by Reece Dinn
The two Lial had led the Sehnal of both villages, and the Apochal, out onto the plain, positioning themselves between the village and the mountains. The remaining Ankarocal circled overhead on their mounts, ready to strike. One had flown off into the mountains to see where the horde was. He hadn't returned.
'Stay close,' he whispered to Tenalkz. 'We're stronger together.'
Tenalkz tried his best to smile.
Melonaz half smiled back. He was thankful he had to wear his mask, it hid his fear. Tenalkz didn't have that luxury, his face pale. His eyes watered, and not just from the snow whipping up into them from the wind.
The No-Braids waited a distance behind them, armed with their feeble spears. Melonaz could sense their fear even from a distance, could smell it on the wind. Not that the Sehnal were any less afraid. Wish up front with Apochal. Next to Kramenaz. Up in the sky with Gillenaz, Rudenoz. Strong warriors. They make me feel stronger too. He scratched at his face under his mask.
'Not do. Make skin bad,' said Tenalkz.
'You don't know how much this itches.' He continued to scratch underneath his eyes, momentarily relieving the irritation, but as soon as he stopped scratching it returned.
The wind died away. Everywhere felt silent, save for the heavy breathing of the men.
Then the cry of an ankaroc came from the mountains. Moments later it appeared in the sky, heading swiftly for them. The Ankarocal on its back was yelling at the top of his lungs, but he was too far away to be heard clearly. Another Ankarocal flew to meet him. They shouted to one another, then the second one twisted around and flew back.
'HORDE COME,' cried the Ankarocal.
Melonaz drew Dajimoz, the sword shaking in his hand.
Tenalkz whimpered unashamedly, gripping his spear tightly, his body rigid, tense.
'READY?' roared Lial Seboraz.
A flash of purple light silenced them. The Enemy burst into being above the mountaintops, its misty form pulsing with light as it swelled in size. Lightning blasted out of it, striking the mountainside, the rumble of thunder following after.
A cacophony of screams and howls filled the air, far louder than anything Melonaz'd ever heard before, unnatural in volume. His stomach twisted into knots, his bladder suddenly feeling like it would rupture. He clenched his free hand into a fist, trying to ignore it. Be strong. Be strong.
Countless purple forms suddenly spilled down the mountainsides, snow cascading down with them. Melonaz's breath caught in his throat. So many. They were stampeding, heading straight for them.
Melonaz bladder burst and urine trickled down his leg. He barely noticed it.
More and more came over the mountains. The Enemy's light flared, the sky around it glowing with its purple light.
Sehnal cried out, scrambling away, only to be dragged back into the group as others grabbed them. Melonaz felt like fleeing too.
'We die,' whimpered Tenalkz. 'So many.'
'We won't die,' Melonaz snapped back, but he didn't sound convincing, even to him.
The ludenez reached the plain.
'ATTACK,' both the Lial roared.
Lial and Apochal charged, screaming as loud as they could, trying to match the cries of the ludenez. The Ankarocal swooped down towards the oncoming ludenez, both them and their mounts screaming their own battle cries.
The Sehnal hesitated, watching their elders charge away, no one wanting to join them.
Be strong. Be strong. Need go. Move legs. Fight. Not die here. Melonaz cried out as loud as he could, emptying his lungs. 'WE FIGHT.' He stabbed Dajimoz up into the air, grabbed Tenalkz by his furs, and shoved his way through the lingering Sehnal, dragging Tenalkz with him.
'NO FEAR. FIGHT, KILL, DIE. NO FEAR,' he screamed as he forced his way through, his voice barely audible above the ludenez's cries. At some point he lost his grip on Tenalkz's furs.
Then he was free and, against his better judgement, he charged after the Lial and Apochal, heading towards almost certain death. He glanced back. The rest of the Sehnal were silently following.
The ludenez grew louder, almost deafening, as they swept across the plain.
Melonaz's heart pounded. Ludenez were still coming over the mountains. He focused his Raiz, struggling through his fear to concentrate on it.
The ludenez moved with great speed, seemingly unaffected by the snow.
The ground shook, making Melonaz stumble.
No fear. No fear. If die, die a man. Die strong, die good. Die a Sehnal.
The glow from the ludenez's eyes illuminated their forms, the red lights merging together to form one great red eye.
Be strong. They'll not kill me. No.
The Ankarocal swooped down and smashed into the front lines of the ludenez, sending fire and lightning into their midst while bringing others down with their spears, their ankaroc attacking with their claws.
The Lial and Apochal met the oncoming ludenez with fire and lightning just before they plunged into the horde's mass, disappearing from view as the ludenez swarmed over them. More ludenez thundered past them, heading straight for Melonaz and the other Sehnal.
'NOT DIE HERE,' Melonaz cried.
He created lightning and fired it at the first one he targeted. It burned into its shoulder, sending it crashing into the one beside it. The two ludenez's legs became entangled and they brought each other down, then a third collided with them, flipping in the air and landing its back, only for another to stamp on its head as it ran over it.
Melonaz fired again and again, each bolt hitting its mark, but most failed to bring down their target. For every one he did fell two more ludenez replaced it. The red light of their eyes engulfed his vision. Then they were on him.
Ludenez came at him from all sides, creatures mutated beyond recognition, their skin and fur torn and tainted with the Enemy's purple, their glowing red eyes full of madness and violence. Melonaz cried out as he used Hakah and lashed out with Dajimoz at anything purple, hacking into flesh, blood squirting all over him as he dodged and weaved through the mass of bodies, crashing into one body, then rebounding off it into another. Legs beat him, claws cut him, teeth grazed him, bodies smacked him, but none stopped him as the fury of battle took hold. He attacked savagely, hacking and slashing, kicking and punching, his body burning inside as he used Hakah again and again, fuelling his rage, his blood lust, fear overtaken by his desire to survive, to win.
The ludenez swarmed around him, attacking from all sides. Most of them were small, but a few were bigger than a man. He attacked them all the same, cutting them down before they tore into him, viscously hacking at bodies, severing limbs, smashing into them the way they did to him. Most didn't die, but he didn't care, he just kept attacking. As long as he was fighting he would survive.
One smashed into his back, teeth or claws raking him. He fell onto another ludenez just about to bite his ankles, driving its head into the snow. He stabbed Dajimoz through the top of its skull and launched a fireball at the one that had knocked him down. The ludenez's eyes flared as it ignited. It jumped about, screaming, crashing into two more ludenez passing it, setting them on fire as well.
Kak, not good. Fire spread across Melonaz's vision as more of the ludenez caught fire. He yanked Dajimoz out of the ludenez he'd slain and scrambled away.
Another Sehnal leapt into the mass of burning ludenez and blasted them all with lightning, bringing them all down. A small ludenez came up behind the Sehnal as he unleashed more.
'Behind,' Melonaz cried to him.
The Sehnal didn't hear him in time. The ludenez leapt up and buried its teeth into his throat. It hung from his neck, blood dribbling over its face. It brought him down then tore into his body.
Another Sehnal suddenly came up behind it, screaming madly, and buried his axe into its head.
Melonaz swung Dajimoz at a tail whipping him in the face. The sword cut right through it, severing it from the ludenez's body. He stabbed into the ludenez's bulky rear, the blade sinking in to the hilt. Grabbing fur with
his free hand he sent lightning surging into it. The ludenez screamed, shuddering as the lightning blasted through its body. He yanked Dajimoz out as it fell down, then swung at its head, cutting deep, and kept on hacking at it until the head was severed from its body.
Ludenez were smashed aside as a huge one came right for Melonaz, its glowing eyes trained on him. It bellowed, the noise deafening. Melonaz screamed and burst forward using Hakah. He leapt up high over its head as it snapped at him with huge teeth. It shook its head manically as he landed on its back and stabbed down as hard as he could. Blood sprayed out of the wound, but it did little else. The ludenez roared and violently shook itself, swinging Melonaz side to side, Melonaz holding on by only a tuft of fur. He bounced off the ludenez's body as he held on tight.
He grabbed Dajimoz's hilt again and pulled it free, then stabbed the ludenez in as many places as he could reach, each wound he inflicted having little effect as it tried desperately to rid itself of him. It reared up on its hind legs then crashed back down, crushing two more ludenez underneath it. Melonaz lost his grip and was thrown off, Dajimoz still buried in its back.
Red eyes flared as the ludenez found him again.
'Nukuk,' he cried, scrambling away.
It lashed out, taking Melonaz's legs out from under him. He fell face first into the snow. Without thinking he fired lightning back at it through the soles of his feet. The ludenez howled, stomping backwards.
Melonaz sprang up, used Hakah, and jumped over its now lightning scorched face, landing on its back again. He pulled Dajimoz free and hurriedly crawled up to its head before it could shake him off. With everything he had he stabbed down hard into its huge head, once, twice, three times, its head splitting open, purple blood gushing out. Still it didn't fall.
It tried to twist its head around and bite him, the bones in its neck snapping. He stabbed into the side of its face and it screamed, yanking Dajimoz out of his hands as it shook its head manically, the lights of its eyes flaring. He grabbed fur and clung to it as it flailed about, driven even madder than it was by the pain all over its body. He shoved a hand into one of the wounds he'd made in its head, splintered bone slicing his skin, slimy flesh squeezing his hand. Fire. He sent a wave of fire right into its head.
Flame exploded out of the ludenez's face, the scream that followed so sickeningly unnatural that it caused Melonaz to vomit in his mouth. The ludenez collapsed, the impact as it hit the ground chattering Melonaz's teeth together. He pulled his arm free and dropped from its back before the flames consumed it from inside out
Everywhere he looked there were ludenez, screaming and howling. They'd no doubt reached the No-Braid now and would be tearing into them. It was only a matter of time now before the ludenez reached the village.
Above him, in the sky the Ankarocal were engaged with flying ludenez. Ludenez in the sky? Not good.
The Enemy hovered over the mountaintops as if it were observing the battle, the red light in its centre like one great eye.
Another ludenez came at Melonaz and smashed him in the face with a long, heavily deformed paw, pain exploding across his face. He cried out as he hit the ground hard.
The ludenez leapt up onto the fallen, burning ludenez, preparing to pounce on Melonaz.
'Nukuk.' Melonaz rolled away as it jumped. The ludenez crashed down, burying its head in the snow as it went to bite him. Melonaz pushed himself to his feet and ran over to the burning ludenez. He found Dajimoz, grabbed its hilt, then jumped up and planted both feet into the corpse's burning face, the flames licking at his boots. Using Hakah he pulled the sword free with one big yank, blood squirting out all over him as he fell back.
His opponent was back up and advancing, blood and saliva dripping from its fangs. Melonaz sprang back to his feet as it charged and swung up at its head. It beat the blade away with one front leg and raked a claw down his side with its other one. He cried out, falling to his knees. Panic took over and he lost focus on his Raiz.
No. No. Come on.
Desperately he lashed out at the ludenez just as it was swinging claws at his face, and it beat his sword away. With everything he had left Melonaz swung at the ludenez's neck. The blade cut deep, nearly severing head from body, blood gushing out onto the snow. The lights of its eyes vanished instantly and it fell down. Melonaz struggled back to his feet, stumbling forward, the cuts in his side burning. He was weak now and tired in both mind and body. The fury that had fuelled him had faded, his wounds and constant Raiz use having taken their toll. There was little strength left in him. Not know how long I last.
One ludenez spotted him and changed direction. It was no bigger than a sehseh, but its head was huge and deformed. It had five legs too which made it run in an awkward way, favouring the left side that had three legs. Long, broken fangs protruded from its mouth, a long tongue dangling in between them.
Get up. Not die here.
The ludenez's eyes flashed.
GET UP, BONOKOK. Melonaz focused his Raiz, then as it neared he rolled aside and, in one deft, Raiz enhanced move, sprang up and swung at its exposed neck. Its head came free in a spray of blood. He sank back to his knees, exhaustion setting in, Hakah's strain now racking his body.
GET UP. Fight until you die. Need to save the village.
He pushed himself up, used Hakah, cried out from the pain it caused, then charged back to the No-Braids, steely determination the only thing keeping him going. Even from a distance he could see the ludenez tearing through the villagers forced to fight. Men were being flung through the air, smashed to the ground, ripped apart.
Something suddenly bit into his leg and he screamed, falling down, nearly missing drawing back his expended Raiz. What looked like a massive, mutated bupbupz clung to his ankle, blood dribbling over its face. He stabbed it in its abdomen and it popped like a berry being bitten, purple fluid splattering out. It didn't let go so he stabbed it in the head. This time it released him. His leg buckled as he placed his foot back on the ground, the pain great, his eyes stinging with tears from it. Using Brubah he pushed himself back up. There was no chance of him continuing to fight without Brubah now. He hoped he was strong enough without using Hakah. Even with healing energy seeping through his body his muscles were seizing from using too much Hakah. His body would collapse soon, he knew.
Someone flew across his field of vision, bringing him out of his momentary reverie. It bounced off the ground and landed in a crumpled head. It was a Sehnal. The boy's face was frozen in an agonised expression.
A ludenez growled and he turned to see two red eyes glaring at him. It went for him. In desperation he threw Dajimoz at it. The blade penetrated the roof of its mouth, piercing its skull. It hissed, reeling back, losing its footing, kicking up snow as it fell down. He stopped Brubah, wincing as the pain reawakened, then created lightning and shot it in the face. The ludenez's head snapped back, its body convulsing. Starting Brubah again he rushed over to his enemy and shoved his hands inside its mouth, grabbed Dajimoz's hilt and pulled, trying to retrieve it, but it wouldn't come free. He groaned, pulling as hard as he could, but still it wouldn't budge. The ludenez stabbed its claws into his sides, ripping the flesh from him. He screamed, pulling harder, but all he managed was to cause himself yet more pain. He punched it in the eyes, surprised to hit something soft and not be shocked or burned, then hit it again, burying his fist into its face. It screeched and snapped its head to the side. The movement jolted Melonaz's arm, and to his relief Dajimoz came free. Before it could counter attack he buried the sword into its nose. It screamed and collapsed. Melonaz pulled Dajimoz free and hurried on before the ludenez could get back up to renew its attack.
Melonaz had barely caught his breath when another ludenez came at him. It screeched, whipping its long, spiny tail across the snow. He slashed at its shoulder as it pounced. To his surprise though the ludenez twisted in the air, dodging the attack. It raked a claw down his shoulder and sword arm, cutting deep. Melonaz screamed, dropping his sword.
With h
is other hand he picked it back up and stabbed at it savagely. The ludenez batted each one away, then slashed a claw across his chest. Melonaz struggled to breathe, pain burning across his chest. All his training, all his strength, his skill, was lost in a fit of panic. It smashed him to the ground and leapt on top him. The pain intensified, the air being squeezed out of him. He tried to raise his sword again, but couldn't. Saliva dripped onto his face, the ludenez's revolting smell flooding into his nose.
Something collided with the side of the ludenez's face and it was flung away, its body flipping through the air. It crashed back down in a crumpled heap.
The Lial loomed over him. Blood, both red and purple, coated his entire body. Melonaz had never been happier to see him in his life.
'Where you hurt?' asked the Lial
Melonaz struggled to speak. 'Arm....Chest..Leg.'
'Use Brubah.'
'Can't.'
'Focus,' the Lial demanded.
Another ludenez came for them, this one as tall as the Lial. It looked like a man sized lilnac, its glowing eyes wild, angry, violent.
Without hesitation the Lial sprung into action, Rorkaroz becoming a blur in front of him. Blood exploded out of the ludenez as the Lial's staff connected with it again and again, hitting it so fast Melonaz could barely follow. The ludenez's head caved in under the barrage of blows. Before it'd even collapsed the Lial had torched it with one huge fireball that seemed no effort for him to perform.
Melonaz tried to focus his Raiz. Breathe, breathe. Be calm. It seemed impossible. His chest grew tighter from the pain. He could barely move. His furs were drenched in blood from his many wounds. Calm. Calm. Not sense it if not calm. How be calm here though? It was like trying to feel for his Raiz for the very first time, he didn't know what to do.
The Lial set fire to one ludenez, then battered another with a flurry of attacks so ferocious that they broke the ludenez's body in moments. So strong. The Lial spun back around and swung Rorkaroz at Melonaz's head. Melonaz cried out in blind panic as the tip of the staff narrowly passed over the top of his head and crunched into something behind him. Melonaz twisted around just in time to see a ludenez's head crumple as the staff connected with it. It flew away, colliding with another ludenez that was advancing on their position.
