Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One (37 page)

From the other direction, Tamael
continued to press forward, swiping with his
powerful claws
and
ripping
flesh as he pushed the next Anduar backward. 
But
the third
soldier
swung around his right flank with
a
vandrekt
in hand
.  T
amael didn’t have time to react or even regret his terrible oversight. 
With a single powerful thrust, the spear
punched
through
his chest
and stole the air fro
m his lungs
.

When
the first
Anduar
fell before his
powerful jaws, Batarel
turned toward the remaining soldiers.  One
was holding a spear that extended from his two-handed grip through Tamael’s chest.  The fierce
,
massive cat
had already gone
limp and
was
drop
ping
to the ground.

From somewhere inside him, rage welled up and clouded every other thought.  Bursting forward, Batarel
collided with the
legs
of
the
unarmed
soldier
and knocked him to the groun
d
,
then jumped for the
next one
.

Seeing sudden movement from the corner of his vision, the
Anduar
released his grip on
his
now immovable
spear and turned slightly, bringing his hands up in front of his face.

But Batarel wasn’t aiming for the soldier’s face.  Instead, he tilted his head and opened his mouth as wide as his jaws would allow.  Slipping underneath the
Anduar
’s
arms
, Batarel dug his teeth into the
muscled abdomen, feeling a grinding sensation as he bit into the angel’s lower rib cage.

The soldier fell backward, just as the other one had done.

Operating by the instinct that came naturally to his animal form,
Batarel used the momentary leverage to jerk his head from side to side.  The powerfully muscled core of the ground soldier easily gave way to sharpened teeth, and the flesh was shredded in seconds.

Batarel released his grip
when
the soldier hit the ground
.  Then he
spun around
to face the
final
soldier
who
had now regained his footing
and was holding a
vandrekt
.

The
Anduar
crouched low, holding the butt end of
the
spear
against his right hip, with the bladed tip pointing menacingly at Batarel.

Without the benefit of surprise, Batarel was now at a disadvantage to the soldier’s sturdy
position
and weaponry.
  Moving carefully to the side, he watched the
Anduar
simply pivot to keep the bladed tip of the spear between them.  The silence of the misty forest returned, and Batarel could now only hear
his own
harsh breathing
and that
of the enemy.

The
Anduar
pivoted
on legs bloodied by Tamael’s claws
.

Batarel stepped to the side, circling his enemy.

T
he soldier lunged forward and thrust his spear.

Batarel dodged
to the side and attacked instantly.  The soldier’s blade grazed his neck and shoulder as
he leaped forward and moved quickly inside the soldier’s defense, biting down hard on
his
fleshy upper leg.
  When his
feline
paws came to the ground, he twisted with all his might
in an attempt
to throw the soldier off balance.

But the
Anduar
didn’t budge.  Ground warfare being their specialty, their massive size and low center of gravity made the
Anduar
ym
nearly invincible in hand to hand combat.  Instead, the soldier fought through the pain to retract his spear and shove it through the animal’s shoulder.

A yelp of surprise escaped
Batarel
’s throat as he
released
his jaws
and snapped instinctively at the weapon, shearing the wooden shaft from its metal tip.  The searing pain spreading through his shoulder was almost lost amidst the choking weight that now fell on him
.  P
inned
to
the ground, Batarel looked up to see the
cold stare of a battle
-
hardened warrior. 
B
oth of the
Anduar
’s hands
were
firmly grasped around his
throat
.  The soldier now had his full weight on top of Batarel, with his legs spread wide for balance.

Sensing the nearness of death, and the uselessness of his animal form, Batarel
s
haped
into his
angelic
body
and allowed his consciousness to drift toward the
E
ternal
R
ealm.
  His vision began to darken
as he reached out toward the face of his enemy.  Whether in the physical realm or the small fragment of the
E
ternal that clung to it, he couldn’t be sure what part of creation he
now
saw.  The face and arms of the
Anduar
began to swirl with colors, their shapes undulating as if underwater.

So many times, he’d stared into faces during the
Shaping
—both
human and animal. 
But most
had been
unaware of his presence.  This time, the face wore a different expression.  This time, the form in front of him wasn’t being
s
haped
; it was choking the life from him.  As a feeling of euphoria came over
his body
, Batarel closed his eyes.  In the absence of vision, a melody came into his mind.  It was
Myndlagid
,
a
S
ong of Shaping.  He smiled at the familiarity and comfort
and
began to sing in his imagination
.  His frantic, grasping hands slowed and his
fingers
began to
pulsate
with the
melody.
  But the melody
turned and took on
a discordant sound
, driven in a different direction by the anger that
was swelling
inside him. 
He thought of Tamael
; h
is spirit being pulled into the
E
ternal and kept in the
P
lace of Holding for the Final
Judgment
.  He thought of Semjaza
and his obedient soldier who
now threatened to take everything away.  He realized that the melody in his head came from the song in his heart.  And the song in his heart
now
desired, more than anything, to destroy
all
that Semjaza had worked to establish.

Batarel opened his eyes and saw the straining face of the soldier, the knotted muscles now rippling along the
Anduar
’s forearms.  He saw his own hands and arms extending upward into the air,
no longer grasping at the face of the enemy, but
waving
along with the melody
instead
.
  Looking deep into the soldier’s form, seeing both his
existence
in this realm and the other, Batarel allowed the melody to grow and fragment into a complexity that only the Myndarym knew.  He felt the discordant notes running counter to the melody and saw a unique beauty in them.  Focusing all his attention, he realized that the melody was now sounding in reverse, a Song of Un
shaping
.  Despite the realization that it was a tactic of the
Nin
-
Myndarym
, he sang in his mind and used his hands an
d
fingers to direct
and focus the notes.

All of a sudden
, the chest of the
Anduar
exploded outward
.

Batarel
flinched,
quickly clos
ing
his eyes
as he
felt something wet splatter against his face.  The air came
suddenly
into his lungs again as the grip on his throat relaxed.
  Lying there in the stillness and silence Batarel breathed deeply
of
the moist
, jungle
air
. 
He opened
his eyes
and s
aw leaves and branches overhead, obscured by the mist and fading light of dusk. 
When h
e sat forward
, he
found a ghastly scene.

The force of the explosion
had thrown
the body of the
Anduar
backward and to the ground.  His ribcage was torn open and exposed.  Blood
and entrails were
everywhere
.

A sharp stab of pain in his shoulder
quickly
reminded
Batarel
of
his whereabouts
.  Reaching around with his right hand he removed the long metal object from his shoulder and held it up in front of his face.  The twelve-inch, double-bladed
point
was dark with his blood. 
Some of the shaft remained, shredded and broken on the end from the bite of his animal form.  As he stared at the weapon in his hand he remembered the soldier that had passed by earlier,
likely
carrying the
knowledge
of
Senvidar
’s location
back to Semjaza.

Batarel exhaled a deep breath and looked over to the limp animal form of
Tamael
lying nearby.  His
fingers
involuntarily tightened around the weapon in his hand.  “Farewell
,
my friend,” he said aloud.

Climbing slowly to his feet, Batarel turned south and looked into the trees in the direction of the
Anduar
he’d seen earlier in the day.

If Semjaza wants war,
we
’ll bring it to him
.

*   *   *   *

Sariel watched the brilliant colors of the terrain pass below him.  The luminescence merged into a blinding whiteness that blurred his now dim vision.  It was painfully obvious to him that he had changed since the last time he moved through the
E
ternal
R
ealm.  His body, which used to
shine with
the light of the
Spirit
, now appeared dull against the backdrop of territory controlled by the
Amatru
.  But he shook off the
se
feelings of regret
which
threatened
to cripple him.  If he’d learned one thing during his service as a soldier, it was to focus on the objective.

Instead, he chose to feel relieved that he had guessed right.  It was critical for his success
that he crossed over into the
E
ternal in just the right place.  If he did so behind enemy lines, he’d instantly be captured or killed.  And showing up in the wrong place within territory held by the
Amatru
might
have
produce
d
the same result.  What he needed was
Amatru
territory that was no longer occupied
, to give him
the best chance
of
reaching his objective with the least amount of resistance.  And that
was
exactly what he found.

Despite the dull colors that now formed his eternal body, h
e still felt the same as he glided over the waving grass, moving east toward the battle line. 
Behind him, miles
of flat
,
peaceful land
spread out
, covered in
bright, green vegetation that swirled with traces of multi-colored light as the breeze moved through it.  It brought a smile to his face.  But only briefly, as he
rounded a hill and descended into a valley of rolling
knolls
.  In the distance, the dull reddish smear of horizon told him that he was approaching
Marotru
territory
. 
Nearer and slightly to the north, a large tent structure covered a hilltop
. 
The ranks of
Anduar
ym
and
Iryllur
ym
encamped at the base of the hill told Sariel that he had
found what he sought. 
As he approached the temporary command post of
Fer
-
Rada
Danduel
, he slowed his speed and landed gently.  Folding his wings inward, he walked with arms out to either side, his hands open in a gesture of peace.