Age of Azmoq_The Valantian Imperium

by Rajamayyoor Sharma

  “It would be easier for us to defeat Dag Heyat if he was completely oblivious of our abilities,” Azrial thought. Azrial pointed the spear at the two—he knew in a head to head contest he would easily cut through both in a flash. Taking on the entire Cekic Ortaq might have been more difficult, given their difference in fighting styles. They were a better fit for Ukko’s style. They also had the advantage of numbers. But just two would be easy.

  What Azrial did not realize was that Elbir and Muster, the last two brothers, were among the best tandem fighters in Rokhumaan. They fought as if they could instantly read each other’s mind. Even their weapons were forged together to be a perfect fit. They could lock the two hammers together and fight as one or launch each other’s hammer in case they needed to fight over longer distances. This fighting style was perfect to take on Azrial.

  There are times when a warrior has to choose between intense personal motivations and his duty towards his nation. This was one of those times for Elbir and Muster. They could have easily stood and fought—fought for their pride, fought for the name of Cekic Ortaq, fought for revenge for their dead brothers. They had enough reasons. But the odds were tough. They knew they couldn’t dispatch the horse rider in a short time. Nor could they wait and draw out the fight—the other two beasts would be upon them. They had only one choice, and they both knew what it was, the moment they chose to retreat.

  The two brothers were within striking distance of Azrial. The time had come for the last stand of the Cekic Ortaq, the five sounds of death, the pride of the Yerins. Azrial mused.

  “With the destruction of these two, we will dent the pride of the Yerins. With the death of Dag Heyat, we will destroy it. The fall of the Yerins will go a long way in bringing the revolution down.”

  The brothers were merely thirty feet away. “Just perfect,” thought Azrial with a smile, and Keshin jumped.

  As they were closing on Azrial, Elbir and Muster observed him with complete focus, pushing their rage aside, without thinking about anything else, without even blinking, ready to act. As soon as they saw Azrial jump, they were sure what was going to happen. They saw his gaze and knew who had to do what. Their mind thought as one. This was their gift. Each one of the Cekic was gifted with amazing battle instinct, something that had served them well over the years they had fought.

  The instant they saw Keshin jump, Elbir jumped as well, towards Muster, with his hammer swinging at his brother. “This is not where the Cekic Ortaq will end. The beasts will not be the end of us. The horse rider will not strike the final blow. I wish it didn’t have to be you. I will see you again brother, when I follow you into the blue... Farewell!” thought Elbir, as he saw his brother for the last time. Muster too, knowing what his brother was going to do, jumped back from his horse, swinging his hammer at his brother, to end their time together.

  “I would not have thought we would end it like this brother. But I am glad the last time I see you, you are swinging the weapon that has brought us fame and glory, even if you are swinging it at me.”

  The instant Elbir jumped was the instant Azrial reached Elbir’s horse. The distance of thirty feet had been covered in a flash. Azrial, calculating precisely where he would be, thrust his spear to where Elbir had been seating. Not seeing Elbir on his horse confused Azrial, who could not imagine someone moving faster than him. Looking around wildly, he was bewildered by what he saw in front of him. One brother jumping at another, swinging his hammer and the other jumping back and swinging his weapon as well, in defense.

  “Are these Yerin tribesman mad!” wondered Azrial. “Are they so afraid of us that they want to kill each other! I thought at least the fierce Yerin tribe wouldn’t go insane with fear at the mere thought of fighting us.” He decided to wait and see these famous warriors kill themselves.

  “I will pick up their corpses and show the Yerins how much fear we inspire even in the best of them. Maybe even the great Dag will choose suicide over facing us. Though that would be tragic. I was looking forward to fighting him.”

  Muster jumping back, landed on his feet, as his weapon clashed with his brother’s. But instead of smashing his brother’s hammer away, he locked the two hammers and continued, in one smooth motion to swing the locked weapons together. Elbir smiled at Muster and his trusted hammer, and was flung away as he let go of the locked weapons at the highest point. Azrial froze, as he was unsure of what was happening. One instant the brothers were swinging at each other and the next one of them let go and was sent flying. Was this the way Yerins committed suicide? Flinging one another into the sky? It did not make sense, as Elbir seemed to be covering more distance than height. How will the one on the ground strike him again? This did not seem like madness born out of fear. Or was it?

  “Noooo!” Azrial screamed.

  As Azrial’s mind started to realize what was happening, the last Cekic brother left behind was at him, having unlocked the hammers and swinging them both at him. Azrial moved Keshin backward to prevent himself from being hit, and lost the precious seconds to prevent what had just happened. Elbir was away, having used their combined strength and momentum to be flung into the Yerin lines so that he could reach Dag and the Ozek with the information about Keshin, Gajanakra and most importantly, the third beast, Zilonis. The brothers had chosen to sacrifice one of their lives so that the other could be useful to the Yerins. The moment Azrial looked at Elbir to attack, the brothers knew they had to move away from Elbir’s position to make their move, so that Azrial would lose time understanding what was going on a few paces away from him. They had succeeded.

  Azrial was furious—he had been tricked. The beast brothers had thrived so far in the battlefield on anonymity and mystic, they were recognized only through their banner and the names of their beasts, but had never been identified individually as no one from any army that had faced them in the past had survived. Getting the information on them and their powers would help Dag and the Ozek devise a way to fight them. That would take away their element of surprise.

  He tried to turn to see where Elbir was, but Muster continued to swing away. With their goal achieved, Muster unleashed all his rage, fury and despair at the beast. His speed was blinding, it seemed like he had 10 arms, swinging away to smash the horse or his rider. His mind had shut down, he was striking with pure instinct. Keshin could barely avoid the wild and unpredictable swings from a great warrior who knew he was going to die and so had no need to defend. Azrial, even fighting with a man possessed, though was slowed by the confusion with what just happened and the anger at letting it happen, was able to get some blows in, slashes which tore through Muster’s armor and gave him multiple gashes on his chest and legs.

  But Muster kept going, unstopping, unthinking with his own blood flying all around. Azrial recovered his composure, and quickly gained the upper hand. Using his speed and his height, he quickly maneuvered to the one side of Muster, and before he could turn, plunged his sword towards Muster’s neck, to slash it into half. Muster, reacting by pure instinct, bent down to avoid this death stroke. But his speed wasn’t enough—his throat was slashed on the right by the serrated blade. Despite knowing that this wound would kill him in a matter of seconds, Muster did not quit. His rage fueled his body to turn, coming face to face with Keshin.

  He spat at the horse to show the beast what he thought of it. All that came out was blood that had filled his mouth. This blood stunned and blinded the horse, and it could not avoid Muster, who swung both his hands and struck the mighty horse on its head just below its eye, dead center on its helmet. The sheer force from the mighty Cekic’s blow smashed through the helmet and made the horse and its rider fall to the ground. The blow stunned all, drew a mighty roar from the Yerins whose hearts filled with pride at the strength of the last of their van guard. Even the other two beasts, stopped in their tracks, stunned at this turn of events. With this swing, Muster fell to the ground as well, with all strength leaving his legs.

  But there was still blood left in his bo
dy, and in each drop of it, was his unbreakable desire for revenge. He pulled his dying body with the hammers in his hands, till he reached the chest of the rider. As he lifted his hammers to use all his remaining strength to crush Azrial’s head into the ground, the rider moved his weapon to defend himself. And though Azrial had his sword’s blade away from the Cekic warrior, he used the hilt and his arm strength to fling Muster away just as the hammers came down. The hammers managed to tear through the chain mail Azrial wore on his chest and wound him enough to draw blood, before their owner was flung away several feet.

  Knowing that it was his last second on this planet and that his enemy was too far away to attack, Muster just managed to stand on his knees, raised his hammers to the sky and gave a fierce bellow with his half-torn throat till the life left his body. A roar that reached his entire tribe, and got them to bellow as well, shaking the entire battlefield, celebrating their great warrior, a man who would be remembered in the ages to come as the fiercest among the fierce Cekic Ortaq.

  Chapter 20: The last of the Cekic Ortaq

  Elbir landed on his feet just a few feet away from the advancing Yerin troops.

  As soon as his feet touched the ground, he bound towards the center of the formations. As he moved, he shouted, “To me, to me! Fall back! Form around Dag and the Ozek! Cover my back.” He had just reached the Yerin lines, when he heard the unmistakable, ground shaking bellow of his blood brother. His brother’s task was done, his task was still incomplete. He did not pause to mourn, he did not stop to feel the loss of all his brothers, and he just continued to run. But he was a man. A man who just lost his family.

  They were the best team in all of Rokhumaan. The Cekic Ortaq were feared for years, protecting the Yerins during all their battles. Their name was known far and wide. In a matter of minutes, that name had been decimated. Now he was just one man, named Elbir, unknown to most, one weak link of a strong chain that had been broken. Their mother had five great sons, now she had only one. What could one man do? Nothing. Try as he might think straight, these were the thoughts coming to the mind of Elbir.

  But he pushed on. He had to run, to reach Dag. One of the Yerins gave him a horse, which he leapt onto as he ran, and the rode the horse like never before. Dag had to know. He also realized that Dag and the Ozek would be tired after their assault on the Masthead division. He didn’t know what they would do, how their tribe would survive this attack. But he had to trust Dag, trust the core. The Yerin troops were parting rapidly to allow him to hurry, and the frontlines were retreating as fast as possible while holding the three beasts at bay.

  As he rode, he could hear the screams of the Yerin troops trying to hold the three beasts back. The thought was repeatedly surfacing in Elbir—Cekic Ortaq had failed to protect Yerin. “No, no I can’t feel like this… I have a job to do,” he had maybe a minute to reach Dag, before Azrial broke through the Yerin ranks. Once he was done telling Dag, he was going to go back, to get his hammers, to do everything possible to destroy all three beasts and their riders.

  Seconds passed by, and he could see the Ozek in front of him. Some were standing, some were resting, tired, bruised of fighting the Masthead division. Some were still fighting the remaining elephants. He looked around and saw Dag jumping off the last elephant in his immediate vicinity, after having cleaved its skull into two. Just looking at Dag lifted his falling spirits. The greatest among them, was standing tall, wielding the Buuzmeq, covered in blood of his enemies. Strength and power just exuded from his every fiber. His being gave the Yerins a reason to cheer. He always led from the front. But at the same time, he also had to be protected, as with his fall, even the fierce Yerins would lose conviction in their own strength.

  Elbir, as soon as he was in range, shouted out.

  “Dag—I have news!”

  Dag turned to Elbir, completely surprised. The Ozek, also seeing Elbir, rushed to him. Seeing a brother of the Cekic Ortaq, such a close-knit unit, alone, was definitely bad news. Dag shouted to Elbir as he approached. “Brother Elbir, why are you alone? What is going on?”

  Elbir had to tell them everything as quickly as possible, as dispassionately as possible.

  “Three beast brothers approaching. Killed all my brothers….”

  He could see the utter shock on all their faces.

  “… In under a minute….”

  He could sense the complete rage emitting from the core. But he noted that the Dag looked completely calm, the initial surprise having disappeared from his face, replaced by an intensity which Elbir realized came from an acceptance of the situation the Yerins were in.

  Elbir continued his crisp account, detailing what he had learned from the death of his brothers and the dying words of Kicik.

  “The three beasts are, as you know, Keshin, Gajanakra and Zilonis. What we understand now is the horse, Keshin, leads the pack. The rider has a spear like sword, which has a serrated edge. The power Keshin has is that it can travel some distance within an instant. Several feet in fact. We….”

  He paused, realizing he was the last Cekic alive, that there was no longer any “we.” He worked his jaw for a moment before finding his voice.

  “Sorry, I am not sure what triggers this, or what the limits of this power are, but the horse needs to jump for this power to get activated.”

  “The second beast is the giant rhino, Gajanakra. It attacks with its giant horn, and although is much slower than Keshin, its head can move with surprising speed. I am not sure again of this, but its body, its head at least, seems to be extremely rugged and can absorb multiple strong hits without flinching. The rider uses a hammer as well, but he did not engage with us. The rhino was strong enough to…” he paused to choke the sadness and rage down, as he recounted how the beast had mowed down two of his brothers. “Kill Boyuk and Garmik.” Dag stood there, motionless, as if turned to stone, and listened, as the core displayed a variety of emotions ranging from sadness to rage.

  “The third beast is still a mystery. Only Kicik got a look as we were trying to engage Gajanakra. All we… sorry… I saw was that the beast is of massive size, which tells me that it could either be a war elephant or a Tyraniton or a Berogon. From its silhouette, I can guess it is a war elephant. We… I could not see the rider, but the only information we….”

  Raged came pouring out of every fiber of Elbir’s body. He just closed his eyes and screamed.

  “DAMN IT! I, I am the only survivor! There is no we! Cekic Ortaq is finished! Everyone is….”

  He felt a hand on his shoulder. It was the leader of the Yerin, Dag Heyat, their savior. Dag spoke without any emotion in his voice, like someone, who, although was completely numb to all emotions, still understood them.

  “I know what you are going through… Please continue for the sake of our tribe.”

  It was as if Dag absorbed Elbir’s rage into himself. Elbir felt a calm come over him, and perhaps a glimmer of hope. His leader would take revenge upon these monsters.

  “The last bit of information I have is what Kicik told me as he died. He just said the blade extends… Which given the circumstances of his death, could mean that the third rider has an extendable blade.”

  Dag spoke again, in his calm and measured voice, something no one was used to, as he was usually so loud and boisterous.

  “Thank you for this information. Your efforts and the lives of the four of the Cekic Ortaq will never be forgotten. Let me remind you, you are still alive. And as long as one of the Cekic Ortaq is alive, all of the Cekic Ortaq is alive.”

  Elbir felt his spirits rise, the last bit of despair that was eating away at him leave his body. It was true, the Cekic Ortaq was alive. He was the last of the legendary brothers, and he would do everything to keep their memory alive. Dag continued.

  “Now, tell me brother, for this is important for me to understand. What were the circumstances of Kicik’s death that led you to conclude that he spoke of a blade that was extendable?”

  Elbir, now feeling completely
calm again, replied.

  The words, which were being choked down by emotion, were emerging now freely, knowing that every word was important for Dag to hear and absorb,

  “Kicik was facing us, asking us to retreat when he suddenly was attacked from behind by something that cut him almost into two. That’s when, with his dying breath, he turned and saw what attacked him, and shouted. “Dabladexteds… That makes me conclude the third rider has an extendable blade, and one that possibly moves fast, as none of us were able to see what attacked Kicik…”

  There was a pause, as Dag contemplated their future course of action. It was the most important second for the future of their tribe. Then Dag spoke in his usual booming voice, addressing the Ozek, along with Elbir.

  “Thanks, Elbir. That was extremely valuable. Ozek, let us be clear—this is the battle for future of Yerin. We are still finishing the Mastheads, which was a strong division. But now we face the beast brothers, warriors who can take down most of the Cekic Ortaq in a matter of minutes. Based on what Elbir shared, here is what we are going to do.

  The first rider, Keshin, relies on speed, and can employ bursts which are not completely understood, but are related to the horse’s jumps. So I want four of the speed core to tackle him, along with three from the defensive core. The defensive core should ensure that none of Keshin’s attacks are successful and the speed core is to engage only when the mystery behind his speed is resolved and a counter is developed.

  I want the rest of the defensive, three of the speed core along with five of the Offense core to tackle to second rider, the one with the strong defensive capabilities. The defensive core and three of the Offense core are to tackle the attacks from the rider himself and speed core is to engage Gajanakra, and probe its defenses for weaknesses while two of the Offense core are to attack the beast.