by Sam Puma
He wanted to run out and kill the two mature Cruxai, but he cautioned himself again. He waited and watched as they connected a tube to the mouths of every babe. When they were finished, they leaned up against two pillars that were close to Jankaro. He had to quickly and quietly reposition himself so they would not see him. Time passed and milk flowed as the Cruxai periodically grunted a conversation to each other. Eventually they got up and disconnected all the tubes. They noted the largest babe of the group, picked it up and carried it out.
Jankaro slowly crept behind the pillars until he was by the opening. Light flowed through the opening from the torches that lined the hall. He listened but heard nothing, so he stepped into the opening and looked to the left. The hallway extended away from him with two wooden doors on the left and two on the right. He looked to the right and the hallway extended twenty feet, then rounded a corner to the left. Both choices could easily lead to his demise.
There was a sound from behind him that sounded like an extended belch. He turned around to see a large gaping mouth on the blob in the middle of the room. Two soulless black eyes gazed absently in his direction. He panicked and ran past it around the pillars to the back of the hall and lifted the slab. He listened for any Cruxai as he ducked back into the cave. He closed the slab, recovered his weapons and scrambled down the tunnel back the way he had come.
Back to the main cave, he took a breath and looked back. No one followed him. He listened for sounds of alarm but there were none. He felt the worms and other giant insects crawling on him and he frantically brushed them off. The smell was horrible. He expected they would be after him. He liked his chances of survival better in the pines with Ixltayo rather than in the cave alone. So he took off running down the dark tunnel back the way he had come. He collided into the heavy door and stopped to listen again. There was no one coming after him. The insects had subsided. He reached up and pulled the lever for the door to open.
“No.” He couldn’t believe it. He looked at the broken lever in his hand. “Oh, no.” He continued listening to the silence of the hall but there were no sounds of Cruxai. He reached up for anything left of the lever but there was nothing there. He broke the whole thing off. He reached down as far as he could into the hole from where the lever extended but there was nothing there.
He stood in the darkness for a moment. He thought about yelling for Ixtlayo. He quietly spoke his name. “Ixtlayo,” he said as he leaned back against the hard stone slab. There were no worms around for ten feet in all directions. He felt down and there were large stone slabs beneath his feet. He looked out into darkness. He listened to the silence. He knew he had to stop wondering about Ixltayo and venture back into the world of the Cruxai.
He stepped forward to the edge of the stones. He remembered his last turn with Orion was to the right, so if he was to go back he should turn to the left. The first left did not lead him to the church, so he figured he must have forgotten. He figured he should stick with his overall memory and go for a tunnel on the left. It could be that the tunnel would lead back to the church and there might not be any Cruxai there to meet him. He cringed and wished he was on the other side of the wall with Ixtlayo.
But he remembered that he wore the yanigo armor. It had been tested and the Juruga could not touch it with their spit. He decided that he must clear himself of fear and continue with his mission into the occupied fortress of Dorfin.
He stepped forward and stomped on any worm he could. He struck out with his sword at any of them that came near. They seemed to be getting bigger. One was the size of his forearm. He sank his sword into it with vengeance on his mind.
He kept on but they came at him more quickly. The ceiling came down and he had to duck to get through. A worm the size of his leg dropped on him and tried to wriggle around his neck, but he pulled it loose, cast it to the side and cut it in half with his sword.
He passed the first left turn and the worms kept getting bigger. He kept hacking at them and marching forward until he found the next opening to the left. It had to be the one. He turned and ran down the tunnel. The worms in the tunnel were smaller but the big worms behind continued to follow him. He ran forward for a few breaths until he ran into a wall. He fell backward onto his back. He swung his sword wildly over his head and cut through worms as he sprung to his feet. He swung with one arm as he used the other to feel the loose stone slab above him. He cringed at the clattering sound as he pushed up on the slab and pushed it to the side. He lifted himself into a small torchlit chamber and stabbed downward to clear the opening. He put the slab back in place and heard footsteps in the hall. He knew he had to hide, so he leaned against the wall next to the entry.
The footsteps drew closer. Jankaro held his breath as a large, hairy Cruxai entered the room with a long sword in his hand. His back was to Jankaro and he wore the blue breastplate of the Galdeans on his torso. He looked around the room, obviously investigating what he heard. Jankaro didn’t want to draw any more attention to his location so he moved swiftly and pushed his sword through the back of the Cruxai’s neck and out the front. His windpipe was severed, so nothing more than a muted gag was heard. He caught the Cruxai’s sword before it clattered to the ground. He was big and heavy, and Jankaro tried in vain to lower him gently, but blood squirted all over his hands. He lost his grip on his own sword and the Cruxai hit the stone floor with a thud. Jankaro pulled out his sword and listened. He thought about pushing the body back into the cave but realized there was no time to clean up the blood that had splattered the walls and pooled on the floor. If they were not already aware of his presence, they would be soon. He was thinking less about his scouting mission and more about escape.
He wasn’t in the temple, but he realized it didn’t matter any more. He listened but couldn’t hear any more Cruxai coming. He took a peak into the hallway and there was no one there; only Galdean tapestries, torn and defaced. He took a moment to look around the small chamber. He saw some bedding in the corner, and a few containers strewn about. He scanned the walls for any other secret passages, but there were none. He thought about going back down into the cave and looking for another way out, but the thought of the worms made him gag. The smell of the dead Cruxai made him gag. So he steeled himself and stepped out into the hallway. His fear was intense but he kept his breath calm and walked in silence. He wiped his sword on one of the torn tapestries to keep it from leaving a trail of blood behind him. He knew that at any given moment a Juruga could round a corner and put an end to him. All he could do was keep his eyes and ears open and look for an escape.
He neared the end of the hall and it opened up into a larger hall with more torches. Another big, hairy Cruxai appeared. His heart leaped in his chest and he prepared to fight, but it didn’t look over or notice him, it just carried on along the large hall. Left or right? He could follow the Cruxai to the right or go left to where it had come from. All he knew was that he wanted to avoid them, so he went left. He heard voices ahead. They spoke in a monstruous language of gutteral tones. As he got closer, they sounded big. Very big, like Juruga, and there were many of them. It wasn’t the kind of fight he could afford to get into.
It sounded like an argument. Their voices came through a heavy wooden door on the left, a little further down the hall. One peek was all he would take. It was a double door and a crack ran down the center. He crouched silently at the door and looked in with one eye.
Several Juruga stood in a circle making violent gestures as they argued with each other. One of them caught Jankaro’s attention. It had the hide of an Ashtari draped over its head and down its back, like the one who had slain him in the chamber below Caladon. How could that be? He remembered being chopped into pieces. He was dizzy as he listened to its voice and he fell backward, catching himself with his hand. He winced at the sound. The Juruga wearing the Ashtari hide uttered a sharp word and all the rest were silent. Jankaro looked back through the crack and saw that he was coming t
oward the door. He got up and ran down the hall. He heard a loud roar from behind him as the door came flying off its hinges and crashed into the opposite wall.
He took one look back to see the Jurugas charging down the hall after him. Spit came flying and landed on his heel, but he knew his armor would protect him. It wouldn’t protect him from their heavy swords, however. He kept running and found a doorway to his right. He flung it open, burst through and pushed it closed behind him. It was still night and there were Cruxai everywhere. They came and went, occupied with one task or another. Some of them looked up at Jankaro with shocked expressions and started shouting. He turned to his right, knocked a Cruxai out of his way and ran. He flailed his sword at anything that crossed his path as he ran forward, not knowing where to go. He heard the Juruga yelling behind him as he came around the corner of a large building. He arrived at the front courtyard where he had battled them once before. Ahead of him the main gate was wide open, but it was filled with armed Cruxai filing out - undoubtedly mobilizing toward Caladon.
All at once, they turned to look at him. He was surrounded with the horde in front of him and the Jurugas behind him. He hesitated for a moment and felt a heavy splatter of Juruga spit across his back. He stumbled forward and the smell of it burned his throat. He charged forward into the mass of lesser Cruxai, hacking away at them and using them as a buffer to keep the Juruga away. He would have to kill a hundred common Cruxai to get out. He thought he might make it out until the arrows started flying down at him from above. For a moment they seemed to help as one of them pierced through the eye of the Cruxai that swung at him on the left. But then an arrow pierced his right shoulder and broke his rhythm long enough for an impact to the back of his left knee to bring him face first into the ground. He rolled onto his back and flailed wildly at the weapons swung down on him from all sides.
Ixtlayo’s mighty roar filled the night sky as seven archers fell from the wall. He pounced down in the middle of a pool of Cruxai and sprang towards Jankaro as the arrows flew in his direction. It was easier for Jankaro to fight while the Cruxai were momentarily distracted by Ixtlayo, but his arm throbbed with pain. As he looked back to see the Jurugas were slicing through their own ranks to get to him. Luckily Ixtlayo got to him first, and Jankaro leapt onto his back. The spit came flying at Ixtlayo and the Jurugas were dismayed by its lack of potency against the yanigo armor. But the arrows kept flying and they were sticking out from various points all over Ixtlayo’s body. He didn’t hesitate for a moment as he bound away from the Jurugas, knocking Cruxai down as he bound toward the wall and leapt up and over. The horde was mobilizing for Caladon, carrying several wooden bridges constructed from the fallen pines. Ixtlayo turned away from them to the west and ran as the Cruxai cavalry pursued on their lizard mounts. The Juruga shouted orders and the arrows continued to fly as Jankaro and Ixtlayo fled to the west, away from Dorfin.
It didn’t take long before they were out of range of the archers on the castle walls. It was quiet but they were still being pursued by a group of about a hundred mounted Cruxai. Jankaro sensed that Ixtlayo was tiring from his injuries.
“Ixtlayo!” Jankaro called out through the pain. “Take that hill over there!”
Ixtlayo scrambled up the top of the hill and panted while Jankaro unstrapped his bow and quiver that was strapped to his Ixtlayo’s side. He fired arrows down on the Cruxai and killed about five of them before his wounded arm gave out and he couldn’t fire any more. When they got close, they started firing again. Ixtlayo charged down on them and past them, killing a few and taking more arrows as he went.
He turned south and made his way back to the hills form where they had come. He was getting tired and Jankaro didn’t want to count the arrows that stuck out from his body. He was tired too. And still many pursued. They got to the top of another hill and an idea occurred to him.
He reached into his bag and pulled out a juzi stick. He snapped it in front of his face, inhaling the powder, then shoved the two pieces into Ixtlayo’s mouth. The Ashtari coughed and spit but the juzi stick served its purpose. Ixtlayo reared up on his hind legs with a roar and Jankaro held tight to the harness as his adrenaline surged. Ixtlayo charged down into the Cruxai cavalry and sent them flying in all directions. Jankaro leapt off of his back and drove his sword through a Cruxai’s chest. Ixtlayo’s roar filled the night sky and the sound of arrows dimmed as the bodies of the Cruxai and their lizard mounts went flying in all directions. Jankaro made sure to finish off any of the riders that tried to get back up. In a matter of seconds, half of them were dead and the other half was sprinting back to Dorfin. Ixtlayo gave chase for a moment to make sure they continued on their way, then returned to Jankaro’s side as he finished his task of making sure they were all dead. He looked up into the ragged and weary eyes of his Ashtari friend.
“Don’t collapse until we get back over the hill and into the trees so we can hide.” He exhaled and nearly collapsed before his sword hit a Cruxai’s chest and kept him from falling to the ground.
He watched the dust rise at the heels of the Cruxai and their lizard mounts. He knew they would regroup and come back. The night had just begun. He leaned back into Ixtlayo who was lying on the ground plucking arrows out of his front legs.
“You better not do that,” he said as he saw Ixtlayo close his eyes and exhale. “We should get into those trees.”
Ixtlayo labored to his feet. Jankaro knew he had lost a lot of blood. He climbed onto his back.
“Get us out of here,” he commanded as he slumped forward onto the back of Ixtlayo’s neck. His body clenched as he kept telling himself to hold on. Hold on.
They made it back to the valley of pines. There were no Cruxai around. Jankaro heard the call of a bird he had never heard before. Ixtlayo collapsed and immediately slept, heaving deep breaths and twitching. Jankaro pulled arrows from his side and watched the blood trickle down by the moonlight. He could see by the energetic imprint around Ixtlayo that there was no poison. “Hmmm,” he looked around and all was calm. “What would Anhael do?” he thought.
It was a struggle for Jankaro to pull the arrows from Ixtlayo as he could only use one arm. He grabbed the arrow with one hand and put a foot on Ixtlayo’s side to push away and pull it out. He let it bleed. He went to the next and did the same. He pulled out twenty arrows, reached for the medicine bag, prepared a poultice, and applied it to each one. He served him a gourd of the breath of life. Through all the fighting, Ixtlayo had kept their supplies safe. Anhael and Janesa’s faces arose in Jankaro’s mind and he mentally thanked them for preparing their bags. He watched Ixtlayo breathe. He nocked an arrow and patrolled the perimeter around his sleeping ally.
He looked at his shoulder and stopped to tend to his own wound. He chewed on a fresh pine branch as he pulled the arrow out. He knew he couldn’t scream so he poured his pain out through his feet, directly into the earth. A firefly flew between him and Ixtlayo. The blood flowed down his arm and he thought it would fall off. His head was dizzy and he fell to the ground.
Jankaro awoke to Ixtlayo’s tongue on his face. “Water.” Ixtlayo’s mouth didn’t move but Jankaro swore that was what the Ashtari said.
“You’ve got some.” Jankaro’s shoulder screamed in pain as he pushed himself to his feet. He felt the light of the dawn on his face. He looked around for Cruxai but there were none. He looked into Ixtlayo’s eyes and smiled.
“We made it.”
He pulled a jug of water from Ixtlayo’s back and took a long drink. He offered the rest to Ixtlayo, who lay down, leaned his head back and accepted every last drop.
Together they walked, side by side through the valley. Jankaro noted the lack of life. The land felt wounded and empty. He knew the Cruxai had done something to it.
He thought about Orion; he knew he would be wondering what happened. He remembered riding on Ixtlayo’s back as the arrows came flying. They were mobilizing and Caladon would soon be u
nder siege. But he and Ixtlayo could beat them there.
“Ixtlayo! We have to run now! Back to Caladon! We must warn them. Can you run?”
Ixtlayo roared and Jankaro leaped onto his back. He ran forward through the pines, branches snapping branches under his feet. He sprinted hard and cut farther and farther south, away from the road that the Cruxai would use to march toward Caladon. From the maps Jankaro had been shown, it felt like they would be going closer to Calixo than Caladon.
But he enjoyed the green fields and the lush forests. He enjoyed the lack of Cruxai around. He enjoyed the stops at rivers to drink and watching the eagles and hawks and condors while Ixtlayo slurped up his fill. Remembering Valera and her macaw dance, he vowed to see it again. His arm was getting better; he applied the poultice and felt the medicine healing him.
After a few hours, Ixtlayo’s energy waned. Jankaro dismounted and Ixtlayo lay down next to a small lake. It reminded Jankaro of the lake where Ixtlayo had been shot and poisoned. He looked around. Sure enough, an arrow came flying as he caught sight of the resurgent group of fifty plus mounted Cruxai archers. It hit Ixtlayo in the back of his neck. He reared up and roared. They didn’t penetrate very far past his armor, and a single arrow couldn’t kill him. But little by little they could wear him down. They didn’t aim for Jankaro as much. They knew they had a bigger problem in Ixtlayo.
Jankaro didn’t take a moment to think. He leapt onto Ixtlayo’s back and held on as Ixtlayo sprinted away from danger. Jankaro popped the juzi stick in front of his nose just to make sure. Ixtlayo surged and they put the Cruxai behind them.
At the top of a hill that rose above the lake, Ixtlayo turned and looked back.