“I’ll tell them,” Hila said. “Maybe with Mahri’s death, they will understand what we face.”
Despite the warning, two more of the bhor fell. That left nineteen, including Vahi himself. The scouts reported that the humans had suffered minor injuries from some of the traps and combat with the bhor who were careless enough to be seen. Still, they were sound, able to fight well enough to remain a great threat. And they were coming closer.
“They will be at the last trap soon,” Hila said. “I have pulled everyone back to their positions in anticipation of the final ambush.”
“Good,” Vahi said. He wondered if they should go through with this. He had been sure the traps would have taken at least one or two of the party by now. All five were still alive. He didn’t like the odds, even with their well-planned ambush.
“Will we proceed?” Hila asked, obviously guessing what his leader was thinking. “We can disappear and regroup at the backup location. We have time to try to grind them down again in the coming days.”
Those were Vahi’s thoughts exactly. Could they defeat these five?
“No,” he said. “If they pass through the last trap and continue the rest of the day unhindered, they will return tomorrow with more warriors, or with devices or weapons that will shift the odds even more in their favor. We must act now.”
“Very well,” Hila said. “I’ll assemble the bhor in their places.” He started leaving, but then turned back to face Vahi. “It will be a battle for the stories, this one. I can’t recall any tales of bhor fighting Zouyim or Sapsyra, let alone both.”
Vahi nodded, still not comfortable with either of his choices. “Yes, it will be. Prepare the bhor. I will be there in a few minutes.”
Hila nodded and walked away briskly. He had a job to do, and he would do it, just as all the bhorgabir would. Vahi hoped it would be enough.
The leader of the bhor listened as the last trap was activated. It was a nasty thing, consisting of trip wires, pits, projectiles, and several stout branches that swept an area big enough for ten times their number to be caught. There was even a young tree that had been bent backward and attached to a cascading series of trip wires so that—well after the initial trap was sprung—it struck downward with a package of rocks tied up in cloth to crush any underneath. It was like a giant flail wielded by a huge arm. He didn’t hear any screams. Disappointing.
From the trap, the only way forward was through a narrow area between trees and a cliff face. It was not a place Vahi himself—or any prudent person, for that matter—would go, but it was either that or go back. The humans would expect a trap there, but they would have no alternative. At that choke point, Vahi planned to take advantage of his numbers and stealth.
The bhorgabir were arranged around the narrow pathway, a few in trees, some on the cliffs, but most hunkered down in the thick foliage surrounding the path. Each was ordered to keep the next bhor in sight. Vahi would start the countdown by holding both hands up, then slowly counting down while dropping fingers. Each subsequent bhor would do the same, up to the last one in the line. Only a fraction of a second’s delay would be introduced.
All the assassins had bows. Once the count got to five, they would pick up their bows in one of their hands, arrow already nocked. Some had grumbled about not being able to look their enemies in the eyes as they killed them. They didn’t seem to realize that in a face-to-face confrontation with these humans, the results would be unfortunate for the bhor.
Vahi raised both hands, letting the bow lean against him. He saw the next bhor, Hila, raise his hands, and then two more bhor in succession, before those further down the line were not visible to him. He took a breath and dropped one finger, noting that Hila did the same. He waited a few seconds to drop another finger. He now had eight in the air.
Seven. Whereas he had only heard the humans until then—actually, he only heard the young one and the bear; the rest made almost no noise—he spotted movement through the vegetation.
Six.
Five. Vahi reached down and picked up his bow, fitting an arrow to the string. He put his right hand back in the air with his fingers up.
Four. He could now see the first person, the Zouyim. His off-white robes moved as he walked but he made no sound. He was moving slowly and warily.
Three. The young man came next, the Sapsyr at his side.
Two. The other two, the woman who carried the circular metal weapons and the hunter, came into view.
One. The rakkeben ghosted through the foliage, along with the bear. It was the biggest bear Vahi had ever seen. He hoped they could take it down with arrows. Vahi had picked this spot partly because the wind seemed not to shift. They were downwind, so they would not be detected by the wolves or the bear.
Vahi dropped his hand and put it immediately to his bow. He drew it to his cheek smoothly, aimed at the young man—Chetra Dal had told him killing this man was the priority—and released. Eighteen other bowstrings strummed at the same time, but he didn’t pay attention. He was already drawing a second arrow and releasing.
The bhor leader had assigned targets to his underlings. Fully half of them shot at the young man, their highest priority target. He wasn’t sure why Dal wanted him dead more than the others, but Vahi followed his orders. The other half were assigned to the Zouyim and the Sapsyr, five on the first and four on the second. The other two humans could be targeted after their primary prey had been dispatched. The archers could fire two arrows per second for a few seconds, and then fatigue would slow them to one per second or even once every two seconds. Vahi hoped the wave of arrows would be enough.
The young man twisted and spun, separating his porzul wood staff into the two fighting sticks. He batted away several arrows and dodged the others. Most of them. He was grazed by one of Vahi’s arrows and another struck his forearm, but it was not severe enough to make him lose his grip on the sticks. The bhor leader kept shooting. A single mistake could end this for the man.
As his target, as well as the monk and the Sapsyr, dodged and struck arrows from the air, the small, black-clad woman disappeared. Movement in the foliage off to Vahi’s left made him realize what had happened. She had teleported to where one of the bhor hid and engaged him. If she surprised one of them, she may be able to incapacitate or kill him, making one less archer. He hoped she didn’t take too many of them down before she herself was killed.
The three targets still persisted in avoiding the arrows coming at them. The wolves and the bear had rushed into the trees, obviously going to attack the hidden archers. Already, the numbers of arrows flying had dropped by half, a combination of redirecting the projectiles to charging beasts and archers switching to melee weapons. It was not looking good.
The tipping point was reached as the enemies closed in to engage individual bhor, and almost all of the bhor swapped their bows for either their own claws or other weapons. The humans were jumbled within them so closely that the bows had become worthless. The hunter still targeted bhor with his bow, but the assassins opted for their weapons of expertise. Close range weapons.
Vahi himself shot three more arrows at the hunter. One of them grazed his shoulder, but he moved so fast, dodging this way and that, it was difficult to aim at him. He shot four arrows almost at the same time and Vahi slithered around them. Dodging arrows was like bread and butter to the bhor. It was almost the first thing the young assassins-in-training learned.
When Vahi stopped moving, he sensed more than saw a blade coming at him. He moved automatically, twisting to the side and a little down, allowing the blade to slice the air a hair’s breadth away. He recovered and looked at his opponent. It was the Sapsyr.
He looked her in the eyes and flashed a wicked smile. His sharp teeth were gruesome and his large eyes fear-inspiring, he knew, but they did not seem to faze this one. She crossed her swords in a salute, put on a small smile of her own, and came at him.
Vahi slashed viciously at her throat with the left hand and her midsection with his r
ight, coming in from opposite directions. The woman didn’t even flinch. She blocked the claws to her throat with one sword and sliced the tip off two of his claws going for her abdomen with the other. Vahi jumped back before the twirling blades could take his head.
His skin was tough, as all bhor skin was. So were his claws. In fact, they were so tough that most edged weapons could not even penetrate the skin. He had not thought that anything could cut his claws as she had just done. This one might be trouble.
Before the next attack, two bhor rushed the Sapsyr. Chala and Behru. Vahi scanned the other parts of the battlefield before joining them. The Zouyim was fighting three of the bhorgabir. Three! And he was striking them occasionally. That in itself was impressive, but Vahi thought he saw bruising on one of the assassins. The monk must have been striking not just with his hands and feet, but with the rohw as well.
The hunter had killed two bhor by striking the eyes multiple times with arrows. The bhor knew of their own weakness and had long ago evolved reflexes and musculature to twitch their heads very quickly to foil such a strategy. This hunter must be extremely skilled to hit such a small target while compensating for the defense mechanism.
The female assassin popped in and out across the battlefield, taking advantage of surprise to try to incapacitate the bhor quickly. She was having some measure of success, though he saw at least three groups of bhor clustered so one group could strike out if the woman appeared near another. That seemed to be working as well as could be expected.
As for the young man, he was fighting two of the bhorgabir with those sticks. Vahi could have sworn that at times, when the stick struck part of one of the man’s opponents, it glowed slightly. He was using the rohw as well, and holding his own against master assassins.
Vahi drew his attention from other parts of the battlefield and concentrated on the Sapsyr. Two bhor were striking at her, one on her left side and the other behind her. She was still facing Vahi, so he rushed in to help.
Wary of the swords, Vahi decided to attack her legs. If he could trip her or damage her legs, she would be much easier to defeat. He kicked at her tendons just above her heel, hoping to sever them, but one of her feet came up and turned aside his strike. Then the foot shot up more quickly than Vahi thought possible, and he felt himself tumbling to the ground, half his face burning as if it was on fire. He shook his head to regain his senses and joined the fray again.
But the Sapsyr had not paused. As her foot came down, she swung her swords to block Behru’s claws with one while reversing the other and digging a furrow into Chala’s chest. She turned the block into a circular motion, sliding the razor-sharp blade around Behru’s wrist. Vahi was surprised to see a red line grow into a wound that leaked blood in a constant stream. She had almost taken his hand off at the wrist, despite the thick, leathery skin protecting it.
Both of the bhor flowed away from the woman, out of range of her swords, then like waves, came crashing back. Chala tried to grab at her left arm to wrench the sword from it, and for that, she lost half her arm as the Sapsyr brought the long blade down along the arm and then pulled the hook toward her to capture the appendage. Blood spurted from the wound, and Vahi knew that Chala would weaken and die soon.
Behru, wrist still bleeding, tried to move around the Sapsyr’s guard to slash at her eyes while Vahi struck at her spine from behind, hoping to land a blow and affect her ability to move. Chala, knowing she was doomed, launched an attack with her good arm as well, from the Sapsyr’s right side and aimed at her throat.
The human spun counterclockwise, bringing her swords near her body like a shield. There was not a great amount of power in them, so the blades could not penetrate the bhor’s thick skin, but the force was enough to deflect all the strikes of the three assassins. She continued her spin while moving to her side, away from them. As she traveled, she extended one of her swords and slashed. The momentum from the spin, coupled with the extension of her arm, gave the strike a tremendous amount of power. Behru almost dodged the blow, but it sliced his ear, shearing it completely from his head.
Vahi was beginning to get frustrated. He had once fought two Zouyim and a warrior with a sword and had taken only one hit. There was no way this woman should have been able to foil their joint attacks. The proof was there, though. Chala stumbled. She was weak from blood loss and would soon not be able to stand. She was finished with this battle. Vahi looked to Behru and nodded. Without hesitating, they both rushed the Sapsyr again.
Vahi struck at the woman over and over, as did his fellow. High strikes to the face became slashes to the abdomen, which in turn became flurries aimed at her throat, eyes, and other vital areas. He struck out as fast as he could, trying to inundate the Sapsyr. She turned aside every blow she did not simply dodge. His fellow bhor had no more success. The one saving grace in the battle was that since they attacked her relentlessly, she was unable to swing the sword in large enough arcs to do serious damage to the bhor skin. Still, Vahi could see a few scratches on his companion and knew he himself had some as well, even if he couldn’t feel them in the heat of battle.
Suddenly, Behru made a noise Vahi couldn’t quite place. It was something between a gasp and a gurgle. Vahi didn’t like the sound of it. The other bhor looked at his leader, shrugged slightly, and then his eyes dulled and he fell forward. As he did, Vahi saw what had happened. The Sapsyr had somehow maneuvered the bhor so that she could wrap her arm around him and pull the spiked part of her sword toward herself. It was enough force to puncture the brain stem at the base of his skull.
Now it was only Vahi and her.
Vahi glanced around him. The only two other bhor standing were fighting losing battles to the humans. It was done. They had lost.
The Sapsyr burst into motion, twirling those blades in a complex figure eight type movement that kept her covered at all times. She moved toward him, feet twitching as if preparing to kick.
Vahi feinted a few times, trying to draw her guard out, but she didn’t bite. He kicked at her legs with lightning speed, but she casually shifted them a few inches, just enough to keep from being struck, and then she whipped her swords out in double slashes that Vahi barely avoided. He realized there was no way he could defeat the woman while she held the blades. His mind whirled trying to figure out what he would do.
She came at him with combinations of slashes, jabs and kicks, twirling to gain momentum for her strikes yet maintaining her guard even as she spun. Vahi slapped aside two slashes and moved in to jam a spin kick as it hurtled toward him. He struck out three times, lightning quick, trying to strike her face and throat. He had stopped her spin, but she was too skilled a warrior to be surprised by his strikes. She raised a shoulder to deflect one, rotated her arm to block the next with one of her swords, and struck at Vahi’s arm to foil the third. The woman was fast!
Continuing the motion from the sword strike to his arm, the Sapsyr spun the blade up and around, dragging the spike across the bhor’s forearm. Pain screamed through him as it scratched him. The wound was not serious, but it hurt. Extending her arm as she rotated her body, the hook side of the same sword slashed across Vahi’s chest. This time, he felt the skin part. He jumped back to avoid the sword strike from her other arm. Looking down, he saw blood oozing from the gash in his chest. Too close. He had to think of something fast.
The woman did not let up. She lunged at him, and he slithered to the side just enough to miss the blade. He dropped his shoulder and rolled to his right to gain some distance. As he did, he grasped at an object on the ground so that when he came to his feet again, he was holding the quiver with arrows still in it.
Grabbing the arrow shafts near the fletching, Vahi flung the quiver itself at the woman. She easily knocked it from the air with her sword and squared off against him once again. She had a curiosity in her eyes, as if to ask him what he planned on doing with the arrows he had in his hand, but she said nothing.
It was time. Vahi threw the dozen arrows at the Sapsyr, rotatin
g his torso to lend them power, splaying them out just before releasing them so that they went toward her in a fan. The wall of projectiles, though not as fast as if from a bow, still took all the woman’s concentration to dodge or deflect. In the second it took her to defeat the obstacle, Vahi turned and ran through the heaviest foliage, away from the rest of the humans.
As he darted, four arrows came at him, almost at the same time. One struck his shoulder but did not penetrate, and the other three narrowly missed him as he darted to the side, expecting that the hunter would shoot at him as soon as he was not in close proximity to the Sapsyr. Three more arrows struck trees as Vahi flowed around them. No matter their other skills, these humans could not catch him at a dead run through thick vegetation. He moved like a snake, losing no speed in dodging smoothly around obstacles. Soon, he was far enough away that he could not even hear them finishing off the last of his brethren.
The wound in his chest would not cause him to bleed to death, but he’d need to stop the bleeding anyway. Bhorgabir healed quickly, as they were created to do. He would survive, but that did not minimize the pain he felt in his heart over being the last of the bhor. In one battle, an entire species was doomed to extinction.
Yet he still lived, and as long as he lived, there was hope for the future. He had to get back to Chetra Dal and report his failure. He would not enjoy that. He would do it, and he would mourn his people, and then he would determine how to take vengeance on those who had destroyed the entire race of assassins. It wasn’t personal, and he didn’t think it with a hot temper. It simply needed to be done. Somehow. He was the only one left to do it, so do it he would.
Chapter 15
Nalia watched as the last bhorgabir fled through the forest. It was unnatural the way the creature moved through the terrain, flowing around objects as if it was made of water. The forest was not her domain, and she knew she could never catch her foe. Emerius had stopped shooting arrows after the first eight. The bhor could no longer be seen through the thick trees and undergrowth. It was gone.
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