Realms of Valen - Blasphemous Crusade (War of the Gods Book 2)

by Rickk Berry III

  Screams rang out into the air; screams of the frightened, screams of the dying. The dragon flew the length of the army, burning a hellish path along their ranks before flexing its wings and flying up into the sky. The fiery attack of the dragon left the remains of Khamora's army in a frantic scramble. Before the surviving commanders could issue any orders, arrows started raining down on them from the farm houses, barns, and the sparse patches of trees nearby, causing further disarray and even more deaths.

  Finally, Rykar ordered the charge. The dwarven ranks took off running, gaining a head start on their shorter legs. After waiting a few long moments, the rest of Silver Lake's defenders followed. Just as the longer legged races drew even with the dwarves, they all collided with the disoriented and dazed front ranks of Khamora's forces. Rykar and Kaidia were among the first to cut down enemy soldiers and before long, the defenders of Silver Lake and the remnants of Khamora's army were mixed together, fighting among the burning corpses from the initial attack.

  Kaidia's eyes stayed aglow with that eerie blue light, making her stand out among the crowd of combatants. In her black armor, she walked calmly among the fighting, brawling soldiers, cutting down any that dared to confront her. Her eyes darted about, seeking the twin elves. Edgar and the knights of the Dragon Guard tried to stay close to Kaidia but it was difficult in the chaos of combat.

  Rykar, scorpion emblazoned shield in hand, cut down as many soldiers as he battered with his shield. Unlike Kai, he had no specific goal in mind. He was simply enjoying the fight. He cut down one soldier, ran the next through, then cracked another in the face with his shield, a maniacal grin curving his lips. In his own way, he was just as frightening a sight as Kaidia and her glowing eyes.

  Echo waded into the conflict, periodically planting her feet and staying in one spot, lashing out with magic and using her sword when someone managed to get close enough. Arrows had ceased to fly, being replaced by fireballs, lightning bolts, spikes of ice, and bolts of pure sorcerous energy thanks to mages from both sides of the battle. Soldiers of both armies fell in droves, turning dirt to bloody mud in fairly short order. Only the ground near the masses of burning bodies stayed dry, mostly because no one could get near the impromptu funeral pyres, such was the heat they radiated.

  Kaidia found herself given a clear path, enemy soldiers being less than eager to face off against the god after witnessing her brutalizing more than one of their brethren. As far as Kaidia knew, there were two ways to command an army; either by leading or by directing from the rear. Since she didn't cross swords with either of the twin elves when she'd led the charge alongside Rykar, she assumed the twins were commanding from behind the ranks of soldiers. Hence, her march through the battle. Kai had just grown accustomed to the clear path when she found her way blocked by several soldiers. With just a glance she could determine that they weren't just foot soldiers. They were a cut above.

  Expensive armor adorned their bodies, quality weapons lay in their hands. They were either officers or very well paid mercenaries. Kaidia didn't really care which. She just raised her sword and smiled in a manner that anyone would consider unsettling. Amidst the constant chaos of the battle, Kai and the warriors stood in a contradictory calm. In the constantly shifting light of the fires, Kaidia couldn't quite see just how many there were but she hardly cared. They were in her way.

  The nearest of the warriors charged. A woman, brandishing a war hammer, raised it high to bring it down on Kaidia. The dragon god grinned, a fireball flared to life in her free hand.

  Echo turned at the sound of an explosion. Sure, fire was erupting all over the place, but not in blasts that were lighting up the whole areas of the battlefield. She took off in the direction of the blast, striking down anyone who decided that it would be a good idea to stop her.

  Rykar glanced up at the fiery blast that lit up half the battleground, but looked right back to the rather large warrior he was squaring off against. He figured the explosion had been Kaidia showing off. He readied himself to lunge at his opponent when a war hammer came hurtling out of the slowly brightening sky and smashed into his adversary's skull, dropping him to the ground in a great, dead mass. Rykar blinked, trying to comprehend the utterly absurd occurrence, then sighed, disappointed at the loss of a potentially good fight, and turned to engage another enemy.

  Kaidia chuckled as pieces of her first foe rained down on the ground around her.

  “Ready to step aside or are you still going to get in my way?” she asked, shouting to be heard above the din of battle.

  The group of seemingly elite soldiers looked to one another, then, all at once, charged at Kai. The god kicked a stray sword up from the ground and caught it with her left hand before meeting the warriors head on. She ducked an axe blow and slashed at its wielder, then clashed swords with another warrior. A moment later, Echo came crashing into the group with a jolt of lightning to one of the officers and a thrust of her short sword that impaled another.

  Across the battlefield the other leaders of the gathered forces fought their way through the dwindling mass of bodies. Sword, axe, hammer, staff, and arrow all claimed lives as the sun rose over the horizon, lighting the macabre scene.

  Kaidia registered the dawn for a fraction of a moment as she continued to fight against the officers that had interrupted her search for the twin commanders, Sesaria and Alyssia. Echo fought at Kai's side, lashing out with sword and magic, keeping her back to Kaidia's as much as was possible. These officers had certainly earned their ranks. While Kai and Echo were definitely taking the upper hand, it had been slow going the whole fight, like an uphill walk through knee deep mud. More than once, the sharp blade of an axe or sword slashed the air only an inch or two from Kai's face or even glanced off of her armor. The officers that remained alive were wounded and bleeding but Kaidia admired their will to keep fighting. More of their number lay dead on the ground in pools of blood than those that remained standing, however and those still on their feet could see the writing on the wall.

  At a pause in the fight, Echo's keen ears picked up on a distinct lack of combat in the background. The battle was still going on but the amount of soldiers in the fray had greatly decreased. The battle would soon be over. She wasn't sure who would be the victor; her attention had been on her own fight for too long to be able to predict or even speculate at a winner.

  Abruptly, the officers retreated. Echo and Kai exchanged cautious glances, and looked around for some reason as to why they were suddenly left on their own. The battlefield looked like something straight out of a nightmare. Corpses lay everywhere. Elven, kyrian, human, dwarven, orcish... all races were represented by the dead. Many corpses were burned and charred beyond recognition, others mutilated and hacked apart, some were bristling with arrows, and yet more lay dead with grievous wounds inflicted by sword and axe.

  The air was heavy and thick with smoke that smothered much of the sun's brilliance. It burned Kai's throat and lungs as she breathed it. The scent of scorched corpses and blood filled her nostrils. It was a smell she had grown to both love and loathe. The smoky haze that covered the field stung her eyes and obscured her vision, as well.

  “Kai,” Echo said softly, but urgently. Kai looked to Echo, whose eyes were locked on something in the murk of smoke. Kai tried to follow Echo's line of sight. She could see the outline of a house a hundred or so paces away. A breeze picked up, carrying the smoke away for the moment, revealing the twins Kaidia sought.

  Sesaria and Alyssia stood atop the small farmhouse Kaidia had been able to barely glimpse through the gloom. Both elves had bows held aloft, arrows drawn, one aimed at Echo, and the other at Kaidia. Despite being the lesser threat, Echo was someone to ignore at one's own peril. For several long moments, the four women stood silent and motionless, eyes locked, waiting for that first twitch. Echo's keen eyes spotted one of the twins, the one with the braid, pulling her arrow back just a bit more, as if preparing to turn it loose. In the span of half a moment, Echo had formed and launc
hed a fireball of considerable size at the woman's torso. In reaction to Echo's sudden attack, Kaidia hauled off with the sword she'd picked up earlier, throwing it at the other twin, a whirling fan of imminent pain and probable death.

  Both elves' eyes went wide and they dove from the roof of the house, releasing their arrows in the process. Sesaria's arrow went wide, missed Echo by a considerable distance, and disappeared into the fog of smoke surrounding them, likely striking some poor bastard who never saw it coming.

  Alyssia's arrow flew off its mark... but not far enough. Originally aimed at Kaidia's chest, the arrow found its way into the lower left side of Kaidia's stomach, piercing deep. Thanks to the fight with the officers before, some of Kai's armor had been damaged and a few pieces were missing. That arrow had found a place where armor no longer guarded the body underneath. It took Kaidia a moment to realize that she had been struck. She glanced down as she first noticed the sharp pain and immediately grabbed at the shaft to pull the arrow free. She growled as the head of the arrow pulled from the wound. Blood spilled down over and under her armor, down her leg, and toward the ground. She snapped the arrow in two with one hand, then threw the pieces to the ground. Her eyes darted upward, seeking out the twins once more.

  Both Alyssia and Sesaria were standing again, watching Kaidia with matching grins. It was then that Kaidia saw the world tilt and felt it lurch under her feet. Echo glanced between Kaidia and the two elves.

  “Kai?” she asked softly.

  “I'm... I'm alright,” Kaidia answered unsteadily, blinking her eyes, trying to clear her vision. She shook her head next, feeling groggy all of the sudden.

  “She must be something special. The poison on that arrowhead would've killed a normal person in a few seconds,” Sesaria spoke with a smug candor as she started forward, drawing her blade.

  Echo stepped between Kaidia, who was growing more unsteady on her feet by the moment, and the advancing elf.

  “Back off,” she growled, ears laid back against her hair.

  “Echo-Seras, the Tiger of Malkasha. You're dangerous, I hear. You might even be able to take me down in single combat. But you're at a disadvantage. There's one of you and two of us,” Sesaria spoke calmly, sword in hand. Alyssa stepping up beside her. “And you have to stay between us and your precious Kaidia. I had no idea you were consorting with a god.”

  Echo's cheeks flared a bright red, but she stayed silent, blue eyes flitting between the two elven siblings. Her body was tense, coiled... ready to attack both women to defend Kaidia. Just as the sisters were preparing to attack, a thunderous roar split the air, and Kaidia's dragon emerged, flying, from the smoke. Each beat of its massive wings thinned the cover of the smoke, causing the remaining combatants on the field to stop and stare. The dragon landed in front of Echo and Kaidia, forcing Sesaria and Alyssia to backpedal rapidly. Silver eyes peered at the two elves with an intelligence far beyond that of some simple beast.

  It took in a deep breath and both elves took off at a run, retreating. The gargantuan breath of fire that followed them very nearly swallowed them alive. They managed to escape the actual flame, but the heat of it stole their breath. Both of them collapsed, gasping for oxygen as the air around them cooled. The dragon stalked toward them, slowly, a predator sizing up its prey.

  The elves tried to scramble up, to run again, but even in peak condition, they wouldn't have a hope of escape. Just as the dragon was closing in for the kill, Echo stepped in front of it. The monstrous creature pulled up short, snarled at the kyrian woman. It knew this woman was important to Kaidia, harming her wasn't even a consideration. That didn't stop it from being annoyed with the woman interrupting it's cruel game with the two elves.

  “Forget them. We can hunt them down later. We need to help Kaidia.” Echo insisted with a strained calm in her voice. The dragon regarded Echo for a long moment, then turned back to look at Kaidia. The warrior was down in the mud on one knee, her sword plunged into the ground for support. Blood coated her stomach and leg, ran in rivulets from her mouth, and down her neck. She was ghostly pale, her stormy eyes unfocused as they looked up to the dragon, even as they radiated a brilliant blue glare of power.

  Echo sheathed her sword and ran to Kaidia's side. Her nose sniffed at Kai's blood, the scent overpowering in the air for Echo's powerful sense of smell.

  “I smell Hell's Bane,” Echo stated, alarmed, heart hammering in her chest.

  “That explains... why... I feel like... eight kinds... of shit,” Kaidia managed between ragged breaths, chest heaving. Drawing breath had quickly become difficult.

  “You should have been dead in seconds,” Echo explained needlessly, a bit of a wonder replacing the alarm in her tone. Hell's Bane was one of the most powerful poisons known to all the races on Valen. It could kill pretty much any living being in moments. Kaidia appeared to be the exception, but she was obviously not immune. The dragon held its large, clawed hand down beside the two women, palm up.

  Kaidia, through great physical effort, pushed herself up, pulled her sword free from the ground, wiped it on her leg, then sheathed it before all but falling into the dragon's hand. Echo followed the wounded god into the dragon's grasp and the creature held them up to its neck, allowing them to climb on. Echo helped Kaidia onto the dragon's back. Once she was securely in place and had Kaidia held against her, she nodded to the dragon, who had twisted its head around to look upon them. With that nod, the dragon kicked off of the ground and into the morning sky, leaving the smoke below, and allowing the dazzling light of the sun to bathe them all in its warmth. The breathtaking beauty of the sunrise clashed horridly with the blood-soaked Kaidia who now lay limp against Echo's chest. The kyrian whined softly in her throat as the dragon carried them to Silver Lake.

  Chapter XV: Elf Hunting

  Rykar stood at the window in his room at the Golden Arrow and stared out at the setting sun, his mind too preoccupied with the reports on the desk behind him to enjoy its beauty. They were reports from the battle; numbers of the dead, the wounded, prisoners taken, and damages caused. Lord Wythnold had figured that Rykar, being King, would want copies of the reports. He was correct and utterly incorrect all at once. Seeing the number of dead, even just for their side, was staggering.

  A pair of arms wrapped around Rykar's waist, pulling the man from his dark thoughts. He glanced back over his shoulder, spying silver eyes and blue hair. He smiled.

  “Sage, my dear. I didn't hear you come in. Get bored banging metal?” he inquired.

  “I have to take a break now and then. I wanted to see how you were doing,” Sage replied.

  “Eh, I've been better,” Rykar admitted.

  “Those reports can't help. And I watched the battle from the city wall. It wasn't pretty,” Sage said, arms squeezing Rykar a bit tighter.

  “Worried about me, were you?” Rykar asked, a hand raising to rest on her hands, which were clasped at his waist.

  “No. Every time I saw a massive lightning bolt light up all the smoke, I knew you were okay,” she replied, resting her cheek to his shoulder.

  “What did it look like from the wall?”

  “Strange. Beautiful. Horrendous. The smoke was so thick it was hard to see anything. The fire lit it all up, but that just distorted things more. And every time a lightning bolt or fire ball or any other form of magic went off, it changed how everything looked. Meanwhile, you could hear all the shouts and screams. It was like staring into some hellish landscape from a story,” Sage elaborated.

  “It looked a mess inside all that, as well,” Rykar said.

  “I don't doubt it.”

  “However, Kai's dragon put on a show.”

  “Yes. That's the first time I've ever seen a mile long funeral pyre.”

  “You and I both.”

  “Has she woken up yet?” Sage asked, a note of concern in her voice.

  “No, but we're hopeful. After all, that arrow had Hell's Bane on it. She should have been dead before she hit the ground, yet she's still b
reathing,” Rykar answered.

  “I knew she was tough, but I've never heard of anyone surviving Hell's Bane.”

  “That's because no one has.”

  One of the doors to Rykar's room slammed open rather abruptly, causing both Rykar and Sage to turn about, pulling away from one another, hands going to their swords. In the doorway stood a dwarf, Thorgrimm Holkenhammer, to be precise.

  “Thorgrimm? What the hell are doing here?” Rykar asked, his hand falling from the hilt of his sword.

  “A fine way to greet an old friend, jackass,” Thorgrimm huffed.

  “I'm just surprised, is all,” Rykar replied.

  “Yes, well, I suppose I can forgive you,” the dwarf said rather gruffly.

  “You are a most gracious midget.”

  “Don't test me, boy. I'll shove yer crown up yer ass sideways,” Thorgrimm said as he shook a fist at Rykar. Sage looked fairly alarmed as the two glared at each other. A few tense moments later, both Thorgrimm and Rykar couldn't hold back their grins any longer. They each strode forward and clasped hands.

  “Good to see you... and I don't have a crown, by the way,” Rykar said.

  “Ah, good to see ya too, lad. And there's a crown in Corrana. Or, you know, what's left of it,” Thorgrimm replied.

  “It was probably stolen, but that's a problem for another day,” Rykar said.

  “Yes, I saw the mess out front. Sorry I missed the battle,” the dwarf stated.

  “It was... well... it was something. Biggest battle I've ever been in. Ugliest too. And if you think there's a mess out there now, you should have seen it right after the battle,” the king explained.

  “I can imagine, but you obviously came out on top... as best as ya could, anyway,” Thorgrimm reasoned.

  “We did. Paid a hell of a price though,” Rykar said with a sigh.