by Devan Skyles
“As many as Auram can muster,” he replied. “We won’t know for sure until we get there.”
“Well, do not worry, young Eaglehide. My people are brave and strong. They do not run from a worthy fight. Even on such short notice, we’ll have at least six hundred strong.”
“Wow!” Ellie said, impressed. “Six hundred overnight? That’s incredible!”
Belator smiled and swelled with pride. “I am pleased you approve, young huntress. Will you be joining your mate it the battle?”
“My mate? — Oh, I mean, we’re…” Ellie stammered, blushing bright red.
“My people have a belief,” said Belator, “that a hunter and his mate strengthen each other, so when they fight together, they take on the strength of four mighty hunters, rather than two.”
“I um— I will be joining him, yes,” she said.
“Glad to hear it!” he bellowed. “I wish prosperity on your union in glorious battle today!”
“Thank you, sir,” said Rhydian.
“He’s, uh— a bit intense,” she said when Belator had gone.
“Yeah,” Rhydian agreed.
A short while later, the masses gathered and began making their way into the woods. Many of the Grimalkin roared excitedly. Knowing they would not be able to scale the sheer cliff face with the Grimalkin, Rhydian and Ellie took to the air. Ellie still had difficulty lifting off from a standstill, but she managed to rise slowly through the trees. It wasn’t long before they rose high enough to see the vast ground-dweller army climbing nimbly up the rocks and ledges toward the precipice above. It was an intimidating sight. Swooping down to the canyon’s edge, they met the Grimalkin as they mounted the rise and spread out across the grassy prairie land that extended northward.
To Rhydian’s joy, he saw a familiar face amongst the masses. Making her was through the crowd from the north was Brighteye.
“I just received word of the battle and came as quickly as I could,” said Brighteye.
“I’m glad you’ll be joining us,” Rhydian said.
“I was not sure I believed it when I heard,” she said. “When last I saw you, it was at the Border City only two days ago! You must be a mighty flyer to make such a long journey so quickly. You are truly your father’s son.”
“Thank you. It helps to have friends like you,” he told her. “We would never have been able to do it if you hadn’t helped us.”
“And, you know, not stopping to eat or sleep saved time,” Ellie laughed.
Brighteye turned to Ellie. “Then truly, you are a huntress equal to any Grimalkin warrior!”
Ellie smiled. “I’m not sure about that, but thank you.”
“Please, you must allow me to fight beside you in the battle. It would be an honor to fight alongside the Eaglehide as my father did.”
“The honor will be mine,” Rhydian replied.
Looking around as more and more of the Grimalkin rose from the canyon, Ellie was shocked to see that many of the armed warriors were little more than children.
“Brighteye,” Ellie addressed, “Why are these children going to fight? Are there not enough adults?”
“They are not children,” Brighteye explained. “When a cub becomes brave and strong enough, she is taken on the hunt. When she is able to take down an animal greater than her own size without a weapon, she is no longer a cub. She becomes a huntress, and is awarded the same right as any warrior to go to battle with her sisters and brothers.”
Ellie was both shocked and impressed. “Where I come from, you can’t go to war until you’re eighteen years old.”
Brighteye looked surprised by this. “By the time I was eighteen, I had already spent half my life leading hunting parties. I have been to war many, many times, though I do not enjoy it the way my siblings do.”
“How old are you?” Ellie asked, “Er, if you don’t mind me asking.”
“I don’t mind at all. I am twenty-one years old.”
“We’re about the same age then,” she replied.
“And how many times have you been to war?”
“I uh— I’ve never been to war at all, actually.”
“Not once?” she asked incredulously.
“Well, I grew up in the human world,” she explained. “Where I live, there’s not really a need for most people to go fight.”
“Rim’Ithra must be a wondrous place indeed if there are no wars there,” she mused.
“Well, there are,” she said, “just not where I live.”
“I have heard stories of the motherland since I was a cub, and I have always dreamed of being able to make the pilgrimage there one day. What is it like there?”
“Well, like here, it depends on where you go. I grew up in a place called Colorado. It’s got lots of mountains and woods, and every winter we get plenty of snow.”
“Then that will be the first place I go when I have the joy of visiting the motherland.”
“So, when you call it the motherland, do you mean to say that your people came from there?”
“Many, many years ago, yes. Our ancestors’ children still live there, waiting for us to return. Have you not seen my kind there before?”
Ellie was sure she would have remembered if she’d ever seen a Grimalkin on a National Geographic special. “Not that I’ve ever seen, but the world’s a big place. You never know, I guess.”
Brighteye seemed unsettled by this information, but if she was upset, she didn’t say so.
As the last of the Grimalkin made their way up from the canyon, a cloud of dust arose in the distance to the northeast. Curious, Rhydian and Ellie peered out over the grassy landscape to get a better look.
“What is that?” Ellie asked.
Brighteye made a brief purring sound and replied, “Our brothers and sisters of the Grimwood are joining your fight! You should rejoice. There are no fiercer warriors in all of Ilimíra.”
Rhydian was nervous. Of all the horrifying stories he’d heard of the ground-dwellers growing up, the ones surrounding the Grimwood faction were by far the worst. They told of giant, savage creatures that would execute their prisoners in the most brutal ways imaginable and drink the blood of their enemies. They were not a people he had ever been eager to meet.
As the dust cloud grew bigger and closer, Rhydian took Ellie by the hand and stood in front of her cautiously. Soon, a large band of Grimalkin, a least a hundred strong, charged through the fields, coming to a halt before the crowd. Belator’s people cheered and roared in celebration of their sister faction’s arrival, while the Grimwood warriors remained impassive and intimidating.
They were indeed larger than Belator’s warriors, though not nearly as big as the Chieftain Lord himself, who towered above them all. Their fur was the deepest shade of black imaginable, but many of them had white patches in the shape of unusual symbols in various places on their bodies. They were truly an intimidating lot.
They carried an impressive variety of weapons, though they were significantly more primitive than the polished steel blades with which Belator’s warriors armed themselves. Many of them were made of wood and stone, and a few seemed to be merely clubs or paddles line with the pointed teeth of animals.
“Are the white symbols painted on their bodies?” Ellie whispered to Brighteye.
“No. They are scars made with a hot brand. When the skin heals, the fur grows back white.”
“What are they for?” Rhydian asked.
“Some signify rank. Others indicate the number of kills one has made in battle. But many are done simply to demonstrate one’s ability to endure pain and hardship.”
A large Grimwood warrior with too many white markings to count stepped forward and roared so loud that Rhydian and Ellie could feel it resonate in their chests. The rest of the Grimalkin echoed his cry until Belator came to the forefront of the multitude.
“Brother Proditorr!” the king bellowed, welcoming the big warrior with a hug. “Thank you for joining the fight!”
Proditorr seemed
unfazed by the king’s warm welcome. “Well, how could I resist, brother? When news reached me that you had joined forces with the flying demons, I had to come and see for myself.” He glared at Rhydian and growled from his chest. “I see now that it is true.”
“Good cheer, brother! This is the son of Eaglehide. He has promised us his allegiance in helping us to return to Rim’Ithra!”
“Yes, well not everyone is as enthusiastic as you are about returning to Rim’Ithra,” he said bitterly. “Besides, you remember how much good the last Eaglehide’s promises brought us. Why should his word be any better?”
Belator’s demeanor became serious now. “I called you here to fight, Proditorr, not to question my command decisions! Need I remind you that I am still your Chieftain Lord?”
“How could I forget?” Proditorr replied darkly, then turned to his troops. “Grimwood hunters! We go to war!”
This was met with another deafening chorus of war cries and roars that sent a chill up Ellie’s spine.
“Is Proditorr really Belator’s brother?” Rhydian asked Brighteye.
“Oh, yes,” she replied. “They grew up together in the Grimwood, and they both fought for command. But while Proditorr advanced only to Grimwood Chieftain, Belator fought his way all the way to the top, becoming Chieftain Lord. Everyone knows Chieftain Proditorr covets his brother’s station, but he’s never been able to best him in single combat.”
Soon thereafter, the Grimalkin began to move east along the rim of the canyon. Rhydian and Ellie, who could never hope to keep up with them on foot, took to the sky. The Grimalkin moved astonishingly fast over open ground, and the earth trembled as the hosts of warriors stampeded across the prairie.
Rhydian’s heart began to beat harder and harder in anticipation the closer they got. For Ellie, the reality of their situation hadn’t quite struck home yet. After the better part of an hour, they arrived on the sandy banks of a river, which plummeted over the canyon wall in a spectacular waterfall. Not far beyond rose the great stone city above the canyon wall. Near the water’s edge stood Auram, and behind him, in ranks, waited the loyal followers who had answered the call of ‘Auram’s word.’
The Grimalkin halted a stone’s throw away while Rhydian and Ellie landed before their friend.
“Boy, am I glad to see you!” said Auram. “I don’t like our odds against Corvus’s Fleet alone. Now, I have good news and bad news. The good news is, word has spread, and we now have over three hundred followers.”
“Excellent!” Ellie replied.
“The bad news,” he continued, “is that many of them refused to fight alongside the ground-dwellers. I was only able to muster about a hundred fifty.”
“Good thing I brought some friends,” Rhydian replied.
Taya made her way over to them and told Auram, “You should speak to the troops. You know, raise the moral. There’s a lot of tension in the ranks.”
Auram looked unsteady. “I’m not sure how to do that. Can’t you do it?”
“They need to hear from their leader,” she said. “Just speak to them the same way you did when you were spreading ‘Auram’s word.’”
“I was just stating the facts then,” he said. “I don’t know how to rally an army!”
“Just say what you believe, and if they see you the way I think they do, they’ll believe it too.”
He nodded and stepped before the troops, standing in silence for several seconds. Both armies stood in silent anticipation.
“All of you have answered the call to fight against tyranny today!” he began. “For that, I thank you for your courage. Many of you don’t know me. I am not a great, fearless warrior. But you have not followed me for my strengths and accomplishments on the battlefield. You have followed me because you listened and understood that we have a responsibility to stand up to great evil. Because if we do not stand up to evil, we will fall down before it!
“Today marks a momentous occasion in history. It is the day that, for the first time in hundreds of years, our two peoples set aside our fears and our differences and we joined together against a common enemy! And after today, yes, we will still have differences. But we will forever after celebrate those differences together, because we will reap the benefits of our victory TOGETHER!”
A cheer went up through the Auram’s troops, echoed by the cacophonous cries of the Grimalkin warriors.
Belator approached the group and greeted them. “My people are honored to fight beside you today. My hunters can lead the charge across the river.”
“Actually, your highness,” Taya imposed, “If you charge from the ground, they will most likely take to the air, gaining the advantage. But if we come in from the sky, we can suppress them from above, keeping them on the ground where you have the advantage. That way, when you charge, they’ll have to fight on two fronts. No army can fight on two fronts at once.”
“I am impressed with your strategic ability, young huntress!” Belator praised. “When this is over, I will enjoy trading battle tactics with you.”
Taya smiled. “I look forward to it!”
While Belator briefed his troops on the plan, Auram pulled Taya aside.
“Listen, Taya, I know we haven’t always gotten along that well, but I wanted to tell you how much I appreciate your support. None of this would have been possible without you. I just have to know, why is it you helped me to begin with?”
“Why does it matter, Auram? I did. That’s what’s important.”
“No, but it does matter,” he argued. “I’m not some great military leader. I’m not even that serious minded a person. The only reason anyone took ‘Auram’s word” seriously was because you vouched for me.”
“Look, can we just forget it? I don’t want to talk about it!”
“No,” he replied. “What made you believe in me, when I first told you about all of this, about Redwing’s plot? How did you know I wasn’t making it all up?”
“I didn’t know. I just had faith that you were doing the right thing.”
“But why? I mean, you hardly knew me.”
“Because I liked you, you idiot!”
“You— what?”
“I like you, okay? I think, when you’re not acting like clown, you’re actually a really great guy.” She was obviously incredibly uncomfortable sharing her feelings this way.
“Then— then why have you been so awful to me?” he asked incredulously.
“I was your superior,” she explained. “I wasn’t supposed to like you. So I figured, if you didn’t like me, there was no problem.”
“That is literally the dumbest thing I have ever heard!” he replied.
Taya rolled her eyes, grabbed him by the back of his head, and kissed him full on the lips. They lingered there for a long moment before she pulled away slightly and said, “Remember, Auram, you’re not a great leader because of your skills on the battlefield.” She placed a hand on his chest and looked at him sincerely. “Greatness comes from the heart.”
As she walked away, Auram stood rooted to the spot. For the first time in his life, he was completely dumbstruck.
A Higher Purpose
General Corvus stood in the grassy fields in the shadow of the great Monolith City that towered high overhead to the south. Around him were one thousand of his finest troops, captained only by his most loyal officers. He wasn’t going to let anything stand in the way of his success. It had been twenty years since he’d pitched his plan to the Council and been shot down in favor of his friend’s more merciful strategy.
He had secretly harbored strong feelings of resentment and contention toward Gideon ever since, but he never let it show. Gideon was seen as the visionary, the forward-thinking leader, the hope of Ilimíra. But Corvus knew better. He felt he was the only one with the practicality to see the error of his friend’s ways, and if that made him callused and cold hearted, then so be it. He knew no one else would have the nerve to accept the heavy load of executing the necessary, distasteful work that woul
d save his people. So he’d taken on the burden himself.
Nicodemus stood nearby, the three master timekeepers laid out on a stone alter before him. He had the back panels of all of them removed, displaying the complex inner workings of the devices, and was carefully tinkering with them with a set of intricate tools. As he set one tool down, he looked longingly to the northern sky. There had been no sign of his long-lost son on the horizon since he’d sent Rhydian off to the northern colonies. It was likely they had failed in their attempts to liberate him, or perhaps hadn’t tried at all.
“It’s been three days, Gatemaker,” Corvus said impatiently. “How much longer is this going to take?”
“It is a very delicate process, General. You must be patient.”
“I’ve been patient for twenty years,” he replied. “Now is the time to act.”
“It is nearly ready now,” he said, feeling beaten down and defeated. “And then you’ll have all the power you’ve ever craved.”
“Sir!” a soldier shouted, landing before Corvus and executing a stiff salute.
“As you were, Fleetman,” Corvus said casually. “What do you have to report?”
The man dropped his solute and tried to catch his breath. He had apparently flown there in quite a hurry.
“Sir, there’s an army approaching from the east!” he said frantically. “They crossed the Wingtip River five minutes ago!”
“Those savages are attacking us on our own land?” the General replied in shock. “They must be crazy! We have the advantage here!”
That’s just it, sir,” the soldier replied. “It’s not just the grounders. They’re being accompanied by a legion of Ilimíri.”
“What?” he spat.
He flapped his broad, black wings and took to the air for a better view. Sure enough, a cloud of dust was rising from the ground near the river, and above them was a full company of Ilimíri.
“Those insolent traitors!” he spat, returning to the ground. “Lieutenants, ready the archers! Have them take aim to the east!” He then turned to Nicodemus. “You’d better get that done fast, old man! I don’t want to be on the ground when that army gets here!”
