Heir of Shandara (Book 4) (36 page)

“Let’s play, human,” Halcylon muttered. “Send in a squad with the secondary keystone accelerator, using these coordinates.”

The tech’s fingers flew over his console. “Orders given, sir.”

Halcylon nodded. The humans believed they were safe behind their walls. They would soon learn that there was nowhere safe from him.

“Sir, main keystone accelerators are ready.”

Halcylon checked the coordinates. “This ends now. Operation Trident is go.”

His orders were repeated and confirmed. A bright curtain of light stretched between two pylons. He was draining the reserve power but knew that there was a power source in Shandara that would last hundreds of years. The Zekara in the mobile command center cheered. They were hungry for this fight just as he knew they would be. They were the finest army from their beloved home world. He would resurrect Hytharia from the ashes of Safanar and make the humans pay for daring to rise up against their betters.
 

***

A squad of former Elitesmen formed a perimeter. They were young and eager to prove themselves. Aaron recognized Isaac, who nodded in greeting. The old Elitesman was ever watchful and would protect Sarah until his dying breath. Aaron met Sarah’s icy gaze. He couldn’t help the slight tug of his lips or the softening of his face as he took in the sight of her. Though their time apart had been short, so much had changed, which made his heart ache at the sight of her all the more. Her gaze softened for a moment and then resumed its frosty demeanor. Sarah was right, comms was a terrible way to communicate with the ones you love. She looked at Bayen, who stood with his mouth agape.

Alarms blared through Shandara. The city was under attack. Messages began spewing forth over comms. The Zekara were outside the city walls. They’d used a massive keystone accelerator to move their entire army. Thousands were pouring through. Not giving the Zekara any breathing room, Gavril immediately ordered the attack.

Aaron stepped before Sarah and took her hand in his. “I promise I will explain everything to you.”

Airships raced overhead, engines firing at full burst. Hythariam flyers zipped past the much slower airships. The skies over the walls in the distance flashed as the fighting began in earnest.

“We’re right behind you,” Sarah said. Her eyes dared him to ask her to stay behind.

“Aaron, we have a secondary portal signature coming from the heart of the city,” Tanneth’s voice said over comms. “Forsaken are pouring through.”

Aaron’s gut clenched. It was Rexel all over again.
No!
They were better prepared. Most people who couldn’t fight were sheltering at the palace and in various strongholds throughout the city. Aaron glanced at Sarah, and the same look of horror reflected in her eyes.

The cure.

“We were distributing it to the people. There are lines of them waiting outside the palace and near the command center,” Sarah said.

“Tanneth, we need soldiers at the distribution points for the cure,” Aaron said, and paused, pursing his lips in thought. “Have them bring keystone accelerators.” Aaron looked at the others. “I have an idea.”

***

The western gates to Shandara opened, and Braden led a legion of De’anjard through. Hythariam cannons belched plasma bolts into the Zekaran forces still coming through the portal.

“Shields!” Braden shouted, and his command was echoed down the line.

De’anjard in bronze colored armor engaged their Shandarian shields. The shields fanned out from the rods, forming large ovals. Braden activated his shield and knew that if it could repel an Elitesman’s attack orb, then it should repel the plasma bolts from the Zekaran weapons.
 

Braden raised his Warden’s hammer into the air. “Forward!”

The legion of De’anjard charged forward with shields in front. Maintaining the line, they closed in on the black armored Zekara. The Zekara fired their weapons, and the plasma bolts bounced harmlessly off the shields. The De’anjard pushed faster, screaming their battle cries. The front line of Zekaran soldiers changed weapons for close-quarters fighting.

Now it was a fight,
Braden thought, and slammed his hammer down upon the first Zekara he met with an energy enhanced blow.

***

“Here we are again,” Verona said, racing along next to Aaron.

They had found the Zekaran portal in the city square located in the center of Shandara. Hundreds of Forsaken poured through. Knowing the Forsaken threat, the remaining people scrambled into the stone buildings, seeking shelter. Aaron and the others arrived just in time. He raced ahead and engaged the bladesong, drawing the attention of the Forsaken. He cut through their front line and wheeled around, darting away from them. Their savage roars filled the street as they focused in on him. The others were on sides streets, enticing the Forsaken to chase. They worked in teams with one being the bait while the others cleaned up any stragglers.

“Is it ready?” Aaron spoke into his comms device as he ran.

“Almost,” Bayen answered. “We’ll have it up by the time you get here.”

“Verona, take some of the men and circle back. We can’t afford to have any stragglers loose,” Aaron said.

Verona nodded and sped off with several former Elitesmen following. Sarah moved in next to Aaron, easily keeping his pace. The Forsaken snarled as they gave chase. Aaron and Sarah slowed enough to encourage the Forsaken to keep following.

“I hope this plan of yours works,” Sarah said.

“So do I,” Aaron replied. If it didn’t work, they would need to fight the Forsaken up close.
 

This part of the city was still being rebuilt. Remnant buildings from the fall still lined the streets. They rounded a street corner to a narrow alleyway. A curtain of light opened in front of them. Aaron and Sarah leaped over it, and the Forsaken poured through the portal, unable to stop themselves. Aaron stayed just beyond the portal on top of a pile of rubble and kept the bladesong engaged. As the last of this group of Forsaken went through, the FNA soldiers deactivated the keystone accelerator.
 

“Where did you send them?” Sarah asked.

“Someplace where they can’t harm anyone. About a hundred miles straight up,” Aaron said.
 

The Forsaken would emerge on the other side, in the vacuum of outer space. If they fell back toward the surface, they would burn up in the atmosphere first. FNA soldiers reported in that the portal tactic was working elsewhere. Aaron wished he had thought of it sooner. The Forsaken threat was contained for the moment, but this battle had only just begun. They headed toward the city walls where the Zekaran army was still coming through the portal.

***

Airships fell from the sky in flaming husks. They were outmatched by the more advanced Zekaran flyers and combat drones. FNA soldiers riding on gliders swooped in, trying to rescue as many as they could. Sections of Shandara’s great wall slid away, and gun turrets emerged, firing into the enemy.

Braden and the De’anjard fought toe to toe with the Zekaran soldiers. The Zekara were a strong enemy and fought well. For all their advanced technology, they hadn’t lost their ability for close-quarters combat. There was still the underlying dependency upon their technology, and it was this that gave Braden and the De’anjard a slight edge. They kept the Zekaran ground force from entering the city. The Zekara regrouped to make another push, and the De’anjard used the opportunity to cluster together to form a shield wall. Braden put himself at the point and slammed his Warden’s hammer upon his shield. He used the energy to fuel the vibrations in the shield, and the charging Zekara slammed into an unseen force that flung them back. Braden braced himself to counter the forces from his shield and was reinforced by the men at his back. He pivoted to the side, and more of the Zekaran soldiers were sent flying. The De’anjard fought with renewed vigor.

Behind the Zekaran line, something massive burst through the portal. Huge cannons emerged from the rooftop of the largest vehicle that Braden had ever seen. A glowing point appeared in each of the cannons as they primed to fire. Plasma bolts the size of airships lanced into Shandara’s walls, leaving craters where they hit. Then they started targeting the De’anjard. Each blast blazed through the men, leaving nothing left.
 

“Get your men out of there,” Gavril’s voice said over the comms device. Turrets along Shandara’s walls returned fire, but nothing was penetrating the hull of the Zekaran mobile command center.

“Fall back!” Braden bellowed.

The remaining airships of the Free Nations Army air corps crash landed between the two armies. Braden recognized the burning black hull of the
Raven
. They were sacrificing the ships so the De’anjard could pull back. Braden ordered a small detachment to make a quick sweep for survivors and bring them back inside the city walls. Then he turned and headed for the smoking wreck of the
Raven
. The De’anjard with him scrambled to help the sailors get off the ship.

“Where is the admiral?” Braden asked a sailor being carried off the ship.

“He was in the wheelhouse,” the sailor said.

Braden didn’t hear anything else as he charged onto the ship. Hythariam flyers swarmed overhead, giving them cover fire. Braden knew he had minutes before the focusing crystals in the ship’s engine blew. Nearby explosions shook the hull beneath his feet. He crossed the deck and came to the shattered remains of the wheelhouse. Braden screamed Morgan’s name and heard a slight response from inside. He scrambled to the side, where a support beam stuck out of the pile. Drawing in the energy, Braden fed it into his muscles and bones. He squatted down and braced his shoulder under the beam and heaved with all his strength. Grunting with effort, Braden lifted the roof of the wheelhouse several feet into the air. Bloodied, but very much alive, Admiral Morgan began to pull himself from the wreckage. Several Zekaran soldiers hauled themselves over the side and trained their weapons on them. Braden tensed up, anticipating the blast, but couldn’t let go or Morgan would be crushed. As a Zekaran was about to fire, something silver flashed into the soldier’s chest. The soldier’s shot went wide, and the soldier went down. A man in white armor, similar to that of the Hythariam, landed between Braden and the soldiers. He wielded a bladed staff and made quick work of the opposing troops. More Zekaran soldiers pulled themselves over the side. Braden heard the melodious tune of the bladesong and felt his heart lift. Aaron was near. The Heir of Shandara and the warrior in white stood against the Zekaran soldiers, dispatching them quickly before continuing on. Morgan finally pulled himself clear of the wheelhouse. Blood peppered his side from his wounds, but he was alive. Braden let the beam go, and the roof came crashing down. Morgan tried to stand up and cried out in pain.

“Come on, old man. Let me get you out of here,” Braden said, and lifted the groaning admiral over his shoulders.
 

Braden leaped down from the ship and nearly lost his balance. Stumbling at first, he regained his footing and ran. A few seconds later, the focusing crystals on the
Raven
blew. The airship came apart as each of the crystal chambers blew, sending the splintering remains of the ship soaring through the air.

***

Members of the De’anjard raced to help Braden. Aaron and the others continued to help get sailors off the airships before they blew. Aaron glanced at the city walls and noticed that fewer gun turrets were actually firing. Could they be overheating? Fire from the Zekaran mobile command center relentlessly pelted the defenders.
 

They escorted the wounded to the gates, and the De’anjard began regrouping for another charge. The field beyond the walls was already littered with bodies.
So much death,
Aaron thought in disgust.
He looked at the Zekaran mobile command center hovering over the ground with thousands of soldiers between them. The soldiers began pushing forward.
 

Tolvar raced through the crowd of soldiers, with none giving any indication that they knew he was there. The gates to Shandara were still open, and the line of wounded were going through. A volley of crystal-tipped arrows flew overhead and into the charging Zekara. The small amount of crystallized dust was not enough to stop a fully armored Zekaran soldier, but it did slow some down.

“Don’t you sense it?” Tolvar asked, and gestured toward the tall statues lining the main thoroughfare in the city just beyond the gates. “You’re the key. They will fight for you.”

Aaron glanced back at the statues. They were tall and startlingly lifelike. Buried beneath the surface of the statues were crystals. Aaron pulled in the energy, and his perceptions sharpened. The crystals shimmered along each of the statues, and Aaron could sense the energy gathered inside. He focused the energy through the staff, and the runes blazed. Aaron raced to the middle of the street and planted the blazing staff into the ground. He unleashed the energy, and tendrils shot forth, racing along the statues that lined the streets. The crystals glowed beneath the surface. Aaron closed his eyes and pulled more energy in, feeding it through the staff.
The Safanarion Order calls upon you.
Aaron sent the message along the tendrils of energy.
Defend the city.
 

The statues broke free of the pedestals and raced toward the gates. Aaron removed his hands from the staff, and the statues immediately stopped moving. Tolvar nodded toward the staff. There was no other way. Aaron clutched the staff and closed his eyes. He drew from his own lifebeat and fed the energy into the statues. His vision fractured and grew distant, stemming from each of the statues. He heard Sarah call his name.