Beyond the Hell Cliffs (50 page)

One guard managed to grab Yumiko’s spear and threatened to disarm her.  Hitomi reached through the shields and snatched the Ratghar by the chest-plate.  Hitomi was not as strong as Indie or Magda, but among Lokai she was still a brute.  She set her feet and hauled the Rathgar through the shields and flung him past her, right at an awaiting Kimura.

The Naga Helcat spun with his momentum and slammed him into the wall, her dagger slipping smoothly across his throat before he could counter.

There was a cry and one of the Naga holding a shield started to fall back, blood spilling from his abdomen.

“Right shield!  Someone get on it now!” Hitomi cried.

An axe got through the bottleneck and came right at her face.  She brought her spear up just in time to catch the underside of it.  A quick jerk backwards ripped it from the guard’s grip and she returned the blow with more success, jamming the fat blade of her spear right between his eyes.

Finally the guards gave up and retreated, leaving a stack of bodies clogging the entrance of the building.  Hitomi finished off a guard who was still writhing and turned back to the others.  The Naga who had been holding the right shield was wounded deeply and would not last the hour.  The others were scraped and bleeding slightly and she had failed to notice a gash across her shoulder.

“We won’t survive another push like that,” Kimura said.  “The next one will break through.  Maybe if you wouldn’t have sent our two strongest fighters away on some chore…”

“They’re forming up with shields,” Yumiko said.  “Looks like they aren’t going to give us a chance to catch our breath.”

“Magda and Indie are back!” Naoko yelled.  “And they’re pushing a giant… thing!”

“Stay here!” Hitomi yelled as she lept up the stairs to the second floor.

There were more windows up above where Naoko and Giddix were.  The Gimlet was hunkered down in the corner around only a dozen remaining arrows.  Naoko had the fingers on her right hand wrapped up with a rag that was slick with blood.  She saw Hitomi glance nervously
at it.

“Not wounded,” Naoko said.  “A hundred arrows in two minutes
takes a toll.  I had to switch off to my left hand at the end.”

“You’ve done
good,” Hitomi said as she went to the window.

Below, Indie and Magda were behind a cart, pushing a large metal cylinder that might have been the chimney of a giant stove.  Through a spiderweb of cracks along the tube, green light seeped through.  Beretta was crammed down inside of it, her flames making the piece of junk look as if it were emanating power.

“To the front!” she yelled down at them.  “Hurry!  We’ll keep you covered!”

Hitomi bolted back down the stairs.

“Everyone outside!  We’re providing cover for the super weapon, so act like it!”

The guards were moving forward for the final assault and they slowed for a brief moment when they saw the defenders pour out of their tower to meet them.  Then Indie and Magda rounded the corner of the building and the group of Rathgar guards screeched to a halt.

In that moment, Beretta flared her flames, making the entire tube radiate with light.  Green flames flickered out of the front of the tube and it shook and groaned from the sudden increase in heat.  Indie roared and the two Rathgar pushed harder, moving the cart past the building and aiming the end right at the halted army.

It took only a moment for their hesitation to break.  They were under orders to go stop the production of a superweapon, but many of them probably remembered the massive destruction the men from the north were capable of with their weapons.  Now, it looked as if the remaining defenders had a completed weapon and it was pointed right at them.

The tight formation of guards scattered like gnats wafted from dung.  Some dropped their weapons and ran screaming in the opposite direction.  Leaders tried to maintain order, but there was instant chaos in the group of guards as they all tried to escape the power that was sure to be unleashed on them.  In seconds the entire force was rapidly retreating away from the city.

“Run, you silly bitches!”
Hitomi screaming, pointing her spear at their backs.  “Flee before the might of the Helcats!”

The others burst into cheers.  “Broosh!” they screamed, venting
their wrecked nerves as the men scampering away from them.

“I
don’t fucking believe it…” Kimura said, dropping to her knees and shaking her head.  She looked up at Hitomi, dumbfounded.

“You did it.  You routed an army of hundreds with a handful of worn-out girls and a piece of scrap on a cart.”

“We’re alive!” Ayane yelled, running up and hugging Hitomi around the waist.

“We kicked their asses!” Yumiko cheered.

“Maybe…” Hitomi said.  She kept her eyes on the group of guards and the others stopped cheering to follow her gaze.

Far away from the city, well out of range of any conventional weapon, the guards had stopped retreating.  The leaders had regained order and it looked as if they were forming back up.

“Naoko?”

The Lokai archer poked her head out the window.  “They’re sending runners off in the direction of the Citadel.  It looks like the rest are trying to figure out if they should come back or not.  Maybe...
maybe they're just going to come get their gear.”

“No.” Hitomi broke away from Ayane and stepped forward.  “They’re sending for more reinforcements.  Before they had suspected that we had a weapon, but now we’ve just given them proof.  Greela will send everything he has at us now… and this group will stay here to make sure we don’t escape.  We only bought ourselves more time.”

“Maybe we have enough time to finish the super weapon?” Indie asked.

The others looked at her with scowls.

“No?  That’s not… we can’t just build a super weapon real quick?”

“Are you
outta your mind, Indie?” Kimura asked.

“Boss, I don’t have many arrows left,” Naoko called out.  “What are we doing?”

“We could go back through the city, to the west side,” Ayane said.  “They might not investigate us leaving for hours.  We could get a pretty good start towards the farms… maybe lose them in the desert.”

“And desert all the ones still inside the city?” Beretta asked.

“They’re just Gimlets,” Ayane scoffed.

Beretta’s flames deepened and flared as she stared a hole through the girl.  “They’re MY Gimlets.”

Ayane shrunk backwards.  “Sorry, I didn’t…”

“We’re not fleeing,” Hitomi said. 
“Back inside the building, Helcats.  Set a watch and get some sleep.  We’ll need to be fresh if they decide to call our bluff.”

Hitomi sat in the corner of the upstairs room by herself.  She had relieved Kimura on watch and she could hear the others sleeping down below her.  The remaining guards had not advanced on them and she was having trouble staying conscious after four days with only a few hours sleep.

She was drifting in the space between dreams and reality when she heard the voice.

“Hitomi?
  Kimura?  Anyone?”

“Giddix, I told you to leave any time you want to,” she replied to the high-pitched voice that called to her.

“Is this Hitomi or Kimura?  Or is it someone else?  Who the hell is in charge in there?”

“Giddix, what the fuck, man?”
Hitomi groaned, pushing herself out of the half-slumber she was floating in.  The Gimlet was nowhere to be found.

“She keeps yelling at someone named Giddix.  Hey, girl, who the hell is this Giddix?  I’m over here, on the window seal.”

Hitomi looked over to see a flash of green, like a glowing dot that was only there for a moment, at the bottom of the window.  She crawled closer and noticed a small, bug-like creature with a bulbous lower body crouched there.  Its lower half brightened and flashed the same green glow for half a moment again and then it spoke.

“Are you Hitomi or Kimura? 
Indie?”

“What the hell are you?” she asked.

“This is but a messenger, conveying my words over a short distance.”

“How?”

“By using an Imp and a channeling medium… dammit, it doesn’t matter how!” the bug screeched.  “Who am I speaking to?”

“Hitomi.”

“Good, that’s who he wanted me to speak to; you or Kimura.  What is the situation inside there, Hitomi?  How many of you are left?”

“There are nine of us still alive,” she replied.  “Wait, who did you say wanted you to speak to me?”

“Grass-hair,” the bug answered.

Hitomi felt the blood drain from her face and she felt like she might pass out.  The bug continued.

“We’re right over the ridge, to the south of the guards… close enough to see that bizarre contraption out to the side of the building you’re in.  He says for all of you to hang tight inside there… we’re coming to get you.”

Chapter 47

“They’re still alive; all of your Helcats,” Izanami said, lifting her hand from the glowing circle on the ground and summoning her imp back to her.  “The guards have killed everyone else defending the place and have had them pinned down in that building since this morning.  She says they also sent for reinforcements not long ago.”

“Well, we better stop fucking around, then,” Raegith said, turning away from the top of the ridge.

He took a few steps down the small incline and stopped.  Helkree, Brimgor, Fenra and Freya stood in front of him, waiting for his command.  Behind them were two hundred armed and excited Urufen warriors from the eastern mountains.  Most were from the Lupa and other neighboring clans, but there were twenty youths from the Tyrra clan, who carried no weapons.  All of them stood at the ready.

“A few of you will remain here with Izanami.  You know who you are,” he said to the company.  “The rest of us are going over this ridge.  Nine of our comrades are holed up in a two-story shack just a small distance from here, trapped by a camp of a few hundred Rathgar from the Citadel.  They need our help!”

“Arooh!
  Arooh!” the Urufen chanted as they gripped their weapons and bounced in place, readying themselves for war.

“
These Rathgar Guards have never seen a force such as this!” Raegith yelled, whipping them into a frenzy.  “You are a blizzard of teeth and fury; you are the terrifying beasts of the mountains!  No one can stand against your madness!”

“Arooh!
  Arooh! Arooh!”

“For the pride of the Urufen!
  For those glorious devils that have already fallen!  Leave none alive!”

“Broosh!”
Helkree roared, joined by Fenra and Freya.

The Urufen warriors surged forward, climbing the hill and spilling over the top at full speed. 
Bardr approached, nodding at Brimgor as Fenra and Freya closed their eyes and started breathing deeply.

“I haven’t really had time to get used to this,” Brimgor said to the young Tyrra clansman.  “Don’t freak out if I just roll right off of you as soon as we’re in the thick of it.”

“I won’t,” Bardr replied.

The boy convulsed and exploded in fur, transforming into a giant wolf-like creature, just as Thorin had on the Alfhildr.  With a stronger effort, Freya and Fenra went into convulsions and completed the Turning, becoming black and red furred beasts, respectively.  They circled once and then dropped onto their haunches.

“When you tell this story to everyone later, as I know you’ll do,” Helkree said, throwing her leg over Freya’s back and climbing atop her.  “You can’t say ‘and then Helkree rode Freya.’  It doesn’t sound right and I know you know that and I know you think it’s hilarious.  It’s not hilarious and it’s not worth the pain you’ll get in return.”

“I think it’s kind of cute, you bonding with your new Helcat like that,” Raegith laughed as he lept atop Fenra.  “Helkree and Freya, buddies for life… that’s how it’s going into the history books.”

Raegith, Helkree and Brimgor rode their Urufen beasts over the ridge and caught up to the advancing army.  The members of the Tyrra clan were in front, eager to reach the surprised Rathgar.  They waited until Raegith overtook the mob and moved out in front of it before Turning.

The front lines of the Rathgar formation faltered as twenty ferocious
monsters never seen before in the Greimere bore down on them.  The Turned Urufen vaulted the shield-bearers in front, avoiding their pikes and crashed into the center of the formation.  Fenra landed on top of a Guard, knocking him to the ground and snapping her jaws around his head.  Her neck shuddered with force and the armored helmet cracked and split, crushing the man’s head inside of it.

Helkree and Brimgor both abandoned their mounts and engaged the guards with dual tomahawks.  Five years spent with the 96
th
Agillean were not wasted and Helkree was no longer a clumsy brawler, but a force of nature.  She utilized both of her hand axes with maximum efficiency, hooking and stripping the weapons from her opponents and then dismantling them with quick and fatal strikes.  She cut through guards like weeds, avoiding multiple attacks as if everyone else were in slow motion.

Brimgor was equally terrifying and the clear origin of Helkree’s new relentless fighting style.  Helkree’s moves were not a direct copy of Brimgor’s however.  Where Helkree had refined the style to better suit her agility and reflexes, Brimgor’s style focused more on sheer, overwhelming force.  Brimgor closed the distance on spearmen before they could strike, using powerful kicks and shoulder blocks to throw every opponent off balance and keep them from attacking.  Instead of aiming his strikes around the armor, as Helkree did, he cleaved right through it. 

All around him, Urufen clawed and hacked their way through the stunned guards.  The guards were used to putting down insurrections by inexperienced and ill-equipped farmers or merchants.  They were accustomed to the other races turning over and showing their throats any time they were threatened with force.  As soldiers of Greimere, under the Treaty, they were conditioned to be defeated once met with strong opposing force.

Their formation held together only for the first few moments of the attack.  The sudden and vicious force of Raegith’s army completely broke down their discipline and before the leaders could mount a counterattack the group was fragme
nting and scattering.  Turned Urufen chased down fleeing guards like prowling predators taking down prey.  Some of the guards threw down their weapons in surrender, but the frenzied warriors could not be contained.  All were slaughtered in that desert valley; anyone in Citadel armor.

The battle lasted only a few minutes and the number of fallen Urufen could be counted on two hands.  It was a battle as one-sided as any fought north of the Hell Cliffs.  Raegith had not even dismounted.  Other than kicking away a guard swinging for Fenra’s side, he had not engaged a single target.  He did not need to; just being there, among his warriors was enough for that battle.  As the fighting died down and the wounded guards were dealt with, cheers and clenched fists rose into the sky.

“Grass-hair!  Grass-hair!  Grass-hair!”

Fenra circled, allowing Raegith to look out on all of his blood-soaked warriors cheering his name.  Hitomi and the other Helcats were there.  They had abandoned the safety of their building to come join the melee and were cheering with the crowd.

Raegith dropped off of Fenra and pushed through the crowd to reach his Helcats.  Kimura was on him instantly, jumping into him and wrapping her arms around his neck.  The others crowded around him, as well, including some new faces he did not remember.  Then Hitomi, her turquoise braid in complete disarray, was standing before him, holding a spear with a heavy, wide blade at the tip.

“It was all her doing,” Kimura said, pointing at Hitomi.  “Without her, we wouldn’t have lasted two days.  She kept us alive for two weeks.  Every time they came at us, she found a way to push them back.”

“Hitomi sent those fuckers running with just a metal tube on a cart!” Indie exclaimed.

“I’m going to have to hear that story later,” Raegith said, stepping toward Hitomi.  “You’re okay, Hitomi?”

The girl swallowed hard and wiped her face.

“I am now,” she said, rushing forward into Raegith’s arms.