by Davis Ashura
Their plan to hold wasn’t working. They needed time to figure out how to fight the mahavans’ superior numbers. They needed to interrupt the mahavans’ vision.
Jake had an idea. He ignored the danger and stood up. His heart pounded with fear at his exposure, but he remained focused on his plan. He lit the area in front of him. Strands of fire roped across his chest and down his arms. They blazed off his hands like a flamethrower. Jake set fire to the ground and transformed it to glass. Smoke billowed, providing a break in the fighting.
The mahavans’ attack faltered, and the pause gave Jake time to think. “We don’t need to go toe-to-toe with them,” he shouted to the others. “There’s too many. We only have to distract them. Keep them busy.”
“Watch out!” Mrs. Karllson shouted. She shoved Lien out of the way.
A blackish, serrated snake—a mix of Air and Earth—arched high before curling down and clipping Daniel’s mother in the shoulder. She fell to a knee, and blood streamed down her arm.
Mr. Karllson rushed to her side. “Trace!”
“I’m fine,” Mrs. Karllson said. She slowly levered herself upright.
Jake returned his attention to the mahavans.
Jason removed the air from around a group of mahavans. It made it hard for the Sinskrill asrasins to breathe.
It gave Jake another idea.
While Jason distracted the mahavans, Jake set a bubble of water about their heads. Daniel did the same. The mahavans struggled to free themselves from drowning.
Jake felt Lien and Mr. Karllson reach out with gripping cords of earth. They grabbed at arms, legs, heads, anything in reach, all of it nothing more than a distraction.
Jake called up more lorethasra. He tore apart one of the mahavans’ defensive fortifications. His eyes widened when he saw no one huddling behind them.
Where had they gone?
“Watch out!” Jason said.
Jake spied the missing group. While their brethren had fought against the magi, these five had moved into a flanking position.
Jake spun to face the new threat. He shielded with a bubble of Air just as his earthwork exploded in his face. Jake flew backward and smashed into the ground. His ears rang. Blood and dirt distorted his vision. Cobwebs numbed his thoughts.
Distantly, he heard shouting.
Rukh gestured. “Stay close and remain quiet,” he hissed. “The Blends might hide us long enough to close with the unformed. We can attack before they realize we’re there.”
Jessira held them back a moment longer. “Remember, battles aren’t a game of chess.” She forced them to meet her gaze. “Our only objective is to win.”
Everyone nodded or grunted understanding.
Rukh spoke to William. “Jessira and I will take the unformed. Lead the others against the mahavans, but drain the lorasra first.” He then turned to the others. “Everyone wait on William’s signal. Attack when he says. Understood?”
Nods met his words.
“Let’s roll.”
They set off at a trot on the gently rising road leading to the anchor line. Their feet slapped against the ground. William kept his breathing smooth and even. Fear clawed at him, but he shoved it into the recesses of his consciousness.
Win now, and the rest would be fine.
The road flattened, and Rukh sped up. At a distance of sixty or seventy yards from the border to the field, William sourced his lorethasra as deeply as he could and drew forth Spirit. It coursed over his body like ivory ropes. Into it he sucked all the lorasra before him, extending his reach to the mahavans.
William felt as if he’d imbibed sin. Nausea rose. He flushed the foulness away, pouring it from from his hands and into the nearby ground in a red-tinged, golden stream only he and Fiona could see.
“I still can’t do that,” the old raha’asra muttered.
The mahavans startled. “My Lord …” one of them said, his voice carrying across the meadow.
“I felt it, too,” the Servitor said. “Prepare yourselves.” William saw the Servitor’s grip tighten on Shet’s Spear.
Their horses caught onto their anxiety and shifted about.
The unformed owls roosting on the single branch screeched as one. Their heads swiveled, focusing on William and the others. They continued screeching even as they leapt to the ground. The owls transformed into lean wolves before their paws hit.
“Unformed!” one of the mahavans shouted. He hurled a line of fire that struck a wolf. The creature, huge and white-furred at the muzzle, growled as it swallowed the flames. The mahavans’ horses scattered, thundering across the meadow. William and the others stepped aside as they charged past and hurtled through the only exit.
William scowled, not at the delay induced by the horses, but by the fact that the mahavans could still access lorasra. They had nomasras.
“Hold!” the Servitor called to his mahavans. “All beings on Sinskrill belong to Lord Shet, including these creatures. They are mine to command, and our allies against the enemies who hide from your sight. But they shall hide no more.”
He pointed with the Spear. A glowing, white bolt of Spirit, more powerful than anything William could ever conceive, struck at them. The mahavans shouted in alarm.
“The Blends are ended!” Rukh and Jessira shouted at the same time. Their voices sounded strangely mechanical. “Attack!”
Rukh and Jessira sprinted forward, quickly outpacing the rest of them. They entered the field and swung right, away from the mahavans on the far end of the meadow and toward the wolves. They ran with oddly timed gaits, and faces devoid of all emotion.
Five wolves charged. The other four held back, as did the mahavans. Rukh and Jessira never hesitated. They met the unformed. One wolf transformed into an elephant. Rukh leapt upward, an impossibly high distance. He passed above the creature, and his sword lashed out, cleaved the creature’s trunk. The unformed screamed before plowing into the ground.
William unconsciously slowed as he watched Rukh and Jessira fight.
Rukh landed. His sword flashed again, faster than William could follow. He blocked tusks, stony arms, and razor-like claws. He became grace and skill forged into a killer.
While Rukh fought, Jessira protected his back, defending and attacking as needed. They moved with perfect synchronicity.
“My God,” Fiona whispered in awe.
“My wayward daughter.” The Servitor called in a booming voice, returning their attention to the mahavans.
William cursed his inattentiveness. Sinskrill’s ruler and the mahavans still had to be dealt with.
“And my trusted raha’asra,” the Servitor continued. “You will both pay for your treason.”
A bolt of fire smacked the Servitor in the chest, and he snarled inarticulately.
“Don’t forget about me,” Mr. Zeus said with a cheeky grin.
“Oh, I haven’t,” the Servitor said. “Never believe for a second that I have.” He gestured to his warriors. “Take them!”
The mahavans rushed forward.
William and the others entered the stone-lined field. Lines of Fire and Air coursed across his chest. His hands dripped with pulsing waves of Water and rustling ropes of Earth.
Blazing Fire roared toward him. A pulse of water doused it. William yanked stones out of the ground to block arrows of air. He sent a blast of flames to evaporate thrusting spears of water. The mahavans’ flurry faltered, and William attacked with bolts of air. Shields of earth met his assault.
Serena fought at his side. She crossed her arms. From her wrists coalesced a braid of Earth and Air that formed a bolt of lightning. It sent mahavans scrambling.
One mahavan leapt skyward and pointed with his sword. The ground tore apart beneath William’s feet. He and Serena jumped aside. When he landed, William thrust out his hands, and from them roared a rolling thunder of white-hot fire. The stench of sulfur billowed outward. The mahavans gave way.
The Servitor aimed his Spear. A boulder the size of a wagon whistled through the sky, aimed direct
ly at Rukh. Dirt streamed behind it like a comet.
William paused and watched the huge stone’s flight. Rukh seemed to suspend himself in mid-air before kicking off the boulder and leaping over it.
Holy shit.
Another stone soared toward Rukh. He remained suspended in the air. His sword glowed, and a golden bar extended forward like a spear. It shattered the boulder with a crack like thunder. Rocks and dust rained as Rukh landed. With no break in motion, he resumed his battle against the unformed. All the while, he appeared as calm and collected as a meditating monk.
With a shake of his head, William returned his attention to the battle at hand. Thankfully, no mahavan had taken advantage of his distraction. All of them had also been caught up in Rukh’s display.
“Attack!” Mr. Zeus shouted.
William lashed out with Spirit. He managed to lock a mahavan from her lorethasra. A bolt of air left her unconscious. Fiona did the same to one of the other mahavans.
Five more to go. The two groups closed. William drew his sword.
Serena spun and thrust with her jian. A mahavan blocked, and she twisted away from the return swing. William sent a pulse of water that hurled an opponent into the one pressing Serena. Both mahavans went down in a heap, and Fiona decapitated them with a pulsing line of water.
William gaped. An instant later, he shook off his revulsion at what Fiona had done. Deal with it later. Work remained.
Fiona and Mr. Zeus battled two mahavans, while another stood guard beside the Servitor.
The numbers might now be in their favor, but the Servitor remained upright. The most dangerous foe had yet to make his power known.
William briefly assessed the Servitor’s calm demeanor before gritting his teeth and tightening the grip on his sword. Maybe they could attack Sinskrill’s ruler and move him away from the anchor line.
William drew water from all around him. He collected it into a wall ten feet tall and sent it thundering at the Servitor and the remaining mahavan. It shot forward like a storm surge.
The Servitor waved his Spear, and the water split to either side of him.
William paused in dismay. No one could do that.
Sounds broke his consternation. A hissing sound like a punctured tire and the rustling of what might have been a thousand rattlesnakes served as his only warning. An attack with Air and Earth. William wrenched a shield of dirt before him. The Servitor made a gesture and several handfuls of rocks elevated off the ground. He thrust his hand, and the stones exploded forward like a shotgun blast.
A bubble of Air protected William from rocks that penetrated his earthwork.
Serena hurled fire.
The mahavan by the Servitor’s side snuffed it out.
The Servitor answered with a white-hot blaze as wide as a wagon.
William ducked beneath it and retreated. He fell back, and saw Mr. Zeus calling up earth to trap the mahavan he battled in an enclosure of stone. Fiona crushed the man’s head between a pair of boulders.
The final two mahavans retreated to stand several feet behind the Servitor.
Serena moved up to William’s right. Fiona and Mr. Zeus moved up to his left.
The two groups paused. Seconds had passed since the battle’s birth, and in that brief time, the ground was already chewed up. Fissures carved the field. Clumps of mud and stone lay scattered about. Smoke poured skyward, merging into the gray clouds. Thunder rolled and rain fell. Footing grew slicker. Echoes of power rumbled, and William’s nerves tingled.
The Servitor smiled. “I will enslave you all.”
William lashed out. He sent a line of white fire blazing at the Servitor. As expected, Sinskrill’s ruler split the flow into two.
William still controlled both lines of fire. He redirected them with the perfect control only accomplished through endless hours of training with Ward Silver. The fire snaked about and hammered into the mahavans. Both screamed before falling. Their bodies smoked like charred husks.
William swallowed. He’d killed someone. Two someones. He’d always known it might be necessary, but knowing and doing were two different things. He didn’t know what to feel. Screw it. He shuddered. Deal with it later, too.
Rukh and Jessira had ended their battle with the unformed and stepped alongside William and the others.
The Servitor faced them alone now. “For the evil you have committed, you will not survive this hour.” Sinskrill’s ruler sourced his lorethasra, and the scent of crushed stone filled the air. The Servitor held a vast ocean of power.
Jake sat up with a groan. Cobwebs and confusion lingered in his mind.
Where was he?
He shook his head. His gaze remained blurry. Something distorted his vision. No sound, as if everything was submerged in water. He wiped his eyes, blinking heavily to get them clear. Red rocks and a wide valley in a desert slowly came into focus. Sounds returned with a ringing roar.
Elements raged. His friends fought mahavans. Jake’s head pounded. His ears throbbed. His eyes ached, but eventually his mind began working again. His thoughts cleared at a glacial pace, and he recalled where he was and what had happened.
Jake shook off the last of his confusion. His whole body hurt, but he ignored the pain. He regained his footing and sourced lorethasra. He called up another wall of dirt and set it several paces behind Jason’s and Daniel’s.
“Son of a bitch!” Lien clutched her arm where a lance of fire had burned past her defenses. She stood, reckless and dangerously unprotected, fury etched on her features, to face the attacking mahavans.
“Lien! No!” Daniel shouted.
Jake watched Lien dig a bar of granite from the ground. It shivered off red dust and howled like a buzzsaw as she spun it through the mahavans’ embankments. Dull booms echoed as the stone ripped through the protections. Two mahavans crouching behind it startled, their eyes comically wide.
Jake snarled silently. Those two were his. Before the mahavans could react, he blocked their ability to source lorethasra. Lien sent twin hammers of shrieking air slamming into their heads. The impacts resounded like stricken coconuts. Both mahavans collapsed, either unconscious or dead.
Lien moved on to another group, unaware of the spear of yellow fire blazing toward her. Heat haze billowed off it. Jake pushed it aside with a wall of air. Lien fought on. Her eyes blazed like the fire dripping down her arms, and erupting from her hands. She attacked with no thought for defense.
Jake gritted his teeth. Then he’d be her defense.
A boulder of ice shot toward her head. He splintered it with earth and fire. More flames blasted toward Lien. Jake protected her with shrouds of water from the muddy clay around them. Sulfurous steam billowed as the two braids impacted. Mist, smoke, and fog wreathed the saha’asra. Explosions hammered the ground. Mud blasted upward like inverted rain. Cries of pain and angry exhortations came from both the magi and the mahavans.
Mr. Karllson roared. A spear of air had spiked his thigh, and blood poured down his leg. He collapsed behind his earthwork.
His cry of pain finally woke Lien from her haze of fury. The fire in her eyes faded and they took on their normal color. She cried out, racing to Mr. Karllson’s side and trying to staunch his wound.
A sheet of lightning coruscated feet from Jake, and he dove aside. Ozone overwhelmed all other smells. Jake searched for his attacker. His eyes widened when he saw a mahavan riding a waterspout. From high up, she flung bolts of fire and lightning.
“How’s she doing that?” Jason asked. His features held an equal measure of fear and admiration.
Daniel growled like a bear and reached deep into the ground. A shotgun blast of pebbles hit the mahavan riding the waterspout. She tried to defend with a shield of Air, but was too slow. Some of the pebbles got through. Her waterspout dissipated and she plummeted, hitting the ground with a dull thump. She didn’t get up.
Jake sensed someone looming to his right. He rolled out of the way.
Two mahavans had flanked their posit
ion.
Jake tried to push them off with a blast of Air. He only got one of them. The other twisted aside and grinned at him.
“You die this time, you sniveling weakling,” a rat-faced mahavan said.
Jake rose to his feet. He sourced his lorethasra as deeply as he ever had. A white haze filled his vision.
Dalton stood before him.
The smell of sulfur rose. Jake knew what was coming. Fire rippled across Dalton’s chest and neck. It blasted from his eyes.
Jake was ready. He held pulsing braids of Water and rippling weaves of Earth. They snuffed out Dalton’s fire. Jake stepped toward the mahavan.
Dalton snarled. He aimed a spear of air at Jake’s chest.
Jake called up a braid of earth. The weaves collided in a grinding sound of breaking rocks. Jake stumbled under the blow, feeling it against his mind as much as his torso. He ignored the pain and paced closer. Dalton retreated. Sweat, dirt, and mud coated his thin face and lank hair.
Jake continued walking him down.
Dalton ceased his withdrawal and snapped off a sidekick. Jake took it on an Earth-armored shin. Dalton threw a right hook and a straight left. Both punches met air. Dalton’s expression grew desperate. He snapped off another sidekick.
Jake trapped the man’s leg in a braid of Air and smiled. The white haze still filled his vision. He reached out with a braid of pure Spirit and locked Dalton’s lorethasra. The mahavan tried to break it, but Jake wouldn’t be denied. No matter what else happened today, he’d see this bastard dead.
Dalton stared at him in dawning terror.
“You die today, you sniveling weakling,” Jake said. He set fire to Dalton, immolating him in a flash of heat and light. The mahavan screamed. The ground around him blistered. The smell of burning meat billowed, and Dalton’s coal-blackened corpse crumbled into ashes.
Jake stood unmoving, strangely empty of all emotion.
His thoughts cut off when the anchor line shimmered. Someone else had come through. Jake couldn’t see them, but it looked like two more mahavans had entered the saha’asra.
The odds, poor as they’d been before, had become absolutely brutal.
