Here Shines the Sun (52 page)

“Move!” shouted Asteroth, pushing Raziel so hard into Sodiel that the two nearly toppled over each other. Asteroth drew his two axes just as a streak of golden, Caliber light fell from the roof above them. His axes crossed over his head just in time to catch Ovid’s broadsword between them. Asteroth kicked out his foot, but Ovid nimbly leapt up on the wall and kicked himself off, tumbling over Asteroth’s head and out into the open avenue.

Asteroth bolted for him, his axes swinging. Star-metal thundered against star-metal as Ovid turned each of Asteroth’s axes away. Raziel grabbed his sword and shot in for an attack, and Sodiel came in with his bo-staff whirling.

“Tell me you three didn’t come all the way here just to find me.” said Ovid coolly as his hand shined with Caliber energy, pushing Asteroth back. He spun just in time to knock Raziel’s sword aside. Sodiel came in with his bo-staff but Ovid danced in toward him and rolled on the ground, out of harm’s way. He came up and leapt back a few feet to gain some distance as Asteroth, Raziel and Sodiel all stood before him at the ready. “I can’t help but notice you seem to be down a few.” He looked at Raziel and a cruel smile turned his lips. “Did the others not survive Leviathan Hydra? Poor Gadrial, pulled down to the cold, dark depths where not even Asteroth’s lights can find her.”

“You’re going to pay!” spat Raziel. He charged forward.

Ovid moved in, his sword sweeping up, catching Raziel’s. Raziel spun but Ovid ducked and rolled backward as Raziel’s sword sailed over his head. Ovid kicked himself up to his feet and swept his sword out. Raziel moved his sword up, his weapon cracking against Ovid’s as he stumbled back, having narrowly avoided decapitation.

Sodiel leapt into the air, his bo-staff spinning as Asteroth darted in. Ovid took a step back as Sodiel landed, his staff spinning before striking forward, catching Ovid under his arm. Before Sodiel had a chance to turn and lock up Ovid’s arm behind him, Ovid cartwheeled to the side, dragging Sodiel’s staff to an awkward angle. As Ovid came up he kicked out, striking Sodiel right in the hip and sending him stumbling back just as Asteroth came at him. Ovid raised his sword, catching one of Asteroth’s downward strikes and then spun left as he lowered his sword, knocking aside Asteroth’s second axe. Then he pounced to the side, gaining some distance just as Raziel’s sword whirled in, narrowly missing him.

“I’d love to stay and chat,” said Ovid, “but I have more pressing business.” He leapt up to the rooftop and then jumped across to the next. By the time Sodiel, Raziel and Asteroth were to the rooftop, Ovid had leapt to a rooftop across the avenue and they saw his Caliber light trail back down to the road before he disappeared around an alley.

“After him!” yelled Raziel, taking off in Ovid’s direction. They all jumped to the rooftop across the road and then dropped down into the alley Ovid had disappeared into. They tore down road after road giving chase, the light of Ovid’s Caliber always just one corner from their sight.

The bolt-thrower fire was getting closer now, the shouts of men having turned to screams. A thought floated across Sodiel’s mind that if those soldiers hadn’t been facing Ovid, it must mean other Saints were here. Sodiel scrambled after Asteroth and Raziel down another alley and his thoughts changed, wondering why Ovid would have attacked them just to run away at his first opportunity. Then something clicked in Sodiel’s mind. “It’s a trap!”

Too late. Sodiel, Asteroth and Raziel skidded to a halt as they came out of the alley and onto a large, brick-paved avenue that ran parallel with the docks and river just across from it. There, ships large and small choked the river as they tried to flee the fighting. There were men on the decks of the ships, pointing down the avenue as they shouted commands at their deckhands. Sodiel, Asteroth and Raziel all snapped their heads in the direction the men were pointing.

The street was strewn with bodies. There were pools of blood everywhere. Standing in the middle of the road was a Saint with white, opalescent hair and a black, chainmail veil over her face. It was Saint Rael, the one Ertrael had told them about. Her eyes caught them and she seemed startled. She looked around before looking back at them, and she seemed like she had something dire to say.

“Join us!” yelled Sodiel. “We have much to say!”

Rael shook her head. She lifted her veil. She looked pale. She mouthed the words, “She’s fucking crazy.”

From one of the rooftops came a scream and a head fell, cracking upon the road. Clay shingles rained down, shattering as they hit. Then tumbled down the body, still holding a bolt-thrower. Rael took up a defensive stance just as another Saint dropped down onto the road. It was a Saint they all knew. It was a Saint they all feared. Nuriel’s golden eyes turned to Sodiel, Asteroth and Raziel. Her pupils widened as her lips turned up into a snarl. She pounced at them like a cat going after a rat.

“That bastard led us right to her!” boomed Asteroth as he crossed his axes, blocking Nuriel’s claymore. Raziel leapt to his aid, and Nuriel became a storm-surge as her claymore struck thunder upon axe and sword as she pressed in on her foes. She turned attack after attack and returned them in kind. Her movements were graceful and fluid, her sword and body spinning and whirling, as balletic as a breeze sweeping the leaves of autumn around her. But when she struck her sword was lightning and she flowed in like an unrelenting hurricane carrying a wave intent on razing everything in its path. Sodiel had never seen a Saint fight with such a deadly balance of grace and raw force, and he had never been so certain he was witnessing such a one-sided battle. Asteroth and Raziel were but reeds caught in the path of a tornado.

Saint Rael came at Sodiel fast and hard, exhibiting none of Nuriel’s grace but cheaply mirroring her unrelenting raw-force. Sodiel whirled his bo-staff, chopping up the air as he brought it high to deflect Rael’s sword. He spun his body around, extending his staff, and Rael ducked just in time to avoid it hitting her face. Sodiel whipped his staff around again, spinning in at her and then coming with his weapon striking high. Her sword cracked against his staff and he brought the other side of it around in a sweeping motion, catching her leg. Rael fell backward, her breastplate cracking the brick road. He leapt up, his bo-staff coming down hard for her face, but she rolled and the street exploded into fragments as his weapon impacted it.

He turned, bringing his staff up as her sword arced down on him. Deflecting that, he spun the opposite direction, wheeling his staff around his waist to knock away her next attack. He extended his hand and he pushed her back with the force of his Caliber. He came at her, sweeping his staff up. Rael tried to parry with her sword but was too late. Sodiel caught her under her left arm. He twisted in on her, his staff bringing her arm up and behind her back, and then with his new-found leverage, pushed down on her, locking up her arm behind her as she fell to her belly with him on top of her.

“Join us,” hissed Sodiel. “There are things you need to know.”

Rael’s voice strained against the pain of Sodiel’s staff as it wrenched her arm behind her. “I can’t! She killed Paniel! She’s fucking crazy! Just give her Ertrael and she’ll—”

Asteroth’s body came flying across the street, nearly hitting Sodiel before impacting the stone wall of a building behind him. Bricks crumbled and the wall toppled on Asteroth. Rael reached up with her free arm and grabbed Sodiel by the collar of his breastplate and flipped him over her.

Sodiel tumbled forward with the force and rolled back up to his feet just as he heard Raziel howl. He glanced over just in time to see Nuriel’s sword sweep up, taking off Raziel’s left forearm at the elbow joint. Raziel screamed as Nuriel moved in to finish the job.

Without hesitation, Sodiel grabbed a star-metal star from the inside of his bracer and flung it at Nuriel’s head. The spinning star shot like a bullet but Nuriel seemed to sense it and flourished her sword, sending it sailing away into the river. Her golden eyes fixed on Sodiel.

He raised his staff and was about to move in on her when he detected the flash of star-metal in his peripheral. He turned to face Rael, wheeling his staff up, but wasn’t quick enough. Her blade glanced off his breastplate and then sheared across his waist. In that moment Sodiel felt his leather bodysuit peel away and flesh flay; felt the sting of icy-cold star-metal sink into his side. Rael spun out from him, ripping her sword from Sodiel’s waist, flinging blood. Sodiel fell to his knees as he got his staff up just in time to knock Rael’s sword to the side. She brought it around to take off his head when a large chunk of broken wall smashed into her, sending her to the ground as the debris broke over her. Sodiel looked up.

“Run!” yelled Asteroth as he stumbled out from the shattered building. Blood ran down his face from a deep gash across his forehead. He was holding his stomach and blood was pouring out from between his fingers. With his free hand he gathered up more of the fallen bricks and chunks of wall into his Caliber and flung it at Nuriel before taking off down an alley.

As Nuriel extended her hand, golden Caliber energy coalesced around her and the debris broke harmlessly upon it. In that moment Sodiel saw Raziel scramble away down another alley, carrying his severed forearm with him. Sodiel leapt up to the nearest rooftop. He saw Asteroth and Raziel converging upon the same alley below. With all the strength his Caliber could offer, he jumped to them just as Nuriel’s sword crashed down upon the roof.

Sodiel landed hard behind Asteroth and Raziel, his belly and waist erupting with terrible pain. He ran after them as they twisted and turned down some side streets, trying to lose Nuriel.

“Quickly!” yelled Asteroth. He bulled through the brick wall of a building. The occupants screamed as the Saints tore through the house. Asteroth barreled through the opposite wall, back out into the streets. He cut down an alley that ran behind a number of large warehouses and saw a door hanging open. “In there!”

They all dove through the door and Sodiel shut it behind them. They collapsed against the wooden wall, all of them panting and bleeding. They were in a large warehouse room. There were some high windows that cast dim light upon stacks of crates and barrels. A number of frightened people huddled in the far corner, but Sodiel paid them little attention. He held his hand over his wound and shined his Caliber as brightly as he could. The cut was deep.
Really deep.
He thought he could even feel his sliced organs and bowels. He groaned from the pain as he focused all his attention into shining his Caliber as brightly as possible, hoping that he might yet save himself from sepsis or worse. Beside him Asteroth held Raziel’s severed limb up to the bloody stump as Raziel stifled his screams of agony, pounding on the floor with his only remaining fist.

“We might yet be able to save your arm.” said Asteroth as blood flowed from his own wounds. His hands glowed with bright, white Caliber energy as he held Raziel’s limb in place. From Asteroth’s Caliber a number of tiny, glowing orbs came forth and began to spin around Raziel’s arm. “Help me out, Raziel.
Quickly.
”

Raziel shined his Caliber as brightly as he could. Sodiel could see the limb starting to reattach. It looked as if Asteroth’s spinning orbs were fusing the very skin and bone back together. But then a shadow fell over them all. Sodiel turned and looked up, holding his wound tightly.

“Well, well, well,” said Ovid. “Look what the cat dragged in.” The tip of his sword went to Sodiel’s neck.

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

“Those are Saints Cabiel and Loganiel from Narberia.” Said Ertrael as he peered out of the small, barred window. “And it looks like they brought half the Narberian army. That would be more than six-thousand knights.”

“Will Cabiel and Loganiel join us?” asked Rook. “Would they join you over the King?”

Ertrael shook his head, doubtfully. “They command King Dahnzeg’s army. They have it pretty good back in Narberia.”

Kierza stood behind Rook as he peered out the window next to Ertrael, sucking his bottom lip as he mulled things over in his mind. She rubbed her hand down his back, feeling the smooth, black leather of his armor. Her own brown robe was getting uncomfortably hot in the small, crowded chamber of the guard-tower and she took down her hood. Even with her veil and missing nose she could smell the sweat and nervous tension coming off everybody.

Behind her and Rook stood Blake and Callad, and at the other side of the room stood Diotus and the Saints Karinael and Hadraniel. All eyes were on the hoards of knights which were forming up ranks no more than three-hundred yards out to the north, upon the grassy fields of the long valley. At their head was the King upon a magnificent, white charger. To either side of him rode his daughters. A pair of golden-haired Saints upon their own black horses were with them as well, barking orders out to the army. In the western sky the sun held low with the fiery light of a waning day.

“What if they knew that their sanguinastrums were safe?” asked Karinael.

“I don’t know.” said Ertrael. He looked at Karinael and smiled. “Should I walk up to them and start up a friendly conversation?” He chuckled to himself as he turned his head back to the window. Ertrael had been joking, but Kierza thought she could see wheels starting to turn behind Rook’s eyes. Ertrael sighed. “They’d want proof anyway.”

“The fact that you have not been recalled might be proof enough.” said Rook. “If they see other Saints fighting against the King, they might very well join us.”

Karinael nodded. “Sanctuary won’t be able to hide the fact that they no longer have the ability to recall any of us for much longer.”

“Proof what side of the board Aeoria favors.” said Blake.

There was a long moment of silence. Outside the tower, within the city walls, Kierza could hear the people of the city gathering as they prepared for battle. Armor and weapons clanged; people talked. She could hear Grandon Faust shouting orders. Everything felt tense. Kierza pressed in closer to Rook.

“Blake,” said Rook at last, still gazing out at the army. “How many men do we have down there?”