Instinctively recognizing his soulmate’s danger, Argus reached out through their link helping in the only way he could. Focusing his wild essence, he let it flow into her. Instantly the soul of the predator filled Enelya’s mind. Where logic had failed her, animal instincts did not. Without hesitation Enelya drew the tambos from the sheaths across her back as she pounced for the corpse-white beast, screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Aaarrrggguuusss tooo meee!”
Like a wild animal, Enelya focused the strength of her entire body into her attack. Swinging her arms together, she slammed the blunt ends of her tinnearlian-wooden staves through the creature’s forearm in one powerful strike. Using the momentum from her dive, Enelya swung her body underneath the beast’s thick muscular arm. Twisting her wrists apart, she heard the crunch of snapping bones as she somersaulted back into the air.
“Aaarrrggg!” With a bellow of agony, the beast swiped a clawed fist after her as Enelya heard her cousin gasp out a word of power.
“Rafmagns Hendur!”
Purple lightning suddenly ripped through the monster’s mottled skin as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air of the small room. Dropping Lúthien from its nerveless grasp, the savage beast staggered backward grimacing in lockjawed pain as leftover waves of energy rippled over its skin, before dying away seconds later.
Landing in a crouch, Enelya watched the creature shake off the shock spell’s effects as her cousin collapsed to the floor behind her grasping for breath. Unbelievably the strange beast’s ruined forearm begin knitting itself back together. Still wearing the High King’s face, the creature’s hate filled eyes focused on Enelya in burning rage as its loud voice rasped throughout the silent room.
“Wait your turn, Witch! I will deal with once I’m finished sucking the life from your cousin.” Turning to Knight-Captain Valandil, the beast’s voice rose in command. “Take her!”
Enelya’s connection to Argus was the only thing that saved her from freezing in shock. Incredulously, she watched the six Ironidium Knights around the room instantly lurch into motion as Knight-Captain Valandil lunged after her with an expressionless face.
Diving forward, Enelya slammed both of her tambos into the back of Valandil’s knees as she rolled between his opened legs. Springing to her feet in a flash as the Knight-Captain crashed to his knees behind her, she leaped at the next guard in one fluid motion. Bringing her tinnearlian weapons together, Enelya struck the sides of the knight’s ironidium helm a second before she slammed into the stunned guard’s head with her entire body. Hitting the ground rolling, she dove for the third knight. Crashing into the back of his armored legs, she knocked the surprised knight on top of Valandil with a loud clanking sound of metal. As the two Elves went down in a pile of flailing limbs, she rolled back to her feet in the center of the chamber.
Enelya felt as if she were on fire as the wild essence of Argus’ predator filled her senses. Spinning around in a tight circle, her hunter-vision missed nothing as it categorized the threats in the room. Coming to a stop facing the maggot-skinned monster once again, Enelya saw one of its massive fists shoot out at her in slow motion. As the arm stretched unnaturally across the small room in the blink of an eye, the sharp claws headed directly for Enelya’s heart, she dodged to the side at the last moment. Swinging her tambos together, Enelya slammed the hard tinnearlian wood into the creature’s forearm deflecting the shot.
“Ugh!” The sound was forced from her lips as she felt the razor sharp claws clip her bare shoulder. A second later, Enelya heard the loud crashing sounds of armor hitting the wall as the powerful blow slammed head-on into a pair of Ironidium Knights coming at her from behind. Ignoring the blood streaming down her side, Enelya sprinted for the monster as her vision narrowed turning red. As the last pair of Ironidium Knights moved to cut her off, she saw the beast’s other arm shoot after her like a slug hurled from a sling. Dodging to the side, she put the knights between her and the snake-like arm flying directly at her.
Another resounding crash filled the room as Enelya dropped to her stomach. She felt the brutal impact shiver through the stone beneath her as the knights were smashed from their feet. Missing its target again, the creature bellowed in rage as it pulled its misshapen arms back into its body. Jumping to her feet, Enelya grabbed the monster’s forearm with both hands as it raced by overhead.
“Aaaeeeiii!” Flying into the air Enelya wordlessly screamed as her arms were practically ripped from their sockets. Ignoring the pain she jackknifed her body around feet first. A split second before impact, Enelya saw the creature’s beady red eyes widen in shock.
CRACK
The force of the blow drove the hulking beast reeling backward as one of its eyes burst on impact. Arching backward, Enelya dove out of the way as a razor sharp claw slammed through the space she was couched in a split-second later.
Sliding in-between the creature’s spread legs Enelya slammed her tambos into its groin with all of her strength. As the beast howled out in pain, she struck hammering at the side of one massive knee. Enelya heard the joint shatter as she dodged another wild slash of the creature’s deadly claws. Springing forward, she slashed at the creature’s elbow, shattering the joint with another double-handed blow.
Bellowing in rage the monster’s spun around clubbing at her with its injured arm. Without thought, Enelya somersaulted over the flailing backhand a second before it smashed into Knight-Captain Valandil and another Ironidium Knight rushing back into the battle.
Landing back on her feet in one smooth motion, Enelya went on the offensive. Hammering at the creature in a flurry of blows, she weaved and dodged the lightning fast claw strikes in a deadly dance of death. Again and again, she attacked with blows that would have destroyed any other creature, but as the fight wore on, the reality slowly dawned on her. She was losing.
The monster was like nothing Enelya had faced before. Its injuries were healing quicker than she could inflict damage! Her lungs burned as she sucked in ragged gasps of air fighting to stay one step ahead of the creature’s crushing blows. Twisting around in a spinning attack, she saw several Ironidium Knights staggering back to their feet behind her as she flipped over another sweeping backhand.
Enelya knew her body couldn’t keep this pace up for much longer, but she couldn’t leave Lúthien to this monster either. Somersaulting away from another savage blow, she made a fatal mistake. Reaching the top of her arc, Enelya suddenly realized she’d fallen for a feint. Stopping in midswing the monster swung back in a lightning fast attack, batting her out of the air with a backhanded blow that sent her flying across the room. As the air woofed out of her lungs, everything suddenly flashed white.
For a second, Enelya didn’t know where she was. Struggling to sit up, she grimaced in agony at her ringing head. Why did everything hurt?
“Errrgurga!” Gasping for breath, Enelya felt a vice lock wrap around her throat as she was suddenly yanked into the air. Struggling weakly, she saw the white blotchy face in the shape of King Elerossë staring back at her. As the evil red eyes bore into her soul, Enelya screamed in terror as the creature’s voice rasped out triumphantly.
“I’m going to enjoy flaying the flesh from your bones and-”
“Rrreeeaaa!”
The sudden high pitched animal squeal cut the monster off in midsentence as a large silver streak pounced on top of its corpse-white back. With a savage fury long claws and terrible fangs tore deep furrows into the monster’s thick hide.
Landing hard on the floor, Enelya gasped in pain. Everything hurt. Her body felt broken as she struggled to push herself back to her feet, but she couldn’t even stand up straight. As soon as she tried her body doubled over in agony. Sucking in fresh air Enelya held her broken ribs as the maggot creature crashed around the room fighting to shake off the savage animal ripping at its back.
Enelya knew she had to help her cousin if they were going to any hope to survive, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, the room began to spin
. The next thing she knew the cold stone floor was pressing against her cheek as the howls of fighting began slowly fading away. As everything turned dark, Enelya held onto one thought.
“Argus had come.”
Chapter Twelve
Location Irlendria / Startüm Ironwolf:
“Aaaiiieee!”
I screamed as my eyes boiled in their sockets from the searing heat as the flesh melted from my face. I screamed until my lungs were turned into two blackened husks in the center of my chest as I was picked up and hurled against the side of the mountain from the force of the explosion. As the flames scorched everything in its path, Ukko’s healing light fought to keep me alive.
The agony felt like an eternity, but in actuality, it only lasted for a matter of a few seconds as the holy power flowing through my veins healed my scorched body. Drawing in a ragged breath as my lungs began functioning once more, I rose to my hands and knees as my eyes grew back in their blackened sockets.
Normally, I would have healed in the blink of an eye, but I was at the end of my energy reserves. With an iron will I ignored the agony coursing through my body, conserving my energy reserves to only focus on healing what was truly necessary to continue functioning.
Forcing my battered body to its feet, I sheathed my Katanas as I stepped over the blackened remains of the Scourge piled up around me. Staggering with each step, I made it to the edge of the cliff to where Starfire and Frostbrand lay unmoving on the bare stone as water streamed around them, flowing off the cliff in a small torrent. The thick ice sheet covering the entire plateau had been completely melted away from the fiery blast. Kneeling next to the girls, I could feel the spark of life inside of them as I gently gathered Starfire into my arm. They had simply pushed themselves too far.
Moaning softly, Starfire’s slender arms weakly tightened around my neck as her eyes fluttered painfully open. Her dilated pupils were almost solid back from the effects of the Fring. As soon as her eyes focused on me, I heard her gasp in shock as she saw my pain filled yellow eyes and ruined face.
Stroking her silver matted hair, I gave her a lipless grin.
“Don’t be, you saved us all.”
Suddenly, I saw the mental image of how I looked through her eyes as the tears silently ran down her cheeks. If it didn’t hurt so much, I would have laughed. While some of my skin had regenerated, most of my face was still burnt to a blackened crisp from the intense heat, except for the places where the flesh had been completely seared away to the white bone underneath. I really did look horrendous, more dead than alive. As I watched, I saw the skin was already regenerating from the faint yellow glow surrounding me.
A large tremor beneath our feet broke the connection as I was once again looking through my own eyes. As the entire mountain began to shake, I felt Starfire lay her feverish head against my neck.
Scooping Frostbrand up into my other arm, I froze hearing the warbling howls of Worgs call out nearby.
CRACK
Turning around at the loud noise, I watched unbelievably as the stone of the archway began cracking with deep fissures running down its length. As another massive tremor shook the entire peak, a massive chunk of the archway suddenly sheared away from the mountain. With a loud roar the crumbling pieces plummeted into the Otso River far below.
Hearing the sounds of claws on the stone behind us, I turned around to see the Worg hunters from earlier spreading out onto the wide plateau. Nervously they stepped over the blacked remains of the Scourge until their large hairy shapes filled the rocky expanse. Standing shoulder to shoulder, the creatures faced us growling ferociously.
Shifting the girls to one arm, I drew a katana facing the Worgs head-on. My energy reserves were near empty. Still, concentrating on the runes engraved within the blade, I pushed a trickle of my precious power into the katana in my hand. At first nothing happened, but slowly a weak blue flame began burning down its length as red hate-filled eyes glared back at me. In the unnatural light around the circle, I watched as the Worgs’ black lips pulled back from their large yellow fangs. Slowly the hunters began stalking forward as their bloodthirsty growls grew even louder.
Suddenly the plateau heaved again as another massive tremor shook the mountain. A wide crack instantly formed beneath my feet as rocks and boulders began raining down around us as a loud rumbling sound filled the air. Yipping pain filled cries came from the Worgs as they scrambled to escape the destruction, but it was too late.
Falling to my knees, I slammed my blade into the solid rock at my feet as blue fire flared into the night around us. The mountain bucked like a wild beast as the rumbling sound grew into a deafening roar. Looking up into the stormy night’s sky, I saw an enormous avalanche plunging down the side of mountain heading directly for us as I bowed my head in prayer.
“Ukko, beskytte oss!” (Ukko, protect us!)
Gathering the very last of my power, I felt Ukko’s touch as I cried out at the top of my lungs. “Suoja!”
The sound was deafening as the falling rocks smashed into the plateau around us. I had pictured the shield in the shape of a wedge when I formed it, but even so, there was no way it could stop something like this. Unbelievably, the earth quaking wave washed over us destroying everything in its path. Boulders and dirt filled the air as a cloud of debris passed over us choking the air. The avalanche felt like it went on forever. As the worst of the rock slide slowly passed, there was another earth splitting crack. Suddenly I felt the ground give away beneath my feet as the entire plateau sheared away from the side of the mountain.
Sheathing my blade, I wrapped my arms protectively around the two unconscious girls pressed against my chest as we plummeted with the last of the rockslide down the mountain together. Closing my eyes, I prayed. Our fate was now in Ukko’s hands.
Chapter Thirteen
Location Irlendria / Norek Manitou:
Standing at the base of Mount Airy the Chief of the Thunder Tribe, Norek Manitou, eyed the path leading to the top of the mountain with a heavy heart. Like a fool he had ignored Luonnotar’s call for too long, but after five days of hard travel, he was finally here.
On the same night Nessa had delivered the message of Tolnik’s death, the first spirit messenger was already waiting for him inside his wigwam in the form of a Great Horned Owl. Norek knew well the call of the Great Spirit when he saw it, but in his grief, he’d ignored the summons. Even though he refused to meet the messenger’s eyes, Norek could feel the weight of the creature’s gaze on his soul as its great yellow orbs bore into him. Remembering the soul crushing desolation, Norek heavily sighed as he began climbing the trail up the mountain.
No parent should have to outlive the life of their child.
For seven days Norek had mourned his son’s death. During that time, he’d neither slept nor ate as the grief consumed him. In the midst of his anguish he’d even cursed Luonnotar for not protecting his son. On the seventh night, when Norek thought he could take no more, the screeching cry of the Great Horned Owl’s warning shattered the night as it suddenly flew through the hide covered door.
Lifting his tear stained face, Norek had screamed in rage as he rolled to his hooves. Whipping away the hide door, he lunged after the ethereal creature only to immediately stop in stunned silence. Standing before him was a group of warriors from the Raven Tribe. Held between them on a hidebound stretcher was the bleeding body of his son, Tolnik. From the light of the full moon, Norek could see his son still breathed. Or so he had thought.
For a time Norek’s thoughts were silent as he climbed, but mercilessly his self-loathing continued to flail at his soul. Since time immemorial, Centaurs from all of the Tribes had been called here to speak with the Great Spirit. Called both Sky-Father and Earth-Mother by the People, Luonnotar was the essence of nature in all of its forms. All life was interconnected and dependent upon one another in the great circle. Where there was life, there was death. Each form of existence gave meaning to the next
for they were inseparably a part of one another. When Norek had denied this simple truth, he had put the entire Thunder Tribe in danger.
It took all of the strength of Norek’s upper body to pull his lower half up enough to hook one of his forelegs on the edge of the ridge. Still, it wasn’t until he got the second foreleg up that he managed to pull himself the rest of the way up onto the weather-beaten plateau at the very top of Mount Airy.
Standing up straight, Norek took in the breathtaking view. To the north and west, the plains disappeared into the horizon marking the lands of his people. To the south, the vast mountain range of the Fangs rose into the sky creating a natural barrier to the lush farmlands of the Imperium far away. Even from this distance, the impregnable walls of the Citadel could be seen on its lone vigil guarding the solo pass through the mountains, while the Great Forest towered at the edge of the plains to the east. Home to the Elves, his people’s longtime allies, and the place where Tolnik had lost his life.
As the wind whipped Norek’s long gray-streaked hair about his shoulders, a tear ran down his rugged face. What the Raven Tribe brought to him that night was not his son. Even though he knew that now, it still took everything he had to fully accept that soul crushing truth.
Initially, Norek had falsely accused his own daughter of lying about Tolnik’s death. Accused her of conniving to steal away Tolnik’s birthright for her very own. Ignoring Nessa’s wails of anguish, he had welcomed the creature that wore his son’s skin into their encampment with open arms. That is until he’d seen the truth for himself.
Remembering the harsh words of hate coming from his son’s lips, Norek hung his head in shame. Against all tradition, Tolnik had demanded the right of combat for leadership of the Tribe.
Hanging his head in despair, the pain in Norek’s chest refused to go away. Such a foreign thought, but that’s when he knew the creature standing before him was not his son. The People of the Tribes simply didn’t think in those kinds of terms. When the creature that wore Tolnik’s skin realized the seriousness of its mistake, the challenge had been immediately withdrawn, but the damage could not be undone.
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