Siege of Night Read online

A sky that was cloudless only moments ago began to slowly turn black. Frightened men gazed up into the sudden darkness. The blackness began to churn in a giant, spiraling mass while the crytons continued their mindless melody. Small at first, little static flashes of yellow here and there danced between the black clouds. Then it began!

  The lead crytons of each line simply pointed to a spot on the battlefield, and large bolts of yellow energy surged directly from the black clouds, bombarding that exact location, sending Dronin warriors flying through the air from the massive impact. Again and again, the simple act of pointing became a weapon of unimaginable strength as thick yellow bolts rained from the sky. One of the siege towers exploded into sparkling white- hot flakes, sending charred warriors tumbling to the ground. The crytons continued to rain death from the sky, proving to all the stories of their supernatural abilities were not exaggerated.

  * * *

  Athel and her men had moved around to the south wall. Their heads were on swivels as they gazed up at the unnatural energy crackling through the sky. Yellow bolts flashed all round, but mostly seemed directed toward the main forces at the front wall. Athel looked out over the fifty men who would follow her into the depths of hell if necessary.

  “Not one of you dies this day!” she said with a stern face and a sweeping finger that crossed them all. “I alone will go in. If I kill this false god or whatever he is, then it is over. No more lives need be taken, and I don’t care what colors they wear. The killing needs to stop!”

  The men all cheered, followed shortly by hugs for their leader—their friend. “I would fight beside you men before any soldiers of Dronin!” She looked to the three holding very large black crossbows. “You know what to do.” She began sprinting toward the stone wall.

  It took incredible effort to lock in the heavy bolts on these massive weapons. With a loud, snapping click, the first was ready. Just as she approached the wall, a thick bolt slammed into the stone several feet above her head, leaving several jagged cracks around its entry point. She ran up the side of the wall as easily as a squirrel and hung from the bolt.

  She pumped her legs back and forth until she was swinging freely. Then, gaining more and more momentum, she began to travel in circles clear around the bolt, her iron grip holding fast. Another heavy thud landed above her head and she propelled herself into the air, grabbing hold of the second one.

  She repeated the pattern once more as she spun round and round, gaining momentum as she went. Then she hurled herself at the last thud. By this time she was only a few feet from the top, and the short climb was easy for her.

  Hanging from the side, she peeked over the edge to make sure the coast was clear. She could see all the fighting on the front wall off to the west, but it seemed no one was nearby. She hopped over the side and now crouched down low on the wall. She looked left then right one last time before running down the walkway. Peeking to her left she could see the white-tiled rooftops of shops and houses. She picked up a little more speed then sprang through the air, landing on one of the roofs in almost complete silence.

  She looked up ahead as the yellow flashes continued all around her. There was the palace way off in the distance. He must be in there. It was a ways off, and she still didn’t know how she would get in once she got there, but none of that mattered right now. People were dying. If she could kill this deity that caused all this in the first place, no more lives would be lost.

  She was about to start sprinting across the rooftops, but only got as far as one step. Athel kept her gaze fixed on the palace while slowly drawing her half-moon blades from her back. A long, slow hiss filled the air as they slid from their sheaths. Eyes ahead, never turning around, she spoke into the wind, “You can’t stop me. I’m going to kill him.”

  “I don’t think you will be killing anyone this day,” came the voice from behind her. Athel turned around slowly as her green eyes locked onto crystal-blue orbs. The assassins stalked each other in a wide circle as their faces lit on and off with the yellow flashes illuminating the sky from every direction. “In fact, dare I say, I don’t think you will ever kill anyone again.”

  “Look around you!” exclaimed Athel as she continued sidestepping around her prey, her blades flush against her forearms. “If I kill him, then all this death will stop.”

  “If you kill him, we are all doomed!” screamed Jade as silver daggers flashed into her hands with a click. “He is the only one who can save us. Your people invade our city because your leader was tricked, but don’t blame Eric for that.”

  Athel winced a bit. There was no doubt her words rang true. But that didn’t change her reasoning one bit. If she were to kill this “Eric” then the war would end. That alone was worth any amount of risk. “You dare stand in my way? You would die for him?” she asked with a puzzled look.

  “A hundred times over!” Jade replied without hesitation as the slow, sweeping circle continued.

  Athel stopped her motion and stared into Jade’s eyes. The world seemed to halt as time stood still. As of that moment, they were all that existed in the world. Her wet tongue slid hungrily across her silver teeth. There was hardly any air behind the soft whisper that escaped her lips, but the words echoed as if spoken by a god. “So be it.”

  The deadly assassins took flight as they leaped toward one another. Athel’s blades came full force with all her weight behind the thrust. Jade got her daggers across her face just in time as a shower of blue sparks sprayed into the air. She landed on her feet but stumbled back a bit, shaking the numbness from her arms. Athel was certainly muscular for a girl, but even Jade was shocked by the force behind the blow.

  She instinctively put her daggers up again as Athel came sailing through the air once more. At the last moment she thought better of it, and she rolled to the side. Athel’s blades bit hard into the tile roof where Jade had just been, sending deep cracks cascading in all directions, like a spider web. But when Athel turned back, Jade was right in her face with an explosion of whirling blades coming right at her. Jade figured out quickly she could not trade blows with this girl, but she might have a speed advantage.

  The four blades danced as the ringing of steel on steel filled the air. Showers of blue and orange sparks exploded in all directions as Jade began to really pour it on. A hard, spinning wheel kick fired up, disrupting Jade’s onslaught and missing her nose by inches, but knowing Athel was just trying to create space between them, Jade rushed right back in. She had to put pressure on this incredibly strong girl and keep her movements defensive.

  Athel worked her blades in wicked circles, deflecting every slash at the last possible second, never having seen this type of speed from any opponent. Her parries were purely instinctual, as she could hardly even see the whiling blades. She looked desperately for that one single opening she needed when she could split her opponent in two. One of them was going to die this day.

  * * *

  Dragot leaned way back on his throne as he so often did. Thoughts of humanity’s ultimate demise fluttered though his head as he slumped low, sinking into the soft cushions.

  Suddenly a storm of briggits came flooding into his throne room clicking away in panic as they flapped their skinny arms up and down. “What is this?” he demanded as he tried to make sense of all the feverish clicking. “Here? He is here?” His eyes grew wide with disbelief. “That’s impossible!” He leapt from his throne but really didn’t even know where to go. He couldn’t think of what he should do first.

  “Oh, it’s more than possible,” came the eerily calm voice from the doorway. Eric leaned against the frame with his sword gripped loosely and held low to the ground.

  “It can’t be! How did you—” What seemed even more impossible than this was the fact that Dragot actually felt fear right now. The emotion was completely foreign to him, yet there it was. The fact that he had been taunting Eric with his new power bump made him even more concerned with the Gate Keeper’s wrath.

  “There is nowhere to hide. You can
no longer run from me, Dragot.” Eric’s voice was calm and serene, unlike his eyes, which blazed with intensity—they blazed with murder.

  “I’m not even the one you want. I-it is Krytoes! When the planets are aligned, he will be the threat, not me.” Dragot could hardly believe the cowardly words coming out of his mouth. I'm feeling terror in the presence of this mortal?

  “You should have thought of that before hurting the innocent.” Eric’s voice gained in strength and confidence with every word. “You should have thought of that before helping the demon Krytoes, who will also die by my hand.” Then his voice lowered to a hiss. His eyes narrowed while raising his sword point methodically toward the demon. “You should have thought of that before threatening the woman I love.”

  Dragot regained some measure of composure. He is only a mortal. “Very well, then. Allow me to give you a little demonstration of my newfound abilities, boy.” Dragot extended his arms straight out as his claws began to hiss and pop with energy. Tiny crackling bits of static jumped back and forth between them. Then they began to grow and sparkle, each extending outward until the claws had become long, gleaming blades at the end of his fingers.

  With both filled with savage hate, primal screams echoed off the walls as the two enraged animals charged at one another with murder in their hearts.

  * * *

  Corzon was nearly in a panic as he watched the thick yellow bolts rip through his army. As vast as it was and even with a large number of remaining troops, their morale had taken a huge hit.

  He had been saving them for the cleanup, seeing as how he didn’t like to risk his special forces unless absolutely necessary, but the situation was becoming direr by the minute. He looked to the girls lined up in their leather armor, twirling blades in their hands as they impatiently waited for their orders. “Maidens, go!”

  The forty or so leather-clad women began streaking for the walls. As they got closer, arrows began to take flight, clearly directed at the new threat. Some transitioned into a series of handsprings as they easily weaved through the potential massacre. Others just swatted the speeding arrows out of the air like pesky flies, shattering them into harmless splinters. This had been such a large part of their training for so long that these archers really posed no threat at all.

  When the first wave of Maidens reached the wall, they turned around and faced the others immediately. The second wave leapt feet-first into interlocked fingers held low, then were thrown into the air with unbelievable force.

  The archers on the walls could hardly believe their eyes when these girls just levitated up before them. It was the last thing they saw as blades flashed across their throats. They landed smoothly on the wall and began a deadly bladed dance as they easily tore right through any archers who didn’t have the sense to run or get out of their way. Then the Maidens leapt off the wall and headed for the rooftops of Taron as they bounded from rooftop to rooftop. The city had been breached!

  * * *

  “You sent him where?” screamed Ilirra as she shook Berkeni back and forth by his shirt.

  “It was the perfect opportunity!” he said through broken on and off speech until she finally let go of his collar. He took a very needed breath as he rubbed his neck. “Dragot’s trail was still in his head. If he is able to track him down, he might be able to finish—”

  “Finish what?” Ilirra screamed as she threw her hands in the air. “The real threat is outside these walls, and I’m not sure how much longer it will remain outside! They think he is some kind of superstitious deity. I have lost many soldiers today, all in the name of protecting the Gate Keeper, and you go and possibly send him to his death?”

  Addel put her hand on Berkeni’s shoulder. “We might have made a mistake. He is out there now doing what he believes to be right, doing it for the people, and the people don’t even believe in him!”

  Berkeni slammed his hands down on the wooden table. He peered into his pearl as he contemplated his mistake. He could now see the image of the two beings preparing to face off. It was true, he had made a mistake sending Eric after Dragot when there were more pressing issues. It was also true that the main reason this war was even happening was because most people didn’t believe he was real. Burning reality grabbed him by the throat. The world needs to know!

  The thin, old man snatched his pearl out of its holder and sprinted through the door. Ilirra and Addel gave chase, not understanding what he was intending to do. He raced up the wooden stairs, ignoring urgent calls from the two of them. Brothers killing brothers over fear of the unknown. He ran down the white tiled hallway so fast Ilirra could hardly keep up. He is more important than any single being alive today and they fight each other? He ran up to a window and kicked open the shutter with an angry foot. They kill each other over this?

  He screamed out the window at the top of his lungs, “The world must know the truth!” He flung his pearl out the window and into the air. It defied all laws of physics as it floated higher and higher. It was impossible that he could throw it that far, but on it went, up into the sky. Then, all of a sudden it exploded in a bright, green flash.

  The sky lit up as a deep throbbing pulse radiated through the whole city. It was like thunder with no sound, just the deep sound waves themselves driving through everyone’s body. Every single soldier from both sides of battle was driven right to the ground by the unseen force. Jade and Athel’s battle was cut short as both sprawled right to their hands and knees, overwhelmed by the heavy vibrations. The crytons’ energy circles were disrupted, as it was all they could do not fall off the wall. The whole battle had come to a halt.

  Then came a sight no one present during this historic war would ever forget. The history books would be forever changed. The story of the battle in the sky would be passed down for generations.

  The image that was once contained within the pearl, of the Gate Keeper and Dragot facing off, was now cast onto the sky. Every soldier from each side gazed up in complete disbelief as the two gods suspended in midair charged against one another.

  * * *

  Eric’s sword and Dragot’s claw blades smashed against each other with a fury never seen before. A shower of sparks rained down from the heavens as the sound of steel on steel rang through the sky, like gods fighting over who would gain claim to the world. Eric’s blade danced the familiar forms as he spun and twisted into the living tornado of steel he had always been. Golden light surged from his eyes and mouth as his roaring, primal scream filled the sky.

  Even with Dragot’s seeming advantage of blades on both hands, he could not deal with Eric’s freakish speed. The demonic being parried and parried again as the onslaught of flashing steel came from all directions at once. Eric could feel the power of nature’s forces flowing through him like a river. He could see everything, feel everything. Opening a gate was as easy as breathing. He slashed at Dragot once, twice, then flashed through an opening that formed from nothing.

  Dragot spun around, searching desperately for the would-be attacker. A gate opened right behind him as Eric leaped through, striking hard at the demon. Another shower of orange and blue sparks fluttered down as hard steel collided. Eric appeared to dash across the sky as he disappeared through another gate that was not there a moment ago.

  His heart thumped loudly in his ears. Time itself was on his side. He could control the way it drifted. Eric stepped through yet another gate calmly, slowly ending up right behind Dragot once again. Time crept along at his will. Dragot turned ever so slowly. Seconds were now like minutes in the Gate Keeper’s private world. The laws of the physical world were now his laws.

  Eric waited patiently for the demon to turn all the way around. He wanted to make sure Dragot saw his face as time trickled like melting snow, wanted to make sure he knew it was him who took his life.

  Dragot’s expression ever so slowly turned to one of horror as his eyes began to widen...slowly...slowly. Eric leaned in so close to the helpless demon that their noses were almost touching. “
Your time in the world of men has ended,” he whispered just before the flash of steel sent the demon’s head tumbling into the air.

  * * *

  The stunned armies stared into the sky long after the clash was over and the image had faded. Some sat on the ground and cried, having no idea how to comprehend what they just seen. Others—many, in fact—shouted “Gate Keeper” and pumped their fists into the air.

  Jade remained on her knees. She stared at the sky with tears streaming down her cheeks. She was completely oblivious to everything around her as she remained in partial shock. So much so, she never even noticed the assassin walking up behind her, blades in hand with her usual silent stalking movement; never noticed Athel lean down by her back, but she did hear the blades clang to the ground as Athel wrapped her in a hug. The two of them cried in each other’s arms. The war was over.

  * * *

  It had been a few weeks since the battle had taken place. The Dronin had long since pulled out. Ilirra told Corzon his army would be free to go one condition. The heads of Tamera and Grimton now hung from the walls, and as promised, Ilirra had no intention of ever taking them down.

  All the Dronin army had left except for Athel, who opted to stay in Taron. She felt as if she had no home to go back to. Even Corzon showed no emotion when she told him of her intentions. He didn’t care.

  They welcomed her, however, and she seemed to be fitting right in. In fact, Jade and Athel were quickly becoming fast friends. Berkeni called a meeting and claimed it to be quite urgent.

  They all met in the war room once more. It seemed a little unnecessary and nobody really wanted to come back in here for a long time. He stood quietly at the front of the room until all had been seated. With his hands clasped behind his back, he said, “Thank you all for coming on such short notice. We have just seen one of the darkest times Taron has ever been forced to endure, but still we must press forward.”

  He motioned to Addel, who was standing in the corner holding a rolled-up map. She limped over, and with a flick of her wrist it unrolled across the smooth tabletop.