The War of the Realms

by C Steven Meldrum

  From the midst of our own line appeared Te Waharoa and his generals. They moved purposely across the open sand towards the black mass. Flag bearers either side carried the huge standards that waved in the early morning breeze. The group stopped about halfway and waited. As I looked down at the drama playing out before me, I thought of what my contribution to this day would mean, not only whether I could summon the vortex in my mind and focus the energies required to help these people, but what it would mean for me, for my humanity, for my spirit. Is this what Lord Targo had foreseen? Te Waharoa had said only one thing to me as he had passed me that morning; “Are you ready?”

  I was. I felt strong and determined. I focussed the binoculars on the desert floor. With the light of the reddened sun slowly brightening the eastern sky I could see a shape, which appeared to be riding some animal, passing through the mass which moved aside and closed in behind as a stream moves around a rock that peeks just above the water.

  When the shape finally emerged from the front of the mass I cried out in despair. I lowered the binoculars and then looked again to be sure I had seen it properly. Upon a hideous creature which looked like an elephant would if it was spawned in the lowest pits of the blackest of the worlds beyond, adorned with hideous spines and many cruelly sharpened and armoured tusks, rode the Witch-Queen herself. Beside her and behind her marched a number of her personal troop who kept pace with her and I spied three of the hooded, blackrobed monsters.

  However, moreso than the pure evil of the creature itself, was what loped along behind her at the end of a long black leash. I could not believe my eyes. It was the Lady of Melody, limping, weakened and in obvious pain. My anger knew no bounds.

  But before I could react, I witnessed more shocking evil. From the distance I stood at I could hear no words but saw Te Waharoa bow low, stand and gesture about him speaking to his pendant and, as war leaders have done since time immemorial, he observed the niceties of conflict and sought to negotiate terms for a peaceful outcome which we knew would not eventuate. The Witch-Queen sat impassively atop her hideous war elephant and with hardly a nod turned back to her own forces while the three black-robed figures suddenlylaunched themselves at Te Waharoa’s party. I looked on helplessly as the flag bearers, generals and attendants were set upon.

  As Te Waharoa and two of his generals turned and fled, I knew in that grim moment that this was not merely about territory, or power, or pride. Kusunda’s thirst for vengeance knew no bounds and we who fought for the mere right to live a life were but fodder. Kusunda’s general had one purpose; to destroy all life, to unmake the universe and our skulls would create the mountain atop which Kusunda would place his throne to gloat over the end of creation. It was a terrifying thought.

  Turning back to what transpired below me, the two lines suddenly rushed at each other. It seemed a hideous irony that Te Waharoa and two of his generals led the charge for the enemy towards our own advancing line, waving their weapons and screaming as the armoured masses behind them did also. When it seemed his leader was about to be caught I saw one of the generals turn back, his sacrifice buying precious seconds for the remaining two and mere seconds after they were absorbed into the relative safety of our line, the two fronts collided as a fast-flowing river hits the sea and becomes one. Amidst the screams and cries and explosions and fireworks, the respective leaders in the cliffs about us screamed their orders and as the blinding morning sun crested the eastern horizon the attack began in earnest.

  I have never known such carnage. The desert floor below me boiled like a stew in a pot. Our heavy armaments battered them from the rocky hillsides and our snipers brought the enemy down as fast as their lazguns could recharge for the next shot. Our flyers and bombers performed aerial feats and attacked their winged counterparts. Their giant mechanics crumbled under fierce bombardment and swathes of our forces were disintegrated as their bombs and lazgun bolts carved through our lines. I feared pure numbers would prevail and like a black king-tide, the wave would simply engulf our ground forces. Their large machines of war sent more of their missiles and mortars into our midst and soon the smoke and fire hid the horror unfolding before us.

  I gave the signal for the next part of our defence. With their advance contained in the relatively narrow space between the cliffs and still tens of thousands of their soldiers yet to face the fight, I turned to one of my commandos. “Now.”

  We entered the caves and moved toward a large training room. In moments the troop was around me. I looked at each of them. “Ready?”

  They each nodded and held their right fist against their left breast. I did the same. “Strength and honour,” I said.

  “Strength and honour,” they repeated.

  My right hand was firmly on the large black spear, whose undeniable power I could feel I coursing through the shaft. My left hand closed around the Kriya-Shakti, which bathed everything in an argent radiance, and with my own cudgel across my back, I closed my eyes and prayed. Within moments the same silvery bubble that had saved us in the underdark formed around me and grew to encapsulate my troupe. In moments we were outside. I hovered in the air a hundred feet above the sand. We had appeared behind the enemy lines. The eighteen brave men below me, their black armour and golden shoulders were now laid out in a line with a gap of only twenty feet between each. They marched slowly forward toward the enemy rear guard. Their backs were turned with their attention focussed on what occurred up front, their battalions waiting their opportunity to charge towards these weak humans. You might ask, what we could do against the thousands we moved towards? I would not intentionally throw my men to their deaths. They had only to stop those who sought to escape.

  I concentrated and looked towards the heavens. I became as a white star, impossible to look at. Those of the enemy who did look back quailed with fear and despair. Many panicked and pushed forward for they did not know what magic this was. Others shielded their eyes and brandished their weapons and those flyers that flew closer and sought to fire their rockets upon me exploded or, like Icarus, merely fell from the sky. I looked for the dark queen and her Dasyus monsters but she was gone. Cowards, I thought.

  I moved over the centrepoint of where those thousands upon thousands pushed forward with murderous rampage, and then, like a hurtling meteor, I hit the ground. The resulting cataclysm was like nothing they could have expected. It was like a demon had spawned from the Plane of Fire and had sent forth a tsunami of energy and molten silicon and rock that consumed all in its wake. The large war machines were engulfed as were an uncounted number of their ground forces. When the shockwave hit the mountains in which our own forces were amassed, they cowered, thinking that a demon force had arisen to quash them, not knowing that immense violence came from one of their own.

  When the waves of energy had subsided, I lay upon the blackened ground, gasping for breath, my body having contended with incredible forces. Am arm went around, under my head, and a bidon was held to my lips. I looked up to see Irirangi smiling down. I looked towards where the battle still raged in the distance.

  “I take back what I said earlier. You are a god!”

  “No,” I managed to say though my voice would not come. “How … are you here?”

  “We can talk later,” she said. “Your magic killed most of them and now we have the upper hand, but still they take the lives of our warriors. They need you still.” She helped me up. I brushed ash from my robes and looked towards the battle.

  “Can you take us back to our own lines?”

  I looked for the golden shoulders of my death commandos and as they had been drilled, had broken into three groups of six, roughly one hundred and fifty feet apart, fighting their way through the enemy vanguard. The ground behind them was littered with the bodies of the fallen preta-mechs. And still they pushed on.

  “I will not leave my men.” I offered her my cudgel. “Fight with me, and we’ll make a path together.”

  She drew a lazgun from under her cloak thatshe’d taken from
one of the enemy. She leaned towards me and kissed me on the cheek, then grabbed my hand to pull me up.

  “Let’s go,” she smiled.

  The battle continued and waxed hotter around us. Through the dense, acrid smoke, I caught flashes of energy bolts; oranges and greens and reds and blues and saw the bright flashes as explosions sent troops flying, creating huge craters in the blackened sand. Great crab-like machines pushed up through the sand to attack our forces from beneath while heavy fliers buzzed overhead, their bombs and rapid lazgun fire tearing through our lines.

  One light stood out like a beacon to me in the distance. It was the beryl arc of the mighty Gada cutting a swathe through the enemy line. I made for it. On a command, the Sudarshana Chakra appeared in my hand which I sent flying out before me. I was armed with the hideous black spear that had accompanied me to this place, and my own cudgel, and as the smoke cleared enough for me to see the enemy fighters before me, I charged, as did my squad of death commandos and the magical spear of my enemy ran out and drank deeply from the countless hordes.

  While energy bolts and explosions rained down around us, and the giant mechanics fought and fell, and flyers fell from the air, exploding as they hit the ground, I fought and fought and fought, going from one enemy fighter to the next in endless succession. I gave no heed to how exhausted I was but yelled out above the fray “Pemba! Pemba!” I had cuts everywhere and blood trickled down my face but still I gave it no heed. My skills and the amazing power of the weapons I used had served me well and from the maelstrom of magical energy in my head I did what I could to help our allies. They fought as men possessed and as the day waned and the dead and dying on both sides outnumbered the living by many times, I continued to look for Gada. I just managed to see it before the world exploded under me.

  I could hear a shrill keening and a rhythmic pounding. Tinnitus, I thought, and my own heart-beat. I am alive then. I could not resist the urge to cough but could not breathe and found I was partially buried in the sand. I lifted my head out of the sand and coughed uncontrollably, drawing in great gasps of air. With a start I suddenly remembered where I was and turned over, preparing to leap back into the fray but then noticed how quiet everything suddenly was. I realised it was twilight. The acrid smells of burning machinery and flesh drifted across the battlefield and small spot fires gave enough light for me to see people wandering about checking for any survivors.

  “Over there! I thought I heard something,” yelled a voice. I tried to call out but no sound would come. My body ached and I felt incredibly weak. I fell back to the sand but heard the crunching of approaching feet. I marvelled that the last time I was in a similar predicament it was the sound of feet crunching across ice and snow. Comforting arms slowly pulled me from the sand and turned me over.

  “It’s all right,boy. You’re safe now. Thank the gods, you’re safe now.” I was on my back. I opened my eyes. Above me, the rough-hewn ceiling of the cave far above me danced into focus. I turned my head and saw that I was on a pallet, one of many hundred laid out in the large cavern, each with another lying on it and each with varying degrees of injury. Some appeared to be sleeping, others where reading quietly or involved in low voiced conversations with people who sat with them or with other patients. I pulled myself up with an audible groan and swung my legs over the edge of the cot.

  “Tashi!” I stood up and was grabbed by Puk before my legs could give way. “You’re awake! Come, I’ve got some people to show you,my friend!”

  Not even pausing to wonder how Puk could be here, I put my arm around his shoulder and in a gravelly voice managed to say, “Kāwharu. Take me to Kāwharu.”

  “Who?” he asked.

  “The giant. They will know.”

  He led me out of the lazaret and to another large room not far away which also housed more of the injured. I found him lying on a makeshift bed that seemed to have fashioned by tying four stretchers together. He looked over to me as I hobbled toward him, Puk acting like a living crutch. He released me and left me to sit on the edge of the bed. He then left the two of us to speak.

  Pemba appeared to have been sleeping. He reached for his water and took a sip then turned to face me.

  “Your Holiness,” he smiled, though his voice was weak. “You’re alive. That is good news indeed. I feared the worst.”

  “And I for you. I saw Gada flying through the enemy lines and tried to join you. I am sorry,my friend.”

  “No matter. I saw also the Sudarashana cleaving a path through them and knew you fought also.

  “Pemba, what is it?” I asked. He lifted the sheet and I gasped. Much of his lower abdomen was heavily bandaged and darkly stained with his life’s blood. He grimaced as he let the sheet fall back, obviously in a great amount of pain.

  “One of their energy weapons. I go to join Lhapka.”

  “No!” I pleaded.

  “It’s alright, Tashi. I have lived a long and productive life. I have seen one of my sons rise to defeat the darkness. I will see my wife and other sons and maybe my own family. You saved me, Tashi, you really did, and I have been more thankful than I can say that you came here and I could tell you that, ‘ere I leave this realm.”

  We spoke about many things and much about the nature of these people he had come to call his own for the seventy years he had been with them and then as the life sought to leave him at last, and his voice lowered to hardly more than a whisper, he bade me to save his only remaining son, who had also been mortally wounded during the battle. I hugged him to me and promised I would try.

  “Take Gada. There will still be much to do.”

  I looked up and saw others approaching though my tear-filled eyes. I would not have credited it but Puk, followed by Abbott Tomas, Master Panuaru, Dorje, Rogel and Yeshe slowly worked their way down the rows of the injured and cameto stand before Pemba’s bed. Behind them I could see an elderly man clinging to a staff and supported by Tetsuko, who smiled at me.

  “Tashi, my braveboy. Praise the gods you are alive. Who is your friend?”

  “The bravest man I ever knew” was all I could say.

  Chapter 19: Friends He who binds to himself a joy, Does the winged life destroy; He who kisses the Joy as it flies, Lives in Eternity’s sunrise.

  W. Blake After another day of being basically tied to the pallet I could stand it no longer and got up. I found my torn and dirty yellow robes to change into, leaving the black undersuit on beneath which I had found amazing during the battle. It had enhanced my speed, I felt stronger and more impervious to pain and injury. I was looking forward to trying out all its attributes in time.

  I found Dorje, Rogel, Yeshe and Puk standing at the entrance to the cave, taking in the cool evening air.

  “My friends. It is so good to see you!” I hugged each of them in turn. “But how is it you are here?”

  “I don’t know,” shrugged Dorje.

  “I think it was the old man,” said Rogel. “I don’t know how but we set up camp after leaving the anchorite’s cave and woke up in this desert.”

  Bless Sibu, I thought to myself.

  “What has happened to you all since I saw you last?” I had been apart from them for so long, alone for so long. I felt truly blessed to have my friends around me again. The gravity of all that had occurred over the past months was suddenly lessened.

  Yeshe spoke first. “We have searched for you for a long time.” She looked like she was living a nightmare from which she could not awake. “Abbott Tomas was determined to find you. And here we find you, in a strange world befriended by a strange people.”

  Puk jumped in, “It has been hard. We lost the guide, Xiang, and the black robe, Pang Duo. Master Jai killed the meta-cat that that took Xiang and claimed its fangs. Yeshe, who stowed away with me when the group set out, and the blue-skinned female accounted for the fell, hooded demon that destroyed Pang Duo when she fought it with her black sword that drinks the day and Yeshe shot it with an energy weapon that she called a ‘lazgun’”.
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br />   “We thought you must surely be dead,” said Dorje, very matter-of-factly. “We could see Abbott Tomas was losing hope with each day that passed. We lost Jian Re, the captain of the Honour Guard and Dazi the prentice cook– four lost on what we thought was a hopeless journey.

  “Four good people to find one,” I said. “I am sorry. I also lost many good people from my group.” I turned to Puk. “Is your leg better now?”

  “How did you know?” he asked. When I shrugged my shoulders he continued. “It was one of those horrors clad in black. My leg really hurt and got worse and worse. But … I had a very vivid dream that you came to me, Tashi, and you healed me.”

  “Is your leg good now?” I asked.

  “It is perfect. It is a miracle.” He looked at me as if searching for some confirmation. “I have seen so many miracles of late. Dorje, who was near death when he returned to the keep all those weeks ago is not only well, but amazingly so. He fought like one possessed and accounted for more wolves and raiders and other horrors than anyone.”

  I looked at Dorje but he seemed oblivious to the gravity of what Puk was saying.

  “Tell Tashi your good news,Dorje,” said Rogel. When Dorje looked embarrassed, Rogel continued, “Master Jai was so impressed that he promoted Dorje to the Sera Ngari in the third week out and has promised to formalise the promotion once we are back.”

  “Well done,Dorje. You deserve it.” He smiled. I decided to change tack and move away from miracles for a moment.

  “Now tell me, how did you find Sibu?”

  Yeshe answered. “We were heading for the Holy Mountain thinking you would try to make for that. Tsering guided us to the town of Tisé at its base. When we got there, we headed for the local monastery. The old abbott knew nothing but said if you were anywhere you might be at the pilgrim encampment near the shrine further up the mountain.

  “We breakfasted at dawn and then travelled the two leagues to see the pilgrim encampment. Kagyupa temple, also called Koh Ker, stands atop a small summit with the Holy Mountain as its backdrop. The number of tents and yurt’s that surrounded it was amazing but I suppose that is testament to the magnetism of the Holy Mountain. At the centre of the temple complex is a massive chorten that houses a very impressive golden Maitreya. It was quite breathtaking. You must see it one day.”