by Davis Ashura
Hooting Balants were outlined no more than fifty yards ahead. Beside them crouched growling Tigons, barking Ur-Fels, and hissing Braids.
“Blend as hard as you can,” Rukh ordered. He conducted more Jivatma, twisting it, thickening his Blend, extending it until it encompassed Aia. Jaresh and Jessira did the same for Thrum and Shon.
The Outer Wall loomed no more than a hundred yards away.
Rukh's heart thudded. “Get the flares ready,” he ordered. His jaw was clenched with tension, and he forced himself to relax.
“Ready,” Sign said.
“Fire it and Annex!” Rukh ordered. He conducted more Jivatma. It tasted like wine and roses, thick as sap, depthless as a mountain's roots. He reached for Jessira. Her answering touch was like a warm caress against his thoughts.
The Balants were close. The Braids closer. Hisses drew his attention to the right.
*Hold,* he told the Kesarins. They had to remain within the embrace of the Linked Blends. Rukh drew his sword and stretched his inner senses.
His thoughts slowed, flowed away from him like a log on winter-cold water. The wormwood song of his worries faded into the distance. He was gone.
Dimly, he noted a banshee cry from far to the south. It was a hurricane-scream of anger, madness, and retribution. The Queen was coming.
The Annex was enacted.
The Duo Shielded. Primary's sword was readied, and he was sent forward. He would be the hammer by which the Duo would punch through the enemy's line. The Kesarin, Aia, flanked Primary, hanging close to his side. Secondary drifted back. One of her hands glowed, filled with a Fireball waiting to be unleashed. She would protect Primary's back. With her went the Kesarin, Shon.
Hissing sounds came to the Duo. Braids. Hidden in the gloom and tall grass. To the right. The information came from Aia. Even in the quietness of the Annex, the Kesarin had somehow spoken to Primary, and from him the knowledge came to the Duo.
Ur-Fels and Balants were directly ahead. Arrows from the Chimeras thrummed.
Shields were made stronger. The Duo searched the grass. There. A trap of Braids. Primary moved to attack. Parry a thrust. Duck a wild swing, and a sword passed overhead. Primary's return was a slice and disembowelment. A Jivatma-powered elbow smashed a Braid's jaw. Aia took on and killed the other three.
The enemy numbers were considerable. Two claws of Tigons rushed forward. Three nests of Ur-Fels. Two more traps of Braids. Seven Balants. The basso roar of a Bael instructed the Chimeras on where to go.
The Blends had been compromised. Secondary was moved forward. Fireballs scorched into the Chimeras. The Duo noted the casualties. Another volley of Fireballs hurled into a cluster of Balants. This one was from point-blank range. An opening formed as Balants fell back, thrashing in pain.
Primary surged onward, the tip of the spear. Aia kept up, flanking him. Secondary and Shon defended the rear. A hammer blow from a Balant was evaded. Primary leapt upward, a jump that carried him twelve feet into the air. A sword thrust through the Balant's eye finished the Chim.
A Tigon roared, rising directly before Secondary. She swept past a looping swing. A quick slash to the throat, and she moved on. A nest of Ur-Fels charged from the side. Shon instantly cut down three of them. Secondary threw a Fireball and incinerated several more. She took a blow on her Shield, but it didn't slow her down. She snapped a push kick that shattered ribs and flowed into the movement. An arcing slice decapitated another Ur-Fel. A parry and riposte cut deep into the thigh of the final dog-like Chimera. Shon finished him.
A Bael shouted orders. Frenzied Chimeras answered his call. A swarm of them sallied forth. The Duo was suddenly in danger of being overwhelmed.
The Kesarins lashed out in all directions, but still the Chimeras pressed forward. Secondary was taking more and more punishment on her Shield. Primary was hounded on all sides. Arrows from above—the Ashokans on the Outer Wall—thinned the ranks of the attacking Chimeras. The Duo launched Fireballs and gained further breathing space. With it, Primary was set to defend the remaining Ashokans on the ground. They had almost reached the Outer Wall. Aia held ready at his side.
A claw of Tigons, flanked by a trap of Braids on either side, came at Primary. He engaged. Secondary sent Fireballs streaking past him on either side of his head. The Duo drew more Jivatma. Primary leapt over the Tigons. Upon landing, he lopped off the arm of a Braid. He spun and parried a hard smash from a Tigon. A short jab to the throat, and the cat-like Chimera gurgled his last breath. Another parry and a leap carried him straight up. He threw a Fireball while airborne. Two more Braids died. Primary landed again, and with a hard slash, he ripped through the torso of another Tigon. A leap backward, and he evaded frenetic thrusts. A Tigon closed, and Primary took the creature through the eye. The sword hung up on the withdrawal, caught on the skull of the Chim. A Balant suddenly appeared. The sword came loose, but it was too late. The Balant swung his war hammer. Primary had no time to prepare himself. He took the blow on his Shield. It staved in, and the Balant's blow, though cushioned somewhat, still managed to smash Primary in the chest and hurl him yards away. His head hit heavily, and he lay there dazed as he struggled to breathe.
Secondary was there to defend him. So were the Kesarins. More arrows from the Ashokans on the wall threw the Chimeras back.
With the respite, Primary clawed his way to his feet. He swayed a moment before steadying.
The Duo glanced to the Wall. The warriors of Primary's small troop were at the base and some were already scaling upwards. Primary and Secondary raced toward the rest of the unit. The Duo was only yards away from safety with no Chimeras to stop them.
A howl of hate echoed across the plain, and a shower of boulders fell like rain around the Duo. The Queen had come.
Primary exited the Annex.
The Chimeras had scattered upon the Queen's sandstorm approach, but Jessira's eyes were lit with hope. Though Suwraith arrived in a sheet of lightning, arrowing downward like a stooping falcon, She was too late. The Wall was close, only yards away. Thrum already waited there.
Jessira's face fell when she realized Rukh wasn't beside her. He was far behind with a lot of ground to cover. Jessira's mouth went dry. The Sorrow Bringer would block his path. He wasn't going to make it.
“Take the Kesarins inside!” Rukh shouted. “I'll distract Her.”
“No! We can both make it.” Jessira held back. She wouldn't leave him.
Shon took the choice from her. With his teeth, he grabbed the straps to which her bow and knapsack were tied and lifted her off her feet. He carried her as if she were a kitten, all the while dodging the Queen's boulders, which She hurled like hail.
*Put me down!* Jessira screamed.
Shon did so, but only when they were an arm's length from the Wall.
Immediately, she turned to see what had become of Rukh.
“Vermin! You will not survive My righteous wrath,” the Queen vowed. Her voice was jagged like a throat full of splintered glass.
Rukh's ready response for the Sorrow Bringer's promise was a bright beam of quicksilver light that shot forth from his hands. It soared skyward, brightening the plain for yards all around. This close, Jessira saw that the light moved like water, like mirrored glass made liquid.
Suwraith screamed and briefly pulled back. “It cannot be!”
Aia, bless her, took the opportunity to pick Rukh up similarly to how Shon had Jessira. She raced for the Wall and reached it well before the Queen could recover.
Aia dropped Rukh to the ground. *I'd really like to get inside and have my chin rubbed now,* she said, sounding anxious.
*I never thought I'd hear you say that you want to be inside those walls,* Thrum chuckled.
*Then stay outside if you wish.* Aia snapped with a swish of her tail.
Lighting and thunder tore the sky, and a grating, splintered-glass scream tore the heavens. Suwraith raged. She boiled above, a mindless torrent of lashing wind and lightning. She hammered the ground like an undammed
flood.
Rukh shot another beam of light at the Queen. Again, She flinched. “Let's go,” he said. “With our Blends, the Chims can't see us, and if we're lucky, the Queen won't think to point out our location.”
“And if we're really lucky, you'll lose this need to martyr yourself,” Jessira said. Her heart was slowing, but her fear for Rukh had yet to subside. He'd been caught in a bad position and had done the only thing that made sense: sacrifice himself so she and the Kesarins could get away. Jessira sent up a silent prayer to Devesh for Aia's intervention. If not for the great cat, Rukh would have died. His bright beams wouldn't have held off the Queen forever, and they would have done nothing against the rocks She had been raining down.
“Trickster! You will not escape My wrath!” Suwraith bellowed.
Rocks peppered the ground before the Oasis: small rocks, large ones, even boulders. Some of them even got through. Stones the size of a hen's egg rattled the ground near Jessira and around her feet. If any of them struck cleanly, it would hurt. Badly.
Jessira quickly conducted Jivatma and formed a Shield.
“We have to get inside!” Rukh yelled. “The postern gate should be fifty yards to the south. Blend as hard as you can and run!”
Jessira followed on his footsteps with Aia, Shon, and Thrum trailing behind her. More stones penetrated. A few clipped the Wall. Others bounced off Jessira's Shield. The Kesarins sported several nicks and slunk forward with bellies low and heads stooped down. Rukh managed a crouching run. He looked to be struggling with his breathing.
They quickly came upon the postern, almost bypassing it. With the thick growth of ivy, it was difficult to see. A low whistle caught their attention. The gate stood open, and they darted inside. As soon as they did so, the thick door was slammed shut.
“You're safe now,” said the same warrior who had offered them 'good hunting'.
After the words were spoken, the tunnel leading through the Outer Wall fell quiet, except for the hollow sound of rocks bouncing off the ground somewhere close by.
Rukh slid down the wall with a groan and sat on the ground, hunched over in pain.
Jessira tsked in frustration. “You've broken your ribs again,” she accused.
“And got a concussion to go with it.” Rukh said, managing a lopsided grin. His smile left him. “But you're safe. I'll do anything to see you safe.”
Jessira's brows knitted in bafflement. As Rukh had on several other occasions, the words he'd spoken hadn't sounded like his own or even his own voice.
Her thoughts scattered an instant later when a roar came from without, one powerful enough to be heard by all Ashoka. It was the Sorrow Bringer. “You will pay for your falsehood, false Linder Val Maharj. Next time we meet, I will shred Your soul!”
When Ajax fell, none knew what had shattered the city. And none knew what to make of the broken boulders the size of wagons that were strewn about the streets like pebbles.
~A Concise History of Arisa by Kalthe Mint, AF 1839
Lienna bellowed in fury when She could no longer sense the Humans. A moment before, there had been two of them, a man and a woman, both of them boldly defying Her as they stood before the walls of Ashoka. And in the next, they were gone.
Who were the Humans, and where had they gone?
Lienna lit the sky with a bolt of lightning and the deafening rumble of thunder.
It was the Oasis. Her true sight was blind to anything that existed behind that most cursed of creations. She could see what occurred on the Walls and within the city itself, but of Jivatma or Talents used by the denizens of Ashoka , She had no knowledge. It was an unbearable situation.
Lienna growled in frustration. It was the sound of teeth breaking.
Always the Oasis. It interfered with Her plans, stymied Her will, blunted Her justice. If not for the Oasis, Lienna would have long since done away with the blight that was Humanity. This sight-blinding evil was Her Father's most wicked forging, and He would pay for what He had wrought.
Her mind was a haze of red. Something would die this night. Of this, She was certain. It didn't matter that She tasted the scent of Father's Jivatma laced through the bolts of Bow that had earlier slammed into Her. She would . . .
Her thoughts trailed off. She had tasted the fragrance of Father's Jivatma. It was impossible. Lienna held frozen in the sky. If ever She had doubted that Father might once again walk the hills of Arisa, those bolts of Bow She'd experienced weeks earlier and again tonight, rid Her of all uncertainty. As for the woman . . .
Lienna paused as She considered the implications of what She'd seen tonight.
Father was with a woman. In all his life, there had only been one woman for Him. He had loved no one else. With a sickening realization, Lienna pondered a terrifying notion. Was the woman Mother?
Fear gripped Her heart.
“Shake off Your cowardice before they escape Your grasp,” Mistress Arisa grated.
“All that is good in this world will escape Your grasp,” Mother commented.
Lienna gave a shiver of relief. Mother wasn't reborn. She couldn't be if She was still trapped here in Lienna's mind. Which meant Father was as well. It had all been a trick then. This Human had sought to make Her believe that Father was alive. He had sought to cause Her fear, to terrify Her.
How dare He!
“Trickster! You will not escape My wrath!” Lienna shouted. In a mindless frenzy, She gathered all the rocks down below Her, every scrap of stone within Her reach, no matter the size. She flung the rocks again and again, tossing them with the force of a whirlwind. And the Oasis redirected every one of Her throws. The boulders broke apart, the stones became pebbles, but still Lienna hurled the rocks. She threw them without direction or aim. Unknowing and uncaring, many She simply cast into the air.
Eventually, Her anger receded enough for rational thought to resume, but one last time, Lienna bellowed. Her fury flattened the grass for yards around. “You will pay for your falsehood, false Linder Val Maharj. Next time we meet, I will shred Your soul!” She knew the Human could hear Her, hiding as He was within Ashoka's Oasis.
She turned aside then, prepared to return to the city's southernmost gate where Her Chimeras were slowly whittling down a small portion of the Wall.
But something caught Her attention. There, lying on the ground, were the stones She had thrown a few moments earlier. Many were piled up against the city's wall.
Lienna laughed in triumph as She realized what must have happened. She had breached the Oasis.
The commanders of the Fan Lor Kum met at a distance from the rest of their warriors to discuss what had just transpired. They murmured and muttered as they tried to understood the truth of what they had seen, but few could come to an agreement.
Li-Grist paid little heed to the various conversations taking place around him. His ears still rang with the last of Mother's thunder, but within his mind lingered the memory of the quicksilver light, the liquid beam shot forth from the hands of a Human. It had hurt Mother, or at least it had halted Her progress. Grist wasn't sure exactly what had happened, but of one thing he was certain: this changed everything.
“This changes nothing,” Li-Boil announced. “Not yet anyway.”
Those from Continent Catalyst shifted about with unhappy murmurs. They weren't pleased with the words of the SarpanKum. However, the Baels of the Eastern Plague appeared to have a different response. They stood with accepting postures, almost as if they had expected Boils' words.
“I know you wish to believe that a Human can truly oppose Mother,” Li-Boil began, “that there is a being on this world who can defeat Her —it's the deepest dream of all Baels—but it's too soon to make that determination. We need more information.”
While Grist could appreciate the SarpanKum's caution, he remained troubled by Boil's reasoning. In the weeks since he'd first met the Bael, Grist found himself believing ever more strongly that the SarpanKum didn't truly believe in the ideals of fraternity, at least not in the manne
r he should. Boil spoke the correct words, but from his mouth, they sounded tepid and weak, like the mutterings of the faithless.
“The reports of what actually occurred are still coming in,” the SarpanKi, Li-Torq, said. “We have yet to determine exactly how many Humans sallied forth. It might even have been from a hidden gate. One we never suspected might exist.” He glanced at the SarpanKum. “Should we search it out?” he asked. “It might ease our entrance into the city.”
Grist stiffened in outrage. “We don't want an easier entrance into Ashoka,” he said from behind gritted teeth as he struggled to hold on to his temper. “We are supposed to do as we always have: the least amount possible to keep Mother appeased. Actively seeking this gate is actively seeking the murder of countless numbers of our Human brothers.”
“Torq doesn't intend that we actually use the gate,” Boil said. “But what if Mother breaches the Oasis, and the Humans use this gate to try to flee? Would it not make sense for us to know where this hidden gate is located so we can shift our warriors out of the way if the Humans have to use it in order to easily escape their city if it falls?”
Grist's anger slowly ebbed, and he loosened his grip on his trident. He hadn't even realized he'd been clenching it so tightly. Boil's plan made sense, but Grist still had his misgivings. He didn't trust the SarpanKum.
“What do we do about the Human who stood against Mother?” Li-Drill, Grist's SarKi, asked.
“What of him?” Boil asked.
“The accounts may still be coming in on the numbers of Humans who attacked us, but on this matter they are clear: a Human hurt Mother. We should help him.”
“I think you exaggerate when you say he hurt Mother—” Boil began.
“He hurt Her,” said Li-Cord, one of Grist's Vorsan's. “I was there. I saw.”
Boil shrugged. “I don't know what to do,” he said. “He may have hurt Her, but then what happened? Mother vanquished him, just as She's vanquished all who oppose Her. I'm not willing to risk the future of our race on the possibility that this Human did as you claim. For all we know, he may already be dead.”