by Davis Ashura
Shouts of triumph turned to cries of dismay and pain as Chims caught fire. Dozens of them died, but even more pressed on. There was no further room for Fireballs, and Rector drew his sword and Shielded.
He parried a thrust. His return cut took off a Tigon's arm. Blood spurted, blinding the Ur-Fel next to the cat. A horizontal slash beheaded the dog-like Chim. A hissing Braid stepped forward. Three of them. Rector dodged a wide swing from one, slipped a thrust from another, and parried a slash. He followed the motion down to the Braid's wrists and cut off both of the snake-like Chim's hands. Rector stepped behind the creature, using the beast as another shield. He kicked it onto the blade of one of its fellows. A thrust and slash and the other two were down.
A hammer blow from behind lifted him off his feet and hurled him to the ground. Rector rolled over with a groan. His Shield had held, but a Balant stood above him. The baboon-like Chim's club was ready to smash him to a pulp, but before the creature could do so, Rukh's Kesarin ripped open the creature's ankles. In the time it took for the Balant to topple, Rector regained his feet. A quick slice across the throat, and the Chim was finished.
Rector scowled and spit blood. He'd bitten his tongue. Fragging Chims.
He roared, and four Tigons took up his challenge. Rector smiled grimly. The fools were bunched up. A Fireball consumed them. Rector shouted defiance again. This time it was five Ur-Fels who answered his call. Rector moved into motion, sliding past slashes and slices. His response always found a home, hacking off legs, arms, and heads.
More Chims came at him, more than he could defend against. He took blows on his Shield. It bent beneath the strikes but didn't break. Distance was needed. Rector leapt straight up, fifteen feet in the air, even clearing the heads of the Balants. However, when he landed, the fragging Chims were still waiting for him. Rector moved as swiftly as he could, slashing, punching, and kicking. Chims fell all around him, but more came. Always more came.
Rector's Shield buckled. A cut opened on his leg. Another on his arm. On his chest. Still he fought on, remaining in the fray. He firmed his Shield, but his Well was emptying. His Jivatma was growing thin. Rector slowed and took more blows. A club to the chest from a Balant crunched into his ribs. Rector felt a number of them break. One went straight into a lung.
He flew through the air and crashed to the ground, unable to breathe. Rector never felt the swords that stabbed into him, over and over again. His mind was elsewhere. A singing light beckoned. It promised to wash away all his repentances, sorrows, and sins. It promised to make pure his Jivatma. It promised to take him home.
Rector breathed his last as a singing light took him.
The Chims would arrive at any moment, and Jaresh worried for his nanna. With only one good arm, and that one his off one, he would have trouble defending himself.
*I will protect him,* Thrum promised.
Jaresh rubbed the Kesarin's sturdy shoulder in gratitude. *Thank you,* he said. *Just make sure you stay alive. We won't survive them for very long. I want you to run as soon as you know we can't hold them off.*
*I could carry you. Sign also. We could flee before they reach us.*
*And go where? The Queen can see through a Blend. No matter where we try to hide, She would find us. She'd kill us and anyone She finds aiding us,* Jaresh answered. *Besides, for now, the Queen cares nothing about the Kesarins. That will change in an instant if She ever discovers one of you helping a Human. Your kind might face extermination, just like Humanity.*
Thrum settled down with an unhappy growl.
Sign glanced his way, an unspoken question in her eyes, and he relayed the conversation he'd had with the Kesarin.
*The Nobeasts have entered the grounds,* Thrum said.
Jaresh passed on the Kesarin's announcement to everyone else and drew Jivatma. His thoughts, previously filled with turmoil, cleared with Lucency. Fear couldn't touch him. His senses heightened. He grew heady with the power that came from his Kumma Talents. He was ready.
Moments later, the Chimeras were there. They surged forward, spurred on by the vile voice of the Queen. She instructed Her Chims to kill everyone they found, and the battle was joined.
Jaresh and Sign fired Fireballs that screamed through the air and detonated into the Chimeras. Many of Suwraith's creatures died, but even more pushed on. Soon, swords were needed, and Jaresh breathed a prayer before drawing his weapon. At his side, Sign was ready to go, too.
The first Chims reached them. As usual, they were Tigons. They raced forward, but in their unthinking rage, some of them cast aside their weapons before leaping into the fray.
Jaresh faced off against one of the cat-like Chimeras. The Tigon roared challenge and swung wildly. Jaresh dropped below the slash aimed at his head. His return blow disemboweled the creature. Another Tigon stepped forward. This one died of a thrust to the heart. Jaresh kneecapped a third Tigon and cleaved an arm. He left the creature to bleed out.
Meanwhile, Sign defended against a large nest of Ur-Fels, and Jaresh moved to protect her. They fought back-to-back, punching, kicking, and cutting. Both were soon covered in unspeakable gore. All around them was chaos.
One of the dog-like Chims snapped at Jaresh's ankles. A kick to the snout threw that one back. Another tried to take a chunk from his calf. Jaresh was able to bring his sword around and slash the creature across the shoulders, nearly decapitating him. Jaresh parried an overhand blow from another Ur-Fel, and his parry ripped across the beast's chest. The Chim fell back with a barking wail. Another took the creature's place and launched a sword strike that Jaresh could neither evade nor block. It tolled against his Shield. Jaresh almost fell to a knee when the blow landed. He steadied himself and countered. The Ur-Fel parried. Jaresh feinted at the beast's head and delivered a thrust to the midsection. The Ur-Fel fell away with a hoarse cry, but here came another. A sword bit through his Shield, and Jaresh took a cut to his stomach. It was shallow, and he paid it no attention. He feinted low and came up high, stabbing the Ur-Fel in the eye and then through the armpit and into the heart.
There came the briefest of pauses when Jaresh realized that the nest was annihilated. He had enough time to realize that he was covered in blood, but then the interlude was over. A pair of Balants reared above them.
Jaresh silently cursed. This would be difficult.
Suddenly, one of the beasts thudded to the ground. Thrum had hamstrung the creature, and Sign quickly finished him off. The other one gawked in surprise. It was the opening Jaresh needed. He drew Jivatma and leaped into the air. The Balant had enough time to hoot in alarmed surprise before Jaresh slid three feet of matte-black spidergrass sword through the Chim's throat. The Balant gave a burbling cry and managed to smack Jaresh to the ground before dying.
Jaresh slammed hard and blacked out for a moment. He came back to awareness and shook his head, trying to restore his senses. Slowly, unsteadily, he levered his way back to his feet and swayed.
Before him, a Bael loomed large. His whip glowed, and his trident was ready, but he seemed reluctant to fight. “Forgive me,” he said before thrusting out with his trident. It was a half-hearted strike, but, in his current state, it was also one that Jaresh was barely able to avoid.
Sign was there, though. She arrowed forward, her sword leveled and straight. She took the Bael in the heart, and the horned creature stiffened before slumping over.
Sign ripped her sword clear and never noticed the two Braids slither into place behind her.
Even through his Lucency, Jaresh knew fear. He cried out a warning, and thankfully, Sign heard. She reacted quickly but not quickly enough. Though she partially blocked one Braid's strike, it still took her in the shoulder. She grunted in pain. Sign parried another slash aimed at her head and beat back one of the Braids even as she took a deep cut to her calf. Her leg almost buckled, but she held firm. She slid past a thrust, and her answering slash took the Chim in the flank. The creature hissed in pain before falling.
Jaresh, his balance restored,
killed the other Braid, hammering his sword through the creature's back and out through its chest.
With the Chim's death, Sign hunched over at the waist and groaned. She had no time to rest, though. Another nest of Ur-Fels came at them, along with a claw of Tigons who shouldered aside their smaller brethren and beat their chests in triumph.
Jaresh scowled. The fragging Chims were certain they had found an easy victory. They'd pay for their misjudgment. Jaresh grinned at the Tigons, baring his teeth as he gestured them forward.
They accepted his wordless invitation.
Jaresh ducked a hard swing. He flowed forward, rolling to his feet and sliced upward. A Tigon was bisected from crotch-to-shoulder. Jaresh parried a strike before ducking and rolling once again. When he rose up, he faced an unarmed Tigon. He took this one's arm at the elbow. The creature keened in pain and spun about, entangling two others of its kind. Jaresh used the distraction to kill both of the encumbered Tigons: a thrust to the chest and a near-decapitating blow to the neck.
Sign had taken another Tigon unawares through the back, and Jaresh moved back to her side. Together, they faced the horde of Chimeras.
*Behind you,* Aia warned.
Rukh spun about. Sneaking up on him had been a trap of Braids and nest of Ur-Fels. *I can handle them,* Rukh said. *Just cover my back.*
*Always,* Aia said.
Rukh drew from his Well. He quickened his movements, kept his Shield in place, but left it only strong enough to deflect the weakest of blows. It was all he'd need. Rukh rushed the Braids and Ur-Fels, but just before coming in contact with them, he leapt up and fired a Fireball straight into their midst. At least five were instantly incinerated. Rukh landed in the center of the Chim's confused, pain-filled cries.
Two quick slashes resulted in a dead Braid and a dead Ur-Fel. Rukh parried a blow, ducked a swing, and kicked in an Ur-Fel's chest, knocking it into its fellows.
He easily swayed away from a Braid's downward strike. A flick of the wrist and a slight lean forward brought his sword angling across the Chim's throat. Another flick of his wrist splattered blood into the eyes of an onrushing Ur-Fel. He grabbed that one by the throat and threw it against two Braids. They all fell to the ground, but before they could recover, Rukh was there. A slash, a downward slice, and a thrust, and they were done.
From the twelve who had come against him, only two Ur-Fels remained. Rukh slid between them and waited what seemed an interminable instant. The Chims barked anger and furiously stabbed at him. But in their frenzy to see him dead, their swords became entangled. Rukh slid aside. He kicked one Ur-Fel onto the other one's sword and decapitated the final one.
Rukh looked about for another foe. He had plenty of fight left.
Aia roared out as a Tigon stabbed at her flank. She spun about. Her claws, already dripping blood, ripped through the Tigon's throat. She kicked back, tearing trenches into the thigh of a Balant. The beast bellowed but didn't fall.
Rukh leapt into the air. He kicked the Balant in the ear, distracting the creature. As the Chim turned to face him, Aia bit the dull creature through his neck.
There was moment of quiet around Rukh and Aia, and he took the brief break to glance around. Jessira and Shon fought together. The wall of corpses about them demonstrated their efficient skill. Thrum defended Nanna, but they were besieged on all sides. Li-Choke and his Chimeras were barely holding their own. And Jaresh and Sign faced a formidable force of Tigons.
*Nobeasts taste like gazelle,* Aia noted as she savaged an Ur-Fel.
Despite the desperate nature of their situation, Rukh couldn't help but smile at her observation. *You think everything tastes like gazelle.*
Just then, any humor Rukh felt was washed away when his nanna shouted in pain. He'd taken a deep wound to his chest. Blood flooded down Nanna's shirt. It looked to be a mortal injury.
Rukh roared forward, trying to fight his way to his nanna's side, but there were too many Chims. They battled him, bottled him up with numbers too great to overcome.
Moments later, Rector fell beneath a mass of Chims. Rukh watched helplessly, too far away to be of assistance. The Chims surrounding Rector savaged him. Their swords rose and fell, rose and fell. And when they stepped aside, Rector was dead.
Rukh breathed a prayer for the fallen warrior. Strange how easily he'd fallen into the pattern of prayer. In the past few years, it had become so much a part of his life that he sometimes even believed that Devesh actually heard what he had to say.
In his mind, came a thought. The Lord listens, but His answers are not easily understood.
*What are you talking about?* Aia asked.
Rukh shook his head, uncertain where the idea had come from, or why he would have spoken such a notion to his Kesarin. He needed to focus on the battle at hand.
“Destroy them all,” a voice from above commanded to all the Chimeras throughout Ashoka. It was Suwraith. “Let none of them live.”
Her voice created a pause in the fighting as all stared upward.
There, the Queen hovered at a distance, triumphant and unstoppable.
Lienna, a voice within Rukh growled. Devesh save me, but I cannot forgive what She has become or what She has done.
Suwraith's mad howl of victory carried across the smoke-stained heavens. From Her madly gyrating storm cloud came a sheaf of lightning. More fires roared to life throughout Ashoka. It was early afternoon, but the sun stood hidden behind the darkness of smoke and the wings of ravens. The world felt like twilight. Thousands were dying. It was as if this was the final day for all of Arisa, as if these were the last hours before death took the entire world.
Despair clawed at Rukh's heart. Never had he felt so powerless, so impotent. There was nothing he could do to stop the carnage. Devesh see us safe in the life to come, Rukh prayed.
There is a way to see them safe, a voice said from within the depths of Rukh's mind. It was a deep, powerful voice, one used to obedience.
Rukh frowned. That voice . . . he recognized it. He'd heard it before. He knew it.
But how? And was it even real? Maybe his new Talents or whatever was the source of them was driving him mad? He barked laughter.
“You aren't going mad,” the voice said. “When My Daughter tried to murder Me with Her Knife, part of My Jivatma was thrust into Her being. The rest I preserved within The Book of First Movement. With you, the first who was worthy enough to read My last testament, I was finally able to restore My Jivatma, My essence, My soul so that it would reside entirely within you.”
Rukh gaped. This conversation couldn't be happening. Were the last moments of his life to be filled with madness?
“I thought we already established that you aren't mad,” the voice said in reproof. “It is My Daughter who is insane.”
Rukh hesitated. “Who are You?” he asked, the words an inadequate expression of his confusion.
“You know Me,” the voice answered. “You witnessed the last moments of My life. Think.”
Rukh's mystification cleared, but the answer that came to him rocked him back on his feet. The voice belonged to the First Father. Rukh thought the First Father was lurking about in his mind? He barked laughter once more. It was an idea too bizarre, too ludicrous, too irrational to be anything but insane. It simply couldn't be true.
“And yet it is true” the voice confirmed. “I am Linder Val Maharj. When you read The Book and relived My last moments, I was slowly able to leave Lienna's essence and become part of yours. In that time, I've watched and waited, wanting to make sure You truly were worthy of my knowledge.”
“You're why I suddenly have all these new Talents,” Rukh said more than asked.
“Yes,” Linder said. “Those Talents are part of My legacy, part of the burdens you need to take up. I wish it were otherwise, but life often isn't as we wish.” His voice throbbed regret. “Therefore, I leave you with another of My gifts.”
A flash of instruction came to Rukh. It was knowledge that made him want to weep. “There isn'
t any other way?” he asked. Aia might understand what he had to do, but Jessira would never forgive him.
“Not for the likes of us,” Linder answered softly, sympathetically. “It is what it means to serve.”
Rukh blinked back tears as he drew out the Withering Knife.
Something was wrong. Something horrible was about to happen.
It had nothing to do with the freely bleeding cuts that Jessira had taken to both her arms. Nor did it have anything to do with the ache in her ribs from when a Tigon had tried to squeeze the life out of her. Or the pain in her thigh from the glancing blow she'd taken from a Balant's club. None of that was what had Jessira feeling such a sense of foreboding. It wasn't even the sight of Rector Bryce dying or seeing her cousin, Sign, nearly falling over from her wounds. It wasn't any of those things, not her mortal danger or the battle for survival in which she and Shon were engaged.
Her sudden terror stemmed from something happening to Rukh. Something momentous and awful.
Jessira looked to where she knew Rukh would be. She didn't have to search him out. Her sense of him always told her where he was. There he stood, frozen in place while Aia protected him.
Jessira called to Shon, and together they fought to reach his side.
A Tigon tried to bar her passage. Jessira blocked a strike aimed at her midsection. She kicked the Tigon in the jaw. His head snapped back, and he bit through his own tongue. Shon eviscerated him. Four Braids hissed as they stepped up. They tried to evade Shon, but her Kesarin refused to be denied. He was too fast for the snake-like Chims. They were quickly savaged.
Three Ur-Fels barked opposition.
Jessira faced off against them. She sidestepped a diagonal slash. Her return blow took the Chim in the chest, nearly hewing the beast in half. Another tried to get inside her guard and bite her. Jessira let the Chim come. She ran him through the mouth and kicked him off her sword. The final one took a wild overhand swing at her. She cut through both his forearms and left him to bleed out.