An Elegy of Heroes

by K. S. Villoso

  Kefier came up to him. “Palace gardens is that way,” he said.

  Enosh followed him down the path. A group of Boarshind stopped to salute them. There were long rows of trees with pink and white blossoms. The contrast of such beauty, against the backdrop of death and smoke, gave Enosh an odd sensation. As if to further emphasize the point, he heard something crash in the distance.

  He saw the creature crawling up the third tower.

  They started running and emerged past a grove of low trees to a wide courtyard. Sapphire turned to them, her face covered in soot. “You’re with the wrong group,” she hissed.

  “I’m glad to see you too, Sapphire,” Enosh said. “And so glad you came out of the water all right. Or wait, wasn’t that us?”

  “Do you know where Yn Garr is?” Kefier asked.

  “Jarche’s on her way to him,” Sapphire said. “I don’t know if I trust her to get anything done. We have reports that the palace is empty. They don’t know where the Emperor is. Yn Garr is probably with him.” She glanced at the two other towers in the distance. “I’m guessing he’s in one of those. He’s got nowhere else to go.”

  “He should just give up,” Kefier murmured.

  “The words give up are not in that man’s vocabulary,” Enosh grumbled.

  “Just like you?”

  “What are you talking about? I give up all the time.”

  The creature roared. A mage came running up to the base of the tower and it reached down, plucking the man as easily as a raven with a worm.

  “We should stay and help you with this,” Enosh said, staring at the creature. It was still too distracted to have noticed him.

  Sapphire ignored him. “Bannal!” she called out, bypassing the usual honorific she had continued to give her brother all these years. The man turned. At the sight of Kefier and Enosh, his face paled.

  “You’re still alive,” he said in a low voice.

  “No thanks to you,” Enosh replied.

  He broke into a smile. “Well, the fact that you’ve made it this far must mean you’re perhaps on our side, after all.”

  “Perhaps? You piece of shit,” Kefier snarled. “Do you think we could just let this go, just like that?”

  “You have to,” Sapphire murmured from behind him. “We don’t have time to fight amongst ourselves.”

  “Fuck, Sapphire. After what he did to Moon—”

  “And what you did to me, and Sume’s brother, and what Enosh did to you, and what else?” Her eyes blazed. “I get it. Let’s put all of that aside and deal with what’s in front of us.”

  “She makes a fair point,” Bannal said.

  “You be quiet,” Kefier hissed.

  “No,” Bannal said, holding out his hands. “I was convinced you were working for him. It doesn’t matter anymore. He’s cornered, the army is making its way here as we speak, and it’s only a matter of time before we bring this all to a swift end.”

  Naijwa’s beast screamed. A chunk of stone fell a few paces away.

  “Only a matter of time,” Kefier said, looking at it. “Right.”

  “You’re aware, of course, that it looks like this situation is far from under control,” Enosh added. “Let me help here.”

  “No.” Bannal’s voice was like a thin strand.

  Enosh stared at him. “I can’t believe this,” he said. “You’ve been hamstringing us this whole time because you want the credit for yourself, don’t you? You want to bring this thing down yourself and say we had nothing to do with it.”

  “Someone with an ego even bigger than yours,” Kefier said. “Amazing.”

  Bannal snorted. “You’re throwing that accusation at me because it’s what you would do.”

  “All right, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Let me go up there with Izo As’ondaro. I’ve been mulling over this, and I think if we can somehow separate the parts of the beast that respond to us, we can at least weaken it.”

  “Impossible,” Bannal breathed. “Even Raggnar couldn’t do it without at least three other powerful mages by his side. As’ondaro, whatever connection to the agan he may have kept from the military, is not a mage. And you…” He laughed.

  “This is what I was afraid of,” Enosh said.

  “Go intercept Yn Garr,” Sapphire broke in. “The original plan. He is still a threat. The man is a walking well of agan. I do not want him getting close to us, not at this state.”

  “You won’t get anywhere with him in the way!” Enosh pointed at Bannal.

  “Always one to focus on the little details, aren’t you, Enosh?”

  “You would accuse me of that, Sapphire? You?”

  “Yes. Letting little things get in the way…you’ll never amount to anything like this.”

  Enosh was about to laugh when he saw the expression on Sapphire’s face. She wasn’t even looking at him while speaking. Her eyes were locked on the creature. And she hadn’t insulted him yet, which was a first.

  “There’s something on your mind,” he murmured.

  She took a deep breath. “We thought we had a plan, but it burst through our spells and mowed through the mages like they were nothing.” Enosh glanced at the sketches on the ground, marked with splotches of blood and scattered body parts. “You remember how easily it responded to us back in Jin-Sayeng?”

  “I wouldn’t call it easy, but…”

  “Even your shoddy spells worked on it, for a time.”

  He grinned. “I was wondering when you’d start the jibes.”

  “Not a jibe,” Sapphire said, her face remaining straight. “A fact. It’s consumed too much, grown too powerful since then. Fused with Farg’s Fang, it’s not even the same creature anymore. We can’t contain it. I wouldn’t know how to.”

  “Don’t tell me you’re thinking of destroying it?” Enosh asked. He said it casually, almost a joke, but as soon as the words left his mouth he saw her turn to him and felt bile rise in his throat. “You can’t be serious, Sapphire,” he said. “That’ll kill us all.”

  “Not here,” Sapphire said. “Not all of us.”

  “What, so you’re just planning to take it for a walk somewhere?”

  “It’s got wings.”

  “That’s right,” Kefier broke in. “Bring it somewhere far from here. Over the sea or into the mountains.”

  Sapphire nodded. “It would still severely damage the agan fabric in that area. I don’t know what catastrophe will come out of it, but what choice do we have?”

  Enosh licked his lips. “Shit little,” he murmured.

  “Language,” Kefier said.

  “Jarche told me that Prince Rysaran was able to stick his sword into the beast at some point. It’s created a pathway—someone with skill in the agan can channel enough energy into the creature to destroy it.”

  “Even if someone can deal this death blow,” Enosh said, “and the creature somehow doesn’t implode into a giant hole of agan, it’ll still kill them.”

  “I think that part is obvious, yes,” Sapphire replied.

  Enosh laughed. “Perfect. Bannal, let me take it back. Here’s a chance to stroke your ego some more. You can go down in time as the man who slew Naijwa’s beast. I’ll make a memorial in your name. Hell, I’ll make ten.”

  Bannal didn’t move.

  “You son of a bitch,” Enosh said. “For all your big talk, you’re just a coward, aren’t you?”

  “We’re wasting our time.” Sapphire’s voice had assumed a timbre of resolve. She began to walk towards the tower. Enosh watched her long, deliberate strides, black hair spilling like a waterfall across her back, and realized he would replay that image of her for years to come.

  Interlude

  “Prefect As’ondaro!” Orsalian ventures past the boundary the mages tried to set up around the tower, triggering a crackle that gave a momentary flash of white.

  “Finally, a plan,” Daro says with a grin. He and a handful of Boarshind soldiers were keeping an eye on the creature on the tower while mai
ntaining a healthy distance from it. It has, in the short amount of time since they were able to find it, destroyed half their men.

  Orsalian walks up to him. Her face looks even paler than usual, but her eyes are hard. She does not turn to him—her gaze is on the creature. “We need to get it down from there,” she says.

  “We could try that,” Daro says. “And then what?”

  “Keep it distracted, let me get close.”

  Daro smirks. “As you wish.” He walks past Enosh, who opens his arms out at the sight of him.

  “You want him to distract the creature?” Enosh calls out. “He runs like a three-legged dog these days!”

  “I’ll show you a three-legged dog!” Daro barks, gaining speed.

  He still limps now, a gift from Agartes Allaicras the last time they confronted him in Shi-uin. Learning the man’s true identity gave him significant pride in the injury. Izo As’ondaro took a blow from a legend and survived. He hears Enosh following him. “Can’t let me have all the glory now, can you?” he calls out.

  “You’ll trip on your face and fall,” Enosh says. “I want to be there to laugh when it happens.”

  He isn’t about to let him live that one down. With a snort of laughter, he flings himself up the base of the tower. He is not as fast or skilled in battle as he used to be, but he has learned to compensate. He draws from the agan and sends a burst towards the beast’s face.

  One of its tendrils becomes encased in a block of ice. It turns towards him, single eye boring into him. He feels a presence begin to scrape in the back of his skull and jumps back down. He tears along the courtyard as the creature lumbers after him.

  “What did I say?” he calls out to Enosh, who looks almost impressed. “I think after this you owe me a—”

  He feels his feet collapse as the creature’s tail sweeps under him. He does crash to the ground now, his arm breaking his fall. As the dull pain spreads out among his limbs, a sensation of hot breath curls over him. He is supposed to be immune to the creature’s effects, but he’s almost certain this does not apply to its jaws.

  It stops. He hears the creature screech. He pushes himself up, ignoring the pain as he draws his sword. He turns and sees the beast craning its neck as it lashes towards Mahe.

  Mahe does not know a life without Izo As’ondaro.

  As a child, she looked forward to his weekly visits to the manor where she grew up as a servant to a minor Dageian lord. He was a lot older and was just beginning to train as a soldier. They were not given a lot of time to talk—he would usually bring her a trinket and ask how her week went, and then, after her one-word answers, would tell her about his week in excruciating detail.

  They have no one else.

  When she was a lot older and her masters allowed her to leave the manor for errands, he would take her to the docks to meet up with other Shi-uin. Some fled the island right around the time the Dageians invaded. Others have been living in Dageis for years before that. They taught her to speak their language and all about their customs and fed her greasy food cooked in one pot. They told her stories about her father, King Hyougen, and remarked at how much she looked like her mother, Queen Aliahe.

  She only went to make Izo happy.

  She would follow him to the ends of the world. She knows this, and she knows he does not understand this, but she knows nothing else. Her body reacts like an extension of his. When she was just training in the military, the other soldiers—unaware, perhaps, of the extent of their relationship—called her As’ondaro’s sword-arm, so closely did she work and walk with him. Some of the other women found it repugnant, going as far as to tell her what they thought. They quickly realized that she didn’t care for their opinions.

  At least once a week, perhaps more often, Izo asks her to leave him. She is a princess of their people and should not, he will say, be wasting her life away. But without him, where would she go? She can never tell him this—cannot express the depths to which she will sink for him except in situations like this. By his side, his sword-arm, all her life. She is content with it.

  Before Naijwa’s beast could even get close to Izo, she is already on it, her blade flashing against its outstretched wings. She hears someone cry a warning against injuring it, but she ignores the words. Her sword clashes on an invisible barrier. She pulls herself in, adjusting her footing, and sees the creature’s full attention on her.

  How far do you think you can stretch this out?

  It is the first time she hears its voice, though she has been warned about it before. The mages tell of how different it sounds for every person. For her, it sounds a lot like Izo, which makes her recoil.

  Yes, it says, almost soothingly. You think you can continue down this road forever. Playing soldier, side-by-side. Yet even you must know that it cannot last. He is the true soldier, faithful until the end, and he will not marry you, not his precious king’s daughter, no. He is already wracked with guilt over betraying his king’s trust by indulging your whims. He will not go further than that.

  “Go,” she hisses, “away.”

  And how long until you can keep this secret from your superiors? Half of the barracks already gossip and your act cannot fool everyone forever. Ex-Tribune Alerio knew. He promoted you to protect you, keep you away from him. Do you know what they will do if they find out?

  She screams, raising her sword, and striking at it again. It spreads its wings and laughs inside her head.

  They will discharge you both, if they don’t execute you first. The military is his life. Without it, he will find ways to dedicate himself to other causes. To your father’s cause. He will leave you, then.

  “That will never happen,” she says.

  You know it will. He will leave you because he will not restore Hyougen’s name while debasing his daughter. He will leave you because he cannot rightfully say he loves you while proclaiming himself a Shi-uin warrior. Do you want to know something else? He is glad you lost your son, the only thing that could save you now!

  It lunges for her.

  Her usual reflexes do not respond. She feels her head pound and a trickle of blood drips under her nostril. As she moves to wipe it off, she sees the beast stop and turn, its wings curling as if being crumpled by an invisible force.

  “Leave the pretty lady alone, you miserable pit of rage,” Enosh Tar’elian called out. “Find a new hobby!”

  It whirls its head, jaws snapping towards him. Enosh laughed. “You know why you can’t help but explore people’s minds? It’s because alone, you’re nothing. You dig into everyone’s darkest thoughts, wrapping yourself around them, because you want to know what it’s like to live, to fall in love, to be loved. Sapphire, now!”

  Orsalian pulls herself onto the beast’s back. Mahe struggles to her feet, not entirely sure what is happening. Orsalian cannot keep herself alive against the beast for very long. She remembers them going through it during their plans—Orsalian is a proficient mage, but lacks the bloodline. She could, perhaps, kill it if it does not kill her first, but there is no surviving such an act.

  “Raggnar rog-Bannal’s heir!” Enosh calls out, holding his sword up high. Sapphire looks at him.

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” she says.

  Enosh steps back. The beast’s wings unfurl. It takes to the skies.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “It’s done,” Enosh murmured. He turned to Mahe, who had dropped beside Daro in exhaustion. His own head was throbbing. The rest of him felt numb. An onslaught of emotion came over him, but he struggled to quell it. It took all his strength.

  In the corner of his blurred eyesight, he saw a Boarshind soldier arrive, saluting Kefier. “The Hafed soldiers and Baidhan mercenaries are retreating,” the man said.

  “Some good news, at least,” Enosh croaked out. His voice sounded strained, even to his own ears. He took a moment to wipe his eyes before getting up to join them. “I suppose this means the Dageian army’s on its way.”

  The Boarshind soldier nodded.
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  “Any news from Yn Garr?”

  “No,” the soldier said. “He’s not been seen since he took the Emperor.”

  “He’s as good as defeated,” Daro broke in. “He might as well just give up.”

  “Tell him that,” Enosh replied. “You’re forgetting what the name Agartes Allaicras means. The man’s always two steps ahead of his enemies and he’s known the army’s on its way for a few hours now. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s still got half a dozen tricks up his sleeve. We have to be careful.” Talking was good. Forcing himself to act unfazed was calming.

  “We still haven’t heard from Sume or Rosha, either,” Kefier said. “I don’t trust that Arn.”

  “He’ll be in that tower,” Daro said, pointing at the northernmost one, with its tip facing the sea. “If he hasn’t escaped yet.”

  Enosh exchanged glances with his brother. “I don’t particularly care about the Emperor,” he said. “We could just wait for the army to get here.”

  “Remember what Sapphire said, that Yn Garr is still a threat?” Kefier asked. “She asked us to continue with the plan. Not the Dageian army. We should at least honour her request.”

  The sound of her name felt like a sharp knife. Enosh took a deep breath. “Gods damn that woman. She showed all of us, didn’t she?”

  “If you’re too scared, I can go,” Daro said. He struggled to rise. Mahe pushed him back down.

  “You couldn’t defeat him when you had a good leg. What makes you think you stand a chance now?” Kefier asked. “Let us. I can still fight and Enosh has his connection to the agan.”

  Enosh laughed. “Great. I can charm the pants off him.” He glanced at Bannal. The man was still staring at the portion of the sky where Sapphire and Naijwa’s beast had disappeared. He turned away in disgust and picked up his sword. “Let’s go.”

  They crossed the courtyard, which had grown deathly silent since Yn Garr’s army had begun retreating, and began the climb up the small spire that would take them to the northern tower. Enosh felt his resolve grow stronger with each step. He couldn’t get the look on Sapphire’s face from his mind, that hardened expression of a woman who knew she was walking to her death yet never once faltered.