Shadow Seed (6 page)

“Not a chance in this world.” Lilith smirked.
“I'm quite safe. It's you who are in danger, and that's why I'm
here. A little birdie told me you have some ideas to win this.”

“Not sure,” Kamala said. “But maybe we can
save what’s left of us.”

“No,” Lilith snapped. “This is it. This is
our last line of defense. If we lose here, we're finished.”

Kamala's mind ran a million miles, thinking
of what to do. “We have to gather everyone we can and retreat to
the ridge over there. Arloff, no matter what, we hold that line.
Hurok, take all the Fenrir. Fall back and circle around to the
Pelasgian portal. No one gets through. Lilith, what do you have in
the city?”

A portal opened next to the group. “This
way,” Lilith said, stepping through.

“Elsa, Lugos,” Arloff called. “Do as Kamala
said. This battle ends today.”

Arloff and Kamala entered the portal and
emerged on a high platform overlooking a massive town square filled
with people.

Lilith grabbed Kamala, and pointed to the
crowd. “This is my army, or most of it. I need you and Arloff to
take these people and destroy the Pelasgians outside the city.”

Kamala felt like a ton of bricks landed on
her. “No sweat.”

“What’s wrong?” asked Lilith.

“Sorry for saying this,” Kamala said. “But
this isn't an army. I mean there's hardly any organization
here.”

Lilith was halfway offended. “Oh, I’m so
sorry,” she said with a hint of sarcasm. “No one told me about an
all-powerful, intergalactic, superbeing that could open portals and
assimilate entire worlds.”

Kamala was baffled. “Inter…what?”

Lilith chided almost like an uptight
aristocrat. “Small mind…”

Arloff could hear the battle outside the
city. “Maybe if we could see what's happening, we can come up with
a counterattack.”

“Easy,” Lilith said, with a small-scale,
phantom image of the battle appearing in front of them. “It's a
top-down view of the fight. Our people are the red ones, the
Pelasgians are blue.”

Kamala closely examined the image.

“The line at the ridge is holding well,”
Arloff commented. “The Fenrir need to move faster.”

“Give them a minute,” Kamala said. “They'll
flank any moment. If only we could surround the Pelasgians.”

Arloff tapped Kamala on the shoulder.
“Portals?”

“Yes!” Kamala said. “We can use them to get
in the perfect position. Send reinforcements to the Fenrir. We need
to blockade the Pelasgian portal.”

“Who flanks?” Arloff asked.

Kamala pointed to a spot on the image. “You
flank from here. I'll take whoever is left and hit the center.”

Arloff cracked his knuckles. “This is going
to be fun.”

“Are we ready?” asked Lilith.

“Wait,” Kamal said. “I should address the
people first. They need to know what’s about to happen.”

Lilith held her hand out, inviting Kamala to
the fore of the platform. The sight of the throng below was
intimidating.

“Will they be able to hear me?” Kamala asked,
noticing that her voice boomed like an echo in a valley.

Everyone below stopped and looked up.

Kamala waited a moment, thinking of her son
before speaking. “We believed we would find peace in death. And
there are those who say we have no future. Now, as awful as it may
seem, we face an enemy that is determined to consign us to a
horrible fate. And that means we have only one option, fight.”

The crowd screamed with enthusiasm.

Kamala continued. “But this fight isn't just
about our freedom. The fate of our legacy, in Rhea, depends on us.
To lose this fight, seals theirs.”

On the platform, even Lilith could feel the
electric vibe coming from the people.

“We will have peace!” Kamala declared. “That
is our future. And today, we go forth to ensure that of both
worlds.”

The roar from the people reached a fever
pitch.

“Very inspiring,” Lilith said.

Kamala stepped back. “Let's hurry. We’re not
giving the Pelasgians a chance to escape.”

“I'm counting on you,” Lilith said, as Kamala
and Arloff stepped through separate portals.

Kamala emerged near the city's gate. In front
of her was the army she had riled up. Behind her, the entire wall
quickly disappeared into the ground.

The Pelasgians were not far, and Arloff was
already closing in.

Kamala pulled her weapons out and looked back
at her eager army before running fearlessly headlong toward the
enemy.

No one thought twice about following Kamala's
bold lead. The collision between both armies was a visceral mash of
skin and steel.

From her platform, Lilith could hardly watch
as it was now out of her hands and in those of her people.

CHAPTER TEN

“Doesn't look like we're going back to
Vesuvia anytime soon, does it?” Janah asked. She and Nedim were
standing in a crenel, watching a massive Pelasgian army march
towards them.

Nedim rubbed his eyes. “I'm sure Sayar would
be thrilled to hear that.”

“Hey, it's not my fault he's cranky all the
time,” Janah said.

Nedim stood stoic, and then cracked a small
smile. It was all he could do to keep himself from laughing.

“What?” Janah asked.

“We're staring death in the face,” Nedim
replied. “And all I could think just now was that, yes, he is
cranky.”

Janah waved her hand in Nedim's face to get
his attention. “You're okay, right? Don't lose it now.”

“I'm fine,” Nedim said. “My apologies. I have
doubts. In our time we've never faced a threat such as this. All
we've known is peace, and I fear we may not be prepared to turn the
tide this time.”

Janah ran her hand across the wall. “I need
to study our history more. I mean, I read what happened in battle,
but I didn't see anything as far as our cities were concerned.”

“From what I read, our cities were spared,”
Nedim said. “After losing contact with the Prometheans, we linked
up with the Fenrir south of Tiamat and reinforced the Khothu there.
Two days later, the three of us swung back down to Vesuvia and
drove the Pelasgians out of Rhea.”

“You don't suppose they plan on breaking
through our walls, do you?” Janah asked. “I mean, why like this?
They could have snuck in at night with a portal inside the
city.”

“I suspect it is the same reason Lilith
doesn't open portals haphazardly,” Nedim answered. “I'm fairly
certain that Pelasgian creature is limited to what she can
see.”

Janah scratched her neck and laughed. “Yeah,
that would be funny if their whole army marched into a bottomless
pit by accident.”

A soldier passing by stopped. “You two might
want to step back. We're locking down the city.”

Nedim and Janah went down to the street to
join an army being led by Sayar.

As the walls closed, thousands of torches
were lit. The only openings to the outside were small crenels and
passages leading to walkways along the wall, where hundreds of
Anubians took cover behind a second set of crenels and began firing
upon the Pelasgians.

Sayar handed Nedim two armlets. “Good, you're
both here.”

“Wait, you're actually going to fight?” Janah
asked.

“No!” Sayar said. “I'll be at the Palace.
You're to remain here and help the Third Dune defend the
southwestern wall. Nedim, you have rank and experience so I'm
promoting you to Baivara of Wind Four.”

“It would be an honor.” Nedim bowed.

Sayar looked at Janah, and seemed as though
he was about to say something before slowly shaking his head and
leaving.

Nedim slipped one of the armlets on. “Janah,
if things go wrong I'm going to need someone I can count on. If I
may, I would like to appoint you as my Hazara.”

With a face beaming like she'd won a fortune,
Janah crossed her arms. “I'll take it!”

“Thank you,” Nedim said, handing over the
second armlet. “Now, let's assume the worst and plan
accordingly.”

Janah immediately put the armlet on. “I'm not
really one for planning. I think a good tactic is to kill them as
soon as we see them.”

“No...no,” Nedim said, stroking his chin.
“Once the Pelasgians are inside, there will be little to stop them,
unless we barricade the streets and keep them in bottlenecks.”

Janah narrowed her eyes. “Are you asking what
I think you're asking?”

“Unless you can think of a better way to keep
the Pelasgians from rolling over us, I see no other choice.”

“I thought you'd go with the tried and true
method of bait and kill.”

“Out in the open I would,” Nedim said. “But
inside the city, I don't want to risk being overwhelmed and
cornered.”

Janah looked at her soldiers with confidence.
“No worries, we can handle it. If the Pelasgians we fought in the
Shadow Realm are anything to go by, it shouldn't be too bad.”

“Thanks,” Nedim said, walking around to see
the layout of the area. “I know I am asking a lot of the Persians
but, if it works, it should stop the Pelasgians dead in their
tracks.”

“Just make sure you aim high,” said
Janah.

At that moment a loud explosion from outside
shook the city wall.

Janah cringed. “What was that?”

“Wait here!” Nedim said running towards the
sound.

“Hey!” Janah yelled.

On the second tier outside, several Anubians
were still getting back up when Nedim arrived. As some of the dust
settled, he could see Vela preparing to fire another large ball of
energy.

“I shot a few at her,” an Anubian covered in
blood and dust said. “But she's way too fast. She dodges them like
nothing, and up here we don't have much room to maneuver.”

When Vela fired, Nedim immediately took aim
and shot an energy blast to intercept it. The explosion threw up a
torrent of sand.

For a few seconds it was hard to see
anything.

Nedim never saw a volley of three smaller
energy balls until it was too late. One killed an Anubian as the
others hit the wall to his side and below him. The blasts were
strong enough that Nedim was thrown back through the
passageway.

“And you call me hasty,” Janah said, grabbing
Nedim's arm and pulling him inside.

Nedim nearly coughed a lung up as he stood.
“They've got a Myrmidon out there.”

“That's...not good,” Janah said, concerned.
“At least we came up with a plan that'll work, right?”

The wall was rocked by another explosion.

Nedim grabbed Janah by the hand and ran down
the stairs to his group of warriors. “Fall back two streets,” he
ordered.

The Hegirans rapidly moved with discipline.
Almost as soon as they were in place, a large section of wall
suddenly collapsed.

Seconds later, another blast could be heard
further down. Under Vela's onslaught, the Anubians outside began to
close the passageways as they retreated.

“Persians,” Janah called. “Pelasgians are
outside the city. Any moment now they will be upon us. Our task is
to barricade them here at all cost. Kill many, and kill
quickly.”

A quick, sharp growl in unison was the
Persian soldiers' way of showing they understood.

The Anubians spread themselves out on the
city's second and third tiers along the roofs and open spaces
overlooking the streets below.

“One line,” Nedim ordered. “We have Hegirans
down there counting on us. Now focus!”

After several explosions blew more holes in
the wall, the ominous sound of marching could be heard.

“Stay steady,” Janah said.

As the Pelasgians poured into Siriso, they
immediately ran at the waiting Persians.

“Take aim,” Nedim commanded, watching as the
Pelasgians came within a block of the barricade below, and giving
the order. “Fire!”

A hail of yellow energy balls tore into the
Pelasgians, slowing them down enough for the Persians to withstand
the brunt of the charge. But as effective as it was, the full
weight of the Pelasgian army was pressed against the Persians
within moments and it became a pushing contest with shields, spears
and swords.

“At the barricade, the barricade,” Nedim
yelled, telling his men where to concentrate their fire.

Several Pelasgians took aim and unleashed a
barrage of arrows.

Nedim quickly took cover behind the ledge,
though some of his men were hit. He stood up to continue shooting,
and almost instantly, an arrow struck him in the hand.

Falling back into cover, Nedim cradled his
hand. When he felt the pain of trying to pull the arrow out, he
instead took aim at the Pelasgians and fired an energy blast. The
arrow in his hand disintegrated, leaving nothing but a small bloody
hole.

Janah ran up to the third tier and found
Nedim wrapping his wound.

“How is the barricade holding?” Nedim
asked.

“It's holding for now,” Janah answered. “I
wasn't expecting this kind of pressure.”

“What are you doing up here?”

“Bad news. I saw a green glow in the
distance. When I came up to the second tier to see what it
was...well, have a look for yourself.”

They went over to the opposite side of the
walkway where they had a view of Siriso.

Throughout the city numerous yellow plumes
from explosions were erupting, and from those, the silhouettes of
Erinies and griffins could be seen.

Nedim sat with his back against the ledge.
“This is going to be a long night.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Nibiru sat motionless on his throne, admiring
the night sky through one of the large openings in the roof. The
insignificant light from the tiny stars entranced him, but when a
perennially eclipsed sun came into view, his eyes ever so slightly
twitched.

The moment was disturbed when Marduk opened
the doors and casually strolled in.

“Marduk, what news do you bring?” Nibiru
asked.