Annals of the Keepers - Rage

by Christiaan Hile

  Sontar sat forward in his chair, hands cupping his chin between his thumbs and elbows on his armrests. “Have the fleet prepare for engagement. Stay within our offensive sphere formation.” He stood and walked to the forward view port. “So, this Human commander from the conference wants to be a hero. He has no idea what he’s up against.” Sontar turned back to his officer, licking his lips at the contemplation of things to come. “A glorious day this has become. Record the battle. Send the data to Dranneous Kor Command and to one Lintorth Sar. They will all see what a true general does in taking the fight to one’s enemy.”

  “Yes, my lord.”

  Sontar’s smile widened. “Have the fleet know they will attack to our front. From my past analysis of their tactics, they will come out of hyperspace about three thousand kilometers to our position. This Parejas Human is predictable. I can’t imagine how they survived all these years of being so obvious in their strategies. He doesn’t know the capability of a full Legion Flag battle fleet.”

  He sat back and devoured the view with his scheming black eyes, his fingers drumming the armrests in anticipation, awaiting the battle that was to come. “I will take the scorched carcass of that ship back to homeworld as a trophy for all to see. Lintorth’s failure in this system will be finalized and his Lore Father’s name will be stricken from the records. This is the day the Si Lord acknowledges me. Prepare to engage and destroy them.”

  Data CELL 64

  Madilay’s tears blurred her vision of the scene that was unfolding before her.

  The Kryth’s beast opened its massive jaw with razor-sharp teeth, leaning over its Human victim’s neck, saliva dripping with anticipation.

  Lieutenant Solix had his iron grip against Madilay’s throat, his eyes wide with excitement.

  The blade he held against her began to bite deeper into her skin, drawing a thin line of blood.

  Madilay gasped in air, about to scream.

  It would all be over soon.

  A blur of black with teeth and claws crashed into the aythra.

  Madilay blinked.

  Shawna looked back at her for an instant, just as confused. They both turned to look where the aythra had gone.

  A black blur.

  A streak of instant hope had dashed in with the form of a wolf.

  The large black wolf had struck the side of the Aythra, tossing it off Shawna’s helpless prone body, and was now on top of the aythra and fighting to get at its throat.

  Lieutenant Solix’s eyes, still wide for a whole new reason, stood in utter shock before looking behind him..

  As he looked over his troops, other wolves joined in the fray, attacking each of the other aythras and their handlers.

  The Kryth lieutenant stumbled away from the tree in fear, leaving his handhold of Madilay.

  She didn’t waste any time of her captor’s confusion of the moment, making her way down to Shawna. “I’m here,” Madilay said as she looked at her mother’s wounded shoulder. “We need to get you out of here.”

  Assisting the director’s good arm, Madilay helped her to her feet.

  They moved slow, but they had the time given now by their new guardians.

  Madilay stopped up ahead near a large tree to attend to Shawna.

  Blood continued to pour from her shoulder.

  She needed to think of something and fast.

  Madilay leaned Shawna against the tree and tore off her own shirt, making a make-shift wrap.

  “What’s happening?” Shawna mumbled. She was losing consciousness.

  “The wolves. They attacked the Kryth.”

  A slight smile broke through the director’s blood-stained face. “Good.”

  As Madilay bandaged the arm, she looked back at the horrorific scene of growls, teeth, and blood that now drenched the forest floor.

  The first morning rays broke the tree line giving, her an even clearer view at the carnage.

  The wolves had the upper hand.

  There were two for each of the Kryth and their demon beasts.

  She looked for the large black one.

  The brush rustled ahead with the two carnivores emerging.

  The aythra was bloodied, being upended onto its back with the black Bassor wolf delivering the final death blow to the creature’s throat.

  Though she smiled at the scene, her moment of relief was cleared away as she saw Lieutenant Solix, holding the knife he had held to her own throat, approaching the wolf from behind.

  “Oh no,” Madilay gasped.

  “What’s wrong?” Shawna’s struggling voice asked.

  “Stay here. Don’t move. I’ll be right back,” the young woman told the director as she got up from her crouched position and hurried back to the skirmish.

  ∞∞∞

  Solix approached the wolf from behind.

  The creature before him was still thrashing the throat of his own beloved Toxx.

  Fury flashed in his eyes just as the glistening of light reflected off his own blade’s edge.

  He held the knife at his hip, then lunged for the wolf’s neck; but the wolf, sensing the attack, dodged.

  The knife missed the neck, but dug deep into his right side.

  The creature reared back, yelping.

  Solix pulled the knife out and raised it again. “I will finish you off, wretched creature!” he cursed. “No beast is a match for the instincts of a Kryth!”

  The wolf’s hair bristled at its attacker. Its head lowered, fangs drawn back in a snarl.

  Blood ran down the side of the alpha as it backed up from the approaching foe before it.

  Solix moved forward, then backward, gauging the wounded creature.

  He vied for position, waiting for the right moment.

  The wolf lunged.

  That was it.

  Solix dodged to the side, then slashed the right side of the wolf with his blade.

  The knife found its mark again, leaving a long cut as the fur began to drip in a line from the blood.

  The alpha male backed up once more.

  “I’m just getting started, vile cur.” Solix, now confident in his situation, charged the wounded wolf.

  The wolf lunged once more, but found empty air.

  Solix had moved once more to the opposite side of the wolf, driving his blade forth, into the wolf’s left flank.

  The wolf fell from the momentum and his injuries.

  Solix brought his knife to bear one last time.

  The wolf’s chest heaved in and out. He bared his fangs and growled in defiance, turning his head as much as he could to face his enemy.

  Blood pooled around the defeated animal, mingling with the dirt and rocks.

  Solix approached the prone canine. “Now, I will take your last breath, you wretched mongrel.”

  He moved towards his combatant, but stopped short.

  There, standing behind the wolf, was Madilay.

  She was holding a large branch with a fire that burned within her eyes.

  Yelling out, she swung the tree limb, striking Solix in the head with a crack.

  His knife clattered on a rock at her feet.

  The Kryth stumbled back, tripping over a rock, then fell.

  Madilay leapt over the wolf to land in front of the lieutenant.

  She looked upon her downed captor with sheer disdain.

  Madilay readied her wooden club once more.

  Swinging high over her head, she gave all she had towards the Kryth.

  Solix rolled at the last moment, Madilay’s branch striking the ground with a hollow thud.

  The Kryth wasted no time to counterattack.

  Solix kicked twice, once at her wrist and once at the branch, knocking it from her grasp.

  Then, windmilling his legs around, he swept her legs out from under her with a swift sweep to behind the knees.

  Madilay fell to the ground, but didn’t stay still. As she landed, she rolled over and started crawling away.

  The Kryth grabbed at her legs, trying to stop hi
s prey from escaping.

  She kicked and screamed as he wrapped his large hand around her ankle.

  Madilay rolled back over onto her back.

  She continued to kick with her free leg, trying to break the Kryth’s hold.

  “No, no, Human. I have you. No need to struggle any longer,” Solix gasped between breaths.

  Blood ran down his sinister face while he smiled at his catch.

  He began to drag Madilay toward him, hand over hand. His depicable grin grew with each tug.

  She continued to kick, but he wasn’t affected.

  “I will skin you alive. You will beg for me to kill you, Human.”

  Madilay’s eyes shifted away from the Kryth Lieutenant towards something else.

  She stopped struggling.

  Solix’s smile grew, thinking she’d given up, until he noticed she was no longer looking at him, but behind him.

  The Kryth turned his head around to see what the female Human was staring at.

  Madilay wasn’t sure Solix had ever felt fear before.

  If not, he sure did now.

  Ten Bassor wolves approached, growling, with lowered heads and bristling hackles.

  Their low growls signaled their targeted prey.

  All ten pairs of eyes were locked onto Solix with ten snarling jaws full of sharp teeth.

  The Kryth’s mighty hand released its grip on Madilay’s leg.

  She crawled back away from him.

  The wolves got closer.

  Solix began to move backward along the ground, away from the beasts before him.

  He started to grasp at any object he could to use as a weapon.

  His hand landed on Madilay’s foot.

  He looked up behind him.

  There, standing above him, was the young Human female holding a large jagged rock.

  With a gentle smirk, she dropped the rock on his hand.

  Yelling out in pain, the Kryth released his grip on her boot.

  Madilay stepped back.

  The wolves had now begun to encircle their prone victim, closing in on him.

  Madilay took one last glance at her assailant before turning and walking away.

  The last she saw of him were his Kryth eyes, wide as they’ve ever been, hearing the sounds of his death in those low growls and gnashing teeth.

  She heard a scream before it turned into a muffled gurgle, then the sounds of flesh and bone being torn as she made her way back to Shawna’s location. She saw hover lights appearing through the tree line.

  Madilay nodded and smiled to herself.

  It was over.

  But, before she made it back to the director, she stopped and looked back.

  The sounds of the dying Kryth had ended now.

  The cool morning air began to blow with the arrival of sun beams.

  She looked and, there up on a small knoll, was the black alpha wolf.

  He was bloodied and ragged, but standing.

  The injured creature limped down the mound of grass towards her in a gentle, yearning movement.

  She didn’t hesitate and walked back toward him.

  Madilay sensed no fear from the wolf.

  She approached.

  The wolf sat, whimpering as he did so, in the tall green grass before her.

  She sat down beside him and place her hand upon his neck.

  The wolf gave her leg a gentle nudge, then rested his head there.

  “We’re going to be fine,” she paused, thinking, “What shall we call you?” she thought aloud.

  Stroking the wolf’s fur, a smile came to her face. “We can’t call you ‘Alpha’. It’s just too plain, even though dad may like it. We need something that fits you. A strong, fierce name.”

  Madilay watched as the rescue vehicles approached.

  She caught the wind with her face and closed her eyes.

  “I know,” she said. “I know a good name for you. How about…Hope. Hope is a fitting name for you. What do you think?”

  A shallow, acknowledging wimper came from the animal and he raised his head to lick her face.

  Madilay laughed. “Rage it is then.”

  The two sat there awaiting the rescue teams that were sent out looking for them.

  Around her, the wolves howled, and the hover-unit lights all started moving toward her location.

  Madilay saw them reach Shawna before they started heading her way.

  With all that behind her, she began to look over each of the wolves from the pack as they came and lay down in the field next to her.

  What are we going to do with all of you? she thought.

  These wolves had been designed to guard a structure that had now been abandoned for centuries on a forsaken planet.

  What would become of them?

  Madilay smiled at her newfound friends and rescuers, Hope’s head in her lap. His breathing still labored, but breathing nonetheless.

  This was their moment as much as it was hers.

  The morning sun had crested the mountains.

  A new day had begun.

  Data Cell 65

  Flexing his hand on the kesslar’s handle, Lintorth watched the lithe Reaver. The helmet made it impossible to watch eyes for telltale signs of intent. The Human was tall for its kind, well over two meters in height, but not as broad as their leader, Kason, or as the giant he had fought before.

  Yaeris, the Korin Shai standing on Lintorth’s right flank, slid forward so that his feet didn’t disturb the debris that littered the stone floor between himself and the Reaver. Crouching, he feinted a thrust of his spear at the Reaver’s thigh. A thigh strike would be difficult to dodge and cripple, leaving both wounded in combat and unable to escape. The young Kryth was eager to prove himself against the mysterious Reavers and confirm his superiority.

  The Reaver swept her sword down to block Yaeris’ initial attack, then he deviated to a slash to the throat, perceiving the armor there to be weaker by comparison. Pivoting and tilting her head back, the spear point passed her faceplate, allowing the Reaver to grab the spear with the other hand and pull the Korin Shai off-balance. He had put too much weight on his front leg, attempting a lethal strike, overconfident and overexposed.

  The Reaver’s sword still low from the first block, the Reaver raised it and thrust while the Korin Shai hesitated, the blade sinking deep into his chest with punishing force. The Reaver extracted its sword from him, then raised it high and severed both his arm and tether on the spear and pulled it free from his grasp, claiming it for its own. Shocked and gasping for air from his punctured heart and lung, the Korin Shai fell to his knees. The Reaver sheathed the sword onto its sback, twirled the spear to test its weight, then thrust through it through his throat as he had attempted to do to it. Lintorth watched while the Reaver kicked Yaeris off his own spear.

  ∞∞∞

  Kercy heard the familiar sound of a Reaver’s assault rifle and crouched as she saw the Korin Shai stagger and fall under bursts of plasma and projectiles. Still crouching low to the ground she heard, “Not a duel, Kercy.” The broken message came across her channel from Cetan, one of the other team’s Reavers. She didn’t have time to respond as Lintorth’s spear streaked towards Cetan, the energy nimbus surrounding the spearpoint blazing. Sidestepping the spear, Cetan fired at Lintorth, but he was too slow.

  The sidestep had given Lintorth time to draw his sidearm, enabling Lintorth to open fire. The Reaver was rocked backwards as several plasma rounds hit him right in the chest, burning through his armor. He stumbled and hunched over, but did not fall. His nanites should be able to repair the damage, but he’d need time, Kercy thought. She fired micro-rockets at Lintorth.

  She watched the shells fly and felt the air in front of her…burn. A bright beam of energy scorched the air meters in front of Kercy and Lintorth. It felt like what she imagined a dropship thruster on full burn would feel like, the heat was so intense even through her suit. Her visor automatically darkened, shielding her eyes from the painful flash. Her vision
cleared…and Cetan was gone. His upper body had been vaporized by the beam, leaving parts of his lower legs to flop to the floor in a meaty clatter.

  “No!” she screamed. Kercy felt the air vibrate and the heat increased again. A second beam blazed past her, not as close as the first, but close enough to make Kercy look for cover. She heard masonry collapsing in the distance where the beam terminated. What are the Vrae using?!

  Kercy saw the telltale red cloak disappear behind a large stone column. Cursing, she searched for similar cover, to no avail. She feared the weapon would fire again in a few seconds. Looking around for cover, any cover, Kercy followed her insticts and bolted away from the path of destruction of the devastating beam weapon. She ran as low as she could. That beam was decimating the entire structure and cared not for walls or columns. She just needed to not be seen by whomever fired it and hope it didn’t hit her by chance.

  Kercy heard the strange Vrae weapon fire again and saw the great flash of light as the beam scorched a path through the air meters behind her. The rate of fire was slow, she noted. It was over ten seconds between shots. It wasn’t dangerous as a rapid-fire threat, like most of the Reaver weapons, but capable of massive damage…including vaporizing an armored Reaver.

  A feeling of sorrowful anger grew inside Kercy, replaying the death of a fellow Reaver in her head. She had seen the beam of light scythe through some hapless Vrae soldiers and vaporize the upper torso of Cetan before terminating in a crackling bloom against a stone wall at the far side of the voluminous chamber.

  Once she was well away from where the beam was striking, seemingly targeting Lintorth now, she moved to higher ground and scanned the battlefield. Ramek was cutting a path through Vrae soldiers and the Korin Shai, making his way towards a large beast that collapsed in a mountain of rubble.

  Then, she realized how long it had been since she’d heard from him on comms. She hadn’t seen him in the battle for a while either. She started, aghast at the thought of Kason injured or dead. He had mentored her through training, already a legend before she had joined the Reaver regiment. She watched as Ramek dispatched another Korin Shai on his way to Kason. No one can stop that man now, she thought. She trusted Ramek to get the commander and forced her attention elsewhere.