by Jeff Gunzel
Lost in a sea of resurfaced hate, Jarlen’s survival instincts began to take over. Primal, animalistic, the hunter’s need to kill was the only thing driving his actions. He could no longer remember why he was attacking the ghatins, only that they needed to die. No longer could he see their faces, only the foggy outlines of strange beings who were in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were nothing more than targets that needed to be cut down so he could earn the right to live another day. This was the life he had always known. How could he be so foolish as to believe he could become something else? This was who he was, who he would always be. Animals never reason with danger, they react to it in the only way they know how.
Ducking and dodging, the ghatins’ attacks appeared slow to his heightened vision. Highly tuned reflexes from years of battle had little trouble avoiding the stabbing blades. Streaking between two ghatins, Jarlen easily slashed open their bellies as if they were standing still. Ignoring their whistle-like cries, knowing they were already dead whether they realized it or not, he leapt over to the next roof and kept on running. They ghatins were everywhere, but he could not see them as individuals. Faceless they were, white featureless enemies that existed only to perish by his own hands.
Hammering his fists straight down, two more incoming flesh blades shattered beneath the force. Three. Four. Leaping into the air, his body burst into a spin. Savage birds mirroring his own bloodlust screeched and cawed. The whirling black funnel spun right across three more ghatins as birds pecked and tore, devouring white flesh as it burned and blackened beneath their beaks. All the ghatins in this area leapt down off the rooftops, wanting nothing more to do with this crazed lerwick. He alone seemed to be causing more damage than all the others combined.
Suddenly, ghatins and lerwicks alike looked up as a number of frosty white spheres came raining down from the sky. Smashing against the ground, they released a misty white vapor that rose up like steam. More spirit bombs came crashing down, shattering as if made of glass before their whirling mist suddenly came to life. White tornadoes blazed around, their spinning bodies made of ghostly faces seeking out enemies as they spun through the streets. Tearing into the fleeing ghatins, they ripped through their bodies, causing them to dissipate like water vapor. Even through the lerwicks were holding their own just fine, the additional assistance from the sky was a welcome sight.
“Set me down!” Viola ordered, pointing to a nearby rooftop.
“Why?” Salina questioned, not understanding her reasoning. “We are safer up here.” She pointed to the white funnels ripping through the city. “The spiritists are more efficient from the sky. We can do far more damage from up here.” She felt a shifting at her back and glanced over her shoulder. “Hey, what are you—”
“All you’re doing is disrupting them for a minute or two. You can’t really kill them. But I can.” Viola stood up in the saddle, one hand still on Salina’s shoulder for balance. “Keep doing what you’re doing, but stay up here where it’s safe. Do not follow me!”
“Viola, don’t you dare! We have our orders. We are not supposed to—” Ignoring Salina’s warning, Viola jumped from the saddle. Her body exploded in midair. Black birds whirled about as her tornado form drifted downward.
“Viola!” Owen shouted, knowing it was already too late to stop her. As always it seemed, she was disobeying yet another direct order. And this one was from the Moon Mistress herself. Still, Owen couldn’t help but grin. “But that’s what I like about you,” he muttered to himself. He looked at Liam riding across the way as their ravens circled the battle below. Liam threw his hands in the air, irritated by her usual defiance. But he had grown quite used to it by now. If she got out of this in one piece, he was sure to put her over his knee when they got back to the tower.
“We must protect her!” Owen shouted. Like it or not, she had committed to the battle, and now it was their job to offer support any way they could. Liam nodded, knowing there would be plenty of time to be mad at her later. But for now Owen was right. They needed to protect her.
Viola rushed down the street, her flesh blades slashing left and right as she carved her way through. The lerwicks were holding their own, but nothing like the destruction Jarlen had unleashed in such a short time. And now this new lerwick who had dropped from the sky was showing a similar skill set, tearing through the white beings with relative ease. Ghatins shrieked, their bodies combusting in blue flame. Even those with minimal wounds were as good as dead before they hit the ground. Not unlike her brother, she moved through the city with a deadly grace while leaving behind a path of flaming ghatins and charred ash.
Turning a corner, she came to a sudden halt before nearly running straight into a waiting wall of white. Viola braced, mentally gauging how many she could take out before needing to retreat. She felt as if she could beat any of them one-on-one, even three-on-one for that matter. But to rush headlong into this many was foolhardy at best.
With all the reflexes of a cat, Viola leapt straight up as a torrent of white blades ripped the air beneath her. Twirling up to the rooftop, she reset herself, blades crossed defensively across her body. Even attempting to mount any offense against this many was too risky. She would have to abandon this confrontation and seek an easier fight.
Hearing a loud clacking sound, she spared a quick glance up to the sky. A massive spray of orange projectiles came raining down, washing over the ghatins like a wave of lava. The wall of white disintegrated, instantly turning into a powdery cloud of dust that settled along the ground.
Knowing the ghatins were completely helpless in this state of limbo, Viola wasted no time in making short of work of the crippled beings. There were no screams as she dragged her flesh blade across them, no signs at all that this white dust was somehow alive. But like a burning torch raking across dry hay, the powder burst into flame at even her slightest touch.
Sensing danger, she whirled around to see another ghatin charging straight at her. With barely a split second to react, she threw her arms up and braced for the impending hit. But the expected impact never came. Instead, his body crumbled in mid-strike as burning black flakes fluttered over her like a sprinkle of dry leaves. Shielding her eyes as she looked through the lingering erosion of blue flame and black ash, she saw her brother standing ten feet away.
“What are you doing here?” he snarled, retracting his flesh blade.
“Helping you do the right thing for once in your life,” Viola snarled back, brushing away the black ash. “Is it so hard to believe I would side with you instead of siding with the ghatins once you finally decided whose side you were on?”
His brief look of confusion slowly changed to one of amusement as he began to understand what was going on here. “Not particularly,” he admitted. “That is who you are, after all. Who you have always been. I know that your need to always do the right thing drives nearly every decision you make. No, what I find hard to believe is your endless stupidity.” With a snicker, he glanced up at the rooftops where ghatins were fleeing. There were plenty of other cities guarded only by humans. Too many of their kind had already fallen this day. Forfeiting one city was a small price to pay to just cut their losses and move on.
“Is that the ‘side’ you are talking about?” Jarlen asked, pointing to the streaking gush of white fleeing from the city. “You are mistaken as always. I have chosen no side. They were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. My attack on the city was nothing personal. They had taken something from the humans. Something I wanted. So I am simply here to take it back.”
“The city?” Viola gasped.
“Correction... My city.”
Viola didn’t think she could be any more sickened by the actions of her brother. She was wrong. “Thousands and thousands of people died here and you don’t even care? They were innocent, yet the ghatins killed them in cold blood.”
“And for that I thank them.” The easiness in his tone when talking about the deaths of women and children chilled her to the core.
She had heard a theory once stating that the lerwicks didn’t even have souls. If anything, he was living proof that this might be true. “I find that the ghatins are less of a threat to our kind. We handled them easily enough.” He looked down at his arm, rotating the half-extended blade. “The humans, on the other hand, can be quite troublesome at times.”
“That is because we are designed to kill them,” Viola said, refusing to wipe the tears from her eyes. Her tears were not for him, but for the innocent humans who lost their lives here. She would never cry for him. “It was our destiny. You and I, Jarlen. We were the first to be brought back. That’s why we are here. We were supposed to...”
Taking a deep breath, Viola finally did wipe her sleeve across her teary eyes. She knew she was babbling and must not be making any sense, but she couldn’t help herself. A part of her wanted to sit down with her brother, to explain everything she had learned about their past. Maybe then he would understand at last. Maybe he wasn’t too far gone yet. “Don’t you see? We were supposed to save mankind, not destroy it.”
“You really believe that, don’t you?” he asked, amused. Finally taking his eyes off his bladed hand, he looked over at his sister. There she stood, teary-eyed, emotional...pathetic. “I don’t know who has been feeding you these lies, but perhaps it is time for you to join the real world, dear sister.” Spreading his hands out wide, he smiled. “The humans are gone.” He glanced left and right. “And now thanks to you, the ghatins are gone as well. The city now belongs to me.” He raised an eyebrow. “Of course, it could belong to us if you so wish.”
He took a step closer to Viola, extending his hand. “Give up this foolish exploit and join me. You believe these lies because you think they give you purpose. Dear sister, your mind has been twisted by the humans, manipulated into seeing what they wanted you to see. Don’t you understand? There is no purpose in being the humans’ dog. The ghatins fear us. The humans hate us. Your fate is already sealed, and your loyalty misplaced. Just what sort of future do you think you have if not here with me?”
“A future with you?” Viola hissed, her white-hot glare ready to set his clothes on fire. “You offer me a curse disguised as a gift. Who would ever accept such a tainted offer?” His eyes narrowed dangerously. “And just what am I supposed to envision in this future of yours? You hunt those who gave you life, and even those you deem to be inconvenient.” With the ghatins gone, Jarlen’s lerwicks had begun gathering around them in the street.
“Anyone who doesn’t fit into your selfish plans becomes expendable. How long before it is him, or him, or her,” Viola said, pointing to random lerwicks watching nearby. “Oh, I imagine you will keep them around as long they serve your needs. As long as they remain your dogs! And then what? You’re driven by the perception of enemies, both real and imagined, simply because you hate the world. No matter which path you take, it will always lead you to the same place. Alone...”
She swept a hand across the gathered crowd. “You can lie to them, Jarlen, but you can’t lie to yourself. When there is little left of the world other than fire and ashes, do you plan to be king of nothing? I do not claim to know where my path will lead, but it is certainly not here with you. All that awaits you and your band is emptiness. All you will ever know is hate, and then you will die. I imagine most would prefer death to the sorry fate that awaits you.”
“Still your tongue!” Jarlen roared.
“Or what? You will order your trained pets here to tear me apart like the coward you are?”
Jarlen grabbed one of the nearby lerwicks by the collar and grunted something in her ear. She glanced up to the sky briefly, then moved quickly to spread word of his instructions. “No,” Jarlen said flatly, answering his sister’s taunt. “But you’re only half wrong. Your death will come. But it will come by my hands, not theirs.”
The lerwicks moved in closer, forming a rather large circle around the two of them. One of them jumped, his whirling form spinning from one side of the circle to the other. His action was immediately followed by another, then another. Soon, black funnels were whirling back and forth overhead. Each time they landed, they immediately spun back the other way.
Viola looked past them, her eyes on her friends overhead as she began to understand what they were doing. Not only had they surrounded her on the ground so she could not escape, but the lerwicks spinning back and forth overhead had formed a sort of living shield. Her friends could not fire into this circle without hitting one of the lerwicks.
“Your friends are as weak as you are,” Jarlen said, his arms slowly extending into blades. “They wouldn’t harm an innocent lerwick even to save your life. There is no escape. You are trapped in here with me.”
“So, it seems that we actually agree for once.” Viola’s arms began to extend, her lip twitching up in a mocking grin. “True, my friends will not harm any of your dogs, because unlike you they value life. But I must correct you on one small detail. I am not trapped in here with you.” Her blades snapped up to cross her face. “It is you who are trapped here with me!”
She charged, closing the distance between them in a fraction of a second. Flinching more than ducking, Jarlen barely moved out of the way of her stabbing blade just as it scraped his cheek. Barely missing its target, her arm crashed through the crumbling wall behind him, nearly taking down the house in the process.
Shaken from the close call, Jarlen quickly managed to regain his composure. Perhaps he had grown complacent and needed a little reminder of who he was facing. His battle skills had been honed for so many years that he rarely thought about them anymore. Pure instinct and reflex had always been more than enough to defeat any foe the humans could throw at him. But Viola was different. Never had he faced someone with her speed, a fact he had just been reminded of. She was not to be taken lightly.
Ripping her arm free from the wall, Viola ducked an incoming punch. He wasn’t using his blade that time, but that meant little given the force behind his strike. Crashing a second hole right next to the first, the already badly damaged wall caved in. Diving forward to avoid the falling rubble, Viola drove her shoulder into his knee. The damage was minimal, but it was enough to throw him off balance, buying enough time to scramble back to her feet.
*
“She is not ready for this!” Liam shouted, his raven and rider circling overhead along with the others. “Take him out before he kills her!”
“I can’t get a clean shot,” Owen shouted back, struggling to steady his crossbows. It would have been hard anyway given the constant motion of the raven. But his weapons were designed for mass destruction over widespread areas, not precision kills from a distance. There was no way he could kill Jarlen without taking out several of the lerwicks, or possibly even Viola given their close-quarter fighting. “There is nothing I can do. She is going to have to beat him on her own.”
“Take me down!” Liam ordered.
“But the Moon Mistress said—” his rider began.
“I don’t care what she said!” Liam shouted back. Rarely did the mystic display such a lack of composure, but the situation had grown desperate. “We are past that now. Viola has committed herself whether we like it or not. I will accept full responsibility for my actions, and you will not be held liable. Now take me down!”
*
All four of their blades hammered together, foreheads nearly touching as the warriors pushed against each other. Being the stronger of the two, Jarlen began to march forward as Viola’s feet slid back, her heels digging trenches across the sandy ground. “Give up now and I will make it quick and painless,” he growled in her face.
“I could say the same,” Viola snarled back just as her heels bumped up against something solid. Her body leaning back, she found herself flat up against a wall.
“A pity you’re so incapable of seeing reason,” Jarlen whispered, his every word washing over her face in a puff of warm air. “How do you always find yourself drawn to the losing side? It is as if you have a death wish.”<
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“I fight for what I believe in.”
“And that shall be your downfall!” He pressed harder. She wheezed, her ribcage contracting while being pressed between his chest and the wall. “You actually think you stand for something? You think your death will have meaning? I’ll let you in on a little secret, a fact that someone should have told you long ago. When you die, no one shall be buried along with you. You will be all alone, just as you’ve always been through every step of your life. That is your future, as well as it is mine. But I’ve already accepted that everything I do in life is for me and nobody else.
“In the end, we all end up alone, Viola. That is fact. Love? Friendship? These concepts are just deceptions, temporary illusions to help make the journey feel as if it has purpose. But there is no purpose, only a lifetime of sacrifice before it all comes to a crashing halt. And your willingness to sacrifice yourself for a cause that never existed in the first place is the fastest way to see for yourself that I speak the truth. No one would ever make such a sacrifice for you. Kindness only leads to death.” He grinned, slipping his hand up under her chin, ready to end her suffering once and for all. “Don’t believe I am telling the truth? Just ask your teacher, Thatra. I hear she loved you, yet her sacrifice was for nothing.”
“Ahh!” Thrusting forward with all her strength, Viola smashed her forehead against his nose. The pressure on her chest finally eased as he stumbled back, dazed from the unexpected blow. He blocked the incoming elbow with his forearm, but got clipped with a follow-up left that drove him back another few steps. All this time Viola had been fighting passive, trying not to lose rather than fighting to win. She knew how dangerous her brother was, but now that little voice of reason in the back of her mind had fallen silent. With caution thrown to the wind, she pressed with a fury she didn’t know she possessed.
