“What da’ ruddy hell is ‘zis about?”
Maugrimm grabbed Teshunua by collar of his coat and shook him violently in the air. His eyes bulged with malice as the vapor from the lukewarm water rose from his skin, evaporating into the frigid air above. Just as he prepared to instill some fear into the practical joker, a deafening cry shot into the freezer, causing him to drop Teshunua to the floor. It was Bahzee shrieking into the castle intercom.
“GET UP! GET UP! PHYLLAMON’S HERE! WE’RE GONNA’ DIE!”
At the same time that Khyeryn and Sing came running from their rooms in a stupor of drowsiness, crashing into each other, above, Zynathian and Asha were hurriedly robing themselves. Maugrimm pushed Teshunua aside, running out of his room.
“How far away are they?” Maugrimm asked.
“Only moments,” Teshunua replied.
“Grab ya’ weapons off the floor, find Zynathian and Asha, and all o’ ya’ locate a safe place to hide!”
However, Teshunua couldn’t move. His black skin had gone a few shades lighter as fear had drained much of the colour from his cheeks.
“Now, Teshunua!”
At this, Tesh snapped out of his spell.
Maugrimm suited up in a hurry. The armour slid over the massive spikes on his back and shoulders with ease. The midsection of Asha’s design was snug and form fitting, but comfortable. He, of course, had no time to consider such trivialities as comfort, because he was looking over his weaponry on both arms, refreshing his memory on their functions.
He remembered that the mini-cannons, atop his laser barrels, weren’t loaded and looked on the floor, finding a steel box with his name engraved. Next to his name was a bright red sticker with yellow print, saying “BOOM!”
Ah, he thought, carefully unlocking it and pulling back the lid. Each piece of explosive ammunition was engraved with an arrow along the iron shell casing, indicative of the direction in which to load them in each arm. With much care and angst (as he’d had no practice with them), he began to fill each cannon to capacity. Luckily the lasers were fully charged already from the training sessions earlier that day.
Ready, he exhaled nervously and looked at Teshunua. Tesh got up and hugged him.
“Be careful, Mawg, please,” he said, unable to believe that things had come this.
Maugrimm looked down at his friend and then noticed Bahzee, Khyeryn, and Sing huddled together in the shadows near the winding staircase.
“You too, mate,” he said, pausing as he tried to think of the proper thing to say. Flustered, Maugrimm could come up with nothing.
“Hurry up…y’all grab ya’ weapons and then join Zynathian and Asha…they’ll know what to do. And don’t turn on any lights! Do what me says, kid, now!”
With that Maugrimm was off.
As he watched Maugrimm disappear into the shadows, Teshunua recovered his wits. A dangerous and risky idea came to him. He would be putting a loved one in harm’s way, but he saw no other alternative. He put his index finger and thumb in his mouth, whistling. Jix came flying.
7
Bahzee’s voice came thundering through the intercom, startling Zynathian out of bed. Asha was jarred out of her repose as well, and when she jumped up, she accidentally fell into the switch, turning the lamp on. However, it went crashing to the floor, and the bulb burst, dispelling the light as quickly as it had come, giving the room a firefly effect.
As they escaped the clutches of drowsiness and gathered their awareness, they robed themselves, unable to rid their minds of two words that had invaded both of their dreams.
Phyllamon.
Die.
“He’s here, Zynathian!”
“That’s not possible!” he said, running to the window.
“You see anything?”
“No…we’d better get downstairs,” he replied.
“Hey, what’s the deal with the racket?” a groggy, irritated voice called from the apartment’s kitchen. Zynathian answered him.
“There’s trouble, Khyetarah, and if it makes its way up here, you don’t want to be found, so keep quiet! We’ll be back soon…hopefully.”
8
As they had advanced to within a mile of the castle walls, Phyllamon raised his binoculars. He could now see the magnificent structure in greater detail. There were towers at every corner of the complex, rising to a sharp point. At their tips, the moonlight allowed a glimpse of their colour—a deep bluish black they seemed, much darker than the combination of white and gray stones in lower areas. Also, the bricks for these were much smaller, creating quite a beautiful contrast with the boulders that made up the rest of the castle.
As if it isn’t enough that he lives among the clouds like a god of some sort, this man has the nerve to have a home more beautiful than mine! How dare he?
Phyllamon’s spell of jealousy was abruptly cut short as he panned up with his binoculars and found another tower, rising straight out of the center of the castle, peaking at about one hundred feet above the other towers. This one had non-uniform, slate-like stones jutting out at every angle, sharply contrasting the symmetrically perfect rocks that made up the rest of the castle. These stones were much darker, yet they shimmered more. With the moonlight reflecting off its surface, the tower could have passed for a giant lighthouse. However, it was not the beauty of this spectacle that caught Phyllamon’s attention—it was a window at the top of the tower. He wouldn’t have noticed the room had it not suddenly sparked with light and gone dark even faster!
They’re watching!
Knowing there was no longer any reason to be reserved with his entrance, he gave the order.
“All ships, full speed…attack at will!”
9
“Go now, Jix…be careful!”
The cat-beast took off, disappearing into the darkness. Sing and Khyeryn had just ran forward with Bahzee.
“Grab your things,” Teshunua said, slinging his body armour overhead, carefully strapping it on. “We need to get off the first floor…I have a feeling they’ll be aiming here first!”
Bahzee went over and adjusted Teshunua’s fastenings, and he did the same for her. She watched him grab a large, lightweight laser rifle with his name engraved along the barrel. He checked it for ammo and then flicked the laser sighting on and off. Teshunua seemed ready.
Bahzee, however, was far from ready. She looked to the floor at her own weapon and sighed with nausea. As she went to grab it, she noticed two long-sleeved, sparkling black gloves lying next to it. Bahzee pulled one over her hand and slid it up her arm, surprised at its comfort and perfect fit. There was a note. She picked it up and read:
Sweetie, I would much prefer you to use a gun if you ever needed to defend yourself, because they allow distance…but if you’re bent on using your hands, Zynathian has come up with a way for you to do so without getting so much as a scratch on your skin. It’s an old but effective invention of his that he tailored to suit your needs…hence, the gloves.
Do wear your body armour, Bahzee, please.
—Mom
Meanwhile, Khyeryn paced back and forth. His cheeks and ears blazed red, for he was frightened and angry beyond reason. Hours ago, he was the happiest person alive as he ran about the castle, showing off his new armour. Now that the very reason for the armour’s creation had surfaced, Khyeryn wished it to go away. He silently promised himself that as soon as Phyllamon stepped foot inside the castle, he would blast him into the afterlife, ending the conflict and therefore never needing to wear his armour again.
As Sing checked her hip for her blaster, she noticed a tear run down Khyeryn’s cheek, which he quickly brushed away. She went over to him and slapped him firmly on his shoulder pad.
Butch up, little one. If you’re tough enough to survive a Karnov attack, then you can handle this. We need your strength!
Khyeryn got the message.
Sing wanted to console him further, but her own emotions were in frenzy. Although it was impossible for Phyllamon to know of her
whereabouts, a part of her couldn’t help but think he was here to retrieve her!
Like hell you will, motherfucker…you’ll have to kill me! Sing thought, snarling. She strapped on her body armour and went to the others.
Deciding it was time, they gave one another a final once over, checking their protective wear. They then grabbed all else that they needed from the center of the room and turned to ascend the winding stairwell only to find Zynathian and Asha rushing down. Still in their robes and barefoot, they frantically sprinted across the cold stone floor. Zynathian was looking the children over, while Asha ran to the pile of weapons and grabbed a large cannon-like rifle, slinging it over her shoulder.
“Let’s go!” She headed for the stairwell with the others following.
Zynathian, however, knew something was wrong and looked about. “Where is…”
Before he could finish, there was a deafening explosion.
10
Saddled and ready for battle with Maugrimm on his back, Jalum shrieked in rage and leapt into the air. He cuffed a strong gust of wind under his wings and lingered a moment before he set into a steep nosedive. Maugrimm felt at home with the frigid wind slapping his body and easily maintained his grip on Jalum’s saddle. He readied himself to unleash hell upon the first thing he saw.
Suddenly there was explosion from far behind, and when they whirled around they found a long, slender black ship, emerging from the clouds. As debris and smoke permeated from the cavity, a ramp protruded from the ship, touching down a few feet within the opening to the castle. Though the soldiers running down the ramp were but moonlit blurs of colour at this distance, Maugrimm could still tell that many of them were even larger than he.
“Damn it, they’re here already! Get over there, Jay!”
Just as Jalum raised his wings, preparing to dart off, there was another explosion to their left. This time it was the opposite side of the castle that fell victim to catastrophe. The attack ship entering here was bright silver that, even in the night sky, was shiny enough to temporarily blind a person. Between the two options, Jay was flustered about which way to go first. They quickly decided on the first ship, however, because its occupants were already disembarking. Perhaps, if they made haste, they could rid themselves of one problem before the others, on the opposite side, entered the castle.
With his wings at full extent, Jalum soared through the air with his mouth open, waiting to swallow the first infantry beast he met at the ramp. As he made it back to the castle wall and cut a hard right, he felt a violent wave of heat attack his left wing, followed by two simultaneous blasts, not ten feet away from them. Jalum heard Maugrimm growl and then his back became exceptionally light. When he looked below, Jalum found his friend racing through the abyss to his death.
In a spin of such speed that it even dizzied him for a moment, Jalum pulled his wings inward and entered a free-fall dive. At this speed, Jay knew that if he tried to catch Maugrimm with his feet, he would accidentally dismember him with his talons. Instead Jalum allowed himself to drop just beneath Mawg, and he opened his wings and the wind caught him instantly.
Maugrimm, wailing in terror, was shocked to see the dark mass beneath him. For a moment, he believed that the earth and mountains below had somehow extended their height, welcoming him to an even earlier death. Then as his eyes adjusted to the drop speed, he was able to make out Jalum’s saddle. He grabbed hold but landed awkwardly, dangling over the bird’s side, behind his wing. Mawg slung himself up and kissed the beast’s feathered back.
Violently slashing through the wind with each stroke, Jalum ascended hundreds of feet in a matter of seconds. As they reached the castle, a cloud of black smoke (created by the blasts that had nearly annihilated them) camouflaged them. Cloaked in darkness, they waited patiently for the assailants to emerge. As the clouds took the shape of a peculiar vortex, spitting forth a duo of threatening attack ships, Jalum catapulted from his blanket of secrecy and shrieked with anger as he met the enemy face to face.
With Maugrimm hidden in Jalum’s intimidating pose and massive wing span, to the soldiers aboard each ship, the beast before them seemed as the smiting right hand of God—the great cosmic deity, to whom none of them had ever paid any mind or pledged allegiance to. Only now, much too late, did they silently pray. As they took their last breaths the beast’s eyes lit with reddish-orange flames that leapt out to the face of each ship. The windshields shattered and the control boards exploded, sending glass and metal debris every which way, ripping out the soldier’s eyes and tearing the flesh from their bodies. Mangled and burning, their lives were vanquished before they were able to drop to their knees and beg God’s mercy.
Mother Nature’s death messenger flapped its wings in boastful strokes of victory, as his counterpart upon his back, the Grim Reaper, flared his nostrils and took in the pungent aroma of smoke from his bomb chambers. Having done God’s good work, they turned to do more of it, seething with rage as they went to lay down Her wrath.
11
Convulsing with heavy gasps, trying to clear their throats of dust and smoke as they recovered, each of them gripped their weapons tightly.
“Is everyone all right?” Zynathian yelled.
“We’re fine!” Teshunua and Bahzee replied at once.
“Khyeryn…Sing?” Asha called out.
“I’m fine,” Khyeryn said, choking out his reply. He heard Sing groan as she brushed up against his leg, stumbling as she climbed from the floor.
“I’m bleeding everywhere,” Sing said, “but the cuts are shallow.”
“I think we’re all in the same state, dear,” Asha replied, feeling the blood trickle down her face. “I’m lucky not to have been beheaded!” She felt the soggy mess of dreadlocks at the front of her scalp.
“Blast…where’s the switch for the exhaust fan? I can’t see anything!” Zynathian said.
Each of them waited to regain their vision, holding fast to their weapons as they nervously anticipated new surprises from their assailants.
“Stay sharp everyone, but don’t be hasty…remember we don’t want to accidentally shoot each other, seeing as we have no eyes right now,” Asha warned.
They waited for Zynathian to clear the atmosphere, hearing him stumbling upon the debris as he felt his way along the wall, finally reaching the stairwell.
“Here it is. We’ll have our vision back momentarily.”
The bit of relief they felt with this news dispensed immediately as they felt the vibration of something wide and heavy touch down on the stone floor. Hair standing on end, shivering from the frigid air permeating through the cavity, they heard the subtle movement of strange machinery that they’d become all too familiar with over the last couple of days. Khyeryn’s arm had transformed.
“Khye, be careful!” Asha warned, switching off the safety on her weapon. Sing and Teshunua did the same. They flinched as they heard Zynathian making his way back towards the master control room, swearing under his breath as he frantically began pressing buttons.
“Asha, I could have sworn I heard other explosions! What if…”
She cut Zynathian off.
“If there are more, we’ll deal with them when it’s time!” She caught her breath at the sound of troops entering. Asha began strafing the end of her weapon back and forth in the thick, dusty air before her. This was it.
“Listen to my voice and follow it,” she said. “Find me.”
They all backed up and reached out for her. Someone’s hand touched her face. Another, her head and shoulder. Then someone grabbed her robe at the hip, followed by a slight tug at her dreadlocks.
“Aim for their heads,” Asha commanded, looking back towards the master control room (which had become slightly more visible).
“Zynathian, raise the shield over that door!”
“Are you mad, woman? I’ll not leave you here in the open with no option for shelter!”
“Your immediate concern is to get us out of here, and you can’t do that if
you die from getting shot in the back, fool! Now strap on your armour and raise that goddamn shield!”
Knowing that the issue was no longer up for discussion, Zynathian obeyed.
The soldiers, despite Phyllamon’s orders for swift and immediate destruction, hesitated because they as well couldn’t see an inch ahead of them. This first group (seventeen in all with two more platoons still aboard the ship) waited patiently. One, a beast armed with a rifle whose tip was shaped like a crossbow, walked forward into the black smoke, listening. For a moment he swore there were whispers just ahead of him, then dismissed the idea, knowing they were all probably hiding.
“I think I should be in front,” Khye whispered.
“No! Where are you going, boy?” Asha panicked, scolding him as he let go of her shoulder and began to advance forward.
Senses heightened from fear, Khyeryn’s heart rate doubled with each step. He knew that if anyone was going to make the first move, it should be him. He was easily the most powerful in the family, and if there was any chance at all that he could put an end to this first group quickly, why hesitate and put his loved ones in danger?
“Now yours, Khyeryn, is much more powerful. Your gun will, without a doubt, massacre anything in its path,” he remembered his father say. Trusting Zynathian’s word, he aimed at the soot-filled air in front of him.
“I won’t go far, I promise,” he whispered in short, nervous breaths. “If I start firing, the blasts will be bright, so you’ll know where I am. Aim in every direction except mine!” Khyeryn commanded.
Though he was only twelve years of age and inexperienced with warfare, they took his orders without question.
As the air before him became less and less heavy, the contents of Khyeryn’s stomach churned. The battle with the Karnovs had come and gone in an instant. This, however, was much worse because of the anticipation. With each passing second, his courage was dwindling. Still, he didn’t budge. As a ray of moonlight outlined the head of something as enormous as Maugrimm before him, he saw its rank, hot breath come racing at him through the cold air.
The Gift of Volkeye Page 26