Grafyrre headed downslope, angling slightly right, keeping his targets in sight. They looked like a command group. Older men with their swords still in their scabbards and surrounded by elite human warriors whose eyes scanned the forest continuously. Mages sprouted from the group too, some of whom appeared deep in concentration. Others waited to cast.
More orders rang out along the enemy column. They readied to move.
‘Hit them,’ said Grafyrre.
A howler monkey call carried along the valley from the northern end — Auum was signalling the retreat to rally points — but Grafyrre couldn’t let it end like this. They’d barely laid a blade on the enemy. Only Beeth’s great trees had done any real damage and even then not on the scale they’d planned. All his work, all his effort; Grafyrre would not let it be for nothing.
Grafyrre ran at the army, Allyne on his heels and Kerryn mirroring his attack. In five more paces he’d be beyond cover and into the mess of logs, mud and blood.
‘A quick hit and away!’ he called. ‘I’ll take the old men.’
Grafyrre stormed down to the floor of the Scar. Men were still rejoining the column, shaken by the traps that had claimed their brethren and careless in their haste. Grafyrre heard warnings shouted out. Isolated soldiers began to turn. Allyne threw a jaqrui which sliced into his target’s thigh. Grafyrre leapt feet first, catching the same man on the side of his head.
Grafyrre landed, not looking behind him, bouncing back up and dragging a jaqrui from his pouch. He threw, only to see it bounce off a magical shield and fly harmlessly away back over his head. Allyne was at his shoulder. The Tai warrior hacked to his right, felling a second enemy who had been too slow to regain the column.
Grafyrre drew both blades and charged into the midst of the humans. Kerryn crashed in beside him. Grafyrre kicked out straight, his foot thudding into a human gut. His momentum brought him forward, one blade across his body to block a riposte, his other overhead, splitting the man’s skull through his leather cap.
Gore spattered across the column. Men bunched together. Soldiers moved quickly towards the TaiGethen while mages backed away. Allyne took the sword hand from one and snapped a roundhouse kick into the head of another, sending him spinning into the stream and taking two more with him.
Ahead, Grafyrre could see his targets. One was white with fear, a second had a bottle in one hand and his sword in the other. The third was on his feet roaring instructions but no one was listening. Grafyrre blocked a thrust to his left flank and backhanded his free blade up into the face of his attacker. The man went down in a spray of blood.
Behind him, a mage opened his hands and cast.
‘Down!’ Grafyrre yelled.
He dropped and rolled, his blades out and carving at the space into which he came. He connected with the mage a heartbeat too late. A low hum hurt his ears and, behind him, he heard Kerryn scream. On his way back to his feet, Grafyrre saw her flying backwards through the air, her body smashing against a banyan and flopping, broken to the ground.
‘Break off!’ called Allyne.
‘No,’ spat Grafyrre. ‘Not yet.’
Soldiers were moving around to flank and trap them. Another spell was cast. Flame roared out from the column and Grafyrre heard an elven scream. Above the chaos, howler monkey calls sounded again. This time, their import and their meaning penetrated Grafyrre’s rage.
He uppercut his right-hand blade into a mage’s chest, crushed the kneecap of a soldier with a reverse kick and fled the enemy.
‘Get to cover,’ Grafyrre shouted as he ran. ‘Get to cover!’
Charging Apposans all but ran him down. He flung himself out of their path and gaped. Where had they come from? Howling obscenities and promises of death, they moved to the attack, their eyes fixed on their enemies, axes, swords and clubs held firmly in hand.
‘No!’ shouted Grafyrre. ‘Break off, they’ll-’
Spells screamed out. Fire, ice and pure magical force slammed into the Apposans. Elves shrieked as their skin was flayed from their bodies or scorched to the bone. Some, like Kerryn before them, were borne back to be crushed against the trees they so cherished. A few managed to escape, running blindly back up the slopes, heedless of their route, so careless that one, who thought himself safe, was skewered by a waiting trap.
Grafyrre ran too, his rage centred firmly on himself. Allyne had survived but Borrune and Kerryn’s Tai were gone. Apposans had been slaughtered like animals and the enemy’s cheers were the final humiliation. He had failed. Worse, he had led precious survivors to their deaths.
Grafyrre ran on, contemplating his words to Auum and his prayers to Yniss.
All the way down the slope, they had sounded the rally point call, and all they could do now was hope it was heeded. Auum, Elyss and Ulysan running at the head of an Apposan force of forty elves had broken cover right at the base of the Scar and thundered into the rear section of the enemy army.
Jaqruis had bounced from the magical shield but it had not protected the soldiers from close-up blade, fist, axe or foot. Their targets had been slightly isolated from the main column by two log falls that had burst through the magical protections. Bodies lay torn and twisted among the logs and the path was completely blocked, forcing soldiers who were prepared to risk it to travel upslope, through the traps.
Auum knew he was venting his fury but found he had no desire to mitigate the extra risk that posed to him. With his eye ever darting to Elyss, who fought effortlessly, he pressed his attack into the centre of the group of some two hundred soldiers and mages while the Apposans surged in at the flanks.
‘Push left,’ called Ulysan. ‘Break through them.’
‘Pushing left!’ returned Boltha.
Auum saw the old Apposan duck a wild sword swing like an elf a third his age and bury his axe in the man’s skull. The Apposans with him roared their approval and pushed harder. Auum looked beyond them to the main column. Soldiers were breaking away to come to the aid of their fellows. Time was short. He needed these humans broken and running now.
‘Follow me.’
Auum moved forward again. He ran three paces, swords in hand, and jumped high. Bringing his legs up tight to his chest, he cleared the human front line and cycled his arms, feeling his swords bite into flesh. He landed behind the line, in a confusion of mages and soldiers, his feet slapping into the stream.
Auum rose from his crouch, already spinning, blades out to lace cuts into legs, torsos, arms and faces. Ulysan landed a few feet away. Elyss turned a roll over Auum’s head and landed with her legs astride a mage’s neck, breaking it as she twisted down to the ground. Rise of the TaiGethen 197
Humans were scattering all around them. Auum thrashed a blade into the back of a mage who had turned to run; another spun towards Auum. The TaiGethen raised his blade to strike but a split appeared down the mage’s face — Ulysan’s work. Auum moved in the direction of the swamp and the enemy in his path turned and fled.
‘Keep them moving,’ called Boltha, leading his Apposans in the charge. He paused by Auum. ‘Go. We’ll see them into the jaws of Tual. You need to regroup your people. We’ll harass the humans as long as they remain here but we can’t stop them, can we? They’ve learned.’
‘Don’t risk yourselves. Get your people to safety,’ said Auum.
‘We’ll rejoin you at Katura.’
‘No. Disappear. Your people have done enough. We’ll find you when it’s over.’
Boltha nodded, turned and ran. Auum glanced at the enemy moving towards them. Elyss and Ulysan were by him.
‘Auum?’
‘Let’s see who we can save.’
Chapter 24
The fight between the Tuali and Beethan gangs was a statement. Made on market day, in the heart of our lives. Who really runs Katura? Who can hope to stop them? The people look to me, and I am not sure I can save them.