fast, right there.” He pointed to a group of large trolls. “We should be able to take those four out quickly, and then dive into and attack the surrounding troops before they know what’s going on while not get trapped at the same time. Once we hit the trolls, stay in communication. At that point, we’ll be fighting a retreating battle. If anybody is separated, meet back at this spot. Understood?”
Everyone nodded and readjusted their weapons to get ready for the battle.
Royn moved his hand forward, and we all took off at a fast trot, trying to remain as silent as possible. There were a few straggling goblins between us and the trolls, and they were all taken out quietly and quickly as we ran. In no time we’d cleared the two hundred yards and we were on the trolls, with me in the lead. I took a flying leap and buried my sword into that soft spot between their metal plates, easily killing the monster.
He went down in a heap with a loud crash, as did three others, each with Royn, Gilmer, and Anton on their heads. Celeste formed a big spear of ice, her aim true as it slammed into the final troll, sending it tumbling to the ground.
They never even heard us.
But the other creatures had. Morgan leapt forward and punched several times, dozens of fireballs the size of horse carts barreling through the turning army, setting them aflame or completely burning them to a crisp.
Dozens were killed instantly as Leona rained energy arrows on them, shooting as fast as she could. Katy was a blur of motion, her blades sending sprays of black ichor and red blood into the air anywhere she passed, weaving in and out of the enemy horde before they knew she was there.
The creatures started falling all around us, confused. We took that as an opportunity, closing in and slicing through the attackers as they still stood disorganized. Sonora rotated her hands and leapt forward, a horizontal tornado springing into existence from her outstretched arms, tunneling a path of destruction through the enemy.
But they recovered quickly and started to press on us.
“Back twenty yards,” Troup said in our heads.
We retreated quickly. Behind us, Troup opened a trench, the charging monsters falling in. It shut quickly with a snap. Royn sent air slices, I shot fire from my left hand, and Gilmer did the same from his right, taking out another line as they tried to flank us. Troup and Anton flung boulders deep into the enemy. We slowly gave ground, killing scores of monsters as more and more turned towards us. We all moved smoothly as a unit, guarding each other’s backs and retreated slowly.
Readying a ball of explosive energy, I flung it hard. It exploded a good third of the way into the enemy army with an extremely loud concussive blast and spray of bodies.
Almost as one, the army turned backwards, their attention diverted to us and away from the Gate.
Well, I guessed that was what we wanted. I think it was safe to say we had their attention.
Now that the army realized they were being attacked from behind, a large wave started to come at us.
“Fall back! Fall back now!” Royn said.
If we weren’t in a retreating fight before, we were now, as we sprinted for the trees. At least the trees would slow down the advancing army.
We managed to outpace them and beat them to the trees. With such a large force, they stumbled over one another and I hoped some of them were killed by trampling.
We turned to make a brief stand before we retreated again, when just as suddenly, the entire enemy army snapped their heads up, looked to the right, and returned to attacking the Gate again.
Gilmer said, “What the hell just happened? I thought the whole point was to get them to attack us?”
Fifty yards in front of us, the ground opened up and a figure in black robes slowly emerged. Behind him were several of the creatures, including an alpha, and three others. And the damn Shifter.
Katy swallowed beside me loudly. “Is...is that who I think it is?”
Royn nodded. “Yep, there’s only one person that could be. Malstrak.”
He cocked his head at the sound of his name, and threw back his hood, revealing a much better looking man than I expected. He had shoulder length gray hair and a trimmed gray beard. “Ah, I see my reputation precedes me.” He looked directly at me. “Finally we meet, Jayton Baird. It’s an honor to meet a fellow Morsenube user.” He bowed his head ever so slightly, though he never took his eyes off me. I should have felt fear.
Maybe I did a little, coming face to face with the enemy for the first time, but I mostly felt anger. Frustration. For all those I lost, for all the lives he destroyed. This was him. This was the man who’d caused so much chaos.
If it was the last thing I did, I was going to stop him here, stop him now, before he caused any more pain. Because it was my power and my responsibility. I didn’t give a damn what the oracle said. He was here – right here – and I could beat him. I knew it.
Malstrak smiled as he stared at me. “It’s about time. I was wondering if you would ever get here.” He glanced behind him, addressing the creatures he brought. “Kill them all but leave Mr. Baird to me.”
The creatures attacked swiftly, and my companions were in a life or death struggle. Powers collided and steel rang out while Malstrak strode toward me, drawing in power and readying for attack. The Morsenube inside me jumped to life, responding to the proximity of another Morsenube Senturian.
Despite the fierce battle raging around us, Malstrak only had eyes for me. I was unable to look away, afraid
of what might happen.
“The Uland was supposed to make it look good, but still lose to you. The bloody fool let you get under his skin and almost killed you. It’s a good thing you’re tough. I would’ve been most displeased to have you dead before I could meet you. I mean use you. That was a neat trick, switching the stones like you did to allow you to use both of your friends’ nullify and amplify powers. Very clever. I can use people like you in my kingdom. I’ve asked you before, but this is my final offer – will you work with me?”
“I’ll never join you,” I said, drawing my sword.
Malstrak shrugged. “Okay then.”
Faster than I thought possible, he attacked.
My Ignis power was the only reason I was able to keep up with him – I was so tired after my fight with the Uland and I hadn’t even realized it.
The Uland was tough, but Malstrak was an incredible fighter. He used the Morsenube on both offense and defense, and I was immediately backpedaling. Vicious strikes of dark destructive power rained down on me. Using the Ignis, I was able to summon a shield of complete white energy to deflect them. Something I’d never done before. With a battle cry, I went on the offensive, using all the powers at my disposal to attack Malstrak. My sword was a blur of movement. Fire, water, and air powers launched from my hands and feet.
But it was no use. I was no match for Malstrak. Each of my strikes was deflected by the black energy of the Morsenube. At one point, he produced a sword from inside his robes, laced it with the Morsenube, and swung it at me.
Worse still, each time Malstrak hit me, I could feel the Morsenube inside me reacting to the Morsenube he was throwing around, and it wanted out. To destroy.
Malstrak said, “There it is! Now you can feel it! The power wanting a release. Use it, Jayton Baird. Use the Morsenube against me! It’s the only way you’ll win, and you know it.”
Only managing to scream at him, I stabbed at him with my sword and he dodged, attacking with his own Morsenube-laced blade. I reached up to block it with my shield and sparks flew where his sword contacted it.