Karus shot another look at the sky before continuing on. The day was not going as he had foreseen. He was in a mind to get this expedition done.
A guard detail stood farther down the street, checking anyone who was moving out into the larger city for an approved pass. Karus and his party were waved through the checkpoint and into the temple district.
Amarra’s pace picked up and she led them down the street, moving by several temples. She idly pointed each out as they passed. “Temple to Maas. That one Arrak, Valoor over there. That one honors Castor, very bad god. No good.”
Karus looked to the temple in question. Like the rest, it was an imposing building. However, unlike the others, Castors’s temple was faced with black marble. Karus had to admit, it had a sinister look to it.
“You honor the dark gods too?” Karus asked. “You said Castor, right? We Romans know of that god.”
“Yes,” she said. “Better than angry.”
“You mean your people respect them all, even the ones you don’t want to or, for that matter, like?”
She nodded. “Castor bad god.”
“Better safe than sorry,” Delvaris said. “Keep all of the gods happy.”
“I guess,” Karus said. “Though you would not catch me honoring the barbarian gods, especially those savage Celtic ones.”
Karus turned his attention back to Amarra, who was leading them down the street. She seemed incredibly focused. He figured she likely wanted to show him the temple of the High Father first, before the others. Karus followed, his guard detail trailing behind. Not unsurprisingly, he reflected with no little amount of hindsight, the temple in question that she led them to was the one that had been razed.
Amarra slowed the last few steps as it became clear to her what she was looking at. The final steps were almost a stagger. She stopped and stood gazing upon the destroyed temple, her face a mask of devastation. It was one that matched the complete destruction before them.
At first, she remained perfectly still, with only a muscle flexing along her jawline. Then, she tentatively moved toward the posts, where the bodies of the men had been staked out. She approached one, tears running freely down her face as she took in the blood stains. Her shoulders shuddered. Karus moved to comfort her.
“I think we should head back,” he said, reaching out to take her hand. He saw no point in continuing.
Her back straightened and she pulled away from him, half turning. There was a hard look in her eyes, full of a single-minded determination Karus had not seen before.
“No. You come,” she said insistently and pointed at the ruins. “We must see if,” she said a word in her own language, “lasts. We are called. You feel.” She pushed a finger into his chest armor. “You feel High Father’s call. I know you can.”
“What?”
Amarra ignored him and turned running to the wall of ruble. She moved so quickly, it caught him off guard. Hiking up her dress so that her legs showed, she scrambled and climbed up into the rubble. A few feet up, she stopped, looking back at Karus with a quizzical expression.
“You come, now.” There was a fierceness to her tone that was almost commanding. “Now.”
Karus glanced over at Delvaris, who had moved to stand by his side. The young tribune shrugged. Karus turned back to her, and their eyes met. He did not feel like climbing through a pile of loose debris, especially with his armor on. It would mean hours cleaning his kit free of dust. Yet, at the same time he also felt somehow called to follow her. It was hard to describe, more like a gut feeling that it was the correct thing to do. No, that wasn’t right. It was stronger, almost like something was tugging him after her, pushing him forward. He needed to go with her. He had to go with her.
The call had been there since she had first suggested this visit to the temples. Why had he not noticed it before now?
“Stay here,” Karus said to Ipax. “I expect we won’t be long.”
“Yes, sir,” Ipax said. The optio looked relieved at not being required to climb through the ruins of the temple. “Be careful, sir. It may be dangerous.”
“I will come with you.”
Karus looked over at the tribune with some surprise. He was clearly eager to explore the ruins. Karus supposed that, as a youth, something like this would pose a near irresistible draw. He gave a curt nod and then followed Amarra, who had scrambled up farther onto the remains of the temple. A moment later, she pulled herself up and over a large column. Then she was lost from view.
Karus began climbing. He found he had to be careful where he put his feet and hands, as a lot of the debris was loose and shifted easily. He climbed ten feet before he could pull himself over the top of the pile, where he had seen Amarra disappear. He glanced back and saw Delvaris following.
“Watch your handholds,” Karus advised. “It’s very unstable.”
“I am,” Delvaris said as a piece of roofing tile he had grabbed onto pulled free and crashed down to the ground. The tribune glanced down at where it had smashed into a thousand pieces. He was more careful after that, testing each hold before using it.
Karus stood atop the debris pile. A column that had fallen diagonally blocked his way. It was as thick as he was tall and smooth all around. When it had been pulled down, the column had cracked into several large, uneven segments. Using one of the cracks for purchase, Karus carefully scrabbled atop. Breathing heavily from the exertion, made worse by the fact that he was wearing armor, he took a moment to catch his breath. Karus offered a hand to Delvaris, pulling the tribune up.
Around the fallen column, the debris field from the collapsed roof was fairly level. Standing atop, Karus was able to get a true measure for the size of the building. If he was correct, this temple would have been far larger and grander than the rest. Even in ruin, he could not help but be impressed.
“I am beginning to regret coming along,” Delvaris said, rubbing sweat away from his forehead with the back of his arm. “Climbing in armor is overrated.”
“No truer words have ever been said,” Karus said. “Wait ‘til later when you have to clean your kit free of the dust. Then you will truly be sorry you asked to come along.”
Delvaris glanced down at his chest with a sour look. “I think I already am.”
Karus looked for Amarra. She was just a few feet ahead, working her way toward the center of the temple. He considered jumping down, but the mess below was uneven. It would be easy to turn an ankle, perhaps even break one. A more cautious approach was required.
Using the same crack that split unevenly through the column, Karus climbed down the other side. Once down, he waited for Delvaris. Together, they began moving forward over the uneven pile, which seemed to shift with every step.
Karus paid close attention to where he planted his feet before taking the next step. Even so, a clay roofing tile slipped loose from under his left foot and he lost his balance. Karus teetered forward toward a gaping hole that he had not seen a moment before. Karus’s arms windmilled as he attempted to avert disaster, but it was too late. He fell forward into the hole. At the last moment, Delvaris gripped his shoulder, checking his forward progress and keeping Karus from tumbling into the blackness of the hole.
“Regrets aside, I am rather glad you came along,” Karus said and wholeheartedly meant it as they both peered down into the hole. He figured they were at lease twenty feet up. There was no telling how far down it went. Had he fallen in, the walls of debris might easily have collapsed and crushed him. Karus puffed out his cheeks. He should never have agreed to follow Amarra.
He paused and looked for her. She was around twenty feet ahead, scrambling over the debris in a frantic manner, clearly searching for something. After a moment, she disappeared once again, lost from sight.
“Amarra,” Karus called. There was no answer. He cupped his hands. “Amarra, are you all right?”
“Here,” her muffled voice could be heard. “You come.”
Karus exchanged a glance with Delvaris. More slowly than before, he started fo
rward, with the tribune close behind. A piercing scream rang out overhead. Startled, Karus almost lost his footing as he looked up to see the red dragon circling several hundred feet above, every few moments giving a great flap of the wings.
It was the first time he had had a close-up, unobstructed view of the dragon that lasted longer than a few heartbeats. From head to tail, the dragon was longer than several of the larger residences in the city. Karus had the feeling that the magnificent creature’s attention was focused exclusively upon them. Fear gripped his heart and left him wondering if the animal was going to dive and attack, but it continued to circle. Another more distant cry carried on the air. One of the other dragons was out there too.
Spell broken, Karus started forward.
“Come on,” Karus said to Delvaris, who had also stopped. “Let’s go.”
The path forward was not an easy one. Karus had to scramble and pull himself over fallen columns and blocks of toppled marble as he made his way to the spot where Amarra had disappeared.
Finally there, he blinked, looking down. Some fifteen feet below, the center of the temple, an area with a thirty-foot radius, was almost completely free of debris. Amarra had ducked under an intact column, which had fallen against the far debris wall. It had come down in such a way that it was suspended over two other smaller columns. There seemed to be a space, or really a recess, underneath the collapsed column. Amarra, with a rope in her hand, appeared to be tugging upon something on the floor. She could not budge it and came back out into the light.
“You help,” she said with a look of frustration that made Karus chuckle with amusement.
“Give me a moment,” Karus said, planning out how he was going to make his way down to the floor below without breaking his neck. Satisfied that he had found a safe route, he started down, only to catch movement out of the corner of his eye that drew his attention back toward Amarra. He froze, eyes narrowing.
From under the column, in the recess where she had just been, the darkness moved. Something was following her out into the light. Karus saw the glint of a metal blade. His hand shot to his dagger. Yanking it out, with a deft flick, he reversed his grip to the blade and threw. Clearly horrified at what he was doing, Amarra froze, eyes wide in shock at his seeming attack on her person. The blade thrown in her direction flew past her face, with only inches to spare, and impacted just behind her with a solid, meaty thwack.
Time seemed to stop.
Then Amarra turned, breaking the moment.
An orc, sword poised and prepared to strike at her back, gagged. It was choking on its own blood, for Karus’s knife had sunk deep into its neck. The orc opened its animal-like mouth in a silent, horrified scream, green blood bubbling up, before it dropped its sword, which landed with a clang on the marble. A moment later it toppled heavily to the ground, landing with a solid-sounding thud.
Heedless of his own safety, Karus was immediately moving. He scrambled down to the floor and yanked his sword out. Where there was one, he knew there was likely more.
Amarra was staring at the twitching orc as another emerged from under the column. It wore black leather armor that only covered its chest and black pants with brown boots. White swirling tattoos ran up and down its muscular green arms. The orc’s hair had been limed back and tied off in knots with coarse rope. It eyed its fallen comrade for a heartbeat and then drew a wicked-looking long sword. Ignoring Amarra, the orc rightly guessed who had killed its companion. It bared its tusks at Karus and uttered a deep guttural growl filled with rage and hatred.
“You big ugly bastard,” Karus yelled back, moving forward and gesturing at the creature with his sword. “That’s right, I killed your friend. Now it’s your turn.”
Shoving Amarra behind, Karus put himself between her and the creature as it advanced. A third orc stepped out into the light. Karus could hear Delvaris scrambling down from behind. Delvaris was but a youth, and Karus had no illusions about who would do the brunt of the fighting. He knew he had to act fast before the two orcs could combine forces and rush him.
Lightning fast, Karus lunged forward, jabbed out for a leg, and missed. The orc danced aside, sword flicking out. It connected painfully with Karus’s chest armor. Before the orc could react, Karus stepped inside the creature’s reach and thrust, this time aiming for the stomach. He was rewarded with an umff. The short sword went in deep. He gave it a savage twist as the tip of the blade grated against the spine. Karus yanked the sword out, trailing greenish gore. He stepped back and away. The orc collapsed.
Without hesitation, Karus spun to face the other orc and brought his sword up just in time to ward off a blow. The two blades met with a ringing clang that instantly set his hand tingling. Karus tightened his grip and jabbed, but the creature managed to get its sword around and deflect. At that moment, unexpectedly, a sword strike jabbed shallowly into the orc’s side. The creature roared in pain and bared its tusks at its new tormentor, Delvaris.
Karus, taking advantage of the opportunity, punched forward, taking it in the throat with the tip of his blade, which traveled upward into the brain. The savage roar was almost instantly silenced. He stepped back as the lifeless body hit the temple floor, which had once been polished marble but was now dusty and cracked like dry mud in summertime. A pool of green blood rapidly spread out from under the body and across the marble.
Karus turned at a noise to his right. The orc he had taken in the stomach was still alive. On its belly, it was struggling, clawing its way toward its discarded blade, leaving a trail of green blood. Karus had clearly severed the creature’s spine, as the legs were slack and apparently useless. Karus stepped up behind it and stabbed down with his sword into the back of the creature’s neck. The orc twitched once, issued a gurgling sound, and then fell still.
Karus glanced around. All three of the creatures were down and unmoving. He looked to Delvaris, whose arm was drenched in green blood. He nodded his thanks. Then he turned to Amarra. She looked a little shaken but had herself under control.
Karus was about to say something, but stopped himself. The air around them abruptly cooled, dropping to that of a frigid winter day. He turned toward the darkness from which the orcs had emerged. A cold fog rolled out of the space under the column, and frost spread across the cracked marble. Karus stepped back, as did Delvaris. Something was coming slowly out of the darkness, and whatever it was, it wasn’t an orc.
The demon that emerged was hideous. It clawed and shuffled its way out from under the column. Even in his nightmares, Karus had never imagined something so terrible. It had two arms, two legs, and a head, but beyond that it looked nothing like a man. For some reason he could not name, Karus felt it once had been human. It was hideously deformed, tortured even, and Karus’s brain had difficulty making sense of it as it shuffled and crawled forward. It wore the remnants of a black robe that looked suspiciously akin to those the two druids had been wearing.
When the light from the suns hit it, the demon stopped, shivered, and then turned its gaze toward Amarra, slit opening where a mouth should have been. Black saliva drooled out, falling to the floor, where it sizzled upon contact with the marble. The demon hissed, and Karus felt his skin crawl as it turned red eyes upon him.
Karus dropped into a close combat stance.
“Back,” Karus snapped. “Delvaris, Amarra, get back!”
The tribune hastily scrambled backward and grabbed at Amarra, tugging her with him. She resisted.
“High Father,” she said in the Common Tongue, the rest of which was lost to him, but sounded like a hastily uttered prayer.
The demon reacted to whatever she had said and let loose a long hiss that was clearly directed at her.
Karus quickly glanced around for fear of taking his eyes off the demon for too long. They were in a confined space, and the pile of rubble ringed neatly around them like a gladiatorial arena. Karus judged that he could not climb the rubble in time to escape, but perhaps the others could.
“Climb!” Ka
rus shouted. “I will hold it. Climb!”
Delvaris, a look of horror on his face, glanced behind and then back, his expression hardening. His sword, however, wavered slightly.
“I will not be called a coward,” Delvaris said, a tremor in his voice, but there was also steel there.
The creature began to again advance, shuffling forward.
“Amarra,” Karus shouted, half turning, “damn you, climb, woman!”
“No!” Her voice was firm. “I stay.”
There was a flash, followed by a powerful explosion. Karus was knocked back and to the ground. An intense wave of heat rolled over him. This was followed almost immediately by a tremendous thud, which shook not only the ground, but shifted the pile of rubble, which began to cascade down around him. Karus dropped his sword and covered his head with his hands as debris rained down from above.
From the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a massive red form on the rubble directly above the demon before an incredible blast of flame shot down upon it. The heat from the flame was intense.
Then the heat was gone. When he looked, the demon still lived, but its attention was focused elsewhere. Karus caught a glimpse of a huge head, jaws open, with rows of serrated teeth that snapped closed upon the demon with a loud clap.
The demon screamed.
The dragon, for that’s what Karus realized it was, reared backward, with the demon struggling trapped within its mighty jaws. Like a dog that had caught a rat, the dragon shook the demon violently, swinging its head from side to side. Through it all, the demon screamed.
Then the dragon extended its wings and, with a great flap that kicked up the dust, took to the air, its prize clutched firmly within its mouth. A few powerful wingbeats later, both the dragon and demon were lost from view.
Silence settled around Karus.
Stiffly, he sat up and glanced around. The marble just feet away was glowing an angry red from the dragon fire. Around the edges, the marble was blackened and had a glasslike look to it. Like a badly roasted goat, one of the orcs had been thoroughly burned. The smell was awful.
Lost Legio IX: The Karus Saga Page 33