Aegis Rising (53 page)

In a fraction of a second the bear had the beast pinned. The Guardian reared up and glared at its foe. Before the creature could escape, the bear crashed down with its full weight, crushing the beast’s skull under its humongous paws. The Guardian cautiously lifted its paws off the beast and stared at the animal’s pulverized head before swiping the carcass aside.

The silver-furred Guardian had gotten onto its feet and attempted to shove away the beast that clung onto it. Tearing away at the silver bear’s face with its claws, the beast grazed the Guardian over its eye. Momentarily blinded, the Guardian took a couple of steps backward, bellowing. The beast found its chance and rushed for the bear’s throat. The Guardian reared and tried to tear the animal away. Its comrade, fresh from its victory, charged over and ripped the beast away from the silver Guardian. The Marauder held on with its teeth for as long as it could before relenting.

Falling onto the dirt, the beast whimpered and scurried away. The bears were instantly on its tail, carrying their massive weight at an astounding speed. They split around the beast with a pincer maneuver, effectively trapping the animal. Realizing it was cornered, the animal threw everything it had left into the fight and lunged at the black-furred Guardian. The bear dipped its head and rammed the beast toward the silver Guardian, who picked the beast up by its scruff and banged it against the ground twice before severing the creature’s neck in its bone-crushing jaws.

A roar sounded some distance from the Guardians. The bears turned to face the last surviving beast, the one that the first Guardian had thrown against the truck earlier. The silver Guardian roared back, drowning out the other creature’s call of warning, and both bears slowly started toward the beast.

Nageau, Kody and the rest of the team watched the spectacular encounter in silent awe. To Kody, it felt as though he was watching two titanic forces clash in the battle of the century.

As the Guardians made their way toward the beast, Kody’s eyes inadvertently drifted back toward the Osprey in its unsteady flight. He sat rigid, watching with growing dread as the plane drifted toward the tree tops. He could see Jag hanging precariously over the ramp, trying to clamber back into the aircraft. “Jag!” he yelled, even though he knew his friend would not be able to hear him over the din.

The others on the mountain top turned toward the Osprey and murmured nervously to one another. Wide-eyed, they watched as the shadow cast by the plane drifted toward the edge of the mine site.

Tegan and Aari had left Tayoka in Ashack’s hands. Peeking from behind the barracks, they gaped at the huge plane, its rotors now tilted mostly forward as it chomped through the tops of the trees in its path. Pieces of the rotor blades and chunks of trees whirled away and were spat onto the ground and the surrounding landscape. They could see a form dangling from the edge of the aircraft’s ramp and cried in dismay when they recognized the figure.

The pair exchanged horrified looks, then stared upward again when they heard the sound of the aircraft’s engines increase. They watched as the Osprey attempted to lift itself over the treetops. The plane vibrated violently when a large piece of a rotor broke loose and struck a fuel tank, setting off a fiery blast. The noise resounded across the mountain and the engine began to sputter. The aircraft tilted over, losing altitude rapidly, then tumbled over the edge of the mine site. A thunderous explosion rocked the ground and a towering cloud of black smoke mushroomed from the side of the mountain.

Tegan and Aari sprinted around the building, heading toward where the plane had gone down with only one thought in mind—to find their friend. As they ran past the rubble of the shed to their right, a couple of earth-shaking roars halted them in their tracks. They turned to see two Guardians making their way over to the last beast that stood over the debris. As they watched, the beast slowly twisted its head back to look over its shoulder at the friends, its fangs bared. It stood still for a moment, then, with a twitch of its cropped tail, leapt away from the oncoming Guardians and sped after Aari and Tegan. Within moments the beast was in striking distance.

Knowing he couldn’t outrun the creature, Aari frantically searched for something to protect himself with. Spotting a torn metal door on the ground, he hurriedly picked it up and held it as a shield. In his haste—and not realizing just how heavy the door was—he swayed backward, off balance. The beast took advantage of this and lunged on top of Aari, knocking the boy to the ground. Aari let out a cry of pain but held onto the door, which was the only thing protecting his body from the animal’s deathly jaws.

The beast struggled to sink its teeth into the flat metal. Frustrated, it grabbed the edge of the door in its maw and peeled the corner back until it revealed its prey’s face. Aari stared up at the frightful creature in horror as its eyes bore into him, ready for a kill. Unable to do anything, he watched, terrified, as the beast flung the deformed door aside. With its victim now fully exposed, it moved in to finish the job.

As Aari shut his eyes and covered his face instinctively, he heard the beast let out a surprised yelp. Opening his eyes, he was shocked to see a long steel pipe piercing the creature’s side. Tegan stood a few feet away, shaking. She let go of her end of the six-foot spear she had plunged into the beast and fell to her knees beside Aari.

Distracted by the momentary pain, the animal moved back and yanked the blood-stained pipe out of its side with its jaws, then dropped it to the ground. Furious, it turned back to the friends with a snarl and sprang at them. They were within its reach when a large form leapt over the beast and knocked the creature aside. The silver Guardian reared to stand protectively in front of the friends. It growled and eyed the beast threateningly. Quickly backing away, the beast turned to flee but found itself face-to-face with the black-furred Guardian. It cowered, snapping its teeth and swinging its head from one side to the other as the bears closed the gap.

Still shaking, Tegan and Aari managed to get to their feet and darted away from the titans. Aari glanced back when he heard a blood-curdling howl and, against the rising sun, saw the silhouette of the beast in the jaws of both the Guardians. The last thing he heard was a booming roar from the victorious bears as they reared to their full heights of fifteen feet, the remains of the beast strewn across the dirt.

Having brought down Ajajdif from the ceiling and tied him up, Saiyu and Mariah headed towards the exit. Just as she was about to step out, Mariah noticed something shiny peeking out from under a broken shelf on the floor. She knelt down and picked it up, studying it for a few moments before slipping the curious object into her pocket; she decided she’d bring it up with Saiyu later.

As Elder and apprentice poked their heads out of the door, their eyes stretched in shock at the sight that met them. Mariah saw Aari and Tegan running into the trees and followed after them. “Where are you going?” she called out.

“Jag!” they shouted, ignoring her question. “Jag!”

Mariah dashed after her friends, Saiyu close behind. Weaving through the debris and the blackened vegetation, they reached the edge of the mining site and peered down the side of the mountain. A few hundred feet below them, the charred fuselage of the aircraft was lodged between several trees. Fire and smoke were scattered all around the crash site. With worried looks the four strained to find Jag. They began to despair as there was no sign of movement. Tegan and Mariah clutched Aari’s arms. Saiyu stood close behind the friends, a look of deep sadness on her face.

Tegan slowly knelt down to look closer at the wreckage. She stared for a long while, silent, and a couple of tears slid down her cheeks. Mariah joined her as she too began to cry quietly. Aari stood with his arms crossed, his jaw working and his eyes red as he bitterly fought back tears. No one spoke, but all were quietly grieving.

A figure crawled up from the mountainside some yards away, puffing. Pulling itself up, the tall form stumbled shakily over to Aari and draped an arm over his shoulder, looking down at the plane with the others. “Never want to go through
that
again,” the figure said in an exhausted, husky voice.

Aari froze for a moment, then slowly turned to look to his right. A smoldering, ragged Jag stood next to him with a lopsided grin. “
Jag!
” Aari bellowed. “You . . . you . . .” He gave the other boy a hard thump on the arm before wrapping him in a bear hug. “You crazy sonofagun! What were you thinking?”

The girls jumped up, staring at Jag, stunned. With ecstatic cries they tackled Jag into a group hug. Saiyu covered her mouth with a hand and looked at Jag with relief.

A round of cheers burst from the top of the mountain when Nageau and his team spotted Jag, so loud that it could be heard all the way down at the mining site. Jag squinted up at the top and waved, though he could barely see them, then turned back to the others with a smile.

Saiyu stepped off to the side as Nageau linked with her.
This conflict is over. We have halted their destructive activities. I will join you shortly.
With a twinge of sadness, he continued,
Let us gather our people, both the survivors and those who have sacrificed, and bring them back home.

57

S
itting on top of several large boulders by the rock wall at the end of the valley, the five stared out at the village as it lay in the midday sun. They could see the emerald river flowing through the valley and young children waddling by the edges, squealing happily and splashing water at one another while their parents stood back and chatted. Several villagers walked in and out of the temple to the friends’ right, often pausing to greet each other with warmth. The entire atmosphere exuded a sense of calm and contentment.

The five were fond of Dema-Ki. It had become their home and the people had become their friends. Since returning from the Ayen’et mountain, the residents had invited them for gatherings and meals, most of which the friends politely declined so they could rest and recuperate.

Jag rubbed his head, feeling the shorter haircut he now sported since having some of his hair singed off. Thanks to Huyani and Saiyu’s medicinal skills and healing powers, most of his injuries had been taken care of and he was well on his way to full recovery. The others had not been as badly injured as he and were faring well.

He lowered his eyes from the village and turned to his friends as they continued to gaze out silently. It had been a life-changing summer for the five. Since the plane crash and their subsequent treatment and training in the valley, they had each grown in body, mind and spirit. The skills they’d learned, although powerful, had taught them the importance of keeping their feet firmly on the ground. It was an uncommon path that the five were treading and they were doing it with strength and courage that surprised all of them. Though their experiences and contribution during the siege at the mountain had strengthened their faith in the prophecy, they were still attempting to come to terms with the roles bestowed on them by the ancient scripture.

All five had learned much through their training, giving them more confidence in themselves. Through the extraordinary sustenance provided during their rigorous drills, the friends witnessed noticeable changes in their physiques: The boys were bigger and fitter and the girls were more athletic. And it felt good.

“I can’t believe it’s been a week since we were on the mountain,” Jag said, breaking the quiet. Since returning, the group hardly spoke of the experience; it was almost as if they shied away from the subject.

Tegan, sharing the boulder with Jag and Mariah, nodded. “Never in my life did I think I’d be a part of something like that.” She sighed. “And never in my life did I ever think I’d see such mayhem and destruction.”

“Me neither,” Kody murmured.

Jag glanced at where his friend sat on a smaller boulder. “You probably saw way more than we did up there, didn’t you, bud?”

Kody pressed his palms to his cheeks and rubbed. “Probably,” he said bitterly. “It was brutal. I lost count of how many people we lost that day.”

“At least their sacrifice wasn’t in vain,” Tegan said.

Kody snorted. “In my opinion, there is no such thing as a victory if even one person has to die.”

“Well . . . sometimes lives are lost in order for good to prevail. It’s been like that throughout history. Sitting on our hands and doing nothing can’t be an option if we have the ability to make a difference.”

Mariah looked over Jag’s head to smile at Tegan. “Well said.”

Jag outlined a cut on his arm that was nearly healed, then let out a scoff. The others looked at him, puzzled. “Off topic,” he apologized, “but I was remembering the look on that guy’s face when the Elders gave him a shot to restore his consciousness.”

“You mean the sniper Saiyu and I took down?” Mariah grinned.

“Yeah, him.”

“It’s interesting that the Elders were compassionate enough to leave a radio tied to that man so he could call for help,” she observed.

Aari jumped down from the boulder he was sitting on and went to pluck some dandelions before returning to sit. He held one up and blew the seeds off. The friends watched as the seeds rode on the gentle breeze toward the village.

“I saw Tayoka walking with a cane this morning,” Tegan said, smiling at Jag. “He’s getting better every day.”

Jag smiled back. “I know. If we had these folks with their healing powers in the outside world, imagine how they could help.” He nudged her. “How’s your mentor?”

“She’s healing.”

“She and Tayoka got really lucky.”

“I know.” Tegan watched the children playing by the water. “Didn’t Nageau say Magèo estimated that the contamination in the water outside of the valley would wash away in the next six months or so?”

“I wonder how he came to that conclusion,” Kody mused.

“It’s like wondering how the scientists back home figure things out,” Mariah answered with a shrug. “You won’t know exactly unless you’re one of them. And Magèo is practically the scientist of this village.”