by R. J. Batla
Twicka twicka twicka and the scurry of feet.
Um. What the hell was that? Everyone’s head jerked to the right.
Twicka twicka twicka. Now the left.
Twicka twicka twicka. Now in front, behind, left right.
Great, surrounded twice on this trip already.
Suddenly, and with a rush of twicka noises, what I could only describe as ants the size of hounds flooded out of the gloom, hundreds of them, scattering dirt and debris and snapping their overly large pinchers, launching themselves at our group.
Our training kicked in and we fell into formation, mowing them down with clean efficiency. Swords flashed, energy blazed, the elements whirled around in all directions, slaying these creatures with reckless abandon, ichor and body party flying everyone, coating everyone and everything. It smelled like burnt honey and iron, and made the ground slick.
The creatures weren’t that tough.
“Rock Toss! Air slice!”
But there were just so many.
“Fire blast! Fire blast! Energy Pulse! Quicksand!”
“Status?” Royn buzzed in my ear.
“Holding,” everyone said at the same time.
Forming a circle with Josey in the middle – since she was still more or less out of the fight – with Morgan by her side throwing fireballs where she could, we held our ground. We didn’t gain, but they didn’t either.
“Duck!” Royn said, and we hit the dirt, Sonora leaping in the air and coming back down again.
“Air Pulse!” A train of compressed air blasted out from where she landed, pushing the line back a few dozen feet, allowing us to use ranged attacks.
“Heath, we’re under attack,” Anton said, describing the ants to him. “What are these things?” Anton asked, rolling boulders away from him, crushing several ants. “I’ve never read about them anywhere.”
“Um…not to be ridiculous, but they’re just mutated ants,” came the reply. “You must have stumbled on the nest.”
“How many are in a nest?” Royn asked, blasting three more away with energy bolts.
“Thousands,” Katy said, zooming all round, shoring up holes.
There was no way we could keep this up. Already the ants were surging on us, closing in on us, forcing us into a smaller and smaller circle. We were fighting like banshees, a flurry of blades and powers, but there were so many! Too many.
In five minutes, we were back to back. Then they suddenly stopped their advance, retreating fifty yards off.
“Not good,” Leona said, flicking ichor from her blade and healing a cut on her face with a hint of purple energy on her finger. Her eyes intently scanned the squirming mass of insects that waited. And waited.
An odd humming sound filled the air, like a huge bee taking flight. Then…
Sthuuu! Sthuu, sthuu!
Three thuds sounded with three squeals behind me. I turned to see Katy, Leona, and Gilmer collapse, each with some kind of small dart-looking thing in their arm or leg.
“No!” I said, pulling all three out as fast as I could.
Sthuu! Shtuu! Sthuu!
Two hits and a ring of steel. Royn managed to block one aimed his way, but Marlin and Celeste went down.
“Anton, put them in the middle, between us!” Royn said in our ears.
Anton complied, grabbing our squad out of the hands of the rushing ants, pulling out the stingers. Shthuu. And he fell on the pile. That left seven of us defending our friends, and having to push the ants back. I pulled out the stinger in Anton’s neck with telekinesis and flung it into the fray in front of us, bringing down an ant in the process.
“Arrahh!” Troup shouted, doing a pushup and a lunge in the air, sending a tidal wave of earth and rock, giving us some space again, throwing the ants back even more.
Royn swept his arm, and called out, “Air Slice!” The biggest air blade I’d ever seen arced away from him, mowing down hundreds of the little bastards. My tattoo hurt. Like started to burn a little bit.
Oh crap, not now, not now. I had to concentrate. Breathe. Even though the tattoo kept it under control, it was only a temporary fix. I could already tell the tattoo might not hold in a battle this intense. The pain lessened slightly; that was all I could do right now.
My turn.
“Everyone duck!” Everyone hit the dirt. “Dart Blasts!” I shouted and I spun fast, using air blasts. At the same time, I let loose a rain of energy darts, each one rocketing to the ants, blowing through a hundred more. With our three attacks, we were able to send them back a good two hundred yards.
But that didn’t stop the barrage of missiles flung our way.
“Don’t let the darts hit you,” Royn said in my ear, just as Josey and Sonora went down, and again I pulled the darts out with telekinesis. I deflected three with my sword, and two with my shield. The ants apparently decided that distance attacks were easier, as more “ssthuus" echoed than I could count.
“We won’t to be ant food today!” I screamed, turning on the Ignis.
The world turned white and I could see. Really see. Through the mist, through the dirt. And oh my God. There were too many. Way too many. The ones firing the darts had straw-looking appendages instead of pinchers through which they were hurtling their…teeth, I guessed, which caused that crazy noise.
I could see the darts. Black marks, hundreds already in the air, hundreds loaded and ready. We needed wind. And we needed to get out of dodge, like yesterday.
Swirling my arms, the air obeyed. “Tornado!” I said, whipping them faster, catching the incoming missiles and hurling them back into the other ants. “Troup! Make a stone cart, put the others on it, and get ready to move. I’m gonna make a path – we don’t stand a chance if we stay put. Royn, cover the rear, Euless the right, Morgan the left, as best you can. Follow me.”
I felt the earth move and knew that a cart had been created. Swinging my hands in front of me and separating them, I said, “Wind tunnel! Go, go!” I simultaneously sent a blast of energy behind the wind to clear the ants.
Starting to run, my feet wouldn’t respond right. Shaking my head, I turned off the Ignis. Wow that required a lot of power. My arm hurt again, and I had the beginnings of headache from the power surge, but I couldn’t think of that. Despite the winds – which mostly kept the darts away – the foot-soldier ants kept coming. My sword took care of those that got through the front, the others took care of the sides and back.
We fought. And we fought. And fought. All the way back to where we walked into the damned valley.
And then I tripped on a rock. A rock. A bloody rock! A rock brought down me, the wielder of the Fire Eyes, champion of the East Side, first degree explosion surfer. Tripped on a rock.
And the whole plan collapsed. The wind instantly died, letting in the darts, bringing down my friends like bowling pins. One hit me in the buttocks. Damn I wished I were making that part up. We were done. Over a rock.
My vision faded as I fought the poison, slowly losing feeling, so what I saw couldn’t have made sense. I should have seen ants overflowing everything.
But I saw a fire-breathing lion flying with eagle’s wings. Must be some hallucinogen in the darts. Either way, nighty night.
Chapter 55
I woke up with, if you can imagine this, a pounding headache. But I shouldn’t have woken up at all. That should have been the end. We were done, defeated, lost. Ant food.
Looking around and counting slowly, I got to thirteen. All of us. Everyone was here, asleep, with a variety of wrapped injuries.
When I passed out, we were in the Valley of Death – now we were all lying in front of a roaring fire in a log cabin decorated with more taxidermy then I’d ever seen in one place. Something moved – a rustle of cloth, and I reached for my sword, but it wasn’t there. Crap, crap. I started to gather power, head pounding, sweat coating my body. Had to defend, had to –
“Well, so they stir. It’s been a while since we’ve had visitors over this a way. Mostly due to them bla
sted ants. How about a hand there, sonny?” an old man said. He was stooped with age, skinny with wispy hair, sagging skin on his wrinkled face and neck, and had one hand out to help me up, and a glass of water in the other. “This will help with that headache of yours. I haven’t seen anyone throw that much raw power around in a couple of centuries.”
“Thank you, sir.” Wait – did he just say centuries? “Please, we’re…how did…are you…” Taking a deep breath, I said, “Where are we and what happened? Last thing I remember, we were up to our ears in giant ants.”
He cackled and slapped his knee. “Well, you pissed them ants off real bad, you did! Walked right into their nest. Dumbest thing I ever seen.”
“Yeah, we didn’t have much of a choice.” Something flew by the window. “Um…what the hell was that?”
“Ol’ Hercules?” The old man chuckled, following my gaze out to the…monster, I guessed, on the front lawn, chasing its tail. It looks like a lion, but bigger. Like the size of an elephant. There was a lizard tail flicking behind it, ending in a ball of pointed spikes, eagle wings folded on its back, golden feathers gleaming. It might have been pretty if it wasn’t so scary. “My chimera friend. He helps me protect the farm here from everyone. And occasionally, help strangers, like you fine folk, who accidently find that blasted ant bed. By the looks of your group, you’ve been traveling a while and you’re in a hurry, right?” I nodded. “Thought as much. You bunch’re gonna need a day or two to heal. That poison in them darts is nasty. Where are you headed, sonny?”
“The Bowl.”
“So you’re the one then, huh?” the old man said with a hint of excitement.
“Sir?”
“The one they sent, those Easterners, the one they entered into the tournament.”
“How did you know? That’s supposed to be top secret. Oh no, what day is it? We’ve got to be there before –”
He waved his hand in dismissal. “You’ve got plenty of time, sonny. And I have my ways of knowing things. Not too much goes on over here without me finding out. But, don’t worry, most other people won’t know. You realize the people on this side will hate you, don’ cha, boy?”
“Yes. I’ve seen it firsthand.”
“Too many years of injustice, at least in their eyes,” he said, with a wave of his hand. “It’s unfair: most of the good land is on the East Side. And if you find some over here, it’s hard to keep it, what with all the robbers and the evil creatures, the lords constantly grabbing for power. It hardens people’s hearts, kid. Makes them hate. Makes them angry. Makes them…a little less human.”
“Oh, I hadn’t thought of any of that.”
“What these people don’t understand is that there’s also a burden that comes with having powers like you do. And what people don’t understand, they’re afraid of. When they’re afraid, they do crazy things. You can undo this, I’m thinking. Right the wrongs on both sides; make it whole again.”
“How?”
“Start by winning the tournament,” he said, “then we’ll go from there. Stop Malstrak. But at some point, someone’s going to have to unite the sides. Show them a leader. A good man who people can get behind, trust, and who can start to mend old wounds. It won’t be an easy or quick fix, but it all starts with the tournament and the war.”
At that moment, Royn’s badge chirped, and he sat bolt upright to answer it. “Yes, sir?”
“Commander Royn, is that you, sir? We’ve been trying to reach you for hours. None of your team has been answering their earbuds; we’ve been pinging your badge and this is the first time you’ve answered,” came Heath’s voice. “Is everyone OK?”
Royn groggily looked around and found I was the only one awake. I nodded and he said, “Yes, we’re all fine. Had some trouble, but we’re fine. How is it there?”
“Well, sir…”
“Heath? What’s wrong?”
“It’s started, sir. The attack on the Wall has begun.”
“God help us all,” Royn said and cut the connection.
“You two still need some rest. Don’t worry. I’ll watch over everything. You’ll need to leave in a day or two, but until then, rest,” the old man said.
Royn started to protest, but he waved his hand and we both fell instantly asleep again.
Chapter 56
We slept most of the next day. Apparently we were more ragged and worn than I’d thought, the miles and fighting taking their toll. The old man, who hadn’t yet told us his name, administered medicine to us, using various balms and healing magic to make us well again.
Another day went by full of sleeping, eating, and sleeping again.
Apparently my body couldn’t take it anymore and needed to move. The sun was just starting to go down, and I felt the need to go outside for some reason, so I didn’t fight it. I grabbed a blanket to wrap around me, and walked out the front door. It was cold but there was no snow on the ground. There was a large lake next to the house, and several catfish heads lining the top of the fence, obviously caught from said lake. Man, I hadn’t had a good batch of fried catfish in a long time. I wondered if the old man had anymore…
A noise around the edge of the lake caused me to jerk my head to the left. Then a noise to my right made me jerk it the other way, but it was Hercules, stalking up to stand beside me. I repressed the urge to bolt away from the extremely large predator that now sat beside me. Intently staring where I’d heard the other noise, a slight growl came from somewhere deep inside that huge belly. Sounded like one of the pieces of heavy equipment the Dwarves used.
From those bushes, out stepped a Skeptor. This time, I sensed this was no ghoul in disguise. This was the real thing.
Bones and teeth rattled as the creature took several steps with a grace that didn’t belong to such a vile thing. Long arms and legs, each ending in vicious claws, flexed as it moved, as if anticipating being used shortly. Rows and rows of teeth overflowed its mouth, and black holes for eyes were set deep in its canine-like head. And the smell! The stench of rotting flesh attacked my senses, overwhelming me so much I couldn’t do anything. Couldn’t move.
And then the damn thing bowed to me. “Greetings, Morsenube wielder. Master Malstrak sends his kind regards!”
“Um…what?”
An odd rattling sound erupted from the creature, eliciting another growl from Hercules, who hadn’t backed down. His bulk was a reassurance.
“It is unwise to speak to the messenger of Malstrak without respect. He humbly requests me to escort you to the Bowl personally.”
“I’m doing fine on my own, thanks. What’s it to him?”
“It is not my place to know what the Master wants. I would imagine he would greatly like you to join him in his conquest of the East Side! With the combined power of two Morsenube users, there would be nothing that would stand in your way. Think of it, Senturian, more power and wealth than you could ever dream of!”
“As tempting as that is, I just don’t think that’s what I want to do. You see, I’m from the East Side. It’s my home. I would die to defend it. Especially from the likes of Malstrak.”
The Skeptor drew a rattling breath. “So you’re refusing my master?”
“You’d better believe it!”
“Excellent,” he said, drawing in power. He was clearly itching for a fight. “My master has granted me permission to use any means necessary, should you be less than cooperative.” With an odd squelching sound, the creature reached behind him and jerked out of its own back a sword made of bone. “So, young Senturian, it’s time to go.”
“There will be none of that,” said a vaguely familiar voice to my right.
The Skeptor jerked its head to its left, and I instinctively followed. Out stepped a cloaked man, almost one with the darkness. It appeared the Skeptor knew him. “You!” it said, and thrust a clawed hand toward the stranger, firing an odd mix of energy, fire, and blackness.
The stranger flicked his wrist at the bolt, sending it skyward. The stranger threw a blast
of energy, but the magic slid right off the Skeptor. That had only been a distraction. A second blast was right behind the first, this one the brightest orange, and it slammed the Skeptor in the chest. It screamed, an awful, desperate sound, as it slowly disintegrated from the inside out.
Holy crap. Skeptors were supposed to be impossible to kill, and this guy did it without blinking. He stumbled. OK, that made me feel a little better – at least it took a lot out of him to throw that much power around.
Then he turned to me. “You will not be joining Malstrak. You will be joining that vile creature in death.”
“Um…what?”
“You should have been killed when you were Awakened, not given the chance to flourish and grow your power. You managed to avoid all of my traps. That Int didn’t kill you either. Even the executioner couldn’t finish the job. That ends today,” he said, glancing to his left. “Let’s see how you deal with a real opponent and his monster.”
At first, I didn’t see anything, then caught a flicker of movement.
And then the darkness moved.
Putting a finger to my ear, I said, “Everyone up! We’ve got a problem. Cor et anima!” My sword leapt into my hand. I felt a little better, but after that display of power…
Oh yeah, call for help now! What was I thinking!
“What is it, Jay? It’s three in the morning,” someone said through a yawn.
“Um, the dragon is back. And it has a friend.”
“Ha! Ha! Ha! That’s right, call your friends, Morsenube freak! You can all die at once!”
I heard several curse words in my ear as I drew all the power I could to me. The man was one thing, but the dragon? Dangit, how did you kill one? The black scales were crusty looking, like they had been frozen. Which they had – this was the same dragon as before! If the dragon survived…then Arp. I shook my head. No, Celeste said that technique was fatal for the user.
The dragon slowly made its way around the lake as I desperately tried to remember a way to kill one. I was pretty sure the book said “No way in hell to kill a dragon.” I might have been paraphrasing there.
