Beastress Inferno

by Mark Albany

  No, not a man, I realized. Long black hair drifting all the way down to his waist and left unencumbered didn’t do much to hide the long, pointed ears that showed this one to be an elf. Definitely a male, though, as I saw a long, wispy beard growing on his chin. He came closer, showing the whole of his skin was covered in intricate runes, more than I could count and many I’d never seen before. They were glowing in a sickening mixture of greens and reds, extending beyond his skin like they had been branded there, like my runes had been. His hands were raised, looking like he was putting more effort into defending the undead as they continued their charge. He looked up, scanning the battlefield.

  I felt a chilling, irrational fear as his eyes landed on me. There was no hatred or anger in his gaze as he started walking toward us at a leisurely pace, conveying the impression that although there was a battle happening around him there was no reason to hurry. His long black and grey robes flowed behind him as the undead creatures seemed to step over themselves to get out of his way.

  “Sisters,” Abarat said, coming close enough that we could hear him, although the way his voice boomed across the battlefield made it seem as though we would have been able to hear him from any point on it. “The three of you fighting here is like a sand castle standing against the oncoming tide. An admirable effort, true, but you must know you have no chance for victory. And why would you want it? You defend the very same humans you fought against when we were as one, however long ago that was.”

  There was something hypnotic about his voice, I realized. Something in each word that sank into my mind like silken ropes, light and unassuming, and yet bending me toward the will behind them. I felt the courage I had been putting forward starting to wilt.

  I blinked, feeling a shot of power rushing across the sky, watching it charging toward the wall. I could feel the way it seemed to be sucking the light out of the air, drawing on it, using it to add to the power of the strike. By the time it hit the wall, the destruction would be truly horrific, opening the city behind to attack by these monsters.

  I took a step forward, gripping my sword with sweaty hands and pushing as much power as I could into the blade, to the point where I felt it growing hot in my hands as I stepped forward in front of the blast.

  “Grant, no!” Aliana screamed. I could feel the doubt from the three sisters and knew that they had been similarly affected by what Abarat said, and might even be feeling it a bit stronger than I was, considering his words had been directed at them like a spell. More so, I mused, since they knew the elf and from what I’d heard of their history, actually fought alongside him. I could imagine their bond to him being similar to what they shared between themselves, and even with me—and Abarat had used their moment of hesitation to attack.

  Leaving me as the only barrier between his attack and our defenses. I gripped the sword tighter, feeling it slipping in my grasp as I watched the bolt of power speeding toward me. Time seemed to slow as I raised my blade, feeling my power arcing through my body, sending jolts of pain which I had to ignore as I sent a blast forward to meet Abarat’s.

  In the second when both attacks connected, I wasn’t entirely sure what happened. I hadn’t cast any kind of spell, just unleashed the power the blade was able to draw out of me, and yet when it connected with Abarat’s blast, I watched as both seemingly imploded. A low whine could be heard as they were sucked into each other like a storm gathering force for a tornado, and in a blast of unleashed power that echoed across the field, disappeared, leaving a massive crater in the middle and obliterating what creatures had been standing in its path.

  As the smoke and debris cleared, I looked around, seeing that there was a clear line between myself and Abarat. As he stared me down, there was something in me that wanted to run away and hide behind a rock to escape his glare. Once again, it wasn’t angry, or even overly confrontational. If anything, over the distance it looked like he was genuinely curious about what I’d done.

  Him and me both, I noted, gripping the sword tighter. I still had no idea what the hell kind of power my sword was capable of, although I was more than willing to find out.

  “You are a bold one,” Abarat said, his voice soft as he started walking toward me across the battlefield. In between steps, he blinked out of sight.

  15

  I paused, looking around at the hundreds, if not thousands of undead that were starting to attack the walls. The mages were doing their best to thin the horde, and the archers had moved behind the defenses to rain arrows down on our attackers, but they were still managing to scale the walls, sometimes climbing over their fallen to crest the top. The fighting atop the walls was growing heated as the Lancers poured in to hold their assault off.

  Where had Abarat gone?

  I looked around, feeling the spike in energy that usually came with a portal opening, realizing that the man had stepped in behind me. I dove backward, rolling over my shoulder to regain my feet as I watched a bolt of power soaring over me, striking where my head had been less than a second before. I came to my feet, using my blade to redirect the next strike.

  “Who are you?” Abarat asked, tilting his head as he pulled a short, arming sword from deep inside his cloak. “You seem familiar. Your presence is known to me, and yet your face does not bring a name to mind.”

  “I’m Grant,” I replied. “I was there when you were brought out of that coffin of yours.”

  “Ah, yes, Grant,” he said, smiling as he managed to mispronounce my name in a way that made it sound better and more melodious than before. “You were the one to swing the sword, that sword, which freed me. I would have preferred the blood of a dragon to a simple human mage, but we must all resign ourselves to small sacrifices.”

  “If you hate humans so much, why are you fighting for one?” I asked as I took a step forward, trying to buy time. I hoped the three sisters would come out of whatever spell Abarat had cast on them to come help me since I could feel that in terms of sheer power, I was absolutely no match for the elf standing in front of me.

  Abarat sneered, raising his hands, showing off a pair copper braces wrapped around his forearms. “Human arrogance is a thing of much amusement to me, I’ll have you know. I’m not sure how long Cyron thinks he can hold me without consequences, but I am curious enough about his ambitions to not fully sabotage him. What is your excuse?”

  “Well, I am human,” I stated, pointing out the obvious. “Why wouldn’t I fight alongside my kind?”

  “Except you aren’t, are you?” Abarat asked as he circled me, swishing his blade around in a series of glitteringly intricate patterns, some even making out what looked like runes out of thin air. “You have been fighting alongside elves and djinn, for causes not your own. In fact, you have been something of an outsider your whole life. Explain to me why a slave would choose to fight for the lives of his former masters.”

  “Technically, I am fighting against them, since they are on Cyron’s side,” I said, steeling my resolve. “All things considered, though, I would say just about anyone could unite against the kind of common foe that Cyron has proven himself to be.”

  “A good point, well made,” Abarat said, but his tone sounded condescending, like he hadn’t been expecting me to make any kind of point at all and was impressed by that alone. “However, as delightful as this conversation might be, I am afraid I must bring it to an end. I am glad you chose to die with honor, Grant. Greater men than you have wept and begged for mercy. I cannot tell if I should commend you for your courage or chastise you for your stupidity, but I digress. Goodbye.”

  I could see him gathering power, but what came wasn’t an outright attack. What he launched at me felt like long, slimy tentacles that quickly wrapped around my ankles and reached for my sword hand. I pulled away, losing my balance. I could feel my limbs slipping smoothly out of their grasp as I quickly fell back, stumbling to regain my balance and put some distance between Abarat and myself.

  I was only partially successful, since Abarat was
on me almost immediately, his light and quick-moving blade spinning toward me in an intricate series of attacks. Even though I had the advantage of range with my blade, I quickly ended up on the defensive, having to pull back step after step as his masterfully-handled blade attacked again and again, missing my throat, head and heart by mere inches on multiple occasions.

  As Abarat suddenly gave me a moment of respite, I looked down, seeing myself sporting a handful of light wounds across my chest and arms which were openly weeping blood. I gritted my teeth. I couldn’t defend myself forever. If only I had some allies that would help me…

  My thought was accurately translated across my bond with the three sisters, breaking them out of Abarat’s spell. I could feel the ground shaking as Abarat turned to face the massive falcon and wolf that were charging at him. Braire’s snake looked like it was too deeply engaged with the rest of the undead to aid us.

  I watched as he flicked his blade around, quickly creating what looked like a ward out of thin air to block a bolt of lightning from Norel. He sidestepped Aliana’s pair of strikes and quickly shoved her to the side as the four of us, plus the two beasts, circled him.

  Abarat smiled. “Even at the height of your powers, the three of you were no match for me, which was why you asked for my aid in the first place. Even with your interesting addition here,” he pointed his blade at me, “you stand no chance of defeating me.”

  I gritted my teeth, but I couldn’t help realizing that he was right. He was at the height of his powers, even while bound to Cyron. We wouldn’t be able to defeat him unless he was weakened somehow.

  I took a deep breath. Aliana, Norel, and Braire needed to retreat, get back behind the defenses and hatch a plan. If I could help them survive to do that, I would. I moved forward, feinting a attack with my sword which Abarat quickly swung low to block but I reversed my grip, switching the blade over to my left hand as my right, with the branded runes burning a bright yellow, came forward with a shield wrapped around it. Abarat’s eyebrows raised in surprise a moment before my shielded hand crashed into his skull.

  Abarat was sent stumbling back a few steps, which irritatingly gave him enough space to regain his balance and his composure. I watched as his expression turned into his first glare of anger since the battle started. He raised his blade, and I saw the runes inscribed into it starting to glow a sickly green. I raised mine in defense, not sure what kind of attack was coming or if I would have time to defend myself. Then Braire’s wolf suddenly crashed in, howling a blood-curdling cry as it tackled Abarat, roughly tossing him to the ground, huge jaws coming down on him. For a moment, it seemed like it was going to work.

  Until low, primal growls turned into whimpers of pain as the massive, horse-sized wolf was suddenly tossed aside like a bug. I could see a smoking hole appear in its dark fur as the wolf whined and howled, struggling to quickly back away from the flurry of attacks Abarat was throwing its way.

  “No!” Braire roared, rushing to deflect the attacks, trying to defend her beast. I charged in, trying to draw Abarat’s attention away, sending a series of white flashes toward him, which were quickly eliminated as Abarat flicked his blade, easily avoiding the strikes and sending a handful right back at me.

  “Shit!” I dove to the ground and rolled to avoid the five strikes he had sent. From the way they cut into the stone ground, I knew they’d have little trouble tearing through my body no matter what kind of armor I was wearing. I was starting to question why I was wearing any in the first place, if most attacks would just tear right through them. I rolled to the left, pushing myself to my feet as I raised a shield against Abarat’s next attack.

  It worked, the impact showering sparks all around the battlefield as it sent me stumbling back a few steps. I looked up, realizing that the other three were handling themselves just as well. The falcon was trying to draw attention away from the people on the ground but not doing a great job of it since Abarat was more than capable of keeping all of us on our heels at the same time.

  This isn’t working, I thought. Braire was distracted, working to defend her beasts from Abarat’s attacks with little thought toward actually attacking. Her emotional connection was distracting Aliana and Norel, who were having just as difficult a time sending attacks Abarat’s way. If this continued, one of us would make a mistake and we would all be dead in short order. We needed to do something.

  I felt something new surging inside me. Something white-hot, flooding my consciousness as I looked at the battle happening around us. Since we were holding Abarat’s attention, the battle seemed to the fairly even. The men on the walls were able to hold the undead horde back, but since they kept on coming, it was only going to be a matter of time before things took a turn for the worse on that front as well. We needed to pull back, regroup, and think of a new strategy.

  Norel looked over at me, a panicked expression on her face as she realized I was right. Thoughts weren’t shared, but her annoyance over the realization was easy to read.

  I sucked in a deep breath, flooding my blade with as much power as I could spare. Things were coming to me more easily, helped by the cold fury I felt rushing through my body. I couldn’t explain it. I stepped toward Abarat, who felt that he could afford to pay less attention to me until I was actually attacking. I felt the blade heating up and joining with my branded runes as I rushed forward, taking a handful of light steps while I summoned as much power as I could and launched a wave-like strike.

  Abarat’s sudden look of surprise was all I needed. He was going to be able to absorb the impact, but it would take most of his attention, which would allow for something else to come in and deliver a finishing blow. I was under no kind of illusion that we’d be able to kill him here, but if we were able to force him back to recover and regroup, we might be able to do the same. It was a desperate tactic, but it was called for.

  Abarat raised his arming sword and formed a shield in front of his body with a quick flick. I gasped, trying to follow his movements to maybe emulate them at a later point. The strike lashed out and caught him. Even with his shield up, he was sent stumbling back a handful of steps as the strike disappeared in a shower of sparks. I gritted my teeth, trying to call up another attack, but there was nothing I could do that would be able to tear through that shield.

  Suddenly, another figure joined the battle. Long, sinuous, and slithering across the ground at an impressive speed, I almost missed it until Abarat spun around, trying to hit it with his sword and missing. The snake coiled up around Abarat’s legs, wrapping around and trying to lay down strike after strike with its venomous fangs, aiming to thoroughly tear into the man. Abarat was clearly struggling to defend himself, but I knew it wasn’t going to last. Any attempt to attack the elf now would serve no other purpose but rob ourselves of our chance to escape.

  It was tempting to stay, I mused as I watched the serpent sink its fangs into Abarat’s thigh. The elf roared, his blade lashing out and cutting deep into the snake’s side. It jumped away, faster than anything I’d ever seen, with black blood leaking from where the blade had bitten in.

  Aliana had raised her hand. I watched her forming a portal as I started running over to where she was standing. Braire looked the most reluctant to leave, but even she realized this wasn’t sustainable, so it wasn’t long before she pulled that pebble out of her pocket again and tossed it upward. In a blink of an eye, I could see the beasts disappearing into thin air. I had to ask her what kinds of runes that she had inscribed into that damned pebble.

  Soon, the four of us were gathered and I felt the twisting and dragging sensation as we stepped through the portal. It opened up on the walls that had been set up, where we could still see and hear the fighting. I looked down at the open space where we’d left Abarat behind. He was quickly pushing himself to his feet, limping on his left leg as he moved. He looked up at us for a moment before he opened another portal and beat a hasty retreat as well.

  “We need to help them push the attack back!” Norel
said, pointing at the men and women still struggling to keep the undead from rushing past them. The fighting was fierce, but while it seemed like they might have a hold on things, that wasn’t going to last. The undead were still coming out of the mist in droves and there seemed to be no end to them.

  “No,” I said, taking a step forward. “Sound a retreat. We’ve lost too many defending these walls. Send them all back to the fortress. It can be held with fewer men.”

  Braire nodded, and so did Aliana. Norel shook her head for a moment, trying to come up with a good argument that would allow her to disagree with what I was saying, but it didn’t take long before she realized it was the only way. I knew why she was reluctant, though. The fortress was our last line of defense. Behind that was nothing except vulnerable women and children.

  Finally, she came to terms with it. “Sound the retreat,” she said. “We’ll stay behind with those who will keep the undead at a distance and use a portal to help them escape as well.”

  I nodded. As last-minute plans went, it was a solid as we could hope for.

  Horns and bells could be heard as the men manning the walls were quickly drawn back to the fortress. Most of those who remained were Lancers, struggling to contain the advance of the corpses on their own. The four of us rushed in, pushing the creatures back, tearing through their lines and opening a hole for them to fill as one last horn was heard, pealing three times. The rest of the men had made it back to the fortress.

  “Gather around!” Aliana called, and using Norel, Braire and myself as familiars, managed to open a portal large enough for all of us to use. It wasn’t long before we were back in the fortress, with the newcomers complaining about the headache that came with using the damned portals.

  I looked up with a smile on my face to peer at Aliana, who looked like she was on the verge of collapse.

  “It won’t be long before the attack continues,” Norel said softly. “If we are to come up with some creative solutions, we need to find them now.”