The Fallen

by R. L. Drummond

  Jenko genuinely laughed at her delightful turn of phrase as he pressed a hand fondly against her cheek. He then looked upon his niece and sighed in apprehension of what he knew irrefutably would be a bloody battle beyond anything he had ever faced before.

  “So…I guess we’re doing this?” He mumbled reticently.

  “Yes.” Reya answered and as she looked at them each in turn, she added, “Thank you, both of you.”

  Vella nodded gravely in response with a brief squeeze of Reya’s hand.

  “Yeah, yeah.” Jenko answered wearily and as he placed his hand upon his niece’s shoulder, he added moodily, “Just open the bloody gateway before I change my mind.”

  Reya’s eyes sparkled at Jenko’s gruffness and she placed her hands upon her chest, above her heart, filling her mind with images of the campsite they had made within the ruin. She felt the shape of the place around her, the change in air and the smell of the ocean beneath the cliff beyond and soon, a familiar burning cold spread within her chest.

  Vella cried out in shock when a flare of blue light pulsed powerfully from Reya’s chest and within the blinking of an eye, she felt herself enveloped in a strange shroud of what felt both freezing and boiling at the same time. As soon as Jenko seized her hand, a flash of searing bright light screamed across her mind, so bright that it scorched her eyes. And in the next moment, there was nothing by the roadside but an abandoned wagon.

  They arrived within the shadow of the ruin in the heart of where their campsite had been as Reya had remembered it, but when the light of their gateway diminished, the women stared agape at the terrible scene before them. Fire blazed in separate clusters with such intensity that Reya could feel the prickling of heat upon her skin even from a safe distance, and between the crackling infernos lay scores of dead bodies. The smell of burned flesh and blood soured the air in a thick blanket of death and within the darkness of the night, the fires cast dreadful light on the pools of blood that splashed thickly across the ground. It was a horrendous mirror of the destruction she had witnessed back home and for the briefest moment, Reya felt frightened that she had made an awful decision in coming here. But Tellan needed her help and so she let out her breath in a short burst of resolution.

  “Tellan’s been busy.” Jenko murmured favourably and as Reya turned to look at him, she saw the sombre pride within his face while he looked upon the considerable number of dead. He then flashed his piercing stare upwards at the sound of ferocious combat in the distance and when he saw the plume of smoke that rose forebodingly in the air further on at the top of the ruin, he knew that Tellan was still alive.

  Reya watched on as Jenko flashed a series of hand signals for Vella’s instructions that looked very much like the merchant language in Dahlia, and as Vella led Reya towards the darkened corridors of the ruin’s outskirts, Jenko unsheathed his sabres with grim retribution in his eyes. Reya and Vella followed his journey in silence when Jenko strode fearlessly for the heart of the ruin and, as the sound of combat in the distance became louder, Jenko’s pace quickened. His eyes gleamed with deadly retribution when he spotted movement ahead and, with the fire of vengeance for Tellan’s plight roaring in his heart, Jenko scraped the tips of his sabres threateningly along the wall. Sparks flew from his weapons in flashing announcement of his arrival and at the first sight of Belial’s men who had appeared in investigation of the call, Jenko’s glare narrowed in readiness for the fight.

  Even as the man balked at the sight of the angel, Jenko began his run, spearing the soldier with the eyes of a hunter as he zeroed in on his target. Belial’s soldier shouted a warning to his brethren as he raised his weapon in a guard against Jenko’s maddened rush, and with the downward strike of the angel’s initial attack, came the sharp ring of steel that resounded throughout the ruin. Jenko thrust his other sabre through the soldier with ease and as he pivoted in wait of the soldiers that rushed him from the base of a ruined set of stairs, he snarled a challenge.

  They came at him in a frenzy of attack, all too aware that just one of the angels had all but cut their numbers down to a third of their former strength. And as Jenko flowed toward them in a blur of motion, they realised that this one held a rage within him that trumped his deadly speed. He gave them no quarter as he spun and swept his blades with lethal precision, mercilessly hacking into knees and tendons in wounding strikes that allowed him access for the killing blow. Four of them fell in a heartbeat, and with the call to arms that was halted in a gurgle of blood around the tip of a sabre that speared into the soldier’s throat, Jenko glared up at the wave of soldiers that spilled down from the level above.

  Jenko flicked his sabres in preparation for the tsunami of soldiers that careened towards him and with a roar of challenge, he sprinted to meet them. The first fell from the diagonal strike Jenko slashed into his neck and with the spin of natural momentum, he swept his other sabre across the stomach of the next. So shocked was the soldier beside the two fallen, that he had no time in raising a guard against the stab that claimed his heart. With Jenko’s next strike that swung over his own head, a fourth soldier collapsed with a spurting of blood from his throat and after the completion of his swung, Jenko sank his blade into the head of a fifth with a roar of defiance. A sixth that approached at a run was felled by Vella’s bolt that screamed from shadow and as she passed the crossbow into Reya’s waiting hands for another bolt, she faced her own enemy that had skirted around in search of the angel’s blindside.

  Vella’s knife shone murderously in the fiery inferno of the campsite’s ruin and with the overhead attack her enemy forced upon her, she blocked with her free forearm and slashed deeply into the soldier’s wrist. Blood spurted thickly as he recoiled in haste and with the flick of her foot that caught the soldier squarely in the groin, Vella plunged her knife deeply into his temple. More enemies spilled from the battlements above and as Jenko surged forward to meet them, so Vella and Reya continued themselves.

  Reya tapped Vella’s shoulder with the newly reloaded crossbow and with the bolt that punched through the chest of the soldier that screamed towards them in their shadowed corridor, Jenko fought on himself. He thrust his sabre into the guts of the enemy before him and as he turned, he sank his other deeply into the foot of the soldier behind him, before he rammed his forehead into his nose. Both sabres came together on the immediate offensive as he was met by the onrush of two soldiers and with twin outward slashes that took their thighs, the soldiers collapsed in unison. He dispatched the fallen with a final spearing into their chests and as he freed his sabres from their grisly sheaths, he spun in a whirlwind of steel that claimed another two.

  Jenko surged upwards onto the ragged edge of the wall before him, resolute that he reach Tellan before time ran out, but his progress became halted by another trio of enemies that rushed for him. A crossbow bolt claimed one of them and as Jenko dispatched the other two with astonishing speed, Vella helped Reya clamber onto the wall beside him.

  “Follow me at a distance.” Jenko commanded as he flicked blood from his sabres, “This ruin is too vast and I can’t keep an eye on you if I’m forced down another path.”

  “Yes, Uncle.” Reya replied as she slotted another bolt into the crossbow’s flight groove.

  “Good. Keep to the shadows if you can.” Jenko continued as he glared at the flurry of motion that broke off in several directions around him; Belial’s dogs were looking for a strategic advantage against him.

  Jenko rushed forward then and as he leapt over the low swing of a blade that sought his legs, he speared a sharp thrust of his sabre into the neck of his attacker. He landed with an overhead strike that claimed a second soldier’s chest and as he turned to check that Reya was safe, he saw the shadow of a leaping enemy from above. Jenko swung both sabres in a wide circle that rose from the ground and his opportunistic enemy landed with the spattering of blood, painting him in a tattoo of battle as he looked up again. He sighed silent relief when he saw Vella had bundled Reya into the safe shad
ow of a ruined corridor and as he stood from his last strike, he glared at the ruin that stretched before him. Countless dead were scattered in a display of Tellan’s warrior skill and Jenko wondered wryly if he had left him any enemies to fight at all. But as he squinted into the distance beyond, highlighted horrifically by the fire that blazed on the upper battlements of the level above, he could see what was left of Belial’s army.

  A not inconsiderable amount lay in wait, perhaps fifty or so, but – no…they weren’t waiting…Jenko realised as he watched on, for not one of them had shouted a warning at his presence stood above them. He sheathed his weapons, clambered up what was left of a ruined column and as he perched there, he cast his eyes beyond the soldiers. What are they…

  From their own journey, Reya reached out for Vella’s sleeve and tugged so insistently that she stopped her run in mid step. Vella looked upon the girl as she clutched at her heart and with a trembling mouth, Reya finally whispered, “I can feel him.”

  Jenko gasped and clutched his chest when a terrific wave of incredible force pulsed insistently against his Light, an instinctual sensation that would have been unnoticed by any human. But for a being of Asgard, it was one that left a powerful instinct that horrified him to his core. Tellan…He thought in horror.

  “Feel who?” Vella asked Reya.

  Belial’s Dark swirled oppressively throughout the ruin like the rumbling of thunder and with it came the bitter realisation of what the origin of such a release of force was. But as Jenko stood with his eyes wide in angered fear, he cast his gaze feverishly around what stonework still remained of the central court.

  “Oh, Tellan! Vella, we’re too late!” Reya sobbed.

  There’s no way…Jenko realised with a stab of terror as he saw how ruined the walls of the courtyard were on his side, I can’t reach him from here!

  Even if he could reach the more climbable walls on the opposite side of the courtyard where Vella and Reya were, he had to do so without attracting the attention of Belial’s troops. And such an endeavour was an impossible task when he was faced with so many numbers. He had no choice but to forge through Belial’s men and as Jenko launched from the pillar with the unsheathing of his sabres, he reasoned sorrowfully that fifty of Belial’s Dark tainted humans were less of an enemy than a hollowed Tellan. Vella turned at the moment Jenko landed at the threshold of Belial’s men and as he stampeded into battle, the roar that burst from his chest was one of wrathful retribution.

  Tellan’s knees crumpled from under him, unable to support his weight any longer as Belial tore his Light from him in ragged strips that brought more pain than he had ever endured. Already he could feel how drained he had become and he could see how pale the flesh of his hands were with each futile clawing of Belial’s face. He knew it was only a matter of time now until the demon prince flooded his being with the taint of his Dark, but even as he hung doll–like in Belial’s grasp, he still clung onto his Light with everything he had left.

  “Where…is…she!!” Belial roared into Tellan’s face, enraged beyond belief that the angel could hold out in spite of how horrific an act destroying his Light was.

  “N–no…” Tellan creaked.

  “You’ll tell me anyway when the Dark floods through you, Tellan! It’s senseless to fight it!”

  But all Tellan could do was gulp in air that tore his very lungs and hold on for as long as he could. He despaired that Timran’s fate would soon become his own, but more so, it destroyed him knowing that when Belial’s Dark was forced into him, he would stop at nothing to find Reya. It was a terrible injustice upon both his Light and the love for his niece, that the ferocious protection he felt for her would become replaced by an unquenchable thirst for her hunt. That Belial’s whim would become his world and he, Tellan, would become the harbinger of Midgard’s destruction.

  Suddenly a voice roared with such fury that the demon prince turned from Tellan’s torture with a snarl of undiluted frustration. His eyes widened in shock at the sight of Jenko at the threshold of the ruined court, his sabres drawn and wielded in a threatening display of his skill as he waded unforgivingly through soldier after soldier.

  “Kill him!” Belial screamed at the minions who had held Tellan, even as so many of his drones fell like cut grass around Jenko, “Kill the angel and take his heart!!”

  Even from so far away, Belial could see the rage that burned in Jenko’s eyes and as Belial’s gaze flitted to the remnants of his army that powered forward into battle, he knew they would do little in stopping the angel from reaching his brother. But he was so close now in finding the girl and as much as Jenko would decimate what was left of his men, Belial knew he was but a distraction from his ultimate goal.

  He smirked darkly when another thought chased snake tongues across his mind; he had wanted to make Tellan suffer for as long as he could, to savour the agony he would inflict on the angel. But with Jenko’s arrival, he realised that there would be no greater torture in having Tellan kill his own brother, the last of the Line of Baldur eradicated. Belial grinned cruelly, knowing that with the influence of his Dark, Tellan would have no comprehension of his actions and this unknowing torture would be all the sweeter for it. Belial turned back to his stricken prey and as he hauled Tellan onto his feet, he ignored the weak protestations of the angel.

  Belial mercilessly dragged him forward and as he presented Tellan with the sight of Jenko fighting in a violent ball of flashing devastation, he hissed into his ear, “Your brother has come for you, Tellan. Look at how brave he is.”

  Tellan trembled weakly in Belial’s grasp as he looked on at Jenko’s fight, watching the sabres spin and slash powerfully through the ranks of Belial’s soldiers with a consuming rage that radiated from him in a nimbus.

  “They’re no match for him, are they?” Belial murmured as he watched body after body fall lifelessly to the ground, “But you, Tellan…you will be a more suitable opponent.”

  “No.” Tellan whispered in horror, but he was entirely powerless when Belial bore him inexorably to the ground and as the demon prince straddled his chest, he clawed weakly at the inescapable hold that still burned upon his throat.

  Jenko screamed with a greater fury than he had ever known as he flowed through the enemy like a raging river, smashing their bodies against the rocks of his wrath. He swept through scores of them with red hazed vision, using Belial’s torture upon Tellan’s Light as fuel for his tireless destruction. No blade touched him as he spun and slashed, pushed and leapt through the throng of bodies that pressed against him, his sabres ever glistening bringers of death that demanded retribution in the name of his fallen brothers. He leapt from the deadly path of a chunk of stone that suddenly collapsed from the battlements above, and as he forged on through the waves of enemies that clustered thickly around him, more stones rained from above.

  “Here!” Reya cried as she rolled another heavy stone before Vella’s feet and with a grunt of effort, Vella heaved the makeshift projectile over her head.

  It’s not graceful, she reflected when its rough weight crashed into the head of a soldier, caving in his skull with a sickening squelch of bloody tissue, but it’ll do.

  Vella cast as many stones as Reya could find, flinging them with as much strength as she could muster in the hope that even these small victories would be enough to whittle down Belial’s numbers. But when she turned in question of whether or not there were any more stones, Vella gasped when she realised that Reya was no longer beside her. She darted her gaze feverishly in search of the girl, but at the sight of her crouched by the broken pillar of a small flight of stairs further along the ruin, Vella scowled in anger. How did she get there so quickly? She wondered incredulously.

  “Damn it, Reya!” She hissed under her breath and, with a last look at how Jenko fared in the battle below, she knew that he would have told her to go on after the girl.

  But when Vella teetered along the edge of a crumbled archway with her arms outstretched, she gasped when she realised
why Reya had moved. On the remains of another raised level further along was a man crouched oppressively over the chest of another and, with the violent convulsions that wracked the body of the man underneath, Vella instinctually knew that she was watching Tellan’s torture. But she was too far to stop Reya when she stood from her crouch and as the girl ran forward at a desperate sprint, Vella ground her teeth and cast her fearful gaze back at Jenko.

  “Jenko!!” Vella screamed, for she knew that there was no chance she could reach Reya on time, never mind offer any protection against Belial’s might.

  Jenko looked up and with the urgent hand Vella flung up that pointed at the running figure of Reya in pursuit of her uncle, he gasped in fright. “Reya…” He whispered in horror and with a wounded glance at Vella’s crouched form above, his eyes asked the grave question that laid so heavily on his heart.

  But Vella was with him all the way and with a grim nod of determination, she looked at what was left of the fractured pillar beside her. Vella stepped back and with fists clenched in powerful resolve, she threw the entire strength of her body against it. Vella pushed with all her might at the same moment Jenko sprinted for the ruined wall that skirted the edge of the courtyard, and with the shifting of her feet against the stones beneath her, she grunted in exertion. Belial’s men chased Jenko’s desperate sprint like hunting dogs and, with a shout that summoned every ounce of strength Vella could find within herself, the pillar’s base finally shrieked with a cracking of mortar.

  Jenko leapt for the wall beyond Vella’s position at the same moment the pillar toppled like the felling of a mountain and when the stone plummeted like a comet from the heavens, it smashed into the ragged edge of a dilapidated wall. Vella gasped in triumph when the pillar split into two massive chunks that rained inescapable death upon the soldiers that sped behind Jenko’s route and rolled devastatingly over their numbers like trebuchet boulders.