Forge of Ashes

by Josh Vogt

  She slammed the maulaxe hammer down onto the latter, sundering the links and sending the hook spinning away. As she straightened, an axe flashed toward her face. At the last second, the hit turned so the Forge Spurned's chain-wrapped fist struck instead. The blow knocked her sideways.

  Working her jaw, she planted a foot and lunged back at the creature, chopping as she neared. Its jerky motions held her at bay for just a moment, before she discarded any pretense of defense and barreled straight in. An axe struck her right arm, and the blade bit through leather and mail, hit bone. She howled as the hot pain stoked her fury even higher. When she wrenched away, the axe remained stuck in her arm, but she barely noticed.

  She spun full around and brought the maulaxe sweeping across, axe edge first. It sliced through the chains across the Forge Spurned's chest and drove deep. The Forge Spurned rocked back and she threw herself forward, slamming the creature to the ground. She jammed a knee into its side to pin it.

  It looked up at her and stretched out a hand. The constant moan from its gaping mouth resolved into a brief screech.

  "...keeennnaaaa...."

  Akina stared down into its dead eyes. The maulaxe trembled in her grip, the weapon still embedded in the creature's chest.

  "Damn you, Gromir! I still can't forgive you." She felt unexpected tears well up."But I can free you."

  Letting go of her weapon, she mashed fists into its skull until bone crunched and shattered. As the Forge Spurned went limp, a last ashen gust erupted from its ruined head, making her eyes sting.

  She heaved to her feet and tore the axe from her arm, throwing it aside. Then she wrenched the maulaxe free. Ondorum remained poised nearby, dead duergar sprawled all about him. They shared a nod and then turned to assault the trebuchets once more.

  As they did, two figures emerged from the smoking fray, striking down defenders until no more stood between them, Akina, and Ondorum. Vaskegar stood covered in gore, while Ularna's robes merely looked a little dustier than normal.

  The duergar commander clashed his axes and launched himself at Akina. Face serene, Ularna moved between Ondorum and the other combatants and beckoned him forward.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Control

  The crystal blades of Vaskegar's twin axes pulsed with a crimson light. Combined with the ichor-smeared mess of his armor, it made him a hideous sight, straight from Hell itself. He spun at Akina, blades chopping at her face and neck. She parried, only to have him swing both axes around in unison, looping them up and under her guard. She reeled back. An edge clanged off the front of her helm.

  And just like that, she was on the defensive, knocking aside cuts with the maulaxe head and trying to ram the spiked ball on the other end into his face. A manic grin fixed on his face as he smashed these attempts away. Another blow slammed into her head. He thrust an axe straight out, catching her in the chest.

  She rallied and tried to drive him back with frenzied strikes, but he proved too strong. He used one axe like a shield, absorbing the blows until he dashed past her guard and rammed his lowered head into hers. The toothed tines of his jawbone crown drove up under her helm and into her forehead with dizzying force. She stumbled. An axe blade slashed into her leg and sliced straight through her armor. An unnatural chill lanced through her thigh, tendrils of ice driving further in. The crimson glow of the axe deepened, congealing as it sucked away her very blood.

  She staggered and barely dodged a hack at her neck. Her wounded leg threatened to collapse under her as she backed away. Vaskegar laughed and slipped taunts in between his teeth-jarring attacks.

  "I've ended countless lives. What does one more matter?"

  "Shut it!"

  He turned one axe and used the flat of it to drive her to the side. His other axe came in opposite. She screamed as its edge caught the wound Gromir had inflicted. It drank from her arm and the strength in that limb flew away like ash on the wind. She struggled to keep from dropping her maulaxe. Ondorum? Where was Ondorum? She needed him...

  "Droskar is here with me. Where is your pathetic god?"

  "Burn in the Abyss!"

  She dropped low and cut at his knees, but he swept both axes down, deflecting the attack. His boot caught her in the face, and she lurched back, spitting blood.

  "When I break the last gate, I will slaughter the children first."

  "Die, you bastard!"

  If anything, his attacks increased in pace and power, making him a whirlwind of destruction. As she retreated, she caught sight of Ondorum a short distance away, trading blows with the other monk. She wanted to call out to him, to find a way to reach him, yet she had no breath with which to do so.

  Vaskegar forced her back past the ruined scanderig, toward the tunnel wall. She knew that once he trapped her there, it'd only be a matter of time before his axes drank her blood to the last drop.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  The duergar monk came in with such speed and ferocity, Ondorum wondered if she'd held back during their previous bouts. Staff whirling, he averted blows that had shattered the shells of giant insects and dwarven armor alike. Kicks whipped at his head, stomach, and knees so fast that instinct alone kept him alive, despite his extra reach.

  In the briefest moment, he glimpsed Akina off to the side, battling Vaskegar. Ondorum could tell she struggled to overcome the commander. He ached to fight by her side, yet Ularna gave him no opportunity to disengage. Her face held no expression, as if she wore a mask of painted stone. No words, this time.

  Yet no silence, either. Their strikes connected with smacks of flesh and snaps of their robes. Loose rock sprayed as they swept feet. Armor jangled as they vaulted fallen bodies. Metal and stone ground together as they leapt onto and over ruined barricades. She carried no weapon, but didn't seem to need one, even as he battered her with half a dozen blows in mere seconds. The hits rebounded as if he struck stone.

  As they dueled, the pandemonium of the battlefield seemed to withdraw from his senses. They fought in a gray haze, surrounded by shades of war. Two mountains in motion, each trying to chip the other down into oblivion.

  The staff caught her over the head; she dropped to all fours. An instant later, though, she lunged up, open palms leading. He snapped the staff out horizontal, but she latched onto it. Her feet came up and planted on his chest. A mule couldn't have kicked harder, and the staff tore from his grasp as she launched away. When she landed, she cast the staff aside and sped in again.

  Fist to fist, foot to foot, they circled and planted, ducked and sprang. Her bare toes grazed his cheek. His palm struck robe, but nothing beneath. Her elbow cracked a shin raised to block a kick. He somersaulted backward, rose and lashed kicks up her body—low, middle, high. Then he switched legs and made the same strikes in reverse. She deflected all but the second kick into her side, but just grimaced against the impact.

  Her ki rapped against his, energy alike yet unalike, sending miniature shockwaves through him whenever they connected. Their stomps and poundings vibrated the earth around them, reflecting and building until they seemed to fight in the epicenter of an earthquake.

  Then a greater impact shook the area. The unexpected tremor threw off both their balances for a breath.

  One of the ponderous, gape-mouthed constructs loomed over Ondorum. It had staggered up behind him, unnoticed as he focused on Ularna. It grabbed for him. He pivoted to avoid being snagged, but lost the poise necessary to avoid Ularna's follow-up attack.

  Her kick caught him full in the chest and sent him soaring straight into the construct's maw.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  Vaskegar raised his axes to drive Akina into the tunnel wall. Over his shoulder, Akina saw Ondorum vanish into the construct's belly. The maw clanged shut.

  No.

  No!

  The rage swelled beyond all bounds, transforming her into living flame. Sight became etched in shades of black, every motion causing gray lines to waver around forms and figures. Sound dropped away except a single distant drumb
eat. The lines of icy cold skewering her body evaporated and steam seemed to pour off her skin and from every ragged tear in her flesh.

  The duergar commander moved achingly slowly; his axes drifted toward her head. She watched them come, baking in the heat of her own fury. Once more, it threatened to devour all sense of self and place, all ability to discern between friend and foe, all intent except for mindless butchery.

  In that moment, she saw past Vaskegar to the construct that had taken Ondorum. To the monk who'd doomed him. To the duergar and dwarves fighting beyond. To the trebuchets taking aim at the remains of the second gate. To the Forge Spurned tearing the defenders apart with barbed chains and filling the tunnel with ungodly smoke.

  She could let the rage take her. Let it devour her completely, surrendering all cares and worries and weariness until she burnt out from the inside. Yet if she did, it meant not only abandoning herself but also abandoning Ondorum to whatever fate awaited him inside the construct. Abandoning her people to the invaders. Abandoning the promises and prayers she'd made.

  Or she could choose control. At least, just enough to make a difference.

  Her hands tightened on the maulaxe shaft. That distant drumbeat sounded again, louder—though now it sounded more like a hammer pounding an anvil.

  She dodged.

  The axes flashed past. Vaskegar looked stunned at having missed.

  Akina heard an elongated scream, growing louder until it tore from her throat.

  A glancing hit off Vaskegar's shoulder cracked the bone pauldron. He brought his axes together to deflect, but she kicked and clobbered through the flimsy defense. He tried to cut in from the side. She caught the hooked axe on her hilt and swung around, dragging him along until his back faced the wall instead.

  He cut his axes in from both sides. She jumped, let them intersect beneath her, and then brought her maulaxe down on the center of the axe blades.

  They shattered beneath the blow, chunks of blood-soaked crystal exploding outward. Vaskegar reared up and lashed out empty-handed. The hooked knuckles of one gauntlet tore into Akina's cheek. She batted his hands aside and thrust the maulaxe head into his neck. He choked and brought his hands up to grip his crushed trachea. His eyes went wide with disbelief as she swung across.

  At the last second, she spun the shaft so the axe edge sliced in. She sheared through in a single, clean cut. His severed head went flying, jawbone crown soaring ahead of it. His body slumped to the earth.

  She wanted to leap onto his corpse, howling and shrieking. She trembled, wanting to pound the bones he wore into so much dust, then start on the ones inside his body.

  Instead, she turned and spotted the construct that'd taken Ondorum. It waddled across the field, aiming toward one of the pits of flaming oil.

  Calling on the fury to quicken her steps, Akina raced to rescue the one she loved.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  Inside the construct, Ondorum tried to regain clarity. The construct's gut appeared to be an empty round chamber, just tall enough for him to stand. A line above indicated where its mouth had clamped shut, but so far no effort could pry it open.

  A handful of other lines formed a square shape across the construct's belly. A tiny hole was set above this, like where a key might fit. A hatch? Ondorum pressed a palm to this, trying to determine if it offered a flaw he could exploit.

  The chamber shifted, making him brace against the curved surface. The construct was moving. Back into battle? He thought of Akina. Without him opposing Ularna, the duergar monk could join Vaskegar and easily overwhelm her.

  With a centering breath, he fell into a grounded stance and pummeled iron. His fists hammered the construct's stomach a dozen times over, to no avail. He launched fierce kicks, only to send himself bouncing off the back of the chamber.

  He redoubled the attack until his fists spattered blood across the metal. He pulled back, wincing as the pain shooting up one arm informed him of several broken knuckles.

  Ondorum shut his eyes, trying to focus as the construct continued trudging along. There was always a way. He simply might not be strong enough nor skilled enough to find it.

  The construct rang and vibrated as something hit it from the outside. Akina's voice came through, hoarse yet recognizable.

  "Ondorum!"

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  Akina struck the construct's body time and again. Every blow bounced or glanced off, yet she refused to stop. She raced around it, raining strikes from all sides, seeking a weak spot. The construct didn't so much as pause.

  As she fought, some deep instinct told Akina that letting the molten fury drive her for much longer would kill her, forcing her body beyond any ability to recover. She accepted it. Embraced it, letting it fill every dark crevice of herself with liquid stone burning as bright as the sun. She only needed to hang on a little longer. To help Ondorum. To give him even the slightest chance.

  She hesitated as several Forge Spurned lumbered in. They clustered around her, blocking further attacks on the construct. Akina whirled her maulaxe and charged. She couldn't afford to be distracted. Not now.

  Akina struck the nearest monster with such force that she split the chain loops around its neck with the first blow. It reached for her, but she knocked the hammer from its grip and ran in under its waving hooks. She drove it to the ground, then spun and slammed the hammer side down on its head. Smoke gushed from its broken form as the other two closed in.

  She darted in at the closest, dodging from side to side as hooks snapped out at her, one after the other. Grabbing a fistful of the Forge Spurned's chains, she hoicked the creature over her head with one arm and sent it soaring toward a group of dwarven defenders. Something popped in her shoulder, but the pain blended into the tempestuous riot already within her. The dwarves set into the Forge Spurned, hacking it to bits, while she dove at the third.

  Spinning her maulaxe around, she rammed the spiked ball into its gaping mouth, piercing its skull. When she tore the weapon loose, the monster shuddered and dropped to its knees. A hammer blow laid it flat.

  Her path clear, and she sprinted to catch up with the construct. She reached it and raised her maulaxe to renew her assault.

  As she did, one of the construct's iron fists lashed out and caught her full on. She flew through the air several yards, maulaxe tumbling from her grip. She hit. Rolled until she crashed against a pile of bodies.

  Akina forced herself up, but her right arm collapsed, dropping her again. Her body shook uncontrollably. She gritted her teeth and rose, one agonized lurch at a time. Her vision spun, and she staggered for balance. Turning circles, she tried to clear her sight and orient herself.

  She regained her senses in time to see the construct standing above a flaming oil pit, body glowing red-hot.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  Ondorum breathed in the stench of his baking flesh. The chamber burned around him, heated by some external source.

  Even as he realized his fate, the metal turned searing beneath his feet. Jumping about would only waste energy, and he now needed every last bit he could summon. All his punches and kicks had barely dented the metal. He didn't have any more time to waste.

  He pressed palms together, shut his eyes, and drew in a cleansing breath. It rushed into his lungs, both cool and steaming at the same time. He locked the air in. The golden ball of ki at his core flared as he retracted cords of energy from throughout his body, twining them into a singular focus.

  The heat rose about him. His feet and legs blistered. His hair shriveled and fell away. The crystals across his body cracked and shattered, one by one. He felt and accepted it all. Every last painful sensation escalating, accelerating toward the point where his entire body would melt or combust. He waited until the last spark of gleaming power consolidated in his center.

  He opened his eyes and studied the expanse of black iron before him. The curve of it, the way the hatch aligned with the rest of the surface, leaving no gap for escape. The heat became part of him, its energy adding
to his even as it consumed him.

  Now.

  His soles tore away as he stepped forward. He drew arms back tight to his waist, even as the skin stretched and split. Hands bent at the wrists, fingertips charred black. Eyes fixed on his target, too dry and tight to blink. All angles proper. All power directed in unison, in synch with everything around him.

  He aimed at the center of construct's belly. Breathed out.

  And struck a single, perfect blow.

  Every last glimmer of ki rushed out through his palms and into the metal form. The wave of force rippled outward. The construct shuddered. The hatch groaned as it fell open, admitting a blast of chilled air.

  Ondorum tumbled out. He somehow landed on his hands and knees and crawled a few feet further, smoke rising from his scorched palms.

  The construct lurched off from where it had stood above a flaming pit. It staggered away, crushing several duergar as it went.

  Ondorum tried to stop his shaking. Tried to slow his gasping. His head lolled, and he fought to control his tormented body before it gave out on him completely.

  But he had nothing left to fight with. The ground rose to him.

  A pair of hands caught under his arms.

  ∗ ∗ ∗

  Akina grabbed Ondorum and kept him up long enough to sit herself. Once positioned, she tugged him closer so his head rested in her lap.

  She spat out a tooth knocked loose sometime in the battle. Grit and flakes of dried blood fell from her eyes as she blinked about. Hundreds of dwarves and duergar lay dead. The first and second gates had been obliterated, but the third remained. Both scanderigs lay in heaps, their forge fires burnt out.

  Looking the other direction showed one of the trebuchets listing to the side, its rigging smashed. Another stood devoid of any duergar team. The third remained active, but the operators were busy fending off a squad of dwarves who'd reached their position. Many duergar fled down the tunnel, while defenders rallied to rout the rest.

  Akina's soft chuckle scoured her throat. They'd live. They'd be safe. They'd rebuild and move on.