The light spread from the front ranks backwards, fanning out from each Intoli, like the span of a hand. It touched more and more of the light-skinned beings. On and on it went linking to each of the Intoli, passing through the humans and Giants that stood amongst them dumbfounded.
It had happened again. Tilden had done this to Tyla's people, the Lyrats. The details were different, but the outcome was the same. Tilden had perverted the Lyrats from their path, bent them towards hatred and then set them on a course towards her home Mashesh. And now the Intoli were ready to do the same to the Giants, but why?
When Tilden had come to Mashesh, he wanted to flush out Wist and to gain petty revenge on the city that had cast him out. What did he hope to achieve this time? She discounted veiled messages about her being the instrument of his triumph. Either he believed this to be true, which was madness, or he sought to mislead her.
Why had he intervened? Why use her to break into Tyla's mind? What had he wanted to see? Or what had he wanted her to see?
The light around her flickered, and it brought her back to the present, back to the Intoli's baptism of light. It happened again, but this time she noticed that the light was not failing or dimming. Rather, there were flecks of black in the beams of light; specks of pitiless darkness in the heart of the light.
The Waren were there inside the light. The animate darkness that attacked her outside Mashesh danced in the light, immune to its power. Beside her, Sevika bowed her head, accepting her excommunication from the light. Then the sharp streaks of light were gone and the moon was all they had to see by; that and the few torches and campfires that battled the rain – rain that grew colder by the moment.
The Sakti of the Intoli turned and walked from them, her task complete. Aviti collapsed on the ground and Sevika sat beside her, as the rain began to thicken and sleet began to fall.
-*-
As the army moved out, the sleet turned to snow. Little of it lay, but the ground underfoot churned up until it became thick mud. Aviti had never seen snow. At first, she the snow fascinated her. She watched all the individual motes drift in the air, but when they landed and stole the heat from her flesh, she grew to hate them.
She wished that she had not hacked off her hair. It would have offered her some protection against the cold. So she pulled up the blanket she wore over her robe. She pulled it up all the way over her head, making a shroud like the one her mother used to wear on those rare occasions she ventured outside.
The army spread out as it moved, making a vast wave that crept over the land. The sun and its dark twin joined them on their westward march. Around midday, they paused atop of a hill. Beyond it was a vast valley. It swept downward towards a rift in the ground that ran from the south towards the north. A gap in the rift comprised of unbroken ground lay westward of them. On either side of the gap was a rock face.
Aviti expected orders to be announced or a stirring speech from the Sakti, but there was nothing. As one, they began to march.
A roar went up from across the valley; the Giants had come to meet them. They poured through a gap in the valley. And they were huge. Aviti gaped at these fierce monsters that screamed and yelled abuse. Some of them wore basic armour, but most wore no obvious protection. Aviti saw the glints of reflected light from the weapons they bore. She had seen them before when she had swept a portion of their army away in the flood. Now they looked larger; more substantial, more real.
The Giants finished moving out from the gap and set themselves in a semi-circle. They stood shoulder to shoulder, row upon row of them. Then the shouting stopped and they began to thump their feet.
Each beat sent out a tremor. The Intoli moved on regardless, ignorant of the land's complaints. When they reached the point where the hill flattened out, the Intoli stopped again. Without delay, the Intoli launched a volley of magical energy via their human slaves. Dozens of streaks of burning light tore through the sky. Aviti held her breath.
The Giant's thumping beat died when the missiles were fired. The leading missile exploded above the heads of the Giants. They flinched beneath the burst of light. Another explosion followed the first and then another as the missiles shattered above the Giants, but no harm came to them; none that Aviti could discern. Something was out there, something that resisted the Intoli.
When the last of the attacks failed, a different set of Intoli and human slaves launched missiles. These ones floated rather than cut through the sky. The Giants awaited their fate in silence now. None of them ran or retreated. They stood resolute.
This time the missile split into thousands of shards of glimmering light. The sharp spikes of silver dropped down on them, looking to cut and slice.
But as before, as they neared the Giants, the missiles vanished without a sound.
A roar went up from the Giants. It began with a single Giant shouting defiance at the Intoli, and then the rest began to join him. To Aviti, it sounded far more like desperation than bravery.
In reply, a single Intoli moved to the head of the Intoli army and he dragged a sallow-skinned human with him. They stopped and let the snow fall onto them; the Intoli, with his brass bar in his hand and the semi-clothed Human, with his teeth gritted.
For moment after moment, they stood and let the snow collect on them. The Giants' shouting ceased and they watched the Intoli. The Intoli and human gave nothing away; they remained in place, waiting or preparing.
A Giant bearing a spear broke from their ranks. He stormed forward, running at the Intoli. The Giant was too far away to have any hope of reaching the Intoli before… Before what?
Aviti's unspoken question was answered as the Intoli that stood before the army threw out his hands. The human convulsed and fell to his hands and knees, and the ground rose to meet him. The earth rippled, racing out towards the Giants.
The Intoli looked up as a wooden pole hit him squarely in the chest. It was as wide as the Intoli, and it buried him in the snow, scattering his blood over the white canvas of the hill. The Giant, who had spilled the first blood of this battle, would never celebrate his strike. The Intoli's wave passed under him, but it collided with the ethereal force that protected the Giants. The concussion was cast outwards, away from the Giants and back towards the Intoli. The unfortunate Giant was caught in the blast and it ripped him apart. It turned a ton of muscle and fortitude into unforgivable horror in an instant.
This battle was only moments old, and killing sickened Aviti.
The human that had generated the shock wave turned. Aviti hoped he would run, now that he was free of the Intoli's imprisonment, but he wandered across the front line of the Intoli. Aviti watched as a mote of light danced away from the dead Intoli.
Save us.
But there was no time for Aviti to consider the implications. The Intoli army began to advance. At first Aviti and Sevika did not move. They and the rest of the Intoli who were paired with humans remained behind, allowing the Intoli fighters to lead.
The Giants took up their beat again. And this time they sang.
Bring your heart and leave your soul
Make peace with the world and
War with your foes
Shake fear from your bones
Gird your loins once more
Break them down.
Smash them down.
Dull blades cut no flesh.
Open hands break no bones.
So leave your love and bring your hate,
For war has come today.
The Intoli did not react to the Giant's song. The Intoli continued to march, with their warriors marching in unison.
The Queen of the Intoli walked beside Aviti and Sevika. Ravan was absent. Aviti had not seen him since the previous night. She had assumed that he would be at the front of the Army, using her to smash the Giants out of the way. After all his bluster and pronouncements of doom, he was another coward.
The first line of the Intoli unsheathed their swords and fell onto the Giants, and the Giants responded in kind
. The blood began to fly. The Intoli were fast, faster than Aviti could have believed, faster even than the Lyrats. But the Giants were powerful.
The Giants in the front row were slaughtered in seconds. They were not fast enough, and the Intoli cut them down with their vicious blades. But the Giants struck back. The swing of a hammer sent several Intoli flying through the air, broken and lifeless. A curved blade arced down through the light Intoli robes, and even the magical protection that these offered was not enough to stop the killing stroke. The ground around the battle began to run with the blood of the fallen.
Sevika and Aviti moved closer to the front. She could make out the features of the Giants that faced them; faces contorted with hatred and fear. She had resolved that she would not kill today. This was not her fight; it never had been.
As they approached the fighting, Aviti shuddered. She saw Sevika flinch too. Aviti prodded a spot of ground and the feeling came again. The sensation that had passed through Aviti was laced with the familiar oily touch of Tilden. She looked about for him, but he was still nowhere to be seen.
Then she looked up. The Intoli's magical attacks failed here; where they had met with a barrier.
Tilden. Why would Tilden be protecting the Giants?
Then they were forced to stop. The Giant's semi-circular defensive formation made the Intoli cross the gap in the broken ground in small numbers. The Intoli could bridge the divide as they had attempted to do before, until Aviti had swept it aside, but the high walls on the far side would prevent them from flanking the Giants.
Aviti felt the ranks of Intoli pushing in behind her. She could smell the human slaves. They stank of filth and neglect. They would die, or they would be burned out and left to roam the earth as the Damned. Aviti would not be transformed to an animate corpse; she would rather end it all.
But she would rather live and be free.
She could hear the roars from the Giants as they pushed back against the Intoli's onslaught. A body of a warrior flew over the front line. It landed near to them, near the Sakti of the Intoli. Sevika flinched once more as it bounced and landed again. The body, which was lacked its head, rested against Queen's feet. She glanced down and then stepped over it.
The Queen's robes were beginning to disintegrate. They were now grubby, torn and blackened instead of diaphanous. And the killing went on and on, and the Kalsurja rushed on in pursuit of the Sun.
22 - Tread Lightly
They ran for three days and three nights with little rest and no sleep. They had not taken supplies other than what they would need to get them there. Every able Giant had come. Those at the front, where Nikka, Haumea and Durach, the king of the Giants were, wore armour and weapons. Nikka knew that those at the rear would be fortunate if they had anything more than farming tools to fight with.
Nikka head pounded and his legs were stiff and aching. What little rest he had taken whilst waiting for the King to move had been consumed in the first morning of this trek.
The urgency was still there, but the Giant's appetite for war had gone. As the snow fell, the army grew quiet as each member of its ranks looked inwards for solace or courage.
One of the scouts ran up to Durach, as he returned from his patrol in front of their position. 'They are fighting on the far side of the crags,' began the Giant. 'They have taken up a strong defensive position, but the Intoli horde it is... It is vast, my King.' Durach nodded, as if he had expected this information, and then he signalled for the scout to return to their duties.
'Haumea, Prime Glaine,' said the Durach speaking loud enough so that his words would carry to as many as possible through the wind and snow. 'I hand the army over to you for now. Then Haumea's king took a theatrical step to the side and Nikka smiled to himself.
Haumea paused and looked down the valley. She and Nikka had gathered all the information that they could about this place. Few paths lead into the mines at Dilsich. These paths were formed when cracks in the land had widened during the Cataclysm. Now they ran across the ground like unhealed wounds.
The town of Dilsich lay to the north of the mine with the same name, but they would gain nothing by moving the army that way. Despite the easier passage, due to the wider paths in the north, it would cost them too much time. They would have to filter south, through narrow passages, to reach their kin, and their foe.
Haumea had decided that to split the force. This would allow them to go through the three biggest channels in the bedrock. The King would take a force to the northernmost path, Haumea would lead the largest section of the army through the central path and Nikka would lead a small force south, with Treibhreas in support of Nikka. Nikka had argued against having himself as a leader but Haumea had insisted, and the King agreed with her. Treibhreas had not been pleased.
Nikka smiled as he looked at the Giantess. Then he stepped forward and stood beside Nikka and the King. When Haumea turned to face the Giants that she lead, Nikka saw her hand slip on the white staff, but she recovered her grip in an instant.
She stood and looked over them, but gave no speech, for they all knew why they were there. Instead, she barked some orders, telling the warriors who to follow and when to move. Then she nodded to her King and turned to Nikka.
'Leaving me with the farmers and servants?' asked Nikka.
'But Nikka, this is what we agreed.' said Haumea. Nikka laughed and smiled at the Giantess.
'You need to relax,' said Nikka. There were grumbles from the warriors who heard his remark, but Nikka ignored them. Haumea put her hand on Nikka's shoulder and moved with him a few steps away from the warriors.
'Nikka,' she said. 'Nikka, what am I doing here? I cannot lead this army. I have no knowledge of war. How can I expect seasoned warriors to follow a vagabond cripple from the Uram Plains?'
'And what do you expect me to say, dear Haumea?' said Nikka, his eyes narrow and hard now. 'Do you think I have the answers to your insecurity? Do not look to me to shore up your faltering courage Giantess. The time for panic and fear is not now. It is still to come.'
Haumea blinked and then she smiled her crooked smile. She put her arms around the Cerni in an awkward, lopsided embrace, and then she turned from him. Then she raised her staff above her head.
'Giants, march!' she roared. Then she spun about and walked down the slope into the stone maze of sunken paths. The warriors marched. Nikka moved south and Durach north. This allowed Haumea to lead her section of the army forward. They could not wait for them all to move on though, so Nikka signalled to Treibhreas, who waited at the head of his section, to move. Nikka sighed when, after the briefest of pauses, they began to move south to join him. Concurrently, the middle of the huge line moved north to stand with their King.
Nikka paced as he waited for the Giants to reach him. They were taking too long. They had to increase their pace. He ran back towards his portion of the Giant army.
'Do you want to let your brothers and sisters die for your lack of effort?' he roared at them. 'Shall history record that the Giants lost this fight, of all fights, because they would not get off their massive backsides?' It was not fair. He was shouting at Giants who had abandoned their homes and children, spouses and lives, to march for days. The payment they would receive for their sacrifice would be either death now or starvation in the winter that would follow. But he also knew that he must.
He beat out a brutal rhythm with his hands to give the Giants the pace he needed. Treibhreas growled at him and took up the beat, banging a massive spear in time with his steps. Nikka would have to run to keep up, if his old bones would let him, but he had known it would be so. If these Giants would move for him then he would move for them. So he ran south and the couple of hundred Giants in the column behind him followed.
Fighting was an old acquaintance to him. War was not new. He had ended at least two and started a few more. Murder and assassination were also well known, but he had eschewed that way of life, when years of imprisonment in the darkness beneath the mountain had broken his
spirit. He had never marched at the head of a force. Back in his days of being a sellsword, he had sometimes travelled with his kin, but he had executed his best work alone.
The march south took them too long. Haumea would be well ahead by now. They would have to make up the time. He cursed to himself as he forced the Giants to move faster. They hated him already, but he had never aspired to being popular amongst Giants.
They turned into a wide path that led down into the smaller catacomb-like cracks. At first, the way was easy going; a small, gentle slope, with compact dirt that stayed dry due to the wind blowing the snow over the gap. This allowed them to maintain their pace for a while, but soon the ground became hard and the snow landed. In the tight, stone channels that they passed through, the Giants slipped and slid. Nikka pushed them as hard as he could. His size enabled him to move between the Giants, bullying them, harassing them, driving them on.
Eventually the paths became too narrow. If he continued on this way, he would be too late.
'You,' he said to Treibhreas. The Giant snarled at him and spat, all pretension had been scoured from the Giant on this march. Treibhreas despised him, but Nikka did not care. 'Take half the men … the Giants and take that path.' He turned away and started to move down the main way. Then he stopped and turned back. Treibhreas had not moved.
'Do not be afraid, Prime Glaine.' Nikka said with a grin. 'Just keep turning right and you can hand the troops back to me. Then he turned back and marched off. He grinned as he heard the old Giant roar at his charges.
Nikka continued to move his portion of the army through the maze of paths, moving east whenever possible and north when he could not. Just when he thought that he would be forced to split his force again, he arrived at his destination.
The Redemption of Wist Boxed Set: Books 1 - 3: The complete collection Page 55