Time passed tensely, so it is difficult to be certain how long they waited. The lone Ice Raider had returned quickly enough, but judging by the movement of the moon in the sky. Akantha was irked that the best warriors in her fighting force were not under her command, but simultaneously comforted to have their experience on her side. Still, it angered her that she needed to rely on these self-professed bandits, who mere days earlier had been preying on her citizens.
No more than an hour had passed before Akantha heard a familiar roar which sent chills down her spine.
The Sky Demons had clearly also heard the roar, and in a horrifying display of unity, a group of a dozen larger demons broke off from the main group and ran in their odd, loping gait in the direction of the sound.
The rest of the monsters ceased their activity immediately and moved to surround the large one, which was now nearly twice as large as when Akantha had first laid eyes on it. The rate at which they fed the thing was simply astounding, and its skin seemed ready to burst under the pressure of its contents.
After a few seconds, the Stone Rhino appeared, charging headlong toward the farm house, closely followed by the dozen Sky Demons which had left to pursue it. It stopped momentarily next to the building before spotting the large Sky Demon. It bellowed another of its challenges into the night air before charging toward the foul monstrosity.
The large demon issued a piercing scream, and the entire host of Sky Demons flowed like water to intercept the enraged Stone Rhino.
The first few were crushed, and Akantha could see at least two of the demons had become tangled in the mess of sharp, foot-long hairs covering the body of the Rhino. The trapped demons thrashed about, but it was unlikely they could extricate themselves during the battle.
A pair of demons leapt onto the charging Rhino’s head, stabbing repeatedly with their pincer arms. Meanwhile, one of the smaller ones deftly bounded alongside the creature, finally jumping up next to where the two demons were caught. Its efforts were quickly rewarded, as it went to work on the hairs with its noisy weapon and within seconds, the first of the demons fell free. How the smaller, more delicate demon managed to maintain its footing and avoid becoming entangled in the Rhino’s coat of deadly hair, was a mystery to Akantha.
The efforts of the demons attacking the Rhino’s head were somewhat less effective, however. The Rhino redirected its momentum toward one of the other outbuildings, intent on smashing its would-be assassins into the stone wall.
The plan was a good one, but at the last possible instant (and without turning to look at the oncoming stone wall which would be their doom) the two demons moved as one to leap off their quarry’s head. The Rhino crashed into the wall of the structure, utterly annihilating it as the Rhino crashed into the near side of the building, and then emerged from the other side without losing much of its speed.
However, it would prove to be a greater loss than the beast could survive.
Moving with a practiced and seamless unity, the demon horde descended upon the creature as it emerged from the other side of the building. Two of the pincer-armed demons went to work on each of its legs, and at least a dozen of the more delicate, wasp-like demons jumped atop the Rhino’s back, slicing away at its impossibly tough hide. In only a few seconds, the smaller demons gathered around the area just above the Rhino’s shoulders and began to work together. Far more quickly than Akantha would have believed possible, the Rhino’s body spasmed and went limp as the demons had apparently succeeded in severing the beast’s spinal cord.
The large, grub-like demon which had swollen to the size of the main house by now, issued another piercing scream and the horde of demons ceased their attacks. The large demon (or Demon God, as the Black Arrows had come to call it) moved toward the felled Rhino with a combination of worm-like, peristaltic pulsations of its ever-expanding girth, and the action of the thousands of legs located along the bottom of its body.
It was not fast, but for a creature of its size to move at all was impressive, and soon the large demon’s head was positioned above the Stone Rhino. The Rhino was still breathing, but it did not move except to bray defiantly at its killers, a somewhat diminished version of its previous battle cries. For an instant, Akantha felt sympathy for the creature. But only for an instant.
The large demon appeared to study the Rhino, looking up and down its body by swinging its head back and forth while its minions waited motionless. After a few passes, it reared its head back and made a kind of clicking or grunting sound. What ensued as the horde of demons descended upon the Stone Rhino was carnage.
The noisome weapons of the wasp-like demons, to Akantha’s amazement, managed to cleanly dissect the Stone Rhino’s body. After the armored hide had been penetrated, the small demons entered the torso and began removing the Rhino’s innards piece, by bloody piece.
After what could not have been longer than fifteen minutes, the once-great beast had been reduced to a pile of components. It would have taken a team of Argosian experts a week to do the same. The different parts and pieces were separated, and the smaller wasp-like demons were going about the task of sampling the various tissues and organs.
The hair, skin, horns and claws were the only parts which appeared to fail their test. The large demon quickly descended upon the organized piles of guts, meat and bone which had been removed from the dissected corpse.
Apparently satisfied with their diligence, the large demon began to consume the carcass. In little more than ten minutes, the only trace of the murderous horned monster which had claimed Leonora’s life was a ragged pile of hide, as well as its once terrifying claws and horn.
When that task was completed, they went back to processing the various forms of vegetation surrounding the farm house. This process was much slower than the consumption of the Stone Rhino, since as much time was spent sampling and sorting as was spent feeding it to the large demon. Performing some quick mental calculations, Akantha concluded that the demons would only require another two hours at most to complete before moving on to their next target. That meant the attack needed to commence no later than an hour before dawn, which was a little earlier than the old woman’s predictions about when the poison would be released into the demon’s body.
But for now, all that remained was to wait and hope their plans would bear fruit.
Akantha lay there on the wet ground with the members of her fighting force for an hour, waiting for a sign that the poison had taken effect. Eventually, she decided she needed an answer to a question which had lingered in her mind.
“Kratos,” she whispered, as the giant of a man was only a few meters away.
“Aye, warrior maiden,” he replied in a low, raspy voice.
“Your men,” she began, “are all on a quest to defeat their betters, to prove themselves worthy of re-entry to your Clan Hall,” she recounted.
Kratos nodded his head. “Aye, we are,” he agreed.
Akantha chewed her cheek before continuing. “Your brother and one other failed to complete their charge. The one other is you, correct?”
Kratos smiled grimly. “Aye, you have it right,” he replied.
Akantha nodded knowingly. “Which means that this,” she said with a jerk of her thumb toward the Sky Demons, “is your idea of fighting your betters. What kind of man must seek his betters among the stars? Surely you could find a challenge somewhere else.”
The Cyclops chuckled quietly and shook his head. “Would that I could, Maiden,” he started, “but before learning of these creatures, I knew of only one man who could truly test me, and I was on my way to see him when we came upon your man Persus.”
“He is not ‘my man,’ Kratos One Eye,” she bit out coldly, “he is my bodyguard, and has been assigned to protect me since I was a small girl. He is an honorable man and a fine warrior.”
Kratos nodded knowingly. “Oh, aye, he is that,” he admitted. “I meant no offense, maiden,” he apologized.
“I am not a maiden,” she retorted. “I am th
e First Daughter of House Zosime, the Land Bride of Argos and Messene, but I am no maiden!”
He grinned savagely. “I’m afraid I call things what I see when I look at them,” he said with a challenge in his voice.
She felt her blood run hot, but she knew that now was not the time for petty squabbles. She reminded herself that if she had been more aware of her surroundings, perhaps Leonora would not be dead right now. “Who is the man you sought,” she asked through gritted teeth, “perhaps I can speed your meeting.”
Kratos stroked his beard before replying, “I believe you might: his name is Hypatios Nykator.”
Akantha was speechless at first, then she snickered quietly. “Hypatios Nykator is the greatest warrior in the known world,” she warned after collecting her wits, “all who have faced him in battle have either died, or been crippled beyond their ability to take up arms. He is Lord of the Tegean Host, Protector of Argos and victor of a hundred battles. He is ruthless, cunning and powerful. Only a fool would seek him out to cross swords with him,” she spat.
Kratos pursed his lips before shaking his head and rolling his eye. “Aye, they make similar claims about Kratos One Eye, Lord of the Twin Peaks, Avenger of the Red Dawn, Bearer of Glacier Splitter,” he said with a pat to his massive hammer, “and the Protector of Blue Fang Pass these last nine years,” he remarked absently with a shrug of his shoulders, “or so I’m told.”
It was Akantha’s turn to shrug her shoulders. “If you wish death, then please fight him,” she said with more than a hint of challenge in her own voice.
Kratos looked at his hammer, tracing the carved lettering with his fingers. “If I wished my own death, there are a thousand ways I could have found it in the comfort of my own lands,” he chided. “I would do battle with a worthy foe, and your uncle is the only warrior I have heard of who could present such an opportunity. But now, I find myself presented with something that is more than a man or beast,” he said, his eye turning toward her. “Nykator, powerful as he may be, is just a man. While defeating him would be a worthy display of my own ability, he is still only a man and will be forgotten as soon as he utters his final breath. But the songs of my victory over the Demon God from the heavens will echo throughout the mountains until they have crumbled to dust and been swept away into the sea!”
Akantha shook her head and rolled her own eyes. “I don’t think it truly is a Demon God, Kratos,” she said flatly.
Kratos shrugged his head. “We shall see soon enough, warrior maiden,” he said. “Either way, it will be a battle worthy of glory and a moon of feasting, feasting which you may join in if it pleases you,” he said with finality before turning to his men and speaking in their native tongue for a few moments.
Yes, Akantha thought to herself, we will see soon enough.
Another hour passed, and the tension was only getting higher with each passing minute. Every man and woman assembled knew that if the poison failed, their battle would be a much harder one. The display of coordination and unity which the so-called Demon God seemed to command of the smaller demons was something truly terrible to behold. Even the Stone Rhino, in all its might and fury, had only managed to kill five of the Sky Demons before being brought down.
The most recent count of Sky Demons put their total remaining number at thirty three; fifteen of the pincer-armed variety, and eighteen of the smaller, wasp-like ones with the loud weapons. Disgusting as it was, Akantha was unsurprised when the corpses of the demons which had fallen in battle with the Stone Rhino were cannibalized by their fellows.
At least six of the demons had also returned shortly after the Rhino attack, suggesting they were capable of communicating over great distances, even if only vocally. It was an example of a type of intelligence which angered Akantha far more than it frightened her.
Kratos leaned toward Akantha and said simply, “It’s time. The battle is soon to commence.”
Akantha looked down at the scene of the smaller demons continuing to feed the large one, and she could not see any difference in their behavior. “The poison hasn’t yet taken effect. We must wait until it is time,” she hissed.
Kratos shook his head. “You either learn to sense when a battle is about to begin, or you die with your weapon half-drawn,” he said darkly. “I’ll see you and your men in the middle,” he said, thrusting his hand toward her.
She accepted his hand in her own. “Don’t kill them all before we get there,” she commanded.
Kratos One Eye chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ll leave plenty of the little ones for you,” he assured her. “I’m only interested in the god’s head, but we’ll cut through any that stand in my way.” He then turned silently and moved into the darkness, and Akantha noticed that all of his men had disappeared in the few seconds she had spent conversing with their leader.
Amazingly, as soon as she turned back to view the Sky Demons, she noticed a slight change in their behavior. The smaller, wasp-like ones were moving slightly more rapidly and erratically. The larger ones with the pincers appeared confused, and had ceased their activities altogether.
She looked to the large demon and noticed that the normally rhythmic pulsations of its body had become different somehow. She also noticed that of the twelve ring-like segments of the behemoth’s body, the three of them nearest the head were almost flaccid. Akantha felt her militia’s spirits rise, as they realized the poison had taken effect.
The Sky Demon God, or whatever it was, bellowed with a sound like fingernails scraping across a pane of rough glass. The other demons turned from their activities, and even the larger pincer-bearing ones moved closer to it. The smaller demons immediately began climbing up on the large demon’s body, and set about some sort of task involving their little, whining weapons.
To Akantha’s horror, they began separating the front quarter of the monster with clean, precise incisions between the third and fourth segments, sending large chunks of the creature’s body flying in the process. The Demon God made no attempt to stop them from completing the task, even as its vile inner juices and fluids sprayed from the wounds created by its servants.
Then Akantha saw Kratos’ men moving toward the demon horde. Incredibly, the demons had not noticed them, even as they closed to forty meters distance. The quiver of Black Arrow Ice Raiders flew straight at their target like a pack of wolves chasing their prey across the open plains, forming a perfect wedge shape at a full sprint.
The pack closed to thirty meters, and the demons had still not taken notice. At twenty meters, one of the small demons atop the large one spotted them and made a kind of chittering noise. The demons turned together, but not with the same eerie coordination and precision as with the Rhino. Using their still-incredible speed and agility, the demons leapt to meet their combatants, leaving only a handful to complete the task of splitting the Demon God in two.
Four Black Arrows fell in the opening exchange, pierced through the torsos by the sharp pincers of their attackers. Several of the smaller demons climbed on top of their downed forms to remove their heads with their small, whining weapons. The remaining Ice Raiders fared better, but not much.
Kratos was unmistakable on the field with his hammer, and with his first swing he took out one of the leaping warrior demons. The follow-through of the massive weapon smashed a smaller demon, which had attempted to flank Kratos with the hammer’s first victim. A few of the other Ice Raiders managed to claim kills in the opening moments, but for the most part the initial exchange was evenly matched, and the Sky Demons had strength of numbers.
Akantha raised her axe above her head and screamed furiously, prompting her militia warriors to stand and follow suit. “Argosians,” she yelled, overtaken by the hot fury which can only be known to warriors of the field, “let us send these Sky Demons straight into the ground!”
“No upload for these ones!” cried Bernice, as she stood from her crouch a few meters from Akantha’s position.
Her countrymen bellowed their assent, and together they cha
rged across the distance between themselves and their quarry. The Black Arrows were holding their formation, but the fighting had become bloody in short order. Akantha momentarily wondered if any of them would survive long enough for her own men to reinforce them.
She saw a flaming bolt of some kind fly through the air, and while she didn’t break her charge, she was confused until she remembered ordering Aetos to light the thatched roofs of the farm hold’s buildings. The first arrow sunk deep into the roof of the main house, and the fire began to spread. Another arrow followed, and another, and another until all five of the buildings’ rooftops had small fires slowly spreading across them, providing much-needed illumination.
Shortly following the lighting of the rooftops, Akantha heard the militia positioned on the southern ridge yell in unison, signaling an incoming wave of arrows. She saw the first flight of arrows sail through the air, but was disappointed when only a third of them struck the large demon, with the rest sailing high or coming up short. The behemoth did not seem to notice, but an arrow actually struck one of the smaller demons, which had been cutting through the flesh of the huge one. The smaller demon was knocked to the ground, where it remained motionless after a satisfying crunch upon impact.
Then they had closed the distance, and the battle was joined.
Akantha swung her axe upward in an attack intended to unbalance one of the pincered demons. It had the desired effect, but her opponent’s inhuman balance and speed nearly overcame her as it counterattacked with a pair of clacking swipes with its claws intended to sever her arms at the biceps. She managed to duck the first, and she brought her weapon up to block the second, which clamped onto her axe with vice-like power. She was instantly caught in a battle of strength with the monster; a battle she was certain to lose eventually.
Admiral's Lady: Eyes of Ice, Heart of Fire Page 11