Destiny (16 page)

With a single-mindedness of a well-aimed thrust, Morwen focused her thoughts on the plan forming in her head. The cost of her life was worth having her people warned of the traitors within their midst. Peace settled over her as she watched Rogaulse’s two-handed sword rise for the killing blow. At the last second, she rolled out of the way and sprang to her feet in one smooth motion. As she’d expected, Rogaulse’s armored fist was already in motion.

Ducking low, Morwen dodged the blow as stone fragments exploded above her head from the force of the impact. Tossing her blades high into the air, she grasped Rogaulse’s armored wrist with both hands as he whipped his arm back. Effortlessly the spellpowered strength of the runic armored suit lifted her with it. Before Rogaulse knew what was happening, Morwen swung herself into the air above his head. Twisting around in a twirling flip, she bent her knees landing lightly on the opposite wall.

With all her strength, Morwen sprang out across the archway. Reaching out, she caught the hits of her sabers as she soared across the gap. Spinning around Morwen wrapped her legs onto the thick ironidium segments of the chain holding the portcullis.

Immediately, her sabers began burning with a blue fire as she called forth the rune magic forged into the tinnearlian metal of her blades. Pushing all thoughts away, Morwen hammered at the thick links with all her might. Sparks flew from each impact as the weaker ironidium metal of the chain shivered under the impact of the superior metal. She hacked through the large chunks in a matter of seconds as the knights below her rushed for the opening.

There was a loud twang as the first half of the link sheered apart with a sudden jerk as Morwen felt Rogaulse’s blade scrap her ribs as he sought to kill her before she could slice through the link completely. Without a second thought, Morwen flung one of the glowing sabers at his armored head as she grasped the hilt of her remaining blade with both hands. Using the strength of her entire body, she shattered the link with one last blow as the world exploded around her.

***

Location Irlendria / Morwen Telemnar:

Morwen’s came back to consciousness as an armored fist lifted her bloody head up by her long silver hair. Unbelievably she was still alive. Dead knights were strewn across the ground around her where the thick coils of ironidium chain had snapped from the gate’s broken mechanism. On the other side of the entrance, she saw Rogaulse’s armored body lying against the far wall with her saber sticking out his helmet’s bloody eye socket. She’d killed him and hadn’t even known it.

In front of her, the armored ranks of the Ironidium Knights split open as a humongous maggot-white monster wearing King Elladan’s face slowly stalked towards her. Morwen recognized the nightmarish creature immediately for what it was. A godforsaken Tuonellian Hulk. As the creature’s bloated face bent down close to her own, she almost retched as she felt the monster’s long tongue slowly lick the blood from the side of her face. Lunging forward, she tried to sink her teeth into the Hulk’s disgusting flesh, but her body didn’t move in the Ironidium Knights’ powerful grip.

Clucking its tongue reproachfully, the grotesque creature’s rasping voice taunted her as it long claws stroked her cheek. “Warden Morwen, I had looked forward to consuming your flesh like I did your mother’s, but …”

“You!” Twisting against the gauntlets holding her tight, Morwen shrieked frothing at the mouth in rage as she suddenly recognized the Hulk standing before her. After all of these centuries of hunting down the savage beasts during the Tuonellian War, she was once again face-to-face with the monster that had murdered her family before her very eyes. “I will kill you with my bare hands!”

Morwen could taste the blood in her mouth from the brutal backhand as her ears rang from the impact. Continuing as if she’d never spoken the Hulk waved a misshapen hand towards Rogaulse’s dead body. “You have forced me to reconsider the taking of your life at this time.” Reaching into the pouch hanging from its waist, the Tuonellian extracted a tiny crystal shard. Gingerly it held the pulsating green sliver before her eyes. “Like the Ironidium Knights that now serve me, you will become my new Field Commander, gladly slaughtering your own people at my command.”

Seeing the look of horror on Morwen’s face, the hideous monster laughed wickedly as its claws firmly gripped her face. Her screams were cut off abruptly as the Hulk slid the burning shard into the base of her skull. As her body went rigid, the creature waved its clawed hand at the knights holding her down.

“Release her.”

Slowly Morwen rose to her knees. Looking up into the Hulk’s grotesque face, she spoke in a voice devoid of emotion. “How may I serve you, Master?”

Chapter
Twenty

Location Irlendria / Nessa Manitou:

The darkness of night gave away to the pale gray of dawn and still Nessa kept to her grueling pace. Waking nightmares came to her in waves as her forehead burned with fever. Every now and then Nessa stumbled as her consciousness faded in and out, but every time she caught herself as she continued stubbornly on.

The Alttash’s Tears were healing her battered body, but the hallucinations it brought made her break out in cold sweats. Every time she closed her eyes she saw her people dying in droves around her. Although some of the visions that came to her were stories from her people's past, most of what she saw were new as if they were premonitions of a future yet to come.

One time Nessa woke only to find herself surrounded by darkness except for the pale lights of Remus and Romulus high above her. The shock almost made her crash into the ground, but once again she staggered, catching herself at the last moment. Stumbling in a daze, she trotted on.

The next time she awoke, the yellow light of Paiva was shining behind her. Ahead of her, Nessa saw the peak of Mount Airy rising out of the early morning mist. Relief flooded through her heart. She was close, at this pace she would be there by noon! Amazingly enough, Nessa felt stronger than ever. Sometime in the night, her fever must have broken. The lightheaded feeling that had been plaguing her for the last two days was all but gone.

Cresting the small ridge that ran up to the base of the mountain, Nessa’s mouth suddenly went dry. In the distance, she saw an albino white shape far ahead of her racing across the plain. The creature looked little more than a deformed Chukka, but Nessa knew better. Even hunched over on all fours the loping gait was like nothing she’d ever seen before. It could only be another Hulk. Uzila had warned her about the Tuonellian’s natural form.

Focusing on her target, Nessa put another chunk of Alttash’s Tears into her mouth as she pushed herself into a gallop. Immediately the wind began roaring in her ears as her brown mane and tail streaked out behind her. As the minutes ticked by and the distance slowly began to close, Nessa suddenly realized she didn’t know how to kill the beast.

Quickly she thought back to her father’s old stories. In groups Tuonellian Hulks were devastating. At the beginning of the War, her people had died by the tens of thousands trying to stop the invasion before the Paladins of Ukko had joined the fight. If she remembered the songs correctly, rune arrows only hurt the creatures, but couldn’t kill them. They simply healed too quickly for that. Her father’s tactics had always centered on attacking in overwhelming numbers, or surrounding the creatures and smashing their limbs from a distance, before closing in for the kill. Not once had she heard of a lone Centaur taking on a Hulk in single combat!

Ahead of her, the monster disappeared over a small hillock. Without even realizing it, Nessa unlimbered her bow following after as her heart began thumping loudly in her chest. Reaching the top of the rise, Nessa froze in sudden shock. Below her, the Hulk she’d been following had already come to a stop. In one of its large fists, it held her father’s bloody broken body by the throat.

“Rrraaahhh!” With a wordless shriek, Nessa charged down the small rise. Raising the bow to her cheek, she began sending arrow after arrow streaking at the Hulk in a blur. Unbelievably, Nessa watched the arrows shatter uselessly against the creature’s rock hard skin as it threw her father’s broken body to the ground. Rising to its full height, the Hulk roared out a challenge whipping its muscular bulk around with a speed the belied its size, preparing to strike as Nessa entered melee range.

In the process of throwing her bow away, Nessa suddenly stopped as a blue glow began radiating from her father’s ruined body. A part of her cried out in relief as she realized he yet lived, but the tactical part of her mind immediately realized what her father was doing.

In the blink of an eye, Nessa let loose a flight of arrows firing center mass. She heard the meaty thunks as the shafts found their mark slamming deep into the Hulks chest. As the creature staggered back in surprise, Nessa flung her bow away as she unslung the mace from her back.

The runes on its shaft glowed with blue fire as she lifted the two-handed weapon high over her head. Vaulting over her father’s body, Nessa slammed into the Hulk mace first with all of her might. She felt the mighty blow sink into the monster’s chest a second before the weapon was wrenched from her grasp as she bounced off the creature a second later, her head ringing from the impact.

Staggering back to her hooves, Nessa saw the Hulk collapse to its knees. Embedded halfway through its chest was the head of her still glowing mace. Unbelievably she watched the creature reach up to grasp the weapon’s haft sticking out from its chest with both of its long clawed hands. As it started to yank the embedded head free from its shattered ribcage, Nessa sprang forward.

Unsheathing the blades from her back, Nessa struck at the Hulk’s thick arms as it tried to block her strikes. Instead of shattering against the beast’s stone skin, her glowing daggers sliced out chunks of flesh like an axe chopping at a tree.

Already the Hulk’s shattered chest was starting to regrow around the shaft of the weapon. Nessa could feel the monster’s blows becoming more powerful with every passing second as the Hulk’s wounds began healing before her eyes. Slowly it was driving her back!

“NESSA!” Looking quickly over her shoulder, Nessa saw her father’s mace flying at her perpendicular to the ground. Dropping her daggers, she snatched the glowing weapon out of the air. Grasping the thick shaft tightly with both hands, she pivoted. Spinning around, Nessa used the mass of her entire body to swing the weapon aiming for the creature’s oversized head.

Raising its arms up, the Hulk tried to block the powerful blow, but her father’s glowing mace blasted through the Tuonellian’s defenses before slamming into the side of its head. There was a wet crunch as the Hulk’s misshapen skull partly caved in.

Incredulously, the Hulk still struggled to climb to its feet as Nessa wheeled around once again slamming the mace with all of her might into the other side of the creature’s head. This time, the Hulk’s head snapped sideways from the force of the blow as its body pitched forward to its hands and knees as the solid hit caved in the other side of its misshapen skull.

Unbelievably, the Hulk still struggled to rise. Slowly the crumpled head rose up to look up at Nessa. Bone fragments stuck out from its crushed skull at odd angles as its beady red eyes glared at her filled with hate. Raising the mace high above her head, Nessa cried out to the Sky-Father as she struck at the gaping hole on the side of its lumpy skull. Like a ripe melon, the Hulk’s head exploded from the impact as its corpse crumpled lifeless to the ground.

Staggering backward, Nessa eyed the monster to make sure it was truly dead, before rushing to her father’s side. For a second she didn’t know where to touch his body, everywhere she looked was covered in blood. Seeing his staring eyes, Nessa gently cradled his blood stained head on her folded knees.

Slowly Nessa stroked her father’s matted hair as she silently rocked in grief. She had come too late; he was dead. With his death, she had lost the last of her family. As the pain of her loss filled her soul, Nessa felt the song of sorrow come to her lips. Closing her eyes, she raised her voice to the heavens in a wordless chant as she awaited Wakinyan.

In the distance, she heard the heavy beating wings of the approaching Thunderbird. As Luonnotar’s messenger drew overhead, Nessa bowed her head in acceptance, waiting for her father’s last words. Except for her own life, there was nothing left for her to lose. There was no longer the overwhelming grief that had gripped her heart from Tolnik’s death. Everyone she had ever called family was dead. Even the Thunder Tribe was lost to her now.

This time, when Nessa felt Wakinyan’s claws grasp her soul and lift her into the spirit realm, there was no fear. Around her the golden plains were gone, in their place was only ash and death. Rising higher into the sky, Nessa saw the world around her burning. This time, it was her people that carried death and destruction across Irlendria as the shadow shapes of Tuonellian Hulks drove her people forward in berserker hordes. Tears began flowing from Nessa’s eyes as she felt the touch of her father’s soul next to her. Looking away from the death and destruction surrounding her, she met his pain filled eyes as his voice reverberated in her head.

“Nessa, you must undertake a Yatra or all that you see will come to pass.”

In the spirit realm, communication was not verbal, but concepts wrapped in emotions that carried whole ideas. Nessa understood that her father had tried to protect her from becoming a Questor and had paid the price for the decision with his life. Bowing her head, she gave the ritual answer.

“I offer my life to Luonnotar.” Meeting her father’s gaze, Nessa continued. “How might I serve so that what has become of our people never comes to pass?”

She felt her Father’s sadness as he delivered the Yatra. “Head east to the Great Forest of the Elves, there you will find the last Paladin of Ukko. You must bring him to the Council of Elders.”

Nessa’s head jerked up in consternation. Her father’s spirit must be mistaken. The Klavikians had been destroyed almost nine years ago. There were no Paladins left on Irlendria.

Confused, Nessa looked to her father for answers when she felt the Wakinyan’s claws tightened its grip on her soul. Nessa saw the anguish on her father’s face as she reached out to him one last time, but no more words came as her soul plunged into darkness.

***

Location Irlendria / Nessa Manitou:

Waking with a start, Nessa opened her eyes wincing from the brightness. Shading her eyes from the light, she studied Paiva’s position in the sky above. Maybe half a day’s light was left. Pushing her torso up, Nessa realized she was on her knees with her father’s head still lying in her lap. Her legs numb from sitting in one position for too long.

Looking at the ground next to her, Nessa froze as she saw the dried blood on the trampled ground next to her. It was, at least, a day old. Looking at her father’s body once more, she saw that rigor mortis had set in. She must have been passed out for a day if not longer.

Nessa’s breath caught in her throat as she saw the bleached white skin of her arms. With difficulty, she climbed to her hooves checking out the rest of her body as the memories came flooding back. It was the Mark of the Yatra, proof that she was a Questor of Luonnotar. Although it looked like paint, the color of skin could never be washed off. It would never leave her until she completed the quest that had been set before her or died.

In the grass next to her was the Staff of Yatri. Black in color with Klavikian Runes running down its length, the staff was a gift from Luonnotar and the only weapon a Questor was allowed to carry during their trials. Bowing her head, Nessa gave a fervent prayer.

“Sky-Father, I pray that you give me the strength to carry out your will.”

A Questor could only be chosen by God. There was no higher calling for her people. Nessa didn’t know if she was worthy of such a sacred trust. She could only do her best to save her people from the vision of doom that had been shown to her.

By the time Nessa built a stone cairn over her father’s remains in a small clearing near the base of Mount Airy, Paiva was already setting in the north. Bowing her head, she took a moment to give her respects. Although Uzila had basically raised Tolnik’s and Nessa’s after the death of their mother, her father had always done his best to spend time with them. Only that time had been limited during the end of the Tuonellian War. Nessa had understood the need for her father’s absences in her life, especially when the Imperium tried to wrestle control over the Alliance of Aurenko after the Klavikians’ destruction.

Unfortunately once that the Alliance fell apart, many of the old prejudices had returned to Irlendria. Unconcerned about the other races as always, the Centaur Tribes had returned to their isolation on the plains. Forbidding all but the Elves of the Great Forest passage into their domain, her people distanced themselves from the rest of the world’s incessant squabbling.

Uzila, Tolnik, her mother, and father, they were all gone, killed by the evil that had invaded their lands. Now the very future of her people was in jeopardy. Hanging her head low, Nessa let the tears stream down her face. Racking sobs shook her body as she let out the grief inside her soul. Never in her life had she felt so alone.

Remus was high in the night’s sky before the tears finally stopped falling. Slowly Nessa felt her hands clench into fists as she felt her heart come to a decision. She would do whatever it took to make the Tuonellians pay for what they’d done!

Standing up, Nessa quickly began removing her gear. Armor, weapons, equipment harness, everything was dropped to the ground until all that was left was a water skin and a small pouch of Alttash’s Tears. Picking up the black Staff of Yatri, Nessa looked to the heavens.

“Luonnotar, I only ask that the deaths of my family not be in vein. Guide my steps so that I can bring an end to the evil plaguing our people!” As if in answer, thunder and lightning rolled across the dark sky as the first drops of rain splattered on her upturned face. As the water ran down her cheeks and soaked her mane, Nessa took one last look at her father’s cairn before taking off at a trot heading east.