by V. Lakshman
Brianna moved forward, withdrawing one of her clear patches. She carefully applied it to the man’s chest and watched as lines appeared on its surface. She then withdrew a metal tube and dialed one end, then pressed it to the patch. Arek heard a hiss, then Brianna put the tube away and said, “Now we wait.”
“From the looks of his belongings,” muttered Kisan, “I’d say this is Duncan.” She didn’t sound sorry he was in such a horrible condition, but thankfully she didn’t make any other comment. Arek knew he would’ve lost it had the master been her usual self.
He looked back at the man Lilyth said was his father. That eye still looked at him unwaveringly, the same pale blue color as his own. He leaned forward then and said softly, “We came to rescue you. I . . . I’m Arek.”
The only indication he’d heard was a slight widening of his one eye, though whatever Brianna had done seemed to be having some slight effect. It might have been his imagination, but it looked as though some of the swelling had reduced a bit around the other eye and the man seemed to be focusing more.
“Water . . .” A whisper croaked past cracked and bloody lips.
Arek undid the small canteen he carried and poured a bit onto the man’s lips, letting him wet his tongue. Then he poured a bit more, drops at a time, so as to avoid choking him. The man swallowed slowly, then more as his throat eased open.
“The damage is pretty extensive,” Brianna offered, “but repairable if he—”
A sudden crack sounded and Brianna’s cheek was opened by a lash of a thorn vine. She fell back with one hand over the cut as more cracks sounded. Arek rolled, feeling the scorching bite of at least one lash across his back before coming to his feet. Facing their party were two vaguely humanoid trees, one holding Duncan’s limp body while the other attacked them with vines that snapped out with blinding speed.
The Watchers reacted. Orion dropped his leading wing in front of Arek to protect him from the thorn vine’s whips while Helios dived in and covered Brianna with his own body.
He looked at Silbane and said, “Wood gholems! Use your wings!”
Instead of risking his feather blades so close to Duncan, the master yelled, “Yetteje!”
The princess acted instantaneously, pulling and releasing arrow after arrow as if she’d been born with the bow in hand. The bolts of fire struck the closest gholem in quick succession, driving it back toward the other. Every arrow burrowed in as if it sought the creature’s heart. At the same time, the bow let out a hungry keening sound as the gholem fell back, fire immolating it from within. Arek wondered if Yetteje’s bow liked to kill, an odd thought at this moment, yet it felt strangely appropriate.
Into this melee flew a black streak that was Kisan, her razor wing cutting into the gholem even as she spun and sliced through the vines holding Duncan aloft. Her large size in this smaller space hampered her normally fluid movement and instead of slicing completely through the gholem, the master merely managed to cut the vines holding onto Duncan before falling to her knees. It was enough. The red mage crumpled into a heap and Yetteje let her arrows fly in earnest, her target suddenly clear.
The wood gholem didn’t retreat. Instead it sent out an echoing screech, then lashed at Kisan as she rose. The vine thorns grabbed her by the wrists and pulled her in, her armored form becoming a shield for the creature as it continued its attacks.
Arek saw green tendrils race across the floor. They enveloped Duncan, then continued, entwining around Brianna’s legs. The dwarven woman pulled, but to no avail, her legs stuck fast as if in irons. They came closer, and Arek started to become angry. These creatures had tortured his father, leaving him at the edge of death’s door. They continued to attack without mercy, and he’d finally had enough.
Blackfire blazed from his skin, forcing everyone back. He reached out and grabbed a vine and his blackness spread, racing back along the green tendril and consuming the creature completely. In the beat of a heart it dissolved into black dust, one final shriek marking its obliteration. Beneficent and healing energy surged through him, making him feel stronger, clearer.
“By the Lady!” Kisan swore. She’d been entangled along with Brianna, and though Arek’s black flame had not hurt her, it was clear she’d underestimated him. He cursed himself for losing control and revealing any of his power, but he liked the fear he saw in her eyes.
Finally, it was Brianna who said, “That’s going to wake up the neighborhood. We need to move!”
Arek nodded, ignoring the wide-eyed stares. He grabbed his father’s robe from the table. The man had levered himself up on an elbow, and Brianna had moved over to help him. She was able to pick him up easily given her size, at least enough for Arek to hastily drape the robe over his body. He looked at the man, still blood-soaked and gruesome, but now looking more like a man than a flayed piece of meat.
Then, surprisingly, a smile appeared and Duncan reached out with a trembling hand to gently squeeze Arek’s shoulder, “Son . . .”
Arek locked eyes with his father as tears blurred his vision. He nodded, then looked away, the sight of what had been done now hitting him in a way he could not express.
Brianna said softly so that only Arek could hear, “They didn’t spare much. If we hadn’t arrived . . .” She let that trail off, Duncan’s fate clear.
Arek felt his fury building again. In the strangest of coincidences, he and his father had both been victims of Galadine torture. A sudden and overwhelming hate for the king and his family threatened to distract Arek. They seemed to revel in torture, inflicting pain and suffering on anyone they chose. Lilyth was right. Under Valarius’s rule, what mercy could Edyn expect? He himself would have been permanently maimed if not for Tempest’s intervention! He held himself in check. The darkness was only the merest thought away, but he’d already lost control once and did not intend to do so again. Not yet.
“Come on!” shouted Kisan. “We can’t stay here.”
Silbane moved up quickly, changing his form and meeting Duncan eye to eye. “Where is Niall? Have you seen him?”
Duncan nodded in recognition, but was unable to say anything intelligible. Arek couldn’t make out a single word.
“He’s going in and out of shock,” Brianna said. “He needs time to stabilize.”
“We don’t have it,” Silbane said. “We’re going to have a lot of company.”
“Up,” croaked Duncan, looking vaguely in that direction.
Silbane asked, “Niall is up?”
Duncan’s head lolled back as he slipped into unconsciousness.
Silbane cursed and changed form, taking stock of their situation. He asked Brianna, “You have him?”
Duncan couldn’t help, at least not until Brianna’s magic had healed him more than his current condition, and who knew how long that would take?
“Yes, but we really need to keep him still,” Brianna replied. At Silbane’s look she sighed and conceded, “Just keep us in the center.”
Silbane nodded. “Ash: you, Yetteje, and Arek flank Brianna. You’re the last line if we fall, so keep your heads in the fight. Orion, up front with Kisan. Helios and I will take the rear.”
He turned to Kisan and said, “Head upward, hopefully Duncan will recover enough to guide us.” He grabbed Kisan’s shoulder as she began to turn, and met her eyes.
“There’s no one I trust more than you. Do what you do best. Bring ruin upon them.”
“Finally,” Kisan said with a dark smile.
He smiled back and gave her shoulder a squeeze, before turning back to the group and falling into formation.
Arek felt a little useless, but the arrangement kept him close to his father, something he was grateful for. As they moved to the door he saw Orion touch Kisan on the shoulder. He shrank enough so that he didn’t have to stoop and could better maneuver in smaller spaces. He was telling Kisan to do the same.
A moment later she, too, had managed to reduce her size and the look she gave Silbane spoke volumes. Clearly she had not known she
could do this, and when Arek looked back his master confirmed it by saying, “Nice to learn something new,” before he too shrunk himself to a more manageable size given their surroundings.
The group made their way out of the room, only to enter a latticed hall made entirely of light wood. Armored forms in blue streamed toward their position, light glinting dangerously off sharp points and keen edges. That gave way to what looked like hundreds of elves flooding the corridor before them. They could only fit six across, limiting their ability, but their ranks were twenty or more rows deep.
Kisan and Orion lowered their shoulders and each put an armored wing in front. They raised their rear wings so that the feather tip faced behind them, like blades held for a throw. At some unheard signal, both flicked their wings forward, the motion a blur barely discernible to Arek’s eyes. A storm of blades flew forward, feathered death slicing through the main body of elves. The result was carnage.
Blood splattered in vermilion arcs as feather blades sliced through soft, vulnerable spots. Elves in the first rank fell screaming, clutching their throats, only to be bowled over by those charging from behind. The hall, with its tight width, became a killing ground. No elf that came within five body lengths of the two war angels survived. Kisan and Orion were just too lethal, their synchronization a ballet of death. The rear ranks started throwing spears in desperation but the two had lowered their forward wings, deflecting them. For a moment, it looked as if everyone in front of them would be killed. Then reinforcements poured out of an adjoining tunnel and the elves regrouped and charged anew.
Kisan looked at Orion and smiled from behind her forward shield wing saying, “Ready?” A black blade appeared in her hands, razor double-edges gleaming in the soft light.
Orion laughed. “Always, Artymis. Let us show them our true hearts!” That was followed by a short silver spear with a long blade appearing in Orion’s hand. The Watcher’s eyes crinkled with pleasure. At his nod, they braced as the surviving elves hit their wings in a shockwave designed to overwhelm and overrun.
For a moment, Arek thought they might succeed. Their wings bent inward and blade points showed through. Their feet were pushed back, sliding on the wooden floor slick now with elven blood. He leaned forward and tried to brace Kisan while Ash did the same with Orion. Brianna ducked, covering her charge with her own body and positioning herself to keep from impeding anyone as their tiny formation was pushed back.
Their backward slide continued as each sought purchase on the slick wood. More blades and spears stabbed through. Thankfully, they did no damage. Then, Kisan’s foot stopped, as if the master had had enough. Arek heard her grunt, her head bent down and her leg flexed. At some unknown signal both Kisan and Orion suddenly grew in size!
It was only then that Arek realized both of them had been subtly shrinking as the elves pushed, drawing them deeper in and into a tighter mass. Now they exploded forward, throwing back the lines as their tight formation returned the force of their transformation through the entire group of elves. Though they did not exceed the tunnel’s dimensions, their sudden change gave them the advantage they’d needed.
Their counter was grim and violent, stabbing as they marched forward. Kisan and Orion went to their grisly work. Their blades, wings, and spears sliced and stabbed through the elves with brutality, entering mouths, eyes, and necks, avoiding armor and ensuring death. No words were exchanged between the two, just grunts of effort.
Then Kisan yelled to the back line, “Kill what we miss!”
Ash understood and reversed his grip on his blade to more easily stab downward. Screams of those falling were first cut short by being trampled, then cut off permanently by Ash, who did his work with silent pragmatism. Arek watched him, committing to memory the firstmark’s willingness to show no mercy when it meant their lives. Then his group surged forward as if a sudden barrier had been released and Arek got his first glimpse of what lay ahead.
They’d exited onto a landing, a circular wooden platform with another set of stairs spiraling up from there. Craning his neck, Arek could see dozens of platforms like this one climbing up the inside of what looked like lattices made of trees. What grabbed his attention most, though, was the immensity of Avalyon. He was wide-eyed, surveying the elven city spread out before him. How in the Lady’s name could they escape all this?
The interior was immense and giddying in its openness, and it was coming alive like a nest of disturbed hornets as thousands of elves became aware of intruders in their midst. The interior was a maze of tree limbs and open air, more suitable for flying than walking, in Arek’s opinion.
Silbane must’ve felt the same because he looked at the group and said, “We’re taking to the air.”
“Agreed,” snapped Orion grabbing Yetteje and eyeing the tunnel they had exited from as he grew to his full height. Sounds could be heard that could only be more soldiers coming. It was clear this platform would soon be overrun. Each winged person of their party took someone, with Brianna and Duncan carried by Silbane.
They leapt into empty space, and for a gut-wrenching moment Arek felt himself freefalling and clutched at Helios’s armor in desperation. The Aeris lord’s wings snapped open and he flew into a swooping dive that turned into a spiraling climb as they found a warm column of air rising near the center area. He heard something and then saw a bolt of fire shoot past him and back in the direction from whence they’d come. It was Yetteje, firing back at the platform from under Orion’s arm, setting the wooden landing they had just been standing on ablaze!
Even as Arek watched, more than a dozen elves ran forward with flexible vines that spurted water, dousing the fire before it could do any serious damage. However, Yetteje’s attack had bought them the few precious beats needed to get out of the elves arrow range. She didn’t say anything, just looked at Arek and nodded.
The person who had it worst was Ash, who had squeezed his eyes shut, not daring to look. Kisan held him as she wheeled above them, taking the lead as they made their way for an opening and blue sky. A sound drew Arek’s attention below again.
Elves boiled out of the tunnels, like fire ants defending their nest. They came armed with bows and spears but held their fire as the quartet pulled out of range. Still, because they were climbing, more elves appeared on landings above them. Arek was sure they would come under withering arrow fire at any moment. When they didn’t, he couldn’t understand why, until the attack came.
It was not by arrows but surprisingly from above, by a contingent of winged elves. They slashed with blades drawn as they fell like direhawks after a sky serpent, right through the group. All four defenders spun clumsily out of the way, burdened by the people they were carrying.
As Helios desperately rolled, the tip of an elven blade caught Arek’s shoulder, slicing through the muscle. Blood welled but he clamped a hand over it and gritted his teeth. He could tell the wound was small but deep and he felt thankful for the Watcher’s agility in the air. He had no doubt if they’d been a few hands out of position that blade would’ve gone through his neck instead. He knew he had a few moments, then the pain would start, making that arm potentially useless.
Kisan closed her wings into a ball and tumbled with the firstmark held to her belly, then rolled onto her back snapping her wings out again and going after them. Ash let loose a short scream as Kisan’s diving pursuit ended with one elf losing a wing and spiraling out of control. The master swooped back into a climb like a ballista, shooting up toward them.
She didn’t see the lead elf had circled back with his vanguard in a loose V, but Arek did and tried to scream a warning. It was too late. The elven commander hit her hard in the back, causing her to drop Ash and cartwheel out of control. The firstmark fell again, his scream now one of real terror.
The others all reacted, diving either for the elves or for the falling form of Ash, but they had not counted on Kisan’s puissance. The black-winged master tucked and hit a tree lattice with the balls of her feet, then used that cont
act to throw herself into a dive like an arrow . . . after Ash. Her wings stayed folded against her back like a bird-of-prey as she shot past the elves on her left and right. As she passed, Kisan threw her blades to either side. One entered an elf’s neck; the other went through his companion’s sternum. Both stopped flapping, rolled over, and fell in lazy spiraling circles, like the autumn maple seeds Arek liked to watch as a child, except these trailed blood behind them.
Kisan continued her plummet and disappeared into the gloom. The last thing Arek saw was one arm outstretched as if she were trying to catch Ash, but he couldn’t see the firstmark; both were swallowed by darkness..
Then Orion shot past them with Yetteje standing on his back. Arek blinked, unable to comprehend how the princess could balance on the Watcher in flight, but she seemed affixed to him, her footing firm. She drew and fired arrow after arrow, immolating the leader of these winged elves with an arrow that burned his head clean off, leaving his neck a blackened stump. That body followed the others into the darkness like a smoking leaf spiraling down and away. Because of Yetteje, their interior “sky” was soon filled with dead or dying elves, a veritable bloody autumn brought on by Valor’s wielder.
For a moment there were no attackers, but given the size of the city, it was doubtful it was over.. Their aerial fight had taken them out of arrow range of the platforms below, but whatever lay above might be even more dangerous. Arek found himself centering, using his mind to calm himself and ignore the growing pain from his shoulder.
The circular opening they had been making for drew near, a hole cut into the top of the city leading to blue sky above. It promised escape from the eager bowmen, though perhaps not from more winged assailants.
An explosion sounded from below. A ball of fire blossomed, igniting trees and leaves as it rolled upward. Arek looked at Silbane, but he seemed just as surprised. Another explosion sounded, deeper in the city, followed by the lightning crack of what could only be a large bough breaking. The explosions were immense, their power reverberating inside him. Arek looked at Yetteje, who looked up from her bow and shook her head. It wasn’t Valor . . .