Ishtar's Blade

by Blackwood, Lisa

  Her heart and spirit throbbed along with the power beating in the glowing length of her sword.

  One didn’t have to take control of the city-states to defeat the Gryphon Kingdom. One merely had to kill the royal line and wait for all its defensive magic to die and then conquer the disarrayed islands one at a time.

  Ditanu’s grim expression reflected the same thoughts. He renewed his efforts to get to his cubs and Iltani and his Shadows kept pace.

  As they descended to the lower levels of the temple city, they encountered more enemy troops and the vicious rounds of cannon fire. It ripped through delicate lattice walls, glass windows, and people with equal destructive abandon.

  When they weren’t dodging pieces of the temple raining down from above or enemy soldiers popping up in their path, they were forced to wade through throngs of panicked nobles and servants.

  As if cannon fire wasn’t bad enough, there were men with longbows among the enemy.

  Ditanu snarled another curse. “Order the temple evacuated. It will make the task of picking off the enemy easier for both our soldiers and the lamassu.”

  “Burrukan is already seeing to that,” Etum replied. “He ordered me to secure you.”

  “Secure? Really?” Ditanu said as he leaped over another fallen soldier. “What did Burrukan actually say?”

  Etum chuckled, finding humor Iltani wasn’t feeling. “His exact words to me were ‘go find our king and drag his ass back here. The young fool has no business in the thick of the fighting.”

  “Burrukan, diplomatic as always.” Ditanu gave a humorless laugh, his attention on the fighting. “I want our archers to pick off those human ones down on the beach.” He made a sweeping motion with one arm “We have injured down there. I want them taken to safety and evacuated with the rest of my citizens.”

  “As soon as we deliver you safely to Burrukan, I will see to it myself.”

  “Good.” Ditanu motioned the rest of his guards forward.

  As promised, the way to Burrukan, the cubs, and Ahassunu was relatively clear. Still, Iltani didn’t allow Ditanu more than an arm’s length from her side.

  They arrived at the main gate of the lower temple and guards opened the large doors and escorted the king’s company inside.

  Burrukan was instantly at his king’s side, updating him on everything he knew. Which, Iltani frowned, wasn’t much. She didn’t know what else she expected. He had been on the island the whole time. As much as she doubted Burrukan, she knew in her heart he wasn’t the enemy and her newly heightened senses still did not label him a threat.

  Motion to her right had her glancing away from her king, and she spotted Kuwari as he came hurtling toward her. He skidded to a halt, sliding into the side of her boot, but it didn’t deter him from regaining his feet and latching onto her leg.

  She reached down and gave him a reassuring rub between the ears, but turned her attention to what Burrukan was saying.

  “We’ve mobilized against the enemy and are getting between them and our people. The south harbor is overrun with enemy ships, but many of the revelers have made it safely to the north side of the island. The lamassu have cleared that harbor. Many nobles and their families are taking to the air as we speak.” Burrukan stepped to one side to make room for Ahassunu to join them. “We’re ensuring that the young and most vulnerable are among the first into the air. Once they are safely out of the way, it will free up more of my men to clean out the city and capture or kill as many of the outliers as possible.”

  “I want some taken alive,” Ahassunu said, fury edging her voice, making it deeper. “I want to know why my cubs were placed in danger and who is foolish enough to involve themselves in this action.”

  Once again, Iltani found herself silently agreeing.

  Kill most of the invaders, but keep a few alive to discover who they were working for and what possible reward would be worth their lives.

  “We’ll take some alive,” Ditanu agreed, “but first I want anyone with wings to help those that do not. Get everyone off this island and meet back at Nineveh. Once my people are safe, and we know this is an isolated incident, we’ll return here and bleed our enemies.”

  The enemy, by the sound of fighting outside, was getting closer. Iltani grabbed Ditanu by the shoulder and dragged him toward the back wall of the lower temple.

  “No more talk.” An impending sense of doom was throbbing in Iltani’s veins. “We need to get you off this island now.”

  “I can take care of myself,” Ditanu argued. His lips thinned and parted—more a baring of teeth than a smile. His gryphon blood lust was rising. She could see it in his enlarged pupils. Now that he saw his cubs were safe, he was succumbing to the battle lust which was both a blessing and a curse to all gryphons.

  He shoved his sword hilt at one of his shadows and began to strip out of this clothing. “Iltani, you will go ahead and see my cubs to safety. I and half of my Shadows will take up the rearguard.”

  Magic flared around him as he shifted to gryphon form.

  “Ditanu, no.” Iltani started toward him. “Ishtar said we must stay together. Come with your cubs.”

  “The enemy is too close. I will not risk them overtaking us while you and my cubs are trapped in the tunnels.” Ditanu’s words held the slight hissing inflection all gryphons had. “Take my cubs and their mother to the beach. Get them into the air.”

  Iltani wasn’t happy, but she was too pragmatic to stand and fight about it while their enemies closed in on them.

  Scooping up Kuwari, Iltani ordered Etum to grab a cub while Consort Ahassunu drew her sword with one hand and picked up the last cub with the other.

  Iltani paused and looked over her shoulder to where King Ditanu and two dozen of his Shadows flanked him. Several were in gryphon form now. All others had sword and bows at the ready.

  “Go,” he ordered as he shifted in an intense flash of light.

  Frowning unhappily, her crystalline sword held before her, she darted through the north doors where Priestess Kammani and several of her apprentices had already uncovered a dark tunnel. Iltani raced forward, now guided by the goddess. As the torch bearing priests led the way, the Shadows accompanying Iltani followed close on her heels.

  Leaving her king felt wrong, but she had the wherewithal to know the fastest way to get him to follow was to carry his cubs from him. Instinct would keep him close, even overriding the seductive call of battle lust.

  She raced through the tunnels, following the torch carrying priests, all the time wanting to shout for them to hurry. Sounds of battle came clear to her even here.

  After one violent boom echoed down the corridor and rained dust down upon them all, Iltani decided the tunnels had just been breached somewhere.

  “If they continue to use the black powder, they’ll bring down the temple around their ears,” Kammani said.

  Iltani cast a worried glance at the stone ceiling above and hoped the fools didn’t collapse the temple upon them until after her king was out of danger.

  The stone underfoot gradually became less steep and ahead she spotted the metal brackets of two great reinforced double doors reflecting the torchlight.

  They’d reached sea level. Both Iltani’s sense of smell and Ishtar’s new gifts confirmed as much. Ahead, two of the Shadows were lifting a heavy cross beam out of its holders while a priest was unlocking the door.

  The first of the shadows to emerge onto the beach were met with shouts of relief from the nobles already there. Shadows that had been ordered to help with the evacuation raced up to Iltani and the others.

  Iltani ushered the rest out onto the beach and was just starting toward shore when another great boom echoed out across the ocean. Overhead, a piece of the upper temple shattered. Large chunks of stone started their destructive journey down the side of the cliff, the devastating force doubling as other boulders and debris joined the slide.

  “Move,” Iltani shouted as she tightened her hold on Kuwari and sprinted toward th
e ocean surf to get away from the avalanche of stone.

  Those without wings followed her lead while those in gryphon form took to the air, grabbing their wingless neighbors and dragging them into the air with them.

  With a small part of her mind not focused on tracking her king’s progress, or running for her life, she noticed the sky was black with wings.

  Ditanu and his men were now on the wing as well, which, she decided, was presently the safest place to be with the temple tumbling down from above.

  Another explosion rocked the temple loosening more chunks of masonry. Just how much of that damnable black powder had the outcasts managed to bring with them? In her arms, Kuwari whimpered.

  Then another echo rumbled across the ocean. This time, the sound came from behind her, not from within the temple.

  A ship rounded the island’s north cliff wall, sailing toward Iltani’s position.

  She shouted warnings to the others on the beach. Eluti must have heard her for he sprinted up to her.

  “Why are you not with the king?”

  “He sent me to get you and Kuwari.”

  Seeing Eluti’s arrival as the blessing it was, she shoved Kuwari into his arms. “Take him, get him to his mother. I can’t fight like I need to and keep him safe at the same time.”

  “Ditanu gave me orders,” Eluti said as he fought to hold the struggling cub in his arms. “You need to come too.”

  “I don’t have time to argue. Go.”

  As her magic stirred, burning along her body, setting all her nerves to tingling, a lamassu winged its way over the ravaged temple’s wall and flew straight for the new threat. Somehow she’d, or more likely Ishtar had summoned the great stone beast.

  Iltani, her magic now a maelstrom flowing around her body, drove her sword into the ground between her feet.

  “Get going,” she shouted to Eluti.

  With a curse, he ran with the cub tucked safely in his arms.

  Iltani turned her attention back to the ship.

  A heartbeat later, both she and the lamassu knew they were too late to stop the ship from firing its next round of deadly cannon fire.

  Much closer now, the ship’s weapons were that much more destructive. A volley of cannon balls ripped through more of the temple’s delicate stonework, reducing it to rubble while those still on the beach could only watch in horror.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Iltani spotted the consort just as she took wing with one cub grasped in her front paws. Iltani sent a wave of force rushing toward the space between Ahassunu and more of the incoming projectiles. The mortal weapons struck Iltani’s barrier and fell harmlessly into the ocean surf.

  In the time it had taken Iltani to toss up the protection between the consort and the invaders, the massive lamassu had reached the ship. It had clasped its arms around the tallest mast. Its weight and momentum threatened to capsize the ship, exposing a large section of its wooden belly. Iltani eyed the target a moment and then launched her magic, shaping it into a spear filled with all her rage. The spear flew true and impacted the ship, gorging deep into the wooden hull.

  The lamassu, sensing its prey was already experiencing its final death throws, released the mast and turned its massive body in the air—a graceful feat defying explanation. It then winged its way back toward the beach where it landed and thundered past Iltani’s position, its hooves churning the sand.

  Iltani lost her balance and fell to one knee.

  “Stay down.” The lamassu’s warning blazed across her mind.

  She felt more than saw a massive spear fly past her shoulder and impale some other poor soul behind her.

  Iltani sent her magic flying even as she tracked the new threat.

  Boats.

  Over a dozen of them. She’d never seen the spear launching weapons in person, but Burrukan had once told her about these harpoons. Each boat had one secured to its prow. These must have already been in the water before she and the stone lamassu had mortally wounded the main ship.

  Besides the harpoons, each boat was loaded with sword and spear-carrying warriors. Again, Iltani didn’t know much about the outside world—every bit of knowledge she owned was thanks to Burrukan, but her understanding was that humans from the outside world had evolved past the use of spears long ago. They now preferred weapons called pistols and muskets, which were too unstable to use near magic wielders. At close range, magic could ignite the black powder they used as fuel. But the outsiders shouldn’t have possessed that information; they shouldn’t have made it this deep into gryphon territory at all. A citizen of New Sumer would have had to have given these invaders that knowledge and aided them in other ways, too.

  She catalogued that knowledge for later, to add to her list of crimes once she found the traitor responsible for this sacrilege.

  At least, she didn’t see any archers among this group, which was good. The harpoons were deadly enough.

  When the first ship was close enough to make an easy target, she lashed out with power. The boat next to the one she’d intended to hit vanished in a shroud of billowing vapor. When it thinned enough to see through, she noted the ship behind it was gone too. However, her intended target kept coming. Her magic rose within her again. The second attempt took out the boat.

  Ishtar’s gifts were impressive, Iltani admitted, in awe of the great power riding her. Yet, as the first waves of boats made it to shore and vomited up their cargo of warriors, she feared the goddess’s power given into Iltani’s own unprepared hands might not be enough to defeat these enemies.

  Lashing out again, another destructive wave slammed into both men and boats. Both were reduced to ash and swirling mist by Ishtar’s power.

  All along the beach, other boats made it to shore.

  Holding her ground, her crystalline sword still buried with half its blade length in the ground, Iltani continued to use magic as her primary line of defense until the very last moment. When the first wave of warriors was upon her, she gripped her sword’s hilt and smiled at her enemies.

  One smiled back—a giant beast of a man, a wall of solid muscle. His wide chest was covered in a black garment, similar to a robe but it open all the way down the front. Rows of tiny fastenings ran down one side. Under it, he wore yet more layers. Though none looked like armor, which stunned her. A wide three pointed covering sat atop his head, but it wasn’t a helmet. The only protection it would lend its wearer would be from the sun.

  She circled her enemy, and he mimicked her, studying her in turn as if she was the strangest thing he’d seen.

  What strange garb. Burrukan had once told her a bit about two warring empires from the old world across the ocean. The two human empires were building colonies and warring with each other for gold, lands and other trade goods. New Sumer had always been protected and hidden by its magic, safe from the outside world, so Iltani had never paid much mind to the human’s in the world beyond the ten city-states. However, she knew by the lack of uniformity in how these enemies dressed, that they were not soldiers belonging to either of the empires. No, these soldiers with their motley dress were rogues. Pirates—their services sold to the highest bidder.

  It did not mean they were not dangerous.

  By some unseen signal, they started toward her, only to hesitate as they were almost upon her. She wondered if they saw Ishtar looking out at them through her eyes. Whatever the cause, it gave her an opening and she gave them death with the slash of her sword.

  Where sword blades met, hers melted through steel with a hiss and then buried itself into the belly of the bigger of the two. He didn’t have time to scream before power crawled across his skin and he blew apart on the ocean breeze, just bits of ash and swirling smoke.

  Her second opponent met the same fate. A third and a fourth fell before her. Some had more skills than others, but all succumbed to Ishtar’s wrath. Iltani floated in her own body as a goddess of battle directed her.

  Time past.

  Iltani didn’t know how much, but ash c
oated her body along with sea spray and sweat. She needed to get to Ditanu’s side. The blood link allowed her to sense him—he was not hurt, not yet, but the need to get to his side was increasing within her.

  But no matter how many enemies she cut down, more just kept coming, preventing her from reaching her king.

  Pushing aside that need for now, she focused on the battle. She wouldn’t do Ditanu a speck of good if her foolish worry distracted Ishtar at the wrong time.

  The newest arrivals to come ashore were more cautious, studying the lay of the land, instead of just rushing forward with swords drawn. All the time, the boats still out in the water were targeting gryphons with their harpoons.

  Reaching out with her senses, she felt where three gryphons already lay wounded on the beach. With a wave of one arm, she sent magic racing out to destroy another boat.

  A great dark shadow appeared over her head and Iltani cursed in fear, though the cold dread in her stomach wasn’t for herself.

  Ditanu dropped down onto the sand next to her and slammed her to the ground, his massive wings mantling over her protectively.

  A spear flew past, less than an arm’s length from her head. A moment later Ditanu moved off her and a scream jerked her back to the battle. Ditanu, in full gryphon fury, slashed out at her attacker, gutting, tearing muscle, and snapping bones with one powerful blow from his paw.

  Her king had just saved her life. Shaking off a sudden bout of self-doubt, she came to her knees, spitting sand from her mouth and blinking furiously to clear her vision. She was still recovering when agonizing pain blazed along their blood link.

  “Ditanu!” She screamed his name, echoing his roar of pain.

  Even before she fully understood what had happened, she was summoning magic to dispatch the threat to Ditanu’s life. Moments later, her eyes found and confirmed what her blood link told her.

  Ditanu was grounded, a spear embedded up high near his wing joint on his left side. A human was advancing upon him with a sword poised to kill.

  She lashed out with another blast of power and the human vanished, more ash upon the breeze.