by Atlas Kane
Cade nodded to Satemi, and they ran out of hiding. Cade didn’t scream a battle-cry, didn’t flail his axe. Instead, he ran as close to the enemy’s position as possible before they saw him. About a hundred feet away, one of the rear guards caught sight of them at last and cried out to his fellows. “Enemies to the rear!” he screamed, then brandished his spear and began stalking toward them. A handful of other guards joined him, and soon five of the heavily armored Silver Guard were marching their way.
Three more continued their harrying assault on the woman’s position. Glancing up, Cade saw what the guards were facing. Atop an incline so steep it was almost a sheer drop, danced a flaming tiger. The few guards it still faced fought to surmount the slope as well as survive the beast’s intermittent attacks. Two of their number lay dead, fallen a dozen paces down the hill.
What the hell is a tiger doing here? Cade wondered, but having already experienced a wide range of intelligent life, he thought perhaps this might just be the woman they were sent to help. After all, why else would Vormer’s minions be after it?
So there had been ten to begin with, and now eight remain. But where the hell is Vormer? Cade cursed to himself. The five guards were now fifty feet away, and had marched toward them implacably. It was time. Cade found another pile of broken stone to hide behind then fired an Explosive Shot up against the cliff wall. It cracked with impotent power, enough of a signal for someone back at Tanrial to spot.
He hunkered beside Satemi, hoping Bellows would be quick enough.
The crunch and pound of the guards’ boots drew nearer by the second, and he looked to Satemi. “If they come, let me face them, and you go around the other side of the rock and hit them hard from the side. I don’t know if we can finish them, but we can buy Ketzal time.”
“Of course. But what is keeping her? She was supposed to—” Satemi stopped talking as she heard and felt what Cade saw. A rumbling as deep and pervasive as a rockslide was coming up behind them. Then Bellows came into view and passed their position moving like a cement truck.
Cade ran out as soon as the beast was ahead of them, and no sooner had he caught sight of the guards, now only twenty feet away, were they bowled over by a boar too big and too pissed off to deny.
Two of their foes were taken out on impact. One attempted to roll free but collided with the boar’s front leg and tumbled away in a mess of limbs. Bellows’ long tusks enhanced by Relentless Gore accounted for the other. After the impact, the beast turned and ran at a third, the body of the first guard still dangling from his face like a morbid ornament.
“Satemi, now!” Cade screamed, and they attacked the two guards that had rolled free of the boar’s assault. Cade screamed out an Alpha’s Call and then used Wyrm’s Wrath to increase his prowess. Satemi’s swords glowed red, and when she lashed out at her opponent, her swords slashed through him completely, seeming to bypass the armor.
The man fell dead in a moment.
“Go ahead, support Minda and bring down those three!” he shouted, glancing up at the slope where the tiger fought the rest of the guards. And even as he looked, he saw another ball of energy flash through the sky and crash into the beast’s side. It erupted with great force, knocking the huge cat to the ground where Cade could no longer see it from below.
He dodged the spear thrusts of the guard he faced, and bounced back to gain some room. Satemi saw the new threat as he did. Standing in golden plate and shining like an idiot star, Vormer stood wielding a staff, its tip still glowing a bright yellow from the attack.
“You support Minda! He’s mine!” Satemi growled, and dashed toward the man. Ketzal had dismounted as Bellows seemed intent on grinding his prey to bits. Her fiery whip shot out and snatched the spearman’s leg as he tried another thrust at Cade. He fell to a knee, and Cade clubbed him in the temple with his Herculean Hammer.
The steel face mask split, and the helm caved in. The guard fell to his side, and the dead face Cade saw beneath gave him the chills. A young man with pale-blue skin, as fair as an afternoon sky, lay dead on the ground before him. He’d just killed an innocent man who was under Vormer’s control. Laying a hand on the man’s breastplate, Cade stored all of the loot in his Inventory without looking it over. Having an extra spear if things turned south was a good idea. The added weight was noticeable, but he ignored it and moved on.
Satemi’s swords clashed into Vormer’s, and Cade knew that should anyone prove strong enough to defeat the man one on one, it would be her. Not only was she well-trained, but her level was the highest.
So Cade sprinted up the slope, hoping to bring down the guards who even now were climbing to retrieve the woman.
Minda burst from the bushes and wrapped the final man’s legs in roots, then blasted them all with a leaf attack. The guards she targeted took no damage, but the wind that drove them, knocked another off his feet and sent him falling down the slope toward Cade.
When the guard finally stopped his tumbling fall, Cade landed a Double Tap in his steel mask. Being so close, the rounds landed within an inch of one another. The first cracked the metal armor, the second punched through, snapping the guard’s head like a doll and causing them to fall limp.
Cade opened his mouth to scream “daggers” at Minda, but as he spotted her, a cloud of knives flew at the guard she’d pinned with roots. All but one careened off the thick armor, but the last found a chink between breastplate and gorget. The person, who Cade still couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, clutched at their neck. Only a trickle of blood seeped out of the hole, but as they slumped to the ground, Cade imagined the torrent that flooded down their chest.
Seeing only a single enemy remaining, Cade ran up the final stretch of the rise. He had to pull himself up the last bit, and as he did so, the bladed edge of a halberd fell down at him. There was time only to roll to his back and pull his buckler in the way, triggering Shroom Shield. The weapon crashed down before the full effect of the skill worked, and he grunted as the breath was driven from his lungs. One of his ribs cracked audibly.
The guard lifted their weapon and came down with a finishing blow. Cade turned his axe and fired an Explosive Shot. The mini grenade hit the guard in their hip, blasting away part of their armor. The force twisted them sideways, and they fell to the ground, dropping their weapon.
Cade sat up, but his injury slowed him something terrible.
He watched as the guard crawled toward the fallen halberd, but Minda’s lithe form vaulted over him and barreled into the guard. She wrapped herself around their back and tore free the steel face mask. The terrified face of a woman emerged, black fur, a bit longer than Minda’s, covering her features. The golden globes over her eyes flickered a moment, and when the beastkin woman punched her in the temple, they collapsed completely.
She stared at them, fear and confusion vying for dominance.
“But how?” Cade mumbled.
Minda pointed. When he turned to see what she meant, Cade saw the epic confrontation unfolding between Satemi and Vormer.
“He isn’t focused enough to hold her,” Minda said. “So I think she is free now.”
The woman, still garbed in the severe armor of the Silver Guard, rolled her face into Minda’s chest and wept.
Cade looked back and watched Satemi dueling the man she hated with unbridled ferocity. His movements were quicker than hers, and each time he struck, her weapons rebounded with great force. Yet her skill and tenacity were matching him.
Then something shifted. Satemi screamed and mana poured from her core. From a hundred feet away, Cade could see her eyes and gaping mouth begin to glow a bright red. The energy flowed into her hands, and her swords grew twice their length, now burning rods of pure mana.
She came at him with an insane fervor. His soul swords stood up to the abuse, but when she scored a hit to his shoulder, the sword cut through the metal pauldron like a fish through water.
Vormer’s shout of pain echoed across the narrow canyon, and everyone stopped to
see his defeat. Satemi didn’t wait to relish in his downfall. She drew back her sword and lunged.
As the blade drove toward his chest, Cade saw the lion drop one of his matching swords and twist something on his right bracer. Satemi’s blade passed through empty air.
The evil jerk had teleported.
“No. No!” the guard screamed, her hand held out to where the man had vanished.
Minda grimaced. “He was terrible to you. Why would you be sad to see his defeat?”
The guard gripped Minda by the strap of her leather vest and pulled her closer. “He is only returned to Tanrial. And once he is there, he will ensure I cannot join you.”
Fear chilled Cade to the bone. Yet there was nothing anyone could do. The armor of the Silver Guard whirred with energy, an aura of light pulsing from a tiny gem stored just above the woman’s belt. Then a portion of the shining silver breastplate collapsed, sending a thin rib of metal through her heart.
Minda shouted in anger and frustration as the woman coughed out a few dying gasps. In moments she was dead.
Cade looked to his party. Minda clutched an enemy combatant, tears flowing down her face. Ketzal tugged at a stubborn piece of armor still wedged on Bellows’ tusk. And Satemi, she stared in shock at the space before her where a man she so desperately needed to kill had stood. The energy of her activated skill dissipated, collapsing the swords to their normal length, and she fell to her knees.
Then he looked back on the woman, naked and gray-skinned, her hair shimmering silver black in the sun, almost metallic. A faint orange pattern glowed on her torso and danced across her arms and legs. The woman’s chest still rose and fell with each breath.
She was alive then. And no matter the cost, they’d succeeded.
8
Interview in Conference Room A
The task of looting the guards was anything but pleasant. Only their armor and weapons appeared as options, and Cade thought it strange none of them had been carrying any food or water. A leader like Vormer would have had them all dependent upon him for survival though. He scanned the list of items and scratched his head. Would any of this even be useful to them?
Silver Guard Bracers
Silver Guard Greaves
Silver Guard Breastplate
Silver Guard Gauntlets
Steel-tipped Spear
The list went on. He thought taking all of the weight back with them, even dispersed in their individual Inventories where the weight would be reduced significantly, still might amount to too much trouble for its worth. But when Satemi insisted, he shrugged and stored all of the loot into his Inventory, stacking with the gear he’d taken during the fight.
He thought of the soldier’s face again, the young one he first killed when the action had started. Did they all have the same gear? Cade wondered and glanced into his Inventory. He saw 2 of each piece of equipment, but something else caught his eye. When he read the description, he nearly shouted out his excitement.
Mana Shard, Charged
Rather than freak out and distract his companions, he decided to bring it up when they were on their way back to Camp Casmeer. He suppressed his grin, and continued his work.
After storing one more set of gear, it felt as if he had gained seventy pounds. But considering his Attributes, it wasn’t too much of a burden after all. He held three sets, and asked the women to take what they could. Ketzal had the lowest Strength Attribute and could only take one without being off balance. Minda took two and Satemi three.
The tall woman eyed Cade and winked at him. “Don’t worry, Cade. It’s okay that I’m stronger than you.”
He laughed knowing that, given her superior level and that she had a melee class, she was probably right.
That left only one set of equipment. As Minda approached the final guard, a retching cough came from their crumpled form.
“By the gods, Cade! This one’s alive!”
She rolled the guard over and pulled back their face mask. A man blinked up at her. Scales covered his face and his eyes were slitted and yellow. “Who? Who are you?” he managed.
“We’re who just kicked your ass,” Satemi said in a growl.
Minda held up her hand and gave the woman an impatient look. “If he is anything like Ketzal, none of this was his doing, okay? Go and let your battle rage cool, sister. The fight is over.”
The guard sat up and Cade noticed something different about his armor. The small gem at the center of the man’s armor was fractured, most likely when Bellows knocked him aside.
“I wanted to wait until we were leaving to tell you all, but I think I know what happened,” Cade said, turning up his hand and summoning the Mana Shard. Though intact and shining with a full charge of mana, it was the same as what was supposed to have powered the man’s suit.
“This,” Cade continued, “is what saved you. Vormer installed Mana Shards into each of these breastplates. He activated them from Tanrial, and anyone left alive should have been killed. You lived because the shard was broken.”
The man fumbled at his chest. He looked confused, and then something clicked. “Oh. I am beginning to remember.” Glancing around at his captors, the man’s eyes blinked twice. An inner membrane closed first, and then a scaled one after. It was disturbing to watch, but Cade tried to suppress his reaction. He was sure his own appearance was equally strange to whoever this man was.
Cade took pity on the creature before him, confused and injured as he was. He reached out a hand and asked him, “What is your name? We can talk at length when we make camp tonight. But we should be off soon, so let’s just start with your name.”
“I’m Hashollnin Rianu... uh, please, just call me Sholl,” the man finished, taking Cade’s hand and shaking feebly.
“Call me Cade. Now let’s get you out of that armor. We need to see your injuries.”
They began by removing Sholl’s boots and greaves, and slowly revealed the damaged body beneath. He was bruised and a couple broken ribs made breathing difficult for him, but when the breastplate itself came free, his most grievous wound was exposed. The Mana Shard had punctured his skin and shattered, leaking the potent energy directly into his body.
A sickly blue leached out from the wound in all directions. It was little more than a scratch, but Cade somehow knew it was deadly.
He tried Restoration of the Grove, and though the minor cuts and bruises that littered the man’s body recovered, the mana wound did not. Next, he gave the man a Healing Tincture, and that, too, did not work.
Shaking his head, Cade gave up for now. “We need to get going. Hopefully, we can find something that will heal this later, but for now, we’ve got to figure out how we are all going to ride on Bellows. The saddle wasn’t made for this many.”
“I have an idea. It won’t be comfortable, but it might work,” Ketzal said in a voice filled with strength. Looking up at her, he noticed she had changed over the course of the battle. And why wouldn’t she have? Charged the enemy on boarback, watched her tormentor ruined by Satemi. I would feel different too if I had been in her shoes.
“Of course, we trust you, Ketzal. What do you need?” he asked.
She looked to Satemi who stood a distance away, staring into the distance, staring back toward Tanrial. “I’ll need her help. I think we can be ready to go in an hour.”
With that, Minda went and spoke with Satemi, and Cade helped Sholl get comfortable for the time being. Having assessed his wounds, he helped the man back into his greaves and boots, but kept his chest exposed. They’d need to find him a spare shirt, but scaled as he was, Cade doubted the man would mind.
Inspecting Sholl’s face, he saw the man’s coloring was changing, becoming pallid. It was hard to notice at first as his scales were a vibrant green, not anything a human could relate to. Yet since discovering the wound, the scales of his face and the leathery skin around his neck was now tinged with yellow. Cade helped him drink, and then let him rest, summoning a spare fur to pad his head.
&n
bsp; Antinium was a harsh and unforgiving place. Yet even here, humanity had a chance to thrive. So rather than ready Bellows to receive his battered crew and leave the battlefield, Cade gathered the bodies of the fallen and placed them at the base of the steep hill.
He didn’t have time for a proper burial, but an idea formed in his mind that worked surprisingly well. Cade climbed up above the fallen guards and hacked at the hillside below him. As he’d hoped, a large pile of scree and soil slumped over the bodies. He continued to do so until hundreds of pounds of rubble covered the soldiers.
There was no ceremony, no words spoken, and for all Cade knew, such vanities could have offended any one of his new companions. Cultures varied wildly on Earth. There was no reason to think the cosmos would be any different.
Soon after, Ketzal and Satemi finished with their work. It was crude and ugly, but Cade thought they had performed brilliantly. The saddle now was outfitted with two additional seats. Ketzal proudly explained their function, “Had we the luxury of two conscious riders, we would have made an additional sling like the one Minda and Satemi balance on. Sholl is growing worse by the minute, however, and the woman has not woken. So we have added a saddle that rests directly over Bellows’ neck so I can sit there. The woman will ride in front of you, Cade. That way, you can hold her until she recovers. Sholl will be seated in the saddle behind you. We’ve made it longer than the others, more or less just a patch of hide strapped down really, so that if he becomes too weak to ride, we can strap him in place.”
The once city guard’s eyes bulged at the mention of being strapped down to a massive boar like cargo, but he did not voice any complaints.
It was a good enough plan, but Cade worried for the woman’s well-being. The huge explosion that had injured her seemed devastating enough to end anyone’s life. Yet her skin looked flawless.