“I must ride then.”
“Go with the hopes of your people and know you are the pride of your tribe.”
Sage smiled and embraced the Nymph who chuckled in surprise. “Fight well,” she said before climbing back onto her griffin. In a matter of seconds, she was airborn again, circling to the north and east and fighting back tears at Taragon’s words. We cannot fail.
For the Centaurs, she did not even bother to land. The sky was growing pink in the east and she knew her time was short. She found them there, hidden in a bowl at the top of a bluff on the edge of the Canyon Lands. Disguised from sight, the Horse-Men did not disappoint. She drew her kusarigama and held the blade over her head, watching the ripple of excitement run through the herd of bucks as they began to climb towards the ridge. The Centaurs are with us. She tried to spot the famous Wotan among them, but she did not see the black berserker among the Horse-Men.
She circled them once, low and out of sight of the Human camp, before continuing to the North. Out on the plains, coming down from the wall, they were impossible to miss. Buffalo riders. Ryogen’s men had made the journey south and had arrived just as they said they would. She flew down to meet them, watching in amazement as the lead buffalo broke trail for the others through the snow-covered plains. When she approached the lead rider he raised an arm in greeting.
“Nicolo,” said the Man. He was old, and trail worn, and though Sage had never met him, she knew this was not the striking figure of Ryogen that she had expected.
“Sage,” she said, watching Nicolo’s buffalo paw the earth in challenge to Katana. The griffin cocked her head in curiosity, wondering if she should try to eat this one. Sage patted the beast’s shoulder to calm her but resisted pulling any meat from her satchel. Though the meat normally kept the Griffin from attacking allies, she wanted her steed in an aggressive mood for the coming battle.
“Does Ryogen ride with you?” she asked the Man.
“Killed at Therucilin.”
The Nymph could see from the look on the old warrior’s face that the loss of his chief still weighted heavily on the Northmen. She was quiet for a moment, then it struck her. Caldera. Ryogen’s daughter, Oberon’s mate, didn’t know.
“Caldera rides into battle with the Plainswatchers.”
Nicolo nodded in understanding. “We will avenge him this day. The Men of the North are with you.”
Sage nodded her thanks.
“The Riders will strike at dawn. You must not enter the battle until the Southlanders are drawn out away from their camp. I will signal you.”
Nicolo nodded. Sage took to the air, the easy portion of her mission completed. She banked Katana up, circling higher and higher, until she could see the jagged tips of the western mountains glowing pink in the sky. There, silhouetted against the snowy peaks, she saw them moving. Riders. Her heart leapt to know that she would see Ignatius once again. For a moment she remembered the cocky, over eager warrior that had come searching for the impossible, who had traveled to unknown lands and made the impossible possible. Ignatius.
Katana raced skyward, pulling with baited wings towards her own mate. The plains, mountains, forests, and canyons seemed to shrink into insignificance as the pride was reunited in the sky. Forgetting the armies and allies for a moment, Sage allowed herself to take part in the griffin’s joy. Katana locked talons with Kaizen while Rondo and Onidas circled on Paladin and Neap. Sage caught a glimpse of Ignatius and could see that he and Rondo were enjoying the whipping, high flying reunion more than she or Onidas. They cannot fall. Still, the sight of him smiling back at her gave her confidence. If he is with us, we cannot fall.
With the first rays of sun breaking into the clear, cold morning, they broke off the griffin’s playful reunion and took up a formation flying in an arc over Fort Hope and out over the Southland camp. Far below, Sage could see Albedo’s forces scaling the mountain that was the southern flank of the fort. They were gaining altitude, preparing to fly out and into the coming fray. She could also see the camp of Men had been alerted. They ran too and fro, trying to arm themselves for whatever the Riders had in store.
Ignatius led the dive and she watched his feathers while he tucked them, guiding Kaizen not towards the camp itself, but towards the herd of horses that had been corralled in the flat expanse to the south. Here, on the edge of the main encampment, the animals could graze away from the fighting at Fort Hope. The flat expanse of prairie made it possible for the large number of guards to see any attack coming from the forest to the west or the bluffs to the east long before they posed a threat. There were thousands of horses in the herd. Some were pack animals, making it easier to move Men and supplies. Some were for the cavalry, serving as scouts or protecting the exposed flanks of the phalanxes. All of them were irreplaceable to the South and invaluable to the North. Now, Sage felt Katana locking onto the prize.
The horses were not used to predators from the sky but as soon as one of them spotted the incoming Griffins the entire herd quickly began to panic. Sage squinted through the rustling wind and nudged her steed, gently directing her towards one of the few horses that was being ridden by a guard. The Nymph locked her eyes onto the Man. All around him, the horses were stampeding. They rushed past him like a spring river, frothing with fear. But he is calm. Their dive took them behind the shadow of the bluffs to the east but she could still see his face, resolute and placid. Within a second, the pride of griffins was close enough that she could see the fear in his eyes as the monstrous size of the griffins became obvious to the guard. Sage was amazed to see him lower his spear, urging his war horse forward to meet his death with courage.
Seeing the spear, the Rider immediately though of the elk, buffalo, and deer that Katana had hunted throughout her life. She had managed to avoid their antlers as she had taken so many of them during her hunts. Could she avoid the spear? Sage felt panic growing at the thought of losing one her precious friend. She thought for a second about trying to shoot the Man with her blowgun but realized she would need to trust to her steed. At the last moment, she saw the spear fall as Onidas’ arrow struck the guard in the shoulder. She thought for an instant of the courage the Dwarf must have had to make the shot during a dive, then she felt her braid flying forward and the strain in her legs as Katana’s talons pierced the horse and rider, tossing them to the earth.
The ground shuddered as four griffins smashed down together, each taking a guard, while the herd broke their picket lines and thundered away to the southeast. Sage could see them pounding out across the snow while those that had been hobbled broke themselves in their desperation to escape the catbirds. She allowed herself to be thrown from the saddle, pushing off so she flew up and over Katana’s head where the Griffin stood upon her kill. As she flew, she drew her kusarigama and landed on the guard, striking up to bury the head of the blade into his chin. Looking to her left, she could see Rondo dispatching another guard, blood spraying as he raged with his tomahawks. She could hear both Rondo and Ignatius making their warrior’s cry, and for a moment she thought to join them, feeling the savage joy of a warrior deep in her chest. But, looking down for a moment at the blade where it extended from the bottom of her fist, she held back her celebration and thought to look for Onidas.
Looking right she saw him hard pressed by two guards while a third menaced Neap with his spear. Katana ignored her food, flying to aid her smaller, less aggressive kin. Sage was running beside her, the legendary speed of the Nymphs urging her on as she skipped across the snow, her boots not even breaking through the crust. Onidas was going down, swinging his bow to try to sweep one of the attackers from his feet. The other was raising his sword and Sage could see the archer trying to roll out of the way.
Her kusarigama was circling as she ran, whirling over her head. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Katana’s beak decapitating the Man, Neap watching and learning from the alpha female. Sage’s own chain was whirling out and she felt it wrap around another soldier’s sword with a satisf
ying clang. She pulled the sword, jerking the Man towards her and sending herself into the air. As she flew so did her dagger, taking the guard Onidas had tripped in the back of the neck so he arched back, reaching for the blade where it had buried itself in his spine. The swordsman looked at her in surprise and as he tried to jerk backwards, he exposed his belly where his leather armor was pulled up ever so slightly. It was all the gap she needed, and she sliced up and across, dragging the slightly curved blade through the Man’s guts.
His innards spilled from his body, draping and tangling her weapon just as her chain had entangled his sword. He reached down instinctually, dropping the sword and stumbling to his knee while he tried to hold his guts in. Sage looked at him in horror, close enough to smell his breakfast, to see the panic in his features, to watch him as the reality of a death in a distant land at the hand of a strange and terrifying being took hold in his mind. Then, Onidas arrow was there to finish him and his skull rocked back with the impact, settling silently into the snow. The Dwarf was there instantly, retrieving his arrow and handing her the dagger. There were thanks in his black eyes, and she nodded, wondering that it was so easy for him to witness these things. Perhaps I will be like them someday. She thought for a moment about her discussion with Andrika and realized that maybe she would want her daughters to walk the war path. Neap and Katana were there, their sense of pride stronger than their desire to feast on the horses, and she took comfort from their presence.
The great griffin nuzzled her for a moment, her beak cold but her eyes understanding. She climbed back into the saddle and watched the horses retreating to the west while Paladin and Kaizen glided over to join them. The animals thundered away and then, suddenly, the stampeding herd was breaking east, away from the forest and out towards the open plains. The Plainswatchers. She could see them there, in a long thin line, where Andrika had led them into position to turn the herd out into the empty expanses where they could run until the Southlanders would never recover them.
“Well done,” said Ignatius. He was covered in blood, as was Kaizen.
“We almost lost Onidas,” said Sage with a smile that hid the boiling mix of fear, disgust, and victory that roiled inside her.
“What would we do without you?” said Rondo with a laugh.
Onidas was silent. He knew how close a thing it had been. Sage could see the longing in Ignatius eyes but knew that he was trying to play the part of chief Rider, not her lover. She didn’t care, and sprung to stand in the saddle before leaping over onto Kaizen. The male griffin reared in surprise before Katana nipped at him, her playful mood matching that of her Rider. Sage found herself face to face with the Cherub, his lightning hands wrapping around her instinctually. There he is.
“Where have you been?” she asked in mock anger.
“War,” he said with mock seriousness.
“How are the spoils of war?” She ran her hands up through his feathered curls, pulling him in closer.
He didn’t answer, but instead kissed her. She could taste the metallic tang of blood there on his lips but his breath was still pine and she knew. Warrior without, mate within.
“If you lie to me again about a raid, I’ll kill you in your sleep.”
Ignatius looked flabbergasted and relieved at the same time and she knew he felt guilty for not trusting her. As he should. Then she was springing back to her own saddle with a laugh and looking to where Rondo rolled his eyes.
“Is this a war party or a drinking hall after a winter feast?” asked the Cherub
Onidas broke the mood with a single word. “Rhinos.”
In a flash Ignatius met Sage’s eyes with his own, his apology clear to her, and they turned their steeds towards the escaping herd. Rondo and Onidas kicked off, circling up and over them, drawing their bows to provide cover. She caught Ignatius eye and he nodded. Sage knew that it would have been possible for a single Rider to play the bait, but she was thankful that neither she nor Ignatius would allow the other to play the part alone. He is with me to the end.
She urged Katana to chase after the herd but forced her to run, not fly. It was not an easy thing to keep her on the ground when the griffin’s instincts told her to take to the air. Looking over her shoulder, Sage could see the Rhinos closing in. Too valuable and solitary to be kept with the main herd, the prized war steeds of the South were kept closer to camp under a much heavier guard. Now, with two Riders still on the ground, dozens of the beasts were charging in for the kill.
Kaizen and Katana played their reluctant part. They trusted in their dominant Riders as they sprinted towards where the Plainswatchers were catching and mounting horses bareback, continuing to drive the stampede eastward. Craning her neck, she could make out thousands of Men running in full battle gear to head off the herd before they crossed a small pass through the bluffs and escaped out onto the open plains. She looked to Ignatius, unable to ignore the fierceness of his black war paint or the stories told by the feathers that adorned his hair. He is a warrior. Even in the heat of battle, she couldn’t ignore that there was something sexual about the katanas on his back or the ripples in his bare arms. Even the scars that marred his handsome face told the story of one who would sacrifice for his tribe. For his family.
He looked at her and she could see the blood born rage mingling with his own lust. I am as much a sight as he. She thought of her blade clutched in her hand, her steed bounding away, and the blatant sexuality of a Nymph warrior. She leaned back her head and let loose her war cry.
“AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIYYYYYYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII”
Ignatius shouted in surprise, kicking with his legs to drive Kaizen on. The griffins put their wings into their run and soon they were skimming, closing in on the herd while the rhino riders closed in on them from behind. Sage stole a glance over her shoulder and saw her fellow Riders harrying their pursuers from above, selling the story of injured griffins to the Men. Then, when it became obvious they would not reach the herd and the protection of the Plainswatchers there, the duo veered north in what appeared to be desperation. The Men took the bait, following them up and away from the stampeed even as the foot soldiers began to come into bow range of the herd.
The Nymph could see the foot soldiers forming up into loose phalanxes to attack the exposed Plainswatchers where the female warriors continued to drive the horses away from the Southland camp. Then, when she sensed they could no longer outrun the rhinos, she finally released her steed off the edge of a small rise. Two rhinoceroses were close enough to try to spear her with their horns but then, with a lance just slicing towards her back, she felt Katana surge into the air and out of range. Driven by adrenaline, the Griffin carried her up and around. The Rider could see her mate had made it as well and, when she looked to the North, she saw Nicolo’s outriders silhouetted against the sky and streaked with gold from the rising sun. To the South, she could see bears charging in to close the trap on the Rhinos, their Dwarven riders pushing the few grizzlies that had been captured at Therucilin towards their target.
Sage watched the unfolding battle in awe. Katana circled, higher and higher with Kaizen, until they met Paladin and Neap. Below them, they could see a line of Northmen mounted on Buffalo, perhaps fifty, charging down from a ridge to the east. To the southeast, a dozen armored bears and as many Giants, were charging up hill. Between these two forces, an equal number of Southlanders rode their rhinoceroses, turning them away from where the griffins had escaped and back to the southeast where their phalanxes were pursuing the Plainswatchers and the escaping herd. Even though she had never been in a battle, from her vantage point, soaring above the field, Sage could see what needed to happen clearly. If this cavalry can be stopped here, the phalanx will be exposed. Feeling the warmth of the full sun for the first time that day, she marveled at the difference in perspective the Griffin gave her.
Below, the combatants surely didn’t know how the battle hinged on their actions, how a single sword strike could change the fate of an entire race. For them, as i
t had been for her when she made her first kill, there was only survival. Seconds, inches, breaths mattered, not battles or flanking maneuvers. Only the moment. But here, with the unseasonably warm southern wind pushing her braid back, she could see how all of the forces were linked, how the northlanders charging the rhinos needed to succeed so that they would have a chance of defeating this phalanx before the rest of the Southerners caught up, and how that would allow them to steal the herd. And then what? Perhaps, she reasoned, there was a vantage that Taragon and Oberon could see that was higher than what a Rider could see. There had better be.
She could see the rhino riders faltering. Some of them wanted to stick with the phalanx, others had begun to turn to charge the Giants and bears where the terrain was more in their favor, while still others looked anxiously skyward towards the circling Riders. For a second Sage watched the horrific glory of the moment as her hands went to her saddle bags to withdraw her bow. The buffalo and their riders seemed to rock rhythmically as they ran, lances lowering to match the twin horns, all three spearpoints equally deadly. The Giants, perhaps five of them fully armored knights, covered massive amounts of ground with their enormous strides. The knights drew enormous broadswords while their kin, armored in pilfered pieces of metal and mismatched leather, carried axes and clubs. Despite their armor plating, the grizzlies loped up the hill, easily matching the Giants. On their backs, armored Dwarves carried bows, waiting for the Men to come into range.
Sage admired the courage of the northern warriors when she looked to the rhinos. The heads of the Men on their backs rode nearly as high as the Giants and the mass of their steeds was at least double that of the buffalo or the Giants and more than four times that of the bears. Many of the great grey beasts had their horns covered with razor sharp pikes, and their sides had mail armor to add even greater protection to their thick hides. The Men that rode them wore full armor, like miniature Giant knights, and carried an assortment of spears, bows, axes, and shields that they could use to fight from their already lethal steeds. Sage watched them, pulling an arrow from her quiver, and looked to her fellow Riders for reassurance. The nature of the combatants below and the stakes of the cavalry engagement made her long to turn Katana west, to lose herself in the mountains there where she could be away from all of this. Seeing Ignatius, his own gaze locked back on her, just knowing that he was there too, made her feel that their cause must be worth their lives. We must succeed or there will be no place for the next generation.
Last Stand of the Blood Land Page 42