The Redemption of Wist Boxed Set: Books 1 - 3: The complete collection

by David Gilchrist

  In front of him was a huge opening. It broadened out from where he stood until it was a mile across from east to west and twice that north to south. Nikka and his Giants stormed through the southernmost entrance to this clearance. The snow lay thick and fresh here and it covered the rock in pristine white.

  The eastern side of the clearance was in chaos. Nikka saw Haumea, her staff high above her head, screaming commands. Nikka could not see any Intoli. The Giants must be holding them at bay outside this open area. His thoughts were confirmed when he marched his troops towards Haumea's. He could hear the shouts and screams from the fighting, the scraping and clashing of metal; the eternal music of war.

  The cold wind bit into his bones here. The air was every bit as frigid as it was upon the Rathou, but he was less able to ignore it now. He shook himself and ploughed on through the snow. Memories of his home would not help him here.

  As Nikka's troop joined up with the main force, the portion that he had split from his own appeared. When it reached him, he relieved himself of the command, nodding to Treibhreas, and earning another outraged bellow. Nikka sped away before he could finish and weaved his way through the gaps in the Giants. Then he fought his way through the crowd surrounding Haumea.

  She cursed when she saw him. 'They are dying out there, and I cannot reach them Nikka, I cannot.'

  'Pull them back Haumea,' he said at once. 'Pull them back or you shall lose them all.'

  For an instant, she was the crippled Giantess that he had met beside the beach once more. Then her eyes sparkled and her hand trembled on the white staff. Then she thrust it aloft and shouted, 'To me! To me!'

  Haumea and Nikka pushed through the crowd, the Giantess bellowing all the time, calling her people to come. They ran to the northern end of this opening where it was widest and there were exits.

  As they arrived, Haumea pulled the Giants behind her, fanning them out in a series of triangular groups with their leading points flattened. There was little room to manoeuvre for these cumbersome warriors, but as the first Intoli appeared through the gap in the stone wall at the east, the Giants completed their formations. Nikka moved to his position at the head of one of them alongside Treibhreas, with Haumea and Durach at two of the others.

  The snow lightened, and the Sun attempted to appear, but its dark counterpart was there too, stealing hope as well as heat from them.

  Then the Intoli surged into the opening, as the last of the Giants that held them back broke and ran. Many of them never made it. Cut down as they turned, they fell lifeless to the mud. The Intoli marched over them. Shimmers of silver and translucent white caught Nikka's eye. They reminded Nikka of the floodwater, let loose from behind the damn, to pour over the land.

  Haumea shouted and pointed to Durach who was at the head of one of the trapezoidal blocks of Giants. The King of the Giants raised his hands and the Giants under his command stormed forward. The Intoli who had rushed into the space left by their withdrawing foes were caught and crushed by the ferocity of Durach's Giants.

  When they had washed the snow from the stones with the blood of the Intoli, they retreated and drew the next wave of attack onto them. Then Nikka, with Treibhreas alongside, moved the Giants nearest to them, a group of farmers, shepherds and elderly Giants, to attack the Intoli's flank. The Giant's dagger in Nikka's hand would serve him as a sword. Nikka had hoped that his time for killing had passed.

  They crashed into the Intoli. They were not as tall as the Giants, but what they lacked in height, they made up for in speed. And they died the same as the Giants. Nikka hacked and slashed at anything in front of him, though the lack of weight in his weapon caused him to miss more than he hit.

  As the momentum of the charge failed, Nikka bellowed at the Giants to fall back. The Giants obeyed, but these were no warriors and they moved without grace or guile. But Haumea's warriors moved in to slaughter those that Nikka had not.

  When Haumea and her force pulled back, the Intoli grew more cautious. They formed a circular defensive formation at the mouth of the clearance and then crept forward.

  Nikka saw the panic in Haumea's face. He had warned her that this would happen. No foe who could sweep the humans out of their path would fall for simple battle strategy for long. The key to fighting a battle was to adapt, change and move quicker than your foe. Or have a massively superior force and grind your opponent to dust no matter how they wriggled.

  With numbers against them, they needed to use the land to their advantage and keep the Intoli within the clearance to levels that they could manage. At least they had been spared any magical attacks so far.

  Nikka yelled to Treibhreas, Durach and Haumea, 'With me! All of you!' With the Giants behind him, or so he hoped, he ran at the Intoli. Haumea caught the Cerni's idea at once and charged her troops.

  Treibhreas accompanied Nikka as he drove his Giants into the bottom of the circular formation of Intoli. Haumea followed by attacking the centre. But the attack hinged on all of the Giants attacking together. They had to hold the Intoli here. If too many of the Intoli reached them, their superior numbers would tell.

  The northern side of the Intoli line started to bulge. Durach had been slow on the uptake. But then the King and his warriors piled into the Intoli. He drove them further back than Nikka might have wished, but it did not matter. They had done what was required.

  He cut his way through flesh and sinew with the Giant's blade in his hand, and the ground puddled with blood once more. Even with the success of this manoeuvre, all they had achieved was to delay the end.

  War's dice tumbled, and the killing grind began afresh. Luck stayed with some: a slip or a thrust at the right time kept them alive for a while longer. Others died when luck deserted them, crushed by their friends, dying when their grip failed. War, just like life, was brutal, unforgiving and futile.

  Nikka hacked the arm off an Intoli warrior as its weapon was about to skewer Treibhreas. He would have to gloat about that later, if either of them were still alive. He had relished this in his younger days, before he was imprisoned, before he had grown old. Now Nikka abhorred the killing, but he could not let down Haumea. Killing did not come as easily to her as it did to Nikka, but she learned fast. The staff that Nikka had fashioned from the bones of ancient creatures whirled in her hands, smashing through swords and skulls and lives. This crippled outcast from the furthest reaches of the Giants' lands waged war.

  Blood saturated Haumea's hair and face just as it did on Nikka's. He never forgot how it felt to be covered in the blood of an enemy. When he had been a murderer, it used to excite him. Now the taste of it in his mouth brought bile up to join the blood.

  The Giantess had changed. This would alter her in ways she may never come to terms with. And the blood continued to flow.

  -*-

  They held them there for a time. The Intoli could not get enough of their force through the narrow gap and into the clearance to make inroads into the Giants. The Giants had cooled their initial frenzied defence and settled into a pattern of rolling fighters from the crush at the front to rest them for a while, before plunging them back in. The Intoli had not changed their attack. Not at all since the Giants had moved to contain them. Nikka could think of a hundred ways that the Intoli could overcome them, outmanoeuvre them, overpower them. But they were content to settle for this grinding stalemate.

  But it was not a true stalemate. Even the minimal casualties that the Giants sustained would defeat them. But why wait? What did the Intoli gain by this? Did they seek to crush the Giants so they would never rise against them?

  Nikka was pushed close to Haumea by the sway of the battle. He turned to her and yelled, 'We must pull back, we cannot hope to win this. Save who you can and pick a better battleground. This one is lost.' Haumea could not deny his words and he saw her uncertainty.

  'No!' the King shouted. Nikka had not noticed him standing with Haumea, his fine apparel torn and bloodied, but it was the King's eyes that shocked Nikka. They were wild wit
h bloodlust and the fire of war.

  Before Nikka could remonstrate with the King, a boulder, as large as the Cerni, sailed above them and landed in the crush of Intoli. Then another rock landed beside the first, and a roar went up from the Giants. Someone at the rear of the Giants had decided that it was time to change the parameters of the fight. Nikka laughed. He should have thought of this. The Intoli were trapped and could not defend against this attack.

  Boulder after boulder landed amongst the Intoli, but still there was no panic in their ranks.

  Why did the Intoli not attack with magic? He had thought that they had waited for a signal. He had thought that they had held it back, but now it appeared that they could not or would not use it. Not even in the face of their own destruction.

  Blood splashed up the walls of the stone passage in which the Intoli were trapped by the weight of numbers. The Giants surged forward, sensing the Intoli's weakness. Nikka, Haumea, Treibhreas and Durach stood still and allowed the Giant warriors to move past them.

  When he could, Nikka walked into space. He had stood for so long his legs had cramped. As he rubbed his aching muscles, he looked up and saw two Giants and two men. The two Giants took turns to hurl boulders and the two men looking for something, or someone. It was Wist and Tyla, the Lyrat. He grinned at Haumea then pointed to them.

  'Oinoir,' she gasped and the King caught her word. He cried out to his commander who came in the time of their greatest need. Treibhreas groaned, either in relief or dismay.

  Nikka looked past him. Through the chaos of charging Giants and flying rocks, Nikka spotted four other figures. High above the Intoli, atop the rock walls, there stood another human, a dark-skinned human and three Intoli. Despite the Ghria Duh, his failing eyes could see that it was Aviti. Dressed in an Intoli robe, she was frozen and as bloodied as he, but she was alive.

  'Wist,' Nikka yelled and pointed to the girl from the depths of the Great Desert. But Aviti convulsed as he spoke and an arc of black fire erupted from her. And it arrowed its way towards Nikka. Nikka stood rooted as the black flames shot towards him, helpless to move. As it approached, he realised that he was not the intended target.

  Intent on calling to Oinoir and oblivious to the warnings, it struck Durach in the back. The black fire billowed around the king of the Giants and those around him stopped and gaped.

  The flames peaked and Durach screamed. His screams transformed the fire from black to red, and in an instant, the king's apparel was consumed in the flames. He stood burning and naked before his people again. Then he began to rave. In an unintelligible tongue, he yelled to the heavens, and each exclamation brought expulsions of flame. At first, these were sent into the sky, spouted in an extravagant gesture toward the dark sun. But then the King's erratic movements brought his arms down, and he spewed fire upon his own people.

  This fire did not awaken madness upon its targets, but burned with a vicious hunger that Nikka could taste.

  And above it all Nikka could hear Wist screaming. 'TILDEN!'

  The King swung around at the cry and started towards Wist. Nikka grabbed Haumea and Treibhreas, and they ran at the King and Wist. They must stop this confrontation. This was what Tilden wanted.

  As they caught up with Durach, Haumea swung her staff trying to clip her King with it. But she slipped in the mud, and the end of the staff drifted past Durach's head. The king was yards from Wist, but Haumea's actions caught his attention, and he swung around to face her.

  Nikka felt a tingle in the air - a subtle change. He heard the screams from the Giants behind him as he ran. Streams of fire and magical shards of energy started to fly. This was the end for them all.

  The king stood over Haumea, who lay sprawled in the mud, snow and blood. Her staff was out of her reach; it could not save her. Flames coursed over the King's body as he built to a climax. Tyla was too far away to alter the outcome of this situation and he stared away from them all. He was looking straight at Aviti.

  Wist shouted and thrashed, whirling his staff in his hand, building to a climax; a climax that Nikka knew they must avoid at any cost.

  Treibhreas stared at his King. He was the only one who could help. He could slay his King. A flick of his wrists and Treibhreas could end it. But he was caught. No power on earth could compel him to kill the King of the Giants. So he stood and let his blade fall from his hands.

  Nikka threw himself upon the King; biting and slashing and clawing at him. Nikka could smell his flesh burning. But he clung on and stabbed his blade again and again into the King until Nikka could stand the pain no longer. He fell to the floor and watched through one eye as the King ran from him. Durach's blood fell to mingle with his dead subjects.

  The Cerni screamed and screamed as agony tortured his old body. Then Haumea was beside him, holding him, causing more pain as she tried to soothe him. Treibhreas was there too, but Nikka could not stop his cries, not for anyone.

  He felt his dagger being taken from his charred fingers, and he tried to nod to Haumea. He tried to tell her to end it, but he could not form the words.

  Please let her understand; let her understand.

  A sharp spike in his chest enveloped the agony that consumed him. Then the pain began to fade, along with the light and the dark of the world. His one last sunset.

  23 - Oblivion

  She saw it all. She saw the Giants dying and the figure she had been forced to set ignite. Aviti watched as he raged his way north, away from Nikka's burnt corpse on the frozen ground. She saw one Giant end Nikka's suffering, and then run after the burning Giant.

  Aviti knew the figures that stood beside it. She could taste their raw, unassuaged grief. Tyla's flayed her soul. His eyes on her now. Then the snow began to fall in earnest. Huge flakes fell on Aviti, trying to cover her shame.

  'Stay here,' said Tilden. He had either dropped his Intoli illusion or Aviti's eyes refused to see it. 'Finish them off.' he growled to Sevika. The Intoli did not react.

  The Queen of the Intoli ignored them all. She stared through the snow at the Kalsurja. It held her in thrall. Tilden grabbed the mesmerised Queen and began to drag her away. Sevika remained behind Aviti.

  'Do not do this Sevika,' Aviti gasped. 'Do not, it is wrong, you know it is...' But before she could continue, the pain erupted within her once more. This time it was sharp, but unfocused. It shot out from the site of her body's violation and coursed under her skin, through her muscles and bones. She refused to fall to the ground. If she collapsed then she would be coerced to her feet, made to stand, made to kill. While she stood, she could resist. While she stood, she would not be used, she would not be transformed into a weapon to be wielded once more.

  The pain built inside her, coming on in waves now. It pulsed in time with the heart, agony after agony, tearing her soul apart, piece by piece. But still she stood, defiant, but not proud. She had done too much, endured too much, to be proud.

  She felt the magic inside her then. Against all the strength she could muster, it had found a way inside her. The magic contained no ecstasy. It neither thrilled nor revolted her, for now she could see what it was. It was power. Nothing more than pure power, and now that she recognised it, her appetite for it was sullied. It would overcome her control once more, but not due to her lust for it, but due to the simple fact that she was mortal, and no mortal could hope to swallow all the power of the gods.

  And it built inside her. The pain and the power pulled her in opposite directions. She knew that she must succumb soon. But at least she had tried. She pressed her eyelids together to summon on last piece of courage.

  Aviti opened her mouth and spoke without volition. And it was not her voice that emerged, but a much deeper, masculine voice.

  'Sevika do not do this,' said the voice. 'Have the courage to do what must be done.'

  An intense flash of pain ignited inside Aviti's head, as if an irresistible light shone in her eyes. Then it was gone and it left only echoes of magic and agony.

  When she opened he
r eyes, she saw her hands before her. In one of them was a tiny frozen tear and in the other was a plain bar of metal. It was a brass bar, a few inches long and weighed little more than a cup of sand, but it had bound her to Sevika since Aviti had arrived in this land.

  The Intoli stood before her with head bowed, awaiting judgement, but Aviti turned from her. The power within her could be contained no longer. It must be unleashed. So Aviti pushed outwards with her mind using the magic to carry her. She could feel the pain of those poor souls, enslaved by the Intoli.

  Then she collected the slender threads that bound them to their captors. She snapped them, but did not relinquish them at once. Down each link, she sent a burst of power, a sliver of the magic she held. She sent enough to melt the bars that the Intoli held and the bars inside the humans. The humans would be in agony, but they would be free; those who survived.

  The battle below dissolved into chaos. Some of the Giants that had fled turned to face an enemy in disarray, and then the humans amongst the Intoli turned on their former captors. There would be so many deaths here today.

  But she turned back to Sevika. The Intoli had accepted her fate, but Aviti did not require vengeance. As she looked at Sevika, she could not help but think of Tyla. He had turned his back on his entire race to do what he knew was right.

  She looked back at the golden bar in her hand. She could use this to sever her bond with the Lyrat. But after everything she had lost, she could not let him go.

  So she turned her power on the bar in her hands and the remnants of its counterpart within her flesh. The pain as the metal within her body evaporated consumed her thoughts. When it was done, she collapsed into the arms of Sevika and closed her eyes, lost to everything

  -*-

  Sevika stood in the snow holding the fallen human woman to her. The Intoli began to shake. The cold seeped into her. She had never experienced this. There had only ever been the warmth and inclusion of the light, but each day she had spent with this human, this frail and pitiful being, her contact with the Source grew more tenuous. She should be basking in the final triumph of the light over the dark that their Sakti had promised to deliver today, but she was lost. But they were all lost, all of her kin. The Sakti was lost in her mad grief for Krura, as the human had said. The Intoli were lost and leaderless, and Sevika was alone with no orders to follow. The thing that impersonated Ravan had told her to kill. But it was no Intoli.