by Dan Decker
“Karn, can I trust you to get her out of here when the time comes?” Adar asked, nodding his head to Soret.
“Sure.” Karn looked disappointed with the assignment, no doubt he'd been gearing up to fight. Adar almost reconsidered, Karn was big enough he could probably wrestle a Hunwei to the ground by himself, but getting Soret out was important. Adar didn't want Jorad suffering through the pain of her death while trying to pass the trials in Rarbon as well.
Assuming they even made it that far.
Adar called as many of the people around him as he could and explained if they all ran at once, most of them could escape. His words were met with disbelief and doubt. Tere, Tarner, and Karn all supported him and eventually they'd managed to convince a sizable group to run.
“When we going to do this?” Tarner asked.
Adar examined several of the nearby Hunwei. One was close enough that Adar could take him in the eye with his dagger because his faceplate was up. He pulled it out and threw; it hit the eye and bounced off, falling harmlessly to the ground. The Hunwei turned towards Adar and brought up his blaster. Melyah take me, he thought, wondering if he’d imagined the whole thing. The dagger had hit the eye with enough force to kill a man.
“Down!” Adar knocked Soret to the ground first and landed on top of her. The blast from the Hunwei went into the crowd. The other Hunwei nearby started firing as well. Adar scrambled off Soret and charged the closest Hunwei, diving into his legs. Pain shot into Adar’s arms and chest like he’d decided to charge a statue but luckily the Hunwei wobbled. Digging in with his knees, Adar pushed the Hunwei just enough that he lost his balance. As the Hunwei fell, Adar grabbed for his blaster. The Hunwei yanked it out of reach and slammed the butt of it onto Adar’s head who howled even as he latched onto it again.
Tere and Tarner were there the next moment and helped pin the Hunwei down. As Karn ran by, leading Soret and a small group of people, Adar noticed that one of the Hunwei was firing at the escaping group. He hoped that they were fast enough to escape as he turned his full attention to the Hunwei that was struggling with Tere and Tarner. Adar unsheathed his sword as the Hunwei kicked him in the stomach. He gasped for air but remained standing and thrust his sword into the gap between the helmet and armor. To his surprise, the attack was stopped, as if he’d hit a brick wall. Cursing, he tried again in several more such openings and found that he wasn't able to get through. Melyah, they'd have to run. They couldn't kill these things.
“Run!” Adar called out to the crowd. “Now’s our chance.” The panicked exodus that he had hoped to start had failed to happen. Another Hunwei approached them, blaster half down as if he was afraid he’d hurt his companion.
As Tere and Tarner continued to fight the struggling Hunwei, Adar tried again for the blaster, but the Hunwei wasn’t letting it go.
Once the other Hunwei was close enough, Adar lunged for his legs, but the Hunwei was prepared and Adar felt like he’d assaulted a thick petrified oak tree. The Hunwei kicked Adar out of the way and ripped Tere off his fallen companion.
Adar got to his feet and knocked the Hunwei’s arms up as it took aim at Tarner, the shot dusting the top of Tarner’s head. Tarner let go of the Hunwei with a hand and grabbed his head, surprised to find most of his hair intact. The distraction was what the fallen Hunwei needed and he flung Tarner off. Adar pushed up again on the arms of the Hunwei he was grappling with but he might as well have been trying to push a rock. A gurgling growl came from the Hunwei.
He’s laughing at me, Adar realized. Holding his sword with one hand, he pulled out a dagger with the other and went for the eye. The Hunwei didn’t try to stop the blow. He didn’t need to; Adar’s dagger was turned away just before it would have reached the eye.
The Hunwei grabbed at Adar as he continued to try with the dagger, twisting around the Hunwei as he went. The bulky armor appeared to limit flexibility and as long as Adar stayed right up against him, he had a hard time latching on to Adar. The armor didn’t cover the Hunwei perfectly, and Adar tried to get through the gaps under the arms and even tried the neck again. It was futile; something kept him from getting through.
Adar yelled in frustration, there had to be a way to kill these things.
Several hands grabbed onto the monster. More hands followed, and then even more. The mob of people had finally surged. Adar took the lead and together they pushed the Hunwei to the ground. Others stopped to help Tere and Tarner with the other Hunwei, but most made a break for it.
As Adar's Hunwei went down struggling against the mass of people, the head of a nearby person disappeared in a mess of blood and brain matter. Adar looked regretfully at the blaster that the Hunwei still held with an iron grip and turned to run.
When Adar saw Tere struggling to free himself from under the mass of people holding down the other Hunwei, their eyes made contact. The hatred that burned in Tere’s eyes could have started a fire. Adar hesitated and then reached out and took Tere’s hand. It took some struggling and maneuvering, but he pulled Tere free, due in part to several other people being knocked out of the way when the Hunwei beneath the dog pile blasted holes into them.
“Run!” Adar yelled hoping those nearest to him would listen. “Run! We can't kill them. Our only hope is to run.” Many of the captives had escaped already and he felt hope as an additional surge pushed forward and ran past their Hunwei captors. The Hunwei were firing into the escaping crowd but there weren’t enough of them to stop the tide of people.
The two Hunwei that Adar and Tere had been fighting were still being mobbed, but it was just a matter of time. Adar yelled again as he ran for the edge of the square with the mob. When Adar got to Arnie's blacksmith shop, he slowed, looking for Soret and Karn. The stampeding mob of people almost knocked him over and he ducked behind the building, grabbing hold of a trash barrel to steady himself. It reeked of rotten food.
“Can you see them?” Adar asked as Tere stopped beside him.
Tere shook his head. The blasts were coming closer and there was a loud explosion from the town square. They pushed back into the mass of people. Several blocks later, Tarner appeared in front of him, holding on to a door to keep the mob from running him over.
“In here!” Tarner yelled. Once they were inside, Adar spotted Soret and Karn before Tarner slammed the door, blocking out the light.
Chapter 16
Jorad didn’t know how long he lay on the floor of the guardhouse, but when he opened his eyes, everything was quiet. Had he been knocked unconscious? His arm and ribs hurt from where he had hit the wall, and there was a bump on the back of his head. He got to his knees, checking to make sure he didn't have any broken bones. As he stood, he found that his leg hurt but was still functional. He twisted his head to either side to stretch his neck. It didn't help, and he still felt stiff afterward. It was painful to twist it too far in either direction.
The fire in the hearth had burned down and cast the room in shadows. He could smell oil from a lantern that lay broken near the stool where he had sat earlier. The last time he'd seen that lantern, it had been lit. It was a lucky thing that the guardhouse hadn't caught fire.
The two corpses were his only company. The bodies of Lel and Thon's friend filled him with sadness. Lel didn't deserve to come to this end. He was a decent guy who had volunteered to keep Neberan safe. His body lay in the middle of the floor, and his staff was in two pieces with a large chunk missing, either end was burned. The upper right half of Lel’s shoulder and neck were gone as well as his head. It was as if a large animal had taken a bite. The other body had a big hole in the middle. The smell from the dead made him nauseous.
How many more will die? Jorad asked himself as he turned away. We could have done a better job to warn Neberan. The thought bounced around his mind, and he did his best to ignore it.
The sound of smaller explosions peppered with much larger explosions came from outside the destroyed doorway. He walked to it, afraid to look out and see the terror that had engulfed Neberan but knowing
that he needed to get moving because he had to find Soret and Adar.
People ran in every direction. Fireballs—that wasn’t quite the right word, but he couldn’t think of another term—burned through the air. A group of Hunwei was herding some of the townsfolk, prodding them with their weapons.
Jorad quickly ducked out of sight and after the Hunwei had passed went to where his sword hung on the wall. After securing it, he looked until he found the dagger he’d tried to use to kill the Hunwei. He frowned as he picked it up and looked at the tip. It had become blunt, as though he’d been pounding it into a rock. Why hadn’t he been able to harm the monster? There hadn’t been anything in the way. He doubted a sword would do much good either and he didn’t want to risk damaging it anyway, so he grabbed a wood ax from where it stood in the corner. It had been hidden by the fireplace from his vantage point on the stool. He was glad that he hadn't noticed it during the heat of the fight earlier; otherwise, he might have tried to make for it and ended up killing Lel or Gorew with it. Lel is dead now anyway. He didn't dwell on the thought.
He approached the doorway again and stopped several feet away. He had to cover his eyes from the brightness of the light flooding the ground outside as a ship flew by overhead. When the ship had passed, he shook his head to clear it as he stepped to the door. If he had heeded Ruder’s warning and left Neberan immediately, he wouldn’t have been in this predicament.
There were some bodies on the street, but it was clear. The Hunwei he saw were moving in a different direction, and the people he'd seen had disappeared. He crept out of the guardhouse and did his best to keep to the shadows.
Many of the buildings were on fire, and others had been destroyed. Smoke hung heavy in the air and in several places as he crept along, he struggled to breathe. He passed a burning home where the heat was so intense he had to run past it to avoid being scorched. He was worried that some wandering Hunwei may have spotted him, but he made it back to the shadows in safety. Several other buildings near the blaze were starting to burn as well. He sighed as he took in the ruin that used to be the prosperous town of Neberan.
At first, he was unconsciously keeping count of the bodies that he passed. When he realized what he was doing, he froze in front of a pile of corpses. He'd counted twenty-three dead and he'd only made it six or seven blocks. It struck him as odd that the bodies had been placed in a heap until he realized that the Hunwei had to have stacked them there as they searched for survivors.
Jorad was brought back to reality when he heard cries from behind and turned to find a group of people with Hunwei prodding them from the rear that was heading Jorad's way. He didn't have enough time to hide in a nearby building. Melyah! He needed to collect himself or he wouldn't survive the night. What was he thinking, standing out in the open counting bodies? Not knowing what else to do, Jorad lay down beside the dead.
The Hunwei didn't spot him but it took considerable effort for him not to move when he realized he was lying next to little Joney Beron, dead with a hole burned into his side. The kid couldn’t have been older than five or six. When they had gone, he got to his feet and followed. He hoped Soret hadn't been taken captive, but if she had, he would do everything he could to rescue her.
He didn't make it very far. The door of a shop opened in front of him and a Hunwei stepped out, ducking to make it through the doorway.
Without waiting, Jorad charged forward to close the gap and swung his ax into the Hunwei’s leg. The Hunwei tripped and fired at the same time. A fierce heat went by Jorad’s head as the blast missed him. He took another swing, this one aimed at the back of the Hunwei’s exposed neck. The ax glanced off, jarring his arms. As he swung repeatedly down onto the Hunwei, he danced out of the way of the blaster. It appeared that the Hunwei was enjoying this and it made a gurgling sound. Laughter?
Jorad brought the ax down on the Hunwei’s faceplate. It bounced harmlessly off but the laughter stopped. The Hunwei pushed to his feet and Jorad did the only sensible thing he could think to do. He ran.
For the first several blocks, he could hear the Hunwei chasing. Jorad ran faster. Buildings, fires, and corpses turned to a blur. His chest hurt and he began gasping for breath. After a few minutes, he'd managed to lose the Hunwei. At least he could run away. It wasn't much, but it was something.
He came to a halt and ducked into the shadows beside some barrels to catch his breath. He took in his surroundings and realized that Soret's place was just a couple blocks over. That would be his next stop. After that, he would find where the Hunwei were taking their captives.
He was taking a deep breath when he heard the sound of approaching people. A mob turned onto the street, running as if they’d just escaped. A man in the front slipped and fell. The people behind didn't stop and he was trampled. Over the heads of the people, Jorad could see the Hunwei chasing behind. The mob, despite its frantic energy, was actually moving slower than he would have expected and the Hunwei chasing them didn't have any trouble keeping up. Run faster! He thought. Many of you can get away. He didn't dare yell the advice to them because he was in no condition to run again so soon after his last sprint.
Jorad held still as the mob went by, keeping his eyes peeled for Soret or Adar. He hadn't seen either one of them by the time the mob had passed. He doubted Adar would have got himself caught up in a mob, so he’d been expecting to find Soret if he found anybody.
The Hunwei were close on the heels of the people, firing their blasters as they trotted behind the mob. An older man took a shot in the back and landed in the mud and the Hunwei trampled his body. When they'd gone, Jorad realized he knew the man. It was Rodd Gartel, Anny's husband. He hoped that Anny was ok, but he couldn't afford to mourn Rodd's loss yet.
If any of the Hunwei noticed Jorad sitting in the shadows, they didn’t care to stop. It wasn't until they'd been gone for awhile that he finally dared to take a breath. In all the confusion, he hadn't realized that he'd been holding it.
A large coordinated volley of blasts echoed from the direction the mob had gone. It was punctured by screams and yells from the dying. Jorad gritted his teeth, but he was powerless to do anything. When he thought it was safe to move again, he crept in the direction of Soret’s home, praying to find her alive.
Jorad wasn't sure how long it had been since he'd left the guardhouse. He'd lost track of any concept of time. The sky was cloudy and with the smoke from the burning town, he couldn't tell where the moons were to give him any indication of how late it was.
When he turned the corner onto the street of the Tedenhel home, he cursed out loud. Most of the buildings on the block were on fire and in various states of destruction. The Tedenhel place was no exception. It looked as though an explosion had torn it apart, the remains were on fire.
Their home had been a two-story building, but in the dark, it was hard to make much sense of the mass of wood and flame. If anybody was in there, they were dead. A knot formed in his stomach and he hoped that when the attack happened Soret hadn't been home. Even though he knew it was futile, he moved to the destroyed home and called out softly, hoping there weren't any Hunwei nearby. As he’d expected, he was greeted with silence.
After that, he wasn’t certain how long he wandered until he found another group of people the Hunwei were herding. The smell and carnage of death surrounded him as he followed them from a safe distance and more than once he found himself jumping at nothing. He had never been so tired or paranoid. He was glad for the dark because it kept him hid, but he could already see that the sky to the east was growing lighter. It wouldn't be much longer before he wouldn't be able to hide in the shadows of the buildings that hadn’t been destroyed.
“Jorad over here!” a voice hissed at him from behind. Despite the continuing explosions, the quiet voice startled him. He approached it and found Wes crouching behind a barrel.
“Man am I glad to see you,” Wes said. “I thought I was the only one who hadn’t been caught.” Other than one of his big ears covered in bloo
d, Wes appeared to be all right, and he wore a grim smile.
“Soret. Adar. Have you seen them?”
“No.” Wes' smile disappeared. “But that's a good thing, only people I've seen have been dead.”
“I'm going to the town square,” Jorad said, that appeared to be where the Hunwei had been herding their prisoners. He turned to go. “If I were you, I’d get out of town and get lost in the woods.”
“You crazy? Fire’s raining down from heaven. Makes ya wonder which god we pissed off, doesn’t it? We need to bolt.”
“Go.” Jorad didn’t have time to argue and didn't stop when Wes grabbed his arm.
“They’ll take you too.”
Jorad didn't answer as he shook off the young man’s grip and left. He didn't make it very far before Wes had caught up to him. Without a word, Wes motioned for Jorad to continue.
A little while later, they found that the Hunwei had gathered a large crowd of captives at the town square. As they crouched in the shadows, Jorad surveyed the scene and tried not to let what he was seeing affect him. The bodies of the dead littering the ground reminded him of the streams of red fabric decorations the night of the wedding. He shuddered. He spent more time than necessary trying to spot Soret or Adar, but couldn't find them among the living or the dead. Wes had finally prevailed in convincing him that they needed to leave right before the Hunwei ships began to land in the town square. After that, Jorad focused on the ships and tuned Wes out.
The Hunwei started by separating the crowd of people into groups. Men into one, women and children into the other. Jorad gripped the hilt of his sword as he watched the women and children being loaded into the ships, but knew that anything he might attempt would be foolish and left it in its sheath. Once a ship was full, it lifted into the sky. With a rush of air, they’d shoot straight up into the sky and then head north. Just like the ship he’d seen the day before and the shooting stars from the night of the wedding.