The Dawn of the Raven Omnibus 1: Episodes 1-5 (5 page)

The captain quickly got himself together, forced his mind to
focus.  He called out to his men, bellowing orders for them to get in
formation, to draw their swords and spears, to raise their shields and prepare
for an ambush from the side where Garen had disappeared.  He ordered his
archers to raise their bows and target those trees, and to await his order to
fire. 

They all peered into the dark trees.  There was no more
movement.  No sign that anything was there.  No sign that anything had ever
been there.  It was still as if it had never happened.  Captain Vol, tired of
waiting, ordered his men to fire their arrows into the trees where Garen had
disappeared. 

“Sir!” shouted
Feur, the captain’s top lieutenant.  “Garen is in there!  We cannot fire, we
will kill him!”

The captain ignored his man’s advice.  He knew that Garen
could not be saved.  That thing that had grabbed him . . .  the way Garen had
screamed.  It was too late.  He reiterated his order, and the arrows flew. 
They stood and waited for a sign that they might have hit something, but
nothing came.  Suddenly, arrows and spears came in from all sides.  The men
were ill-prepared, having been directed towards the one spot on the edge.  As a
result, several arrows and spears hit their mark, and Captain Vol’s men
immediately suffered casualties.  He shouted out new orders, adjusting as
quickly as he could, forming his men into a circle, with shields up on all sides. 
But his men were shuddering now.  Their confidence had wavered.  The captain,
sensing this, barked out more orders, both to prepare them to fight off
whatever lay out there, and also to give their minds something to focus on
other than fear. 

Captain Vol rediscovered his courage.  He calmed his mind. 
Losing Garen had been a shock.  The sophistication of the attack against them
had been a shock too.  But now he knew what he was up against.  A true threat. 
Whether this was Gekken or Typhorians, the danger was real.  He and his men
were to be truly tested.  He knew they were up to the task.  The Typhorian
prisoner began shouting at him, telling him this was it, they were here, they
were all going to die.  He ignored her, and took action.  His archers had their
bows ready, but held back.  There would be no more wasted arrows.  They would
protect themselves here with their shields, and wait out the attack.  Wait for
the enemy to expose themselves, if they dared.

The men were ready.  Their spirits were resolved to their
task.  They reminded themselves that they had been here, together, before; in
uncertain terrain, under unfavorable circumstances, and yet they had always
pulled through.  The men eyed each other and gave each other confident nods and
grins, yet their trembling sword and bow hands gave evidence to their true
feelings.

And then, they came.  From all sides.  They were giants. 
They were beasts.  They were inhumanly fast.  They were fearless.  They were
the Gekken.  The captain gave the order and their arrows and their spears
flew.  Many met their mark, and several Gekken fell prey, but most continued
their charge, unfazed, unfrightened, with the thirst for blood emblazoned in
their monstrously black eyes and embodied in their fierce war cries.  The soldiers
stood to meet the challenge.  They met the Gekken head on, and fought
heroically, but it was a one-sided affair.  The Gekken, with their speed,
strength, and reach, and armed with long swords and spears, had little trouble
with the front line of soldiers.  Few Gekken fell to swords, though arrows were
still claiming many as they rushed in.  Captain Vol, standing with the archers,
ordered them to fire as quickly as possible into the throng, even with the
danger of hitting their own men on the front line.   He could see now that
those men were outmatched.  He knew that the front lines, though a few still
stood, were already lost.  But, if the archers could take many Gekken down, and
wound and slow the rest, then he, Feur, and the rest of his best men might
stand a chance against them, and still stand victorious at the end of the day. 
He shouted to the troops huddled around him, his inner circle, those whom he
had fought beside the longest.  Those with whom he had vanquished so many foes
on the battlefield.  This was their greatest challenge yet, he knew, and they
were ready. 

The beautiful Typhorian screamed at the two soldiers guarding
her to release her, but their ears were deaf to her cries.  Their eyes were
fixed on the carnage in front of them.  They had never seen anything like it. 
Suddenly, they were taken by surprise by two Gekken attacking from the back. 
One guard had his arm torn from his torso and his throat bitten before he could
even react.  The Gekken warrior stood triumphantly over him, bathing in the
blood that gushed from the fallen soldier’s neck, painting his chest and face
with it, just as Raveena had warned.  Kiella watched in horror as she hid
behind the wagon, peeking from below.  She watched as the second guard waved
his sword wildly, trying to fend off the second Gekken.  The one he was engaged
with laughed, though, as the other Gekken, now finished painting himself in the
fallen guard’s blood, circled behind him and took a firm grip on the soldier’s head
in his giant hand.  There was a sickening sound as he squeezed and the
soldier’s head burst open like a pomegranate.  His body fell in a clump on the
ground.  The Gekken rushed to join their comrades in the fray.  Suddenly, the
things that Raveena had told Kiella no longer seemed like ghost stories. 

“Damn it! 
Kiella, release me!  Get the keys!  Release me!  It’s our only chance” pleaded
the warrior maiden. 

Kiella, overwhelmed by the horror of what was happening all
around her, was startled out of her stupor by Raveena’s scream.  She looked
Raveena in the eye.  The warrior continued to plead with her.

“Please. 
Please Kiella.  Release me.  Let me fight.  It’s our only hope.  You see.  You
see now?  Your captain, his men . . . they are overmatched.  You must let me
fight.  We will be butchered too.  It’s our only hope.  For me, for yourself,
for your captain, what men he has left . . .  Let me out.”

Kiella tried to gather her wits.  Yes.   Of course.  There
was nothing left to lose now.  She looked up and saw Captain Vol.  He was
fending off the Gekken he was engaged with now, with Feur and two of his other
top men still by his side, but there were still more Gekken coming in.  Orders
or no orders, she knew there was no reason left to keep the Typhorian locked up. 
She scampered out to the bodies of the fallen guards, trying frantically to
search their bodies for the keys, while still watching for Gekken that might be
coming to part her from life and limb.  Luckily, the Gekken’s focus was on the remaining
soldiers.  She fumbled the keys twice before she was able to secure them, and
then rushed back to the cage and began trying to find the one that matched the
lock.  Once the door was open, the Typhorian waited patiently as Kiella tried
to determine which was the key to Raveena’s shackles.

Captain Vol and his men were standing up to the assault.  The
Gekken’s numbers were thinning now.  The odds were close to even.  Three of
Vol’s men remained, including Feur, and they were the strongest fighters he
had.  They were engaged with five Gekken, though a sixth was just now
approaching.  This Gekken was slightly older than the others, with battle scars
all over his body and face.  He wore a metal helmet, unlike any of the others,
and he approached slowly, savoring his entry into the battle, unlike the other
Gekken who had stormed in like rabid wolves, unable to contain their anxious
thirst for combat.  No, this one was different.  Captain Vol knew this was his
counterpart.  This was the leader.  Captain Vol pushed back the Gekken warrior
he was currently engaged with and, while it was off balance, he rammed the edge
of his blade through its gut.  The beast continued to try and get up and fight,
so Captain Vol twisted his blade, and the horrible creature shrieked with
pain.  He stepped on the dying Gekken’s torso and freed his blade of its
disgusting flesh.  The incoming Gekken leader barked out orders in a strange
tongue to his soldiers, and they left the captain alone, and focused instead on
the other men. 

The captain and the Gekken leader sized each other up.  The
Gekken smiled and sneered.  The captain scoffed at his foe’s arrogance.  He
raised his blade and attacked.  The Gekken leader stood still as the blade came
for him.  The captain was sure it would meet its mark, and was shocked that the
fight would end so quickly, but at the last instant the Gekken moved faster
than he imagined possible.  Instead of cleaving the Gekken’s flesh with his
blade, Captain Vol found his own hand stopped in mid-air, with the Gekken
leader’s hand fastened about his wrist, having stopped it in mid-swing, and now
squeezing with unfathomable strength.  Captain Vol screamed as he felt the
bones in his forearm crack and splinter as the Gekken leader tightened his grip. 
The captain’s scream was cut short, however, as the Gekken leader’s sword found
its mark, cleaving with such force that it effortlessly split the good
captain’s armor and his chest in one sharp thrust.  The captain became silent,
and fell to the ground.

“Relax” said
the Typhorian beauty, an impossible task under the circumstances.  “You can do
this” she assured Kiella.  Finally, Kiella found the key that fit, and the
warrior was free.

Raveena wasted no time, gathering a sword off the ground from
a fallen guard.  As she approached the battle she shook the blade gently in her
hand, an unconscious move that allowed her to get a feel for its weight and
balance.  She took two Gekken by surprise as they finished off poor Feur and
the last of Captain Vol’s men.  With precise, lightning fast strikes, her blade
severed one Gekken’s leg and the other’s arm.  While the former fell to the
ground writhing and screaming in pain, the latter turned to her and attempted
to strike with his remaining arm.  Raveena ducked the blow, and thrust her blade
into the Gekken’s gut.  A third Gekken warrior attacked brashly, seeing that
her blade was caught in the belly of his comrade.  His attack was too clumsy as
he tried to capitalize on what appeared to be a huge advantage over the warrior
maiden, and she was able to evade him and trip him, buying herself enough time
to pull another sword from the side of another fallen soldier.  She engaged the
Gekken foe, throwing three quick attacks, the first two swings designed to
expose the Gekken for the third.  The opening was there as planned, and the
Gekken’s sword hand was quickly severed, as was his spirit from his body as she
thrust her blade into his throat. 

The Gekken leader was pleased by what he saw.  Finally, a
human with some fight in her.  This would make it all the more satisfying to
take her life from her.  He had not expected to see this kind of spirit from a
human, but it was a pleasant surprise.  He stepped up to her and paused, giving
her a moment to collect herself, making sure that she was ready, and that he
wasn’t going to defeat her too easily.  He had seen how she had fought his
soldier.  He knew she possessed strategy.  He also knew that she, like the rest
of the humans, would probably underestimate the fighting skill of the Gekken. 
She would not expect him to know such tactics.  Sure, he could defeat her with
brute force, but to show that his tactics were superior to hers, that would be
even more satisfying. 

He allowed her to take the first swing, assuring she was
ready.  He evaded it easily, but didn’t want to make it look too easy.  He
wanted her to underestimate his skill.  He let her think he was off-balance. 
Yes, she came in for the kill, just as he wanted.  He used her same trick. 
With one swing, he blocked her blow.  With the next swing, he got her off
balance.  With the third swing, he stepped in, capitalized on the opening his
second swing had created, and stabbed his blade into her lower abdomen.  Yes,
she was a worthy foe, a great warrior, but not as great as he had hoped.  “Humans
are disappointing adversaries” he thought.  “They die too easily.”

But this human wasn’t finished.  Though the Gekken leader
thought that the blow was a death-blow, that surely it would fell even the
strongest human, Raveena didn’t fall.  It caught her off guard, this level of
sophistication in swordsmanship from a Gekken.  Even she didn’t expect it.  And
the feeling of the blade cutting deep into her flesh stunned her.  But, the
intense pain was quickly overtaken by rage.  Rage that pounded through her veins,
pounded in her ears and her temples.  Her mouth sneered, looking the grinning
Gekken leader in the eyes.  He thought the battle was over.  He underestimated
his opponent.  He saw her swing too late, and his smug face flew through the
air, his head cleaved from his shoulders by her blade, making a thud as it hit
the ground and rolled, finally settling with his eyes, still grinning, fixed up
into the heavens. 

The beautiful warrior maiden surveyed the battlefield.  Death
surrounded her.  Every one of Captain Vol’s men lay butchered, but so did the
Gekken.  She looked down at the headless corpse of the Gekken leader, smiled,
and then collapsed.

To Be Continued

In

Episode
2:

Bitter Enemies

The Dawn of the Raven

Episode 2:

Bitter Enemies