Battle Earth: 12 (26 page)

Taylor didn’t know how to take the statement, but he took his weapons without hesitation as Sarik quickly stepped away and out of his reach. He squared off against Erdogan in the centre of the arena and looked back to Sarik one last time. The creature did nothing, not a single sign of acknowledgement.

Taylor let out a roar and rushed forward without any hesitation at all. He charged towards the towering alien leader, who stood his ground confidently and raised his blade in two hands. Taylor went forward with his shield held high and tried to barge the alien, but Erdogan nimbly leapt aside to Taylor’s left, but no made no attempt to strike him.

Erdogan laughed as he stepped and that only infuriated Taylor. He rushed forward again, and once more Erdogan attempted to leap to the blind side of his shield. This time Taylor swung the shield wide and clipped Erdogan with the edge. The impact knocked Erdogan off balance as he was moving, and he stumbled a few paces before regaining his balance. Taylor turned and smiled at the embarrassment, but he knew the punishment would be severe.

The alien Lord stormed angrily forward now and swung a strong but well controlled vertical cut for Taylor, who narrowly avoided it. The blade struck the ground beside him, but before he could respond, Erdogan swung a back edge cut that smashed into his shield and launched him off his feet. He hit the ground hard and felt the back of his helmet smash into the ground. He looked at his shield; a deep groove had been pressed in with the thick back edge of Erdogan’s sword. He knew that if that was what the blunt edge could do, he was in trouble.

Erdogan seemed to be too keen pandering to the crowd to worry about finishing him off. He got back up to his feet slowly and took in a deep breath as he tried to find some way of approaching his deadly opponent, but his time to plan was soon lost as the creature strode confidently towards him. Taylor backed off a few paces and then side stepped as he tried to step under Erdogan’s blade, but it struck the top corner of his shield and sliced off a triangle of it without meeting much resistance at all.

Taylor’s eyes caught Sarik’s as he noticed the creature nod intentionally at him. He knew he had nothing to lose and decided on a course of action to put Erdogan’s back against Sarik and his friends to see if the turncoat really was still on his side.

“Taylor! Taylor! Taylor!” the voices chanted from the human prisoners in the audience.

The chant was getting louder, and it seemed to infuriate Erdogan further.

“Come on, you bastard!” Taylor shouted.

He rushed ahead and thrust towards Erdogan before he could swing. The alien parried his strike off to one side with the long grip of his sword between his two hands. He followed it with a diagonal cut, but Taylor managed to place his shield at an acute angle that deflected it. He drove his shield forward and smashed it into Erdogan and forced him backwards. As the alien staggered back, Taylor rushed at him and deliberately smashed his one side that caused him to turn, but Erdogan struck him with the pommel of his sword to his face as he stormed past.

The blow struck like a sledgehammer to Taylor’s face, and he felt two of his teeth break free and blood poured out from his mouth. He turned and dropped to one knee in agony, but he soon looked up defiantly at Erdogan who was looking down and marvelling at his work. Taylor turned his attention to what was now going on behind the alien Lord. He could see one of the guards near the detainment rack press a few buttons, and the shackles of Kelly and all who were with him became free. The alien’s helmet folded back into itself to reveal Jafar.

Erdogan turned just in time to see Sarik release the prisoners on the other block. The two remaining alien guards lay dead.

“What are you doing?” he boomed.

“Following a wiser leader,” replied Sarik.

Erdogan turned back to Taylor, and it was clear that he was furious.

“What’s the matter, things not going quite to plan?” Taylor asked, as blood still dripped from his mouth.

Erdogan let out a cry of anger and ran at Sarik. He swung a heavy blow that cut through the glaive that he was carrying and drove him back. Sarik fought back with the two remaining pieces of his weapon in each hand. He smashed the pole into Erdogan’s arm and tried to hit him again, but Erdogan drove his pommel upwards and knocked Sarik off his feet.

“Get your weapons!” Taylor shouted to his friends.

They didn’t hesitate to rush to the crates. Silva drew out his assault rifle and quickly fired a few shots into Erdogan’s flank, but the shots glanced off his armour. The alien barely even seemed to notice the impacts and continued on against Sarik, who raised his arm to parry a cut from the ground. Erdogan smashed his weapon down and then cut again. The powerful blow took Sarik’s right arm off at the elbow.

Their alien ally screamed out in agony. Blood poured out across the arena, and the crowd roared with excitement. Erdogan raised his sword in both hands above his head for a brutal cut that would have ended Sarik, but as he brought it down, he felt an impact in his side. Taylor smashed into him and launched him off his feet. The two landed clumsily on the arena surface; a hard and fine gravel that kicked up dust.

Taylor tried to thrust into Erdogan, but he was met with an elbow that connected with immense force to his head. He rolled out of the way and both got to their feet. Erdogan froze now as he looked around. He was now encircled by Taylor’s Inter-Allied force. Twelve opponents.

He looked to the audience, and not one of them came forward to help. It was clear to him they expected him to win, no matter what. He looked back to Jafar.

“You can’t really be for these humans? Come back to me now, and stand as my champion and have everything you ever wished for.”

Taylor smiled, knowing the alien was showing fear now.

“You walked this path. You asked for this,” replied Taylor, “Your vanity brought you to this point, your arrogance. For all that you are, you are no better a man than Demiran or Karadag before you.”

“You will swallow those words,” he replied venomously.

“Go forward together!” Taylor called out, “Just as we trained, maximise our numbers, and keep your head on your shoulders!”

He advanced first, and the others quickly closed to box Erdogan in, but none of them were under any illusions that the creature didn’t still posed an immense threat. As they closed in, Erdogan raised his sword as if to strike Taylor, and then swung it in a broad horizontal stroke that caused most to leap back as the blade carved into several shields. In the confusion, the enemy Lord leapt forward at King. The immense pace caught him off guard, and the alien’s blade cut down deep into the top edge of his shield and drove down into his left collar.

King winced in pain but still thrust forward with his Assegai. Erdogan kicked the blade down and swung for his head, but the impact was displaced by Lang’s shield. The German thrust inwards, and Erdogan parried, but Reynolds drove his Assegai into his flank. He got just a few centimetres in when the creature snapped around and swung a heavy horizontal strike with his sword. The blade sliced through Reynolds’ neck and took his head off in one.

Erdogan backed off and looked cautiously around him as they circled him once more. Kelly looked down at his fallen friend for just a second, but he knew he could not afford to any longer. Kelly jumped forward, but he was slow compared to the younger fighters. Erdogan backed off from a strike and kicked him back before turning to Pitt. He grabbed the Private’s shield and tore it down before thrusting his sword through his mouth so that it pierced through the back of his skull. But Erdogan did not draw the blade out. He simply pulled sideways and cut out from the man’s head.

Silva was on him next and thrust forward before Pitt’s body had even hit the ground. Erdogan parried the strike, just as Kelly smashed the lower edge of his shield into the back of Erdogan’s leg and drove him down onto one knee. Silva’s Assegai was descending towards Erdogan’s chest with a downward thrust when the creature reached up with its left hand and grabbed hold of Silva, stopping him dead. He stood up and threw the Sergeant Major, cutting at him as he did. The cut drove several centimetres past his armour and into his ribs.

Silva landed on Williams who broke his fall, but he was in agony.

“Close in on him!” Taylor screamed.

The creature darted off to one side again to engage Matthews and swung a cut towards his head, but at the last moment redirected and cut across his legs, cutting both limbs at the thighs. Matthews screamed out in pain as the blood gushed, and it was clear he would be dead in minutes if not seconds.

Jafar and Taylor leapt forward to try and close in on Erdogan who was now going for Williams. The Private was backing off and not standing as Taylor had told him. Erdogan was able to get him alone and cut once that struck his shield in half. His second strike cut through the Private’s Assegai and sliced deep into his collar and killed him instantly.

The circle closed in on Erdogan once again, and Jafar went forward. He ducked under a cut and thrust up with his Assegai. The strike was quick and precise but only scraped Erdogan’s armour as he voided away, but he was met with the edge of Taylor’s shield that crashed into his face. Taylor quickly made use of his opportunity and drove his Assegai into Erdogan’s stomach. The blade went twenty centimetres in when the creature grasped his hand and stopped it going any further. He drew out the blade and smashed an elbow into Taylor’s head, and then cut down towards his head with his mightier sword.

Ryan pushed his shield in between the weapon and Taylor just in time, but the sword cut through the lower half of his shield and through Taylor’s also until embedding into Taylor’s armour and cutting a centimetre deep into his left arm. Silva struck the sword with the edge of his shield, and the sword was knocked out of the alien’s grasp. He immediately struck a back fist to Silva’s face then smashed him to the ground and stunned him for a moment.

Erdogan then leapt onto Ryan and put both hands around his helmet and snapped his neck. Herrera swung for Erdogan, but the alien leapt into a roll and picked up his sword as he nimbly landed back on his feet and thrust it through Lang’s shield. The point pierced his chest and heart, and Erdogan drew it out slowly with glee as the body dropped before him.

The circle formed once again, only half of the number they had started with. Taylor could see blue blood seeping from the two wounds on Erdogan. His movement had slowed just a little now, but it didn’t seem enough to stop him.

“Little humans, how could you ever have beaten me?” he asked.

“You’re going down, and you’re going down on live TV for all your people to see,” replied Taylor.

Kelly lurched forward first, but Erdogan cut across with a quick slash that sliced his cheek and through his lip and down to his chin. He recoiled back in pain as Silva passed him once again, despite his wound. He pushed his shield up and under Erdogan and tried to thrust, but Erdogan drove his pommel down with both hands onto the shield, and that smashed his shield down. Herrera was quick to attack beside him and thrust the tip of his Assegai into Erdogan’s thigh.

The alien let out a scream of agony before cutting Herrera’s shield in half and forcing the blade deep into his arm. He drew out the blade and cut around and drove the blade so deep into the Corporal’s collar that it drove halfway down his lungs and killed him instantly.

Taylor passed under the blade and smashed his shield into Erdogan’s jaw and then thrust for his chest again, but Erdogan parried the strike and spun and delivered a wicked cut into Taylor’s flank. The blade drove deep through his ribs, and Taylor dropped to his knees as he felt his legs give out. Erdogan quickly pulled the blade out and cut for his collar as he had done to Herrera. Taylor fell back in pain, and the cut fell short and just sliced into the side of his neck.

Jafar leapt forwards to stop Erdogan finishing the job. Erdogan spun around and cut his Assegai in half. Jafar continued on anyway, jumped over the blade, and leapt onto Erdogan’s back and locked him in a chokehold. Erdogan reached to cut him with his sword, but Kelly drove his Assegai into his lead arm. The beast cried out once again in pain as he dropped the sword. A fifty-centimetre blade darted out from that same arm, and Erdogan cut across Kelly’s face and then drove the blade into his shoulder. Kelly dropped his weapon as he felt the feeling in his arm vanish, and he fell down while still impaled.

Sarik appeared amongst them and cut down against Erdogan with what was left of his glaive in the only hand he had left. Erdogan was forced to draw out the blade from Kelly to parry this new attack, and followed it with a quick slash across Sarik’s face. A punch from his other hand sent him tumbling to the ground.

Jafar smashed his shield against Erdogan and thrust in for his armpit. The strike landed, but Erdogan stopped the blade with his offhand before it had penetrated more than a few millimetres into his skin. Erdogan turned all his fury and anger on the alien now. He punched him in the centre of the chest with a heavy blow that took the wind out of him. He followed it with a slash that cut into his stomach and another three punches until Jafar was unconscious and lay helpless before him. He was just about to drive his blade into Jafar’s head when Taylor yelled out.