Legon Restoration (11 page)

Her mouth moved trying to form words; Kora stomped down on one of her broken arms making her moan. "Nothing to say?" He placed his foot on her bleeding abdomen; she coughed up blood this time, still unable to speak around the cut in her throat. "Does that help?"

Her other hand was groping pathetically at her side, Kora saw her trying to pull something out from behind her. He smiled, thinking she was going for her faloon, and then his blood went cold. She freed a tiny crystal from her back, it lit up blue.

"Tracker!" Cinto barked

* * * * *

Umbra jerked in the sky, her mind a buzz with the signal of a tracker. If it had been activated, then the Elf holding it was in trouble. She spun in the sky, heading back towards the government sector, pumping her wings as hard as she could. Her lungs filled with air and she roared, terrifying people below. She yelled out with her mind, "TRACKER!"
 

* * * * *

Barnin heard a dragon roar and looked around him. A ball of black magic streaked across the sky, stopping above a government building pulsing brightly. Barnin jumped on his horse calling to his men, "MOUNT UP! COME ON, COME ON, COME ON!" He rode through the streets, towards the building, his unit was close. People dove out of the way, a few even getting clipped. "MAKE A HOLE!" he yelled.
 

Ahead of Barnin and his men he could see five figures moving like blurs at the entrance to a building. He knew they had to be Elves and Iumenta with that speed, and he hoped that there were more Elves. As they drew in he saw more clearly that it was two Iumenta fight three, no two Elves. He pushed his mount harder as another Elf fell.
 

"Come on!" he growled.

The Iumenta looked at Barnin and his men as the last Elf died. Barnin let out a war cry that felt as though it ripped the inside of his throat, as he drew his sword. Yellow shot at the Iumenta as Heath tried to take them out before they could use their fenrra. The spell missed and one of the Iumenta grabbed a stone on the ground, hurling it at Heath. Instead of contacting with one of Heath’s wards, the stone struck his horse’s leg, sending the animal tumbling with Heath still on its back.

"HEATH!" Barnin shouted, but he couldn't think of Heath anymore, they were to the Iumenta.

The world moved in slow motion as Barnin targeted an Iumenta. Its raven hair was the most defining thing about it; Barnin's eyes could make out each strand as they flowed in the air like waves. The Iumenta turned to the gray stone wall behind it, taking several steps up like it could defy gravity. It pushed off from the wall high above Barnin, pointing one of its razor fenrra at him. Barnin's vision was blocked by his shield as he raised it instinctively to protect himself.
 

There was a sound of screeching metal and time resumed its normal speed. Barnin yelled as the fenrra pierced his shoulder, going through the metal shield like it was butter. His gaze moved to that of cold yellow eyes as the Iumenta's other fenrra was driven into Barnin's back. There was the pressure of something on him and then none at all.
 

He felt his lungs fill with blood and he coughed it up in a great mouthful. He slumped in his saddle, not even registering the screams of his men as they were killed. His vision swam as he tried to breathe, the world tilted and he felt himself fall, hitting the ground.
 

 
* * * * *

Cinto finished killing the last of the Twigs when he noticed a group of human cavalry moving in on them. The lead Ape seemed over confident in its shiny armor, it yelled at the top of its lungs, like that would do anything. The other Apes were following suit. Kora dodged a yellow spell and hurled a stone at the Venefica Ape’s horse, sending it cartwheeling with its rider.
 

Cinto turned to the wall, taking one fluid step, placing his foot on the wall and running up it, he leaped into the air at the lead ape. It raised its shield, likely thinking it would stop a fenrra, but of course it didn't. Cinto stabbed the Ape’s shoulder with the fenrra in his left hand. This allowed him to come around back of the Ape and stab him through the back with Cinta's other fenrra. He jumped to the next horsemen not waiting to see if he'd killed the commanding animal, it was of no consequence to him, it couldn't fight anymore.

Blood spattered Cinta's face as he decapitated the next one and then again as he killed another. Kora caught his attention, "Ascended!" Cinto listened, hearing its approach.
 

He swore and they ran into an alleyway. They jumped from one wall to another as they went, freeing them from dodging the people and junk that littered the ground. They couldn't see the Ascended yet but they could hear it roar. They moved quickly, faster than any horse could have in the narrow alley sometimes jumping from window sill to window sill, but never being far away from populated areas. If they moved fast and stayed close to people the Elf dragon wouldn't be able to lock onto them with magic, or at least it couldn't with ease and not without hurting civilians.
 

They zigged and zagged between buildings, always trying to keep out of view of the dragon. There was a park they were heading to, in it was a tunnel that would lead out of the city, but more important the Ascended wouldn't be able to find them. They were going to have to jump from one of the city’s roofs to make it though.
 

Cinto saw the red roof and flung himself into the air, Kora behind him. There was a thud of wings but Cinto landed on the roof unscathed, he jumped again for the park just in view. As the wind buffeted him he noticed something in his peripheral vision. It was a Twig archer.
 

Pain erupted in his calf as he touched down, an arrow sticking out of it. He drew one fenrra but felt another stabbing pain that made him cry out as his kidney was punctured. He spun as his injured leg gave way. From the window he watched as another Twig fired and an arrow buried itself in between Cinto's collar bones.
 

* * * * *

Umbra passed over the building where the tracker had been activated, seeing both Elf and human bodies as she passed. She could see the Iumenta trying to flee. They kept to the alleys making it hard for her to stay on them. She tried to use magic but was unable to lock on to them and just them; if she used magic she ran a chance of hurting innocent people. She would have to wait until she could get a direct line of sight to use magic or until she could use her claws or teeth.
 

There was a park that they seemed to be heading for, she told her command, and kept looking for the Iumenta. It wasn't hard to tell where they had been, humans screamed as they saw two Iumenta running along above them. She caught glimpses of them jumping back and forth from wall to wall to keep going. She had to admit they were doing a good job of using the buildings for cover.
 

Umbra took a chance and assuming they were going for the park, she tried to head them off. She came in close to a building, folding her left wing in, almost brushing its stone side. As she rounded the building, a figure launched into the air and headed for a red roofed building. She opened her mouth as she saw a second silver haired Iumenta jump, its yellow eyes flashed to her in fear as she clamped her mouth shut. The Iumenta's ribcage cracking and snapping almost didn't even register with her, so powerful were her jaws. Salty blood filled her mouth and ran down her chin has the Iumenta's lower half hung out of the left side of her mouth, his head hanging out of the right.
 

She snapped down twice more as she came in to land by the park, seeing the other Iumenta dead. She tossed the limp and slightly masticated body next to its companion. She touched down next to some grass and rubbed her face on it wiping the blood from her chin.
 

Several Elves were already there. "Do we know anything yet?" she asked.

"No, the Elf who activated the tracker is dead along with three other Elves and about six human soldiers, several that are badly injured," a woman said.

Umbra took back off. "I'll see if I can help."
 

She made her way back to the government building. When she arrived she stopped the spell that was shining bright above the building. She came down seeing familiar faces. Instantly she felt concern, she found Ankle, "Where are Barnin, Heath and the others?"
 

Ankle looked shaken and covered in blood, though it didn't look to be his own. "Heath is OK, a horse landed on him, his wards kept him from serious injury; but Barnin is hurt bad, some Elf is trying to keep him alive, can you help?"
 

Umbra searched the area finding an Elf healer that was tending to a downed Barnin. He was awake, but having a hard time breathing. "Is he going to live?" Umbra asked.
 

The healer, a man Umbra knew, looked up at her. "Can you help me stop the bleeding so I can heal his cuts? His lung was punctured but nothing else vital."
 

Barnin's body glowed black as Umbra sent spells that would stop his bleeding. He hacked up more blood, Umbra thought he looked scared, it was the first time she'd seen the emotion on his face. His wound glowed peach and the healer stood up.
 

"Better?" the healer asked.

Barnin coughed up a bit more blood but not much, "I feel like I can breathe a bit now, thank you. Please help my men."
 

The healer left to tend to the other hurt men without a word. "What happened?" Umbra asked.

Barnin looked up at her, his face pale form loss of blood. "I forget what it's like when Elves and Iumenta attack humans, ya know? And these guys..." Barnin shook his head, "they were good, I really thought the two of them were going to kill us all," he said.

Umbra was thankful that they hadn't.

Chapter Eight

Aftermath

"The victory of today is always followed by the battle of tomorrow."

-The Exiled Captain (Author Unknown)

Keither took in the field that he was to turn into a refugee camp. He was happy with it; there was a small mountain fed stream that would keep the people in clean water. The field had access to main roads and there was enough room to accommodate many people. In the weeks preceding the fall of Bonta, the Pawdin Empire had managed to get both cities docks fully functioning, so no longer was Keither and Sara forced to work without supplies. Now the task had turned to one that Keither thrived on, which was how to use those supplies.

Sara came up, leaning on his right side. "It has potential," she said. "I'm a little surprised we were given such a nice plot of land to use," she continued.

"Well, it's not in a good spot for the military, and I'm sure we will be getting far more people than we are planning on, but I'll take it. Do you have your team organized?" he asked looking down at her.

She told him that she did.
 

Keither spoke to Sara's staff, figuring out everything that they were going to need and then met with his assistants. His people were a collection of carpenters, engineers and smiths; it would be these people that would bring everything together. They were joined by one Elf who would, with the help of ten others of his kind, take care of growing things that might be necessary.

Keither had worked with everyone in the command tent, which was going to make life a lot simpler for him he thought. He addressed the room at large, pointing to a drawing of the field that they had to use. "This is not going to be like it was in the Cornis Mountains. In the peaks it got cold, it doesn't here. We are in a temperate area so we don't need to worry about building cold weather structures, like we did in the peaks. Also, unlike the Cornis Mountains, this camp is for displaced peoples, so they won’t be here for long. Many of them, once we clear out their home lands, will go back to where they came from to rebuild...hopefully.
 

"The issues that we are going to have are that first, this camp is not permanent; therefore, no fixed structures if we can avoid them. We will have to make do with tents and other temporary buildings. Second, there is going to be a lot of wounded that are coming in, so we need to work around the needs of the healers when laying this camp out. Third, we are going to get a lot of rain in this location, which means we need to consider using stone roads in the camp, I don't want to have to deal with being in a swamp or pit of mud either so we need to look at drainage options."

Keither went on to outline what he wanted done, there were to be trenches dug that the Elves would lay pipes in that let water in so they could drain the field of excess moister, and yet others that moved water from the stream to wells in camp. The Elves would grow structures to handle waste, so that could then in turn be used to grow food and other day to day supplies.
 

The day grew warm as the normally overcast sky opened to blue and the sun. The sun’s rays felt wonderful on Keither's shoulders as he walked the field, making sure that everything was running as it should. Prisoners of war from Bonta and Noris were helping to dig trenches for the Elves to lay pipe in. Others were in the nearby woods and fields collecting large rocks to form the roads of the refugee camp. He saved going to the Elves for last; they didn't need any supervision, but Keither loved to watch them grow plants.
 

He watched as an Elf pulled a small wooden box from a pack. She opened it to reveal a seed the size of an apple, she looked at Keither. "I know you have lived with us, but those cities were already built, have you ever seen a master seed before?"
 

"No what are they?" he asked walking up to the woman.

"We can alter a plant to will, but there is no reason to create from scratch all the time, this seed you see here comes from an altered structure. When I make it grow it will already have most of what this building will need, all I have to do is make corrections to give the building function and tell the seed how to grow. Do you understand?"