by Claire Luana
Their brief reprieve was shattered as tengu bodies hit the other side of the door, scratching and snuffling and growling. Worse was the great laugh that echoed through the wood, setting Hiro’s teeth on edge. The explosion had only stunned Hiei.
Hiro caught Ryu’s eyes and silent understanding passed between them. They were still alive only because Hiei was content to toy with its prey for a few minutes. But soon it would tire of the game and would blow the doors off their hinges. And then it would be over.
Another crash against the doors made Hiro jump. He gripped his swords and stood, bracing himself for the horror that would come through those doors.
A blur outside the window caught his eye. He squinted, peering into the darkened sky. Another streak. A golden eagle!
Hiro laughed incredulously. “Reinforcements!” he shouted. “The sunburners are here! Emi did it!”
The doors shuddered and splinters of wood exploded towards him. One of the doors had been breached, and a black snout with snapping white teeth shoved through. The tengu scraped frantically at the opening with fangs and claws, diving and plunging to get through. The wood bent and splintered beneath its frantic assault.
Hiro darted forward and slashed it across the face.
The tengu yelped and pulled back from the hole with a spray of black blood. No new tengu moved forward to take its place.
Shouts of men sounded behind the doors, met with beastly snarls and hisses. The sunburners had landed.
“Daarco, I’m going out to see what kind of reinforcements Emi brought,” Hiro said. “And to see if there is a better healer among them.”
“Let me go,” Daarco said, striding to meet him at the doors. “I’m here to kill tengu. Let me do my job. You’re more valuable than me.”
Hiro considered this. Daarco was probably right, but Hiro didn’t know if he could sit in the safety of the armory while his friends fought and died.
“Hey!” Daarco exclaimed.
While they had been debating, Stela had lifted the beam blocking the doors and was slipping out through a narrow opening between them, bow in hand.
Ryu leaped between Hiro and Daarco after Stela, and Hiro darted after. “Stay here and block the door! I’ll send someone!” he shouted before slipping into the fray.
“Damn it, Hiro!” Daarco said before slamming the door closed.
The grand hall was a melee of burners and tengu. Twenty sunburners had answered Emi’s plea, including General Ipan and his seishen, Kuma. The general, clad in full battle armor, tossed a tengu through a window with a swing of his great axe. Stela was lost in the action, her silver hair flashing as arrows flew true, finding their targets. Four sunburners focused on Hiei, pummeling the tengu with blow after blow of fire and lightning. Hiei roared with anger, throwing fire back at its attackers.
The sunburners were driving the demon and his followers back towards the door one step at a time. Hiro caught a glimpse of Emi, her swords spinning in a whirling arc, taking a tengu down before her.
Hiro fought his way to General Ipan’s side, cutting down a tengu who darted into his path, its jaws bared.
“Quite a mess you’ve gotten yourself into, my boy,” General Ipan said as he sank the blade of his axe into the skull of a black-clad member of the Order who had darted at him with needle-thin swords.
“Thank you for coming,” Hiro said. “Do you have a healer? Taiyo is wounded.”
“That explains a lot,” General Ipan said. “Sadayo!” he called to a sunburner on the far side of the room. “To me!”
Hiro and General Ipan fell into a rhythm, swinging and parrying, ducking and cutting. They each felled two more opponents by the time the sunburner reached them.
“See what you can do for our wounded god,” Ipan said.
“Through those doors.” Hiro pointed. “Daarco is guarding them. Give him some warning before busting in.”
The burner nodded and sprinted past them.
“I think it’s time for a final push,” General Ipan said, surveying the remaining fighting at the end of the hall. Hiei was backed against the far wall.
But before the General could make the order, the great hall shook, as if a giant had taken a step.
Hiei began to laugh and ducked through the far doors, its remaining tengu and Order followers trailing behind.
The sunburners lowered their weapons, looking to the general for guidance.
“What are you waiting for?” he roared. “Finish them!”
The men cheered and headed for the door—Ryu, Kuma, Hiro and the general bringing up the rear. They piled out the door into the sandstone courtyard illuminated by the eerie light of the darkened sun. The sun was setting as it was, and the strange dusk cast harsh shadows across the land.
Hiro was barely out the door when the men in front of him came up short.
In front of them stood Hiei and the tengu masquerading as Tsuki. Yukina. This demon was taller than Hiei and wore dark robes flowing in an unnatural breeze. It shared the strange illusion that was set before Hiei’s face, but its face had a different cast, like looking through rain on a windowpane.
But it wasn’t the demon’s form in all its strangeness that drew Hiro’s eyes. Flanked on either side of the two tengu were four massive black beasts. They stood three times as tall as a man on sinewy legs and with long arms ending in curved talons. Their faces were sick corruptions of the visages of different beasts—a falcon, a wolf, a bull, a bear. Massive wings covered with sickly black skin protruded from their shoulders. They were truly demons from hell.
But then, Hiro saw something that filled his mouth with bile, a sight more horrible to him than these demons could ever be.
“Jurou?” Hiro whispered.
Strolling between the two demons came Jurou, his father’s historian. Jurou, who had taught him history when he was no taller than the man’s waist. Jurou, who’d brought books to the dinner table when everyone else had feasted and danced in the throne room. Jurou, who had been intimately involved in every aspect of his father’s kingdom and military campaigns for the last two decades. He didn’t look meek or bookish now. He looked triumphant, his head high, his eyes burning in the red light of the sickly sun. An unconscious woman was cradled in his arms. Not a woman. A goddess. Tsuki.
“Jurou, you traitor!” Ipan shouted. “What in Taiyo’s name do you think you’re doing?”
“Retreat,” Hiro hissed at the fighters before him. “Retreat now!” They began to slip behind Hiro and Ipan through the doors. If Ipan could keep talking long enough for them to retreat, they could barricade the doors and regroup.
“It looks like I picked the winning side this time, Ipan,” Jurou sneered.
“You’re a burner! You must know what they plan! Why would you agree to help destroy the source of your own power?” Ipan said, genuinely lost.
“I’ve never been more than a second-class citizen to you and Ozora!” Jurou shouted. “Not good enough for a seishen, not good enough to be a warrior. In the new order, I will be first! You will bow to me! If you live long enough.”
Most of the men were inside now. “Go,” Hiro whispered to Emi with a twitch of his head towards the door. She grimaced, clearly torn about abandoning him. But she relented, disappearing inside.
“Where’s Kai?” Hiro asked, his voice low.
“Never fear. I left her quite safe and sound. Although without food or water, she won’t be safe for long—”
“Enough,” Yukina bellowed, its voice reverberating through his body. “Give us Taiyo, little burners, and perhaps we will spare you. You are clearly outmatched.”
“I sent for backup from the citadel,” Ipan whispered to Hiro.
“So we need to stall,” Hiro breathed.
“Yes,” the General said.
“What about Tsuki?” Hiro asked.
“Triage,” Ipan murmured back. Hiro understood. Sometimes, a sunburner had to make impossible choices on the battlefield. To abandon a gravely-injured soldier to save one th
at could be kept alive. They had little hope of rescuing and saving Tsuki out here in the open with dozens of foes set against them. But Taiyo… Perhaps they could still save him.
“We will consider your proposal,” Hiro said loudly with a curt nod to Ipan. The two men and their seishen turned and darted through the great hall doors, slamming them closed against the monsters in the courtyard. They heaved a massive hewn beam down across the door, barricading it before retreating farther into the armory.
“We have minutes before they break through,” Hiro said to the others. “If we’re lucky.”
Daarco knelt by Taiyo and shook his head gravely. The light coming through the windows was dull and watery.
“Orders?” one of the men asked, eying the door nervously.
“They want to kill Taiyo,” Hiro said. “We can’t let them.”
“We have reinforcements coming,” General Ipan said. “We hold here and protect Taiyo. If we can’t, we do as much damage as possible on our way out of this world.”
The men straightened, their courage bolstered by his words.
Until the unthinkable happened. Taiyo took a shuddering breath and fell still. The remaining sunlight winked out, plunging the room into darkness.
Hiro’s heart sank. His breath came in shallow bursts in the darkness. They had lost.
The dark room devolved into chaos as the men shouted and moaned in fear, and the demons outside rejoiced with otherworldly howls and screams.
A white orb shot into the air, illuminating the room with moonlight. Emi stood by the body of their god, her face grim.
“Quiet,” General Ipan shouted, and the men fell into an uneasy silence. “New plan. We attack and try to rescue Tsuki before they can kill her,” he said. “Protect her as long as possible.”
“But, General,” one burner said, “Taiyo is dead. The sun is dark!”
“You have a sword, don’t you?” General Ipan barked.
“Yes, General,” the man said, his cheeks coloring under his golden hair.
“Have you forgotten how to use it?”
“No, General.”
“Then we fight.”
The flight felt like an absolute eternity. They had been flying over the Tottori Desert for several hours but hadn’t yet caught up to Tsuki. The sun still glowed mutely in the sky. The fact that it still shined told Kai that all hope wasn’t lost. She held on to that hope like a lifeline.
“Is that a city?” Chiya shouted from her koumori.
Kai shrugged, peering through the twilight.
“Yoshai,” Quitsu said. “It’s supposed to be a legend.”
“So were gods and demons,” Kai muttered.
As they neared the city, a white shape swooped past Kai in the twilight. She peered into the dim, trying to make it out.
“It’s Iska!” Quitsu said.
Nanase’s seishen? What was it doing all the way out here?
The bird banked hard to the right, apparently realizing Kai had spotted it.
“It says to follow!” Quitsu said.
“Chiya, Colum, follow me!” Kai shouted.
They landed with a terrifying thud, Kai and Quitsu sliding halfway over the koumori’s neck. They stumbled to the ground amongst two dozen other koumori.
“Nanase?” Kai said, squinting in the gloom.
Nanase strode to Kai. “We received word from General Ipan that they’re under attack. We thought they could use reinforcements come nightfall.”
Kai grabbed Nanase in a hug, the impulse overcoming her.
Nanase stood stiffly for a moment but finally patted Kai on the back.
“Thank you for coming for them,” Kai said.
“This is our world too,” Nanase said. “And they are our allies now. We fight together. Where’s Tsuki?”
Kai bit her lip. “Jurou took her. He’s in the Order.”
“Damn it,” Nanase cursed.
“How are things in Kyuden?” Kai asked.
“Barely holding together,” Nanase said grimly. “No doubt this strange darkness will lead to full spread rioting. Even if we are successful here, who knows what we will return to.”
Kai drew in a shaky breath. “One problem at a time. We need to get in there—now.”
As Kai said the words, the dim light of the sun winked out completely, plunging them into darkness. But it wasn’t the darkness of night, full of cheerful stars and the moon’s comforting presence. It was emptiness. A black void where something should be.
“Taiyo,” Kai whispered.
“We’re already too late,” Nanase said.
“Maybe not for Tsuki,” Kai said. “We go now.”
Nanase nodded. Kai darted back to her koumori and hopped on, scooping Quitsu up.
Their koumori climbed up over the wall of the desert city and to the palace that perched at its top. As they neared, a strange feeling overcame Kai. A memory. She had seen this city before. Been here.
They descended towards a courtyard filled with dark figures. Kai squinted, trying to count their numbers. Many. Too many.
Her koumori screeched and lurched sideways, almost sending Kai tumbling from her back. Quitsu was jerked from her fingertips. She managed to grab his tail before he tumbled into the night sky. He yowled with pain as she hauled him up in front of her.
“What was that?” she said shakily, her heart hammering in her chest.
Kai’s question was answered as a huge shape banked beside her, approaching Nanase’s koumori from behind. It was a massive black beast with wings like a koumori’s. A tengu far larger than she had ever seen.
“Look out!” Kai screamed at Nanase.
Nanase reined her koumori in, dropping sharply. The tengu shot past, inches from Nanase.
The ground was rapidly approaching and Kai yanked up on the reins. Her koumori pulled out of her dive just in time, but Kai and Quitsu were torn from her back by the force. They hit the stones of the palace courtyard hard, tumbling in a ball of limbs and fur.
With her head spinning, Kai pulled herself to her knees and then her feet. A line of snarling tengu greeted her. Behind them were Hiei and Yukina flanked by three impossibly-tall and fearsome-looking tengu. Jurou stood between Hiei and Yukina, Tsuki on the ground at his feet. Kai swallowed and drew her sword.
The other moonburners were landing now, jumping off their koumori and drawing weapons, facing off in a line against the tengu. The doors behind them burst open and the sunburners poured out, joining the moonburners’ ranks. Hiro and Emi stood on either side of Kai, Ryu at Hiro’s side. General Ipan carried Taiyo’s body in his arms and laid it gently on the stones behind them before pulling his great golden axe from the strap on his back.
Kai’s heart felt as if it would burst in her chest at the gravity of the moment, as her despair over Taiyo’s broken body mingled with her profound gratitude for her friends. They could still save Tsuki. They had to.
“Give Tsuki to us,” Kai called to the tengu.
“No,” Yukina said petulantly, and nodded to Jurou.
Jurou drew a thin dagger from his belt and raised it for the killing blow. But before his blade found its mark, true night fell, and a thin sliver of moon appeared on the horizon.
Tsuki’s eyes flew open, filled with shining quicksilver energy. The moonlight pooled and pulsed around her, filling her, pouring from her in blinding rays.
Jurou stumbled back, shielding his eyes from the brilliance.
When the light dimmed, Tsuki stood tall before the tengu in a billowing white gown and bare feet. Her hair was not the silver of most moonburners, but an icy blue, the blue of pale dawn on a clear winter morning. Tsuki surveyed the scene with slate gray eyes topped with thick white lashes, a look of fury on her flawless face.
“You!” Tsuki pointed at Yukina. “What have you done to this world? To my husband?” A bolt of white lightning snaked down from the clear sky, striking the stones as Yukina leaped clear.
And then the battle began in earnest.
The dem
on horde met the burners in a clash of animal fury against steel and moonlight. Hiei and Yukina launched themselves at Tsuki, who flitted away in darting movements, sending fire and lightning at them with punishing ferocity.
Kai found herself fighting for her life with as fearsome tengu and lightning-quick Order members flew at her in wave after wave.
She lost sight of Hiro and Quitsu and anyone else as her universe narrowed to the fight before her, the next blow, the next foe.
“We have to get the big ones down.” Chiya appeared through the crowd as she sliced the head off a bird-like tengu in one swift movement.
“Ideas?” Kai asked, her arm swinging, her chest heaving.
“I…think so,” Chiya said. “Follow my lead?”
Kai nodded, skewering a tengu that came at her with gnashing black fangs.
“Come on,” Chiya said. She darted into the fight, heading towards the huge black tengu with the head like a wolf. It was tossing moonburners aside like leaves in the wind with smacks of its massive tail and fearsome claws.
Chiya ran under its legs, jerking back at the last minute, narrowly missing being crushed by its huge foot. Kai harried the tengu from the front, slicing at its belly as Chiya circled around behind it.
Chiya slashed out with a vicious blade of light, severing the tendons in both of the demon’s hind legs. It reared back and roared with pain, toppling forward first onto its knees, and then to the ground.
Its flailing tail caught Chiya in the chest and threw her across the courtyard, where she rolled to a stop with a crunch against the hard stone wall.
“Chiya!” Kai screamed, launching herself towards her fallen sister. The injured demon scrambled around, roaring its fury at Kai, blocking her path.
Kai felt for the creator’s power, the raging river that waited for her. As if the light itself was eager to take part in the fray, it poured itself into her qi as soon as she opened her mind to it. Burning the light in a swift movement, she slit the creature’s throat with a blow powerful enough to sink through to its spine.
“Chiya,” she screamed again, half-running, half-crawling around the tengu as it thrashed in the throes of death.
Chiya hadn’t gotten to her feet. When Kai reached her side, having to fight her way through two tengu on the way, Chiya’s face was pale and there was blood on her lips. Broken ribs, Kai thought. Perhaps a punctured lung.