Beastress Inferno

by Mark Albany

  She screamed in pain, drawing in one last gasp of breath before raising her hands. I could feel mine raising as well, and I knew that Aliana and Braire were reacting the same way. We were tied to one another now and committed. I quickly sucked in a breath, feeling the runes in my hand burning hotter than they ever had before a second before Norel released the most powerful bolt of lightning I’d ever seen.

  The ear-splitting crack! of the power being released was enough to knock me onto my back, my hands covering my ears as my eyes were momentarily blinded by the bright light that had erupted from Norel’s fingers. She’d released us just in time to watch as the bolt flickered up, faster than the eye could see, striking Cyron as he stood suspended in midair.

  For a moment, it seemed like he had somehow absorbed the blast. The storm suddenly went silent, like we were passing through its eye.

  Just as it came to a halt, I heard a roll of thunder. I looked up at Cyron, seeing his runes glowing brighter than before, gleaming in the darkness caused by the storm clouds. I could hear him screaming in pain a second before something exploded from his fingers. It looked like a massive fireball, as large as a house and burning intensely as Cyron released it into the distance. I didn’t watch it however, as it seemed that Cyron had needed to release that power. It took me a moment to realize the brilliance of Norel’s move.

  She hadn’t attacked Cyron directly. She saw him gathering power into himself for an attack, and knew that attacking him outright would end badly for all of us. She chose to feed him all the power we had inside ourselves instead, filling him faster than he could deal with. It had left him with too much power in his body, almost fit to burst, meaning he had to unleash the blast.

  He dropped to the ground, falling to his hands and knees as the four of us approached. I looked around, trying to find where Braire’s beasts were, but at the moment, we had greater worries to handle. Norel had taken possession of almost all our power for her attack. Even though Cyron looked like he was just as spent, he was still dangerous. A wounded snake that still had venomous fangs.

  “Do you think this is over?” Cyron asked, panting and looking up at the three of us.

  I looked around at the three sisters before shrugging, pulling my sword and pointing it at his neck. “Not particularly, no.”

  Cyron looked up at me, a smile touching his lips as he pushed himself to his feet, brushing what looked like ashes and cinders from his cloak, showing that his exhaustion had been an act. “I always knew you were smarter than you looked, Grant. I’ll bring you around to my way of thinking yet.”

  “Dream on,” I said, gripping the sword tighter.

  “It’s all a man can do,” Cyron said with a chuckle, as I watched his hand come up then drop. The result was a soft pop and the air suddenly filling with a foul-smelling smoke that made me gag and pull away, making sure to keep my sword up in a defensive stance. If Cyron was going to attack us through this cloud of smoke, there wasn’t much chance the sword could do anything if I couldn’t see him, but I also knew the odds were considerably lower if it was kept down.

  I finally managed to pull away from the damn cloud. The instinct to desperately swing my sword around was quickly quelled as I remembered I was in it with three people I’d rather not hit accidentally, so I quickly retreated, keeping my eyes open for the man. He never came at us openly. Never tried something anything so archaic as honor in a fight. There were always schemes and deceptions.

  But not this time. Well, technically, there was a deception, I realized as the smoke dissipated, revealing the fact that Cyron had made his escape as we were recovering.

  “Fuck!” I snapped, shaking my head. “I really thought we had him this time.”

  “You did?” Aliana asked, tilting her head. “After everything, did you really think it was going to be this easy?”

  Easy? This was an easy battle for them? I shook my head, planting the sword into the ground and leaning on my knees as I struggled to regain my breath.

  “No, but I like to live in hope,” I said, shaking my head. “Thinking that eventually things will go my way and I will be pleasantly surprised.”

  “Grant?” Aliana said, a bit of alarm in her voice bringing my head up almost immediately. “I think you might want to bring your sword up again.”

  I looked around and saw that she was right. While we were recovering from the fight, the golems in the city had been called back to where we were standing. I wasn’t sure why they weren’t attacking. Had they been waiting for Cyron to leave?

  “How many of them are there?” Braire asked, looking around.

  “A hundred?” I replied, pulling the sword out of the ground and raising it in a fighting stance. “I’ll take the fifty on the right, you ladies take the fifty on the left?”

  “Well, we’ll just have to start on each end and see where we meet each other in the middle,” Aliana said with a small grin. The levity was appreciated, but there was no mistaking the fact that we were thoroughly, utterly fucked.

  I took a deep breath. I had been thinking our greatest threat here would be Cyron, but as it turned out, we were going to be dying at the clubbed hands of his simple-minded golems.

  I started moving forward, wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible. Then I heard the sound of horns and battle cries from men rushing in from outside the city. The golems were suddenly distracted from the four of us and drawn into something a bit closer to a pitched battle. There were more battle cries coming from the ruins of the fortress. Prisoners were rushing up from the bowels of the dungeons and starting to take up arms against the golems.

  Even so, with two armies and the four of us in the middle, it was going to be a battle.

  “Fucking hell,” I muttered to myself. “I was really looking forward to dying early and not having to deal with this exhaustion for too much longer.”

  “Hey!” Aliana snarled, and punched me in the shoulder. “Don’t even joke about that, all right?”

  I nodded. I had only been half joking. It seemed like it had been forever since I had felt properly rested. I had been pushing myself as hard as I could over the past few months, and it felt like it was never going to end. Now Cyron was gone in a puff of smoke and Abarat with him, I assumed, off to cause more trouble and leave us all in more danger than before.

  My focus was waning. I needed to stay on track.

  Aliana and Braire took the lead as our little party rushed toward the line of golems that were being pushed back by the lords’ forces. I found myself being shuffled to the back of our troop, covering the back as we started pushing toward the line of soldiers. They were doing admirable work. I quickly realized that the survivors from the attacks were appearing amid the ruins of the city, starting to take it back now that they had help from the the lords who hadn’t been there for the initial defense. Hard-pressed as they were, the mages and the common folk were helping them get the upper hand, aided by the fact that the golems seemed to lose any semblance of tactical order. I guessed that since Cyron was no longer close enough to control them, they reverted back to mindless beasts of destruction.

  “My lord Gahar,” Norel called, waiting for the stout, bearded lord. He was atop a horse and his armor was dented from an attack. He quickly turned to face us.

  “Lady Norel, once again, seeing you alive and well warms my heart,” he said as he came closer, his voice muffled by the heavy plate helmet he was wearing.

  “I’m afraid the pleasantries will have to wait!” Norel called over the din of the battle. “Tell your men to aim for the head or neck. The spell keeping them in this state is in the mouth.”

  Gahar nodded but was detained in spreading the word as Norel quickly grabbed his horse by the reins. “Another thing, my lord, is that we have men pinned down near what is left of the Lancers’ fortress. If you could liberate them, they would add to your numbers by a significant margin.”

  “Of course, my lady,” he said, heeling his horse into a gallop.

  “
Should we have told him that the people coming from the fortress are all coming from the dungeons?” I asked, looking at the advancing troops. We were taking heavy losses, but it seemed these men had noted that the defenses around the city were weakened, and if there was ever a time to retake the city, it was now.

  “The men coming away from the dungeons weren’t common prisoners, you know,” Norel said with a small grin. “They were collecting armor and fighting in formations I’ve seen only one group of soldiers use in my time in this Empire; the Lancers. They must have been taken captive instead of killed when Cyron took the city. I wonder why. The man’s a pragmatist, and he would have to see the dangers of keeping enemy soldiers alive.”

  “A topic for another time,” I said, feeling renewed vigor fill my body. “Let’s take this fucking city back.”

  11

  I looked down at Norel, watching her sleeping in our little camp like we hadn’t just been through one of the largest battles we’d faced together so far. Knowing what I did about the history of the three sisters who weren’t sisters, I knew they’d been in even larger battles in the past. It explained the ease with which they took control of the offensive, commanding troops and making sure the city was taken before falling back to our little camp. Sure, there were spots in the city we could have camped out in instead of staying in the forest, but most of the city had been destroyed and what little remained was being used to house the soldiers and common folk who had remained and joined the fight.

  The three sisters agreed that it was best if we just headed back to the ruins of the old city to rest and recover. For myself, I thought that after how draining the fight against Cyron had been and considering that we would be leaving the advantage of numbers behind, we might have been better off remaining inside the city for the night, but my thoughts had been mostly put aside. The three sisters didn’t much care for spending the evening surrounded by humans just off a day of fighting.

  I had to say I didn’t blame them.

  Norel had settled next to me, laying her head on my lap and closing her eyes, drifting off to sleep as I pulled her closer, playing with her hair as she curled up even closer to me, making soft noises as she dreamed.

  I wasn’t lacking in wounds and exhaustion either, but my wounds were considerably less debilitating than the ones my teammates sustained. I leaned against the wall behind me, taking slow, deep breaths as I looked over to where Aliana and Braire were helping each other recover from the fight. They were speaking softly in elvish. The musical tones of the language made it difficult for me to stay conscious, as comfortable as I was, and as comforting as it felt to have Norel breathing deeply as she slept on my lap.

  Braire moved across our little camp to come sit next to me. I popped one eye open, watching as she ran her fingers over Norel’s back. I could see the healing magic she was using. I noted that it wasn’t quite as pure white as Norel’s, but it seemed to be doing the trick, filling the air with a light, fresh smell I couldn’t quite place.

  She tilted her head to look up at me and smiled,. “Do you need some help?” she asked.

  “Not at the moment,” I replied with a soft chuckle. “Sleep should be enough to help me recover.”

  Braire reached over, pulling my arm out from under the blanket I had over me to ward off the cold. My skin had more than a few scratches and bruises, mostly acquired after the explosion that happened when I broke Cyron’s spell, although I knew there were going to be a couple of minor wounds I’d missed.

  “You don’t need to heal those,” I insisted, taking hold of her hand gently. “They are just simple wounds that will heal over time. They’ll be a little unsightly at first, but scars harden a man, right?”

  Braire smirked and uncharacteristically left her hand tangled with mine. “I wouldn’t know much about that. I do know that scars aren’t that physically attractive to me, but maybe humans like them better?”

  I chuckled softly. “I have no idea, really. But these are just scratches, and they won’t leave any scars. Nor will my bruises, so maybe your efforts would be better used on yourself or saved for when someone else needs them.” I patted Norel gently for emphasis. The elf didn’t wake up, but she did shift so that she was pressed a bit more snugly against me. I smiled, stroking her hair tenderly.

  I looked at Braire, who was peering at her sister with a similarly affectionate gaze.

  We both looked up from our comfortable silence, hearing the sounds of horses hooves hammering on the ground outside. Not enough to indicate that the whole of the army was returning from the city, maybe just the lords and their close retainers after leaving the troops to maintain their position in the city. With all the destroyed sections making it difficult to set up defenses on the outer edges, they would have set their camps and defenses up closer to where most of the buildings were still standing. There were even some walls that could be built up should Cyron decide to attack again. Sure, when facing a man with as much power as Cyron had,they couldn’t rely solely on the walls, but it was better than not having any.

  I pushed myself up, gently moving Norel off my lap, then strode out of the ruins. Aliana took my place as Braire joined me to see what the nobles really wanted. The battle was over but the war would continue, and they needed time to prepare for Cyron’s next move. I pulled the sword sheath over my shoulder and made my way to where the lords were setting up their camps.

  Gahar was the first one to march over to me, his eyes narrowed as he looked around for Norel and Aliana, surprised to find only Braire and me there.

  “My sisters need their rest after the battle,” Braire said. “As I am sure you and your men do.”

  Gahar nodded. It was clear that he’d intended to talk to Norel but wasn’t so unwitting to think that he do anything but give Braire the same kind of trust he gave her sister. Or me, for that matter. I still wasn’t sure just how much the man trusted me. I did hold a title, but I also doubted that my status as a former slave was anything resembling a secret. Some higher-ranking lords and ladies might take offense at being ordered about by someone like me. Or maybe it was just my belief that I had no place here due to my former status. I had no idea.

  “The city is taken,” Gahar told us. “However, Cyron remains at large, and from the looks of it, in possession of a great deal of power that I believe he would have no issues with bringing to bear against us once he has recovered from his defeat.”

  Braire nodded. “All my knowledge of the man tells me that he will be licking his wounds and preparing for a larger fight in which revenge, not conquest, will be his main priority. He has been gathering power in the depths of the dungeon. While it would seem that his ambitions are a good deal more expansive, he will be focused on making sure history doesn’t remember his first step in his campaign as a massive defeat.”

  I looked over at Braire, narrowing my eyes, wondering where she was coming up with this sort of thing. She leaned closer to me, whispering.

  “Cyron, as I remember, was obsessed with his legacy and how he would be recorded in history,” she explained with a small smile. “To that end, I think he will be bending every inch of his will to retaking the Imperial City before the Emperor returns. I’m certain he believes that is the one man in the world who can stop him, which is why he took so long with his attempt at bringing his plans to fruition.”

  Gahar rubbed his chin, cleaning some of the soot that had collected on his heavy features. “I almost forgot about the man. He hasn’t spent much time actually ruling over his empire.”

  “Be that as it may,” Braire said. “We can be sure that Cyron will make his very best attempt at taking the city back, which begs the question of, how are you planning to defend the city as it now stands?”

  “Right now?” Gahar asked, looking around. He clearly hadn’t been anticipating this line of questioning. Honestly, neither had I. I couldn’t picture Norel or Aliana asking these questions. I wondered if there was some kind of relation between the three sisters that made Braire th
e one more inclined toward knowledge of battle tactics, even if Norel had shown herself to be an able commander during the fight.

  Gahar cleared his throat, nodding and straightening his back as though he was speaking to a superior. “The walls are being rebuilt in shifts. There are many who were wounded in the fighting that need treatment, and as such have been brought into the Lancers’ fortress. A great many of the soldiers are still scouring the city to make sure all of Cyron’s golems have been destroyed, with what mages we have in our number assisting them. The rest are creating defensive barricades to make the city streets narrower and more difficult to navigate without challenge. We were unprepared for Cyron’s attack before, my lady, but we shan’t make the same mistake twice.”

  Braire nodded with a small smile. “That is good work, my lord. Apologies if it seemed like I was doubting your abilities, or that of the men under your command.”

  Gahar opened his mouth, clearly expecting to have to defend his actions, but the small moment of silence from him told me that he was allowing his first impressions of Braire to be put aside. “Thank you, my lady. It has been a difficult time for our people, for everyone. We can only hope this was the first step taken to putting this nightmare behind us.”

  Braire smiled and nodded. “You look like you need some rest, my lord. I think we all do. Difficult times are coming, and we need to be ready to stand against them. Together.”

  The man nodded and quickly moved back to where his men were setting up camp for the night. From what they were saying, I could tell they wanted to make sure their command structure was kept as far apart as possible, to ensure that no one strike from Cyron could cripple them.