Renegade Reprisal (The Renegade Series)

by J. C. Fiske

  “He gonna be okay?” Shaved asked.

  “Trust me, he’ll be fine. If anything, he’ll finish that thing off and come help us out later.” Gisbo turned to his group. “You heard the man! Let’s move!”

  The young Renegades flew into action with Gisbo leading the charge, only temporarily, however . . .

  “Grandfield! Crass! You’re up!” Rolce yelled. Grandfield pounced to the front of the line with his boar not far behind and ignited his Boon form, taking on the animal’s attributes. Clearing dust from his widened nostrils, Grandfield roared and charged ahead at the massive crowd of enemies before him. The cloaked combatants met Grandfield’s charge with their own cries in reverance to The One . . . however, not even Drakeron himself could stop the rampaging force of nature that was Grandfield.

  Like a hot knife through butter, he cut through the crowd with his head lowered, any unlucky human obstacle flying to the side or getting trampled beneath him. Within moments, Grandfield had cut through them and divided the forces in two before they could even reach the Renegades for melee range.

  “Kennis! Glinda! Knob! To me!” Rolce said as he hopped to the front of the line. All the Nazarites joined him by his side as Grandfield circled round and round the crowd like a sheepdog herding cattle, always moving to deflect any shots taken at him. “Glinda, Kennis, take the left. Knob, you and me to the right!” Rolce yelled. They parted, and all of them activated their Boon forms. Glinda merged with her owl, her eyes becoming golden and round, able to spot a mouse in complete darkness miles away, and took flight with her now feathered arms and legs at an astonishing velocity, looking more like a rocket due to the fiery essence surrounding her, and disappeared into the sky.

  It was now Kennis’ turn. She called upon her elegant swan, Lenox, and merged with him, turning her hair a platinum white, with beautiful black markings around her eyes and nose. In a snap, she unfurled her whip and swirled it round and round above her head, absorbing any and all moisture within the air like a swirling vacuum, and re-directed the velocity and struck the ground. There was a spray of sand and moisture as it snaked and stretched across the cobblestoned ground, cracking it and sending the moisture up into the crowd. Kennis flipped the handle of her whip and held it in her teeth as she thrust out both hands. With a wince of effort, the moisture crackled and formed frozen footholds around the crowd, literally freezing them in place. They gave a cry of discomfort and confusion until they saw Glinda return above them. Then all turned to mass hysteria . . . a hysteria unable to retreat.

  Glinda dropped at incredible speed, growing hotter and redder the closer she came, using her acute vision to see through the red and spy the perfect place to land. Once satisfied, Glinda deactivated her Boon form and rolled out of the oncoming fireball. In a splash, Kennis disappeared from her stationary position, turning her body temporarily into water essence to travel to Glinda’s location in the sky. Seconds later, Kennis reformed, grabbed onto Glinda, then returned both of them to mist form, landing back on the ground where she started. It was now Glinda’s turn to save the both of them. She raised her ring to the sky and activated a fire barrier around Kennis and herself, moments before the blast hit.

  The helpless followers of the Holy Chosen looked to the sky, most of them only seeing red before they were totally engulfed by flames. The ball hit dead center with a radius of thirty feet. All within its blast were disintegrated immediately, cutting down the crowd’s numbers by many, but not all. Once the sands had cleared and Kennis’ and Glinda’s Boon forms were used up, they stood, weapons drawn, ready for the next phase of attack.

  Meanwhile, at the same time Kennis and Glinda engaged their half of the crowd, Rolce and Knob faced their own. Rolce, calling upon his Boon form through Harpie, his eagle, leapt into action. Eagles, kings of the skies, shared their power with Rolce. In dozens of blasts of green, spirit birds of all shapes and sizes were summoned in a massive swarm, which Rolce controlled brilliantly with his own hands. He flung them all about in a tight circle that herded the crowd closer together, like a green snowstorm, unable to move at risk of being torn apart by the snapping beaks and talons. The constant screeching forced many of the unlucky cultists to cover their ears, and those few who didn’t soon felt trickles of blood drip from their burst eardrums.

  Knob activated his own Boon form, taking on the form of his turkey, Gizar, and leapt into the air with a flutter of his winged appendages and placed a palm to the ground, igniting the sands below the feet of close to half the cultist crowd. Immediately, Rolce ordered his birds to scatter and, upon doing so, Knob took in a deep breath and drew back his wings. In one rush, he released the air and fluttered his massive wings, springing the ignited sand particles up into the air. With a final leap back and a clap of his hands, the particles exploded in fire, sending up a massive dust cloud for the remaining few. Rolce and Knob joined one another and helped lead each other out of the storm, both exhausted from releasing so much of their essence all at once. Rolce finally reached his party, with Kennis and Glinda, as well, and looked up to give the final order.

  “Everyone, weapons raised and all in!” Rolce bellowed. The rest of their brigade all yelled with excitement and rushed into the disoriented crowd with their weapons drawn, ready to fight for their lives. And that’s when, everyone, especially Gisbo himself, left their innocence behind and would never be the same again.

  The Shininjas, with their speed, hit the disoriented cultists first. Even now, with their initial surprise and overwhelming first attack, the cultists still outnumbered their band two to one. The Shininjas changed that.

  Rake Lokin, daggers powered up, entered his Boon form, leading the charge with his new snake-like features. His speed was astounding as he literally snaked his way through the crowd with a shrill and frightening lightness to his body. He struck not with killing blows. Instead, in an odd array of quick thrusts with his daggers and throwing stars across cultist’s necks, wrists, and faces, spiraling all about like a shredsaw, Rake cut more than a dozen or so unexpecting cultists when he suddenly froze in the middle of his victims, expanded his chest, and pointed his mouth toward the air.

  In a coughing, gagging, upchuck, Rake burst forth a grisly fluid from his mouth in a ball of dark green that exploded like a firework into a mist that fell over the cultists. Suddenly, the cultists began grabbing their open wounds as the poison from Rake’s Boon form seeped in. A few of the cultists dropped dead on the spot, while others stumbled about, puking and spreading their poison to others before toppling over. With that, Rake’s Boon form was spent. He raised his daggers with a sly grin and a distant look in his eyes and charged back into the fray, starting things off with an upward dagger strike straight through a cultist’s voicebox.

  Meanwhile, Niffin Roarie charged into the crowd, moving like lightning, slicing and dicing everything in her path that moved as she activated her own Boon from the power of her raccoon, Philip. A black mask went over her eyes and, through it, everything went darker, except for the enemies, whose vital points now glowed red. With her knucknives, she let her mind empty and embraced nothing but the kill as she went down on all fours and sprinted round and round, stirring up dust with her newly formed tail, and threw herself at every glowing target with ease.

  Shaved cut into the fray now, moving like the night personified as he activated his own Boon form from his panther, Driver, sheathing his daggers as newly formed, razor-sharp claws became his hands. On all fours as well, Shaved’s agility increased tenfold as he bounded in with his innate panther ability, the ability to silence his entire being and leave no footprints behind. The enemy did not see nor hear Shaved when he struck them, only felt him, and saw their explosion of innards spill out onto the desert sand before falling into them with a thick splash.

  As Shaved’s enemies fell by the doubles, Anaka Lauren’s fell, as well, but not dead. Activating the innate power of her lemer, Round Eyes, Anaka was granted incredible acrobatic abilities as time literally slowed down before her
eyes. She was able to twist, turn, flip, and leap her way past any and all offensive moves while thrusting stunning, cold-spreading fists into the chests of her victims, stopping their breath immediately, or their heart with severe cold, from her Aquarian power, and dropping them instantly. If one looked closely enough, and listened hard enough, one would hear faint apologies for every strike she made.

  By now, the element of surprise was over. The cultists, those lucky few who didn’t fall victim to massive area blasts or the furious surprise strikes of the Shininjas, gathered together, all on their feet, spears at the ready to fight, using their numbers to gain the advantage. And now that they were ready, now that they offered some form of threat, some sort of challenge, the Berserkers entered the fray.

  Ashlin Nora charged into battle, her huge Talon sword raised and ready as she activated her Boon ability from her great black bear, Winchester. While in her bear form, her strength and power increased tenfold, along with her ferocity. As the enemy attacked, she purposely made herself vulnerable to attack and took several strikes across her body. Blood burst from each wound as she was stabbed and slashed and, suddenly, just as quickly as the wounds appeared, they disappeared in a thick, red healing aura. Her attackers gave a loud gulp as Ashlin let out a wild roar and rushed at her attackers in a controlled rage, her power now increased to untold levels from the several wounds she received. With one swing from her massive sword, she cleaved a group of three cultists in two, spun around, and repeated the processs to four more trying for her blind spot.

  Meanwhile, Crass Bastio merged with his Boon. Like most Berserkers, his strength and power increased along with his form as he took on the aspect of the powerful king of the apes, the gorilla, and Crass leapt into action, pulling his Pole-arm apart and holding one part in each hand as he clobbered all in his way with a variety of smashes and surprising acrobatics for his size. The poor cultists did not stand a chance against the whirlwind of force that was Crass. Even upon a rare miss, the sheer force and impact of his swings were enough to put down a cultist for good.

  Grandfield, now with his Boon form depleted, was not one to be left out. After crowd control, he charged back into the fray, his Stugs at the ready as he intercepted charging spears, breaking them like twigs with a double downward strike of his huge weapons and bringing them back up into the chins and stomachs of his opponents, crushing jaws and puncturing stomachs and ruining appetites forever.

  Gisbo stood back from the rest, standing beside Nina, who was perched upon the lion, waiting for any injuries to be healed. She looked up at Gisbo, who stared off into the fray, watching his friends do battle.

  “They’re amazing. Each and every one of them. Just look at them!” Gisbo said, grinning from ear to ear.

  “Well, it’s no fun for me. You’re the only one I want to see. Don’t you think it’s about time you join the fight?” Nina asked.

  “Yeah, I believe it is,” Gisbo said as he began to make his way into the frenzy. Nina grabbed him before he went.

  “Hey, don’t try being all badass and walk away from me. Kiss me, you fool,” Nina said. Gisbo did and put a hand on her worried face. Nina smiled.

  “Go get ‘em!” Nina said and softly slapped his cheek.

  Chapter Twenty Four: Gisbo . . .

  Shaved was fighting well, even by a Renegade’s standards, now that his Boon form had depleted. However, anyone who was going one against three, no matter how experienced he was, was going to have a hard time. In a costly decision, Shaved saw a risky opening and took it, catching one of his opponents in the jugular with a wild strike, causing the cultist to topple over with a gurgle, but in the process, Shaved took a spear through his right shoulder. In a scream of agony, Shaved snapped the hilt of the spear, leaving the point of it embedded within him, as he parried a rough blow of a swing from the other attacker just before he fell to the ground. The last thing he saw was both of the remaining cultists felling their spears down upon him.

  And then, the fire struck.

  Shaved closed his eyes due to the intense heat. Upon opening them, he was greeted with the sight of both of his would-be killers, ten feet from their initial positions, each with the hilt of a weapon extended from their chests. Then he saw Gisbo Falcon standing over him with a smile as he extended his hand and helped him back on his feet.

  “Don’t go dying on me yet, pal! Next time a scaffold breaks, who’s gonna hide it from Ernie?” Gisbo asked. Shaved laughed as Gisbo ignited his essence with dual rings on each of his hands and connected a rope-like energy to each of his Tantos hilts, embedded in the cultists’ chests. With a double yank, they both returned to his hands.

  Shaved coughed and backed away from Gisbo. The power resonating from his friend was unbelievable. It was hard for Shaved just to get a deep breath from the sheer elemental pressure his friend was giving off.

  “You okay, man?” Gisbo asked.

  He doesn’t even realize his own power. He has no idea, Shaved thought.

  “HEY, BEHIND YOU!” Gisbo yelled. With lightning speed, he leapt to his friend’s side and parried an oncoming spear with one hand and thrust the other up through the throat of the attacker. Shaved spun around in time to see the cultist fall on his back with a blank look in his dead eyes.

  “That shoulder’s no good,” Gisbo said as he raised his ring and sent up a blast to the sky. Within moments, Gisbo saw Nina atop the lion, dodging her way through the crowd and trampling everyone along the way. She arrived beside Gisbo in mere moments.

  “Hop on, Shaved. Nina will take care of ya; then get back on in here, ya hear?” Gisbo asked. “We need ya, pal! She may be able to restore your Boon form, too.”

  “All . . . alright, thanks, Giz, I owe ya one,” Shaved said.

  “You owe me nothing; now get out of here. I’ll see ya in a bit,” Gisbo yelled as he smacked the lion’s behind and, together, Nina and Shaved made their way to safety and began the healing process on Shaved’s shoulder before permanent damage would take place. Then Gisbo realized he was surrounded. But what was odd was they were trembling with their spears raised, almost afraid to make a move, and all were coughing and breathing funny.

  Gisbo looked down at his wolf, Fao, who looked up at him with her sky blue eyes.

  “You ready, girl? Let’s do it,” Gisbo said. “Let’s just hope I do this right . . .”

  In an explosion of energy, Gisbo took on his Boon form, more human this time than wolf. He smiled, realizing for the first time he was in full control of himself and his Boon powers within the real world. The cultists around him, besides their trembling, began to take a few steps back and turn their heads to perhaps focus on another opponent.

  “Too late for that now. You butt wipes want to see The One so badly? Then step right up, I got your tickets right here,” Gisbo said, raising his two Tantos. At that moment, his eyes began to turn white as his body embraced the power of the moon fire. The ends of the fur across his body tingled and glowed.

  “Whoa . . .” Gisbo mumbled to himself as he felt the moon fire rush through him like a raging river. The power was so intense he felt his body levitate a few inches off the ground.

  Be with me, Fao . . . Gisbo thought.

  In a flash of the purest, whitest light, Gisbo charged into the closest of the cultists, exploding him into a white mist on contact. Upon doing so, Gisbo absorbed the man’s life essence back into himself, increasing his power even further. The cultists couldn’t even react as Gisbo went wild, eradicting their souls and absorbing what was left. This newfound power, combined with what was already going through him, caused his heart to slam against his chest like a fleshy hammer. Gisbo dropped to one knee, clutching at it, feeling as if he were about to explode.

  I got to get rid of this! But I don’t know how! Fao! Guide me on what to do! Gisbo thought. He felt her, not take control of him, but send him sudden impulses and guide his movements. Suddenly, his red, glowing Tantos were overpowered by the moon fire, taking on the same glowing white energy.
He felt the impulse to cross his weapons together and, suddenly, there was a spark of recognition. He separated them forcefully with a scraping of steel and sent out a searing blade of white energy in the shape of two crescent moons that spiraled through the crowd of combatants, hitting the back of two unlucky cultists doing battle with Ashlin. Both cultists exploded into white mist upon the hit, but rather than disintegrating, the crescent moon strike kept going right toward Ashlin.

  “ASHLIN, MOVE!!!” Gisbo screamed, but it was too late. The crescent moon struck Ashlin in an explosion of white, so bright Gisbo was forced to shield his eyes. Upon opening them, he prepared himself for the worst, but instead was rewarded with the opposite. Ashlin was most certainly not dead. She was standing tall, face full of ecstacy, with eyes that glowed a fiery white. She bounded toward Gisbo, taking out several other cultists along the way.

  “Gisbo! This is incredible! This power! What did you do!?” Ashlin said. “DUCK!”

  Gisbo obeyed as Ashlin cleaved the head off a cultist diving for Gisbo’s back and sent the head flying over the wall. Gisbo watched the head go and spun around to face a surprised Ashlin.

  “I . . . I don’t know!” Gisbo yelled.

  “Whatever you did, spread it to the others! This will help the odds big time! Everything is enhanced! Hurry! You got to spread that white light before your Boon form runs out!” Ashlin said.

  “Right!” Gisbo yelled, even though the way he was feeling right now, he wasn’t sure it was going to. Was this the power of the Man-Phoenix? At least part of it? Gisbo thought.

  Gisbo first spotted Kennis ten yards away. Four cultists were coming up on her blind spot. In a quick motion, Gisbo unleashed the crescent moon right at her, disintegrating all four of the enemies before they could even raise their weapons to attack, and hit Kennis directly with it. Even without using her Boon form to enhance her abilities, the moon fire enhanced her Naforian powers as she flung her whip around, releasing an icy storm that disoriented and froze all attackers around her in place. She turned to see where the sudden power surge came from, but Gisbo was already on the move as he spread it to every one of his friends, taking out foe after foe.