With this, Vif and Primero nodded. They turned around, lumbered out of the camp, before leaping into the air with the grace of dancers and sped away. Bray did not even bother to watch them go; he sped across to join the three Sentinel Commanders and began explaining the plan.
As he finished, Tom nodded his large shaggy head and asked, “Do you think that we can hold Merihim’s forces at bay long enough to let the Elves catch them by surprise?”
As the question left his lips, Manil and Muru joined them. The large tattooed warrior simply nodded, as Manil said, “They stands no chance friend Tom. Manil will crush the bad soldiers, before the Elveses can catched them.”
Suddenly a bright light flashed from a position just outside the camp. Fearing the worst, Bray, Gwion and the others sped towards it with their weapons drawn, ready for an attack. As they drew closer to the bright rectangular shape, they relaxed slightly and put their swords away. Coming towards them was Tavin and the Nunnupi Cavalry. With utter confusion on his face, Bray moved towards the Nunnupi General and asked, “How the heck did you get here?”
Tavin bobbed his head backwards, drawing Bray’s gaze to the gateway, which was now flickering weakly. As it disappeared, Bray saw Peg collapse limply to the ground.
Gwion rushed across to him and, with a grunt of exertion, lifted him into his arms. As he struggled to carry him back to the camp, Bray moved across and asked the weakened Nunnupi King, “How did you know what to do?”
Peg smiled as broadly as he could, in his sickened state, and replied, “I’ve been playing with Mogya far longer than you my friend. I have an entire library dedicated to its use. Annap has taught me how to read them, so I know more than you realise.” This last comment proved too much for Peg and he closed his eyes, letting his exhaustion take over.
Sam watched as Gwion brought the child sized Nunnupi into the camp. The shaggy haired Sentinel moved across to him and in a low grumbling voice said, “We need to take Peg as well. Before the last of the Wuzen died, their leader, Guylin, told me that we need every living relative of the original five, who first banished Merihim into Hackich. Therefore, you must take LilPeg and put him in one of our supply wagons so that even though he may be weak, his Mogya will be able to use him.”
At this, Gwion nodded and without replying, he moved towards the nearest of the carts struggling with Peg’s weight. He finally reached the rickety wagon and lowered Peg into the back of it amongst a large pile of blankets. As he let him fall, Gwion marvelled at the fact that although only the height of a young child, years of over indulgence had made Peg almost as heavy as an adult human.
Once Peg was in the cart, Galivan strapped on his grey leather breastplate and moved across to where the archers were preparing for battle. As he moved across to Limi, the younger Elf bowed slightly in deference, to a warrior, who until now he had only heard of in legends. Galivan gestured for the Elven commander to come to him and explained Gwion’s plan.
Once Galivan had finished talking, Limi nodded and then rushed across to the archers, who were still preparing their equipment for battle. He called four Elves to him and relayed what Galivan had just told him.
It did not take him long and once they were happy with what was happening, the four warriors sped along the now forming column, hurrying the archers along.
Within half an hour, the Elves were ready and riding out of the camp, with Galivan on one of the fleet footed Elven horses at the front. Bray watched the archers for a few moments and then raced across to Tom, who was holding two giant Sentinel mounts. He waited until Bray was close enough and then passed the reins of one of the horses to him and said, “Take her; she will carry you safely into battle.”
Bray thanked the massive Sentinel warrior and clambered into the large, leather saddle. He then glanced across at Sam, who was sitting astride his own massive charger, next to Gwion and Donny, who were also on huge Sentinel horses. Seeing that Sam’s troops were ready, Bray called, “Shall we take them out?”
Sam grinned back at him and after indicating expansively with one outstretched arm, he replied, “Today you’re in charge. I have been trying for years and have run out of ideas. They are all yours.”
Hearing this, Bray smiled and called, “Ok guys, let’s move out!”
On his command, the long Sentinel column began riding forward. As Bray led them out, Tavin rode to the front and joined him. The Nunnupi General glanced up from his much smaller horse and pointed to the rear of the column, where two thickset carthorses were dragging the cage, which was holding the feeble mortal Merihim. He shook his head in disbelief and asked, “Is that really Merihim?”
Bray grinned and replied, “Hard to believe isn’t it.”
Hearing that in fact the yellow, fragile body in the cage was the mightiest enemy that Anlam had ever known, Tavin shook his head. He then returned to the rear of the column where the Nunnupi Cavalry were guarding the supply wagons; muttering to himself, as he went.
Bray nodded unconsciously, as he heard, Omni growl to Erion, “Not long now Elf and you’ll pay for everything you have ever done.”
Bray glanced over his shoulder. He saw that Erion was kneeling in the first of the supply wagons, with Donny and the other Honour Guards riding next to him; Omni was sitting on the bench on the front of the cart, glaring at the Elf. Turning back, Bray realised that he still had no idea of what to do with Erion. Trying to come up with a plan, he turned back in his saddle and concentrated on the rough trail in front of him.
The column travelled for two hours, heading for the mountain, which they could see from the first minute of their journey, but despite the time they had been travelling, it seemed no closer. After a while, three Sentinel scouts came galloping towards them. Ignoring the flickering flames, which peppered the scorched grasslands around them, the small squad soon closed with the column and came to a skidding halt.
When the scouts joined the column, Sam rode to meet them with Tom next to him. As they began to talk excitedly, Bray and Gwion moved towards them. Drawing closer, Bray overheard the lead scout, who was a massive example of his breed, almost as large as Donny, say, “There are thousands of them Sir. They’ve put the two cages out front, almost as if they are a protective wall.”
As he heard this, Bray guided his horse towards the small group and called, “Let’s get the cage with Merihim’s body in, out in front of us then.” As the Sentinels turned towards him, he continued, “Keep the Nunnupi at the rear, because Merihim’s spirit will not be expecting them.”
Once he had finished talking, Gwion scratched his cheek, a thoughtful expression painted across his face, and asked, “Surely, if we’ve taken Merihim’s mortal body from the past, it will already know what’s happening?”
Sam shook his head and replied, “Apparently not. When Guylin told me that we had to get Merihim, I had the same question, so he asked Ancien of the Tempits. She told him that because Merihim’s spirit has become an independent entity, it has no memories of its previous life.”
With this, Bray chuckled and growled, “Well let’s give it new and disturbing memories.”
Sam and Tom nodded once and then spun their massive mounts around, before heading back to the column. As they galloped back to their troops, so did Gwion and Bray, leaving the scouts to head back out towards the mountain. The four commanders re-joined the column, coming to a halt and sliding from their horses. As soon as his feet hit the ground, Sam called, “All Officers to me now!”
It took a while, but eventually Bray was sitting on his pack surrounded by a dozen Sentinels, who were all staring at Sam as he said, “Right guys, the enemy have set up their camp slightly east of the Antian Mountain. The Ancient ones and Ciqala have been placed in front of them, probably to try stopping us attacking in a headlong rush.” He paused slightly and then continued, “What we have to do is get past their defences without endangering our friends.” Placing his chin in his hands he asked, “Has anyone an idea of how to do this?”
For a few se
conds, everyone went silent, but then Tavin said, “I’ll take my troops towards the coast, I should be able to skirt around them. If you give me at least a day, then I’ll hit Merihim’s troops from behind, giving you a diversion.”
Gwion sighed and said, “Good plan, but from what the scouts were saying there is thousands of them, which means that we are going to need a signal.”
At that moment, Peg came shuffling towards them, still weak from his exertion. He smiled as he heard what Gwion had to say and almost whispered, in response, “Many years ago, I was in a battle against the Demon-King’s troops. I sent Annap around a hill, the signal we used was a bright flare. I’ll go with Tavin. Therefore, give us a day and watch for my flare.”
Sam smiled and replied, “Done, I’ll get a scout to find the Elves and let them know.” With this, he stood up and made his way back to his horse, leaving the other Commanders to return to their troops. Bray saw Peg turn to make his way back to the other Nunnupi, so before he had gone too far, called, “Peg, take care. Remember you have a new baby.”
Peg’s eyes grew misty for a second. He wiped them and called back, “That’s why it’s important that we win.” With a smile, he then limped back to where Tavin was holding the reins of his horse.
Bray stood for a moment, watching the Nunnupi King go and then he spun around to join Gwion at the front of the column. As he turned, he thudded into Manil’s thick muscular chest. The troll smiled and his deep voice rumbled, “Me goes with Bray. Yous needs me.”
Bray grinned when he heard this; feeling much better that Manil would be at his side. He then clambered onto his horse, which Gwion had brought to him, and glanced down, at his son. He was about to thank him, but went silent when Muru said, “I too will come with you Bray. I wish to fight by your side, just as my father once did.”
Bray merely nodded, smiling with comfort at knowing that his friends would be with him. He urged his horse into a trot and guided it to the front next to Tom, Sam and Gwion with his two heavily muscled friends jogging by his side. As he reached the front of the column, Gwion turned in his saddle and, with a voice dripping with humour, said, “Come on then let’s go and give an evil entity a good kicking.”
Unwitting Captives
Sam reined in his huge mare and slid from his saddle, as two Sentinel scouts galloped towards the column. They had been travelling for nearly three hours without incident and the panic in the two warriors’ body language immediately put Sam on his guard. Holding up his hand he called, “Halt!” This brought the column to a standstill, as the two scouts drew nearer.
The first of the Sentinels reached Sam and brought his thunderous mount to a skidding halt, nearly falling off, as he did so. The gigantic warrior let himself fall from his saddle, as the horse stopped, collapsing in a pile a few feet away from Sam. The brute warrior picked himself up and Sam recoiled in horror when he saw the state of him. Thick black scabs, which kept weeping blood as he blinked, sat heavy on his eyebrows. Sam glanced at the still bleeding wounds on the Sentinel’s arms as he pointed to the south.
The scout steadied himself by holding onto his saddle, as the other scout tumbled from his horse behind him. Tom and Donny rushed across to the second Sentinel warrior, who had just fallen and, seeing that he was in an even worse state than the first, lifted him onto his feet, before helping him across to the healers, who were riding in the medical wagon half way down the column. As the two Sentinels helped the scout limp towards the medics, the first took a deep breath and in a weak voice stammered, “We found the Elves and managed to tell them the plan.”
Coughing loudly, a trickle of blood falling from his thick bruised lips, he continued, “On our way back, we were discovered by a large squad of enemy soldiers.” He shook his head slowly and with anger giving him a little more strength, said, “They were no problem, we could deal with them. However, as we fought our way through them, three Rockserpents slithered from a nearby cave and attacked us.”
With confusion on his face he continued, “They didn’t just attack us, they killed the enemy squad as well.” Shaking his head in confusion, he almost collapsed, but Muru and Manil rushed to his aid, grabbing him under the arms to hold him up.
Sam sighed, air whistling through his pursed lips, and then said, “Looks like Merihim’s spirit is growing weaker.”
Bray glanced at him and, after letting Tom, who had just returned from taking the other scout to the medics, take the wounded Sentinel, asked, “What do you mean?”
Sam threw a worried glance at the scout and then replied, “Over the last few years, we’ve witnessed more and more Demons doing what they want and not following Merihim’s will. However, it doesn’t take much Mogya to control a Rockserpent and if they are attacking the spirit’s own troops then it means that it is growing weaker.”
Just then, Donny returned from the medical wagon and, overhearing the conversation, added, “Which means that it is even more important that we combine Merihim’s body with its spirit, so we can kill it.”
With confusion more than evident, Bray cocked his head and asked, “Why now more than ever?”
Donny smiled and nodded towards Sam, before replying, “As he will tell you, if Merihim’s spirit dies then the world is saved, but if its mortal body dies then nothing that has happened since the day you took him from Velumia will have happened. This means that the Wuzen will still live, Antia will still exist and all those who have died because of Merihim won’t have, but the spirit will still live, so will have more bodies to kill and draw strength from.”
It took a while for what Donny had said to sink in, but after a short while, Bray grimaced and said, “Well let’s make sure that the creature dies then.”
With this, Sam growled in response and said, “Let’s make camp here. If we keep going, we’ll be in a fight before our troops are ready.”
Deciding that this would be the best course of action, Tom passed the word for the column to make a halt. Once the order had disseminated through the column, Sam’s troops immediately put up low shelters to shield themselves from the storm; which was quite obviously on its way.
Bray pulled the cord of his tent tight and glanced across at Gwion. He winked and said, “Should we go and have a look around.”
Gwion grinned in response, letting Bray know that he was thinking the same thing and then followed as his father moved across to where their horses were grazing. Once he had re-saddled his horse, he clambered onto it.
Bray finished, tightening the girth on his saddle and then mounted his stallion. Glancing across at his son, he saw that Gwion was ready, so he turned his horse south and rode away from the camp. The two riders trotted a little distance from the camp and then broke into a gallop.
The two riders charged across the burning landscape towards the distant mountain, as the heavens opened and rain hammered into the ground. It took nearly twenty minutes to race across the charred remains of the plains, but finally, Bray and Gwion slowed to a trot as they reached the lower slopes of the mountain where Antia had once stood. After a while, Bray tugged on his reins, bringing his horse to a halt. Shielding his eyes against the flickering lightning, which lit up the dark night’s sky, he peered around, before pointing to a series of rocks to the west of his position and saying, “I think we had better dismount and get across there to get a better look at this army we keep hearing about.”
Hearing this, Gwion nodded and slid from his saddle. Once the two of them were down, Bray crept across to the rocks and peered through a gap in between two of the largest stones, to look across the yawning valley beyond. The sight that confronted him sent a shiver rushing up his spine. As far as he could see, a mass of silver-armoured warriors were sitting around hundreds of flickering campfires. However, the most disturbing sight was the thousand or so vampires, who were guarding the front of the enemy column and the many dead human carcasses, which they had obviously feasted on, that they had piled high at the foot of the mountain.
Seeing the number of en
emy below, Bray embraced his Mogya, wishing to feel the comforting presence of his friends, and let his thoughts fly out over the ground in front of him. As he concentrated on his allies, his mind’s eye began picking them out, making them twinkle as his Mogya revealed their position.
The Elves were the first of the friendly forces that he spotted. They were not that far away from him, only about a mile along the ridge, which he was standing on, watching the enemy below and waiting for Peg’s signal.
Bray concentrated a little harder, trying not to use too much Mogya. After a few minutes, he was able to see that the Nunnupi were moving into position. Peg, now fully fit, was leading his troops around the now empty circular wall, which the enemy had used as a camp when Bray and Gwion had first flown through time with Primero. As his thoughts caressed the memory of the Dragon, his Mogya sent his mind racing back across the plain, nearly making him sick. Suddenly his mind’s eye came to a halt directly above him and through the golden haze of his thoughts; he could see the two huge Dragons sitting in front of the cave, waiting to attack the enemy below. As Bray pulled his mind back into his body, Primero turned and, almost as if looking at him, winked.
Bray released his Mogya, staggering slightly, and turned to Gwion. He grinned and said, “Everybody is nearly in position.” He paused slightly and then continued, “We should get back and report what we’ve seen.”
To this Gwion shook his head slowly and then replied, “I think we had better get a closer look. If we can find Merihim then we may be able to finish this without a fight.”
Bray shook his head sorrowfully and said, “I would love to, but you should never turn a recce patrol into a fighting mission.”
Respecting his father’s experience, Gwion nodded and went silent. Suddenly, he brightened and said, “The least we can do is go down and take out some of those blood suckers.”
Bray smiled and merely nodded slowly in response. He then crawled onto his stomach and began sliding down the slope, with Gwion slightly behind him. Scrambling down the mountain, using only their arms to propel them forward, they kept their eyes focused on the closest of the campfires.
Destruction of a God Page 18
