by B. T. Narro
Dasfis seemed to scold him as he talked down to the man.
Teyro looked to be grinding his teeth, but he held his head down and did not give a reply.
Dasfis announced something to the followers behind him. They quickly spoke to each other and suddenly seemed in a rush to organize something. Teyro appeared worried as he watched them.
“What is it?” Darren asked Dasfis.
“Teyro will lead a group to attack Jarrel during the night.”
“He can’t,” Leo pointed out.
“And why not?” the king asked, perturbed by the interruption.
“Because he’s grown ill trying to heal me.” KRenn showed himself from between the ranks of men. “He is the reason I’m still here on my feet. He and Leo. Without the boy I faced certain death at the lakes of Gesnia. I would’ve died later, after we found Teyro and the testing stone from the caves, but Teyro has sacrificed his body to ensure I made it here. I demanded that he not put himself at risk, but he chose to do so anyway. He and I are linked now in a way that will mean death to both of us if we separate. We may die anyway, but at least now there is a chance we both might survive because of him.”
Leo knew this was not his place to jump in, but he couldn’t help it. “Have you figured out something?”
The last time he heard the men speaking about healing, the situation was without hope. It sounded as if something had changed.
“Possibly,” KRenn said. “But we need a day to experiment.”
More experiments. Leo had begun to hate that word. Just don’t send Teyro to another continent. We only have so many testing stones.
But as Leo watched KRenn give a look to Teyro, he wondered if the expert mage could be lying about all of this just to keep Teyro free from this task, which would surely lead to his death.
KRenn told Dasfis, “Teyro and I require many things from you, sire, if you could lend us your aid. I realize that the turmoil between the two of you because of your past may put pride in the way, but all of us need to keep in mind what is at stake here.”
Dasfis was nodding. “Tell my men what you need. They will see to whatever it is.” Leo was caught off guard when Dasfis looked straight into his eyes. “When will you and the boy bring back his brother so they may destroy the rift?”
“His age belies him, sire. He is quite capable of bringing back Andar Quim on his own, but only once Andar is ready.”
It was silent as everyone stared at Leo, his cheeks flushed from the attention. “My brother needs more time,” Leo announced in the most confident voice he could muster.
“For what?” Dasfis asked.
At least the king didn’t seem to doubt Leo had spoken with his brother, not that that was exactly true.
A woman’s voice broke in, “I will explain everything in that regard.”
A small group of people separated to reveal an Analyte woman Leo deemed to be Erisena.
“We also must finalize the plan for the attack on the kasigerr.” She looked at Leo’s father. “Can we expect to hear word from your scouts soon? We need to know Jarrel’s whereabouts before we strike.”
“They will send word tomorrow,” Darren answered.
Erisena spoke to her king in Analyse, and soon they were walking off with most of the people who had been watching trailing after them.
Leo turned to find Rygen staring at him with wide eyes.
“This is all happening too soon,” she said fearfully.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Leo knew he was capable of doing everything required to open a portal for his brother, but the chances of success were certainly higher if KRenn helped. Leo knew he should let the mage rest, but they could all relax once Andar returned safely.
Leo caught up some with Rygen at the camp outside the palace, discussing what Jatn was like for her after Leo left. They had to wait for KRenn to finish speaking with Teyro and the leaders about their plan, but Leo was thankful for the time.
He was glad to hear the truth as to why Rygen had not left Jatn sooner. She told him everything she did after his visit, going into surprising detail about how she’d finally put an end to both Celia and the predatory man named Marcus Dowl.
Many things about her story surprised Leo. He had never seen her choose violence under any circumstance, but then again, neither had he, until recently. He remembered Rygen as a girl who wanted to be a summoner above all but more realistically hoped to be a bookbinder for life. Leo remembered himself as a boy who wanted the same, except to be an Ascendant over a summoner.
Why was it so shocking that this girl standing before him had grown up and chosen a difficult path? Leo had done the same.
Perhaps it was her beauty or the way she clearly cared for Leo’s well-being. This created a contradiction in his mind, reminding him of peace and comfort that no longer existed in their current world.
Rygen further shocked him by describing what had happened with the man she’d paid to take her here. She told Leo that he not only took her money but tried to force her to undress while holding a knife to her throat.
“I did not have to in the end,” she explained with finality. “And he got what he deserved.” There was no pride in her tone. She looked down as if saddened by the thought instead.
Leo wanted to embrace her and say that she was safe now, but it would be a lie.
He could only add to the discord by sharing his account of fleeing from the cavaliers and then having to face them at Gesnia.
“Gods,” she said when he was finished. “You really did all that?”
“I did, but it feels like it was someone else.”
She nodded. “I know what you mean.”
“And it makes me worried that if someone else did all those things—”
“Then I might not be able to do them again when it’s time. I thought the same thing.”
A fear came over Leo, but then he noticed the same dread in Rygen’s eyes and felt compelled to do something.
“It was us, though,” he told her. He wasn’t sure if she believed him.
“Were you scared once it began?” Leo asked to prove a point. “Not before. Not while you were preparing, but after the fighting started.”
She seemed surprised as she shook her head. “No.”
“I wasn’t, either.”
She started to smile as she caught his meaning. “You remember.”
“And so do you. I told you we always would.”
Her smile brightened as her teeth showed.
They had read many stories about heroes when they were younger. They used to talk for hours about the similarities between these heroes, and which of them they wanted to be like the most. There was a time when they came to a realization. No hero felt any fear as they fought. They just did what was necessary.
Leo had told Rygen he could imagine her doing that. She’d argued that her emotions would always get in the way. It had taken some convincing for Leo to assure her that she would protect herself and others if she ever needed to, but he remembered convincing her of it in the end.
Leo’s smile faded as he remembered one last thing she’d said. She wished she never would have to fight.
That certainly had changed—she wanted to be involved in the conflicts to come. She hadn’t said so directly, but he could feel it from the way she spoke.
That meant she would put herself in danger.
“Rygen, things are different here compared to how they were in Jatn. Our enemies are large in number, and there’s no way to attack them first. I want you to promise me that you’ll stay in the back when the time comes to fight. Use that bow but only from where you are safe. Whatever happens to the rest of us, don’t run into the battle.”
She bit down on her lip. “I don’t know if I can make that promise.”
“Please, you have to keep safe. I couldn’t live with myself if you came all this way only to…” He couldn’t say the words aloud.
“And I couldn’t live with myself if I came all this way
just to do nothing!”
She had a point, but Leo couldn’t let himself agree.
“Leo!” KRenn called, startling him. “Come here, hurry. It’s about your brother.” He was seated on a rock as he gestured for the woman tending to him to give him space.
Leo rushed over. “What is it?”
“There is a disturbance to the great rift.”
KRenn did not continue. Leo blew out a breath of frustration.
“And?”
KRenn looked at Leo as if the answer should be obvious, but he did speak it himself. “It must be your brother’s actions in the other rift, wherever he is. He could’ve even destroyed his rift.”
Leo turned to Rygen. “I need to speak with Andar. Can you get the stone?”
“Erisena must have it.” Rygen started to run off.
“Wait,” KRenn said, stopping Rygen. “If his rift is now destroyed, Andar won’t be able to speak through Esitry as he did before.”
“How sure are you that it’s destroyed?” Leo asked.
“Let me consider a few things.” KRenn spoke to himself as he glanced at the ground. “I would’ve felt the southern rift if it were mountainous, so it must be much smaller than the great rift. Considering how long Andar has been within, the chances of him destroying it are very high. When I also consider that I felt no disturbances to the Esitry of the great rift until now…” He glanced up at Leo. “I would bet my life that he destroyed it. You will have to use your stalwart link if you wish to reach him.”
“I can’t from this distance.”
“Then we will simply wait until we are sure he has returned to the portal location in the other land. We shall give him two days. That should be plenty of time, because I cannot imagine him and Siki venturing farther than a two-day walk from the location.”
Someone shouting in Analyse drew their attention to the palace. A man stood on the roof of a tower with a spyglass in hand. He sounded to be in a panic.
King Dasfis shouted back to the man in the same manic tone. KRenn ran off at a speed that gave Leo hope in the strength he saw in the mage but terror at just how fast KRenn felt he had to move.
“Gods,” Rygen whispered.
“You understand them?” Leo asked in surprise.
“Only some. I’ve been studying during my breaks with the bow.” She stopped to listen as the king and the man with the spyglass shouted back to one another. Leo picked up the word kasigerr a few times.
“Come on!” Rygen said as she took Leo’s hand and started running up the hill toward the palace entrance.
Many within the palace were shouting in Analyse by the time they arrived.
“We need to get atop one of those towers so we can see,” Rygen told Leo. “I know the way.”
They sped through the palace, down twisted halls and up spiraling stairways. When they broke into the open air, shouts of men and women, common tongue and Analyse, filled Leo’s ears. But the sight to the east made him deaf to it all.
Emerging from the capital was the kasigerr in full view. It galloped like a horse on its mountainous legs. Its movements appeared slow, but the overall pace of the behemoth made it faster than any animal alive. The beast almost looked like it was made out of energy, its flesh blurring as it ran. Its face was as long and as wide as a mountainside. It had white eyes that Leo could make out even from a few miles away. They must be larger than the houses. The ground broke in shooting cracks each time a massive foot struck the dirt path.
Leo couldn’t get his feet to work. Why was it coming here now? It had such anger in its eyes.
Behind it, parts of the capital lay in rubble. Leo did notice the Analyte army chasing after it, however they were too far back. The kasigerr seemed intent on destroying the camp and everyone within it. Leo had to get down there. But first, Rygen.
“Stay here,” he said as he grabbed her by her shoulders.
She nodded fearfully.
Leo started down the stairs but stopped as Rygen shouted for him to wait.
“What?”
“It’s coming for the palace!”
He ran back up. Gods. The beast was closing in on them fast. Rygen was right. It headed straight for the palace, ignoring the camp to the south.
“Leo, it’s coming for you!” KRenn yelled from the bottom of the hill.
“What? Why?” Leo could barely get the words out as his fear took hold of his throat.
Darren rushed over to KRenn’s side and shouted up at Leo. “It’s because of Andar’s involvement in the other rift! Get down here now!”
Leo flew down the stairs and out of the palace. He nearly tripped in his rush down the hill, especially when he looked over and saw the beast a few moments away. Sards, the bastard is too sarding big to fight! The hell do we do?
“Get behind us all,” Darren told Leo as he made it to the base of the hill. Leo saw a thousand rebels here at the camp forming ranks, with a few hundred Analytes mixed in.
“All the leaders are here!” Leo remembered in such a panic that he thought his heart might explode. “I need to take the kasigerr away from you all.”
“You will stay back and let us handle this!” Darren ordered.
“There are not enough of you!”
“Leo, you have to trust me. Stay back!”
His father didn’t have time to wait for Leo to answer, rushing over to grab a weapon that a couple men held ready for him. Leo had never seen such a thing. It looked like a spear, only it was nearly as wide and tall as a small tree. The metal point on its end was surely too thick to impale anything: there could never be enough force to drive it into the beast.
Leo looked around for something that would be used to launch it. He had heard of such siege weapons during his time in the army.
“Where are all the ballistae and catapults?” he asked KRenn, who was the only man waiting behind everyone else with Leo.
“They were at the capital. The kasigerr must have gone straight through them all.”
“Why? I don’t understand why it’s coming only for me.” Perhaps with the answer, Leo could figure out how to save everyone from certain death.
“The kasigerr must be linked to the rifts. It has come out of the great rift looking for the man who hurts its home: Andar. It cannot find him, but it picks up on the link between the two of you. It thinks you are responsible.”
“So if it kills me, it will return.”
KRenn scowled at Leo for a moment, but his expression softened. “Actually, yes.”
However, it was too late for Leo to run out and sacrifice himself. The beast was about to meet this pathetically small army. It would crush all of them.
“No!” Leo screamed as he witnessed his father running out before everyone. Darren’s boots splashed through a long puddle of mud ahead of the army. He waved and called for the beast’s attention as the kasigerr slowed before him.
The kasigerr lifted one of its massive claws as if to crush Darren, but it stopped as it seemed to notice Darren planting the giant spear. It changed its stance as if to swat Darren away, but a storm of arrows flew out from the army, many embedding into the beast’s face and neck.
It turned its attention to them, stepping over Darren. He looked like an ant beneath its four feet as he took out his sword and jumped with a vicious stab into the back of one of them. The beast lifted up its foot to stomp forward, not paying attention to Darren, who went airborne. Leo’s father held onto the embedded sword as his legs whipped out from the force of movement.
He and the blade came free before the foot stomped down just before the first line of men. A few had the same treelike spears, Darren’s lost in the mud back behind the beast. The kasigerr tried to swat through them, but the spears were shifted to intercept the blow.
The beast could not stop its momentum as it swung, knocking away a few dozen screaming soldiers. But the kasigerr reeled back as it held up its now injured claw, three spears sticking out of it. It lifted up on two legs, swatting the spears out from one foo
t by using its other. Or perhaps they were hands, given the dexterity of them.
All four crashed hard to the ground, taking out a few more soldiers who could not get out of the way in time. One body spiraled at Leo, forcing him to jump to avoid it as it came down with a windy crash.
A blue rift appeared in front of the kasigerr. An enormous creature rushed out. It was as large as the massive Analyte buildings that housed thousands of troops. Standing on four legs not too unlike the kasigerr, it only had a long snout with sharp teeth with which to attack, but it did so without fear, sinking its fangs into the shin of the behemoth.
Leo noticed KRenn opening two rifts at once behind everyone. Two more of the same creatures ducked to fit through. Leo brimmed with hope as he finally saw KRenn’s true power.
“Make way!” KRenn shouted in between gasps for air. The army parted for his enormous creatures to join the fray.
Two of them bit down on the same front leg of the kasigerr that had been used to break off the spears. It was strange not to hear the mouthless creature make a sound as it rose up to get away from the painful bites, lifting all three of the other enormous creatures.
They fell off and hurried to get up. But the kasigerr brought down the foot of its bleeding leg onto the group of them. They were crushed with a sickening sound.
The kasigerr reeled back again as if crushing the large creatures had injured it. Leo noticed Darren rising into the air, holding on to the protruding end of a massive spear that stuck out of the kasigerr’s foot. Darren swung his legs up and climbed up the side of the beast’s clawed toes until he was on top of them.
The kasigerr tried to shake its claw to rid itself of Darren, but another wave of arrows struck the beast down its front side, from its neck to its belly. It ignored Darren for the moment, setting down its injured claw with the spear still stuck in its base. It lifted its other front leg as if to crush the army. It was sarding big enough to destroy them all if Leo didn’t do anything, but what could he do from behind everyone? He cringed as he watched the foot come down.
More of the giant spears rose up and took the brunt of the blow as most everyone else held up their swords. Screams rang out from the injured, but the kasigerr could not press its foot down all the way to the ground. It suddenly jerked back, lifting many people up who still held their weapons. Most fell off immediately. Others chose to let go a little later and unfortunately crashed down onto their comrades.
