Emily's Saga

by Travis Bughi

  “Judging by what you saw? You saw him?”

  “Not the rakshasa himself, no, but I’d swear before the gates of Valhalla that I saw his fleet. Could very well be I saw a different fleet of ships from some other warlord no one’s ever heard of, but I’d wager it was him.”

  “Facetious to the core, aren’t you?” Emily replied. “Just tell me what you saw.”

  “Well, after you and your friends disembarked, I had some time to myself. At first, I planned to enjoy the good weather, perhaps lounge aboard my vessel and feel the sun’s embrace thaw my chest hairs. That’s half the reason vikings raid, I think, to get away from the atrocious cold of The North. However, fate is inexorable, and I got bored.

  “I wagered I had a few days at the least, maybe even a few months at the most, before I had to be in Lucifan for this war of the world. You said it yourself; you had no idea when this battle was coming, which meant it could be damned near half a year away. This seemed too long to wait for me and Old Man Gelik—he might die at any moment, he swears, yet still he helps row the ship—so I was struck by a bright idea. I would go see this coming doom for myself. My crew was in agreement. They wished to see this mighty army with their own eyes, so we dipped our oars and pulled out to sea.

  “From there, things became a little tricky. In the ocean, there is no set path, like a trail through the mountains, but there are natural currents that a wise sailor takes advantage of. Unfortunately, these natural currents are large swaths of space. Fortunately, there is nothing to hide behind at sea except for the curve of the world itself. I only had to get close enough for my eyes to see.

  “I judged for myself which way this fleet would come, and because I am a Valgrith and a jarl, I chose correctly. Only two days out and we came upon an expanse of ships that took my breath away. The fleet covered the horizon as a thin line of dark wood topped with white sails. I made each of my crew take a long look, ensuring that none of us was under a spell or drunk, before we turned tail and rowed for all we were worth back to Lucifan.”

  “How many did you see?” Emily asked.

  “Not the faintest idea.” Valgrith frowned in apology. “I didn’t get close enough to count. I wanted to give you as much of a warning as I could. I’d say there were hundreds, and my crew is mostly in agreement, though one crazy man swears he saw thousands—but he’s a rotten liar, always has been. If I had stayed to count, I wouldn’t have been able to warn you.”

  “Damn.” Emily sighed. “Why are we just now hearing this? Surely someone else would have seen this fleet. A merchant ship, surely?”

  “They would have been captured.” Valgrith shrugged. “Either that or they headed away from Lucifan to avoid the fleet and thus fell behind, and why would they come back to warn the city anyway? There may very well be plenty of people who know Lucifan’s doom is coming, but they are all trailing behind the fleet or stuck in Savara wondering when they’ll hear the battle’s outcome. I tell you, if we could train griffins to deliver messages across the sea, we most certainly would have heard of this.”

  Emily leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath. Everything was happening so fast. It seemed such a stark contrast to the countless days she and Takeo had spent wandering the lands to the north. For a brief moment, and not for the first time, she wished to return to those days. Then she dashed the thought and remembered the burden she carried.

  “Thank you, Jarl Valgrith,” she said. “It startles me how much I owe you and how little I know you. Were it not for you, Lucifan might be nothing but ash and ruin or otherwise enslaved and demolished by the time I reached here. I know you’ve said it’s an epic battle you seek, but if you’ve changed your mind, I promise to see you paid for what you’ve done so that you can return home alive, well, and richer than when you came.”

  “No wealth can match Valhalla,” Valgrith replied, “but if it happens that I survive this fight, I’ll gladly collect.”

  “Ephron bless your zealotry and greed.” Emily smiled. “Now I have to go and warn Sir Mark. Preparations will need to be made.”

  Emily found the vampire in his office within the barracks. The sunlight had not yet fully faded, so he waited indoors until such time allowed him to leave. For the first time, Doles gave Emily no disparaging remarks and immediately granted her entrance. She thanked him as usual, not because he’d demanded it, but because she remembered Leda’s words.

  She had no idea how much time either of them had left.

  “I hope that this rakshasa, this Jabbar,” Mark said after hearing Emily’s words, “comes at night so I can meet his forces myself. I won’t lie; your warning that he could kill me brought more intrigue than worry. Not only does that part of me still linger, that part that longs for death, but the presence of immortality is slowly changing my view of life.”

  “Save the philosophy lesson for peacetime,” Emily said with a wave. “I got enough of that at the tavern, and I’ve spent enough time contemplating it on my quest for revenge.”

  Mark shrugged, which made Emily blink, and then he produced map of Lucifan and its bay. On a table before them, he spread it out and held it in place with an ink pot and a letter opener.

  “You might be surprised to hear this,” he said, “but I plan on having you present when I plan our defenses.”

  “Once, I would have been surprised,” Emily said and shrugged, “but now I have a colossus, and you seem to have grown a heart.”

  “A heart?” Mark said slowly. “Yes, I suppose my past actions were heartless, but perhaps I do have one now, as cold as it may be. Ah! What I am saying? Enough of philosophy, let us speak of war. As I was saying, I’d prefer Jabbar’s forces to invade at night, but I doubt he will listen to my pleadings. That would be foolish on his part. Sailing a fleet through the bay’s mouth at night, especially of the size this Valgrith claims? He’d lose ships, even with a bright moon.”

  “I think he’ll try for it,” Emily countered. “Jabbar knows I have a colossus at my command. He was either there with Katsu when I told him, or he’s heard about it from Katsu’s samurai. The colossus could kill more ships in the daylight than rocky shores ever would at night. I think we need to be prepared at all times.”

  “Oh, that is a terrible certainty. I will have my forces alert and at the ready, rotating in shifts so that when Jabbar comes, no more than one third of my forces will be lacking proper sleep. I wish that could be lessened.” He stood up but gestured for her to remain seated. “Wait here, Emily. I must alert my advisors and subordinates. I’ll have Doles come and fetch you when the meeting has begun.”

  And so, in the middle of the night, a plan was formed.

  The forces of Lucifan counted several thousand now, several times larger than it had ever been before. Sir Mark still believed it to be horribly frail, and judging by the size of the battles in Juatwa, it was. Luckily, this battle would not be fought on the open plains, but in the narrow streets of Lucifan. Shield walls, barricades, and quick moving squads could work wonders for the defenders who knew these streets well. Sir Mark would empty the city as best he could of the weak and defenseless and meanwhile put a sword into every able and willing hand that could carry one. Those untrained individuals would not be at the front, but they would be present, and they would count for something rather than nothing if the time came. Or at least, that was the hope.

  As for the colossus, Sir Mark spoke of it as if Emily were not there. He spoke of the statue as if it were an entity with its own will, as if it would do as it pleased, and what Mark most hoped for was that it would sit at the mouth of Lucifan’s bay and pull as many ships under the water as it could.

  More than one set of eyes flicked to the small girl with freckled cheeks, brown, wavy hair, and an amazon bow sitting in the very back of the conclave. Their glances spoke volumes, and Emily could see that word had traveled fast. Sir Mark had not come alone when Emily had revealed the colossus, and those with him had likely spread the word. They glanced at her briefly, but frequently,
denoting an aura of fear and awe that Emily was becoming used to. The rest of the city might still believe the colossus had returned of its own volition, but the Knight’s Order knew differently, and that secret would not be kept.

  In times to come, legends would speak of a small, human girl who had commanded the greatest weapon time would ever know. It was enough to make Emily ponder how she should feel about that.

  Last she had been in Lucifan, she’d put such effort into remaining anonymous, trying to avoid the judgment of those she would never know. Looking at it now, though, she wasn’t sure of what she feared. Her other problems seemed so much bigger, grander, and far more deserving of attention. With armies poised to clash, here she was, worried that people would know her name and terrified because she didn’t understand what it would mean.

  Was it really so bad to be known? If she did become a legend, a myth, or a story told in the ages to come, would that truly have any effect on her life?

  Then she realized she was contemplating the future and scolded herself for being a hypocrite.

  “Empty the armory,” were Sir Mark’s final parting words. “Every dagger, sword, and shield has a home now, and I won’t have anyone scrambling for a weapon when the ships come through the bay. Spread the word. Any who wish to leave Lucifan had best do so now. I don’t care where they go, but they had better do so in a hurry. Take what valuables they can carry and be gone. If it so happens that we lose this battle, I’ll not leave helpless citizens for this rakshasa to enslave. They, above all else, are the angels’ legacy, and I’ll fight until the sun rises and turns me to ash before I let barbarians destroy it.”

  That prompted a rousing cheer, and Emily ignored the twitch in her throat at the mention of the angels. She wished that Sir Mark hadn’t mentioned them. It seemed wrong that he had, and for a moment, Emily had a gripping fear that she had been wrong to forgive him, but the feeling passed as quickly as it came.

  There is no looking back now, she thought. The moment you made me for has come. I am your champion, Quartus, and I will see your enemies defeated.

  Then the panic started.

  With several thousand troops at his disposal, Sir Mark’s warning that the fleet of ships was nearing swept through the city like wildfire. In the waking hours of the early morning, Lucifan’s normally packed streets became flooded with bodies. After seeing the colossus return, few to none doubted the truth of Mark’s words, and it seemed to Emily that nearly every person wanted to get as far away as possible. Not a single street, not even the alleys, was left open. All through the day, people gathered what they could and left with sacks slung over their shoulders or carts packed to the brim.

  Not everyone left, though, the leprechauns chief among them. Too many of them had gold, coins, and wealth too vast to carry by cart, and they vehemently proclaimed they would rather die than leave a single copper behind. No one doubted their word nor bothered to dissuade them. However, when the ogres came and pressed daggers into the little people’s hands, saying they had better be prepared, a good many of them realized that most of their wealth ran in their own veins. Those leprechauns who saw reason over greed were the last to leave Lucifan. The rest stayed behind; whether for greed, glory, or honor, Emily would not judge. The greater evil was soon to arrive.

  To Emily’s relief, not one of Sir Mark’s recruited ogres fled, and neither did any knight who had been inducted during the angels’ rule, but a few of the more recent members left. They were a small number, hardly noticeable considering the flood of souls who came to the knights’ barracks looking for a sword and shield to defend their home. Sir Mark armed every single one of them he deemed capable.

  Emily’s family, her friends, and the amazons also stayed, though they made it quite clear they did so only for her.

  “We’ll stay in The Kraken’s Eye,” Emily promised. “I can control the colossus from here, but I’m not really awake in my own body when I do it. I just need you to keep me safe.”

  “I’ll take the first twelve,” Abe said immediately, drawing his overcoat back to show off his six-shooters.

  “Thank you,” Margret said, tears in her eyes, “thank you all for staying here. I know you’re not doing it for me, but I don’t know what I’d do if I lost this place.”

  “Don’t be silly,” Adelpha replied. “This is as much for you as it is for Emily. If things go bad, you’ll be coming with us. It’s about time you were made a proper amazon anyway.”

  Next came the second hardest part of any fight: the waiting.

  They waited in silence, surrounded by sounds foreign to the grand city of Lucifan. After the fleeing crowds were dispersed and the new soldiers were recruited, Mark kept his knights busy building barricades to block certain streets in an effort to funnel the invaders into areas more advantageous to the defenders. Outside The Kraken’s Eye, Emily heard no shouts from vendors or buyers at the market square, nor even the rattle of carts or the quiet thunder of thousands of padded feet. Instead, she heard hammers striking wood and stone, commands shouted in dominating voices, and the neigh of pegasi as mounted knights flew overhead, trying to foresee what would inevitably come.

  Inside the tavern, the silence was only broken by the few odd sounds of impending battle. Over there, an amazon cut arrows while another sharpened her knife. The light clink of metal stuck out as Abe checked the cylinders of his pistols or counted the bullets in his pockets. Long, grating scrapes drowned out the others as Takeo sharpened his katana. Nicholas, Fritjof, and the other vikings tested axes with their thumbs or hefted heavy hammers.

  Amongst it all, Emily struggled to sleep. The two previous nights had wreaked havoc on her normal routine of sleeping through the night. Now, as the sun was setting, she yawned, but could not close her eyes. Alertness forced itself upon her weary body, and she imagined Sir Mark’s forces encountering the same problem. At least a third of his soldiers were out there, trying to sleep in case Jabbar did not come, and they were probably struggling just like Emily.

  In the end, though, her struggle was for naught. Just as the sun set and the guard was about to be changed, Emily heard the loud thunder of a horn in the distance. Then one closer went off, then another further away, and then the whole city was blaring with the noise of every horn Mark had handed out.

  Jabbar was here, and Emily closed her eyes.

  Chapter 29

  Emily’s vision became filled with the darkness of ocean water. The tides swept across her stony exterior, trying to push her aside, but lacking the strength. The ocean was no match for her anymore. She was strong now, stronger than anything alive. She was even stronger than a rakshasa with an army of murderous henchmen.

  Or so she hoped.

  The colossus was standing at the bay’s mouth, just deep enough for it to have to reach up to break the surface with its hands. What this meant was that Emily could not look across the water for the ships to come. She could only wait patiently until they came flowing over her head.

  When the colossus looked up, the first thing noticeable was the lack of light. Emily cursed loudly at Jabbar’s wit. By attacking at dusk, the light was such that his fleet could see, but there was little left for Emily beneath the waves. To add to this, Sir Mark would not be able to join the fight. Even a trickle of sunlight would burn the strength from a vampire.

  I hope it’s your ship I pull under, Emily thought. I will be looking for orange and black stripes.

  Emily waited, anxious and nervous, yet patient, considering all the time she had spent preparing for this moment. She imagined herself back in Juatwa, standing side by side amongst rows of armored samurai, waiting for Katsu’s army to reach her. At least then, there had been sound—terrible cries of pain and the ring of metal—to let her know when the battle neared. Here, now, there was nothing but water, and a deathly still silence.

  And then Emily saw a distinct shadow—not right away because the waves above were nothing but constantly shifting shadows—but this one stuck out because it did not f
ade and drift like the others. Its darkness was stark, slow moving in comparison to the others, and had a distinctly oval shape. And then Emily saw another one beside it, and then another and another and another, all spaced evenly about and traveling together, westward into the bay.

  So it begins, she thought and commanded the colossus to kill.

  Two large, stone hands reached silently up to the first ship. Their lack of noise beneath the water would have made a ninja envious. Emily could only imagine the shock the invaders would feel when the stone hands burst through the water on either side of their ship and pulled it under.

  So Emily commanded; so did the colossus obey.

  Massive fingers, each as big as a human, broke into the cool air and wrapped around the center of the first shadow. Emily could feel wood splintering under her grasp and imagined she could feel the screams bouncing off her rock skin. At a thought, the colossus pulled down, and the ship folded like a blade of grass. The wood fractured and broke in the center, swept beneath the waves. The once clear ocean was instantly littered with debris, barrels, rope, sails, and bodies. So many tiny bodies fell into the ocean, kicking and screaming as their armor and arms dragged them down. Emily did not hear their screams, though. She could only imagine them.

  Nearly all of those who fell into the water fought against both the pull of the sea and their own awe at the wondrous work of stone beneath the waves. Emily stared back at them through the helmet’s slits, seeing men and women, young and old, short and tall, bearded and shaved, with hair bright as the sun and dark as the night. They sank by, struggling to peel off their heavy gear before the salty water could fill their lungs.

  Emily put them out of her mind and commanded the colossus to kill again.

  Stone hands rose about another ship and pulled down. More debris and screaming bodies clouded the water.