The End of Surrender, page 20
part #4 of The Stalwart Link Series
He witnessed the rest of his allies circling around toward the head of the beast, but the kasigerr was already lifting it before they could get close. Deza came charging in at Andar, a spear his weapon of choice.
Andar turned to face his attacker. The bastard had a smug grin across his ugly face.
If he thinks this is going to be easy, he is mistaken.
But the kasigerr beside Andar moved and knocked him flat. By the time he was up again, Deza was thrusting at him. Andar jumped away, but it was too late. The tip of the spear stabbed Andar in his shoulder. He backed away as he got up, deflecting Deza’s second thrust. Andar had just enough time to check on his wound. There was blood, but he could still move his arm, though with considerable pain.
Unfortunately, it was his dominant right arm, and his counterattack was too slow and easily dodged. Andar fell backward to avoid being stabbed, inadvertently putting himself in a terrible position on the ground. His only hope was to fend off the next stab with a swipe of his sword, but Leo planted himself in front of Andar and caused Deza to back away a step.
“Is this your brother?” Deza asked.
“Why do you care?” Andar answered as he got up and stood beside Leo.
“Because I want to make sure I get rid of both of you.”
Andar took a moment to glance at the kasigerr. Darren was yelling, “Watch out!”
The beast had turned around, clearly feeling more comfortable to engage with its backside facing his attackers. It had one of its back feet lifted up as it navigated the massive foot over Andar and Leo’s heads.
As the brothers darted out of the way, Andar told Leo through their stalwart link to connect the beast to Deza. Leo must’ve understood, for Andar could feel great assistance as he made a bridge of Artistry between the falling foot and the barbarian, who was running the opposite way to avoid being crushed.
The link caught for just a moment before Deza broke it, but the moment was enough. The force of the kasigerr slamming its foot down buried Deza to his knees in the grassland. Andar and Leo charged at him around the kasigerr’s foot.
Deza tried to free himself for just a moment before he gave up and extended his hand toward them. A link connected the two of them, and suddenly Andar felt that someone else was moving his body.
“You lead,” Leo told Andar, and he knew what that meant. His brother relaxed, allowing Andar to run for the two of them. It felt like he was trying to sprint through water at first, but then Leo found his rhythm and helped him along.
Deza’s eyes widened as they came close. He clearly didn’t expect them to try to engage when they were linked, but Andar knew Leo about as well as he knew himself. His brother would follow his lead, and Leo knew just how Andar liked to fight.
Deza yelled something in his barbarian language, certainly to the kasigerr. But the beast was slow and injured. There was time for at least one attack while Deza was still stuck in the earth. There was just his spear to worry about.
Andar saw Deza’s eyes on him, so he knew himself to be the target. The great thing about facing someone wielding a spear was that there was no guessing as to how they would attack. Deza had to stab.
Andar couldn’t try anything fancy with his body linked to his brother’s by a much stronger mage. He and Leo could’ve taken the time before charging to have a mental tug-of-war with Deza and eventually break his link, but that’s what the barbarian had expected. He’d thought by linking the brothers that he had bought himself time to free himself, and he’d thought wrong.
Andar turned his left shoulder forward as he neared, taking the brunt of Deza’s stabbing spear. With the brothers linked, the barbarian had to stab twice as hard to do the same amount of damage to Andar’s flesh. Given that Deza’s lower half was stuck—making it difficult to put much power behind the stab—it was unlikely for him to gravely injure Andar.
The spearhead hurt, but it did not stop Andar as he took the blow in stride and swung his sword into the side of the barbarian. Leo mimicked him. Their blades cut into the barbarian’s flesh as he screamed. Deza’s link broke the moment he was struck.
“Watch out!” Darren screamed again.
Andar wanted to finish the wounded barbarian, but a dark shadow was falling over them. He and Leo darted away as the claws of the kasigerr came down. Andar turned to see the beast pull Deza out of the ground.
The barbarian fell to his knees as he clutched the two large gashes across his bleeding torso, one in his side and the other across his chest. The kasigerr regarded him for a moment before glaring at Leo and Andar. It clumsily lumbered toward them but covered ground quickly.
There was no plan for this exact scenario. “Spread out!” Andar said. Then they couldn’t both be crushed.
The kasigerr chased after Andar as he ran the opposite way of his brother. There was no hope of outrunning it, even with its missing limb.
He turned around. If he was going to die, it would be while facing his enemies. Time seemed to slow as the kasigerr neared him and the earth shook. Andar could think of only one thing that might save him.
Artistry, you know what we need to do.
His mind felt so clear, it was as if the energy was as mentally close to him as Leo was.
Andar’s Artistry connected to the heat in the air almost entirely on its own. All he had to do was spread the energy as wide as he could reach with his mind. Andar could reach tens of yards away in every direction except toward his feet, but this should be more than enough heat.
The kasigerr closed in on Andar as he chose a spot ahead and above him. There. This was where the Artistry would draw all the heat in a t-link. He didn’t know exactly what to expect, except that there would be fire. It had better be enough, or this could be the last link Andar ever made.
The kasigerr came to a stop and reared up, navigating the flat end of its foot high over Andar’s head.
Now.
A freezing chill made Andar lose his breath as all the heat around him condensed to a single location above. There was an explosion, then a roar of fire. What felt to be a wall of bricks slammed into Andar as he protected his head. He flew and spun, then crashed and rolled along the grass.
His ears were ringing as his head throbbed. It felt as if he’d just been struck by the beast’s foot, or hand, or whatever he should call it. There was a moment of quiet peace as Andar tried to remind himself to get up and run, but the link had taken a lot out of him, and so had the impact. He just had the strength to turn over and sit up.
The beast was so large that it seemed to be moving at half speed as it slowly fell over on its back. Its front leg had caught fire. The kasigerr squirmed, seemingly unsure what to do about its flaming foot. The air smelled of burning flesh. There was a black circle on the ground beneath where the spell had come to pass. Andar glanced down at his shirt to find soot covering the front of it. His face felt dry. He wiped a hand across and saw ash on his palm.
By the time Deza had put out the fire through his own t-link, Andar was back on his feet. He watched while the kasigerr tried to stand as it dealt with Darren and Leo cutting into its fallen body, while Erisena’s creatures ravaged the kasigerr’s flesh. Lane couldn’t do much with her dagger, but it looked as if she was trying to run around the beast to get to its head. One or more of them were supposed to help Andar take on Deza when there was time. Leo had already done his part, but no one seemed to have a moment to spare.
Andar sprinted into the fray with his eyes on Deza, who looked to be having trouble standing at the other side of the massive creature. Andar had to stop as a crash caused him to lose balance. The kasigerr was rolling toward him. It seemed to have given up trying to stand and now would crush them all with its gargantuan body. There had been no plan for this either. Andar was hesitant to create another fire explosion because the first one could’ve killed him. He tried to think of something else, but there wasn’t enough time.
He connected his Artistry to the heat in the air and chose a spot as far as he could from himself while still maintaining control. It was about five yards away, still too close, but he didn’t have a choice.
Andar had a grasp over even more heat this time as his Artistry had spread farther. He set the link with his mind and directed all the heat to the single point. This time he was more prepared, turning away and crouching during the blast. But there was no holding his ground when such a force picked him up. He didn’t flip through the air this time, however, cycling his legs to maintain balance.
He landed on his feet and slid across the grass. Eventually he came to a stop and turned around. His ears rung louder, rendering him deaf for the moment. A great satisfaction came over him as he saw the fire bend around the side of the beast, growing as it feasted on the kasigerr’s flesh.
Andar charged Deza, hoping to finish off the mage before he could put out the fire with his own t-link. Deza ignored the fire, his eyes set on Andar. He raised his arms and seemed to pull something toward him. Andar felt an immense amount of Artistry linking to something, but he couldn’t tell what. Andar reached his fastest speed he could while still holding his sword. He was tempted to drop it as Deza seemed to be finishing whatever spell he was casting, directing his arms now at Andar.
He was flung backward. He didn’t know what had struck him at first. He had seen nothing. It had felt like a wall of wind struck him that was so dense and strong that it not only stopped his momentum but threw him back through the air. Disoriented, Andar got up and now saw it was the wind, as it carried enough dust to make it visible. Deza directed the shapeless and massive entity of wind with his moving arms over Andar’s head.
“Uh oh.”
He didn’t see the point of trying to run when it extended too far. All he could do was brace himself.
The wind encased him. It felt like it was about to pick him off the ground. He grabbed the grass, but it didn’t do much good as it ripped free. Andar was lifted up. He squirmed in the air, but he couldn’t seem to get out of the wind’s grasp as he was picked up higher.
It screeched in his ears and tossed his hair in front of his eyes as he punched and elbowed to make space to fall. He finally slipped through the wind’s grasp. He expected to hit the ground, but when he looked down, he saw that he was higher than he realized.
He barely managed to get his feet out in front of him. He rolled as he landed, pain shooting through his ankles. There was only a brief moment of relief that he hadn’t broken anything before he saw that Deza was nearly on top of him. Even worse, Andar had lost his weapon in the scuffle with the wind.
Andar located his sword, but there was no way to get to it without going through Deza. He jumped backward to avoid a stab. Deza had a murderous rage in his eyes as he stabbed at Andar again. Andar leaned back to avoid this one, grabbing the shaft of the weapon.
Deza was slow and weak, quickly losing the tugging battle. But he pushed his hands up toward Andar, and the wind circled down and tossed him backward.
By the time he was up again, Deza was hobbling away while holding his sides. He made it back to his beast and aimed his hand at the flames spreading along the side and back of the enormous creature. He pointed his other hand at Andar, who was sprinting toward him with the spear.
Andar stopped when he realized what was about to happen. The fire transferred from the kasigerr to the air in front of Andar, creating a roaring wall where he was a moment ago, as Andar retreated quickly. It grew outward, reaching toward Andar with a fiery hand. The heat was too much. He fell in a panic to escape, crawling backward as fast as he could.
He spoke to his own energy. “Artistry!”
If he had learned anything from this fight, it was that Artistry was alive like everything else in nature. He understood what Deza had done, so his Artistry had also understood. Andar could not fight Deza’s Artistry without using his own.
He connected to the fire and pushed it back. It growled as the wall morphed to the invisible hand of Andar’s mind. He could feel Deza’s Artistry battling against Andar’s, but unlike the tug of war with the spear, Andar was not stronger than this mage. He could feel his enemy’s Artistry building up for a blast that Andar had no hope of stopping.
He ran as he put his remaining mental strength into holding it off, but soon he was overpowered. Andar jumped in hopes of being propelled away from the worst of it as a surge of fire blasted his back.
The pain was unbearable, but only for a blink. The force of it threw Andar far. He landed on his feet, but then he rolled onto his back out of fear that it might be aflame. It didn’t seem to be the case.
He had a difficult time getting to his feet, but he pushed himself up eventually as the wall of flames dissipated.
The kasigerr had black burns across much of its side and upper body, but it still had fight left in it. Even with one missing foot, and the other charred, the beast was aggressively swiping at Darren and the two women as they tried to find a clear way to its head.
Andar sucked in air through his teeth as he watched the beast slam down one of its hands over his father. Andar wanted to scream. As he sprinted toward the beast, Andar lost track of Deza. The kasigerr seemed too injured to stand on its healthy two feet, getting up somewhat just to collapse again. But when it rose, Andar saw that his father must’ve escaped around the backside of the foot. Darren seemed fine.
All of Andar’s allies had scattered by then, probably on purpose. Unfortunately, it looked as though Erisena’s largest creature had been killed. Its mangled corpse lay in a puddle of blood. Andar couldn’t locate her other creature, Ravitch, but Erisena herself seemed to be slow on her feet as if tired. Lane was too far away for Andar to tell much, but it seemed that she had her hands in the air as if trying to do something to the kasigerr with Artistry.
Andar was shocked when he caught sight of his brother. Leo had climbed on top of the kasigerr, now sprinting up its spine. Leo fell down, but not off, as the beast turned its body to deal with Darren, who had come face-to-face with it. The kasigerr seemed desperate to get away, lifting its long neck up but seemingly losing the strength to keep its head out of Darren’s reach as he waited with his sword.
Momentum felt to be on their side, until Andar noticed that Deza had his arms out for another spell. Andar could feel Deza connecting with the heat in the air. He was close enough to the barbarian mage that Deza might be able to form the fireball on top of Andar.
If Andar wasn’t so fatigued, he might’ve been able to sprint to Deza before he finished the spell, but Andar was in no shape to do that now. His best hope was to disrupt the mage’s Artistry. But as he tried, he quickly realized that he was wasting his time. When a mage was as strong as Deza, his Artistry was immovable. Instead, Andar linked his Artistry to the same heat in the air. He was disadvantaged because he’d started after Deza, but he didn’t have another choice.
He looked into the eyes of Deza as they mentally wrestled for dominance over the heat. Andar felt control quickly slipping away, or perhaps he wasn’t even close to getting it in the first place. He was outmatched by someone who had been using t-links for much longer than Andar had.
Andar glanced around with what little time he had. He saw Leo running up the neck of the beast as their father attacked its head whenever he could reach. Lane seemed to realize Andar was in trouble, running toward him, but she was so far away.
Then he noticed something in the sky. It was the largest bird he’d ever seen so close. Its wingspan must’ve been ten, maybe fifteen yards long. Each of its many feathers was enormous as well. Andar could see each one as they lined and puffed up its body. The bird had the head of an eagle, though much larger. Andar could see the shine of its eyes as it swung the underside of its body forward and beat its wings to slow its downward momentum just over Deza’s head. There seemed to be knowledge in those eyes, as if this flying creature understood just what was happening here.
Deza noticed it at the last moment. He fell flat to avoid the sharp talons grabbing at his head. Andar gained complete control over the heat as Deza’s concentration was broken, and the flying creature landed on top of the barbarian mage anyway. Already bleeding, Deza swung to bat away the large creature, but that didn’t do much. Deza made a quick link around the bird that was probably too strong for Andar to break, but he was busy figuring out what to do with all this heat. He could destroy Deza right now, but it would kill the flying creature as well.
Andar looked over at the kasigerr and realized it wasn’t too far away. It had risen up again, standing on two shaky legs as it used its injured limbs to fend off the rest of Andar’s allies.
Andar blasted it with another fireball, this one as large a house. Surprised by the power of it, he figured that taking over Deza’s link had something to do with it.
The ball of fire burst against the side of the kasigerr, exploding with a flash of light and heat. The kasigerr fell slowly, then crashed with a violent rumble of the earth.
The flying creature took off, leaving Deza on his knees. When he looked up at Andar, blood covered Deza’s face. There was no light to his eyes, his rage gone. He knew he’d been defeated. Deza looked over at his kasigerr as Andar’s father and brother finished it off with critical strikes to its face and head.
Deza and Andar watched as there was one last crash, as the kasigerr’s limbs folded over and the beast finally fell flat. Much of the grass of the large field was puddled by blood. Deep pools of it had collected around the limbs of the beast. There was even a small puddle of blood around Deza as he seemed to lack the strength to stand up.
Andar wanted to tell this man that he had brought this on himself. He was responsible for his own death. But by the regret in his eyes, it seemed that he already knew this. He probably even realized that he had waited a long time to escape this realm, and now he had lost that opportunity because he’d stood against them.
There was one thing Deza might not know, yet, however.
