The Spirit of Revenge (10 page)

A group of Arzecs appeared on the cliff top above, leering down at the soldiers. “Get ready to fight,” Cain ordered as they raised their weapons.

Then, from the entrance, a great roar arose. The Warriors turned in the direction of the noise that grew ever louder until it echoed like a godly thunder in the ravines.

From the entrance a great tide swelled, a single, black mass that blotted out the rising sun beyond. Like a looming shadow, the tide poured into the ravine, the roar now booming in the chests of the four men.

Arrows suddenly shot from the masses, whipping around the Warriors. “Oh shit! Arzecs!” Silas screamed in the thunderous din.

“Run!” Cain shouted as he lashed his horse’s reins, sending it in an instant gallop into the Crossroads.

The Arzecs atop the cliff jumped over them, and the Warriors swerved to avoid the crashing Arzecs. They broke into a fierce gallop, the river near a blur beside them as they raced into the heart of the Crossroads. Behind them, thousands upon thousands of Arzecs merged and began sprinting after their fleeing prey.

Arrows lashed past their faces as they turned a bend in the ravine, following the cutting course of the river to whatever end awaited. Arzecs continued to pour into the Crossroads, and like a great flowing beast, the black tides pursued.

“Where the hell are we going?” Silas screamed as they galloped around another bend.

“I don’t know!” Cain replied, “Just keep riding!”

Driven by desperation, the Warriors swiftly wound their way through the maze of ravines, galloping for their very lives. Yet despite their efforts, several Arzecs reached them.

An Arzec leapt onto the back of Silas’s horse, and Silas turned and stabbed his Sitar through its face. The Arzec tumbled to the ground, blood spurting from its skull.

He leaned back and tossed his weapon through the air, sending it sailing several yards before tearing through the back of an Arzec close on Cain’s heel. Silas rolled in his saddle as he galloped past its body, tearing his Sitar free and chasing after the others.

Cain turned in his saddle and notched an arrow. With a trained eye, he plunged it through the throat of an Arzec. He notched a second arrow and embedded its broad head in the face of another. He began a fearsome barrage, lobbing frantic arrows into the crowds.

Bodies tumbled under the hailstorm, yet the Arzecs pushed on vehemently. The Arzecs chased after their frightened prey, arrows whipping around the men as they fought to escape.

Several Arzecs dropped from the cliffs before them and rushed down the hill towards their now hemmed in quarry.

Joshua spurred his horse forward, and with a mighty swing of his axe, rent the chest of an Arzec in half. The body launched violently into the air and shot back toward Cain.

Cain pitched back in the saddle, spine level with the saddle as the body soared over him, near inches from his face. The corpse crashed into the pursuing hordes and threw several Arzecs off their feet.

Cain smirked with content and turned toward the others that by now were several yards ahead. An Arzec then tackled into him and tossed him off his saddle. He rolled to a painful stop, sword abandoned in the distant grass. The Arzec rushed toward him, spear raised to finish its disoriented prey.

Suddenly, the Arzec rolled to the earth dead, an ivory arrow embedded in the back of its skull. The Arzec fell on top of Cain, blood running over his face as he pushed the body off. He stumbled towards his sword and jumped to his feet, weapon raised to the oncoming swell.

A volley of arrows shot down into the ravine, felling several Arzecs instantly. A shadow leapt from the cliff, a final arrow loosed as the figure descended into the ravine.

With a gleam of steel, the figure landed atop an Arzec, sword plunged through its chest as it crumpled beneath the weight of its attacker. The figure spun, blonde hair flashing as a sword sliced through the gut of an Arzec.

The figure spun again and hacked the head off an Arzec before hurling the sword. The sword spun over itself and shot into the face of a third Arzec, knocking it violently off its feet.

The figure rushed forward, evaded the swing of a sword, and tumble rolled, pulling the weapon free before bounding off the ground. With a fearsome cry, the figure leapt through the air and thrust the bloody sword through the chest of an Arzec.

The figure landed, straddling the body of the last Arzec. The figure turned, revealing the fair face of a woman. Cain stood speechless as the woman ran towards him.

“You have to get out of here now! The Crossroads are swarming with Arzecs, you’ll be overrun!”

“Where the hell are we supposed to go?” He called back to her as he saddled his horse.

From around the bend, a great tide of Arzecs poured. “Anywhere!” She screamed as she leapt through the air and threw herself in the saddle behind Cain.

Cain whipped his reins and sent his horse in a brutal gallop up the hillside. The others appeared over the crest, riding towards him.

“Go! Go! Go!” Cain yelled over the roar of the thunderous footfalls. The others reined their horses in a sharp bend around Cain and followed after their captain.

The Crossroads grew black with Arzecs, swallowed whole by the sheer depth of the enemy. Twenty thousand Arzecs swelled over the ravines, chasing after their defenseless prey.

Cain and the woman at his back turned in the saddle and unleashed a vicious barrage into the oncoming hordes. Bodies tumbled every second, arrows plunging into their tightly packed ranks and sowing discord. Bodies plummeted to the ground, trampled underfoot as Arzecs fumbled past, bloodlust driving them ever on.

The army descended upon them and they now shot blindly into the enclosing Arzecs. Cain drew his sword and hacked madly at the Arzecs that fought to tear him from his saddle.

The girl at his back elbowed an Arzec off their horse and kicked another in the face, lobbing an arrow through its mouth as it stumbled back.

The Warriors followed the ravine until it led them down a sharp turn. They rounded the bend and soon came to a vast maze of gullies. Every ravine that formed its capillaries merged now at the heart of the Crossroads.

Countless gullies carved their way through the rolling landscape, disgorging their waters into the heart of these. A mighty whirlpool formed the middle of it all, violently churning the many rivers into one.

The Warriors descended the hill and galloped along the closest river. The whirlpool thrashed its waters fiercely about, tossing chilling water into the air that crashed down upon them. They rode undeterred through the numbing torrent, coming out the other side to yet another river.

With the Arzecs close on their heels, and arrows lashing about them, the Warriors came to the end of the ravine.

“What now?” Cain cried out to the girl as he eyed the swift approaching bank of a river.

“Just cross it!”

Cain inhaled deeply and threw his horse over the edge, instantly swept up by the churning waters. The Warriors fought to maintain control as they struggled to cross the river, whitewater flogging their sides. Their horses held their heads above the tossing water, fighting for their very lives.

The Arzec hordes stopped at the river’s edge and howled with rage as their prey escaped. They watched as the Warriors floated down the river, beating their weapons and shields against their breasts in loathing.

The Warriors fought to keep their horses above water. Mind-numbing water lashed about them, soaking every fiber of their clothes. Arrows shot from the incensed masses, narrowly avoiding their targets before disappearing in the torrential waves.

The river swept the Warriors around a bend in the ravine and at last, the Arzecs slipped from view. The river’s current gradually settled as it left the fury of the whirlpool.

Eventually, the Warriors managed to cross over into more shallow water, giving their horses a much-needed rest. A hundred yards ahead of them, the riverbank widened and formed a strip of rocky land at the foot of lofty cliffs.

The Warriors carved through the waters and eventually reached the riverbank. They clambered onto dry land, dripping wet and numb with cold. They sat for several minutes, panting with exhaustion. Cain laid his head on his horse’s neck and patted it fondly.

“We can’t stay here.” The girl pointed to a narrow path barely visible through a cluster of trees. “We’ll follow that channel up into the hills, it leads to higher ground. From there we can cross the gullies safely.”

Cain turned to the woman. “Who are you?”

“Not now,” was her reply.

Cain shrugged and led the others across the rocky riverbank. They rode through the encroaching trees before reaching a narrow channel that sloped up a ridge of hills. Their horses picked their way carefully through the shale, hooves sopping wet.

The channel abruptly ended after several minutes and left them atop a series of flat hills.

“We can rest here for now,” the woman suggested. They slowed their horses to a standstill and dismounted. After unsaddling their horses and removing their saddlebags, they sat down in the grass and drained the water from their boots and cloaks.

Once they were finished, the girl stood still for once, allowing them to get a good look at her.

She stood a head shorter than the men but looked to be scarcely younger than them at most. Pallid blonde tresses rolled over her smooth shoulders. Deep sapphire eyes looked over them with a questioning gaze.

A flexible leather and white linen top adorned her thin frame. She wore large leather vambraces that protected the entirety of her forearms. Her upper arms and some of her thighs were exposed, revealing her smooth skin. Gray leather boots rose to her knees beneath a small cloth and leather fauld.

“We didn’t expect to come across the Arzecs so soon,” Cain muttered as he took another sip of his water skin.

“You couldn’t even tell you were under the noses of the Arzecs, and yet you call yourself a soldier? What the hell were you thinking anyways? Going into the Crossroads! They could have killed you!”

“We didn’t know the Crossroads were so dangerous-”

Joshua cut him short. “Don’t defend yourself to this girl. Who are you anyways?” She crossed her arms and simply blinked.

“Fine, don’t say anything. I could care less.” Joshua turned and removed the rucksacks from his saddle and shook them of water. “Let’s get out of here, we’re losing daylight and the Arzecs are sure to be looking for us.”

Aaron and Silas stepped towards their horses and grabbed their reins. “I’m staying with you,” the girl informed them.

Silas snorted at this. “Bullshit you are.” He looked at his brother who nodded with a smirk.

The girl stepped forward and looked up into Silas’s icy eyes. “Charun is swarming with Arzecs. Around every corner, in every shadow they lay in wait, waiting for an unsuspecting fool like you to wander by. If it wasn’t for me you’d already be dead…Arzecs…gnawing on your bones.” Silas blinked with unease.

“She’s right, Silas,” Cain added. “She saved our lives. She can at least guide us through Charun.”

Silas lowered his gaze. Joshua shook his head and slammed his axe in the dirt. He grabbed a satchel of food and walked away from the group.

“Don’t mind him,” Cain said to the girl.

“I’m not.” She wiped her ornate, bloody sword in the grass and returned to the horses. “We need to get out of here; the Arzecs will be looking for you. You will be safe with me. For now at least,” she finished with a grin.

The Warriors sat in the shadow of a barren oak tree, night long since protracted. Distant stars flickered like heavenly torches, barely lighting the food that the travelers now keenly devoured. A chill breeze blew through the still autumn night, calling the Warriors to the fact that they had never fully dried.

They huddled inside their cloaks for little warmth. The naked branches above them clattered and danced in the stirring winds, the only sound daring to break the apprehensive silence.

The woman sat several yards away on the edge of a prominence, ashen longbow lain across her lap and ivory quiver held ready at a moment’s call. She stared ever intent on the wilderness beyond, scanning the night for signs of life.

Cain looked to her back. He wanted to talk to her, but he knew it would do no good; she would not talk unless she wanted to.

“Wish we could have a damn fire,” Silas muttered after they finished eating a ration of slightly sodden bread.

“So cold…” Aaron stuttered through chattering teeth.

Joshua grunted and removed a boot, shaking water from it before throwing it aside. “This is her fault,” he said as he bored holes in the woman’s back with leering eyes. “We wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for her.”

“How is this her fault?” Cain asked. “She saved my life in the Crossroads and probably all of yours as well.”

“Cain’s right,” Aaron added, “if anything it is our fault. We’ve been soldiers for over ten years and yet we failed to notice we were being tracked by thousands of Arzecs…we had what was coming. If it wasn’t for her, well they’d probably be gnawing on our bones right now like she said.” Joshua grunted in response and continued leering at the woman.