Echoes of a Shattered Age (17 page)

Akemi descended from the sky toward the fiery demon, who stomped aside to avoid the stroke of the ninja’s sword. With each footfall, the ground cracked and broke. The demon hunter landed in a crouch, studying the slow-moving demon.

“I’m guessin’ the time for hiding has passed,” Kenyatta said when he saw Kita leap onto a branch above Akemi’s right side. He focused back on the ninja, who seemed unaffected by the stifling heat and evil that the demon emitted.

“You look as if you have done this before,” Kita remarked from overhead. If the ninja had heard him, she gave no indication as she circled the demon and kept turning to face her.

Once the fiend’s back was to him, Kenyatta started to attack, then ducked as a horizontal swipe that came from the shadow of the trunk of the tree next to him.

A shadow demon slid from the tree and swiped at him again. Cursing, Kenyatta dodged, then retreated to a branch not far from where the shadow now stood. His instincts saved him once again, and he dove from the branch as five more Kalistyi fell upon him from above.

He rolled to his feet, then dropped to one knee and deflected a one-two attack from yet another Kalistyi that leapt from a shadow in the ground. After parrying the strikes, he thrust his hips back and twisted around a stab at his midsection.

The shadow demon swiped high, then low, and Kenyatta ducked and jumped into a backward flip to avoid the lower sweep while simultaneously delivering a kick to the shadow’s head. The kick did little more than buy him a couple seconds to recover before the demon was on him again.

The five other shadows were closing in, and he would be hard-pressed to survive the onslaught. From the corner of his eye, Kenyatta saw three shadows falling in half and dissipating.

Kenjiro appeared beside him and met the other two. With a surge of exhilaration, Kenyatta came at the remaining Kalistyi, but somehow it seemed to be stronger and faster than those he had fought before.

It swiped low with one sword arm, then stabbed with the other. Kenyatta hopped to avoid the low strike and stopped the stab with a crisscross block of his blades, lowering the stabbing sword arm. He then ducked to avoid a horizontal swipe at his head, bringing one of his swords up to block another stab while simultaneously delivering a successful stab of his own to its midsection. It hesitated for an instant at the blow, and in that time Kenyatta stabbed it with the other blade, and then ripped to both sides, cutting the demon in half.

All of this happened in little more than a few seconds, but he wasn’t finished. Before the severed body could land, he spun and struck horizontally, sweeping the head clean from its shoulders. Kenyatta stood and watched, chuckling mirthlessly as dark, smoky tendrils began reconnecting the body.

* * *

The demon threw its head back and let out an unearthly roar. Akemi charged, then darted to the side and attacked at an angle. Kita was about to spring forward, but he stopped. He needed to study the thing, yet he did not want to leave the ninja unaided.

Akemi came in close and brought forth Sekimaru. She could feel a hunger within the blade. The ninja swiped and slashed while the lumbering demon grabbed at her. Thin claws as long as sword slid from its fingers as it slapped and slashed its burning hands at her. Akemi ducked, then rolled to the side to avoid its pounding fist.

Seeing how it moved and the patterns it used, Kita finally joined the fight. He jumped from his perch, spinning the staff above his head, and brought it around. To his surprise, the demon actually avoided the attack. Only a moment ago it moved like a slow and lumbering thing. Now, the beast retreated and lunged, slashing at him whenever he missed an attack.

Even the demon-hunter had to take note of the sudden speed of it. She rushed in and the two warriors teamed on the flaming demon. Kita swiped horizontally at its midsection, and as it stepped back, Akemi glided over Kita’s head and struck down, slicing into its arm. That drew a wail of pain and the demon exhaled a gust of hot wind that blew Kita into a tree and Akemi out of sight.

Kita came to his feet and shook away the haziness in his mind. The ninja was nowhere to be found and the fiery demon was stomping toward him. It drew its arm back, lining up its claws for a killing stroke.

Kita’s first instinct was to bring his weapon up to block, but at the last second, he rolled aside instead. The demon’s claw drove into the ground down to its shoulder, then ripped its arm out of the ground with little effort and slashed in Kita’s direction.

He had already gotten to his feet and leaped into the air while once again spinning his staff above his head. The demon looked up just in time to see the blade of the staff driven between its eyes.

* * *

Kenjiro ducked and parried as the two remaining Kalistyi came on him in a team effort. The samurai was surprised with the improvement of the shadow demon’s tactics. Only days ago they were hardly much of a challenge. What had changed?

One shadow leaped completely over his head and delivered a downward strike from above. The other shadow swiped horizontally with both sword arms at the same time as the overhead strike. A well-seasoned fighter would have fallen to such a well-coordinated attack. Kenjiro was more than a seasoned fighter.

The samurai parried the double swipe while spinning toward it to avoid the downward strike and putting his back to the demon. His whipped his hand out and sent two throwing knives spinning through the air and into the airborne Kalistyi’s torso. He ducked to avoid yet another swipe as the shadow behind him hopped back and attacked.

Kenjiro spun away, avoiding the sword and the other falling shadow demon. It fell in front of the other, and before it could recover, Kenjiro stepped in and took its head with a clean swipe of his sword, turning with the motion and stabbing backward into the other Kalistyi’s abdomen. He turned as he pulled the sword free, and brought it around in one motion to lop of the head of the remaining fiend.

With the shadowy bodies dissipating around him, the samurai turned his attention to the larger confrontation. A shower of sparks lit area, a howl rent the air, and Kenjiro broke into a run.

* * *

Having the misfortune of landing in the trees, Akemi was immediately set upon by a group of Kalistyi. A Kalistyi attempted a sweep of its sword at her neck, then stabbed low as she ducked. She spun sideways and down to avoid the sweep ending the motion on her back.

She kicked up and out, using the muscles in her stomach and thighs to flip back to her feet and simultaneously avoid three blades that stabbed the ground where her head and chest had been. As Akemi landed on her feet, she slashed upward, driving one of the demons back. In the same motion, she spun in a circle back to the ground while cutting outward, and severed the legs of one of the shadow fiends. As it fell sideways she brought Sekimaru around to finish it.

* * *

The fiery demon’s head had snapped back from the force of the staff that Kita had driven into its head. Slowly it recovered and Kita could see its eyes focus on him from his position, hanging from the embedded weapon. It opened its mouth to reveal not teeth, but dancing flames within. Realizing the dangerous position he was in, Kita flipped himself onto the top of the shaft and leaped upward, barely escaping a thin stream of fire the monster spat at him.

As soon he landed back on the shaft his feet slipped, and he was barely able to grab hold of his weapon to avoid a high drop. Fortune was with him, for his descending body weight was enough to yank the weapon upward, slicing through the top of the demon’s head. As he fell, Kita brought the staff back around and thrust backward with all his strength, driving the blade home into the monster’s abdomen. He grunted through the pain as his arm snapped straight from the wait of his falling body.

The demon lurched, and Kita curled his body inward, then thrust his feet down, then repeated the motion, creating enough momentum to cut through its abdomen and dislodge the weapon again. This time he faced the monster, and once again drove the weapon home into its torso. Each stab should have dealt the creature grievous injury, but the staff had done no real damage.

From his previous encounters with the shadow demons, Kita suspected as much, and was able to land on the ground and retreat a safe distance without being burned to ash by the already recovered Ren.

* * *

Kenyatta saw the fight from the corner of his eye, but had his own problems. Though this shadow demon was a lot stronger and quicker, it was still no match for him. It didn’t matter, Kenyatta knew. He was not equipped with the proper weapon to deal with the demon and would eventually tire. He had severed its arms and legs several times, but it simply regenerated. Sooner or later it would get lucky.

After avoiding another swipe and coming around to sever the demon’s head, the islander realized something. It took longer to reattach their heads than any other part of the body. He also noticed that the range and type of movement of their sword-arms was limited.

Kenyatta blocked two parries, knocking one sword-arm low. He then stepped on the weapon, causing the demon to bend over and expose its neck. Kenyatta shook his head, then delivered the stroke. Before the angry demon began to reattach itself, he hurried off to help his friend against the fiery monster.

* * *

Kita dodged just in time to avoid the huge fiery fist that crashed through the ground where he’d been standing. It ripped its arm free and swung left, then right, knocking trees over and leaving a heat vapor in its wake. Kita knew that if he caught one blow from that flaming arm, the fight would be over.

The beast lurched forward, then tried to reach over its shoulder with both arms, not in pain, but in annoyance. As it spun this way and that, Kita saw his friend hanging from its back by one of his swords.

Kenyatta drove the second blade through its back and then used his feet to push away from it. He landed in a roll, cursing as he hopped and stamped his smoking feet.

Swallowing a snicker, Kita waited as the fiend turned toward his smoking friend, then stabbed it multiple times in the back and slipped his staff between its legs. It snarled and rounded on him, but as it did, its legs tangled in the staff and it crashed to the ground.

Kita slipped the staff free as the enraged demon climbed back to its feet and released a flare of heat energy that blasted both warriors away.

Smoking and lying on the ground, Kita waited for his sight to return, then groaned as he saw that yet again, the demon was standing over him, poised to strike. He rolled backward, ending in a crouching position, his staff in front of him. The demon reared back, opened its mouth and spat another stream of liquid fire that was as big around as Kita’s body.

He lunged toward the demon, just beneath the fiery stream, and whipped his staff around. The blade severed part of its leg, and as it started to fall, it went into convulsions. From behind, Kenyatta slashed at its back with blinding speed, driving home blow after blow all the way to the ground.

Kita spun his staff vertically and leaped at the beast, slicing across its chest to its face. While in the air, he swung the staff down onto the top of its head with all his strength. As he started to fall, Kita brought the staff around in a two-handed vertical chop to the side of its face, using the force to propel himself away.

Kenyatta had severed one of its arms by then and continually hacked at the slithering appendages as they tried to reattach the limb. The demon tried to climb to its feet, but the lack of a complete right leg made its efforts clumsy. Still, it managed to swing its remaining arm at the troublesome warrior.

Kenyatta jumped above the arm, as Kita thrust his staff into the demon’s face. At the same time Kenyatta spun in midair and brought both his swords down on its neck, severing its head.

They watched, chests heaving, as the fiery body regenerated itself right in front of them. They gripped their weapons firmly, slowly backing away from the thing and readying themselves. The large beast of fire rose once more while continuing to reform its lost limbs. Kita stood in front of it, trying to devise some strategy. Kenyatta stood at its back, waiting to see whether he or his friend should initiate the first move.

The whipping sound of a handful of shurikens caught Kenyatta’s ear just before they found their mark in the demon’s back. It stumbled forward, then spun a circle, grabbing at its back. That was the first time it appeared to be in any real pain as far as the two warriors could see.

From behind the islander, the samurai sprinted past the howling fiend and cut a deep slice across its thigh. Its roar shook the ground.

The ninja descended from above with Sekimaru in a two-handed grip. She sheathed the sword to the hilt in the top of its head, holding on with her hands, and her feet firmly pressed against both sides of the hilt. “Hurry!” she called to her brother.

The samurai was there, cutting deep gashes into its arms and midsection as it lunged at him, while also trying to grab at the ninja whose sword was feeding on its very essence. It dropped to one knee, and Kenjiro plunged his sword deep into the demon’s chest.

There was a flash of red light, and the monster emitted even more heat, then howled in agony. It grabbed at the samurai’s sword, only to have its hand seemingly stung by the power of the weapon. In moments, it was over, and the hellish creature was overcome by the power of the two swords. It began to dissipate into a red mist, and then to nothing.

Akemi stood for a minute, holding her sword in her right hand. She could feel power radiating from Sekimaru. Finally, the sword calmed and went still. The ninja replaced it in its scabbard as the others did the same.

Kenyatta waved a hand over the last of the dissipating carcass. “So was that the Ren-thing you’ve been talking about?”

* * *

It was not fear that drove the warriors on, but the urgency. Their horses had run off during the fight with the Ren, and they needed to avoid any more delays on their way to Kyokoza. Obviously someone or something didn’t want them to reach their destination.