Of Coups and Cauls

by Tyranni Thomas

  I wanted to rush him, but instead, I hurried behind Azaria and made short work of boosting her up, unwilling to allow the cad anymore satisfaction than necessary. Once she was over the top, he and I hopped up behind her, leaving Drayce to figure out how to haul his big ass up while Pariah’s men flooded past him.

  The top was like another world. The rain forest abruptly ended, and a savannah stretched out for as far as I could see. For a moment I wondered if it were a trap. Perhaps archers awaited us along the opposite tree line—supposing there was a tree line back in the distance somewhere.

  A hand landed flatly on my back, and Pariah folded into a squat beside me. He pointed across the vast opening and brought his finger up to plank across his mouth. His lips peeled back, giving a view of teeth that were just as white as the bone paint smeared down his nose.

  I followed his line of sight and saw nothing at first. I squinted and strained a bit more to see, and sure enough, the shadows shifted. I flinched back a step, but he was gone. The shadows began to buzz with life, and the largest mammoth I had ever seen, charged into the clearing. A unified guttural sound chorused back at him from the strategized men below. The warriors jutted their spears out in front of themselves, long skewers that were reserved for breaking the enemy line in civilized warfare.

  The beast’s trunk flew into the air, and it gave a loud, silky cry. Each way it turned, the spears were there waiting. From the darkness, a humming sound grew over the thick mist. Pariah stepped from the blanket of fog with a mammoth at either side. The hum continued, growing in sound as the warriors joined in. The noise abruptly stopped. I closed my eyes, awaiting the inevitable. When the sound of screaming or stampeding didn’t come, I opened them to find the pair of mammoths that had flanked him were now sitting like hounds. He approached the cornered animal, the larger of the three, and it, too, sat down for the elephant handler.

  “What…the… fuck?” I whispered onto the night, but even it held no answers.

  Chapter Twenty

  Azaria

  Ryett carried on about the beast until I thought he would take it home with him when we left. He called it a mammoth, and I couldn’t bring myself to correct him. Savageland elephants were unlike any other breed. Massive, thick-hided war hands that did so much without doing anything at all. Yet one trunk to a supply cart usually sent the latter to pieces.

  Most of the men who saw such things scampered without a problem after that.

  People could say what they might about my country. The Barizon might have been a savage land, but it was because of these demonstrations and tactics that we had less crime. Very seldom did anyone brave an attack anymore. In fact, until my father decided to pull this stunt, the only excitement I could recall was the brief skirmishes with smaller bands, desperate from hunger and willing to risk it all.

  “It is an elephant, not a mammoth,” I finally corrected him. I tapped his arm and led him toward the warriors and our recovered war beasts.

  His eyes cut toward me, and his face twisted as if I insulted his intelligence. “Indeed. An elephant, but it is a special kind of elephant. A breed known as a mammoth.” He insisted.

  I shook my head in denial and brought my knuckles up to lighten the antagonistic factor of my smile. “No. Those are in the opposite territorial coasts. Near the old penal colony,” I finally managed, having wracked my brain to think of a way to make him understand the geography without a damn piece of art telling him where to step and sleep.

  “The old penal colony?” He grinned, raising a brow in challenge.

  “Yes… it’s the uh… The Isle of Tears.” There was no name for it in my mother’s tongue. The Barizon people considered it a cursed place and did not utter the name my father assigned to it.

  “Yes, The Isle of Tears. It is still very much functioning. A dastardly place.” Even Ryett’s voice reflected the energy of the isle’s tales.

  “You give Octavius a lot of credit.” I smiled. “My father began tossing the undesirable and criminals to that isle. One after another, when he felt like conquering. It is true. It is also true, that as the population grew so, too, did the unrest. Are you aware of the isle’s census?”

  “Census? There are really men brave enough to venture there for the sole purpose of counting heads? Do they return with their own intact?” Ryett teased.

  “Oh, no one goes there anymore. During my fifth year, the census was announced to be ninety-five percent of what my father called undesirable. Only five percent on the island were officials. Those sent to maintain order and law. Do I need to tell you what happened to that five percent, when those in exile poked their heads up high enough to see those odds for themselves?”

  He slowly caught on. “Are you telling me the Emperor has lost control of his own prison?”

  “It is the greatest kept secret in all of Faustlin,” I assured him.

  “I thought that’s what you were,” Pariah teased, falling into formation and marching alongside us.

  We needed to find an inner clearing. Something that would give us an edge of privacy to ready the war animals and gather the troops.

  I ignored his baiting and continued along in silence.

  He was an assassin, and he was beautiful. It was a tragic combination.

  After a good hour of walking, we found a place that fit the bill. A wide dirt circle with a canopy of heavy leaves a few hundred feet above us. A messenger was sent to ready the troops and bring them to us. Ryett stretched out against a tree trunk, and my heart jumped into my throat. A spider, larger than my palm and harrier than Narelle’s upper lip, was perched a few inches above his curls.

  My eyes widened, and I remained silent. It couldn’t hurt him; it was just the creepy-crawly feeling it inspired over my flesh that scared me, even from a distance.

  He saw the alarm on my features and sprinted forward. The arachnid fell behind him with enough of a rustle to warrant his whirling around to confront it.

  “Seers below,” he cursed, and perhaps he might have screamed if Pariah hadn’t anticipated such and clamped a hand over the King’s mouth.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Drayce

  Until that day, the only thing I really viewed as being majestic was the ocean. Now that I find myself surrounded by humongous trees and parasites that were triple their expected size, I couldn’t help but wonder, what else was out there in this big vast world of ours?

  The sun was yawning, threatening to spill its glory on us all and snatch away the blanket of darkness we had used to collect our elephants and ready the men. I’d never seen so many cruel looking weapons. They were fashioned from all number of rainforest resources. Some of the younger warriors even boasted bamboo reeds to spit poisonous darts through.

  “Where are the steeds?” I called over to Ryett.

  Ryett startled, his head jerked up, and his body slid awkwardly against the rock that supported him. My brows lofted, and I gave him a quizzical grin.

  “I met a spider last night that was bigger than my brother’s ego,” he explained before rubbing at his flank.

  Who the fuck sleeps standing up when preparing to march into battle? Only a Delucre, I thought to myself.

  I shook my head and glanced around the clearing. Some few dozen yards away, Pariah sat on a rock watching Azaria and Awilda as they went over the plan with Kais. He was a character. Quiet and capable, with a predatory gleam in his hazy green eyes. It made my muscles tense to watch his eyes roam over her so freely. It almost felt like he was violating Azaria without her even knowing it.

  “Pleasant, that one, eh?” Eryx asked from behind me.

  I turned to face him and readily accepted the coffee he held out in offering. “You are as brilliant as they say.” I chuckled.

  The coffee was warm and potent. Even though there was no chill to the air, it warmed my nerves more than I realized.

  I became so lost in small talk with the fellas, that I didn’t notice Azaria and Awilda had moved out with their section of the tr
oops.

  Ryett was the one that noticed first. He grabbed my arm without a word and began to whip about in search of her. When I looked back to Pariah, that bone chilling smile stared back at me. He thrust off the rock with a bit of a grunt and slung his sword into its sheath.

  “We should move out,” Kais suggested as he hurried toward us.

  Ryett began to grab swords and shields. He assigned one to Eryx, but when he held them out to me, all I could do was stare. The weight of the steel was deposited in my hand to take or drop, and he began to march in the direction of the rising sun.

  I have never been in a foreign war or on foreign soil for that matter. The more taxing cliffs and hills of Tauran were only found in the High Country and the coast. No one ever made any effort to climb them, even the invasion attempts hadn’t become that desperate. There was no avoiding such terrain in the Barizon. The land was so wild and free. It could be flat and then steep, rainforest and then sand—it was such an unpredictable journey. My muscles ached with the effort of even getting to the battle.

  How for the love of everything sacred, did these men do this for sport? I thought to myself, whilst taking in the dozen or so swords amongst the group.

  The higher the sun threatened, the quicker my pulse sped. What if they saw us coming?

  As the last layer of fog began to thin and dissipate, I heard Ki’ Loke’s aged, high-pitched voice began to ululate across the jungle. It was different. This was not the chanting and dancing he had greeted us with in Zaith. This was high pitched and shrill. He was imitating her war bird. I wasn’t sure I truly believed in the thing, until the icy fear clutched my chest. He was announcing our position and calling on a predator with wings.

  A soul jarring percussion abruptly began a short distance ahead of us. The entire atmosphere seemed to charge as hundreds of tribal warriors were drummed and hyped into the necessary frame of mind. Aggression and adrenaline seemed to come in waves. Light flooded through the clearing. On the other side of the opening, the unified chorus of Faustlin troops could be appreciated. Their intimidation cries carried over the wind as their forces were rallied and prepped.

  This was it. Not a skirmish. Not a small invasion attempt. We were walking into war with the intent of calling out the greatest known army in the world.

  It didn’t matter that I was the likely the largest man on the field—I could feel my bones shaking. My stomach flopped as the sound of metal erupted ahead. The manic squeal of elephants could be heard approaching with the advancing Faustlin troops.

  Eryx hand gripped my forearm tightly. I shot him a look, but he wasn’t paying me any mind at all. He was fixated on the east side of the clearing. Through the trees, the largest of Pariah’s catch was approaching. The elephant was covered in onyx armor. The flesh that was exposed down its trunk had been painted with bone and blood. The beast held not one ounce of fear. It sauntered into battle, with its head bowed in promise of the destruction to come.

  It’s rider and Queen sat atop it, looking equally fierce. She stared over the horizon as if she were on the throne instead of an animal of war. The elephant tipped its head back and gave the loudest cry I had ever heard. The sound reverberated beneath the canopied land. Several of the Faustlin steeds had long since frozen. When the elephant sounded off, they darted wildly away from the battle. Riders were sent askew, some trampled, others dragged off to only the Seers knew where.

  It was chaos. Kais almost appeared to be enjoying himself. The man was a sight to behold when his sword was out, and his temper unleashed. One would never expect such ferocity out of a man who was so cool and calm in nature.

  He and Ryett seemed to be in competition. Men piled around them where they met their end, one after another.

  I turned to the right in time to see two spears pointed at Azaria’s and her elephant.

  “Ryett!” I screamed, but he was too far away. The winds carried my desperation. With a single swoop of its trunk, the animal sent one man crashing into the other. The first was impaled, the other ended up beneath a massive foot that turned half of him to little more than a stain on the ground.

  I almost sighed in relief until I saw the man across from her. He, too, was on an elephant. It was a baby compared to hers, but high enough that his drawn-back arm gave him the perfect angle to toss his spear directly at Azaria. He wasn’t trying to dismount her, he was aiming at her chest.

  I don’t remember moving, but I did. I sailed, like that damn ship of hers. I completely forgot I was armed. I leapt up against the side of his beast. I didn’t care whether I climbed up or he came down. As it were, he slid saddle and all toward me. We both flapped about in a circle with the startled elephant. When it became obvious we would be crushed if we didn’t let go, the soldier put a foot on the animal’s belly and shoved us both away.

  I landed with a roll, keeping him firmly in my clutches. My world hadn’t stopped spinning, before my hand began to instinctively connect with his face. All I could see was that damn spear and the look in Azaria’s eyes.

  “Drayce,” a voice called over the thumping of my fist and the crack of his bones.

  “DRAYCE!” Azaria screamed all the louder.

  It sounded like a butcher’s block behind me. I stumbled and slid in the blood. When things came into focus, Azaria and her elephant were dancing around me. She sliced through the men like one would butter when they ventured too close.

  “Get on the fucking elephant, Drayce. Let’s go!” she barked. In her hands, she held the leash to the fallen man’s animal.

  All I could do was violently shake my head. I had no desire to ever do that again.

  The steal clashed and cried around us, and then I heard it… the majestic roar of her cats. I placed a foot in the stirrup and grabbed the thing’s ear to haul myself up. It gave a cry and danced around, but after a moment, everything was well again.

  “Drayce…” she cried beside me, grabbing the reigns. She hauled me close to her.

  I’d always loved her eyes; they were always so intense. But never had they been as bright and alive as they were now.

  Her chest heaved against the leather armor, atop her head, the Caul crown weaved in the wind. “Do you know what they will do to me if we lose?”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kais

  I could taste iron. It may have been my imagination, but I swore I could smell it in the air. It was very possible that the proof of war covering my face was the culprit of it all. They just kept coming, and I kept swinging and lunging. Each swish and grunt of a missed opportunity made my heart race faster.

  Knowing that each time I thrust or sliced could possibly have been my last, caused me to fight beyond, frantically. The sound of the lions roaring, brought about a wild bark of laughter. That sound was the sweetest sound, next to Azaria and DeHaven. Perhaps even more so. I knew when I heard it that I would live to see them both another day. To hold my son and be in the presence of the woman and family I loved.

  When it was over, the elephants had formed a circle around the last man standing. I couldn’t really make much out, except that bright red horse’s tail he had fashioned to his helmet. If I wasn’t so sore, I’d have probably laughed. It wasn’t the type sore civilians were used to—no, this one was still flooded with the adrenalin that had kept me safe. All the same, my arm felt like there were bricks weighing it down. From my finger tips to my elbow, pins and needles vibrated with the recollection of each blow I had landed.

  Eryx slapped my upper arm on the opposite side. His own adrenaline made the friendly tap come hard enough to have been called a slug.

  “What is that commotion?” he asked, still gasping to catch his breath.

  “They have rounded the last I think. Unfortunately, it is not Octavius.” I sighed.

  “How do you know?” he asked with a gasp.

  “Because that was not the entire Faustlin army, and he is a coward. He would have run when things looked even remotely bleak.”

  “What do you mean,
it was not the entire army?”

  I’d never seen Eryx so disheveled and physically taxed. His eyes were wide and still glossed with self-preservation. It occurred to me that some of my country men may never have seen such catastrophic aftermath. A few of them were vomiting, some were crying. It was to be expected; even experienced soldiers had a conscience. Duty, unfortunately, does not excuse one from their own self judgement.

  “I mean, this was only about a quarter of his men.”

  “Well, where are the rest?” he exclaimed

  I cut my eyes toward the circle. “That’s what we have to find out now.”

  His face became a solid slate of frustration. The minister marched forward. Without regard for the sizable creatures around him, he set to confront the man in the circle. His finger jutted out into an applaudable confrontation, but then, rather than charge the man verbally or physically, his hand dropped like a fallen flag. Eryx turned about on his heel and stormed back past me.

  “Kill him!” he barked.

  “What…no! No, we need that intel!” I countered, darting toward the group.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Azaria

  I glanced down in time to see Eryx thrust his finger out toward the captive. When he chose to retreat rather than confront the man, however, my curiosity got the best of me. I looked to Kais for an explanation once he ordered the men to stand down, but he only shrugged in response.

  The prisoner’s eyes captivated me, and yet I couldn’t see anything remarkably unique about them. Savages only have dark eyes, but I had seen many colors in Tauran.

  “Reclaim and secure the perimeter,” I commanded once the matter had been seen to and the injured accounted for.