I shrieked the Atani battle cry, a sharp “ki-yi-yi, ki-yi-yi-yi” as I winged hard and fast, flying faster than sound. My eagle’s vision focused on Iyumi, on her horse, still guarded by faithful Padraig and loyal Sky Dancer. They hid behind a thick cluster of trees and rocks at the river bank, safe from the arrow-bombs. The river itself protected their rear. I felt no small relief as Kiera’s black and white form shifted within the shadows.
The river itself settled, quiet, and resumed its natural course after Flynn’s magical machinations. Malik still lay in his pool, silent, unmoving. There was no sign of Misty. Gaear flew over the river, no doubt searching for him.
Valcan swooped up and over me, still a raven. “Flynn lies behind that southern hill, Captain,” he gasped. “He has eight men with him. They run low on their supplies of arrows.”
“Excellent, Sergeant. Want some payback?”
“Yes, sir!”
“I think having a bull charging down upon their rear might have an interesting effect on their morale. Don’t you?”
“Indeed, my Captain.”
As Valcan banked sharply left, dodging another arrow-bomb, he veered up and down, and vanished behind the low-lying hills. As I deliberately placed myself between Iyumi and Flynn, flying low to the ground toward his hiding place, I knew he’d focus his attention on me. Not on the raven that disappeared. Nor was I surprised when he answered my challenge.
I almost failed to dodge the next arrow before it exploded in my face. Catching it from the tail of my eye at the last second, I snap-rolled hard right, my wings clasped tight to my body. It sparked past me, smoke trailing in its wake, before exploding harmlessly far behind my tail.
“Flynn,” I called, my voice high and humorous. “Come out, come out, wherever you are.”
I winged higher and higher, against the lowering sunset. The clouds cooperated by drifting, thinning, and permitting the last rays to fall upon the tall hill. Another arrow flew toward me, but the sun in the archer’s eyes put his aim to shame. It flew past me by rods and exploded harmlessly over the river.
“Don’t tease me,” I called. “Can’t you do better than that?”
Another arrow hissed many rods to my left and dropped into the river, sputtering harmlessly.
“I’m growing bored here, laddie,” I said. “Don’t make me come in there and get you.”
Another fire-arrow sped past, sparking angrily, to explode so far behind me I sighed down my nose. On its heel, the thunder of hooves and a bovine bellow of rage resounded from the hills. Valcan arrived, right on schedule. I winged higher, anticipating. I always loved surprises.
From behind the trees, chaos ensued.
Horses screamed in panic and bolted in every direction. Several dragged picket lines, and I recognized Flynn’s treasured Bayonne among them. Three men with bows in their fists ran headlong down the hill, leaping deadfall and rocks, evading sheer rage on the hoof. Valcan chased one down, goring the man through the back with one sweeping horn. Blood burst from his mouth and nose as Valcan’s hooves trampled him, smashing his chest and his spine. Another almost evaded the maddened bull, but Valcan was quick as well as clever. He leaped high and down, striking the ground parallel with the screaming henchman, and gored the man through the belly. Lifting his huge head, Valcan tossed him, still screaming hysterically, from his bloody horns in one deft move. Flynn’s loyal ally died in the bushes, his entrails tangled in the thorns.
Flynn’s vengeance came quick.
Before I screamed a warning, Flynn’s dark power rose from the shadows. He saved the best for last, that clever boy. Distantly, I heard faint chanting, the rise and fall of a deep voice inciting evil to come forward. Over the mountains, deep black clouds roiled, pouring like dark smoke down from the tall peaks. Lightning flashed within their depths. I knew this wasn’t the storm I predicted earlier in the day. Demonic thunder cracked, reverberating the very air I flew in. Evil electricity danced across my flesh.
The ground shook in answer. Mounds of tundra and stones rose, bursting asunder with soft explosions. Huge winged creatures, blacker than hell’s night, crawled from their holes and shook dirt from their scaly hides. Hundreds of them, perhaps thousands, covered acres of the shallow river valley. Gods, I thought. Cease this madness.
I thought them to be bats, at first, until the first one took to the air. Like a bat, it owned leather wings, but the resemblance ended there. Four legs tipped with razor-sharp claws, and fangs the length of my finger gleamed under the late sunlight. A short tail ending with a bladed tip swung back and forth like a rudder. I couldn’t count the number of mounds giving birth to these monsters as they screamed like wildcats and rose sluggishly into the air.
“Valcan!” I screamed.
He hesitated, pausing in his chase of the third man and looked up. As a flock of birds flew, guided by one mind, these devil-bats swarmed in a bunch. He saw them coming for him and bolted downhill, toward the river. Too late. A Shifter of Valcan’s skills needed a second or three with which to concentrate. They didn’t give him those precious seconds to focus and change forms into a creature that might outfly them. The swarm swooped low and struck Valcan dead to rights. His bovine jaws opened in a very human scream of agony and anguish. Blood poured from his thick dark hide in torrents as Flynn’s devil spawn ripped him apart and feasted on his flesh.
I couldn’t watch. My gut churning, my throat shut, I swung my face to the side and wished I could shut out his screams. Valcan! He didn’t scream long, however. He died quickly, thank all the gods. I still heard, however, the wet, meaty sounds as Flynn’s evil ate him raw and drank deep of his blood.
Horror tore through my soul. What had Flynn created? What were those things? Hell’s own angels?
Firming my gut, I sent a bolt of my own magic into one that plucked Valcan’s eye from its socket and gulped it down as though dining on a treat. My bolt merely sent a shudder through its sinuous body and brought a sharp squawk from its jaws. It returned to its feast, ripping a chunk of skin from Valcan’s cheek. I tried again, sending a more powerful burst of magic into a bat. It shuddered, briefly, and never turned to cast a reproachful eye my way.
Flynn himself strode to the top of the hill. “Hello, Van.”
Taking my eyes from the horror devouring my Atan brother, and a man whom I once called a friend, I stared down at Prince Flynn. My enemy. My country’s enemy. A man who I liked the moment I met him. The one I took pity upon and healed him with one stroke of my finger. The wicked soul who dared attack and attempt to seize my beloved –
He cocked his leg arrogantly and rested his fist on his knee. He grinned up, his wild mane of blonde hair dancing in the light breeze, his sword still sheathed at his hip. His bomb-master, Blaez, puffed his way up to stand at his side, his bag still filled with the toys we haven’t yet met.
I hovered as well as a Griffin could, back-winging enough to hold me in place over the hill. “Don’t do this, Flynn. Please. Stop this evil.”
“You’re a worthy opponent, Van,” Flynn said, straightening. “I don’t want to kill you. Give me the princess and the rest of you can go home. I swear it.”
“You know what she represents,” I yelled. “You know what’ll happen to the child. You don’t want that stain on your soul. Not even you.”
His face darkened. “I don’t care. Iyumi will be my wife. That’s all I want.”
His words burned like fire in my blood. Iyumi? His wife? He would dare lay his evil hands on – Rage coursed through me. The image of him and Iyumi, tangled together, bound by passion and greed – I lost my head.
Screaming, inarticulate, I furled my wings and dove down, hard, tasting Flynn’s blood on my tongue. I extended my talons, my beak wide, stooping upon my prey. With the same hunger a starving hawk hunts the unwary rabbit, I plunged toward him, my murderous talons out and bared. Within his single heartbeat, I saw my fury cast into his face. Malik’s dagger cut marred him forever. Mine would throw him onto the feet of his gods.
He flinched back, fear warring with the arrogance he tried hard to protect. He lifted his hands as though hoping the mere sight of them might send me hurtling past him and leave him unscathed. Ever the coward, he stumbled away, frantically reaching for his blade. As though that alone might slay me, mid-air.
Got you now, sucker, I thought, his essence splashed against my beak as I pictured myself tearing his head from his neck –
His dark creatures defended him. Black wings dove at me, tore into me, teeth cutting, biting. I screeched in fury, my talons raking one hell-spawn into pieces, and bit the head off another. My lion claws raked several more and sent them reeling into the ground, broken, bleeding, dead. My magic didn’t kill them, but my talons and fury did. With no thought to wonder why, I dove and snap-rolled both left and right, rising high with my wings beating strongly. I made them chase me, forcing them to lose the precious energy they so desperately needed. Vicious fangs snapped at my haunches, but melted under my rage as I reversed beak and tail. I blasted through their flock, an avenging angel on swift wings. As though I were Death’s own justice, I killed everything that flew, jumped or crawled into my path.
Bat-things died and their bodies crashed in dirty piles below Flynn’s hill, staining the ground with blackish-red blood. I caught a swift expression of panic cross Blaez’s pudgy face as he clutched Flynn’s arm. Flynn shook him off, his sword now out and pointed toward me. His voice, speaking the language of hell, roared.
The ground below his feet exploded.
Bat creatures by the thousands burst up from the rocky tundra. They zeroed in on me as though I were a simple lamb and they the hungry wolf. My talons, claws and beak sent bat-things by the tens, the hundreds, to fall at Flynn’s boots. Yet, too many more shrieked as they bit with sharp fangs into my shoulders, my flanks, my ribs. I killed five of them with rapid-fire slashes, only to have ten more take their place.
I can’t hold them –
Moon blasted in, wings wide and beak agape. His talons made hell-spawn mincemeat, cutting wings from backs, heads from necks. Black blood stained us both, and fell like rain onto the rocky bluffs below. Dark bodies crashed to the unforgiving ground to lie still, as yet more demons squirmed from the earth to shake dirt and fly.
“Moon!”
Shedding bat-things in all directions, I beat hard for the sky, suspecting these critters were low-altitude only. With Moon Whisperer hard at my flank, I strove for bone-chilling height where the air thinned. Sure enough, Flynn’s pets chased us only a few hundred rods before returning below. Like bees at a hive, they swarmed over the ground, trying to invade the shelter of the trees and rocks. I had enough time to gasp an order.
“Stay with her, Moon,” I said, circling to catch my breath. “Stay alive. No matter what happens.”
“Van?”
“Get her to the child and safety.”
“Wait, Van!”
Bleeding in a hundred places, defeat bitter on my tongue, I folded my wings and dropped like a stone. I didn’t wait, or search for Moon. Blasting through the sky at a speed seldom accomplished by the sane or self-preserving, I scattered the flock and sent many to their deaths on the rocky slopes below. Circling back, ignoring the demons that grouped together in attack mode, I bolted into the thicket.
Angry, humiliated, bent with fury at Valcan’s death and Flynn’s quest, I dropped into human shape the instant I hit the strand. Yelling in triumph, the winged shapes circled high above, taunting me with sharp cries. Flynn still stood atop his hill, his hand on his hilt, gazing down.
“Van!” Iyumi cried, racing toward me.
Though Padraig sought to stop her, she evaded him smartly with a quick dodge and slammed into me. “What are those things? Are you all right?”
She clasped me tight to her, her tiny breasts digging into my belly. Her arms around my throat, her tears smeared the gore on my chest as I wrapped her close, and held her. Her arms drenched in my blood, I kissed her on the cheek, smiling grimly down into her anguished blue eyes. “I ain’t done yet, m’lady,” I said, my tone soft. “Not by a long shot.”
“You’re hurt –”
“No worries,” I said, aiming for lightness. But by the grim worry in her eyes I knew my attempt fell far short of the mark.
“Van –”
“Find the little one,” I said, stroking my hand across her hair and cupped her cheek. “Then get your cute ass home. Got it?”
She grabbed my fingers in a grip that almost hurt. “Not without you.”
“Sorry, love. I’ve plans, you see.”
I jerked my head at Sky Dancer. Though it broke my heart within my chest, I spurned the love those blue eyes offered me. I rejected her, and steeled myself against the hurt I knew would follow. Though I tried to smile, I knew she wasn’t fooled. She was smart, that one. She knew what I meant to do.
Huge and implacable, Sky Dancer seized Iyumi by the shoulders and gently dragged her backwards. That tiny princess screamed like a banshee and fought like one. Invectives I never suspected a royal princess would know, much less repeat, spewed from her mouth. Iyumi clawed and twisted, her silver hair coming loose from its braid. But against Sky Dancer’s brute strength and firm resolve, she hadn’t a prayer. “Van! Stop it, damn you! Van!”
“You have your orders, Lieutenants,” I ordered, including Padraig in my glare. “See her safely home to our King. Flynn and I have unfinished business.”
“You don’t have the power,” Padraig said, his hand on my arm. “Captain, you’re weak –”
I caught his deep-set dark eyes. “Do your duty, Atan,” I snapped, brushing his hand away.
“Captain –”
“No matter what, Lieutenant,” I said, my tone soft. “You keep her safe. Understand?”
Padraig never saluted me, ever, in our history together. In his arrogance, he’d stomp past, pretending he hadn’t seen me. Under Malik’s command, he sneered down at me, confident in Malik’s love for him and safe under the Lord Captain Commander’s shield. He despised me, for what I’d done, at Dalziel. He promised revenge, just hours before. I met his hate-filled eyes, and begged with my own. No matter how you feel about me, keep one we both love alive.
His face expressionless, he nodded once, just short of a salute. “I will, First Captain. My oath on it.”
My glance caught Sky Dancer’s. “Your will, my Captain,” she said, her right talon clenched across her medallion of rank. Her beak dipped. “Come back to us, sir.”
“I doubt that’s in the cards,” I replied, catching Iyumi’s outraged stare under the silver fall of her hair. I saluted, fist to chest. I bowed my head. “My queen.”
My right hand drew my sword from its sheath. The sword the King himself gave me, the sword I cut myself with at my acceptance ceremony. I’d bathed it in my blood, so it knew me. Its hilt grew hot within my grip as I stalked out from behind the protection of the trees and the river. It thrummed with a life of its own as it sensed my intent.
I’d never before called on its power. I never investigated just exactly how much power it did have. A magician of Roidan’s level and skills could instill an inanimate object, such as a blade, with the same strength he himself owned. But to invest in it a presence of mind, to make it a sentient being – that took skills only the gods possessed.
My sword recognized me. My blood flowed within it. My rage was its rage. Its magic was mine, its strength my own. With it, I could level mountains, or empty the seas. Nothing could withstand me, should I turn loose the magic within the blue-tinged steel. Deep within my heart it spoke to me: we can do great good. We shall never do evil.
A black devil flew at me, its maw wide, fangs gleaming. A single spark from the tip of my blade caught it ablaze. It screamed as it burned, winging away to die in the sun’s last rays, in agony. Striding uphill, toward Flynn, I cut another demon’s head from its shoulder with a single, offhand swipe. Casual, as though I walked through my own estate’s garden, I stabbed, burned, beheaded, or flayed a
live every winged shadow Flynn set against me.
They tried, however. They tried. Grouping together, an immense flock of black flapping wings and bared fangs, Flynn’s vile offspring shut down the sunlight as they poured in a wave down the hill. As with Valcan, they sought to bring my down with sheer numbers. I paused, watching them, my blade lax in my hand. I waited.
I permitted them to fly within ten rods. I raised my sword.
The blade’s power magnified my bellow of challenge until the mountains themselves echoed and rang. White light burst from the sword’s tip, expanded, grew, then tripled in size within the span of a heartbeat. It cast a silver net over the attacking horde, enveloped them, and enclosed them within its embrace. They might have screamed, I think, but I heard nothing. To a bat, the winged devils exploded. Not singly, in rapid-fire pops. Oh, no, they blew apart with a hundred times the force of Flynn’s bombs.
After my white light vanished, only a fine black dust fell to the earth. All that remained of Flynn’s devil spawn.
Whirling my sword until it rested behind my shoulder, I stared up at Flynn on his hill. I stood close enough to witness his scar shine a pale red as his face waxed whiter than a ghost. He knew I had the power. He knew I could cut him down where he stood. Run, coward, I thought. Run while you still can.
On his hilltop, Flynn lost his arrogant stance. His own sword bared, he raised it, flashing under the dying sunlight. He also raised his left hand, in a fist. Lightning burst from his sword, into the heavens, flashing across the sunless clouds. He raised his voice in a shout heard by the gods themselves. His voice rang like thunder, echoing across the valley.
The Unforgiven Page 33
