by H. T. Night
As long as we kept the numbers on our side, we would be able to control our kill shots. There would be a point where enough of them would get through. If they stayed and fought, we would have a long day ahead of us.
I looked at the east and saw the first glimpse of the sun.
It was time. It was now or never. I nodded my head at Tommy and his first group of Carni men transitioned into werewolves.
All of the Mani went to the east side of the compound to lie in wait as the Krull enemy exited the wine cellar in a panic.
It all came down to this moment. Everything that had happened to me was coming to fruition. My time was now. Would I be a legend or a martyr?
Game on!
Tommy kicked down the cellar door and was the first one through the cellar. The first dozen wolves were in and to put it simply, they were to eliminate the enemy. They were to kill them where they lay, awake or not. This was war. A war that Krull and his Mani had started.
I heard commotion and fighting and I had an adrenaline rush like no other. Everything I was called to be was coming to pass in this moment.
I looked up into the sky as I transitioned into the great white eagle. I felt the blessed hand of the Triat on me. I flew over the cellar to the east side as the first few enemy Mani made their way out. They were disoriented and disorganized and my men were the opposite. As the enemy Mani transitioned into ravens, Hector and his raven men began attacking in threes. One by one, they attacked and eliminated our enemy from this earth. As each bird would exit, three of my men would poke their necks with their beaks. Then a rotation started happening. As Hector and his men became tired, Helen and her men took over. Once Helen’s crew became tired, Yari and her crew took over. This went back and forth until Hector, Yari and Helen’s men had to all work at the same time to get to all the Mani exiting the cellar, like ants fleeing a flood.
“Josiah, I’m through the fourth corridor—we have killed everyone in the first three rooms.” Tommy had sent me his telepathic message.
“Good job, Tommy,” I thought. “Keep moving forward; don’t let anyone slip by you. I’m coming in.”
Then a giant raven with a white stripe flew out of the main house, followed by eight to ten more ravens and they flew their way into the cellar. Just as we planned, Krull and his men were now in the cellar, trying to hide from us and from the sun. It was time for my second group to follow them in.
“Tommy,” I yelled in my head. “Krull and his men are through the front. I’m coming in with my men.” I flew in after Krull’s group, followed by my ten werewolves, including Yomaida.
As I entered the cellar, I transitioned into the great white wolf. War was a very ugly thing. What I had to do with my werewolf counterparts was as horrid and punishing a task as anyone could imagine. I constantly reminded myself that these guys were given a choice and they decided to go against the prophecy. Each Mani I killed, I offered them up to the Triat for mercy. But kill I did.
Krull and his men were doing some damage. I had lost a couple of wolves to his hands. We couldn’t let Krull and his men get past Tommy and his men. He could lead his men forward and the probability of him getting most of his men through the maze of rooms safely was gigantic.
One by one, we killed Krull’s lieutenants and captains. We had made our way through the third corridor. My men went ahead and instructed them to push past Krull and join up with Tommy’s men. As I made my way to the fourth corridor, I was surprised at what I saw. Krull had come back.
Here we were, just he and I in a corridor, all alone. I stayed in my werewolf form.
“You think you can take me? You filthy dog?” Krull yelled out. His eyes were filled with a desperate madness as he knew everything he had worked for was being taken from him in a matter of minutes.
I leaped onto him with my giant werewolf body. Although I had anger in my heart, and I wanted to rip his eyes out of his head, I tactically fought him, instead of letting anger drive my actions. I knew Krull had been fighting werewolves for hundreds of years. He knew the fighting weakness of a Carni. The weakness is that werewolves are grounded. Although there wasn’t a lot of room in the fourth corridor, Krull had enough room to fly over me. Our fight began to resemble a fight that one might see in a video game such as Streetfighter or Mortal Kombat. We were forced to face off with each other. We could only move backward and forward. It was just like an old-school video game.
We traded blows for about three minutes. I would push into him and he would leap over me and get me either a kick in the air or one when he landed.
It didn’t matter if I was a werewolf or not, every time I fought, the world went into slow motion. He was clearly beating me and I began to grow frustrated with my werewolf body, but was afraid to tip my hand and transition into my Mani form.
Krull was at the west end of the corridor and I was at the east end. It was a classic showdown. I decided that it was now where I would fight him, one on one, Mani vs. Mani. I transitioned into my Mani form.
Krull stared at me and called out, “How many advantages will one man have?”
“The Triat leveled the playing field!” I yelled back at him. “They figure you have hundreds of years of experience. My only dream is to be all the things you’re not!”
I fully expected Krull to attack me, but he didn’t. He did something far different. He ran. He fled at the west side exit. I chased after him and as Krull hit the sunlight, he quickly transitioned back into his raven form and flew high into the sky.
As I exited, I transitioned into the eagle and saw that Krull’s ravens that had made it through were now gathering in the sky with Krull. I knew that once they had a large number of ravens that had made it past us, that was when we need to retreat and get back home and wait for them to pursue us there, where we were ready with the second battle plan.
At this point, there were only a couple of hundred Mani enemy ravens. We still had them outnumbered outside. I flew back to the east side. The three crews led by my friends attacked each enemy Mani as they exited, and I noticed that our kill success rate was at about 50 percent. Tommy had informed me that they had killed over 500 men inside the wine cellar.
Krull now had close to 400 men who had joined him in the sky. It was now time for us to retreat.
“Tommy,” I yelled in my head. “Pull back and leave through the west-side exit.” I gave the signal with my wing to Yari, Hector and Helen that the first battle was over and we needed to leave extremely fast.
Our first battle was a huge success. We had killed more than half their men and left another couple hundred too injured to fight.
It was time for phase two.
Chapter Thirty-four
I had all the Mani fly back to the house in Victorville. Fortunately, we lost no Mani during the first battle. Several were injured, but none gave their lives.
Unfortunately, eight werewolves died inside the cellar but thank God, Tommy and Yomaida had survived without any injuries. Tommy and his fifteen survivors transitioned back to Carni and took the next train back to Victorville. They would arrive back home around 3:00 p.m.
When my men and I arrived back at our compound, we all headed into our bunkers. We crammed in there, very similar to the sardine mess we just exposed over at Krull’s vineyard.
Once each of us entered the bunker out of the sunlight, we transitioned back to our Mani forms.
We celebrated as each of us entered the bunker with hugs and high fives. The plan that Sion and I came up with was executed perfectly. It was time for all of us to regroup and get into position for Krull to come for us.
Wyatt showed up from his plane trip from Amsterdam. That gave me an additional Mani superstud, along with Atticai. Atticai was up in the house.
I told everyone to make room for one another and rest. The second the sun went down, we would get into position for phase two.
Everyone had the bloodthirsty look in their eyes, and I wanted that, too. It was the nature of war. Soon, this would be over.
I asked Yari to join me in the house. As we entered the house, Yari asked, “How you holding up?”
“I’m fine,” I said. “We didn’t lose a single Mani.”
“How do you feel about their side?” she asked.
“Their side is of no concern to me,” I replied.
“Josiah, it’s okay if you have empathy for their souls. That’s who you are. I understand that you have told yourself to not look back. But also be true to your nature. It will only benefit you and make you greater as this continues.”
I nodded my head. “My heart goes out to their misguided selfish natures. Anonymity is what keeps us strong. We’re in the shadows. We take what we need, and then we’re gone. Krull’s plan to expose us to the human race and then wage war against them is so bull-headed and ignorant that it makes me nuts, just thinking about it.”
Yari stared at me. “Remember this, Josiah. I followed you for two years. I watched you when you never thought anyone was watching. The beauty of your heart is what makes you who you are. The courage that you have deep in your soul will lead us all of us to victory. Remember that. Will you, Josiah? Because you and I know that the real war is about to begin.”
“I know.” I looked at Yari and gave her a hug.
“I am so proud of you,” Yari whispered in my ear.
“Well, this victory isn’t ours yet.”
Yari nodded and went back to the others.
I found Atticai in one of the empty rooms, meditating. The surprises that this man revealed never ceased to amaze me. I stepped into the room and Atticai looked up at me. He asked simply, “Did you prevail?”
“Yes, we eliminated more than half of them. Krull probably only has a third of his army left that are strong enough to fight.”
Atticai was impressed. “That’ll make it a pretty even fight.”
“We’ll have the advantage. We have home court. We are going to have 50 men spread out with crossbows, specially designed to shoot metal stakes cleanly through a man’s neck. My experts have been practicing for months. If you any trouble with Krull at any given time, I’m sure one of my crossbows snipers can shoot him.”
Atticai looked up at me and simply said, “Krull will die from my hands.”
Atticai really wanted this and it was time that I knew why. “Atticai, what exactly did Krull do to you?”
He was quiet.
“It has to be more than the fact that he ostracized you.”
Atticai exhaled and said, “Krull revealed the whereabouts of my biological Tandra family. He let the Carni know where they were. Although I hadn’t shared a bed with my wife in years, I still loved her dearly. She was the mother of my two sons.”
“Two sons?” I asked.
“Pretty profound, isn’t it, Josiah? How you get everything I lose.”
“Atticai, it’s the way things have turned out, but I never took those things or those people from you that you lost. You are a good Mani, and the Chosen One destiny could have easily been your fate—you are certainly worthy in my book—but the Trait chose me and we must honor that. The way I see it, we can help each other by not being constantly at odds with another. It weakens us as a race, not to be united in harmony, as we strive for our common goals. For the good of all Mani, I ask you to put aside jealousy, envy, and a divisive heart.”
Atticai looked resigned. He knew I was right. I saw it in his face. “Josiah, just promise me one thing: that you allow me to kill him.”
“I promise.” That was my second promise in all of this. The first was to Lena that I would live. Atticai asked if he could meditate alone. I told him to knock himself out.
Wyatt arrived and I briefed him on his role. His job would be the north end of camp. He looked well rested. Good, because he was the only one. Well, he and Atticai.
***
It grew dark and it was time for everyone to get in position. Tommy and his immortal fifteen werewolves returned. I stood in front of my army and explained to them that it was simple, a numbers game.
We would allow them to attack us, but we would defend. I had Wyatt defending the south end with a hundred of his soldiers. I had Hector defending the west end with his hundred men. Yari had the east and Helen, the most experienced warrior, had the north end with 150 of our best fighters. We built a wall around the compound. It would take the trumpet of Jericho to tear down this wall.
Unlike what happened to Krull, in which we surprise-attacked and pushed them out to one particular side, we were going to defend all four corners with most of our men. Fifty of our fighters were designated as crossbow snipers. The remaining Mani, along with Carni, would fight in the middle. Our job was to hold strong. There would be no reason to leave. With Atticai occupying Krull’s attention for as long as he could, this would leave his army without a leader.
My job was to fly overhead and to spot any weakness on our side and theirs. I needed to do what I did best: Kick as much ass as I could, and defend my turf.
My men were ready and now waited in position. To my surprise, Krull did not come right at sundown as I expected. Hours went by and we held our positions. I was beginning to think this wasn’t going to play out the way that Sion and I anticipated. But... at the stroke of midnight, we heard the buzzing of a thousand ravens flying through the sky. Then in packs of a hundred, Krull’s men flew in from all four sides, just as Sion and I had anticipated.
They were as organized as a depleted army could be. At the very front was Krull. It was Atticai’s job to get his attention and to steer him away from the battle, near the south end of our compound.
As a second battle broke out, Krull’s men were out for vengeance. They wore metal breastplates that came to the neck, and had furs similar to Vikings. As they landed on the ground, each member of his platoon transitioned in unison. They were a sight to behold. But, so were we. We were definitely a more clean-cut group, but I had my rock stars.
I flew around the battle and watched as all four sides defended their posts. Wyatt led his group and fought his side straight up. Helen’s side was cleaning house, which was suspected, because she had the toughest of our fighters.
Both Yari and Hector’s sides were not doing as well. Each side was being pushed back. We couldn’t let them penetrate and reach another side of the compound. We needed to keep them isolated.
Krull had pushed his way into Hector’s side, leading his large group of Mani men. Sion’s calculations were that he would enter from the north end, but we were wrong. Hector’s army was being taken over at a rapid rate.
One by one, I saw my men vanish in the night. As they were being executed by a Krull army, they were delivered painful executions from a vengeful army. I did my best to fly in and attack these brutal warriors. I was only one individual, but I managed to take out a good share of the enemy.
I had taken out a dozen of his men with crisp attacks from the sky, ramming my eagle beak through the necks the same way that I once killed Atticai.
After I finished off another man, I flew back up to find Krull. I spotted him from the sky. Krull was annihilating my men. I watched as Atticai tried to make his way to where Krull was. Atticai was having a hard time getting to him. I waited as Atticai killed man after man to get to where Krull was standing. I watched as Krull finished off men from my crew. As I looked down, the battle reminded me of Braveheart—both carrying swords and spears, making their way to the middle where the other one was standing.
Watching a Mani war was not your typical fight, as everyone attacks the neck, opposed to one’s chest. It would be pointless to strike a Mani anywhere but the neck, and no one wasted that kind of effort, on either side. The neck was the clearest kill shot. There was a lot acrobatic lunging on both sides, where everyone was out to protect their head, while simultaneously, going for the neck of their opponent.
Finally, Atticai and Krull were face to face, with fierce expressions on both their faces. Both men flew up in the air at the sight of the other one. This was going to be a battle
for the ages.
“Atticai! I should have known that you were in on this!” Krull called out.
“The only thing I’m in on is watching you breathe your last breath,” Atticai answered.
They were both hovering in midair.
“What makes you think, after all these years, that you could even compete with me?” Krull laughed.
“This will not be a competition. This will be an execution!” Atticai flew into Krull, carrying a metal sword in his hand. Krull fought him off and the two continued to trade blows, each trying to ram their blade into each other’s necks. As far as I could tell, the fight was dead even. I did not have time to be a spectator. I needed to maneuver Helen’s group to the west end and help Hector’s group, which was being depleted quickly of fighters.
I needed for Wyatt’s group to do the same. It appeared that we were winning, although Hector’s group was cut in half. The war continued to move on. I continued to help and we continued to battle. Something had happened and I began to have an out-of-body experience, almost in slow motion and as if I watched from afar. I watched as Atticai and Krull fought an epic battle where both were bloody messes. I watched as my Mani men and women fought valiantly. One thing I was becoming highly aware of, even as I delivered kill shot after kill shot to my enemy: We were winning.
The numbers were now down 300 on Krull’s side and we had at least 400 on our side. We finally outnumbered our enemy. We continued to fight and maneuvered in a way to give us maximum kill success.
I continued to launch into the parts of the battle where I was most needed. I flew down next to Helen in the battle and helped her out. She was being specifically marked for who she was. Someone was watching. As I finished off another enemy Mani, I could see something in the distance. As I looked to the north, I could see Lena and Sion. What the hell were they doing here?