by Robin Roseau
"I see twenty-one," Ralla said.
"I get twenty-two," Malora replied. "There's one in the shadows to the north that's pretty hard to see."
"Oh, I see it," she said. "I'm not used to them standing still."
I saw movement in my peripheral vision, and I glanced to my left. Valan's force was coming over the side of our hill and should now be visible to the demons on the mountain. Nothing happened. Valan paused, watching the foe for several minutes before she began moving forward again.
They were a mile in front of us before the demons began to come to life. It was odd, watching a statue begin to move. As soon as there was movement, Valan stopped.
"That's too far in front," Malora said. "It's going to be close."
"She knows what she's doing," Ralla said.
Valan watched the demons. They weren't leaving their stronghold, but there was movement. We stood there for several minutes, then Valan raised a horn to her lips and let forth a huge battle cry.
There was no reaction from the demons for a good twenty seconds, then several lifted their heads and appeared to bellow, but it was anther twenty seconds before the sound reached us, faint.
But by then, the demons were on the move.
Not all of them, not even half, but far more than Valan and her forces could handle at once. Valan bellowed into the horn again then her forces turned tail and ran.
We watched, counting demons.
"Six," Malora said. "More would have been better."
"Six is good," Ralla said.
Malora judged the distance, watching the demons closing the distance on Valan.
"She's not going to make it. They're far too fast coming down hill. Signal our forces forward."
Ralla lifted a horn and signaled, "Amazons advance, double-time."
From behind us, our entire force began moving forward, a quarter mile run uphill. It would get their hearts moving.
The charging demons were clearly not well organized. We watched as one tripped another. The one that was tripped went down, then sprang up and chased after the offender, but that one pulled ahead, a demon on its tail. I hoped the one behind was faster.
Valen's warriors were running for all they were worth. Malora glanced back.
"Come on," she said. She turned left and set an intercept course for Valen. "Her six plus us make nine, and four of the best fighters amongst us. It will need to be enough."
We turned and began running down the hill towards the north, placing ourselves just uphill from Valen's line of retreat. "Ralla, get their attention."
Ralla lifted her horn and blew into it, a loud challenge. The demons answered several seconds later, but they continued to pursue Valen.
As Valen drew to within a hundred yards, the demons were only a half-mile further. Malora yelled to them, "Valan, past us then turn and hold! Ralla, again! Nori, our reinforcements?"
Ralla blew into the horn again, and the leading demons stopped, spreading their arms wide and bellowing loudly. The ones behind caught up to the leaders and thundered past, still focused on Valan. But the three leaders turned towards us.
"Reinforcements will be late," I said, looking backwards.
"Spread out," Malora ordered.
Ralla moved right, I moved left, and Malora stepped forward.
Pausing the leaders was just enough of a delay. The demons pursuing them were still two hundred yards away when Valan and her warriors ran past us then turned and spread out, taking a line. I heard her yelling orders.
"Get them split," Malora yelled. "Ralla, Valen, horns!"
Ralla and Valan both used their horns, Ralla louder than the mildly winded Valan. The three former leaders remained focused on us, the three newest leaders continued to chase down Valan's group.
I glanced behind. The Amazons behind us were running now, but they would be late to the initial fight.
"More coming," Malora said. "These should be dead before the new ones arrive."
The demons closed to within a hundred yards. We all knew what to do, and there was no need for discussion.
We yelled. The demons seemed to love a good challenge scream. They all came to a stop, bellowing at us.
Six demons bellowing from a hundred yards away are loud.
If these demons were organized, they would all pick one person, form a wedge around a leader, and charge right through us. They could easily kill one or two of us that way without taking more than a scratch. They weren't fast to react, but they ran fast and they were big, very big. Dashing out of the way of a single demon was easily done, but if they formed a wedge, that only meant you'd be running into the path of the demons behind the leader.
They weren't organized.
Malora took ten steps forward and screamed. "Hai, demons!"
Two turned to face her. The third remained focused on Ralla. All three bellowed and began running forward.
I stepped left, coming even with Malora, paused only a half second, then yelled, "Hai, demon!" I waved my sword around, trying to draw as much attention to myself as I could. I hoped one would turn to me, leaving Malora with only one to fight.
I got my wish. One turned, and I felt the voice in my head.
"You are the one called Nori," the voice purred. "We will now battle."
"It will be a short fight!" I screamed.
"Oh no," the voice said. "This is a battle that will last your entire life." And then the demon charged.
We fought, the demon and I. I avoided her initial rush, diving left at the last moment. I missed my slash, and the demon ran forty paces past me before it turned to fight.
"Clever," the voice purred. "You hoped to lead us into a trap." He'd seen the advancing Amazons.
"No," the voice said. "She. I have chosen to be female."
"You have chosen to die!" I screamed.
The other demon voices within me rose, attempting to drown out the new demon I was fighting, but that demon bellowed in my mind. "Silence!" and my old voices quieted again, although not going silent. They were only silent when I spent time with Maya. "I want your undivided attention," the demon said after that.
She advanced on me, ducking her head to point her horns at me. She advanced slowly, almost as I would, then at the last moment, she leapt.
I dashed aside. The leap was graceful, but her muscles had clearly coiled before leaping, and I could tell she expected me to dash right, so I tucked to the left, sweeping my sword out, slicing deeply into a descending leg as she landed firmly.
"Oh, very good," she purred, and she spun. I ducked under the tail, rolled forward, and thrust with the sword. She turned the blade with one lower arm, but I made a long cut along her arm, then rolled backwards before she could pound the ground where I'd been standing.
"Your friends come," she said. "So many of you, but will it be enough? I regret I will not have eyes to watch the entire battle, but I shall watch it through your eyes."
"You will be dead!" I screamed. I ducked outside a swipe of her claws, scoring another slice across her arm.
And then there were two Amazons on my right flank and one on my left. I recognized Clara and Bea. Clara screamed and lunged, and over her head, Bea slashed with her sword. Clara's sword disappeared deep into the demon's flank, and Bea left a large slash across the shoulder.
"Oh, a companion," the demon said. "Should I make her a warrior today?"
"Hai, Demon!" I yelled, lunging, my sword sliding along a lower limb.
But it was one of Valan's warriors who stepped forward with the killing stroke, a solid upward thrust under the rib cage. She rattled the sword, thrusting deeply, severing everything she could.
The demon threw the warrior from her then, a moment later, billowed into dust.
"Well fought," said the voice in my head. "Enjoy the battle. I will be watching."
Breathing heavily, I looked around. Valan's warrior was climbing slowly to her feet, a companion rushing forward to help her.
"I'm fine," she said.
"Nice kill," I told he
r.
"You had it," she said, panting lightly. "I just helped."
"My thanks," I replied. I closed the distance and spoke more quietly. "The demon was about to turn her attention to the companion. Your help was timely." The warrior nodded to me.
I didn't see the last of the original six demons die. There was a moment's pause, then a brief, ragged cheer.
"Stifle that!" Malora yelled. "Prepare for more."
She pointed, and we all looked. The remaining demons had descended their mountain, and they would be here in moments.
"Firm up the line," Malora yelled. "Spread out."
The demons were in a clump, forming the very type of wedge we least wished to see, but then far off our left flank, a horn sounded, and to the right, more horns. The demons bellowed, some of them stopping to do so, and their wedge began to split apart as individual demons answered the individual challenges.
But the main force continued straight for us, and I knew Amazons were about to die.
To our left, Chief Loren stepped forward with five warriors, all carrying horns. They lifted and, together, blew a challenge.
Several demons shifted direction.
To the right, another group of Amazons strode forward, bellowing into their horns, and more demons changed direction.
Their organized charge had fractured, but there were still six bearing down on us.
When the demons reached two hundred yards, Ralla raised her horn, as did Valen. Up and down our line, Amazons were using horn or voice, hoping to disrupt the demons' organization.
Many of the demons stopped, bellowing their own challenges. Only two remained thundering towards Malora and me, then another challenge from Valen, and the leftmost one veered for her, stopping to bellow.
The remaining demon charged Malora, lowering its head. She leapt from the path, rolling away, and I charged in, Clara and Bea beside me. Beyond us, I saw six Queen's Town Amazons assisting Balorie, and behind me I heard more.
I dashed in, lunging for Malora's demon, but it spun, and I barely avoided the tail.
It swiped at Bea, and she fell away, Clara leaping into place to protect her companion. Clara took a swipe of the claws, barely getting the sword in the way. The claws scored a line down her arm, but the demon was bleeding. Clara flew to land past Bea, and Amazons moved between Clara and the demon. Bea ran to her warrior, but Clara waved her off. "I'm fine!" she yelled.
Malora lunged, scoring a strike along the leg. And then all together, the Amazons of Queen's town struck.
Our demon fell.
We looked around. There were pockets of fighting. Then, far to the south, I saw a group of three demons turn tail, bounding away far faster than a human can run. One more picked up an Amazon, threw her, and I knew even from this distance the woman was dead. Then that demon ran as well.
To the north, one more escaped. The rest died.
Missing
The demon incursion was the biggest we had seen in years. All told, twenty-four demons died, or at least their bodies were destroyed. Two Amazons were killed, none from Queen's Town. None of our companions became warriors, which was an unspoken relief to every warrior living in Queen's Town.
My new voice receded, becoming a loud addition to my existing cacophony. I desperately needed Maya.
Malora took two voices, and from the lines around her eyes, I knew they plagued her. She needed Maya even more than I did.
It took two more days before we finished the mop-up, hunting down the demons that had run. That actually wasn't bad. No others were seen. The last night, Malora, Omie and I sat up next to a fire. "It's been five days, Omie said. "Are they still in Green Arrow?"
"Maya will have left not one second later than necessary," Malora said. "They'll have gone home by now."
"My horse is in Green Arrow," I said. "It's only an extra half day to go that way, or I can go alone."
"No," Malora said. "We'll all go. Although I doubt it, they may have stayed there, or waited in Broken Knife, and I for one don't want to face Maya if we go straight home and she's waiting for us somewhere along the way."
* * * *
I've never seen Malora angrier, and Omie was deeply distraught. We made the trip from Green Arrow to Broken Knife in record time, and when we arrived, the companions there gave us more of the story. Yes, Maya and Beria had been there in the morning three days ago.
"Maya told us to tell you they're heading home," Viera said, one of the companions. "I hope they're okay. Beria was in bad shape."
Hearing that, Omie nearly broke down, but I pulled her to me and whispered frantically, "Hold it together until we get out of town. Hold it together, Omie. Maya's smart. She'll take care of her sister."
"If Malora doesn't kill her, I'm going to, Nori," she said. "I hope I have help. She had no right to touch my companion."
"Let's worry about our friends first," I told her. "We need you, Omie. Hold it together."
She nodded and began demanding supplies. But then I saw Malora and she wasn't staring north, she was staring west. I stepped closer.
"What's going on?" I asked. "Maya's fine, and she'll take care of Beria."
"Not here," Malora said. "Keep it quiet. Get us out of here as fast as we can. Take supplies for a week."
"It's only a day home."
"A week. Just do it."
So I went in search of Omie, and we loaded down with supplies. I grabbed another first aid kit while I was at it. Five minutes later, we were on the trail to Queen's Town. We rode for ten minutes before Malora brought us to a stop, turning to face us. Then she looked west again.
"She went home," I said. "Let's go. We can be there by nightfall."
"She went home, Nori," Malora said, her voice dead. "She left us a message. She went home. Home! Don't you understand?"
I stared at her. "What are you talking about?"
"She went home. Not to Queen's Town. To her home. Gallen's Cove."
"She wouldn't!"
"Beria wouldn't leave me," Omie said, her voice in anguish. "She loves me. I know she does. She needs me now. Parlomith hurt her!"
"You didn't hear carefully. Beria wasn't being responsive, and Maya is exceedingly protective of her sister. She's taking her little sister to safety. She's mad at all of us right now. The purple was too much. She's been stressed lately, anyway, and the purple dye was too much. She would have been livid being left behind, especially the way I did it. Now this? She went west, I know it."
"She won't travel through the dense woods," I said. "She'll stick to trails. We'll check the trails, but our best bet is to go home. If she's not there, then we can assemble a team and go after her."
Malora looked at me. "I can't go, Nori. You know I have to stay here. You two will have to go get her, and we have to keep it quiet. You two listen to me. No one can know!"
I nodded. She'd be declared a deserter; they both would. Malora would have to whip them both, and Maya would never allow that. She'd be lost to us. We could jail her, but if Malora touched either of them with a whip, Maya would never forgive us, and Malora would lose her companion.
"We're wasting time," Omie said. "Let's go."
"They have three days lead," Malora said. "We're faster than they are, but they have three days. We need to be smart."
"She'll stick to trails," I said.
"No she won't," Omie said. "She loves the water. They both do."
"She'll follow a river," Malora agreed.
"And I know which one," I said.
"Now we go," Malora said. And then she spun her horse, opening him into a ground-eating trot. The urge to spur the horses faster was high, but if we did, they would burn out and be worthless to us.
At each river we stopped, looking for tracks. "They won't take this one," Omie said at the first. "It's too narrow. Maya would know better." We didn't check it carefully.
When we arrived at the first braided river, all three of us stared at it. "Either they took this one," Malora said, "Or they're safely in Queen'
s town."
"This is the one I was thinking of," I said in agreement. "Yes, either they turned west here, or they're waiting for us at home."
She climbed from her horse, twisting his reins around a convenient tree branch. Omie and I followed suit, then the three of us began inspecting the riverbed, looking for tracks. We headed west a half mile, finding no signs, then returned along the opposite side seeing no more signs.
"How much time do we lose if we go home first?" Omie asked.
"Almost a day," Malora said. "Check it again."
"Check in the water," Omie said.
"If they went through the water, it could be miles before we find a sign," Malora said. "We'd be better to go home and see if they are there."
"Half mile," Omie said. "They were pulling the pack animals, too, and one of them will leave a sign. It hasn't rained, and the water is low, barely flowing. It's shallow, and there are sandbars. Even if she keeps her horse in the water, the ones being pulled behind won't necessarily follow the same path.
So that's what we did, checking the edges of the water, and Omie waded through the stream, checking every sandbar until she stopped and stared.
"Malora," she said quietly.
We both rushed over, and clear as day was a horse hoof print, shoed in the Amazon style, pointing west. We all stared at it.
"Beria," Omie said, pain in her voice. She looked west. Then she turned to Malora. "She's not a deserter! She's not!"
"Neither of them are deserters," Malora declared. "They are running for their lives, and now it's our job as their warriors to protect them. Back to the horses."
We climbed out of the water and ran. It wasn't far.
"You guys take everything, just leave me my horse and a canteen. If we're wrong, then I'll send someone after you with several changes of horses. She'll be able to catch up."
Omie scrambled to grab the horses, but Malora grabbed me, turning me to her. She stared into my eyes, her expression filled with pain. "You find them. You promise them anything. Anything! I'll back you. Get them back here. Both of them. Just do not bring them back the way you did the first time. I don't think she'll forgive us a second time."
"What if she won't come?"
"Challenge me."