Destiny

by Jason A. Cheek

  A moment later, Enelya cried out in agony raising her arms above her head. Spinning around in a circle, she flung her open hands at the center of the Ironidium Knights’ line, screaming at the top of her lungs. “Vindbylur!”

  Incredulously, a whirling vortex of air shot forth from her cousin’s outstretched arms. Like a massive hammer, the blast flung the knights in its path into the air, cutting a wide swath clear through the middle of the armored formation. It was like no spell she’d had ever read of before. The magic was different than her own, but none the less powerful. As the power stopped surging through her cousin’s small frame, Lúthien’s first thought was that of shock. Everyone knew Wild Elves couldn’t perform magic. That simple fact alone was the central cause of discrimination most Elves had for their Wild cousins.

  Before Lúthien could consider the implications further, Morwen charged as Argus lunged after Enelya, pulling her with him. Before Enelya collapsed to the ground, his silver-furred arm scooped her to his chest. A second later Lúthien felt herself lifted into the air as Argus gathered her up in his other arm. Using the last of his strength, he leaped through the gap as Morwen’s battle cry echoed behind them.

  ***

  Location Irlendria / Morwen Telemnar:

  A part of Morwen Telemnar’s mind registered her charges passing through the Fortress’s massive gate as she battled the trickle of Ironidium Knights chasing after them from where they’d been scattered across the courtyard. Her blades cut the guards down before they even knew what was happening.

  To either side of her, Morwen saw the separate wings of knights reforming as the King’s Guards from the keep approached the courtyard at a fast jog. Within seconds, she would be overwhelmed from their sheer numbers alone if she couldn’t come up with a working plan. Looking quickly over her shoulder, Morwen saw the girls entering the edge of the forest. Once more Argus hung limply in-between them as they struggled underneath his heavier weight. Without a shadow of a doubt, she knew there was no way the girls would escape if any of the knights made it past her.

  Taking a deep breath, Morwen cleared her mind preparing for what was to come. Stepping back until she stood in the Fortress’s massive entrance, Morwen held her sabers at the ready. At least, she could take away their advantage in numbers by fighting from inside the archway.

  The Ironidium Knights she killed had been fighting as individuals taken by surprise. Only her skill with the blade and knowledge of the spell forged armor’s weaknesses had allowed her to kill them so easily. This next attack would be different. Prepared for battle with their fellow knights backing them up was another matter altogether. Arranged in formation their armored lines would be nearly invincible.

  Morwen’s heart ached again as she recognized the individual emblems imprinted on the chest of knights heading for her. She’d fought side-by-side with many of these warriors for most of her life and knew each and every last one of them by name. For many centuries these Elves had been her only family in a world full of death and destruction. Seeing the knight with the symbol of a double crosshatch through a mountain leading the charge, Morwen felt the bitter sting of anguish bite her soul as she recognized Field Commander Rogaulse, her sometimes lover. Throwing her head back, she cried out in grief.

  “Great Tapio, give me the strength for what I must do.”

  Tears streaming down her face, Morwen leaped forward. Deflecting the larger sword’s swing with a deft twist of her blade, she slammed her booted foot into the center of Rogaulse’s armored chest. Morwen felt the jarring impact all the way through her body as she flipped into the next knight. Using her momentum, she swung around the guard’s neck in a tight circle, redirecting him into his battle mates as she sprung from his back in one smooth motion.

  Metal rang out as Morwen knocked the next knight’s swinging sword wide. Leaping over the top of the guard’s head, she looped her forearms around the armored neck as she jacked knifed her feet to the ground. Her momentum ripped the knight off his feet and over her head into the guards on the other side of the formation with a terrible crash. Spinning around, Morwen swept her slim blades out to either side of her. With a twist of her wrists, she deflected the overpowered swinging blades effortlessly as knights tried to flank her in a pincer attack.

  Seeing a blade plunging for her unprotected head, Morwen threw her weight backward. Flipping into the air, she dodged the attack a split second before it crashed into the ground where she’d stood a second earlier. Before she could land on her feet, Morwen saw Rogaulse lung for her. In a blur, his armored fist last out. There was a flash of light as the air whooshed from of her lungs.

  Vaguely Morwen remembered bouncing off calcimite stone of the archway as centuries of training and combat took over, her body continuing to function even as the air blasted from her lungs. Rolling to her feet, Morwen swung her blades up in a defensive block just as another gauntleted fist crashed into her. The terrible blow blasted her from her feet, before slamming her to a stop against the opposite wall.

  This time, Morwen felt the blood running down the back of her neck as she instinctively landed on her feet. Defensively she arched both blades above her head as Rogaulse’s great sword sought to split her in half once again. Without thought, she drove the blade into the ground beside her as she saw another armored fist heading directly for her.

  The next thing Morwen knew, she was lying on her back looking up at the top of the archway. Slowly her eyes focused on the taut chain to the Fortress’ massive portcullis as she breathed in labored breaths. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. The scraping metallic ring of the knight’s approaching footsteps sounded as if from far away as Field Commander Rogaulse’s armored form swam into her field of vision.

  With a single-mindedness of a well-aimed thrust, Morwen focused her thoughts on the plan forming in her head. The cost of her life was worth having her people warned of the traitors within their midst. Peace settled over her as she watched Rogaulse’s two-handed sword rise for the killing blow. At the last second, she rolled out of the way and sprang to her feet in one smooth motion. As she’d expected, Rogaulse’s armored fist was already in motion.

  Ducking low, Morwen dodged the blow as stone fragments exploded above her head from the force of the impact. Tossing her blades high into the air, she grasped Rogaulse’s armored wrist with both hands as he whipped his arm back. Effortlessly the spellpowered strength of the runic armored suit lifted her with it. Before Rogaulse knew what was happening, Morwen swung herself into the air above his head. Twisting around in a twirling flip, she bent her knees landing lightly on the opposite wall.

  With all her strength, Morwen sprang out across the archway. Reaching out, she caught the hits of her sabers as she soared across the gap. Spinning around Morwen wrapped her legs onto the thick ironidium segments of the chain holding the portcullis.

  Immediately, her sabers began burning with a blue fire as she called forth the rune magic forged into the tinnearlian metal of her blades. Pushing all thoughts away, Morwen hammered at the thick links with all her might. Sparks flew from each impact as the weaker ironidium metal of the chain shivered under the impact of the superior metal. She hacked through the large chunks in a matter of seconds as the knights below her rushed for the opening.

  There was a loud twang as the first half of the link sheered apart with a sudden jerk as Morwen felt Rogaulse’s blade scrap her ribs as he sought to kill her before she could slice through the link completely. Without a second thought, Morwen flung one of the glowing sabers at his armored head as she grasped the hilt of her remaining blade with both hands. Using the strength of her entire body, she shattered the link with one last blow as the world exploded around her.

  ***

  Location Irlendria / Morwen Telemnar:

  Morwen’s came back to consciousness as an armored fist lifted her bloody head up by her long silver hair. Unbelievably she was still alive. Dead knights were strewn across the ground around her where the thick coils of ironidium
chain had snapped from the gate’s broken mechanism. On the other side of the entrance, she saw Rogaulse’s armored body lying against the far wall with her saber sticking out his helmet’s bloody eye socket. She’d killed him and hadn’t even known it.

  In front of her, the armored ranks of the Ironidium Knights split open as a humongous maggot-white monster wearing King Elladan’s face slowly stalked towards her. Morwen recognized the nightmarish creature immediately for what it was. A godforsaken Tuonellian Hulk. As the creature’s bloated face bent down close to her own, she almost retched as she felt the monster’s long tongue slowly lick the blood from the side of her face. Lunging forward, she tried to sink her teeth into the Hulk’s disgusting flesh, but her body didn’t move in the Ironidium Knights’ powerful grip.

  Clucking its tongue reproachfully, the grotesque creature’s rasping voice taunted her as it long claws stroked her cheek. “Warden Morwen, I had looked forward to consuming your flesh like I did your mother’s, but …”

  “You!” Twisting against the gauntlets holding her tight, Morwen shrieked frothing at the mouth in rage as she suddenly recognized the Hulk standing before her. After all of these centuries of hunting down the savage beasts during the Tuonellian War, she was once again face-to-face with the monster that had murdered her family before her very eyes. “I will kill you with my bare hands!”

  SMACK

  Morwen could taste the blood in her mouth from the brutal backhand as her ears rang from the impact. Continuing as if she’d never spoken the Hulk waved a misshapen hand towards Rogaulse’s dead body. “You have forced me to reconsider the taking of your life at this time.” Reaching into the pouch hanging from its waist, the Tuonellian extracted a tiny crystal shard. Gingerly it held the pulsating green sliver before her eyes. “Like the Ironidium Knights that now serve me, you will become my new Field Commander, gladly slaughtering your own people at my command.”

  Seeing the look of horror on Morwen’s face, the hideous monster laughed wickedly as its claws firmly gripped her face. Her screams were cut off abruptly as the Hulk slid the burning shard into the base of her skull. As her body went rigid, the creature waved its clawed hand at the knights holding her down.

  “Release her.”

  Slowly Morwen rose to her knees. Looking up into the Hulk’s grotesque face, she spoke in a voice devoid of emotion. “How may I serve you, Master?”

  Chapter Twenty

  Location Irlendria / Nessa Manitou:

  The darkness of night gave away to the pale gray of dawn and still Nessa kept to her grueling pace. Waking nightmares came to her in waves as her forehead burned with fever. Every now and then Nessa stumbled as her consciousness faded in and out, but every time she caught herself as she continued stubbornly on.

  The Alttash’s Tears were healing her battered body, but the hallucinations it brought made her break out in cold sweats. Every time she closed her eyes she saw her people dying in droves around her. Although some of the visions that came to her were stories from her people's past, most of what she saw were new as if they were premonitions of a future yet to come.

  One time Nessa woke only to find herself surrounded by darkness except for the pale lights of Remus and Romulus high above her. The shock almost made her crash into the ground, but once again she staggered, catching herself at the last moment. Stumbling in a daze, she trotted on.

  The next time she awoke, the yellow light of Paiva was shining behind her. Ahead of her, Nessa saw the peak of Mount Airy rising out of the early morning mist. Relief flooded through her heart. She was close, at this pace she would be there by noon! Amazingly enough, Nessa felt stronger than ever. Sometime in the night, her fever must have broken. The lightheaded feeling that had been plaguing her for the last two days was all but gone.

  Cresting the small ridge that ran up to the base of the mountain, Nessa’s mouth suddenly went dry. In the distance, she saw an albino white shape far ahead of her racing across the plain. The creature looked little more than a deformed Chukka, but Nessa knew better. Even hunched over on all fours the loping gait was like nothing she’d ever seen before. It could only be another Hulk. Uzila had warned her about the Tuonellian’s natural form.

  Focusing on her target, Nessa put another chunk of Alttash’s Tears into her mouth as she pushed herself into a gallop. Immediately the wind began roaring in her ears as her brown mane and tail streaked out behind her. As the minutes ticked by and the distance slowly began to close, Nessa suddenly realized she didn’t know how to kill the beast.

  Quickly she thought back to her father’s old stories. In groups Tuonellian Hulks were devastating. At the beginning of the War, her people had died by the tens of thousands trying to stop the invasion before the Paladins of Ukko had joined the fight. If she remembered the songs correctly, rune arrows only hurt the creatures, but couldn’t kill them. They simply healed too quickly for that. Her father’s tactics had always centered on attacking in overwhelming numbers, or surrounding the creatures and smashing their limbs from a distance, before closing in for the kill. Not once had she heard of a lone Centaur taking on a Hulk in single combat!

  Ahead of her, the monster disappeared over a small hillock. Without even realizing it, Nessa unlimbered her bow following after as her heart began thumping loudly in her chest. Reaching the top of the rise, Nessa froze in sudden shock. Below her, the Hulk she’d been following had already come to a stop. In one of its large fists, it held her father’s bloody broken body by the throat.

  “Rrraaahhh!” With a wordless shriek, Nessa charged down the small rise. Raising the bow to her cheek, she began sending arrow after arrow streaking at the Hulk in a blur. Unbelievably, Nessa watched the arrows shatter uselessly against the creature’s rock hard skin as it threw her father’s broken body to the ground. Rising to its full height, the Hulk roared out a challenge whipping its muscular bulk around with a speed the belied its size, preparing to strike as Nessa entered melee range.

  In the process of throwing her bow away, Nessa suddenly stopped as a blue glow began radiating from her father’s ruined body. A part of her cried out in relief as she realized he yet lived, but the tactical part of her mind immediately realized what her father was doing.

  In the blink of an eye, Nessa let loose a flight of arrows firing center mass. She heard the meaty thunks as the shafts found their mark slamming deep into the Hulks chest. As the creature staggered back in surprise, Nessa flung her bow away as she unslung the mace from her back.

  The runes on its shaft glowed with blue fire as she lifted the two-handed weapon high over her head. Vaulting over her father’s body, Nessa slammed into the Hulk mace first with all of her might. She felt the mighty blow sink into the monster’s chest a second before the weapon was wrenched from her grasp as she bounced off the creature a second later, her head ringing from the impact.

  Staggering back to her hooves, Nessa saw the Hulk collapse to its knees. Embedded halfway through its chest was the head of her still glowing mace. Unbelievably she watched the creature reach up to grasp the weapon’s haft sticking out from its chest with both of its long clawed hands. As it started to yank the embedded head free from its shattered ribcage, Nessa sprang forward.

  Unsheathing the blades from her back, Nessa struck at the Hulk’s thick arms as it tried to block her strikes. Instead of shattering against the beast’s stone skin, her glowing daggers sliced out chunks of flesh like an axe chopping at a tree.

  Already the Hulk’s shattered chest was starting to regrow around the shaft of the weapon. Nessa could feel the monster’s blows becoming more powerful with every passing second as the Hulk’s wounds began healing before her eyes. Slowly it was driving her back!

  “NESSA!” Looking quickly over her shoulder, Nessa saw her father’s mace flying at her perpendicular to the ground. Dropping her daggers, she snatched the glowing weapon out of the air. Grasping the thick shaft tightly with both hands, she pivoted. Spinning around, Nessa used the mass of her entire body to swing the
weapon aiming for the creature’s oversized head.

  Raising its arms up, the Hulk tried to block the powerful blow, but her father’s glowing mace blasted through the Tuonellian’s defenses before slamming into the side of its head. There was a wet crunch as the Hulk’s misshapen skull partly caved in.

  Incredulously, the Hulk still struggled to climb to its feet as Nessa wheeled around once again slamming the mace with all of her might into the other side of the creature’s head. This time, the Hulk’s head snapped sideways from the force of the blow as its body pitched forward to its hands and knees as the solid hit caved in the other side of its misshapen skull.

  Unbelievably, the Hulk still struggled to rise. Slowly the crumpled head rose up to look up at Nessa. Bone fragments stuck out from its crushed skull at odd angles as its beady red eyes glared at her filled with hate. Raising the mace high above her head, Nessa cried out to the Sky-Father as she struck at the gaping hole on the side of its lumpy skull. Like a ripe melon, the Hulk’s head exploded from the impact as its corpse crumpled lifeless to the ground.

  Staggering backward, Nessa eyed the monster to make sure it was truly dead, before rushing to her father’s side. For a second she didn’t know where to touch his body, everywhere she looked was covered in blood. Seeing his staring eyes, Nessa gently cradled his blood stained head on her folded knees.

  Slowly Nessa stroked her father’s matted hair as she silently rocked in grief. She had come too late; he was dead. With his death, she had lost the last of her family. As the pain of her loss filled her soul, Nessa felt the song of sorrow come to her lips. Closing her eyes, she raised her voice to the heavens in a wordless chant as she awaited Wakinyan.