“How did Malash kill it?”
“He became an elephant and stomped it into mush.”
Miri looked at him a confused look on her face, Joakim smiled and shrugged.
“It’s a long story.”
“OK, guess we’ll have to make do then.” Without warning Miri launched herself at the nearest A’yai, she had a long blade in one hand and short in the other and laid about the A’yai landing blows and cuts across its body. The A’yai blocked the blades with its bare hands, none of the blows leaving a mark, all the time it pushed Miri back. The other two carried on towards Joakim and the others.
Miri’s men charged splitting into groups to take on the A’yai. Joakim and two men headed to assist Miri and the hallway was filled with the sound of blades connecting with bodies that were not made of flesh and blood. The most unnerving thing for Joakim was the A’yai made no sound. They just methodically defended themselves against a dozen armed and experienced fighters like an adult fends off a child’s play fighting.
The A’yai did not so much turn to face Joakim and the men with him but continue on its path as if they didn’t matter to it. The man to Joakim’s left was closest and lashed out with a vicious cross cut that would have beheaded anyone unfortunate enough to be in the way. The A’yai never attempted to stop the blow but as the blade skidded off its neck upwards with a screech of metal on metal it turned and struck the man in the throat lifting him off his feet and sending him flying through the air dead before he hit the wall.
Joakim and the remaining man both stopped in their tracks. Joakim had seen first-hand what an A’yai was capable of, it had been years ago in the jungles of Maramir but a man doesn’t forget something like that. The A’yai were things of legend, relics of an ancient time when men were slaves and the Frail Men had ruled with the A’yai as their jailers. It had taken another relic from those times to kill the one Joakim had faced then, he didn’t have that luxury now.
There was little known about what the A’yai were, they were not human that was for sure but they were not indestructible. The one Malash had killed had bled something akin to blood, it had soft organs, at least Joakim had assumed they were organs, it was hard to tell the state Malash had left it in. But no matter what was on the inside the outside was harder than steel and could withstand anything man could put against it. How the histories would have been different if the Frail Men had used armies of A’yai instead of raising mere men up and creating the Highlords.
The A’yai seemed now to be focused and turned to advance on Joakim, he’d never considered himself a coward, he’d fought against greater odds all his life but the cold dead look the A’yai turned on him froze Joakim’s heart. The hesitation was only momentary, he was too much of a professional to be caught cold for too long and in barely a heartbeat he stepped in towards the A’yai and laid about him with several vicious blows. The A’yai never flinched and barely attempted to defend itself. But Joakim was no defeatist and as he spun around to the blind side of the A’yai he drew one of the daggers from his belt and punched hard into the midsection, the blade penetrated but stuck fast, the A’yai continued on as if nothing had happened, ordinarily a blow like that would have gutted a man. But the A’yai was no man. As Joakim moved it countered seeming to anticipate his every move, his every strike.
The other man joined the attack and both of them laid about the A’yai from opposite sides. The fight was one sided. Joakim and the other man were tiring and the A’yai just took everything they threw at him and showed no sign of injury or fatigue. The hallway was loud with sounds of similar desperate battles. The grunts and gasps of tiring men, the clang of metal on metal. Joakim shook his head trying to clear stinging sweat from his eyes.
#
Boskags fell back against the steps his head ringing, only years of self-preservation kept him moving forward and rolling away as Tenemi struck, the fist cracking the stone where Boskags head had been but a heartbeat before. The A’yai straightened fixing Boskags with its blood red eyes. It reached up grasping the hilt of the sword still embedded in its skull and pulled it free, it looked down at it then threw it at Boskags who rolled sideways avoiding it.
“Jakamo Boskags as ever you present me with problems.” The strange echo was still there but there was also something else that Boskags had not noticed before. The A’yai had always spoken with a flat lifeless tone, but now, underneath the echo there was something more, something almost human.
“The problems were there for me to see Tenemi, this has been a fool endeavour from the off.” Boskags got to his feet picking up the sword as he rose.
“Fool? Who is the fool Jakamo Boskags but the one that goes into the dark with his eyes shut?”
Boskags backed up, all around his men eyed the A’yai unsure what they were to do.
“Ever the riddles Tenemi, but the biggest riddle is why ask us in here if all along your intent was to kill us all.” The A’yai stood looking from man to man, none of them were able to hold his gaze. “I’ve heard the tales of the great wars when the Highlords fought the Frail Men, tales of how ordinary men were cut down in swathes none able to stand against even a single one. You didn’t need us so why use us?”
Tenemi did something that shocked Boskags more than everything else that had happened this night, the A’yai smiled.
“Fighting is such a grubby way to sort out a problem, the A’yai are above such things.”
“And yet here you are, getting grubby with the rest of us.”
Tenemi shrugged still smiling.
“There is an old saying, sometimes to get a job done properly you have to do it yourself.”
Tenemi launched across the floor towards Boskags who barely had time to get his sword up and step out of the way. The A’yai somehow twisted in the air, changed direction and landed closer to Boskags than should have been possible. Tenemi struck knocking Boskags off his feet to crash the half dozen steps up at the base of the Highlords chair. The rest of the men in the room had seen enough and to a man turned and ran. Tenemi watched them and turned back to Boskags as he struggled to pull himself upright using the chair for leverage.
“Seems the calibre of soldier has lessened somewhat since the great wars Jakamo Boskags.”
Boskags grabbed the arm of the chair and pulled himself up, he winced at the pain in his shoulder, the blow had broken something he was sure. He shook his head trying to clear the fuzz from his eyes and the ringing from his ears.
“The problem your people have Jakamo Boskags is they lack vision. The A’yai had hoped to change that and guide humans away from their self-destructive path but to no avail. The repeated conflicts were escalating and soon all would be lost. We saw the path that had to be taken all those centuries ago to ensure the success of our mission and chose to side with the Highlords to end the hostilities with the knowledge that this day would happen. Humans cannot comprehend the scope and complexity of the events put in motion in the ancient days but the A’yai saw and knew what must be done.”
The chair creaked under Boskags weight and the arm cracked, he cried out thinking he was about to fall backwards back down the steps to the feet of Tenemi.
“Again we have set events in motion, the culmination of twenty centuries of waiting and now we are ready to usher back…”
There was a screech that Boskags felt more than he heard. The arm of the chair shifted under his hand, at first he thought his weight had broken it but as it moved he saw it was hinged and the upper arm rest tilted up, if you had been sitting in the chair the direction was away from you. Something glinted under the armrest, there was a recess like a small box and inside was a strange object with a long silver barrel that ended in a black grip that looked to be made of leather. The grip was angled away from the silver tube, if it was a blade it was the strangest one Boskags had ever seen.
“No.”
It was only a simple word but just the sound of it from Tenemi told Boskags all he needed to know, whatever the object was it was
a weapon and the A’yai was worried about it. Instinct kicked in and Boskags grabbed it and spun round on Tenemi.
Fifteen
The sound of running feet alerted Joakim to more men entering the fight. He didn’t have time to wonder whose side they were on all his focus was on the A’yai in front of him. He was fighting alone and had been for some time, the man to his left now minus the side of his head having chanced his luck once too often and gotten too close. All around the floor was littered with bodies, Miri and her men fought valiantly but they were all outmatched, one A’yai was match enough but three. Joakim wasn’t sure why he fought on, his odds lessened with every heartbeat but still he tried every trick, every move he’d ever learned to try and inflict some damage on his opponent. He operating on pure instinct, every movement automatic but he knew that all he was doing was delay the inevitable.
But, running feet, that was something that could tip the balance no matter whose side they were on.
“Didn’t we just leave this party?” The voice had an eastern accent and risking a glance sideways Joakim thought he’d recognised the man from the tavern the day before. Logic said if he’d been there then he was one of the group that had taken over the tower.
“Don’t be shy fellas jump in.” There was a tremor of exhaustion in Joakim’s voice, there were about a dozen of them and they all had blades drawn and looked uncertainly at Joakim and the rest of Miri’s men. They looked about to turn tail when one of the A’yai turned its attention to them and then it was every man for himself.
The sudden influx of fresh bodies for the A’yai to dismember lessened the pressure on Joakim as his opponent shared his attention around. It gave him time to assess the situation and it was grimmer than he’d thought.
Of Miri’s dozen men there were only three still standing, not including Miri herself who seemed to be as fresh and strong as she’d been in the start. The A’yai were surrounded but they were not on the back foot. There had to be a solution to this but even with all his experience Joakim couldn’t see it. In his experience everything ended in blood and today was his red day.
Suddenly all three A’yai stopped, froze more like, each with a hand raised as if they were grabbing for something.
“No…” There was strange echo to the voices like there was more than three of them.
“What’s this new evil?” One of Miri’s men advanced towards the nearest A’yai.
“Wait.” Shouted Miri.
Too late.
#
“You seem concerned Tenemi?”
“Concern is a human affliction Jakamo Boskags, the A’yai are above such things.”
Boskags hefted the weapon and noticed the way the A’yai eyed it. For all its talk of being above humans Tenemi seemed concerned about what he held in his hand. Boskags raised it and pointed it at the A’yai.
“You seem concerned, in fact I’d say that cold front you always put out is cracking and your true self is showing through.” He looked down his arm along the silver tube at Tenemi. “This scares you.”
“Fear is a…”
“Yes, yes, it’s a human affliction. But humour me.”
As he tightened his grip his finger brushed against a protrusion that stuck out on the underside of the tube where is joined the part of the weapon that fitted into his hand. He cocked his head to the side looking at the nub under his finger, Tenemi took the distraction to move and dived towards him faster than should have been possible for anything to move. With a yelp Boskags stepped and fell backwards, he instinctively tightened his grip so as not to drop whatever the thing was and his finger pressing down on the protrusion, the world erupted in fire.
Boskags wasn’t sure if it was him or the thing in his hand that screamed louder. The flame shot out from the end of the tube narrowly missing Tenemi flying through the air towards him. The tip of the flame hit the wall and spread across it like water from a bucket. There as a rumble and cracks spread out from where the flame struck and then the wall exploded outwards. Boskags dropped the weapon and stepped away from it. The wall continued to crumble, the darkness outside total, the wind howled into the room.
“Ardens balls what is that thing.” Boskags looked at the weapon with some concern as if it might light up again and tear another hole in everything. Tenemi had landed behind him and he spun round suddenly remembering him. The A’yai stood staring at Boskags and then down at the weapon. The side of his robe was singed and smouldered where the flame had touched it, underneath the skin was blackened and bubbled strangely like a pot of stew on the fire.
They faced each other and for the first time Boskags noticed uncertainty on the face of the A’yai. Something had changed in the brief time since the death of the Highlord and Tenemi killing Kark. The A’yai had always been so assertive, so in command. All of their kind were alike, aloof, un-human, but now as every second passed Tenemi seemed to be more and more human.
“This doesn’t have to happen this way. There’s every likelihood we’re all trapped up here and the Frail Men knows how many men could charge in here any moment, now is not the tim…”
“Your concerns are of no relevance to me Jakamo Boskags.”
“No relevance?” Boskags snorted in disgust at the turn of events. “You were the one that put all this in motion, you were the one that approached me, had me hire men planned this whole thing and now it’s not relevant?”
The A’yai cocked his head to one side like a dog when it responded to its name.
“You humans are always obsessed with your little problems, your little rivalries. The A’yai are above that, we see the whole rather than the parts.”
Boskags took a step towards Tenemi, not that he wanted to he just need to position himself closer to the weapon. Whatever was happening here that appeared to be the only thing the A’yai was worried about so to Boskags that meant there was every possibility it was the only thing that could work against the A’yai.
“So this was all what, a sham?”
“A diversion.”
“Diversion?” Boskags took another step and stopped his eyes Tenemi. The A’yai looked unawares that he was now standing over the weapon. “A diversion for what.”
“For this.” Tenemi raised his hand towards the ceiling smiling again.
The room shuddered and above them the ceiling began to move sliding sideways. Dust and debris rained down, Tenemi stood tall now with both hands raised upwards the look on his face could only be described as bliss. Boskags wasted no time, for all he knew the ceiling could come down on him at any moment, he bent and grabbed the weapon turning for the door.
“No Jakamo Boskags I think not.”
Tenemi turned reaching out towards Boskags, something sparked from his fingertips like lightening on a summer’s night. Boskags yelped and threw himself sideways the lightening brushing his leg leaving a smoking line in his breeches. As he hit the floor he rolled ending up on his back facing Tenemi, he brought the weapon up and in a fluid motion pointed and pressed the protrusion.
The flame erupted from the end of the tube hitting Tenemi dead centre of his chest. The A’yai made no sound as the force of the impact lifted him off his feet and flying across the room to land with a sickening crunch and slide to a stop. Impossibly the A’yai sat up and quickly rose to his feet, the force of the blast would have killed a man. The only sign on Tenemi was the front of his robe burned away and the skin underneath scorched and bubbling like the leg had earlier. Boskags wasted no time and raised his aim and pressed the protrusion again, the flame cleared the distance between the two in the blink of an eye and enveloped Tenemi’s head.
The impact sent the A’yai flying again but this time straight out through the hole that Boskags had blown in the wall earlier. Tenemi disappeared into the darkness without a sound.
#
The soldier couldn’t have had time to register Miri’s call before the A’yai moved. The soldier let out a cry falling back his hands up to his face as if to ward of a blow. The A’
yai however flew backward and landed with a crunch against the wall, the other two suffered similar fates. Then as one all three got to their feet and began to advance on Joakim and those that still remained standing before once again flying backwards but this time disappearing into thin air before they struck the wall. Joakim looking at the spot the A’yai had last been with disbelief, then everything began to shake.
“Is there no end to this night?”
#
Boskags stared at the hole, he still had the weapon raised pointed out into the darkness expecting Tenemi to appear unharmed and ready to kill. He counted a dozen or more heartbeats but nothing, the A’yai was truly gone by now nothing but a smear on the plaza below. Slowly he lowered the weapon letting out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding, then a grinding noise reminded him that the ceiling above was still moving.
Looking up the ceiling was nearly gone and the sky exposed, but there was something wrong with what he saw. Boskags had travelled far and wide and knew this far north the stars he was looking at were not the ones he’d expect to see. In fact the stars were in no pattern he’d seen anywhere. On top of the strange configuration the colours were wrong, the stars were not crisp and bright but diluted. With a final thud the ceiling stopped moving.
Coupling acquired
Egress point locked preparing transit pod
Transit pod on the dock transit from my mark….
Mark
Boskags looked around the room trying to see where the voices were coming from but he was alone, above him the sky opened.
“Shit.”
Boskags turned to run and was stopped dead in his tracks. The doorway out was blocked by an imposing figure in fine mail with plate armour cover his chest and legs, under one arm a helmet with cheek guards and the plume of some exotic bird. The figure as imposing as it was wasn’t what held Boskags attention but rather the face of the man, a face he knew, a face that couldn’t possibly be here. Highlord Mandrus Bendicala.
“But you’re…”
You Can't Avoid A Little Blood Page 10