The Rage of Dragons (Book of the Burning)

by Evan Winter

  "There's two more Indlovu coming."

  "They're mine," Tau said.

  Yaw looked at Tau like he'd lost his mind and then, little better to do, he followed his orders, dashing to Chinedu and Oyibo's defense.

  The two remaining Indlovu came on and Tau smiled at them. "I will give you pain."

  The leading Indlovu, a head taller than Tau, stopped, shook his head and laughed. "Let's see if I can knock your brains back in place, Lesser."

  He charged and Tau grinned like he was sun-sick. The Indlovu, in his eagerness, had left his partner behind.

  The first touch went to Tau, who ducked under the Noble's head strike and blasted him in the shin with the edge of his strong-side sword. The Noble fell and Tau spun, whipping his blades in a shining arc that ended in dual hammer strikes across the falling man's back.

  The Citadel fighter hit the ground in a clamor of bronze and expelled breath. Tau kicked him in the face and smashed the pommel of his weak side-sword into the man's temple. That done, he rose to face the next Indlovu.

  "I will give you pain," he told the man and, this time, his words were given weight.

  The Indlovu tightened his grip on his sword and his eyes thinned to slits. Tau rushed forward and the Indlovu jerked back, surprised by the suddenness of Tau's movement. Tau was on him then and so were his swords. His swung them with hatred, smashing the dulled blades into the Noble's body and shield. Every time the Indlovu sought to bring his weapon to bear, Tau slapped it aside and hurt him.

  That was when he heard the woman scream again.

  He thought to himself, "I'll be with you shortly," but the world went dark as she engulfed him, and everyone else in the narrow path, in a torrent of enervation that blasted his soul from his body and sent it spinning to Isihogo.

  Tau was still in the path, in the fake city in the Crags, and yet he was not. It was as dark as night, but he could see, though what he saw made him wish he couldn't. The Enervator was there, but she was cloaked in shadows as dark as Dragon-scale. She was hidden. The others, though, shone bright with the golden energy of their souls, and this had attracted the nearest demons.

  The closest one was a mass of shard-like bones that pierced the shell it had in place of skin. Its eyes were bulbous and red and its razor teeth were as long as Tau's fingers. It shambled towards Tau and he scrambled back. It gave him no thought, choosing to fall on the Indlovu Tau had been fighting. The young Noble opened his mouth to scream, but the beast had already clamped its jaws around his face and ripped the man's nose, lips, and tongue away. The Noble fell, what was left of his mouth open but voiceless, eyes darting back and forth in terror.

  Tau took another step back, desperate to hide, desperate to get away. He could feel the Enervator's hold on his soul, locking it to this evil place. He sought her out, but had lost sight of her among the swirling mist.

  "Tau!" It was Yaw, his voice a thin and distant thing, like a deadened echo. Tau looked over. Yaw was only a dozen strides away, suffused with a golden glow. Tau looked down at himself, he was lit too. He moved to go to Yaw and held. A demon had found his sword-brother.

  The thing shared nothing with the one still feeding on the Indlovu. This one was squat, not quite reaching Yaw's shoulder, but it bristled with muscles, like a perverse rendering of an Enraged Ingonyama. It snarled at Yaw, its thick lips dripping ichor and revealing blunt crushing teeth. Yaw fell backward, calling for help with his underworld-muted voice and the demon went for him.

  Tau resisted every impulse he had and ran away from his fear and into combat. He raised his sword, surprised to realize he still had it, and swung it onto the neck of the demon attacking Yaw. The blade struck true, biting into the meat of the thing. It howled, reared, ripped the sword from Tau's grip and clawed at him, catching his forearm and ripping away the skin like it was paper.

  The pain was instant and furious. Tau drew his arm back, near to blacking out from it, and lashed out with his remaining sword, slicing the demon across its chest. It reared, roared, dropped to all fours and charged him. Tau braced himself, thrust hard for the place he imagined the creature's heart to be and was bowled over by the mass of demon as it crashed into him. They went over, tumbling along the swampy muck of Isihogo.

  Tau lost his weapon and his sense of up or down. He tried to kick the demon away but was like a child in its grip. He prayed he'd killed it with his last sword thrust but its eyes centered on him and it dove for his neck.

  Tau raised a blocking arm to stop it. It clamped its jaws around his elbow and bit down, crushing through skin and bone. He screamed as the pain, horrifying in its intensity, hit. Then, the agony threatened sanity itself when the beast swung its head back and forth, jerking his whole body about and tearing his destroyed limb to shreds as the light came back to the world.

  "Tau! Tau!" Yaw was standing over him.

  Tau scrambled away, his back banging into the wall behind him. "Run! Run! It's on me." He looked at his arm expecting to see a ruin. It was whole. He searched himself for the pain that had tormented him. There was nothing.

  "Tau, listen to me, we're out," said Yaw. "You... you saved me from it."

  Tau took a steadying breath and, wide-eyed, looked around the path. The Enervator was on her knees, crying. The Indlovu, the last one Tau had fought, was scrubbing his hands across his face and gibbering on the ground in front of her. The Indlovu that Oyibo and Chinedu had faced was lying in a fetal position, his body wracked with tremors.

  "What in the Goddess' name," Tau said, his voice shaking.

  "She held us too long," said Yaw.

  Tau stood on weak legs and took a step towards the Gifted, ready to risk the wrath of the Citadel, Nobles, and Isikolo. He would give this incompetent wretch a piece of his mind. She heard him coming and looked up from her knees. She was young, more child than woman, and she looked small, lost, scared. She was a... she had been a Low-Common and the curses Tau had been ready to sling slipped away.

  "What did you do?" he asked and she just wept.

  Yaw came over. Through her tears she saw him and she raised an arm as if to ward him off or maybe cast another wave of enervating energy. It was too soon and her powers wouldn't be back, but Tau couldn't help it, he backed away in fear.

  "None of that Lady Gifted," Yaw said as his fingers brushed the top of her shoulder. "I've touched you. You're out of the contest, neh?"

  She didn't speak, but she did nod.

  "Tau, Oyibo, Chinedu," Yaw said, "let's get back to the circle. We'll help the others and tell them the Enervator is down."

  "I can't," said Oyibo.

  "What?" asked Yaw.

  "Oyibo took the Goddess' mercy before... before the rest happened," Chinedu explained. "This one," he indicated the quaking Indlovu, "he was... a thing got him and it..."

  Tau had trouble finding his voice. "Alright, us three then, let's go," he said, gathering up his fallen swords.

  "Lady Gifted," Yaw asked, "you'll see to the Indlovu here? You'll call for the Aqondise and Umncedi when we go?"

  She didn't answer and her eyes were shut tight.

  "I'll call out," Oyibo assured them.

  "Let's go," Tau said a second time and the three men trotted down the path, back the way they had come and towards more fighting.

  SKIRMISH

  When Tau emerged from the path and into the harsh light of the wide open circle he counted seven Indlovu fighting just eleven of his sword-brothers. The fighting was fierce and not going well for Scale Jayyed. The skirmish had broken down into smaller contests and six Indlovu fought in pairs. The seventh was backed into a corner, swinging at the three Lessers harrying him. Hadith was on his feet but the Scale's Inkokeli had taken cuts and had an angry welt on his forehead.

  "The Enervator is ash!" Tau shouted into the circle, trying to give his Scale hope. Turning to the sword-brothers with him he gave orders. "Help where you can. We finish this!" he said before running to Hadith's aid.

  "For... the Goddess!" Chinedu crie
d out, coughing.

  Hadith was with two other Ihashe and the three of them were fighting against two Indlovu.

  "I have left," Tau told the three men as he joined the fight.

  The Indlovu on the left was granite thick and had a neck like a barrel. His dark skin shone with sweat and his face was the type that looked like it always smelled offal.

  "He's their Inkokeli," Hadith warned. "I'll stay."

  "Go!" Tau told him. "Finish the other. He's mine."

  Hadith held position.

  "Hadith!" Tau urged.

  Hadith raised an eyebrow at Tau but did as he was bid, moving to engage the other Indlovu with his two sword-brothers.

  The Inkokeli used the reprieve to catch his breath. "You're a fool, Lesser, to try me alone." He raised his sword. "I am Zesiro Opio, Greater-Noble of the Opio family in the Palm, a second cycle Indlovu of the Citadel and Inkokeli of Scale Oyana."

  Tau pointed the ends of his dual swords at the man's broad chest. "I am a Common of Kerem and you will beg me for mercy."

  "Nceku!" Zesiro said, attacking.

  Tau did not back down. Tau gave no ground. He met Zesiro Opio in the circle of the Crag's fake city and went to war. Their blades flashed and flickered, faster and faster, as the men wielding them lunged, spun, deflected, and parried.

  Zesiro, Tau realized, was a brilliant fighter. Zesiro, Tau realized, was good enough to beat him, if Zesiro had not already fought under the hot sun on a long morning against overwhelming numbers and the well-trained men of Scale Jayyed.

  Tau had also fought hard but Tau took himself to the breaking point every day. Every day he pushed further than the day before, making himself a little stronger, a little harder, a little faster. The sword was his religion and, a devout disciple, he sacrificed to it without end.

  So, amid a melody of metal, Tau Solarin and Zesiro Opio burned across the circle grounds like a wildfire, each man reaching deeper than they had ever done before. One man fought, ready to die. The other battled, thinking it impossible to lose. But thinking a thing has never been enough to make it so, and Tau could see fear set in when Zesiro Opio realized he wasn't winning.

  The Noble couldn't keep up and Tau's blades kept getting through. Desperate, in pain, Zesiro raised his shield, hiding behind it, unable to slow the onslaught. Tau's blades bashed the bronze disc from every angle and Zesiro, hopeless, yelled for help as Tau, merciless, came up and under the bronze disc, cracking the hand there and breaking noble fingers.

  Zesiro howled, his sword flying from his ruined hand, and Tau did not stop. He increased his pace, refusing to let the Goddess' mercy take this man's beating from him.

  "Zesiro Opio! Greater-Noble!" Tau roared, smashing his strong-side blade against the cheek plates of the Greater-Noble's helmet, breaking the bones beneath and cracking the Indlovu on his temple. "A name? A Caste? They will never shield you from me!"

  Zesiro Opio did not cry out in pain and he did not beg. Instead, he slumped forward, flopping to the ground, unconscious. Tau, trembling, screamed his victory at him, seeking satisfaction, finding none. He licked his lips, no spit to wet them, and looked for the next fight.

  Hadith and the two men with him had downed their lone Indlovu. The man was on his knees and had a gash on his head. He gawped at Tau, flinching when Tau stepped in his direction. Tau ignored him. The man had surrendered. He was nothing.

  There were two pockets of fighting left, three Indlovu and nine Scale Jayyed men. The odds were in their favor and Hadith pointed to two Scale Jayyed initiates fighting a single Indlovu. The four of them rushed over and the Noble, seeing the count at six to one, surrendered. The six sword-brothers joined Chinedu, Yaw, and Runako, who had been losing to the last two men of Scale Oyana.

  They surrounded the holdouts, forcing the Indlovu to go back-to-back. Tau, too tired to be effective but refusing to give in to his exhaustion, pushed forward.

  "It's done," Hadith called out to the Nobles before Tau could engage the men. "We're nine, you're two. The Enervator is out of the contest and your Inkokeli is down." Hadith pointed to Zesiro Opio in the dirt. Seeing Opio broke the smaller of the two Nobles. He looked ready to drop his sword.

  "We don't lose to you!" The older and bigger of the two Nobles said.

  "Not usually," said Hadith. "Today is different." He waved his nine men forward and they came on, swords bristling.

  "I'll take mercy from no Lesser," the larger Indlovu told Hadith.

  "Nor should you," Hadith said. "Only the Goddess grants true mercy. It's her I'd like you to ask."

  "Lutalo..." cautioned the younger Indlovu.

  "Shut it," Lutalo told the man at his back.

  "Goddess' mercy," Lutalo's sword-brother said, lowering his sword.

  "To ash with you," Lutalo swore at his fellow. "Rot in Isihogo, all of you!" He raised his sword to fight and the circle of men, swords ready, pushed closer. Lutalo eyed the men, grimaced, and threw his sword down.

  "Say the words," Hadith told him.

  Swordless or not, Lutalo looked like he was about to take a run at Hadith. "Goddess' mercy," he growled, and the circle of Lessers erupted in cheers.

  LEGEND

  Tau and the rest of the Scale stayed to watch the next skirmish. Emboldened by the efforts of their Southern brothers, the Northern Isikolo fought hard. At times it looked like they might force a draw, but the Citadel Enervator waited, holding back her powers until the Northern Scale were crowded together.

  She caught sixteen men in her blast and the Indlovu ripped through the rest of the Scale, punishing the Ihashe for daring to believe they had a chance. The match ended with more serious injuries than was typical for a skirmish.

  Tau and his sword-brothers attended to the Northerners. They carried men to the nearby infirmary and helped those who had been sent to Isihogo recover as best they could.

  The loss, and the Indlovu's brutality, cooled the heat the men felt from their win. But, as Tau and Hadith carried a northern Ihashe, his leg broken by an Indlovu blade, the fires burned again.

  "I saw you fight," he said to Tau and Hadith. "By the Goddess, I've never felt so proud to be a Lesser."

  Hadith smiled so large Tau thought his face might split.

  "I wanted to win. I fought to win," the Northerner said, "because you showed us we can."

  Tau grunted, which the man took as encouragement. He raised his voice, calling out to the men on the battlefield and beyond. "Victory! No enemy stands before the rage of Dragons! Where we fight—"

  Tau wondered if the man had taken a blow to the head when the rest of the Ihashe, to a man, shouted the response to the ancient Omehi battle cry. "The world burns!"

  The Indlovu, stowing their gear as they readied to leave for Citadel City, watched the shouting Lessers, a strange look on their Noble faces.

  "The world burns! The world burns! The world burns!"

  As the chanting broke down to general cheering and hooting, the man with the broken leg clapped Tau on the back. "They'll splint this and then I'm celebrating with you!"

  "Celebrating?" Tau asked.

  "In Citadel City, we'll drain the drinking houses dry!"

  Hadith had that grin on his face again. "Yes, we must. What is Uduak always saying? I have a thirst!"

  They dropped the Northerner off at the infirmary, promising not to leave without him. Hadith gathered up the rest of the Scale and even wrangled Anan and a visibly proud Jayyed into the group. Together the combined forces of the Southern and Northern Isikolo invaded Citadel City, heading for the largest drinking house they could find.

  Good to his word, Hadith bought Tau's rounds and Yaw told the story of 'Tau's Path.'

  "We're in the path, thinking to hold it against an Indlovu or maybe two, and bearing down on us are four of the bastards and the Enervator!" Yaw paused, giving his audience enough time to be properly impressed by the odds. "I'm a fighter, no doubt about it, but I was near to soiling my breeches. No shame in it, not when facing four Indlovu and an
Enervator."

  Yaw pointed a finger in Tau's face, a hand-stride from touching his nose. "Then, Tau here, he turns to us and says, 'charge them.'"

  Tau didn't remember it like that but stayed quiet.

  "He gets onto the first Indlovu and does his thing." Yaw waved both hands around in the air like they were swords. "And, like that, he beats the Noble to pulp. I'm over there with Chinedu and Oyibo and we're giving the second Indlovu a good go. He's a giant of a thing, bigger than Uduak by two or three heads."

  Tau didn't think the man had been that large. Yaw had the audience though. Tau could see that. Even Jayyed, who had stayed to drink with them, was leaning in.

  "So, we're busy fighting this tree of a man, which leaves Tau with two Indlovu and the Enervator. She's standing there, nose in the air, knowing her Noble protectors are going to break Tau's head in two. Only thing is, someone forgot to tell that to Tau."

  Yaw raised an eyebrow, looked round the room, catching the eye of every man, making the story feel told for their benefit alone. Other than Yaw's voice and Chinedu's occasional cough, the place was silent.

  "The Indlovu go for Tau and, I swear to the Goddess and my mother, Tau tells them, I swear it, he tells them, 'I will give you pain!'"

  For a breath the room was silent until, as one, the men went wild, roaring their approval and stamping their feet. Yaw let the cheers go as he nodded his head like nothing less was expected or deserved. Then, patting the air for silence, Yaw continued the tale. "I will give you pain, Tau told the Noble bastards, and then... he did!"

  The room exploded again and jugs were slammed on tabletops, backs were slapped, and MasMas was spilled.

  "He dropped two Indlovu while me, Chinedu, and Oyibo are doing all we can not to get run through by one."

  Tau felt their eyes on him. He tried to look stoic or something. He wasn't sure what was expected. He wanted to explain that he didn't fight the two Indlovu at the same time and that he only said what he had to make them angry enough to come at him one on one but someone distracted him, shoving an overflowing jug of MasMas into his hand. He had a jug in each.