by J. M. Rojas
CHAPTER 19: REVENANT
A fly, indeed! The voice boomed like thunder. Art grabbed his skull with both hands and screwed up his face against the invisible force that seemed to fill the space around him. I could crush you like a fly little man!
Before Arthur could reach the table, a loud crash rung through the ceiling from somewhere upstairs, causing a sediment of dust to rain down.
That wasn't me. Arajasta said, and his presence in the room receded. Quickly, fools, upstairs! The Revenant are trying to get in through the windows!
Rowan waved Jai and Arthur to follow, and all three lore-kin unsheathed their glaives as they ran through the foyer to the stairwell.
My power is still weak, I must rest before I... Then the voice was gone.
“Emily, stay with mum and the kids!” Rowan cried, his feet hammering up the stairs.
“I will!” the blue-haired woman replied, ushering everyone into the furtherest corner of the lounge room, against the study desk. There she held out her glaive, and mind-shaped it into a long spear.
Caleb looked warily from the desk where Arajasta slept to the direction of the foyer where Rowan and the newcomers had exited. Trapped between two dangers, he thought.
Alora whimpered in her mother's arms, and James stood steadfast with his eyes still locked on the ceiling where the noise had come from.
Silence prevailed for sometime before the hurried footsteps of the lore-kin could be heard through the ceiling. They were moving about in various directions, evidently searching the upstairs windows for a breach.
“They will make short work of any Revenant scum who tries to get in,” Emily said darkly. Her tight grip on the spear causing her knuckles to redden. “They won't dare desecrate Thomas' house with four lore-kin armed and ready.”
James swallowed hard and nodded. “Right... good...” His stern face hid the fear that gnawed at his bones and weighed down his stomach.
“What if they come through the front door while they're all upstairs?” Caleb whispered to Emily.
“I won't let that happen,” she replied confidently, grinning devilishly at the possibility.
Caleb caught that look and didn't feel safe at the thought of her eagerness for battle.
Then, as if on cue, three heavy thumps were heard from the front door.
“This is where you keep your word,” Caleb said to the lore-kin. “Because... I'm too young to die.”
Alora wailed, and Emily hushed her. “Caleb, keep your trap shut. No one is going to die.”
Slowly, Emily edged her way silently across the lounge room towards the foyer.
“Where are you going?” Caleb demanded. When the lore-kin did not respond, he turned to Elly. “Where is she going?”
“To see who is at the door?” the woman said, shrugging.
Emily held her spear firmly in front of her, the point aimed straight at the centre of the door. The diamond shaped blade rippled with her thoughts and flowered out into a three-pronged trident, each point glittering.
The door thumped three times again, and a shadow flickered momentarily across the arched window above it.
Rowan! She urgently sent a telepathic message to her partner without turning to look up the staircase behind her. They are testing the front door!
Coming! His thoughts shot back; but he seemed frantic and half-aware of what she had said. We are—!
A barrage of crashes thundered through the roof again, and then the sound of blade against blade followed.
Rowan!
Thud! Thud! Boom! The front door almost caved inwards on the last blow; but instead a large hole above the door handle appeared, flooding daylight through the sagging shards of wood. Then a clawed hand suddenly burst through the gaping hole, grasping at the lore-kin in a frenzied manner.
Emily gasped in fright and leaped back. The hand clung to a tattered piece of her coat's sleeve that it had torn off and rattled it violently about. Cursing, she stabbed at the hand with the trident. A yelp-turn-growl came from the unseen creature, and the hand quickly retracted to the other side, leaving rivulets of blood running down the splintered wood.
“You worthless bottom-feeder!” Emily hissed, her face scarlet with rage for the damaged done to her coat. “This wasn't cheap, you know!”
There was a growl in response, and another series of loud bangs against the door. Then two claws reached in and held each side of the hole. Before she could sting the creature again with her glaive, it pulled the door straight off its hinges and hurled it to the side. In the doorway stood a horrendous sight: a Revenant with a dog's head, snarling savagely at her. A black Doberman with blood-red eyes like a demon from the Abyss. It towered over Emily, and its long muscular arms almost hung to the ground like those of an ape. The Doom Stone shard burned bright in its forehead.
“Where are the children?” the canine muzzle snarled awkwardly, saliva frothing between its razor sharp teeth and pouring down from its bottom lip to puddle on the floor at its feet.
“Nowhere you will find them!” Emily yelled defiantly. The trident made a few testing stabs at the air between them, forcing the creature to take a few steps back. “You sure are ugly, aren't you!”
Then, with surprising speed, the Revenant grabbed one of her stabs and pulled the trident and the woman out through the door.
Alora, who had been watching Emily and the Revenant's silhouettes projected from foyer doorway into the lounge room, squealed in fear. “James! Mum! It got Emily!”
“Quiet!” Caleb whispered harshly, putting a hand over the girl's mouth, but Alora swatted it away. “Do you want that damn thing to know we're here?”
“It already knows we're here, Caleb!” The girl shouted. “They are here for us!”
Jinx who lay curled at Alora's feet, suddenly sat upright, meowed and bolted through the lounge and into the foyer.
“Jinx!” Alora cried, and ran after the cat. “Come back!”
“Alora!” Elly called after her daughter, reaching out a hand and taking a step forward, only to stumble, drop her walking stick and fall to the ground.
James was hot on Alora's heels, when he stopped and looked back helplessly at his fallen mother. Feeling torn, he hesitated.
Caleb was instantly at Elly's side, lifting her up and carrying her towards the couch.
“Go!” Caleb said, waving James on. “Get her before she runs out the door and into the arms of those horrible creatures!”
James nodded and ran into the foyer. To his relief he found Alora standing by the steps, cooing to Jinx to come to her. The cat stood perfectly still on the welcome mat next to the doorless doorway, listening to the sound of fighting outside.
“Come on Jinx, come on.” Alora edged a little closer.
“Alora!” James whispered, keeping an eye on the doorway. “Get over here!”
“I'm trying to get Jinx—”
Just then Emily stepped into view. Her back was to the Grey children, and she was struggling against a huge dog-like humanoid they suspected was the Revenant bashing at the door. They both held onto the long shaft of a trident struggling to take ownership.
“Get here now!” James commanded, taking another step towards his sister.
The glaive-trident shimmered in the combatants hands, then changed shape, this time taking on the form of a razor sharp sword. The Revenant howled in pain and let go of the blade that dug into its fingers. Jinx then ran between the monster's and Emily's legs, racing down the driveway towards the trees.
“Jinx, no!” Alora cried and ran out the door.
James leaped forward, trying to grab his sister's arm, but missed. “Alora!”
Swerving around Emily and the Revenant, Alora sped after the cat.
Cursing, the boy ran after her.
Emily slashed at the Revenant's stomach and the beast reeled backwards, falling on one knee and emitted a blood-curdling howl. Blood gushed through its hands which gripped desperately at the wound, trying to keep its entrails from sliding out. Not stopping her off
ensive, she held the glaive-sword with two hands, arched her left elbow back and her right against her chest, and then drove the blade straight through its forehead, dislodging the Doom Stone shard, which fell to the ground. Giving a shout of triumph, her steel-heeled boot came crashing down on the black diamond that pulsed red...
“Jinx!”
Alora ran passed the lore-kin just as the Revenant's body fell to the ground. Then James followed after, bumping Emily's shoulder as he went.
“Alora!”
“Hey you guys!” Emily cried after them, giving chase. “James! Alora! Get back here!”
Up ahead five more Revenant came loping out of the forest-line towards the Grey children on all fours. Riding on the foremost of the pack of hideous dog-men was Cassandra Veil astride a large German Sheppard.
“Get back to the house! Its dangerous out here!”
Alora squealed at the sight of the Revenant and skidded to a stop. James, not predicting his sister's movements, ran straight into her, and both fell to the ground in a heap. They then scrambled to each other on the wet turf, slipping and sliding. Finally James found steady footing and climbed to his feet. He grabbed his sister's hand and pulled her into his arms. Holding him tight, she shut her eyes in fear of the horrible creatures that approached.
The Revenant circled around the children, lifting up onto their hind legs, with their claws drawn out. The fire from the their Doom Stone shards burned eagerly like their eyes. Veil and her mount, however, continued on towards Emily.
“Don't you dare touch them!” Emily screamed, running at Veil, her glaive flashing above her head and taking the shape of the trident once again.
Cruel laughter escaped Veil's pouting lips, and the pretty blonde reined in her mount, waiting for Emily.
“Our master has come for the children,” she said with a wicked gleam in her eye. The German Sheppard she sat on growled, its maw salivating profusely. “So you and your friends can either flee, or die, lore-kin. I care not, which fate you choose.”
“Your master can burn in hell, like the rest of you!” Emily hissed and continued her charge.
In the blink of an eye, the German Sheppard leaped over the trident and knocked Emily to the ground, pinning her down with its paws on her shoulders. The glaive was squashed between her body and the dog's and she could not move it. Leering down at her with its big head, the Revenant could smell the fear on her as if it were a strong perfume. Emily could feel the tip of the Doom Stone shard in its forehead brushing against the tip of her nose, and could feel her very own essence begin to be drawn into it. Almost teasingly, the Revenant pulled its head back an inch so the feeling stopped.
Veil looked down at the lore-kin from atop the German Sheppard with a smug look of victory. “You will have to try harder than that, I'm afraid.”
“The children are innocent!” Emily shouted angrily. “They know nothing!”
Climbing slowly off the large dog, Veil knelt down beside Emily's face and brushed her hair back ever so gently. “Gha'haram will be the judge of that. You see, my precious one, he has his own master who wants what's inside their heads.”
Emily gasped, understanding what she spoke of. Rowan had told her that Thomas had stored secret memories in Jack's mind about where the Crown of Dreams could be found. If he was Thomas' vessel, then there was a good chance James and Alora were too.
Veil smiled at the her reaction. She stood up and began pacing around Revenant-dog and its victim. “Information about a particular artefact from a bygone era. You seem to understand what I'm talking about. Don't worry, Dart won't bite your face off, unless I give him the order to.”
“Rowan and the others will be here soon,” Emily said, her attempt to sound strong betrayed by her trembling speech.
“I welcome the challenge,” Veil sneered, then giggled sadistically.
A roar blasted from the tree-line and suddenly a large bear-like creature burst forth with a spray of leaves. It bounded up to the Revenant that circled James and Alora and pushed its way in, raising up on its hind legs. Giant claws reached down to the cringing children and grabbed them by backs of their sweaters, lifting them up into the air. Alora issued a high pitch scream as she dangled before the red eyes of Gha'haram. James began to sob.
“Don't eat us!” he begged.
Ignoring them both, Gha'haram turned to Veil and said, “Use her as bait. Rowan and the others will have sorted out our distraction by now.”
Veil nodded to Gha'haram.
“Then kill them!”
“Yes, Great One!” she exalted, and a chorus of howls came from the other Revenant.
“No!” Emily screamed. “Leave them alone!”
Gha'haram turned and ran back for the cover of the trees, holding the children under each arm. He was gone before Veil knelt beside Emily again, with a curved dagger in her hands, inching towards her throat.
“Emily!” Rowan shouted as he flew down the stairwell, pausing only briefly in the foyer to look frantically about, before running out the door. He almost tripped over the charred remains of the Revenant Emily had slain as he ran down the driveway.
Jai and Arthur were at his heels. They emerged from the house with glaives ready. Revenant blood running down their weapons from their fight upstairs.
All three saw Emily and Veil at the same time.
“Rowan—” Jai started.
“I know!” Rowan said, running towards his fiancée. “Veil! If you touch her!”
“There's a lot of those nasty things,” Arthur huffed, jogging after Rowan. His bulging backpack bouncing up and down on his back.
“Deterred, old bean?” Jai asked, grinning as he also gave chase.
“Not enough of 'em!” Arthur laughed.
Rowan stopped a few feet away from Veil and Dart who still held Emily to the ground. The Revenant's jaw was opened wide, and its saliva was dripping in puddles next to the blue-haired woman's head.
“One more step, and its bye-bye.” Veil's voice was as innocent as she looked.
“Veil! I swear!” The lore-kin was fighting all of his instincts to rush forward and slay the beast that threatened his lover's life.
Jai suddenly stepped in front of Rowan, pushing him back with one hand. Before any protests could be uttered, the well dressed man began removing his vest and unbuttoning his shirt.
Arthur plodded up beside his friend, panting. His eyes shifted from the ever-growing Revenant pack, which milled behind Veil, to Jai. “What are you doing?”
“I'm challenging that whelp that is sitting on my friend!” Jai shouted, directing his answer to Dart. The great beast lifted its head and growled threateningly at him, his red eyes were burning pits of hatred.
Rowan turned to Jai in surprise. “What? No, we do this together.”
“I'm talking to you—yes you, whelp!” Jai shouted the insult again, ignoring Rowan. Soon his shirt was completely unbuttoned. Peeling his muscular arms out of the sleeves, he tossed it to the ground. His dark skinned body was covered in tattoos of Argadnellian symbols of the Kratoth Order, and around his arms were gold bands. Three on each arm. They glimmered softly under the morning sun, reflecting in the eyes of his enemies.
Veil laughed. “You are all going to die, lore-kin. So there is no point in singling out my champion. I have thirty Revenant gathered at my back. You will be dead in less than five minutes.”
“Such big words for someone so small,” Jai taunted.
“Enough!” the girl screamed, her patience wearing thin. “I have heard enough out of you, lore-kin!”
Jai shrugged. “Then its either you or your pet there. But either way, I will have my match.”
“Fine! I will tear your throat out—”
“No!” Dart growled, standing up on his hind legs and brushing Emily's glaive away, far out of her reach. “I will not take anymore insults from you, loose-tongued fool!”
Jai grinned, waving the giant beast to come to him. “Then let's end it here, right now.”
&n
bsp; “Dart! You will do as I say!” Veil commanded, her eyes narrowing to venomous slits.
“I have had enough of his insolence,” Dart growled, pointing at Jai. “Let me crush him and maul him to pieces, then you can send the others. But not before.” His last comment was a threat, but Veil did not rebuke him again.
“Very well,” she said, lowering her voice. “Make short work of him. And bring me back those gold bangles he is so elegantly wearing.”
Dart nodded and turned to Jai. “Foolish, foolish little man. It will take more than a glaive to hurt me.”
Jai dropped his glaive on the ground in answer. “Bare hands, big boy. You obviously haven't dealt with a Kratoth before.”
Rowan picked up Jai's weapon and stabbed it into the soft forest turf next to him. His eyes were fixed on the gold bands that glistened on his friend's limbs. Arthur then made a step forward, but Rowan held him back with one arm. “Leave him. I did not know he brought his father's weapons.”
The portly man merely grinned devilishly. “After Jai decimates him, then can we attack the other scumbags?”
“Yes,” Rowan said, his gaze now on Dart, watching him in case he made a move to hurt Emily.
Emily scrambled to her feet and looked up at the giant Revenant. He was much taller than the Doberman had been, and looked much more stronger. Her eyes on his, she began to back away.
“Get out of my way!” Dart growled at Emily. “Run back to your friends! I will have my time with you soon.”
“Not on your life,” Rowan said, his death-stare unflinching. Emily ran to him and he hooked his free arm around her waist, pulling her against his chest protectively.
Dart sneered, then laughed at Rowan's threat. “Don't worry lore-kin, you will die as quick as the others. But first, your boastful friend here needs a lesson in manners!” He started to approach Jai, his clawed feet tearing into the muddied grass as he went. The giant beast's shadow swallowed up the shirtless lore-kin who stood as still as stone. “What's wrong, have nothing funny to say now? Say something!”
Jai simply smiled as his gold bands suddenly began to glow. “Lets see what you've got,” he finally said.
Growling angrily, the Revenant lunged at Jai with tremendous force, his clawed hands aimed for the Kratoth's throat.
Just before the giant hands could touch him, Jai's own hands shot upwards and grabbed the Revenant's wrists. Moving with the momentum of the lunge, Jai let himself fall onto his back, then braced his adversary with a foot against Dart's chest, and flung him overhead. The Revenant flew several feet before crashing into the driveway near the house, knocking over Rowan's motorbike.
Rowan flinched and whispered under his breath, “I just had her polished, too.”
A howl of rage exploded from the Revenant as he leaped to his feet. Jai was also standing; as still as he had been before.
“So, this lesson of yours,” Jai said sardonically, cracking his knuckles and dropping into a defensive stance. “Did I pass?”
“I WILL KILL YOU!” Dart roared, his eyes burned like twin furnaces. The other three lore-kin scattered out of the creatureʼs path as he thundered towards the Kratoth again.
This time, Jai took the impact of the four-hundred pound giant that slammed into him. Limbs locked, the two crashed into the ground. Dart snapped his huge canine jaws viciously at Jai's neck, but the Kratoth managed to clamp both hands around the Revenant's muzzle, forcing them closed with his incredible strength that seemed to be coming from his gold bands—vis-vereth.
Veil looked on, frustrated. When the wrestling match didn't seem to be yielding a winner, she began signalling the other Revenant to move closer to Rowan and the others.
“Be ready,” Rowan warned Arthur and Emily. “Veil is about to make her move.”