NovaSiege Page 11

  She dove quickly, curving her wings as she entered the forest veranda. Limbs crashed against her and she was almost throttled by one as she came to land. As her feet touched down she purveyed her surroundings. Beasts ran past her, barely giving her a glance.

  “Julieth?”

  She turned to see Elias, covered in hair and his maw wide. Spittle dripped to the ground. She noted Vrax at his side.

  “Should you not be in the cells? Isn’t your mind susceptible?”

  “No, I saw the others who have not become beasts be possessed by Samuel, but my mind is not affected. I believe it has something to do with the essences merging with me. I need to find Faiyror and Ragoor and see where I am needed.”

  Elias looked out toward where the beasts would meet the army. “It will be too late for that. They have gone to meet Samuel. They lead the pack into battle. Fight by my side.” There was fear in his eyes. “I have led my people for so long but have no experience with combat. Am I to die today?”

  His new face was so ferocious, and yet his personality was so human. The contrast was striking. “I will fight beside you. We will end this battle with us both alive.”

  Howls erupted a distance in front of them and Julieth’s heart raced. The feathers in her wings rippled in the wind. “Do you have a spare weapon?” she asked.

  Elias’s clawed hand reached into a pack at his hip and produced the gun she had given Ragoor. He did not handle it well, still unsure with his new hands.

  She took it and moved it in her hands, making sure all looked as she had left it. “Thank you. Ragoor entrusted both Vrax and this weapon to you?”

  “In this form we have little need of weapons, as you know.” His chest expanded and retracted, his ribcage showing against his skin. “And I believe our friend is quite disturbed by Vrax. He surrendered him to me quickly after you departed.”

  “Riad is with the enemy.” The thought came to her quickly. “We should get news of that to the others. Riad will kill many if he is not stopped. We will need to break Samuel’s possession of him.” Another gust of wind wove through them. They were the only two standing this deep in the forest.

  “Perhaps, if we reach the others in time. But I believe they will know of Riad’s presence before we reach them. We already believed the cyborg was with the enemy.”

  “Yes, you’re right.” Julieth clenched the gun in her hands. She beat her wings and lifted from the ground, catching a current of air and flying slowly toward the enemy. “I will stay with you at least until we reach battle,” she told Elias as he raced below her. Vrax was on his back.

  They moved quickly. Elias grunted with each bound across the land. They weaved around tree trunks. A few times Elias leapt over fallen debris, spitting soil in the air. Long moments passed before Julieth saw light on the horizon and beasts moving erratically in the tree-line. They bayed with anger. There was a break in the line as a large beast was struck by a burst of light and fell.

  “I must join them!” Julieth looked to Elias and saw him nod as he ran. “I will meet you in battle! Keep safe and fight hard!” She beat her wings harder and was carried swiftly to where the fighting had begun.

  Ragoor saluted her as she flew above him, curving into the sky and out of reach of whatever weapons Samuel’s army may carry.

  Higher.

  Higher.

  Arrows zipped in her direction and fell away. With a breath Julieth pivoted in the wind and looked down on the battle. The beasts remained in the tree-line, leery of breaking from the shadow and taking mortal form. Samuel’s army amassed beyond those trees, firing arrows into the beasts as their swordsmen stood and watched blindly. The arrows will do little to wound the beasts, Julieth thought, but the burst of fiery light that took down the large beast was not an arrow. Where are you? She scanned the battlefield for Riad.

  THOOM! A crack of electricity thundered from their enemy’s ranks, charging several beasts and sending them down. Beasts that surrounded them fled back further into the trees. It was chaos as the two sides kept a level distance from each other.

  She could fire on Riad, but she did not want to wound him and also knew his weapons could reach her, no matter how high she flew. We have to drive Samuel’s army into the woods so that the beasts can maintain form. Julieth angled her wings downward and dove into the tree veranda, landing behind several lines of beasts. “Ragoor!” she called to her friend when she saw him towards the front. Ragoor was soon on all fours, bounding towards her.

  “Julieth, how are you…”

  “There is no time,” she spoke sharply as he turned to look back at the front and then returned his sight to her.

  “How do we know that you are not possessed?”

  She thought for a moment and then held out the gun Elias had returned to her. “If you do not believe me then take this.”

  Ragoor took it, watching her eyes for signs of deceit.

  THOOM! An explosion rocked the line of beasts at the forest’s edge. Howls erupted and then dying moans. The ground shook and static surged up Julieth’s back.

  Ragoor handed the weapon back, his eyes fully alert. “However you are here with us, it is a relief. We need your skills. Our army requires the shadow.”

  “I was thinking the same thing,” Julieth said while taking to the air, keeping her feet off the ground in case another surge of electricity struck. “You should not have met Samuel’s army at the forest line. Withdraw our army and make the enemy enter the woods.”

  “But how? They seem to know our weakness. How will we assure they follow?”

  “Leave that to me. I am not restrained by need of darkness. I will force them into the woods for coverage. Then you can strike.”

  “You are a woman with a keen mind.”

  THOOM! Another blast struck the front. Soil exploded in the distance.

  “Go now!” Julieth flew up, exiting the tree canopy as sunlight blanketed her. “As soon as I get a good target I’ll fire on the enemy!” She had no doubt that Faiyror and Ragoor would immediately pull the beast army back. She flew higher and higher until she was sure she was out of all but Riad’s range. The enemy were like insects below. For a moment something on the horizon caught her eyes, the smaller company that had been close to this large company earlier. Samuel. For a moment she thought of flying directly toward him and attempting to take his life on her own. No, the beasts… our people need my assistance. There will be time for Samuel when this smaller battle is won. She aimed her gun down, at the front of the attacking army. It was far enough from Riad. She hoped to push the front of the enemy force into the woods with even her first blast.

  With a trigger pull lightning struck from her weapon. It hit nothing, but the men nearby moved away from the blast in formed lines. They looked up at her, aiming their arrows and spitting them upwards, only to see them raining back down. Several arrows struck the men and one took an arrow between the eyes. The man fell, blood spewing from his face.

  There is no intelligence in their maneuvers, only base instruction. We have to be able to capitalize on that. Surely once they enter the woods the beast army will pick the meat from their bones. She fired blast after blast at the enemy, driving them into the woods. The archers entered before the swordsmen. Energy charged smoke wafted up from the land. How can Samuel be so naive to send in archers first, knowing that the beasts can decimate them? It makes no sense. He has been bonded with the essences for such a long time.

  Julieth didn’t have time to contemplate things. A massive charge of electricity pulsed past her as she curled her wings inward and fell to avoid the attack. When she caught herself in the wind she saw Riad leveling his weapon at her.

  THOOM! A second funnel of electricity thrashed through her right wing.

  Her breath caught in her throat as she fell. With only one working wing she spiraled downward. Her legs batted against a large tree trunk and her head thrust downward, slamming into the ground after shredding limbs between her and the earth.

  Darkne
ss.

  Howls.

  Screaming.

  She opened her eyes to see smoke writhing around her. No-one was in immediate sight. How much time has passed? She breathed, choking and coughing spittle. She brought her hand to her cranium and pulled it away, sickened by the ooze she felt there. She also noted ooze on her wounded wing where it folded on the earth close by. The essences are healing me. I should be dead. She braced her hand on the earth and slowly stood. Flames writhed up tree trunks and in their boughs. There was little flame on the earth, because the ground was still arid sand. Ineal, can you help us? She hoped he would somehow know her thoughts, though he had never seemed to have that ability before.

  When she looked through the woods toward Gest’s structures she saw a dark, steadily moving shadow. Light refracted off it from the fire, glistening with sharp light. Riad. He must have passed me, thinking me dead. How does the beast army fare? They have obviously been driven back.

  Julieth extended her wings, running quickly and using her wings to allow her to barely touch the ground and remain unheard. Flaming ash fell from the above trees but she avoided it, using the wind moving over her wings to divert its fall. As she neared Riad she aimed the gun at his head. Maybe with a blast I can dislodge Samuel’s control.

  It was then that she saw something shiny skittering across the sand toward Riad. What? Vrax? It moved past Riad and the cyborg turned.

  Riad struck electric charge at her and she beat her wings, lifting above the attack. She pulled her gun’s trigger and struck out her own charge, but it was deflected by some invisible shield.

  Julieth expected Vrax to turn and attack Riad. Instead the bot leapt for her, clinging to her wing. Its eyes glowed red. Electric charge spread through her body and her limbs extended fully, sparks flicking from her fingertips and feathers. As she hit the ground she saw Elias and several other beasts leap from the tree veranda, surrounding Riad.

  Julieth reached for Vrax, clasping hold of its legs and bashing it against the ground. “You!” she screamed at it. “You betrayer!”

  “Vrax reports to Vrax alone.” Its voice was cold.

  It squirmed from her grasp and she clambered for her gun, trying to fire charge at it. Her gun had gone dead. Of course, Vrax created it. Vrax has rendered it useless. She forced strength into her limbs and stood. With a beat of her wings she dove for the bot, grabbing hold of it again. She rose high, near the flaming tree tops, and then dove down, thrashing the bot against the bottom of a tree.

  Crack.

  Its exoskeleton caved in under the force. She beat it with her fists until all electronic light turned dark.

  “Samuel knew! He knew our plans all along!” she shouted to Elias and the few other beasts nearby. “Vrax was his spy!” A million things ran through her head, the cues she had missed, the lies the bot had possibly told her. Is Ivanus still alive? There was no time to ponder the thought, though her heart raced with hope.

  An unholy glow bloomed from inside the motionless bot. At first it was a pinpoint, but soon its aura expanded beyond the droid.

  Julieth stepped away from it. An essence, she realized, stunned. How did it bond with mechanics? “There was an essence bonding with Vrax!” she shouted to the beasts fighting Riad close by. “Do not let it near you! Do not touch it!” She stepped back, fire crackling in the trees above. A scorched limb thumped to the ground beside her, spitting molten ash. She barely acknowledged it, so intent on keeping clear of the essence.

  The light lifted, hovering in the air for a moment, and then went to Riad’s cybernetic arm. His arm illuminated before the essence combined with the other light there.

  Riad said the essence which came to him bonded with his cybernetic arm. It is the same essence, only split between Riad’s body and what was Vrax.

  Riad leveled an electric charge at an approaching beast, scorching it from close range as another beast leapt on his back. He reached his arm up, grabbing the beast’s arm and thrashing it over his shoulder and to the ground before him. THOOM! All that was left of the second beast was ash and molten skeleton.

  Crack. A large tree limb above Julieth snapped. She beat her wings and flew from it as the thing thudded down.

  I have no chance at defeating him without the gun. We only halted his progress in Kaskal because of Bayne. How can we have hope of defeating Riad now?

  Elias lunged in a hard run at Riad, hatred in his eyes. The only other remaining beast ran by his side.

  “No!” Julieth screamed. “Elias!”

  THOOM! The beast beside Elias struck back into the smoke filled air, all life gone.

  THOOM! Elias dodged, but just barely, tumbling to the ground before Riad.

  Riad leveled his weapon.

  Julieth could not see his eyes.

  Her heart raced as she dove, her wings beating faster than she knew they could. Heat consumed her body. Somehow, before Riad’s blast, she grabbed Elias’s arm and lurched him into the air.

  THOOM!

  Riad did not look to her as she flew above the borg, maneuvering the flaming tree limbs while she took glances downward. He walked forward toward the rest of his army.

  Julieth emerged above the flaming woods and looked out over it. The entirety of Ineal’s creation was ablaze. She saw the beasts defending Gest now in mortal form, fleeing the woods toward the lava sea which ran distant the city’s border. Samuel’s army exited the woods as well. They looked wounded but progressed. What alarmed her more was a massive army approaching her fellows around the forest perimeter.

  “Samuel has two armies,” Elias informed her, now in human form because he was once more in the sunlight. “They overwhelmed us from beyond the woods while Riad’s guns butchered the beast army.”

  Julieth reached down and clasped Elias’s other hand. She beat her wings, hovering as she decided her actions.

  Chapter 13

  Andral followed his brother closely as their massive army approached Gest’s people fleeing from the burning woods. Men shouted in terror. This was nothing like when they took the Carvakian city. Then, Bayne had taken complete control of their foe almost instantly. For some reason that Bayne had not explained to his brother he had not been able to control Gest’s people.

  “Brother,” Andral pled to his younger brother, trying hard to keep by his side. “This is maddening. Why do you insist on conquering more? Isn’t it enough to rule what we already have? The others you control are unaware of your possession. I could reason that. But this… Gest’s people will not submit. Should we not retreat?”

  Bayne turned to him as his ragged army continued, marching in time. “It is difficult enough to control this horde without your inane babble.” He came for his brother, smacking him across the face.

  Andral knelt to the sand, tears welling in his eyes. “You are insane.”

  Bayne walked away from him but turned again at Andral’s words. “If you keep questioning me I will control your mind as well.”

  Andral stood. The suns beat down on him. His sight was blurred from lack of nourishment. “So you threaten. I don’t care anymore. Gain some sanity, brother. What have you become that you have no emotion? I followed your plans because I found them exciting for a time. That, and because I love you. But I have learned that this,” he drastically motioned his hands at Bayne, “is not my brother. Or at least you have become something I wish to no longer claim.”

  Bayne took partial control of Andral’s mind, driving him to the ground, flat against the earth. “Perhaps it is time to leave you, brother.” Bayne came beside Andral, kneeling and rubbing a hand over the back of his skull.

  It was then that they both heard the sound, the sound of wings thrusting against the wind above them.

  “Julieth,” Andral’s word was almost a whisper. He felt Bayne lift his hand from his head and stand to look at her, brilliant, her silhouette cast against the suns above.

  “Why do I not sense your mind? Why can I not control you?” Bayne asked, almost to himself.

>   In his awe Bayne’s possession of Andral was weakened, enough for Andral to stand. Bayne’s possession of his entire army was lessened for a moment. They stood still, stalks of flesh in the wind. The fleeing beasts in human form did not see the halting, but instead gained ground toward the lava-sea.

  In the haze of his mind Andral lurched for Bayne.

  “Julieth!” Bayne shouted at the sky. The winged woman carried a man-beast. She landed a distance from them, the man-beast fleeing toward his army.

  “Bayne! Andral!” Julieth shouted for them. “Is that you? I feared you dead!”

  Andral reached back and clubbed Bayne’s head hard, knocking his brother to the ground. Bayne rolled on the earth and Andral leapt on him, thrusting his fists against Bayne’s skull. He dug his arm into his brother’s neck. He heard Julieth screaming in the distance. If she only knew the horror Bayne had become… the horror Andral himself had become in submission.

  “Ack… ack…” Bayne struggled for breath.

  Then Andral felt Bayne’s mind slowly twine through his, possessing his every thought and emotion. Andral’s mind faded like a fog into gray nothing.

  Then a burst of red light.

  Heat.

  Nothing.

  Andral was gone.

  Chapter 14

  Moments before

  The heat of the woods roiled up over Julieth and Elias as she flew. Smoke filled their lungs, causing them to cough.

  Julieth headed for the lava-sea. If they were to make a final stand, then she would be by Gest’s people’s side. Perhaps she could turn the tide. She had yet to see Samuel. Has he remained behind in his citadel? As she flew beyond the forest she saw the smaller company she had spied earlier. Two figures remained further back. Samuel? she thought. If only I still had a weapon… Could I best him with my bare hands? No, she could not risk her life on a possibility so small. Besides, Elias would be needed alive to lead his people if they survived.