The End of Surrender, page 15
part #4 of The Stalwart Link Series
Darren stepped back. He looked around for anyone who might’ve moved into position to flank him. He saw no one.
“DVend, do you know how old my brother is?”
Darren didn’t see the purpose of the question. He continued to look around at the empty, meager homes. Men could’ve been hidden within.
“You are twins,” Darren answered.
“We are,” Rizan confirmed. “But he has been stuck in the dark realm for a very long time. We were both nineteen when he had to leave our world behind. He has been in the dark realm for over a year, while I have been in this realm for much longer. I wouldn’t have traded places with him, though.”
He stopped to give Darren a chance to reply, but Darren chose not to say anything.
“We tried to find the source of Artistry for many years, but it was too far below for us to reach. Only would the discovery of a cavern lead to the source, but that is only in Jatn. Do you know how difficult it was when news of the Tisary reached us, only to find out that it was in western Aathon?”
“The reason for you being here is not what I wish to discuss.”
“Why not?” Rizan asked with anger. “Don’t you wish to find out if we are capable leaders before you attempt to kill us? That’s what an honorable man would do.”
Darren chose his words carefully. “I will find out what I need to know about you from Gartel or my sister.”
“You would rather wait in silence than hear what I intend to do with Jatn?”
“I would,” Darren said.
Rizan scowled at him. Darren sensed an ambush was coming no matter how he might appease this leader.
“Excuse me a moment,” Darren said as he turned to speak privately with Lane and Erisena.
“I don’t like this,” Lane told him.
“I don’t either. Be prepared to run on my signal.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Rygen didn’t like the way Jyrica was staring at her from her cage. Eventually the older woman asked, “Are you here to stop me in case I summon?”
“Maybe,” Rygen answered. “Or maybe I’m here for something else.”
“You’re not a good liar. You must be a summoner. How old are you, little girl?”
“I don’t wish to speak with you.”
“You are rude.” The woman sounded offended, to Rygen’s surprise. And even more surprising was that Rygen felt a little bad about it.
She’s just trying to manipulate you. Don’t feel anything.
“You are a young summoner,” Jyrica commented. Rygen really didn’t like the woman staring at and talking to her, but she would ignore Jyrica to ensure the possible summoner did not open a portal.
“I’m sure there are even younger summoners in Disetel,” Rygen said, then cursed inwardly. Why was it so hard for her to ignore someone speaking to her? She reminded herself that Jyrica could have the intention to kill them all. She was not to be trusted or spoken to.
“Yes, there are a few but not many,” Jyrica said. “What creatures do you speak to?”
Two, but one of them ignores me most of the time. He is very large and strong, but he will not come through one of my rifts. It was painful to keep this within, for perhaps this woman might be able to offer a piece of advice that Erisena had not thought to give yet. A summoner from another land could look at Rygen’s situation differently.
Erisena had told Rygen to improve herself, raise her confidence, and eventually the creature would trust her enough to come through her rift. Rygen had been practicing with the bow in Analyte territory and learning Analyse every day since they’d left. Confidence was an issue, however. She feared a battle, knowing she would gladly not take part if given the choice. Sometimes she was reminded of gruesome scenes of the fight within the palace. Those were memories she did not wish to have, and she certainly didn’t want to make more.
“If you will not speak to me, then leave me alone, rude girl,” said Jyrica as she turned away.
Rygen felt a flame in her feet as she wanted to move, but she forced herself to stay near the woman’s cage.
“Get away!” Jyrica yelled, startling Rygen.
But she found her courage and faced the woman. “No. I’m staying here.”
“Fine. I warned you.”
Rygen’s heart raced as she felt a small rift open within the woman’s cage. A blue-feathered bird, beautiful and seemingly nonthreatening, emerged before Rygen could close the rift. Jyrica spoke to the bird as it hovered in front of her face, then it flew over and landed on Rygen’s arm. It looked up at her and chirped.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Rygen asked tensely.
“You will find out.” Jyrica said something in her language, and the bird suddenly attacked Rygen’s face with vicious ferocity.
She screamed as she felt the beak draw blood near her right eye. Rygen thrashed and twitched to ensure the bird did not reach its target. She swatted it off her face several times, but it just kept coming back and going straight for her eyes.
By the time the bird finally flew off, it was too late to stop Jyrica. She had opened another rift while Rygen was distracted. A kloxy, looking similar to Rygen’s creature, Jin, was speeding down the line of troops. It no doubt had a message for Rizan.
Rygen screamed, “Stop that creature! It will tell the barbarians of our numbers!”
Men tried to jump on top of it, but they were too slow. A couple archers loaded arrows, but the beast was small as it weaved around people, making it nearly impossible to shoot.
“Leo!” Rygen yelled, knowing he was the only mage located in the short distance from Rygen to the front of their army.
But to Rygen’s horror, she found the bird that had attacked her eyes earlier was now stabbing at Leo’s face. He swatted at it as he screamed. Jyrica’s kloxy was soon too far ahead to be stopped.
Rygen only had one hope left. “Kill her!” she yelled in anger as blood streamed down from the corners of her stinging eyes.
“I die for the honor of my people! I will be remembered!” Jyrica yelled. “All of you will perish soon enough. No one will speak of you. They will speak of Rizan and everyone who helped him free the West!”
One guard stabbed his spear through her back. As angry as Rygen was, she turned away as another guard finished off the prisoner.
Rygen ran ahead and rubbed the blood and tears out of her eyes for a better look. The kloxy had not come back to protect his master.
Rygen wanted to blame herself for failing to stop the opening of the rift, but now was not the right time. She ran to meet Leo as the bird flew away. Fortunately, Rygen saw just a few light scratches on his cheeks.
“They’re going to ambush the three of them,” Rygen informed him.
Leo looked panicked as a commotion broke out among the soldiers. Many were shouting that they needed to charge, but there were so many Analyte soldiers who seemed confused. Rygen looked around for the translator who’d been teaching her Analyse, but she saw only one woman, who seemed unsure how best to translate as she tried to calm everyone down. It was so she could listen to one of the officers, Rygen realized, as the man shouted at the top of his lungs.
“Form up for an attack!”
There was a mile between them and the outskirts of the city, where their three leaders had disappeared. Even if they somehow organized within a few moments for a speedy assault, it would take a little while to reach the city. Jyrica’s creature was already halfway there, and everyone was still screaming. A group of Analyte officers had pushed through in a clear hope of trying to understand what was happening. Translators tried their best, but no one knew who to listen to.
Rygen’s vision was blurry. She rubbed her stinging eyes as she listened to Leo urging the human officers.
“We need to move now!”
“If we go in before we’re organized, we’ll all be killed,” one responded. “We won’t be any use to your father dead.”
A familiar voice shouted over everyone. “Quiet! Listen to me!”
Rygen turned around to see Siki standing on top of a wagon. Everyone quieted down as they looked at her, many muttering in surprise. She shouted something in Analyse that silenced the last of the Analyte troops.
“I saw everything,” she said, then said the same in Analyse. “The barbarian woman summoned a creature with a message about our army. The creature is going to make it into the city before any of us do. The barbarians are likely to attack our leaders.” She stopped to translate.
When she was done, Leo said, “I’m going to help them now.”
“Wait, Leo,” Siki said. “This might be a trap. They could have archers waiting.” She translated. Many of the Analytes agreed. One Analyte constable who had come here to fetch Siki had the nerve to wave for her to come down. She pushed her hand out toward him and continued to speak to the Analyte soldiers. When she was done she looked at the human officers.
“I told them—”
Rygen wasn’t able to listen as she felt a massive rift opening near the city. She ran toward it as she thrust out her arms and tried to grab hold with her mind. The rift was enormous as it towered over the houses behind it, growing still until it filled much of the sky. Rygen pulled and ripped at it, but she felt like she was trying to destroy the great rift all over again. It was much too strong.
The familiar leg of the kasigerr stepped through. Startled, Rygen fell backward as it covered a great distance and seemed that it might step on her. The rest of the beast barely managed to fit through the enormous rift. Crouching and squeezing its body, the beast finally made it out, and the rift collapsed behind it.
The kasigerr looked even worse than the last time Rygen had seen it. One of its eyes was swollen shut. Open wounds covered its entire front side, from its face all the way down to each of its two front legs. It was a reminder that the beast had only spent a couple days in the dark realm in all the time that Rygen and the others had taken to travel to Jatn. It was still injured, and yet it was surely capable of destroying them all.
“Siki!” Leo yelled. “I need to get past it to help my father.”
“Gather in the same formations as when all of you made the kasigerr run the first time!” Siki yelled, then said the same in Analyse as soon as she was done.
Humans and Analytes alike rushed to form lines as the beast lumbered toward them. Rygen ran to Leo as he put himself on the far end.
“I want to come with you,” she said.
“We need a summoner with the army in case I can’t bring them back here.”
It took a moment to understand why that was. He was right. Rygen squeezed his hand as they shared a look. She saw in his eyes how much he cared for her.
“Be safe,” she said. “Your father wouldn’t want you dying for him.”
“I will,” he promised.
Rygen stepped back. A moment later, the galloping kasigerr was about to reach the front line.
“Distract it so I can get past!” Leo shouted to the men down the line.
“Aye,” replied an officer. Then he shouted to Siki, “Princess! We cannot defeat the kasigerr without Lane and Erisena. We can only distract it and retreat. Tell the Analytes.”
Siki yelled the message to the Analyte troops on the other side of the brigade. Rygen was too short to see how the men at the front line were about to engage, until she climbed on top of another wagon. FLip had come through from the back, shouting for his followers to control the scared horses that were trying to run.
The kasigerr did not stop to meet the men at the front, stepping over them. Unfortunately Rygen was right beneath the foot coming down. She jumped off the wagon and tried to make a run for it as a dark shadow fell overhead. She knew she wasn’t going to make it as she screamed.
But the foot stopped just above her. She looked up to see a gaping red wound that she could reach with her fingers if she was to stand straight and lift her arms. She ran the rest of the way as she noticed others scattering around her. Eventually she caught sight of Leo holding his hand out toward her, no doubt stopping the beast with a link. He shook as he looked ready to break. He collapsed to his knees as the foot came down behind Rygen, the shockwave knocking her over.
The kasigerr turned its foot and swept it over Rygen, just missing her as she tumbled across the ground. Unfortunately, many others were not so lucky. Standing between the two front legs of the massive beast, Rygen opened the portal and called the powerful beast from the other realm.
“We need your help!” She told him. “Your master calls you!”
“You are not my master.”
Disparaged, Rygen let the rift close. She connected to her smaller creature, Jin, and opened a rift between his location in the dark realm and where she stood in the light. She didn’t need to tell him anything for him to jump through the rift. He came out snarling, feeling Rygen’s panic and ready to fight for her, but he stopped as he looked up at the underside of the massive beast that took up the entire sky.
“Only if you can fight safely,” Rygen told him.
Her creature glanced at her, then looked around at the chaotic scene as soldiers tried to figure out how to stop the kasigerr. Jin rushed over to one of the beast’s feet and half jumped, half climbed up until it was near the base of the ankle. It sank its teeth into the dark flesh of the kasigerr, but there was no reaction that Rygen could tell.
She didn’t know which way to run, the kasigerr’s four enormous legs all around her. Only one moved at a time, lifting and then slamming down to crush the fleeing troops. Some men were brave as they tried to get the attention of the beast, ready to plant down the same thick spears their army had used with great success previously, but the kasigerr clearly knew to avoid these.
“Rygen!” Leo was yelling. Rygen finally realized he’d been doing it for a while. He motioned for her to run to him.
The kasigerr went the opposite way, deeper toward FLip’s followers who were not soldiers. There was a clear route for Rygen. She took it and soon met Leo.
“I have to go for my father. They will be attacking him.”
“Go,” Rygen encouraged.
He gave her one last look before he turned and sped toward the city. There seemed to be a clear road with nothing between him and the line of houses a mile away, but there was no telling what awaited Leo behind those small homes.
“Retreat!” a man was screaming. “Princess, give the order! Retreat!”
Siki climbed onto one of the few remaining wagons within Rygen’s sight that had not been crushed. The princess yelled in Analyse.
“Fiala! Fiala!”
Soon all the Analytes were repeating the same message.
“Jin, get back here now!”
Rygen’s creature jumped down from the kasigerr’s foot, leaving a large wound about the size of a small child in the base of the beast’s leg. Jin had blood all over his mouth and down the front side of his neck and stomach, but he was uninjured, Rygen could tell through their connection. It was all the blood of the kasigerr, not that losing this much seemed to have done anything to slow the beast.
She opened her rift. Jin jumped in to return to his home world. She watched in horror as troops and non-combatant allies scattered in opposite directions, everyone hoping the kasigerr would chase someone else.
We were not prepared for this.
The kasigerr stayed put, opting to swipe at the fleeing groups rather than pursue. There were a number of arrows stuck everywhere from its head down to and throughout all four legs. The beast was moving slower, she saw, as it tried to turn toward her, only to stumble. Puddles of dark red blood filled every groove along the ground that the creature had made, most branching out into small streams.
Rygen did not feel afraid as the kasigerr turned around and set its one good eye on her. She seemed to be the only one left, everyone else fleeing for their lives.
“Why?” she asked the Esitren creature. “You injure yourself, for what?”
The kasigerr brought its foot over her head. But she could feel that it did not wish to kill her.
She did not move. “You don’t have to do this.”
“I must for my master.” The voice entered her mind almost as if it were her own thought. She could sense two emotions from it, pain and desire.
“You will die for him?”
“I will.”
The kasigerr seemed to have a powerful mind, or perhaps it was the beast’s connection with Esitry that allowed such a clear connection. Whatever it was, Rygen understood every word, and she was sure that the kasigerr could hear her just as clearly.
“Rygen!” Siki screamed from twenty yards away. She was surrounded by her father’s loyal constables, two of them pulling her away.
Rygen knew there was no point in running from the kasigerr. It was too fast. At least while it spoke to her and decided whether or not to crush her, everyone else was able to escape. Rygen could live with that, she supposed. I can die with that, she corrected herself.
Leo would be ridden with guilt for leaving her behind, but there was no way he could have stopped this. Hopefully Darren would convince him of this eventually.
“Closed rift,” the kasigerr communicated.
“One of us did, yes. Do you know why?”
“Hurt me.”
“No, we do not want to fight you,” Rygen told the kasigerr. “We only needed to close the rift.”
“The rift, my home.”
“I’m sorry.”
The kasigerr responded to her sympathy with confusion.
Rygen asked, “Do you know what it means to be sorry?”
“Tell me. I crush you.”
Rygen was not afraid. Once she had accepted death, she could no longer fear it. All she felt was pity for this creature that had clearly been used by the brother of Rizan. The summoner had never once communicated sympathy or pity toward the beast. It didn’t even know what those emotions were.
“It means I feel sick at the thought of you losing your home. I worry about you. I wonder where you will live now, and if there is anything we could have done to avoid the destruction of your rift.”
