Beyond the Hell Cliffs (54 page)

Once outside of the wall, the exit spontaneously collapsed behind him, sealing off any others who might have followed him out.  He tried to
clear the rubble and looked around for the hunter, calling out for help.  The hunter was nowhere to be found.

“Where is the 9
th
?” he screamed, turning to signal the other regiment. 

He caught a glimpse of them just as a horde of enemy soldiers riding huge, hairy beasts rode down the hill and collided with the unaware regiment.  Tiberius looked on in horror as his men tried to turn the Witzer cannon on the ambushers and were immediately set upon by giant wolves.  Black creatures sprung up out of the ground on all sides of the men and fired mechanical bows into them.  The Faeir mages could not accurately cast their magic in such close quarters and half-formed tornadoes and flames sputtered through the gaggle of men and beasts.

As he watched his men torn apart by the Greimere savages, his ears caught the sounds of his Royal Guard clawing desperately at the rubble behind him that clogged the only exit.  They were screaming as the fires cooked them in their armor.  Tiberius dropped to his knees in agony and saw the words written into the sand before him.

I’ll be waiting for you among the dead.  –Grasshair

Chapter 53

Raegith sat atop the wreckage of the giant, mounted cannon and looked out on the remains of the 9
th
Regiment.  He was disappointed that Vi-Sage Falfa was not among the ranks anymore, but it satisfied him that he recognized some of the corpses. 

There were bodies from
his own army among them as well and a few of the survivors mourned for fallen comrades.  The 9
th
Regiment were not pushovers and though he had taken them by surprise and quickly taken down their primary weapon, they were still better armed and trained than his ambushers.  His warriors were more lethal, though, taking down three soldiers for every one of them that fell.  The Gimlets had been a huge factor, picking off the whole lot of Faeir with crossbows before they even realized they were being attacked.

His
Reapers, mounted Lokai spearmen atop Turned Urufens under the command of Hitomi, poured over the hill to the east, sweeping into the startled Regiment and going straight for the hunters.  His Berserkers and Helcats followed, engaging the soldiers. 

The battle had lasted only a few minutes.  His Helcats and the few Kittens, those going through the induction process to become a Helcat, were standing below him, holding captive the few Twileens he had
allowed to surrender.

“Do you know who I am?” he asked the group kneeling before him.  “Don’t be afraid to speak up; I’ve already decided to spare you.”

They had seen him engage their commanding officer, the colonel with the polished shield and thin mustache; watched him dismantle the steel-clad Saban with his bare hands before crumpling him inside his own armor.  They had witnessed him ignite his hands with the power bestowed upon him by the Path and pound the dying man’s chest protector into a dented, mangled ball around him and listened to his useless screams for mercy.

He worried they would be too terrified to carry on a decent conversation.

“I don’t recognize you, but I know what you are,” one of the hunters replied weakly.

“You do?”

“You’re Rung’un,” he answered.  “A half-breed.  I’ve seen only one before… in the Wilderness.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that term before.  A Twileen friend of mine called me Rung’un once… told me what it was.  You kind of look like him; maybe that’s why I didn’t kill you.  His name was Ebriz.”

“I knew Ebriz!” another captive spoke up.  “Sir, you speak of Ebriz the bard?  He is from my village!”

“Oh?” Raegith asked, smiling at the man.  “You were friends with him?”

“Not really, no.  But I knew of him… before he was killed in a hunting accident.”

“A hunting accident?”
Raegith laughed.  “Is that what you think happened to Ebriz?  I wonder what they say happened to Hemmil or Boram or Zakk?  I wonder what they told my mother in Leafblade what happened to me?”

“Sir, you are from Leafblade?” the Twileen asked.  “Why are you here?  Why are you doing this?”

“Ebriz… did not die in a hunting accident,” Raegith said, ignoring his question.  “Ebriz died right up there, inside the Citadel, pinned to the wall by the axe of a Rathgar General… a Rathgar who, just this day, sacrificed himself for me.  Ebriz saved my life, you know.  And I watched him die for it; but it was not the General that truly killed him. No, that Rathgar was just following orders.  It was Helfrick Caelum who killed Ebriz… and Zakk Hadrian and Raegith Caelum.”

“Raegith Caelum?” the captive asked.  “
Who is Raegith Caelum?”

Suddenly
Izanami appeared near Raegith and nodded toward the Citadel.

“Ask him!” Raegith shouted, sta
nding up and pointing at the lone soldier approaching them from the blazing remains of the Citadel.

The man
slowed and glared at him.  “Raegith,” he said, the name rumbling in his massive chest.

“General Tiberius?” the Twileen asked, shocked by his
survival.

“Tiberius is it?” Raegith asked.  “I’ve never seen you before, so if you know who I am on sight, you must be one of my father’s trusted men.”

“Raegith, I don’t know what has happened to you, but what you are doing is wrong!  Look at these men you have here!  They are your people; your own kind!”

“But not you, Tiberius?
  You’re quick to point out that, yes, I am Twileen, but you don’t jump at the chance to point out our shared heritage.  I’m not good enough to be called a Saban?”

“You are!” he said.  “
You are a Caelum; the greatest line of Sabans in Rellizbix!  What you’re doing, what you’ve already done to the Royal Guard… it’s not what Caelums do, boy!  These animals have done something to you to make you act this way!”

“Were you there when he wrote it, Tiberius?  Maybe you were the one who actually penned it.”  Raegith jumped down from where he was perched on the destroyed cannon.  “Maybe… maybe you really aren’t aware of it at all, and you truly don’t know why I would do something like slaughtering the 9
th
Regiment with such glee!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Raegith.”

“The Declaration!” he yelled.  “Hemmil, Zakk, Boram, Tavin… Onyx!  They’re all dead; all just to deliver that damned scroll to the Greimere for him!  Only three of us even made it past the cliffs, the others maliciously murdered by the Sabans that now decorate this valley with their guts!”

“Raegith…”

“I pushed on, though, Tiberius!  Would that have made him proud; that I did not give up after watching my friends being tortured and killed?  I pushed on, all the way to the Citadel.  I knelt before the Empress of Greimere and handed her that fucking cursed scroll, listened to her read it aloud for me, all the way to the last bit!  A lingering amendment, to get rid of me forever in a place where no one would ever find me!”

“Helfrick did no such thing, Raegith!  He mourned you!  It killed him that he could not memorialize you or even acknowledge that you exist.”

Tiberius dropped to a knee before him.  “You are remembering things incorrectly, Raegith.  The Empress did something to you, I know it!  Raegith, stop all of this madness and come home with me.  I swear by my life that I will take you to him and you will see the relief on his face.  Leave all of this behind, Raegith and come back to Rellizbix; where you belong.”

“You swear on your life that you will take me to my father?” Raegith asked, leaning down to look him in the eyes.  “I swore an oath once.  The Empress, she told me to return home; practically begged me to leave the Greimere and live my life among my own people.  When my people returned to finish me off, she tricked me into fleeing the Citadel instead of giving me up to save her own life.
  She had to deceive me to get me to leave, because I loved her… and I would have never left her side had I known what you were capable of.

“When I saw her naked body hanging from the pole you stuck her on, I
shed my heritage and cast it at her bloodied feet.  You want to bring Helfrick’s son back to him?  You’re too late.  He isn’t here anymore.  Raegith Caelum does not stand before you, General.  You kneel before the Grass-haired Demon, come to claim vengeance for Kalystra, Zakk, Onyx and an entire empire!”

Raegith nodded at
Helkree and she commanded everyone to back away.  The Saban general looked up at him, disappointed.

“You want to protect Rellizbix and I want to destroy it,” Raegith said.  “There is no compromise to be found here between us. 
This Greimere army is under my command; they follow me with absolute faith and loyalty.  Slay me and end the threat against Rellizbix from the Greimere… for now.  Fail and these Twileens will be carrying your armor back.  Your body will stay here and decorate a pole in the abandoned Citadel.”

“I am loyal to your father and the kingdom of Rellizbix,” Tiberius said, taking
his sword in hand and rising to his feet.  “I would have escorted you through the gates of Thromdale myself and demanded you be granted citizenship through the Passage of Blood.  I would have presented you to your father and siblings; family that could give you real love, not some depraved notion this Empress convinced you of.  We would have gotten to the bottom of this misunderstanding together, so that you could rejoin a proper society… but I will not permit a threat to my land or lord.  If you give me no other choice, Raegith, I will spill your royal blood on this ground and tell your father you died long ago.”

Raegith smiled and pointed at Tiberius.  “That’s the right attitude, old man.”

He stretched his arms and popped his neck to the side.  “Give us an arena!”

“Broosh!” the Helcats yelled, backing away and raising their weapons.

Raegith’s entire army formed a circle around the two combatants, chanting his name in cadence as they thrust their weapons to the sky and stomped their feet.  As Tiberius took his stance, Raegith danced around on the balls of his feet and waved his arms, encouraging the warriors to raise their voices and cheer louder.

“And what barbaric weapon have you taken up in your time among the Greimere?” the general asked.

“I am the weapon, asshole.”

Raegith
threw his arms out to the side and they were instantly engulfed in blue flames.  The cheering grew even louder and Raegith steadied his breathing, taking his stance.

“A Caelum using magic?
  Is this how you intend to defeat me?” Tiberius asked.  “I’ll not stand for it!”

The general lunged in, swing hard and fast at his midsection.  Raegith retreated backwards, out of reach, but unlike Greela and his axe, Tiberius was able to reverse the direction of his swing almost instantaneously.

The blade drew a red line across Raegith’s stomach and he rolled backwards across the ground.  His stomach was on fire, but he breathed and quickly put the pain aside.  The blow simply grazed muscle; his guts were still inside of him.  It was enough to scare him, though, and he instantly lost focus.

Tiberius pushed forward again, swinging mid-range, instead of for his head.  Raegith put more distance between them and slipped to the side to make Tiberius have to extend further on his backswing.  The trick did not work on the experienced soldier.  Instead of using his backswing, Tiberius came full circle, spinning all the way around as Raegith ran into the blade.

Raegith dropped hard, sliding across the dirt as the blade sliced through the air above him and clipped the end of his ear.  Tiberius lifted a foot into his side, knocking him into the air and across the ground.

Raegith got to his feet as the man bore down on him with overhead swings.  The general hefted the blade as if it were made of parchment, hammering blows around Raegith with incredible speed as he struggled to stay outside of them.  The flames on his arms faded as he began to lose his concentration.  He had not expected such skill from one of his father’s men.  He understood why Greela was so enraged and terrified of him.

“You may be a big shot among the barbarians, boy, but you’ve never faced the glory of Rellizbix before!” Tiberius roared, feigning a blow and connecting with a pommel strike to his head.  Raegith staggered back, stunned.  “And your father is twice the fighter I am!”

Tiberius closed the gap between them quickly, not allowing him to regain his wits, and the overhead swing was like a bolt of lightning meant to cleave him in half.  It was the killing stroke that Hemmil had long ago warned him about.

“The difference between a veteran soldier and some duelist, is the killing stroke,” the grizzled Paladin said to him as they overlooked the Central Plains after a long day of sparring.  “It’s not so much a technique as just a lack of hesitation.  Every strike has intent.  You feint to open up, you cut the hands or knuckles to disarm, you smash the shoulders and ligaments to disable… but the killing stroke is direct and it’s powerful.  Everything else is just to set you up for a lethal strike.  When your intent for the stroke is death, you place it to the head or heart and you put all of your power into it, or else you won’t get past the skull or the sternum.  You have to use everything for the killing stroke, or else you fail.”

Not yet!

The blade of the sword passed by Raegith’s shoulder, shaving through leather and skin, exposing the muscle beneath and then it hit dirt.  Raegith had taken hard blows to the head many times over the last decade and his body still knew how to react even if his eyes did not.  He glided to the side as the swing came down, knowing that the Saban soldier would put all of his strength into the stroke.

Raegith righted himself, ignoring the wound to his arm and routed his energy to his feet.  His shins erupted in blue flame and he kicked down hard on the blade, embedding i
t deep into the ground.  Standing atop the blade, Raegith kicked out with his other leg into the general’s torso.

The plate armor protecting Tiberius’s chest cracked and he soared backwards.  Raegith stood atop the buried claymore
and it could not cut him.  The warriors surrounding him roared and chanted.  Tiberius got to his feet and looked down at his armor.

Then Raegith was on him.  The general was skilled at hand-to-hand combat and blocked his initial attack, but Raegith used an art form that was completely foreign to him, forged in the depths of the Pit and enhanced by the powers of the Path.  Raegith hit and parried, using his elbow to divert a punch and countering with a blow to the ribs.