Legacy of the Defender (The Defender Series Book 1) (18 page)

“What are your orders?”  I felt a hand reach under my chin and lift me up with but a finger.  There was not even any pressure and I came off my knees, not by my own doing.

“Tathlyn, if you do not go right now, something horrific is going to happen that is unimaginable.”  I glanced at Mathias.  He had a grim look on his face.  He knew something was indeed wrong.  Just then I felt the city was starting to vibrate.  A sound like the air splitting cracked like glass that had been hot suddenly filled cold water, only it did not break.  The air protested.  An event was about to take place. 

Right above the wall, near the same place where previous portal existed, a hairline fracture started to form in the shield.  It started small and slowly worked its way down towards the top of the wall.  With every inch that it sliced, the sound got louder and louder...then deafening for a split second.  A tremendous explosion rocked the top of the wall, killing all the angels within hundreds of feet.  Sound deafened us all.  The blast almost reached where we stood.  Time slowed.  Mathias raised a horn and blew it as he charged forward.

I began to follow and felt a hand on my shoulder stopping me.  Glancing behind, I saw the man shaking his head.  He mouthed the words, “Go to your teacher” repeatedly.  When the sound finally returned to my ears, a trickle of blood came from his nose and eyes as he drew his sword.  I tried to pull away one last time and felt a grip on me that was admittedly stronger than mine was.  Our eyes met and he shook his head. 

“Find Malnuras.”  Both of his hands were on the side of my face.  Information spilled into my mind.  Images, too blurry to focus on flashed in my mind.  My legs buckled, but the hands held fast.  Slow motion caught up to me as the wall exploded, and a huge hole appeared after the dust settled.  The horde flowed out of it in such numbers it darkened the skies.  The urge to engage my mortal enemy gave way to the desire to be somewhere.  A familiar image popped into my head.  A pile of rocks covered in blood. 

I recognized this image from minutes before, only there was a recognizable human, obviously fed upon by some denizen, and overseen by that huge daemon.  I felt sick as the reality hit me.  They used Malnuras blood to open the portal to this plain, and not just to this plain, but also into Heaven.  That was his body.  The back of my neck burned as if the final part of the rune finished carving itself into my flesh.  The pain did not even matter to me anymore.  Energy gathered at my fingertips and gathered inwards from my extremities inflating me with power.  There was lightning in my veins.

This sensation assaulted my senses.  Muscles spasms cascaded through me.  His hands were still on my face, filling me full of information and energy that ran right down to my core.  It felt like floating.  I balanced on my toes now.  My mind was ablaze as it received the last of the images.  The last image stuck in my mind as the hands fell away.  I watched this clone-like person holler, “Go!” one last time then to face the horde flooding into Heaven.  Above me, dots came from towers in the distance like birds from a nest or aerie.  It was like watching bees coming from a hive but in turn the skyline began to darken as thousands approached to meet the influx of daemons.

My vision changed to what was stuck in my mind: total devastation.  The walls of Heaven were falling, for barely half of them stood.  The mighty towers still crumbled.  It was a play on seeing Heaven for the first time.  Little black dots swarmed over the ruins.  The task was clear; this would be the result of failure.  My stomach surged as this clear picture settled. 

The second image that I received was chaotic at best and spilled back into my mind, helping me to focus on the pile of rocks.  Somehow since words would have taken too long, this man had dumped images directly into my memory.  He did it in less time than it would take to speak to them and try to explain the sense of urgency.  I continued to pull my energy in and the rune on my neck activated.  The image blurred and swirled like a drain in a bathtub that had its plug pulled out.  Like poking a hole in a gallon of milk, or popping a balloon, something was draining God’s power.  It was inevitable what was going to happen, and he made it very clear to me.

An image of Malnuras holding his hands over his heart flashed.  At first I did not see it but there was fluid running out from between his fingers very slowly.  Behind him, there was an image coming into view, but I could not see what it was.  The energy hit its crescendo and I felt my head explode in pain, blurring my vision.  How could I focus with this swirling chaos to sort out?  I felt dizzy, weightless…for a fraction of time, until my feet hit the ground without my knowing they had left.  Air rushed back into my lungs.  A burst of light made it difficult to refocus. 

Countryside greeted me. 

The coarse grass crunched under my feet as my weight shifted, returning balance to my control.  Fresh air was a nice change from the death and carnage on the wall.  The smell angels’ blood was very strong.  It was a relief. 

I stood gathering my bearings and shook the disorientation off.  Behind me sounds that, at first, seemed muted and diminished, caught my ears.  Birds fled the direction I faced.  Their squawks alerted me back to focusing on my surroundings. 
Death was closer than before.

My mind exploded with thoughts from my blades.  Like an alarm going off, they sensed a threat greater than I had ever felt, a feeling now grabbed my heart and squeezed.  The daemonic words they screamed in my head were almost deafening even though nothing was audible.  It took me several moments to reign in the maelstrom of panic I felt.  I fought to calm my emotions.  An eternity seemed to passed before the fear and excitement became manageable.  It came down to one cohesive phrase.

"Tathlyn, he is here."

"Who?"

"
Amduscias.  The general in charge of hell’s assault."

"You saw him through my eyes did you not, on the wall?  Where was this fear then?  You are metal...how can you be afraid?"  I felt a twinge come from the blades as if they chastised me.  "Why would he leave the horde?"

"Can you not feel it?" they chimed in their melodic duality.  Even though it was still a dulcet voice, their pitch changed to a deep and dark cadence.  “He is one of the worst.  There is a reason Lucifer chose him."
 

"What would that be other than he is an evil monster unwelcome on Heaven’s doorstep?”  I asked.

"He is a fierce leader and commands loyalty.  He uses music to entice legions to follow him to death.  His enemies cannot hear his songs."

"Wait, could that be how those smaller daemons line up to be used as energy for those weapons assaulting Heaven?  Do they use his power to enslave?"

"Yes," they replied.  "He normally loves an audience and performs when commanded by those he serves."

"All the images I have seen when I studied daemonology did not show him having wings.  Are we sure it is him?"

"Do not believe everything you see, Defender."

"I will keep that in mind," I said turning.

A small city lay behind me.

It reminded me of the one that I had been to only once before with Mathias where we had some food and spoke about the big picture.  We had eaten at a small inn with service outside.  The food was very good.  I remembered thinking that it was strange there were no guards.  The village was open and friendly.  This place was bigger.  I could hear noise in the distance but it was quiet...too quiet.  In fact, I did not see anyone.  I decided to move closer, being very cautious.  With blades out, I advanced toward the structures, which appeared deserted.

The architecture was Roman-like, bearing many similarities.  The people obviously had skill in crafting, for an artisan crafted the stone and someone moved them into place.  It had to be a difficult task.  The road was not paved with cobblestones but slate like tiles with a texture that allowed rainwater to run into a gutter, which meant some type of water collection or sewer.  My master mentioned there were several in which souls could choose to reside.  If people chose this life, they would live forever unless something happened and they died again.

It was strange to have a village so close.  When a soul’s body died again, it would pass to Heaven in the same plain of existence.  Why not live in the city of Heaven?  Why risk the horde finding the city?  The thought perplexed me as I approached.

The sound grew as I stepped around a building.  Several people gathered in a central area, as if holding a meeting, but their speech was in whispers.  I immediately thought, “This cannot be good,” as it would make slaughtering them too easy for the horde.  Concern raised alarms in my mind because my focus on Malnuras had brought me here.  They forced the people to gather here to hold my attention.

It was a trap. 

I did not catch it before.  The people had terrified looks on their faces and attempted to conceal them.  I first noticed it on a woman in passing.  She avoided looking at me.  When she did make eye contact, with her fake waves to the people pretending to be coming and going, things became more apparent to me.  I started to pan the square when I realized there were all sorts of baskets around it.  Several hundred hastily placed.  They were not small baskets; they could hold something large.

I heard laughter.  Baskets exploded and out jumped more than four-dozen of the medium flyers followed by hundreds of leapers.  There must have been holes under the baskets for it was like watching a clown car unloads.  They just kept coming.  The townsfolk died as they scattered in all directions.

I cannot say I was surprised.  It was a masterful execution of a plan that the horde must have felt would throw me off guard.  They lured me here and set a trap.  Dying screams filled my ears as I stepped forward to engage the ground units.  It was time for them to pay.  The shadows cast by the flyers overhead grew fast as thousands filled the sky from all around.  I heard the laughter again. 

My blades were right in fearing it. 

The sound of it pierced my heart...but instead of crippling me with fear, it unleashed the righteous fury inside.  Energy leapt from the tips of my blades without my having to command it. 

The time to settle the score was nigh...

XIV

Vengeance

The light that fills these fading eyes

Has always been my compromise

In the dark, I made my stand

I bleed to meet the horde's demand

With each drop, my life might fade

But in return lends strength to blade

Standing fast against the tide

No other course but to abide

All my life I have prepared

To stand alone without despair

Heightened skills have bought me time

I am the cork that holds the line

From those that passed in times before

Reinforce the mandate inside I swore

If I fail this day this hour

To the next, I will add my power

I did not choose, yet here I stand

To turn the tide and save the land

I fight a battle to none exists

So they can have their crimson bliss

A battle cry came from me like a bellow to greet the ages and proclaim that Tathlyn had arrived.  Both of my swords reached skyward as the scream of righteous vengeance escaped my lungs in primal fury.  Energy rolled forth like a blanket consecrating the very ground on which I stood.  I was in full command of my focus and emotions.  The horde in front of me froze for just a moment as my will hit them full on.  Not a muscle flexed or moved without my command to do so and I felt all my defensive runes activate and the protective energies flow over my body like a second flexible skin.  

The warrior had awakened.

Mathias told me some time ago that there would come a day when every action, thought, and impulse would come together in one cohesive moment.  That day would be the day that hell knew of my arrival.  Today was that day.  The power felt in every muscle was divine in its inception and righteous in its execution.  My senses reached out to the entire battlefield.  It was as though the thoughts and intentions of my foes lay wide open to me.  

My enemy faltered.  I could taste the fear rolling off them.  It felt sweet to my senses, to know that my presence struck fear in the heart of creatures that lived off hatred, and the torment of others.  Such creatures willingly gave themselves to the greater evil.  That action in and of itself did not make sense, for evil is selfish and greedy.  Right now evil feared me.  My mind tingled with a euphoric feeling, creating an intoxication of sorts.  I found myself laughing as my swords swung again, cleaving five in half and taking the heads of a several more.  The energy released from the swing and decimated dozens close behind those. 

My defenses dampened the attempted strikes against me.  The occasional claw found its way through my blades to be repelled.  Most of the daemons could not even get close to me, as my protections deflected strikes as easily as they touched me.  I was starting to sense the frustrations of the horde.  They wanted me dead, badly. 

Thankfully, the poor souls in this area had scattered.  A few of the daemons chased them for a while, but hatred for me pulled them back like a magnet.  They knew I was their mortal enemy as much as they were mine.  Hundreds of them returned from side streets to engage in the fight only to die within moments.  More failed at attempts to get through my defenses.  I spun a few times, extending my steel as they re-engaged as a whole, their intention to overbear.  Normally that would fell the strongest warrior or at least score some mortal wound on a lesser fighter.  

They did not even touch me.  My whirling blades bit through wing, skull, and flesh with great ease, dropping them or driving them back.  They tried it again.  I repeated the move with even greater efficiency, killing even more, but one of them scored a minor hit on my right leg as my blade passed.  He had lunged in.  Even though my timing was perfect, his was better.  There were hundreds upon hundreds surrounding me.  The odds mattered not.  Claws rang against steel as I slashed at the medium sized daemons moving in on me.  They provided a moderate challenge.  Right hand high to left hand low, my hands gaited back and forth like extensions of my will.  Daemon arms swung with furious abandon.  My blows continued to reign down.  I counted four parries before I found an opening on the last daemon, cleaving it head to groin with such force that I cracked the stones in the courtyard without even hitting them.  The sheer force that released as my blade passed through with all that energy exploded in a tremendous burst into the ground and knocked a few of the small daemons down.  Stone showered in small bits around me.

My mind was present.  With each passing moment, I observed footing, positioning of targets, and every other incremental nuance of the battle.  I could see everything.  My training had taught me that each move set up the next move, and that move led into the next.  It was a game of chess where staying several moves ahead of your opponent was is how the game worked.  With a focused mind, my targets disappeared.  Then it happened. 

They stopped coming.

"Do not let them regroup.  They will come again stronger,” my blades spoke in unison. 

I took pause and surveyed the square for a moment.  It was a mess, littered with daemon corpses falling to ash.  Bodies of several hundred villagers mixed in.  I did not have to look to see the horde killed them.  Hundreds flew around the area, circling in a taunting gesture.  They dared me to engage.  I wanted to holler out and say, “Look at the courtyard!  You are losing!”  The words would be a waste.  They would die soon enough.  One last look afforded me a glimpse of the big daemon as it walked behind a building and disappeared from sight.  I sprinted to catch up, crossing the square and rounding the corner with a burst of speed.

One daemon hid there.  I took his head off without breaking stride.  It hit the ground, its eyes repeatedly blinking while I moved past.  For a second it reminded me of Morse code and I wondered what the message would have been.  “Thank you for killing me quickly.”  My grin remained as the head bounced behind me on the stones. 

The building was at least thirty feet long and two stories with a pitched roof covered in tiles.  One of the tiles hit the ground in front of me.  It shattered into many pieces.  A quick glance revealed a small leaper daemon up there cowering.  It had tossed a tile at me, no doubt more of an insult, as it knew it could not stop me.  I did not even bother looking again but reached the end of the building and rounded the corner in a defensive stance.  Ahead, the monstrous daemon walked casually away.  It had some type of domesticated animal in its hand that was crying out as he squeezed. 

A sickening crunch followed by laughter. 

Even at this distance, this thing was huge.  Compared to one of the dragon-like daemons it was not as large, but it still towered over the largest of the common flying ones.  A curved weapon hung at its hip.  My studies had taught me that any creature using a weapon was intelligent on some level.  I began to size it up mentally and went over engagement tactics in my head.  Something told me not to charge.  My fury was building and I kept fighting the urge to ignore my instincts.  Breath came slowly.  Energy flowed to my core for a moment then released, flowing to my hands, feet, and head.  I drew nearer to the Leader.               

All my runes burned as I got closer and my defenses automatically engaged.  Thirty feet from him...there was a flash of movement...out of the shadows came four shapes.  Large wolf shaped creatures that had a stride just like large gorillas, came at me from all sides.  I tucked and rolled back to my feet, engaging them. 

Laughter exploded from the rooftops.  The horde wanted a show.  The large daemon sat down on the edge of a small building and began to eat the animal in its grip.  That distraction cost me.  One of them lunged and tried to swallow my head.  Its teeth almost closed on my neck. 

My defenses held the razor sharp teeth at bay, but I kept the shield compressed enough that the beast still had ahold of me.  I felt another grab my legs.  A tug of war ensued.  The energy required to keep the defensive shield strong was depleting me fast.  I pulled on my reserves to replenish and bolster the shield’s power.

A disgusting pop pervaded my ears...sinew tore and snapped.  My defensive bubble expanded and the monster’s jaw tore open, dislocating in the process.  A spray of ichor fell on the shield and rolled off.  The beast dropped me then fell away pawing at its face.  The other lost its grip on me as well, nursing some chipped teeth that snapped.  I was on my feet effortlessly in seconds and attacked...leaping at the one with a broken jaw.  Both sword tips sliced into the skull and sunk to the hilt. 

Then the unimaginable happened
. 

My attempts to free them failed.  The beast convulsed and threw its body around.  Not wanting to lose my weapons amidst a fight, I held onto the hilts with a vice grip.  Flopping around in a death throw, the creature’s motion was so violent that it tossed me as if I was not even there.

Other daemons landed blows against my thighs and legs.  First one, then three in a row, struck.  A few of the claws got through the shield and hit my calf.  Skin split and moisture spilled out.  The armored cloth had a small breach.  Searing pain ignited my leg.

My leg burned from the inside.  Poison seemed to be the standard for these creatures.  I had to maintain focus on holding on and gripped for my very life.  The daemon threw itself around, slamming us against both a building and causing damage to itself in the process.  The wall collapsed.  My shield took the impact easily and spread the kinetic energy evenly across it.  Healing slowed and my shield drained my energy heavily.  The effect of the poison crept in.

Several more thrashes attempted to dislodge me.  The horde howled at the creature’s display amidst its death throws.  It had to be amusing, as it felt like a bull ride to me...one that I had never experienced.  Efforts to turn the blades failed.  They refused to budge.  I would have to kill the beast or be at full strength before I could remove the rest of the horde.  The thought of letting go and calling them to me sounded feasible, but the thought was impossible as long as were wedged.

Locking my grip, I shifted my focus inward and imagined the poison flushing out.  The rune began to heat up and the energy flowed out then down.  It felt like a battle was raging in my blood stream.  Not wanting to close my eyes to increase the meditation focus I needed to deal with the poison, I kept trying to track where we would collide next.  The swirling chaos of this beast’s movements took me in a direction I did not anticipate.  My grip failed and the world spun as I went through a wall, followed by another one, which buried me underneath it.

Choking on dust, my bearings eluded me.  “The bell definitely got rung on that one,” the words seemed so bold in my mind that I felt I was watching Mathias spray painting using a daemon’s heart and ichor to paint the word “Clang” on the wall.  It was all in my head, of course.  The weight of the wall hampered my movement.  The amount of rubble was unknown, as I prayed for a few seconds before they began to claw at me.  One thought followed me to its conclusion.

I did not have my swords.  My grip failed.  Anxiety set in and I fought to drive it back.  This was that moment that would define me for the rest of my life, no matter how long or short.  I chose to hold for a moment and refocused on the healing to take place.  Eternity had a new definition.  The beasts began to dig through the pile above me.  Weight on me shifted each time they cleared debris.  My shield was off!  Did they knock me more senseless than I had realized?  

The weight pressed down on me...but it was bearable.  A burning in my veins told me that the poison was still present.  My mind let go and focus returned.  The small pocket of air choked me with dust.  This would have to happen without the benefit of breathing.  Dark water flowed over stones in a stream...the image leapt into my thoughts.  Its waters flowed clouded and rough.  The barely visible plants swayed back and forth like a rhythm.  I had some air in my lungs.  It would have to suffice.  

I imagined the water began to clear. 
The thought came as I imagined the pollutant upstream running dry.  The bottom became clearer by the moment.  Life returned to the water.  Frogs and fish chased water striders and other small creatures.  Balance had returned.

Energy flowed.  I felt the poison recede and warmth flow internally from the inside down to my toes.  It was just starting to feel like my body floated when the rune activated and not a moment too soon.  The weight above me lessened.  My shield came into place on its own to my surprise as if my body knew it had to turn it off to heal fully.  That would not surprise me but was truly unexpected and for that, I was thankful.  Rolling to my back was a little hard but I managed it just in time.  I saw two sets of jaws coming in at me, and each one of them grabbed an arm and managed to bite down hard enough to secure me.  I could not move.

Embarrassment set in for a moment.  The events ran quickly through my head.  I looked at my actions from at least three angles while being drug from the rubble and displayed almost proudly from the maws of these two stinky and fetid smelling creatures.  The dead one with my swords in its skull twitched on the ground.  The other one was injured and laid quiet, spilling ichor on the ground from its multiple wounds.  It must have succumbed after I went through the wall.  It also was not moving.  The smell was awful.  Had I not been in the stomach of the biggest one nothing could have smelled worse.