The Vacant Throne: The Legend Of Kairu Vol 3 (32 page)

“
He still scares the
Void out of me,” Cathy muttered.

“
Just stay clear of
his blade when the fighting starts,” I smirked. Cathy squinted at
me and I chuckled. “Catch me if you can.”

I broke out of the forest towards the
camp. Cathy was immediately beside me with a huge grin and a light
blue glow. “Oh, should I slow down a bit and give you a chance?”
she asked playfully.

Donkor let out a
battle cry and the Jaguar warriors followed closely behind us.
Squawks of alarm rose from the camp and I caught sight of Evenawks
rising into the air. The ground troops remained in
position.

We pressed on until
arrows took to the sky in our direction. I motioned for Donkor’s
troops to stop and summoned my power. As the arrows neared, I
raised both hands and a dome of magic covered the area around us.
The arrows bounced off the dome and fell harmlessly to the ground.
I stopped the spell and we continued forward.

Human shouts rose up over the squawks
and the ground units finally started running towards us. Another
wave of arrows was heading for us and I motioned for Donkor to move
ahead of me.

“
Get ready to fight,”
I said to him, the power building in my arms. “I’ll keep the arrows
off you. Stay close.”

I raised my arms and deflected the
arrows with another dome around us. I took a deep breath and
focused on maintaining my energy. The squawking from the sky
archers was getting louder as they realised their attack was
useless.

The sound of iron
hitting iron drew my attention as the battle started in front of
me. The Jaguar warriors’ attack was fierce as the first round of
Evenawks fell to their swords. I was worried that we wouldn’t be
able to pull off a convincing retreat until I saw the next wave of
ground troops heading for us. I turned my attention to the sky and
deflected another round of arrows. The fact that the sky archers
would launch a round of arrows into their own troops showed either
their growing rage or the Mages’ reckless leadership.

As the second wave of
troops joined the fight, Donkor called the retreat. The Jaguar
warriors started falling back and I stepped forward to launch a
massive Pulse at the Evenawks. With some separation between the
groups, I sprayed a wave of fire onto the ground and followed
Donkor back to the forest.

The squawks of rage
were deafening, but I smiled at the success of our plan. The Mage
leaders wouldn’t be able to control the Evenawks and we would lead
them into our trap. I kept looking back at the Evenawks to deflect
any arrows and watch the ground troops. The archers were shooting
their arrows with no control or aim. Many flew wildly as they
flapped their wings to catch up.

We broke through the tree line and many
of the warriors started to climb the nearby trees. Donkor and the
remaining warriors took cover and Cathy pulled me behind a tree
with her.

“
This is exciting,”
she smiled.

“
Kairu,” Donkor
called out. When I looked at him he threw me a short sword still in
its sheath. “You’re going to need it.”

I turned to face the oncoming horde. I
was going to need more than a sword.

Chapter
28

The horde stampeded towards us but the
Nesqians looked excited about the upcoming battle. With Cathy also
showing no fear it felt like it would fall upon me to be the
responsible adult and worry about the outcome like some sort of
mother. It was only a matter of time before I told everyone to be
careful and bring a sweater, or whatever mothers say.

I unsheathed my short
sword. It was traditional Nesqian design; thinner blade with a
slight curl. The belief was ‘thinner blade, faster attacks’ but
anyone will tell you that speed is a combination of strength and
skill. The sword was lighter than its Balendar counterpart, but I
wasn’t skilled enough to use this to its maximum
efficiency.

I checked on the horde’s progress and
they had just broken through the tree line. Blabbing on about
swords had helped me shake some of my nerves and I was ready for
this fight. I watched Donkor, ready for his signal.

The first Evenawks rushed past us and I
covered my bare skin in scales except for my left hand and forearm.
Thick ice covered that area as I prepared the Ice Fist spell into a
shield. I wanted to pace my use of magic in this fight as much as
possible. After the Evenawks, there was still the matter of the
Mages to handle.

Donkor shouted a war cry and I reached
out with my ice arm and felt an Evenawk run face first into it and
drop to the ground. In a blur of blue, Cathy rushed by me and the
crowd split as she ran over everyone in her way.

The Jaguar warriors
with Donkor had engaged the enemy but the ones in the trees
remained hidden. They waited for the sky archers to drop below the
tree line before throwing rocks at them to force them to
land.

A couple of chuckleheads had broken
from the main group to get revenge for me breaking the ice with one
of their faces. They closed in with their spears pointed towards my
chest. I backed up a little bit while I decided how to fight
them.

I sent some power
into the short sword to see if I could enchant it like Cathy’s.
There was a small effect but I would have to use more magic than I
was comfortable with to get what I wanted. I dropped the power and
focused on the closest Evenawk.

A tiny glint in his
eye showed recognition of who I was but the poor Evenawk was
powerless to fight the brainwashing. He knew of my folklore status
and a small part of him would be happy to have his torment come to
an end. Perhaps he was happy to have his end by my hand.

I pushed these
thoughts out of my mind and returned to the cold truth of battle.
Kill or be killed. Sidestepping to the left, I knocked the
Evenawk’s spear towards his partner with my sword, hoping to
prevent the partner from getting in a clear shot and charged
towards my target. He brought his spear around again and I turned
to stop it with my ice covered hand before spinning around to slash
the Evenawk across the shoulder. He squawked in pain and his arm
jerked away. Left wide open, I plunged the sword through his chest
and pushed him towards his partner.

His partner shoved
the body aside like a rag doll and pressed forward, attacking
outward with his spear. With every deflection, the Evenawk was
quick to press his attack, but with every move I made, I closed the
gap between us. When I was in arm’s length, he swung out with his
fist. I dodged it and sent him some icy love with my own fist. His
head snapped back and I knocked the spear out of his hand. He
staggered back until he regained his footing before lunging at me
in a rage. I side stepped and slashed out with my sword, cutting
open his throat. He dropped, coughing and I took a couple of steps
away to distance myself from the horribly depressing sound of his
death.

A quick survey of the
battlefield showed Cathy heading towards Donkor and the Jaguar
warriors’ position, but left me on the wrong side. Cathy’s frenzy
had drawn the attention of most of the horde but some were getting
bored of waiting for their turn and realised I was closer. I
wouldn’t survive long if the horde turned on me so I checked the
nearby trees to find a climbable one.

I picked a promising looking one and
sheathed my sword, ready to break my rule for this fight. As the
Evenawks drew closer, I summoned some power into my foot and
stomped the ground, causing the ground to shake and knock them off
their feet. I hurried to the tree, grabbed the lowest reaching
branch and began climbing.

It was silly to think that simply
climbing a tree would elude bird people but my plan wasn’t to hide,
it was to cross the battlefield to my allies. I would dive off the
top and crash down on some Evenawks close to Donkor or Cathy. It
would have to rely on a properly placed Pulse to help slow me down,
but it was doable.

Hopefully.

At the top, I looked down towards the
pursuing Evenawks and saw them circling the area looking for me. It
would only be a matter of time before they looked up, so I found a
solid branch in the direction I needed and headed out towards the
battle.

A quick scan around
showed the Jaguar warriors in the trees easily dealing with the sky
archers. Many of the warriors had stolen a bow from one of the dead
and were using it against the archers. With no cover in the sky,
the birds were dropping quickly. I scanned the ground for a landing
spot and drew my short sword again. I was a lot higher up than I
had thought. I took a couple of deep breaths in preparation before
pain erupted in my shoulder.

My first reaction was to drop the sword
and grab the branch under me for stability. I heard the sword
bounce off some of the branches while I scanned the sky for my
attacker. An archer had spotted me and was circling the tree
looking for his next shot. I dropped my head below the leaf cover
before an arrow could find my head. I grabbed the arrow embedded in
my scales and pulled it out with a hiss. Magic healed the wound as
I tried to line up a shot at the archer.

A memory came to mind during my attack
on Scert’chak with Lady Middleton. I could kill two birds with one
stone. Almost literally. I just needed to draw the archer in
closer. I peeked out through the leaves and ducked down again as an
arrow flew by. Popping up, I launched a Pulse towards the archer
with no intent on hitting him. The archer easily dodged and let
another arrow fly. I blocked it with a barrier then ducked down
into the branches. Using small Pulses, I shook branches like I was
fleeing. The archer bought it and started flying closer to the tree
to launch arrows into the leaves. As I prepared to jump, an arrow
hit the archer from behind.

I sucked in air,
waiting to see if the archer would drop immediately, but instead he
thrashed about. The arrow had hit it in the shoulder and now the
bird was struggling to stay in the air. He continued to thrash and
only fell closer to the tree as he lost altitude. This was my only
chance. Without thinking, I pushed myself up and jumped out towards
him.

Landing hard on the back of the
Evenawk, he squawked out in pain and thrashed to shake me off. I
gripped him tightly and used my weight to turn our death fall into
the direction I wanted. The ground rushed to us in a hurry and I
pushed off the doomed bird and tucked myself into a ball in an
effort to soften the landing. It only helped slightly as I tumbled
over the hard ground and dead bodies.

I groaned and rose to
my feet. The ground Evenawks were shocked to see me and started
advancing. I was close enough now that I could fight to Donkor and
Cathy’s position so I searched the ground for a weapon. I grabbed a
fallen Jaguar warrior’s sword, but immediately dropped it because
of its unexpected weight. It wouldn’t be something I could easily
handle so I went to plan B and picked up an Evenawk
spear.

How they carried the
spears, I didn’t know. No matter how I gripped it, it always felt
unbalanced. I would be useless in a fight with it, but it reminded
me of an arrow and I got an idea. Power flowed into the spear and I
released it so it could levitate in front of me. Summoning a Pulse,
I launched it into the group, skewering a line of Evenawks. Without
hesitation, I scooped up another spear and repeated the action.
Spear after spear was launched into the group and the Evenawks
began to scatter into every direction.

The combined strength
of the warriors, Donkor, Cathy and me, had finally broken the will
to fight from the brainwashed birds and they were driven into a
panic with no understanding of what to do next. The warriors would
be able to handle them easily now. I needed to head to the camp and
fight the Mages.

Donkor slashed his
way through a group and ran up to me. “You look terrible,” he said.
“Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Take care of things here.
I’m heading for the camp. Where’s...Lady Middleton?”

“
A couple of Mages
joined the battle before those spears started scaring everyone,”
Donkor answered. “Your Lady went to face them.”

“
My Lady?” I
asked.

Donkor smirked, part of me felt like he
was playing a game with me. “You’re technically from Balendar, are
you not?”

“
I suppose,” I
answered.

“
Well then...” he
trailed.

I shook my head. “Let’s go.”

I trailed behind
Donkor and let him remove any Evenawks in our way. The Jaguar
warriors were enthusiastically chasing down the scattering
Evenawks. Cathy was ahead of us, defending against a two Mage
attack. Donkor and I picked up speed and I launched an Ice Bolt at
the closest Mage, forcing him to stop his attack to
defend.

The other Mage stopped his attack and
Donkor and I joined at Cathy’s side. “’Bout time,” she said.
“Where’d you go?”

“
Had to do some
flying,” I answered.

The two Mages sized
us up but Donkor wasn’t in the waiting mood. He began his charge
and the Mages tossed a couple of Fireballs at him, thinking he was
an easy target. Donkor raised his giant sword in defence and
reflected the Fireballs back to them. The Mages eyes grew wide in
shock as they dodged their own attacks.

They didn’t know that
Donkor’s cleaver, a gift from his mother, was created in the Forge
of Kings and had been magically enchanted to reflect magic. The
cleaver was originally a gift from the King of Balendar to the
Emperor of Nesqa, but only Donkor and his massive strength could
wield it. For such a powerful weapon to find itself in the hands of
the genuinely nicest person on the continent was nothing but a
stroke of luck. But any Mage that dared raise his hand against
Donkor or someone he loved was in for a nasty surprise.