Light of Epertase 01: Legends Reborn

by Douglas R. Brown

  Dru lined up alongside the two. “Where’s their response?”

  Rasi shook his head that he didn’t know. He looked toward the many old, wooden bridges spanning the ravine. They remained empty and calm.

  The wait seemed worse than the battle could possibly be. Rasi had forgotten such anxieties that preceded the fight until his angry stomach reminded him.

  Late afternoon arrived before the first signs of Tek activity began. The ocean of soldiers swayed like ripples of silk, first from the back, then through to the front. Distant puffs of smoke rose into the air.

  Rasi watched.

  Alina watched.

  The Epertasian army watched.

  The sea of Teks parted, forming large pathways like preplanned roads from the rear to the front lines. The soldiers moved like a well choreographed act. They were well trained, their steps flawless. The distant puffs of smoke grew larger and nearer as a low rumble filled the air.

  The first sight of their smoke-belching, wheeled machines was stunning, bigger than any horse-drawn carriage Rasi had seen.

  One of the rolling monsters advanced close to the edge, let out a thunderous belch and squealed to a jerky halt. A final blast of thick, black smoke puffed from several skyward-pointing pipes along its roof. Throughout their forces, the other machines found their places and mimicked the first.

  The Tek soldiers swarmed the machines like bees to honey. They climbed up the sides and ran along the tops until the machine was buried beneath them. Long, rigid hoses extended from the machines’ underbellies and stretched into their masses.

  Something clicked within Rasi. That’s it. Aidric spoke of their need for the black blood. That is why they waited to attack; they needed their thirst quenched first. Now’s the time. Rasi lifted his arms high above his head. His straps did the same.

  Another roar rang out from the metal monsters, pouring smoke from their stacks. They’re feeding, he screamed in his head. Alina’s eyes lit up. She raised her arms to mimic Rasi. He looked to Dru over his shoulder and Dru pressed the tusk to his lips again.

  Rasi waited. The timing had to be perfect. Let them feed and drench themselves in the black blood.

  Wait!

  The Teks danced while their suits drank the blackness with ungodly delight. As the liquid spilled out, they worshipped it, bathed in it, swam in it. They were in ecstasy.

  Waaaiiit!

  The enemy troops slithered against each other, consumed with their orgy of pleasure as they fed.

  When the machines could no longer be seen beneath their armor, Rasi grinned. This was the time. He threw down his arms and straps.

  Now!

  Alina did the same. Dru’s instrument let out another ear-piercing squeal.

  The catapults launched a new wave of fire into the air. As they soared over Rasi’s head, the swarming Teks froze, staring at the fresh balls of death. They’d been caught and they knew it.

  The explosions erupted all around the metal monsters. The Teks tried to scatter like roaches but they were too slow. And then it happened.

  One of the explosions landed close to its mark.

  A blinding, beautiful fireball kissed the sky in a mountain of flames. When the smoke cleared, the metal machine was little more than rubble. Dead Tek bodies littered the ground around it. Then another one ignited. The concussive blasts blew heated air across the ravine. Rasi shielded his face with his arms. Tek bodies sailed through the air, some of them in flames, others in pieces.

  Ka-boom!

  Another and more wonderful blast of exploding death erupted from deeper within their ranks.

  Keep it coming.

  Alina screamed, “It’s working.” She turned to Rasi and yelled, “You’re a genius. You’ve done it.” He’d rarely seen such excitement in her face. Though he knew the battle wasn’t close to being over, he didn’t want to take this victory from her.

  Additional equally impressive explosions filled the landscape as Teks scrambled to find safety from the deadly infernos.

  Rasi’s horse lifted its front legs and whinnied proudly. Rasi’s adrenaline rushed to his head. His heart slammed against his breastbone with the force of a battle-axe. His straps snapped at the air. The ground war was close. He gritted his teeth.

  Alina, while they’re in chaos. Now is time for attack.

  Rasi raised his right hand into the air. Alina, he screamed in his head. Stay on this side of the ravine when we cross the bridges.

  “Dru,” she shouted. “Prepare for advance.”

  “Of course, Queen.” He put the horn to his mouth.

  Alina, on my com …

  He couldn’t finish. The ground shook. His ears popped. A blast of scorching air slammed against him, knocking him from his horse. He thudded to the edge of the ravine, nearly sliding into the abyss.

  He lifted his stunned head to focus his eyes on his frantic army. They scattered, searching for refuge from strange projectiles in the air. Another explosion, this one deeper within his forces, threw Epertasian body parts skyward. Rasi looked around. He lost his breath. His stomach knotted. Where’s Alina?

  An Epertasian soldier knelt in front of him, terror across his face. His lips moved but Rasi heard nothing but a dull, constant ring. He tried to shake away the fog while he stared at the screaming soldier’s lips.

  The soldier screamed, “What do we do, si …” Cut off mid-sentence, blood sprayed from the back of his head and he collapsed face-first onto Rasi’s chest. His body quivered as he died. Rasi shoved him aside and twisted toward the Tek front line.

  Small puffs of smoke trickled from the end of long, cylindrical instruments aimed from their shoulders. Rasi’s ears began to clear. He rose to his knees. Alina, he screamed in his head again but she didn’t answer. His horse staggered past, blood trickling from its ear. Rasi pushed himself to his feet and grabbed its mane. The Teks raised their death instruments again.

  Pop! Pop! Pop! More bursts of smoke rose from their weapons. Rasi threw his hands in front of his face as his horse let out a wail, then fell to its front knees.

  A hand grabbed Rasi’s shoulder and spun him around. Several straps wrapped around the assailant’s neck before Rasi realized his assailant was Dru. The straps relaxed.

  “Commander Rasi, we need to stay low and withstand their assault.”

  Rasi grabbed Dru’s shoulders. “Aena! Where Aena?”

  “I don’t know. Allusia raced past me a few moments ago. The Queen was not with her.” Rasi clenched his jaw and breathed angrily through his nose. More devastating explosions erupted from his forces.

  He caught a glimpse of the front line of Teks as they raised their death instruments once again. He tackled Dru to the ground an instant before another series of pops rang out. More good soldiers dropped as their souls poured from their bodies.

  The Tek weapons were incredible. Ruthless. It wasn’t a fair fight.

  The Epertasians hunkered down as best as they could. Throughout the night, the explosions lay waste to Rasi’s forces and he was helpless to defend them. He crouched below the enemy’s wicked assault and crawled along his front line, searching for his love.

  Dru raced past him again and again, fearless and barking orders along the way. “Stay low to the ground,” he yelled. “Dig holes if you can. Hide inside the craters left by their explosions. We must endure until morning.”

  Each relentless, fiery concussion was followed by new waves of agonizing screams and cries.

  The night was brutal; the enemy, unyielding. One look around and Rasi knew it was about to get worse.

  CHAPTER 63

  INFILTRATION

  Simcane stood with his team atop a sand dune that reached as high as the tallest castle peaks and overlooked an unimaginable sight. His soldiers stood equally in awe as they stared at what used to be a desert wasteland but now resembled a strange, new civilization. Thick, twisting smoke rose from gigantic, cylindrical structures, filling the night skies. Giant tree-like towers spewed inky liquid into
the air, turning the desert sand to black. Strange and fantastic metal creatures rolled along the sand between thousands of tents and bonfires littering the desert floor.

  From their perch, Simcane and his group saw six pond-sized areas peppered throughout the campsite where no fires burned in the dark. This was their heart. This was where their pits of fresh machine blood lay.

  “Our enemies’ essence is before us,” he said. “Our time of sacrifice for our beloved Epertase has arrived. May the gods see us through our mission and grant us mercy if we are to stand before them in the afterworld. But with the gods on our side, by tomorrow’s nightfall the dark sand will be red and the flames will be seen all the way into Thasula.”

  Without being told, Eldon descended the sandy hill and disappeared into the night. B.J. and Simcane waited atop the dune. Joseph and Gillian circled to the left as Willum circled from the right.

  Simcane knelt next to B.J in the cold sand. Three Teks stood guard next to a torch’s flicker at the foot of the dune. Small orange dots flared near their mouths from each puff of their weed sticks. The guards’ black-stained clothing was more fitting for peasants than soldiers, but be they slaves or combatants, it made little difference to Simcane.

  B.J. aimed his bow and arrow and pulled his arrow back against his shoulder. He waited for Simcane’s command.

  His arm twitched with the tension.

  Simcane waited.

  A tall, lanky shadow projected onto the smokers’ tent.

  Simcane grinned and leaned into B.J.’s ear. “Fire at will,” he whispered.

  A whoosh of air whipped past his face. A dull thump rang out followed by a Tek worker’s gasp. The worker stumbled to the side, an arrow protruding from his chest. The other two guards stood up, obviously stunned.

  With the gracefulness of angels, two long, skinny arms extended from the darkness and clutched one of the workers by his head. Even high on his perch, Simcane heard the snap. The other Tek turned to run but Eldon was on him like a lion. Blood sprayed from the Tek’s mouth as he too fell. Then, like a calm ocean wave, Eldon vanished back into the darkness.

  Simcane and B.J. navigated the perimeter to set up again. Another arrow soared, Eldon attacked, and four more Teks died.

  Simcane whispered, “Easy work, my friend. I hope the others are having as much success.” He shook B.J.’s hand. “This is where we part ways. You know where to meet when we are through.”

  B.J. rushed into the night.

  Simcane snuck past the first pit and dozens of tents filled with sleeping Teks. He wanted to kill each one of them for what they had done but he was a good soldier and his mission came first.

  An unsuspecting Tek rounded one of the sleeping, wheeled machines into Simcane’s path. Simcane dispatched him without a sound.

  Another group of Teks rounded the nearest pond of blackness, oblivious to the intruder in their mist. Simcane hid between a towering, sleeping machine and the dark pit as they strolled by unsuspectingly. Once the patrol was out of sight, he snuck around to continue his advance.

  As he passed the head of the machine, it coughed and sputtered before coming to life. Simcane looked around for somewhere to hide. He knew such a rumble would arouse the others and cursed himself for overestimating how early the bastards rose. A pair of Tek tents rustled to his fore and he raced between them to hide. This was going to get bloody.

  CHAPTER 64

  AWAKENING

  High up on Shadows Peak, Tevin opened his crusty eyelids. He had no idea where he was or how he had gotten there, let alone how long he had been unconscious. He looked around. A cave! He was in a cave. His brain stabbed at itself like the worst hangover he’d ever had. The light hurt his eyes so he buried his face in his hands.

  An image flashed through his mind. Siver!

  He clenched his left fist, then his right, remembering a time not too distant when they weren’t equally strong. He recalled another face. Rasi. The memories flooded through his mind faster than he could comprehend them. He remembered the all-encompassing fire and the feelings that followed.

  He took a step and his legs, both of them, burned with power. He took another step and his body came to life with an unbelievable energy beneath his skin. He was stronger than ever before.

  The cave was mostly quiet except for a strange distant thunder echoing from behind the cave. He listened closer. No. It wasn’t thunder. It was explosions – the types of explosions caused by war. Elijah! The war has begun.

  The air was bitter but he hardly noticed, almost high with the burn inside him. His feet barely made contact with the ground as he exited the cave.

  He began the long walk down the mountain path, letting his mind wander to when he was a boy in Tiffin. He remembered the bullies and, finally, everything made sense. Their accusations of his great-great aunts, their taunts about his great-great grandmother and how she had been banished to the wastelands for witchcraft-fraud, everything came together. But it wasn’t fraud. They were indeed witches and they passed their gift through the generations. Elijah’s fire had unleashed their magic within him and may the gods help anyone who stood in his way.

  Elijah and I will rule forever. The Light will never leave us. This I vow.

  CHAPTER 65

  THE FIGHT FOR EPERTASE

  Rasi stared at the broken and bloodied bodies that surrounded him. The soulless eyes of the fallen stared back and he wondered if he could ever forgive himself even if the gods eventually did.

  Warm Epertasian blood flowed past his feet, stopped only by dams of massacred corpses. The stink of death permeated the air and he feared he would never be free of it. The hair on his arms matted together in clumps of blood, some dried and some fresh. He sucked in lungfuls of oxygen while watching the Teks prepare for their onslaught.

  Dru grabbed his shoulder. “We’re being decimated,” he screamed. “We need to advance.”

  Rasi shook his head defiantly. His men fell by the hundreds, maybe thousands, but if he attacked now, he was sure he would lead them to slaughter. But just as painful of a thought was the knowledge that staying in place was an equally futile plan.

  The enemy wasn’t weakened enough. Unbelievably, they had already gathered their composure from Epertase’s initial onslaught.

  Dru screamed again, “I understand your reserve, Rasi. But we can’t endure much more as it stands. We have to advance. I know these men. They will fight hard.”

  Their heart wasn’t what Rasi questioned. He clenched his eyes and gritted his teeth.

  He needed more time. It went against all of his meticulous plans, but what choice did he have? He nodded his head, defeated, fearing he had doomed them all. He didn’t have more time.

  Dru blared into the tusk with all of his might. Then he screamed, “Chaaaaaaaarge,” until his voice broke like a pubescent teenager’s. A collective battle cry reverberated from his naïvely gung-ho men. The ground rumbled with their footsteps.

  All along Havens Ravine, the bridges filled with Epertasian warriors, met by their Tek counterparts. The bridges creaked and swayed and threatened to crumble. Teks and Epertasians alike hurtled over the sides to their deaths, only to be replaced by more warriors.

  Epertasian mothers should be proud of their sons this day.

  The front line of Teks bustled with activity. They wheeled thousands of horse-sized catapults to the edge of the ravine, forming a wall of sorts. All of the metal catapults cocked back as one and then sprang forward, hurling thousands of armored Tek soldiers across the ravine. Rasi watched, helpless, as they soared over his head. Their steel crashed against Epertasian steel as the armored Teks slammed like boulders into waves of Epertasian forces, knocking them to the ground. The Teks bounced to their feet and engaged.

  The catapults flew again; another thousand soldiers collided.

  With their human payloads delivered, next the catapult operators knelt and pointed weapons that were similar to their death-making sticks, only much larger.

  A chorus of
clanks rang out. Metal spears attached to stiff chain ladders rocketed from the ends of their weapons, embedding into the dirt and rock of the Epertasian side.

  Dru pointed and screamed, “They’re coming across. Knock out those chains.”

  Epertasian soldiers rushed to the edge and dug the ground away with their swords, but the anchors were set to deep. The first waves of Teks came across and were met with Epertasian swords. A lot of them fell, but more of them reached the land and their goal.

  Rasi joined the battle, swinging his ineffective sword madly while his straps hurled screaming Teks to the belke slug. More and more Teks poured across the ladders, too many to hold back. Rasi and his men held their ground.

  The first Teks were followed by small squads that carried large, wheeled weapons straddled side-by-side along the ladder bridges.

  This was it – the battle for Epertase’s future and, though Rasi had hoped to fight it on their side of the ravine, it was what it was.

  Along the many wooden bridges, the Teks pushed back the Epertasians. One of the bridges in the distance snapped and collapsed beneath their weight, sending Teks and Epertasians alike to their doom. The satisfied screech of the belke slug echoed from below.

  Rasi staggered back to catch his breath. He scanned the battlefield. His men were driven backward. He hadn’t enough troops to withstand the onslaught and he knew it.

  On the enemy’s side, the Tek’s explosion-making machines grumbled forward like gigantic snails and repositioned for new attacks. Rasi could only hope they wouldn’t fire with their own men in their sights but from what he knew about their brutality, he was likely wrong. He could only trust his plan. If his strategy was sound, the Teks would soon be out of their black blood. And, if Simcane was as good as the legends told, more of that blood wouldn’t arrive.

  The faint concussions of war could be heard at the enemy camps where Simcane lie hidden between Tek tents. The rolling fortress in front of where he hid lurched forward. The individual grains of sand around him vibrated and tumbled over one another like millions of scurrying tan ants.