The Exodus Sagas: Book IV - Of Moons and Myth (85 page)

The wings buffeted him, yet he held on. Pulling the holy blade free, he slashed it across the portal, and the view faded as the white light met the infernal flames. The ceiling went solid, back to stone, and Kendari hung on for life on the back of Kashtamias.

Andorra Screamed in outrage, the doors flung open, and her Nataloni Nochcti guardians ran inside followed by dozens of Armondi soldiers.

“
Kill them, the deer, the elf, kill them both!”

The demon flailed, smashed into walls and knocked over unholy statues a
nd tapestries, one of which fell over the queen of Armondeen. Kendari knew it
felt the
sting of the sacred blade
into its flesh
, as he roared and crashed out the side of the tower.
He held on as stone and glass shattered around him.
Its wings caught air, spinning in agony ten stories up
, and then it
dove toward the south.

“
Run, get out!”
Kendari yelled to the deer.

Kendari reached out his hand, just as the deer lunged out the broken wall after him, and
he
caught a hoof.
Diving, spiraling, holding
the crossblade
hilt
as tight as he could, the Nadderi held on to the deer with his left hand. They neared the ground, far outside of Arnhast Fortress and the three towers, and
then
Kendari let go.

The deer rolled across the ground several times, but when Kendari looked back, the deer was on a full run over the hills, chasing the demon he was riding through the air. The cursed elf smiled, reached for the Nadderi blade, and pulled it free. Suddenly, trees and branches were all around, and the demon crashed through them on his furious flight.
The cursed longblade of the Nadderi flung end over end, out of his hand. He was dangling, holding on to the hilt of the holy sword now. With all his strength, he pulled himself up as Kashtamias twisted and turned in midair
climb
. Kendari reached for Shiver, pulled it loose, and looked to the right wing.

The deer kept running, fast as he could, and then he saw Kendari chopping at the demons’ wing. They fell, spiraling down from half a mile ahead and one hundred feet up.
Still
sprinting
, he heard the crash, the roar of the demon, and saw the
black
flames ahead. Faster he went, all four hooves racing, hoping he would get there in time, hoping Kendari was not already dead.

Temple Way Circle, Ruins of Mooncrest

“This was all we found
, Sir Orlimane. This, and pieces of a dwarf that was
torn apart and very dead.” The soldier handed the shield with the twin axes and moons on it to his noble superior.

Shinayne, James, and Saberrak all went still. They saw the horns rising in the flames in front of her, saw the soldier holding Zen’s shield after returning from the mines. They knew it was the end. The eyes rose fast from the horned head, and the soldiers stepped back quick. Then, they disappeared just as fast, back down.

“You saw that eh, elf?” Sir Yaelsh whispered into Shinayne’s ear. She had screamed, and he had punched her in the jaw to shut her up. Same he had done with her annoying singing. “That is the demon that will be drinking your blood, after we cut your head off. Kashtamias, son of Shukuru, and he is most eager to taste elf.”

“Let me free and we will see how eager you---“

Smack!

His backhand silenced her for the tenth time this last hour. Every time Yaelsh hit her, the minotaur got very angry. The chains rattled, it tried to roar through the gag, and then Cetreus and his men would beat the beast. The knight had been more silent, yet he had received quite a beating after reaching his blue glowing hand out to the elf and minotaur.

“You should feel lucky, elf. Were it I that had you prisoner, you would have two less ears. Then, as you were bleeding, my soldier
s would be taking turns on you from behind.” Yaelsh dragged his finger across his face, across the scar that went from his mouth to his ear. “See this? Elf woman did that years ago. I raped her sisters after I killed her father and mother and brothers. Near New Aloeste it was, so I learned not to
do it from the front in case
---“

“Quiet, Yaelsh, something is wrong, look.” Harron stood by the circle, trying to peer through the flames that had risen and then fell very fast.
He knew to cut and sacrifice when Kashtamias was through, or at his command, which had not happened. But twice now, his horns had started to rise from the other side, and then fell back through. “
What is that?”

Yaelsh leaned over, as did Cetreus
and Harron, then many personal guards and noble servants gazed into the flaming circle. An elf, with a glowing blade, was on the back of the demon, swords stuck through it, and then they covered their faces and dove back.

Cawhoom, whoosh!

The portal flashed with white light, flames roared into the air, and all went still. There was no view, just sandstone and a circle of blood and fire. No one spoke, no one moved, and the chanting and prayers even fell quiet.

“This cannot be happening.” Harron stepped forward, looked to the nobles gathered
, and they looked to him.

“What now, Lord Amirak?” Thohne stood next to his brother as Orlimane tossed the dwarven shield to the ground. “Do we wait, or move ahead with the offering?”

“Scouts, anything to report?” Harron looked to fat Orlimane.

“Dwarf is dead, in pieces they say. Other scouts have not returned, my lord.”
Orlimane nodded to his soldier, the one with the blade above the elf’s neck. “I say, kill them now, with two servants, make it five as we are here.”

“Agreed, my lord. Perhaps the blood should be now.” Lord Cetreus commented.

Bishop Thohne and Yaelsh nodded in agreement. Harron thought of Andorra, back in Armondeen, knowing she was in trouble. There was nothing he could do from here, he surmised. He looked to the minotaur with the glowing flames of blue in his eyes. The lord of Armondeen stared at the shield of the dwarf, and shook his head. Then to the knight of Chazzrynn who was still and quiet, and lastly to the unmoving corpse of the robed woman.

“I need two servants, line them up. Kill the elf first.” Harron pointed and went into a kneeling position. He started to pray once more to the eleven, as did his brother and old Lord Cetreus. Fiv
e sacrificial blades were readied,
scimitars blessed by infernal prayer, and they all looked to Shinayne as she scr
eamed and struggled to get free from the one above her head.

Smack!

“Enjoy the afterlife, elf.” Yaelsh hit he
r across the face, once more
, and then he backed up.

Saberrak roared, the chains whipped hard, and even James was fighting his bonds to get free.
Thunder echoed in the sky to the east, a faint rumble yet it was shaking the ground.

Boom….bur…stomp…stomp….boom…bur…

“James, take care of Saberrak for me.” Shinayne looked up to James, teary eyed, and then to her horned gladiator and scouting partner. She saw the blade raise, heard her friends struggling, and she closed her aquamarine eyes.

Thewmmm, thewmmm

Clank, thud

Shinayne looked up as the sword hit the stone, assuming she was dead and had not felt anything. She saw the sword fall, then the body of the soldier with it, and there were two arrows. One through his arm, the other through the heart, perfectly. One flight had green striped hawk feathe
rs, and she knew of only one elf
that used them to balance his arrows.

“Lavress?”
She whispered, not sure if she was dead and dreaming, or if this was truly happening. She heard and felt more thunder, yet the gray sky was not moving at all, just the ground.

Boom….bur…stomp…stomp….boom…bur…

“Kill her now!” Harron stood and yelled as he looked to the south where the arrows had originated.

Another guard stood over her, and raised his scimitar, the one meant for James Andellis.

Thewmm, thewmmm

Two arrows, one through the hand and he dropped the blade. The other flight went
through the heart, perfectly again, and the soldier dropped. Men scattered into action, hundreds of soldiers took up shields and weapons.

“Ambush my lord! Get to cover!” Sir Orlimane stomped over toward Shinayne, his men now guarding the nobility.

The companions turned, seeing a wood elf on a dead run across the spanse of open sandstone toward the soldiers, curved blade and dagger in his hands. Birds followed in the air, wolf men ran with him, a horned white horse galloped hard, and even two golden skinned minotaurs charged as deadly arrows flew over their heads with expert precision.
The elven hunter dodged past Armondi soldiers, left, then right, too fast for them to catch. He ran right into the middle, toward the circle, and leapt. Shinayne yelled out loud, knowing exactly who it was.

“Lavress!”

v
oom….bur…stomp…stomp….
v
oom…bur…

Lord Cetreus grabbed the blade from the soldier next to the minotaur, stepped two steps in the cir
cle, and raised it high over Shinayne’s
head.

Thewmm, thewmm

The arrows of Liogan and Ihros went
past,
on each side of Lavress in his midair leap, both
puncturing the biceps of Lord Cetreus. The hunter of the Hedim Anah struck twice in the air, right as the arrows hit. His dagger sliced the neck, right below the gray beard, and his falacata took the head clean off through the initial cut. He rolled over and over, and landed in between twenty soldiers as his f
riends of the Whitemoon closed in on
the Armondi forces.

Vuumber….vuumber….stomp…stomp…

Harron stood up, backed up with his brother Thohne, guards raising shields as the arrows began picking off soldiers anywhere near the circle with pinpoint accuracy. He looked east, the thunder was not thunder, it was an army marching through the streets of the ruins, right for them. Something glowed and hummed, a flashing white light hovering in front of them. Harron looked to his now less than one hundred here, and the legion or two approaching, and backed up more.

“Brother, get the army, now!” Harron shoved Thohne, yet was pulled the same time.

“No, we both go, they will target you, Lord Amirak!” The false bishop pulled his brother as guards fell in to protect with shields.
Two fell, as the archers did indeed fire upon the men in flight.
They kept their heads low, racing through the north of the ruins.
“We cannot face that many, not yet!”

“Orlimane, kill them all!” Harron yelled, seeing Sir Yaelsh beside him taking cover from arrow fire as well.
With ten men falling one by one, the three nobles fled north, to their five legions and Prince Rohne.

Sir Orlimane the Shade heard his orders, he saw that his men did as well. They formed up around the circle, ready for the few strange creatures that were about to impact on a wall of halberds, and tried to ignore the approaching stomp of an army nearing the center of the city.
He re
adied his blade over the head of the chained minotaur.

Lavress looked to Shinayne as ten soldiers circled him, then five more ran into the circle to kill the three in chains.
A lewirja leapt from the temples
, smashing into a soldier
that was about to kill her
, then he turned and jumped on another that stood over James.
Arrows flew, the minotaurs charged in with the hiroon and the unicorn, but it would not be enough.

Crash!
Ca-crack!

Dust flew everywhere, the ashes of the circle erupted into a billow of black and yellow, something had come up through the circle, or impacted it from the sky.
Men fe
ll to their knees, soldiers flew
from the force of whatever had happened, and no one could see more than a few feet in front of them. The dust blew across to the east, revealing a figure in the circle.
Then, a smaller figure, crawled out from beneath her robes.

Angeline stepped forward, Charity in one hand, her other pointed toward the men around the circle as a humming song vibrated the air. Birds, hundreds of sparrows and owls, flew in diving flashes from the sky into the faces of the Armondi guards.

“
Tubrey, set them free. Go.”
She whispered as she stepped forward in a rush of wind on the fat man with the curved blade
over the head of the minotaur
. She parried his downward chop, struck Charity across his chest, and kicked him in the gut.

As he fell backwards, a falcata and a kukri ended Orlimane’s life as they plunged into his heart and lungs. Greataxes were tossed to a gray minotaur
by Dalliunn
, as Tubrey opened the manacles and freed Saberrak Agrannar. He roared into action and vengeance, killing guards to his left and right with brutal chops. Blood sprayed into the air, and the men screamed to retreat as Sir Orlimane fell to the ground.