"Surrender to the truth, brother!" Kindel shouted, his eyes flashing with a dangerous gleam against the lightning. "You have no idea what you are passing up! The power! The power of the Blade of Kaleo fills me like a gushing spring of life! It could be yours as well! We could share it and watch over the universe together!"
"I'd sooner carve my own heart out, Kindel!"
Kitreena's whip cracked with sparkles of lightning. Arus whipped his head toward her with wide eyes. "I thought we weren't supposed to help him!"
"We are to stay out of his way," she said, dashing toward Kindel. "But I'll not let him be killed while I stand by and watch! He can yell at me for it later!"
Arus raced after her, feet kicking up sand with every step. The snap of Kitreena's whip cut through the air less than a second after Kindel vanished. He reemerged from the darkness in front of Arus with that maniacal smile plastered across his face, teeth glistening against the intermittent flashes from above. Damien screamed something as Arus fell to his backside, sword raised in a vain effort to defend himself. With his human eye as wide as it would open, he watched as Kindel disappeared once again, and Damien's figure lunged through the space where he'd stood, nearly falling on top of Arus in the process. The two of them barely made it to their feet when Thorus appeared behind Kitreena, sword raised for a killing strike.
"NO!" Damien shouted, loosing a strand of lightning from his palm toward his brother. The band of electricity skimmed within inches of Kitreena's back and pierced the air where Kindel had been. Whether the attack found its mark or not was hard to tell through the blinding light, but when the afterimage faded from Arus' vision, he saw Thorus floating in the sky above the turbulent waves.
"Now, receive your rewards for your devotion to weakness!" His voice cracked as he screamed like a desperate madman. With the Blade of Kaleo high above his head, he commanded the winds, guiding twin funnel clouds down from the swirling black skies. Arus fell to his knees and dug both hands and feet into the sand in a vain attempt to keep from being swept away. Not too far to his left, Damien raised his cloak to shield his face from the stinging bits of sand that sliced through the air like tiny razors.
"Kitreena!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. She stood several paces ahead of them, the glow of her body nearly obscured by the black winds. No more words were exchanged; she simply looked back and nodded.
What happened next was something Arus couldn't have begun to properly explain. Kitreena's body separated and blended with the winds, seemingly dissolving into nothingness as she was swept away. Only the light remained, swirling through the air as though she and wind were one and the same. It took but seconds. Swaths of white filled the sky and cut through the clouds before darting toward Thorus. Kindel's tornadoes barreled onto the shore and rolled toward Damien and Arus as Kitreena's glow was swallowed by the dark funnels.
Arus, tell Damien to be ready!
Though he didn't understand, he wasn't about to leave her hanging. "Damien!" he called, "Kitreena says to make sure you're ready!" Damien responded with a nod of acknowledgment.
Immediately, Kindel's smile vanished, and he stared in what could only be described as astonishment as Kitreena's glow reappeared in the center of either tornado and grew, converting the darkness of each into the most blinding light Arus had ever seen. A faint whine grew into a piercing roar that cut through the rushing winds, and both twisters began to bulge like overfilled balloons. Damien rose to his feet and raised his arms above his head, summoning a surge of pure blue-white energy into his hands before clasping them together at his chest. A scream accompanied a brilliant flash of light from within the roaring winds, and the tornados dissolved in twin towers of sparkles. As the dissipating light showered down upon the sea, Damien threw open palms forward and unleashed a white-hot beam of intense energy toward his brother. The blast connected with a distracted Kindel's chest, knocking him from the air into the churning ocean waters.
Wide bands of light descended from the clouds and twisted together before coming to rest between Arus and Damien. They molded and shaped into the form of a young woman on her knees. When Kitreena's face appeared once again, she looked haggard and worn. "Did . . . it work?" she asked between panting breaths.
Damien kneeled beside her and rested a hand on her shoulder. "We hit our target, but I doubt the fight is won."
"That was incredible," Arus told her, dropping opposite Damien. "How did you do that?"
"Truthfully?" She looked up at him with a grin. "I have no idea."
"Her powers are manifesting themselves," Damien said. "And not a moment too soon."
Arus shook his head in wonder; the girl never ceased to amaze him. His gaze ran across the beach toward the furious ocean. "Do you think it's over?"
"Not by a long shot." Damien turned his attention to the sea and rose to his feet. "The Blade of Kaleo is not so easily overcome."
"How are we going to get that thing out of his hands?"
"Patience," Kitreena muttered. "And persistence. He's got to have weaknesses, and we have to exploit them."
"I don't suppose you read anything on your scanners, do you Arus?" Damien asked.
"Nothing. They've been useless since we arrived. Kindel's power just causes too much interference."
The winds pushed against them hard, and lightning forked down upon the forest to the north. Arus glanced back as thunder rolled through the clouds, and his heart sank. "Oh, no."
Kitreena took a deep breath and pushed herself up. "What is it?"
"Another tornado," Damien told her, pointing toward the sky above the trees where a funnel was beginning to descend. It seemed to be moving away from them. "He's trying to distract us."
Arus agonized over the bleak possibilities. The storm was headed straight for Keroko, and the village would be in no way prepared for such violent weather. Worse, there were none of the usual warning signs that came with natural thunderstorms and hurricanes, so the people would be caught completely by surprise. The tornado tore through trees and sent branches flying as it plowed away from the beach. "My hometown is in that direction."
"How far?"
Arus frowned. "By foot? An hour at best. But at the rate the storm is moving, we'll never beat it there."
Another crackling web of lightning spread across the sky and gathered above before darting down in one thick streak of white. The three scattered, diving in opposite directions to escape the blast. Echoes of laughter rippled through the air, and Kindel appeared overhead in a burst of flame. The flesh of his chest was charred and black from Damien's attack. "Worried about your people, are you?" he cackled. "Well then, let's make this more interesting!"
Although Arus had been growing accustomed to teleportation, a sense of disorientation overwhelmed him when the beach suddenly became Trader's Square. The sky was clear here—for the moment, anyway—and the stars twinkled above the soft glow of the street lanterns. Most of the shops were closed up for the night, though many appeared to be undergoing construction. New to Arus' eyes were four stone towers that were being erected at each corner of the Square. They looked to be guardhouses unless he missed his guess. Those exceptions aside, everything was just as he'd remembered it. The stone-paved ground was barren in the absence of the daytime peddlers' carriages and carts, and the orange glow of the lanterns flickered in the cool air. Autumn was well on its way.
He stood at the center of the Square with Damien and Kitreena at his either side, their faced filled with the same disorientation he'd felt. Kindel floated overhead, a satisfied smile plastered across his darkened face. "Is this better?"
Before Arus could answer, a shout rang out across the Square, drawing their eyes to an armored member of the Royal Guard of Cathymel. The soldier, covered from head to toe in shimmering steel and wearing the red tabard of Lord Sarathon over his chest, raised a cry that echoed in the night. "Intruders in Trader's Square! We have intruders in Trader's Square!"
Kindel's hand was already extended, and a ball of fir
e threw the soldier right through the wooden door of the fletcher's shop. Arus growled and tightened his grip on his weapon. "Leave them alone, Kindel! Your fight is with us!"
The Zo'rhan laughed as his body rose higher into the air. "You wanted to warn them of my coming, didn't you? Well, consider them warned!"
Streaks of lightning shot from his hands, demolishing rooftops and tearing through walls. Fireballs engulfed entire buildings, exploding through support beams and reducing whole structures to rubble in mere seconds. Destruction poured from his palms in a deadly shower that left nothing but charred ruin in its wake. People came running from every direction to see what had caused the ruckus, and terror flashed on their faces when they laid eyes on the man in the sky. Arus felt paralyzed, not only by Kindel's unimaginable power, but by his inferior abilities that left him powerless to stop the madness. Thorus' laughter went well beyond the boundaries of sanity; the shrieking cackle pierced Arus' ears.
"We've got to bring him to the ground, Kit!" Damien shouted. "We can't—"
Thunder rolled ominously over the village, a thunder more dense and powerful than anything that came from Kindel's hands. Arus turned his attention to the south just as the black clouds passed over the edge of the Square, bringing torrential rains and winds so powerful that homes began to collapse under their might. With no options left, he looked up at Kindel, and his mechanical eye glowed. "I'll not let you destroy everything that is sacred to me!" he screamed as a beam of crimson shot forth. The laser passed right through Kindel's left arm just above the elbow, and a second line flew wide of his shoulder. Had the implant's sensors been active, the first blast would've hit his head and the second his heart.
Thorus snarled and grabbed his arm before he disappeared, and thunder sent tremors through Trader's Square. A ring of terrified spectators encircled the area, men and women in robes and smallclothes filling the Square from every direction. Violent wind tore lanterns into the air and threatened to sweep children from the clutches of their parents. To the south, two—no, three—tornadoes approached the Keroko border, looming ominously over the village light the black fingers of Kuldaan himself. Villagers began to scream in horror, some simply frozen with fear while most others snatched up their children and fled. Arus looked to Kitreena, whose face was pale. Her exertions on the beach had clearly taken a toll on her body. "Can you stop them?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.
"It was hard enough to unravel two of them," she said, wiping her rain-soaked hair from her face. "Three would be nearly impossible, especially without any time to recuperate. Our only hope—"
Kindel appeared beside Arus with the Blade of Kaleo held high above his head. Damien's hand moved in a flash, and his odd weapon stopped Kindel's a mere finger's width from Arus' skull. With a startled jolt, Arus leapt away and hefted his own weapon. Almost as if he'd expected the attack would be unsuccessful, Kindel drew back his sword with casual motion, eyes of azure fixed on his brother. "Your reflexes are more attuned than I'd expected," he said, almost too quietly to be heard over the howling wind. "But you are still nothing compared to me!" Blood soaked through his burned and frayed sleeve, though he behaved as though he didn't experience pain.
With his teeth bared, Damien brought his blade down hard, but Kindel teleported into the sky and raised his hands once again. A red aura surrounded his body and extended upward, encompassing the clouds and turning them blood red. Flames burst like molten lava from porous areas of each, illuminating the village with a crimson light that likely raised thoughts of the Abyss amongst the fleeing people. A stinging sensation prickled across Arus' shoulder, then another on his forearm, and still another on his wrist. To his left, he saw Kitreena yank her hand toward her chest and rub it as though she'd be stung by a bee. That's when he noticed that the raindrops had begun to glow like fire. No, they had become fire. Each and every drip grew hotter and hotter, and every building that hadn't been set ablaze by Kindel's earlier assault was smoking. It wouldn't be long before the entire village was burning.
Damien wasted no time, launching a sequence of lighting blasts and fireballs toward his brother. Arus thought he saw Kindel grin as he vanished, and he reappeared right behind Damien. He said nothing, and gave Arus no time to shout a warning. Fire spewed from his palms and exploded against Damien's back, throwing the big man forward in a trail of smoke. He landed hard on his side and rolled several paces before coming to rest on his chest. Thick ropes of grey rose from the burning wounds in his back where his cloak and shirt had been incinerated. Not a muscle in his body moved.
"Damien!" Kitreena cried out. Again, her body separated and blended with the wind, and her twisting strands of light rose high above the village. A chill washed over Arus, an unnatural cold that almost seemed to be pulling him toward her. The searing rain of fire slowed, not in intensity but in speed. Each drop actually seemed to lose speed as it neared the ground until something happened that made Arus blink twice. They actually came to a momentary stop in midair, then began to ascend toward the clouds. No, not the clouds. They were being drawn toward Kitreena's glowing figure over the center of Trader's Square. Her body had reformed there—at least partially; she was more of an oblong orb of light than anything else—and she was pulling the fire from the rain, the sky, and the clouds. The light within her body swelled, and her entire figure was set ablaze with crimson flame.
"Kitreena!" Arus shouted. He couldn't tell if this was what she'd intended, but he knew how tired she'd already been. Be careful, please!
Don't worry. I'm fine.
When the final bit of red had drained from the clouds, powerful strands of lighting began pouring into her, spiraling around her with sharp sizzles and pops that could no doubt be heard miles away. Kindel stared up at her with that maniacal smile, almost daring her to attack. He held the Blade of Kaleo ready; Arus shuddered to think of what might happen if he managed to land a blow with the weapon. He's prepared to attack you with that sword. Watch for it.
It won't help him.
The words had barely run through his mind when she shot forward like a streak of lightning—she was lightning, Arus thought—and Kindel lashed out with the Blade of Kaleo in an expertly performed attack that would've cleaved most men in two. But a sword did nothing against wind, nor could it extinguish a raging fire or cut bolts of lightning to ribbons. The fiery blast of lightning crashed into Kindel's chest and sent him sailing through the air, his body engulfed in a blood-red flame. Higher and higher he rose, faster and faster, until he broke right through the clouds and disappeared. Kitreena hadn't simply hit him with her attack; she was now carrying him toward the stars in a burning ball of fire. A faint orange and red glow emanated through the clouds as she twisted back toward the village, and when they cut through the clouds again, they were moving faster than ever. Kindel's fiery form sped toward the ground in trail of flame and crashed through the stone paving like a meteor. Arus ran toward Damien's body as dirt and rocks and debris exploded into the air with frightening force and threw himself over the fallen Zo'rhan. Heavy stones pelted his back and legs, and a boulder the size of a human head smashed into his knee. That wrenched a cry of pain from him.
The cool rain had resumed, that was the first thing he noticed once the debris came to rest. It wasn't nearly as windy as it had been earlier, though a quick glance to the south showed that the trio of tornadoes was still approaching. They'd crossed the village border, by his guess, and it wouldn't be long before homes and shops and barns were decimated. But that wasn't the worst of it. Their continued existence suggested that Kindel was not dead; the possibility sent shivers of terror rolling down Arus' spine. If a fall like that hadn't been enough to kill the man, what would be? Could anything hurt him, or did the possession of the Blade of Kaleo make him . . . immortal?
Bands of light swept beside him and coalesced to form Kitreena. She'd barely looked at him when the glow that had ensconced her since Morphing vanished, and she collapsed to a motionless heap beside Damien. Arus
moved to check on her—something was wrong with his knee; a stiff pop was followed by throbbing pain that radiated through it when he moved—he moved to check on her, taking her hand into his own and patting her cheek gently. She moaned something unintelligible and rolled her head slowly, but her eyes remained closed. At least she's alive. That was something he wasn't sure he could say for Damien, whose scorched back made Arus' stomach heave. Flesh and muscle and bone and sinew were all visible, albeit burned to a crisp. Doctor Nori would probably be able to help, but they were a long way from the Refuge.
"Arus?" a woman's voice spoke from behind. "Arus, is that you?"
Carefully, Arus shifted his weight onto his good leg and rose. He'd grown to know that voice second only to his own mother's. Veran Lurei looked worn and tired, but he wouldn't have expected anything else from someone who'd been torn from their sleep such as they had. Stray strands of black hair dangled from her soaked ponytail, and the creases in her face were amplified by the flickering of nearby fires. The rain had drenched her bathrobe so thoroughly that she held her arms close to her body as though snow was about to fall. Not surprisingly, her jaw dropped open when he faced her. "Good evening, Ms. Lurei," he said with a polite bow. The mere motion set his knee ablaze with pain. "Please don't feel it disrespectful, but I must insist that you flee the village immediately. A terrible storm is headed this way," he told her, pointing toward the approaching tornadoes. They seemed to be spreading apart; one remained to the south while the others were moving east and west. What looked like wooden debris was circling the outer rim of one, and his breath caught when he saw something that resembled a rooftop swirling through the dark funnel.
"We know," Veran said with a nod. "Keroko is surrounded by them. We've no place to go. Many have run to the shelter, but . . ." Her eyes were clearly fixed on the implant. "Arus, what has happened to you? And where is Vultrel? He told us that you had been killed!"
Eye of the Tornado Page 23
