by Jason Tesar
When Enoch opened his eyes, he saw water covering everything as far as the eye could see. He stood on a rocky fragment of land, looking north. And yet, without turning around, he knew it was connected to a larger landmass behind him. It was different, yet reminded him of the land he passed over when traveling toward Aragatsiyr for the first time. He had named it Sahveyim, for there had been water on all sides.
Then the vision passed away and he saw only the swaying grass, dancing in the morning breeze. In his mind, a few words remained—echoes of something that he was certain he hadn’t heard in the first place. They repeated themselves, so quietly as to make him wonder if they were not his own thoughts.
For a time …
One more thing, my faithful child.
One more thing …
* * * *
THE GREAT WATERS
The incoming waves thundered against the rocks, breaking through the narrow slit that separated The Great Waters from the secluded gorge where the officers of the Amatru now sat. On the cliffs high above, two wings of Iryllurym were joined by two companies of Anduarym, keeping watch over the surrounding land. And somewhere beneath the vast stretch of water to the north, two companies of Vidirym patrolled the depths. Though Semjaza’s fortress was still nearly a hundred and fifty miles away, the officers were not about to take any chances at being discovered by Semjaza’s scouts.
As promised, Fer-Rada Danduel had arrived the previous day. His Anduarym had picked up the remaining weapons and armor left behind by the attack on Semjaza’s soldiers. After spending the night in the fields, the soldiers of the Amatru and the Myndarym moved northward to the coast of the Great Waters. Along the way, they met up with the remainder of the water-going Myndarym whose progress had been severely slowed when they were forced to take on their angelic forms in order to cross over the land to the south.
Now that all parties were accounted for, the leaders held their war council in the secrecy of the rocks along the coast. Though it was almost noon, the sun’s rays only illuminated one side of the steep cliffs, while the remainder stayed cloaked in shadow. By the time the waves entered the tall and narrow fissure, they were calmed considerably, reduced to soft ripples which wet the rocks beneath their feet.
Sariel crouched low on his perch so that he was, more or less, looking into the eyes of the others.
“Semjaza’s fortress is situated on a small peninsula at the center of a cove,” Ananel began, having taken the leadership role for the Myndarym by default. “It is very large. Its center tower rises above the height of the surrounding cliffs, giving his Iryllurym visibility for miles in every direction.”
“So his Iryllurym occupy the upper level?” asked Danduel.
“Yes. Its tetrahedron shape incorporates three levels—one for each segment of his army. The widest, base level sits below the waterline and houses his Vidirym. The next level sits even with the peninsula of land leading to its main entrance. This, of course, houses his Anduarym. And the narrowest, top level houses the Iryllurym. Each level is also crafted from different substances based on the needs of its environment.”
Danduel suddenly looked disinterested.
“Generally speaking, the lower level is shaped from heavier, denser materials, with the upper level from lighter, porous materials,” Ananel added quickly, trying to convey anything that may be useful.
“You said a peninsula. It’s connected to the land around the bay?” Danduel asked, changing the direction of the conversation slightly.
“Yes.”
“I assume there is a trail or passageway that his Anduarym move along? How do we get in?”
Ananel looked off into the water for a moment. “The route along the peninsula connects to a path on the mainland which traverses the foothills of the surrounding mountains. It leads to a pass through the cliffs on the east side of the cove. It is the only entrance by land. The other terrain is far too steep and dangerous for anyone to climb. That is how Semjaza wanted it—to prevent a land-based infiltration. On the west side, the mountains descend into the sea before they’re able to form a complete circle, creating the equivalent entrance from the sea.”
“Perfect,” Danduel said with a smile.
Ananel cocked his head slightly. “Each pass is flanked by a pair of watchtowers with a wall between them. The passages are long and narrow—”
“Reducing the effectiveness of larger invading armies,” Fim-Rada Erethel jumped in. He commanded one of the two divisions of Anduarym.
Ananel merely nodded at the interruption. “And each side of the passage has multiple narrow corridors leading in from an angle. I’m not sure of the purpose for this.”
Danduel’s eyes narrowed.
Fim-Rada Evanel spoke up this time. “While the invading army is thinned out through the entrance, defending soldiers can approach both flanks from the rear. It’s brilliant, really,” the other Anduar officer admitted.
Beneath the water, something large moved. A broad and flat shape broke the surface of the water, followed immediately by a brief puff of air escaping from a blow-hole on the top of what looked like a hairless head. Its smooth skin was dark blue, with a tint of green. The wide-set eyes were black and menacing. “And this is the same for the sea entrance?” came the eerie voice of Kai-Niquel, Fim-Rada of the Vidirym.
“Yes,” Ananel replied, a look of disappointment on his face. “Only, it’s under water.”
After seeking clarification, Kai-Niquel’s head dropped just below the surface and he remained there, hovering effortlessly. The gills along either side of his neck expanded and contracted methodically, pulling oxygen from the water. The dual methods of breathing enabled the Vidirym to exist in multiple environments, though water was their primary domain. Beneath his colossal figure, several flattened, snake-like appendages undulated, gracefully holding him in position.
Sariel turned to Danduel. “It looks like the Iryllurym will need to provide cover.”
“Exactly what I was thinking,” the Fer-Rada replied. Then he turned to Ananel. “Being an Anduar himself, I assume we’ll find Semjaza in the ground level of his fortress?”
“His throne room is actually one story above the ground level.”
“Alright,” he mumbled to himself, then turned to the other officers present with both hands clasped in front of his chin. “In order to defeat him, we’ll need to concentrate our ground forces there. Which means we have to get them through that land entrance. So, the Iryllurym will need to provide air cover, striking quickly at the gate defenses just before our Anduarym arrive,” he said, looking directly at Nuathel.
“Once through, our land forces will be vulnerable to a flank attack from the bay by Semjaza’s Vidirym. And that means our own will need to have breached the sea entrance first. We’ll all meet in the middle,” he said, stopping to look up at Sariel. “And that’s when you fulfill your promise to kill Semjaza yourself.”
Sariel nodded.
“If we strike fast and make it through the gates, we should be able to use Semjaza’s fortress design against him. Then it’s just a matter of numbers; I have twice the soldiers he does.”
Sariel looked to Ananel who had been silent for a while. The Fer-Rada had not only dominated the conversation, but had also made no mention of how the Myndarym would fit into the strategy. As expected, the soldiers had taken control of the direction of this battle. Sariel was disappointed that the Shapers, it seemed, were content to allow it.
CHAPTER 26
THE GREAT WATERS
Kai-Niquel’s sleek body cut through the water with little resistance, requiring only a slight rippling movement of his rear fins to propel him forward. At this depth, the sea was completely black. But Kai rarely used his eyes for much of anything. Instead, he generated a series of clicking sounds from an organ behind his blow-hole. The returning sounds brought a detailed understanding of the terrain as his resonating jawbone interpreted the echoes.
But the information had stopped hours ago. Wi
th the sea floor thousands of fathoms below, there was nothing to return the sound waves. Now, the only other presence in the water was his division of Vidirym, followed by a handful of Myndarym. In the silence, they pressed on, having traveled for nearly twenty four hours without stopping.
Gradually, Kai began to pick up a presence below him. The faint echoes grew stronger as the sea floor rose. Now, only a thousand feet lay below him, and the distance was closing fast. He released a louder pulse of sounds, a blend of moans and chirps, telling his soldiers that they were approaching the target. The floor continued to rise by hundreds of feet per minute, gradually tapering off into a gentle upward slope. With the coastline a mile away to his left, Kai altered his southern course a bit to the east and searched the shelf for a change in texture. As expected, a smooth delta of sand spilled out into the deeper water, signaling that Semjaza’s fortress was near.
Halfway across the wide sandbar, Kai turned directly east and slowed his approach. Just as the Myndarym described, he could feel the jagged mountains rise from both sides of the delta, while directly in front was a flat wall, spanning the hundreds of feet that separated the sea floor from the surface, blocking their entrance to the cove. Descending to the sand below, Kai came to the base of the wall and waited for his team to catch up. Then, he rose slowly, bouncing sound waves off the wall, scanning the front surface for the passages that the Myndarym described. It took only seconds to locate the first one, but to his surprise, it was blocked by a lattice of metal bars.
Kai could sense the confusion from the Myndarym, but remained silent while resuming his work. Using a methodical serpentine pattern to scan the wall in ascending passes, he found one barred passage after another. Finally, he backed away and drifted toward the Myndarym who had been hanging back. “Any other ideas?” he whispered.
“There’s one more at the top,” one of them replied.
Kai nodded, then brought his rear fins together, propelling his body upward toward the surface. He came to a stop fifty feet below the rippled ceiling. At this depth, the miniscule amount of light coming from the starry skies above allowed his eyes to add visual information to his understanding of the obstacle. He could now make out the bottom of an unblocked passage. But his sensitive ears, if they could be called such, picked up something else—subtle vibrations coming through the passage. Someone was on the other side, waiting.
* * * *
THE MOUNTAINS SOUTH OF MUDENA DEL-EDHA
Sariel came up silently over the rocks, riding the gentle updraft that was forced against the mountains from the wind blowing across the Great Waters. The back of an Iryllur sentry came into view and Sariel glided toward the enemy with one vaepkir ready. Without a sound, Sariel tackled the soldier from behind, simultaneously clasping a hand around his mouth and driving the vaepkir beneath his right forewing and into his chest cavity.
The two soldiers tumbled forward across the rocks, locked in a deadly embrace.
Sariel gritted his teeth as his body slammed into jagged stone and slid across the mountaintop. Refusing to release the sentry until the task was complete, he held fast with his arms and legs wrapped tightly until they came to stop. Silence returned once again and Sariel slowly let go. When he regained his footing, he resheathed his vaepkir and walked to the edge of the cliff, giving the signal that the last of the sentries had been removed.
Overhead, the night sky was full of stars which shed soft, silver light across the mountains. On the other side of the deep ravine, Fim-Rada Nuathel and his Iryllurym slowly rose from their hiding places, still clinging to the shadowed crevices like bats. Hundreds of feet below, the front lines of the Anduarym marched quietly toward the pass, the only obstacle separating the ground soldiers from the cove that housed Semjaza’s fortress.
As the silent forms of the Iryllurym dropped from the cliffs, Sariel could barely make out their outlines against the dark terrain. He waited for them to cross the ravine, then jumped from the cliff to join their formation as they turned north and made their way further up the pass. The flight lasted only seconds before they turned toward the cliffs again. Sariel followed and retracted his wings, inverting himself beneath an overhang. When he came to a stop, he was only a few feet away from the Fim-Rada.
“To that outcropping,” whispered Nuathel.
Again, the Iryllurym took to the air and headed for a larger section of rock that jutted from the cliff at a higher elevation. As soon as he reached it, Sariel had a line of sight to the land entrance of Mudena Del-Edha.* Its stone wall stood nearly one hundred feet tall and spanned the width of the pass. It was flanked by a pair of angular, pointed towers that loomed ominously over the gorge. As Danduel’s army crept closer to the gate, keeping to the shadows on the southern side of the pass, Sariel’s eyes darted between the towers and the passage leading through the center of the wall.
“I don’t see any movement,” he said quietly.
Nuathel leaned out from the cliff slightly to get a better view. “Nothing yet. Hopefully they won’t know until we’re upon them.”
Through the eye holes in his helmet, Sariel scanned the ranks of the Anduar army below. They were within a few hundred yards now—almost to the signal point.
“Get ready,” Nuathel announced quietly.
Sariel quickly inspected the towers one last time, surprised by the absence of guards or scouts.
“They’re at the signal point. Go. Go. Go,” Nuathel commanded.
Sariel jumped from his place of concealment and stretched his wings. When he felt the lift of the air underneath him, he thrust himself forward and into position behind the other Iryllurym. The angels were superbly trained, quickly assembling into a column with their leader at the point. Dropping a few hundred feet in elevation, their speed increased as they covered the distance to the defensive structure. The column of winged angels flowed gracefully over the steep terrain, condensing and expanding with each outcropping and fissure.
Sariel reached to either side of his breastplate and pulled his vaepkir from the sheaths crisscrossed along his back. Banking slightly to the west, he followed the formation out of the cliffs to come directly over the top of the wall. Now only twenty feet below them, the length of the battlements seemed to pass by more swiftly.
The formation broke into six-person teams, one for each of the eight corridors on both sides of the passage. As one, the whole column rose, banked, then inverted to come straight down into the channels, with the lead groups taking the nearest.
Bringing up the rear, Sariel followed the last group into the final corridor on the western end of the passage. The dull starlight was instantly blackened within the confines of the stone structure. Pulling his wings inward, he pressed forward into the formation which now spanned the entire width of the corridor.
Shapes moved in the darkness before them; colorless patches of random forms, shifting in the shadows.
The Iryllurym approached rapidly, breaking into the mass of bodies as a wave of sharpened metal. The blades of Sariel’s vaepkir jolted in his hands and rammed into his forearms as they sliced through the flesh of the enemy. Following the narrow channel around a bend, the winged angels pulled up and out of the corridor just before their forward motion stalled, pumping their wings to propel themselves into open air.
Looking out across the cove, Sariel could see the tower of Aryun Del-Edha rising from the center of the water like a multi-pronged spearhead.
The Iryllurym quickly banked to the east as the other groups did the same, each having made their first pass. Now approaching from behind the gate, the Iryllurym descended once more, positioning themselves for a second pass. On the ground below, a mass of bodies swelled behind the gate, filling the side corridors and blocking the main entrance. But something looked strange from this new vantage point.
“THEY’RE HUMAN!” Sariel shouted.
Atop the wall, at the base of the northern guard tower, a low horn sounded, blanketing the cove with an unmistakable warning call.
“Pull up! Pull up!” Nuathel commanded.
At once, the formation leveled out.
Sariel looked down in disbelief as they passed over the entrance while human soldiers gathered behind the gate. Not only did Semjaza know they were coming, but he had enough foreknowledge to amass an army that the Amatru weren’t authorized to kill.
“We can’t attack them!” Nuathel shouted only a second later.
“We have to warn the Anduarym!” Sariel shouted back.
Following Nuathel’s lead, the Iryllurym dropped into the mountain pass and banked to the south, following the road leading away from the gate. Quickly, they came upon the Anduar army and dropped to the ground in front of the soldiers.
Fer-Rada Danduel ran from the front lines to meet them.
“A human army guards the gate,” Nuathel explained quickly.
“Humans?” Danduel asked. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Hundreds of them.”
“But we’re not authorized—” Danduel began. His once wide eyes suddenly narrowed and he spun around to address his approaching army. “The gate is guarded by a human army!” he shouted above the din of marching footsteps. “We are not authorized to kill humans, even under Semjaza’s leadership. But we must breach that gate!”
The army halted.
“Push them out of the way. Throw them to the ground. Injure them if you must. But do not kill them. We will take this gate tonight! Semjaza’s deception cannot stop the Amatru.”
“Rada Talad!” came the unified response.
Danduel turned back to Nuathel. “Can you carry them away from the gate without killing them?”
The Fim-Rada thought for a moment. “It will be much slower, but yes.”
Sariel replaced his vaepkir, safely tucking one under each wing. A sudden noise brought his attention back to the gate where hundreds of humans now came pouring out of the entrance, massing in front of the wall.