I sucked in a gasp.
‘They’re coming from the city,’ Eli signed in the murky light.
In that moment it seemed as though the entire ground was moving up to meet us, because we were staring at a line of Sweeper vehicles as far as the eye could see. And above them all, creating a formidable backdrop, were more Eagle aircraft than I could count.
‘Looks like Cassius got his house in order,’ I whispered though it felt as though the colour was draining from the world around me. There were just so many. And what hellish abominations were they carrying?
I lifted my head to the night and released two howler calls. They were answered immediately, barely twenty paces away. Then there was a curious backlight for a second, and the trees around us groaned like foot soldiers hit by a wave of silent guns. The air filled with smouldering acrid smoke before a rain of laser fire followed, sparking too many disparate fires to count, and crumbling foliage to ash before our eyes.
A high volley of arrows responded. Lynx arrows, flaming and silent, falling halfway down scorpion hill into an impressive line. The Sweepers barely checked their progress, but there was something about the unbroken line, lighting up the night and the encroaching army, that looked so damned noble. They sent a message.
We were here and waiting.
I gritted my teeth as Eli and I flew through the remaining trees to join the front defenders August had arced strategically across the forest line. He threw us a strained look – both relieved and troubled as we shook our heads.
‘Thought you’d chosen another battle,’ he muttered, pulling me into a tight embrace before signalling again across the front line.
‘Tempting,’ I returned, taking a bow from the stockpile beside him.
‘No luck?’
I shook my head, scanning the eerie sky. ‘Not in Arafel, but she’s close,’ I whispered.
It was the truth. I could feel her; I just couldn’t see her.
Why was she keeping her distance? She knew I was here – I could feel it. So, why wasn’t she coming?
The Sweepers were crossing the arrows, crushing them beneath their heavy caterpillar tracks. It was inevitable but sobering to see our defiance swallowed by their might, and yet it was the moment for which we’d been waiting. August nodded and I tipped my head back in another cry, a wolf howl this time, and a signal to the remainder of the hunters hidden among the glowing trees.
‘The Sweepers will likely be the delivery service. The fires are unstoppable but they will create confusion,’ August whispered, his Roman face striped with red earth. ‘When they come, use everything, don’t hold back. We don’t have the manpower or resources for a long battle. Our advantage lies in surprise, quick kills and better knowledge of the ground. If we are to stand any chance this has to finish here, tonight. Keep looking, use every means you have to call her … for all our sakes. And, Tal?’
I nodded feeling as though we’d slipped into a parallel universe.
‘I love you.’
Three small words that stopped time, armoured the soul and set us both free. And though I wished with all my being we were somewhere else, I knew we were the lucky ones.
‘I love you too.’
Then we grasped the overhanging branches of a central oak, and pulled ourselves up. I cast a look along our defence line to the shadowy Outsider faces just visible in the neighbouring trees. They were so few, yet real warrior grit and courage was etched into each of their earth-painted faces. My chest flamed with pride, though I was so terrified for them all. So much depended on finding Lake. On me.
Then the piercing Sweeper lights were level with the forest, penetrating the foliage with the same deathly white light as the laboratories. Then the thundering ceased altogether. The armoured vehicles had paused barely half a kilometre from the forest line. There was a silence when every breath was too loud, and their huge side doors began to slide open.
‘For the love of Nero,’ August cursed as a miscellany of myths spilled into open view.
The entire forest fell silent as Cassius’s army finally revealed itself in its ugly, unnatural entirety, filling the brow of scorpion hill. One hundred souls to vanquish an army of mythological abominations; it was bad maths on any day.
And we could only watch and wait. There was every combination of species known to mythkind: giant molossers, distorted griffins, hulking great satyrs, hissing basilisks and two-headed hagas with snapping turtle heads. A swarm of thick marble-skinned cenchris snakes slithered into view, rearing and fighting in their eagerness to get off the Sweeper, their angry tails pointing upwards and small wings enabling them to hover. Coldly, I recalled their story in Grandpa’s book, how they were spawned from the blood of Medusa in a desert.
They were followed by a pair of huge lumbering Minotaurus bulls with swinging serpentine club tails, and then a creature three times their size crashed out from a larger armoured vehicle – a three-horned, leathery black beast. I dimly recalled something called an odontotyrannus, a cross between a rhinoceros and crocodile, only this creature was much bigger, uglier and by the look of it, already eating its own army.
And they were all flanked by a squadron of incoming Eagle aircraft, swooping low, firing at will and lighting up the forest as though with hundreds of old Pacha’s village lanterns, only these fires were torches of destruction.
‘Chimera,’ I whispered thickly. ‘The myth army comprises Cassius’s failed chimera trials.’
There was an eerie moment of silence as our small outside army faced the truth. This was a battle on a scale we’d never imagined, the hideous totality of Cassius’s failed experimentation, incarcerated, and now let loose like a nightmare of biblical proportions.
The baby chimera flickered through my mind. I’d controlled it with my blood, so perhaps there was a chance I could do the same here, but how could I turn enough creatures and survive long enough to find Lake? My brief spark died and I scanned the skyline again. We had but one hope.
More Sweepers were opening, spilling out battalions of soldiers, creating an unbroken line of imperial Roman red behind the myth army. They looked invincible, like a wall.
‘Now,’ August whispered, and lifting my head I howled like a furious she-wolf.
The response was a volley of silent Outsider arrows, only this time they were as black as the night and while their tiny shape appeared inconsequential, each one carried a deadly poisonous tip. I watched with satisfaction as they fell with precision upon both beasts and soldiers alike. Our numbers were small but skilled. August nodded again, and I dropped to the ground to join Eli and Tao, a Komodo warrior, as the sky echoed with pained bellows and howls.
Eli reached out to squeeze my shoulder. ‘I have an idea,’ he signed furiously. ‘Stay out of trouble!’
I scowled, but the look in his face told me how much it mattered.
‘Hurry,’ I hissed, as a chorus of baying filled the air.
It was vile and unholy, the sound of the unnatural world readying itself for blood.
He disappeared into the night as Tao and I dived through the smoking trees to our target and as I looked over the wooden pen at our precious back-up infantry, and now I found their hiss and primordial growl the most comforting noise in the universe.
‘Feral means free!’ I muttered fiercely, yanking out a rough wooden peg as Tao pulled back the makeshift fencing.
The dragons responded instantly, and whether it was the scent of fresh meat, the lure of open space, or something less tangible, the powerful Komodo dragons that had survived Arafel’s razing spilled out and headed straight for the fight. They were an impressive sight, most nearing three metres long, crashing through the undergrowth and hungry. And though they were instantly dwarfed by the army scarring the skyline, I could see the welcoming committee were surprised when they broke the forest line.
‘We fire as they move in,’ August whispered as I swung back into position. ‘Whatever happens … just … stay alive!’
Grey smiled from
my memory, as did Ida, Servilia, Rajid and my beloved fierce Aelia. So many loyal friends lost; it was time to prove it wasn’t in vain. And I’d made a promise too.
I steeled my nerve as I lifted my bow and trained it on the rise of scorpion hill. The Komodo lizards now lined the boundary of the forest, as though they understood they were our front line, and as they lifted their reptilian heads to roar – their tails thrashing in anger – my chest swelled. They could sense the primeval divide. They understood they were facing an unnatural army, and their fury was tangible.
They were answered with a deafening babel of guttural cries, most of which I’d never heard before. The bellowing of a black Minotaurus, the baying of Brutus’s giant molossus pack, and the ominous hiss of writhing cenchris were all over lapping and indistinguishable as the creatures lowered their heads and advanced. And the Komodo moved out to meet them; speedily, fiercely and undeterred by the number of beasts bearing down on them. Several of the largest dragons reared high in their first brutal and bloody collision as the two lines closed, one hideously smaller than the first, and the sound seemed to echo through the whole forest.
We pulled our bows back, aiming high.
‘Now!’ August signalled ferociously as another cloud of poison-tipped arrows cut through the night, taking our hopes with them.
They fell silently upon our enemies, and the roar of pain that erupted was confirmation enough they’d met their targets. I scanned scorpion hill, feeling a fragile elation at every heaped body, outnumbered easily by the number remaining. We were making a difference, but there were just so damned many.
Again we reloaded our bows, releasing a fresh cloud of fire arrows, which this time only served to illuminate the wall of mythological chimera swamping our courageous Komodo. My ears were thumping with painful adrenaline, my limbs wired as the odontotyrannus lumbered forward, its massive gaping jaws resembling an oversized dinosaur.
‘Not enough,’ August whispered between clenched teeth, ‘we need more.’
I nodded, and scanned the horizon feverishly. Where had she gone?
And then there was a rustle of big branches breaking, the movement of something large. Only this noise was coming from behind us.
I shot a look at August. Had Cassius stolen ground when we weren’t looking? He shook his head, his face pale beneath his camouflage. We shifted around to peer through the smoky gloom. My fears began to climb.
Were we surrounded? Was it the end so soon?
Come what may, nature finds a way, Talia, Grandpa’s distant voice encouraged.
‘But how?’ I whispered despairingly.
And then a sight that took our arrows and Komodo dragons and gave them claws and teeth enough to meet any myth army. The advancing body wasn’t one huge misshapen mythological creature at all, but a band of saviours – natural saviours. With one familiar figure at the front: Eli. I inhaled jaggedly as he waved his courageous forest army forward, their stealthy silence saying everything about our ancient kinship in the face of Pantheon’s nightmare.
There was every type of wild creature you could imagine – bears, large primates, tigers, lions, wild cats, horses, hyenas, boar, snakes, even rodents, all approaching as one, and at their head, just behind Eli, was a familiar alpha gorilla, wielding a large club. It was the most painful, noble and welcome sight any Outsider could hope for.
‘Thank you,’ I whispered, locking eyes with the gorilla, and reading the wildfire there.
August looked at me and we nodded simultaneously. The forest was alive with the cry of the natural world, and now we stood a chance.
We dropped to the ground without the need for words; Outsider and forest beast, shoulder to shoulder, ancient instinct connecting us all. There were no predators or prey, only the earth’s natural inheritors, and we were allies until the very last of us dropped.
I tipped my head back to issue the final signal, just as a raucous cry broke the sky in two. And as the moon disappeared behind a monstrous black shadow, every pair of eyes turned skywards.
‘Finally,’ I whispered hoarsely.
She was there, silhouetted against the anguished sky, like a winged angel of the night, and she was far bigger and stronger than ever I’d seen her. Her spiny draco arrow-point wings spanned the entire width of Pantheon, and her titian body, covered in lustrous scales, shone with reflected starlight, as though to announce her regal status. And as we all watched, a burst of violence, like a sunrise too early, tore across the sky and set the horizon alight.
She was a blue-blooded, mythical queen. Glorious and deadly.
‘I’m here,’ I breathed, though my blood was already reaching.
And I could feel her strength and elemental will answering.
She knew I was here too.
Chapter 25
Grandpa used to tell old stories about blood moons. But I’d a feeling he’d never stood above scorpion hill, with the earth beneath his feet staining scarlet in the milk wash of the night.
And the cry that made our enemies stare as we broke the forest perimeter was less my voice and more the sound of the outside world saying it remembered, it bore the scars and it wasn’t ready. Not now, not ever.
While our numbers were still fewer, we had something else besides. Wrath at our immense loss – and belief in our fight. For the forest. For Arafel. For all the ghosts.
We fought knowing it was our last night on earth. The brow of scorpion hill had never seen so many species together, and for a while we held them back, our diversity a strength. A pride of lionesses squared up to the giant molossers instantly, and even though they were smaller, they had years of hunting on their side.
Eli, August and I stayed close, taking on the guards spilling through the fray, their Diasords picking up where the Eagle lasers had stopped, and all the while I kept one eye on the horizon. Find me, I whispered as she circled.
A back panther stretched into a sprint past me, before taking a heroic leap up at the torso of a Minotaurus and sinking her jaws into its thick neck. And something in her seasoned gait made me pull my machete from the neck of a cenchris snake at my feet. Was she the cat I’d faced in the forest so long ago?
‘Talia, stay in line!’ August roared hoarsely, his face stained with blood as the bull yanked the cat from its chest, and threw her as though she were a kitten, onto the writhing floor.
The machete was out of my hands before I could check myself, glinting through the stench-filled air and burying itself in the Minotaurus’s thigh. The creature threw its head back and howled.
It levelled its fevered gaze at me, just as a bull lowered its head and charged, taking the creature clean off its club feet with one bone-shattering impact. I pulled out my spare blade and swiped at a cenchris writhing beneath my feet, before the raised tail of an angry scorpion got the better of it.
‘First rule of the jungle,’ I muttered, ‘watch your ground.’
I scanned the hill grimly. We were holding our line but the background kept refilling from the open Sweepers. My gut lurched. We were tiring and there were just so many. Black Griffin, Satyr, Minotaurus, swarms of basilisk and cenchris, diving hagas, molossers with jaws reddened by torn flesh, and behind them fresh gladiators, trained to fight to the death.
How could our courageous but precious few stand a chance against such a force?
Then a new noise reached out across the dead air. A beat – a sonorous ancient rite, that spoke of hidden worlds and forgotten knowledge. And a slow prickle began to creep across my skin as I twisted to scan the forest line. The sound wasn’t of the forest, and yet it was coming from behind us.
‘Tal!’
August’s warning was enough, and I brought my blade up as a diving haga took its chance. It reached for my head with huge claws, its two hybrid heads, a turtle and a bird, crowing with sure victory. Instinct took over and in one sharp swipe it was at my feet. I gazed briefly at its four glassy eyes before returning my attention to the forest line, along with most of the battlefield.
>
The trees had greyed behind a tall smoky wall, a wall that was separating into individual shapes. It was a fresh army, clad from head to foot in dark grey armour shaped like scales. And at their centre was one helmetless figure, unmistakable in his regency and bearing, flying the standard of another civilization altogether. A civilization who were loyal to no one except themselves – until today.
I caught Eli’s smile across the carnage of misshapen, skewed bodies.
Was this why he’d been so quiet about his time with Phaethon? Because he’d also made a promise? I knew at once it was, and the intensity in his gaze left little to imagine. Phaethon had asked me to kill Cassius. But he never meant for us to face the myth army alone. He and his people detested Pantheon’s tyranny as much as we did. He knew about my blood tie with Lake, his army were aligning with the Outsiders, and he’d also made a commitment of his own.
Once again emotion had shown itself to be the key, a source of real strength, not weakness. Was this also part of my connection with Lake?
I swallowed as more pieces of the jigsaw fell into place. Aelia had mentioned Phaethon was gathering his army. She couldn’t have known how serious Phaethon and Eli were, and I had little doubt Phaethon would have made my brother promise not to tell me of his support.
I closed my eyes briefly. My quiet brother who always brought what and who was most needed. If anyone was to survive and lead a new Outsider community it should be him, the most unsung and resourceful of all heroes.
I spun around as the formidable Oceanidic army started forward, the sound of their heavy-armoured march sending new energy through my veins. I side-jumped the charge of a towering satyr before running to the aid of a rearing auroch amid a swarm of basilisk. And as the fresh army swelled our ranks, their barnacled black swords making short shrift of anything they ran against, I felt a fresh surge of hope. And then my eyes locked on a single gladiator I would have recognized anywhere.
I sucked in a breath as he ran towards me, his hunter legs making light work of the uneven, strewn ground, the hound at his side straining at its leash. I sheathed my knife and pulled my bow from my back, conscious the ground around us was trembling again. The quakes had been coming more violently for nearly an hour now, despite the fact Lake had disappeared over the forest line.
Storm of Ash Page 27
