The big one released the strap, stood up and lumbered toward him.
“Quit following us,” the skinny female shouted before crashing more metal into Rasi’s ribs.
He clutched his chest as he collapsed to the ground.
“Now, Blog,” she screamed.
The big one, Blog, grabbed Rasi’s hair from behind. Rasi lifted from the ground, clawing at the massive hand, but the grip was too strong. He drove his heel into Blog’s thigh but his heel too struck the strange shifting armor. Blog tossed him against the ground like he was weightless. Rasi scrambled to his feet but Blog was like a clumsy whale, diving onto several of his bucking straps.
“Kill him, Cyn. I can’t hold them long,” he shouted.
The straps strained and squealed and thrashed beneath his weight. Cyn moved closer. He grabbed a handful of dirt and held it hidden from his attacker. The metal on her arm slid over her fist, extending into a finger-length point from her knuckle. She drew her weapon back.
Rasi leaped from the ground. His straps pulled taut as Blog held strong. Rasi stopped short of Cyn, but close enough to mash his handful of dirt into her eyes. He slammed his foot against her chest, again striking metal, but hard enough to crash her to the ground.
Stunned and maybe frustrated, Blog released the straps and bouldered toward him. Rasi spun around but was too late. His giant attacker dove against him like a tidal wave and landed on Rasi’s chest. His weight was crushing like the attacking bear from his cave. Rasi’s straps wrapped around Blog’s arms and massive chest. One of them slithered around the behemoth’s neck but his metal skin slipped beneath it and solidified. Rasi thrust his hands against Blog’s horse-like chest while his straps strained and pulled until Blog tumbled from his chest.
Rasi scurried along the ground until his back met a tree. Relentlessly, Cyn was upon him. Rasi covered his face with his arms as she leaped at him. His straps jerked at his back, lifting him from the ground. Cyn slammed against the tree. Rasi hoisted himself onto a branch above their heads. He climbed higher, plotting his next attack.
“Come down, coward,” Blog taunted.
Rasi studied his new enemy from his elevated refuge. He knew that every moment he wasted meant more distance between him and his love but these freaks were talented and he would need the right attack for any chance to be successful. The hatred built inside of his heart. These bastards knew where Alina was and he planned to bleed them until they talked. He took another lung-filling breath. I’m coming. He crouched, ready to rejoin the fray.
Before he could attack, something cracked against the tree’s bark behind him. His collarbone cried like a horse had kicked it. He couldn’t breathe. He looked down at his exposed chest half expecting part of it to be missing. Blood oozed from a coin-sized hole just below his left clavicle. For a moment, he could only stare at the hole. Finally, instinct took over and he shoved his right hand against the blood until one of his straps coiled tightly around his shoulder, covering his wound. He wobbled to the side, nauseated and confused. A single branch prevented his fall. He looked back at the tree. Blood dripped from the feathered fletching of an arrow jutting from the tree. His arm hung limply at his side – the pain from lifting it was too much.
The fletching’s Epertasian colors told him the freaks below weren’t responsible. It also told him that his problems had just gotten bigger. He looked down for the freaks but they had fled.
Whoosh! Another arrow whizzed past his head, clipping his left ear before also embedding into the tree. Rasi wavered against the branch that held him up. His weight was too much. It snapped. As he fell toward the ground, his straps grasped at the dry twigs but they were too brittle and snapped as well. Before he struck the ground, his straps enveloped him like a cocoon and hardened.
Thud!
What little air he still had exploded from his lungs.
Instantly, his straps unraveled and shot into the air, ready for their next battle. His lungs fought to expand against a painful chain seemingly wrapped around them. A high-pitched wheeze left his trachea. He grunted as he tried to breathe again. He struggled to his knees.
“Uhn … Uhn …” His chest muscles twitched and constricted against his ribs. Relax, he told himself. Concentrate. This will pass. Just lost my wind is all. His straps hovered, ready for action. He heard soldiers’ voices from within the forest and realized they had surrounded him.
Slowly, the wheeze from his throat subsided and the chain around his chest began to loosen. He took a deep, wonderful breath. With a grunt, Salient raced from the trees to his side.
With his good arm, he lifted his useless limb and pressed it against his pectoral muscle. With each movement of his arm, his collarbone burned as though on fire. He struggled to his feet, his legs shaking beneath his weight.
A quick glance across the plains revealed a wave of approaching soldiers on foot. He couldn’t go north and past them, not in his condition. The snapping twigs and whispered voices to his south told him he couldn’t flee through the forest to Shadows Peak either.
His only chance was west, toward Havens Ravine. That’s where he could make a stand. A strap pressed his wounded arm to his chest like a sling. He grabbed Salient’s mane with his other arm but was too weak to pull himself up.
Another strap twirled around Salient’s neck and hoisted Rasi onto his horse. Salient shuffled in a circle, excited, anticipating his next command. Rasi smelled the soldiers’ sweat as they moved into position behind the trees.
They’re good. They didn’t reveal their numbers like a bunch of amateurs, leaving him little doubt that they were Epertase’s finest, the Elite Guard. He realized he wouldn’t get away without a lot of killing and his angry stomach returned.
One of the guards stepped out from the brush. “Stay where you are,” he ordered. “Where is she?”
Another guard approached Salient and reached for his mane.
Salient clopped in a circle away from the guard’s grasp. Rasi scanned the enemy as they emerged from the trees. They were indeed good; they left little opening for escape. Rasi’s straps cracked in the air like whips. They wanted this. He gritted his teeth. Deep down, he wanted this.
A strap lashed out, striking the soldier at Salient’s fore. The man fell backward, surprised, as his sword flung into the air. Another soldier pounced. A strap curled around his neck and heaved him high above. His sword fell to the ground. The strap hurled him over a thick tree branch before jerking him to a stop. The guard’s feet stopped just shy of the ground with a disgusting crack. His legs quivered, his bladder let loose. The strap dropped his lifeless body to the ground.
Rasi kicked Salient’s ribs with his heels and his steed lunged toward the hole left in their defenses. A soldier shot into the gap and, with his sword, slashed Salient’s thick chest. Salient didn’t hesitate like the great stallion he’d always been. Rasi kicked the soldier’s jaw as they passed. As the man fell, one of the straps snatched his weapon from his hand. Rasi slid the sword between his chest and his makeshift sling with a grimace. He entangled his fingers into Salient’s mane and held on with all of his strength.
The soldiers called for their horses.
Rasi raced west at the forest’s edge. The soldiers in the plains were on watch, no doubt confident of the Elite Guard’s ability to nab him.
He leaned forward, pressing his cheek against his steed’s thick neck. Push, boy. Though each bounce sent throbbing pain through his shoulder and jaw, it was the only way he could hold on. Salient pushed harder. Good boy.
Salient wasn’t fast but he had a head start and that was all he needed. He snorted and strained with each stride. Rasi knew his old steed would be sore in the morning but he promised to rest him if he could. The soldiers gave chase but had a lot of ground to cover and he only needed to reach the ravine to have his chance.
He no longer fought his grunts as the pain in his shoulder intensified with each bounce. He thought of Alina and that made him strong.
The pursuing
horses’ hooves pounded the dirt behind him. He pushed. Come on, Salient, just a little farther.
He could hear their excited breaths from behind. Each surge of blood from his pounding heart caused his collarbone to throb. I am going to kill every last one of you bastards.
Salient’s foot struck a squank’s hole and he stumbled, almost bucking Rasi from his back, but kept his stride. Rasi knew he was pushing his friend hard, perhaps too hard, but he also knew that Salient was strong, one of the strongest of his day, and Rasi bet everything that he’d make it.
In the distance, he saw the drop-off known as Havens Ravine. He became excited for the battle about to ensue. Fifty horse-lengths … Forty… Thirty… That’s it. Twenty … He veered Salient north toward a distant bridge that spanned the ravine. It was that bridge’s narrow width that would take his pursuers’ numbers advantage from them. They would have to face him head on and even injured, he liked his chances.
Almost, Salient. We’re going to make it.
Then, from the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a twirling ball and chain as it whipped past his foot. He watched in horror as the chain twirled around Salient’s front legs, powerless to stop it. Salient’s legs snapped. Seemingly in slow motion, his steed crashed face-first into the unforgiving ground.
Rasi hurled into the air. He shifted his weight away from his wounded shoulder just before plowing into the hard ground near the ravine’s edge.
He cried out – he couldn’t help it. His eyes shot to the bridge but it might as well have been on the other side of the world. The soldiers dismounted with swords drawn. He struggled to his feet. His body felt as though he’d already lost, yet the battle was about to begin.
Five soldiers moved forward in a defensive semicircle. One of them feigned an injured shoulder and the rest of them laughed at his mocking. Rasi staggered closer to the ravine edge.
“Where are you going to go, criminal?” one of them asked.
The edge gave Rasi some of the advantage he had hoped for with the bridge. They’d have to fight him head on and he couldn’t ask for anything more – except maybe two good arms.
He glanced over their shoulders at Salient one last time. His old friend struggled to stand on two shattered front legs before crumbling again and again.
I’m sorry, my friend.
Rasi withdrew the warm steel from against his chest.
The lead soldier, a slender, twenty-something in officer’s garb, advanced. He shook his dirty-blonde hair from his eyes like a prissy girl might. His grin had a cockiness that only youth could bring. He twirled his sword to show off. Rasi wasn’t impressed and mirrored the display.
This kid’s confidence was going to get him killed today.
The show-off spoke with revolting softness. “Back up, men. I’ve always wanted a shot at the legendary Rasi.”
You know me, huh? Then you should know better. Rasi lifted his elbow, draping his sword across his chest.
The other soldiers backed away as ordered.
One of them shouted, “All yours, Lorca.”
Lorca, huh?
Rasi’s straps floated above him. Lorca seemed to ignore them, keeping his eyes trained on Rasi. “I do not fear you, monster,” he taunted.
Rasi lunged forward with his sword; Lorca batted it away with his own. Rasi spun and swung again. Their swords clanged.
A strap grabbed Lorca’s ankle and, gracefully, he slashed it away. Rasi swung again, and again Lorca defended. Though Rasi knew he was out of practice, battling such a young talent told him just how much. Repeatedly, he attacked only to be fended off with the kid’s lightning reflexes. Even Rasi’s lethal straps were unable to land a single blow.
He was good, and fast.
A strap shot at Lorca’s head but he jerked to the side. Another one lunged forward. Lorca twirled away. A soldier tried to sneak along Rasi’s flank but a strap grabbed his sword arm, snapping it to his screams.
Rasi raised his sword in time to block another Lorca assault. He swung at Lorca’s head, but the kid ducked while shoving his hilt into Rasi’s defenseless gut.
Lorca gyrated away and threw a high spinning kick that slammed against Rasi’s chest below his wounded collarbone. Rasi groaned and stumbled back until his heels dangled over the edge of the ravine. Lorca strutted forward. Rasi teetered along the edge, his straps extended to his side like a man on a tightrope would hold a balancing rod.
“Where are you going?” Lorca asked.
Rasi peered over the edge, and then back at Lorca. His foe was close. Too close.
Rasi grinned.
Lorca paused, his eyes wide.
Gotcha!
Rasi dropped his sword and grabbed Lorca with his good arm.
Before the kid could pull away, Rasi thrust backward.
His straps clawed at the ground in a fevered panic. As the two combatants plunged over the edge, one of the straps snagged a soldier’s leg and dragged him screaming with them.
CHAPTER 26
BELKE SLUG
For the first time since their battle began, Rasi saw fear in his young assailant. Lorca cursed him as they tumbled through the air. The straps clawed at the sides of the ravine, unable to get a hold in the hard dirt. One of them caught an exposed root, momentarily stopping their fall, but it quickly ripped free.
Rasi’s bad shoulder slammed against a jagged part of the ravine wall, jarring the two warriors apart.
Instead of colliding with the ground, Lorca and Rasi plunked side-by-side in a clear, red-tinged goop that covered the ravine floor. Rasi and Lorca sunk to their waists as if in glue before stopping. The other soldier landed several horse-lengths away with his sword embedded in the dirt ravine wall just outside of the trail of goo. All but two of Rasi’s straps plunged beneath the sludge and stuck, the two remaining straps hovering above.
Grab the sword, Rasi screamed in his head. The two straps ignored him as they always had. He tried to pull his arm free but the slime constricted like quicksand, causing each flinch of his muscles to drag him farther beneath.
Lorca fought the gunk but his struggle only sank him deeper as well.
The warm, rotten slime rose to Rasi’s breastbone and then to his throbbing collarbone. He pictured his straps struggling below and begged them to stop.
The goop touched Lorca’s chin before he too realized that his movements were pulling him down. Maybe, Rasi thought, the kid wasn’t so dumb after all.
“Look what you got us into,” Lorca screamed.
A roar, like the cross between a whale’s squeal and a tornado’s rumble, reverberated from around a distant bend.
Lorca’s face went flush.
“By the gods,” he mumbled. “It is a belke slug.”
The other soldier panicked. “What do we do?” he screamed.
Another roar rang out before Rasi saw the rolling mountain of scaly, gray flesh in the distance. He stared in awe, having never heard of a belke slug before, let alone seen one. The first sight of the slow-moving mound in the distance made him wish that was still the case. The front of the creature was void of any features save two vertical holes that spat snot skyward with each of its roars. The creature sludged through the ravine, methodically lifting its mouth above the slime with each lurch forward. Then its body puffed out like a balloon about to pop with each slurp of the goop. Slowly, the creature neared.
The gunk rose to Rasi’s chin. He begged his straps to stop squirming below, but they ignored him as always.
The beast roared again, this time close enough that Rasi smelled its stink in the air. The creature’s mouth lifted above the slime again, revealing several rows of dull, grinding teeth. As it inhaled, its teeth disappeared below the surface.
The slug lurched closer, its slime rippling around the other soldier with each lunge. He cried for help. The belke slug lifted its mouth again and the soldier drifted with the slime toward its teeth. He thrashed, sinking lower as if by design. Soon, his head disappeared beneath the surface. The bea
st closed its mouth with a devastating crunch.
Lorca began to hyperventilate.
Slow your breathing, kid.
Sensing the dread, Rasi’s two free straps clawed and scratched at the dirt walls. When one of them swiped the surface of the slime, it stuck like glue, wriggled, and then disappeared beneath.
His last strap, his last hope, brushed past the sword. That’s it. Get it. Get it, he begged. By nothing short of luck, his salvation touched the handle again. Yes, that’s it. The strap grabbed the hilt and ripped the sword free.
Lorca sucked toward the beast’s open mouth with a pleading stare. Rasi needed to do something; this kid didn’t deserve such a death. His lone strap swung the sword high in the air before plunging it between the monster’s snot holes. The beast released an ear-piercing screech that echoed throughout the ravine, hesitated, and then lurched forward again, the sword still impaled in its head.
Rasi’s straps thrashed beneath the slime, dragging him lower. He tilted his head back to keep his mouth clear until the goop tickled his earlobes. Stop fighting, he begged.
Lorca’s eyes showed his resignation until he closed them. He whispered a foreign prayer as his legs sucked into the creature’s mouth. He didn’t scream, at least not until the first crunch of his legs.
Rasi wished he could cover his ears. Eventually, Lorca’s head disappeared beneath the slime and his screams muffled until they were gone.
Still unsatisfied, the beast drudged forward.
Rasi’s ears sucked beneath the goo.
These damn straps.
He breathed in as much oxygen as he could before …
And then the air was gone.
Concentrate. Stop struggling. He closed his eyes and pictured his straps relaxing under the gunk. I NEED TO BREATHE! Wait, calm down. Focus. He saw the blur of the suns’ light fade above the slime as he dragged lower and lower.
Stop struggling.
His head pounded, screaming for air.
Stop fighting, you fools. The surface drifted farther and farther away. He felt the vibration of the creature’s next muffled roar. His feet pulled toward the beast like a vacuum.
Light of Epertase 01: Legends Reborn Page 11
