Echoes of a Shattered Age (22 page)

“Five Ren, the three Bachatttas we spotted earlier, three Pit Demons, and other demons the likes of which I have never seen. I hope you’re ready for a fight. What concerns me is not their numbers, but how powerful this Drek thing would have to be in order to summon this many of
those
kinds of demons to this world. They’re bad enough, and they aren’t even Quentranzi. Not a one!” She looked back around the boulder and then once more to the others. “Fighting him might be more difficult than that army.”

“No sense in prolonging this,” Kita said. “Let’s cross the canyon and get to business.” That brought a smile to the ninja’s face, a sigh from the samurai, and an amused look from Shinobu. After peeking around the boulder once more, she held her hand up to the group and after a moment longer, signaled for everyone to make for the canyon.

“This reeks of a setup,” Shinobu said in a bored tone. “I’m almost positive we will be attacked as soon as we reach the floor of the canyon.”

“Then why don’t you jump across it,” Kenjiro retorted.

Akemi glanced at them. “We have no choice but to cross from the bottom. Whatever happens, we will deal with it or this will be a short mission.”

Without hesitation, they dropped over the rim, hopping from one level to another, one boulder to another. Halfway down, they spread out and stopped, scanning the surroundings from the concealment of the scattered trees and boulders that littered the canyon wall.

Kenyatta crouched next to a slit in the wall, watching. A hiss drew his attention, and he froze, moving only his eyes to meet those of a colorful and deadly canyon snake, coiled and poised to strike. He remained perfectly still, but never took his eyes from the snake. “Maybe you not wantin’ me visiting your house, ya?” The snaked snapped and hissed again. “Me jyas passin’ by, my friend, no need coilin’ up like that, ya know.”

Kenyatta could see the others continuing their descent, and knew he would need to move on. The angry snake, perhaps impatient with waiting, struck at his face. Kenyatta’s hand snapped up and caught the serpent. He held it by the head, and its tail twisted and wrapped itself around his arm. Carefully, he removed the snake from his arm and placed it on the ground, still holding its head. After moving to the edge of the cliff, he released the snake and dropped over the side, following as the companions zigzagged from rock to rock, ridge to ridge, all the way to the bottom.

After a short time, the five warriors reached the floor of the canyon and moved toward the other side. Almost halfway across, two red dots of light appeared on either side of them, then elongated while turning and widening. They faced back-to-back in a circle and drew their weapons. From each side, a Krindra stepped out of a portal with ten Chimsuras in tow. There was an unmistakable glow of hunger and malice in those eyes. These monsters weren’t demons, but it was clear who’d sent them.

“We need to get those things between us,” the strider said.

“What do you suggest?” Kenjiro asked, holding his sword before him.

Shinobu was thinking fast, taking in the area as the monsters closed in.

“Everyone move to fight the ones facing Kenyatta first. When the other group catches up to us, on my signal, circle around and reposition ourselves behind them on both sides …” he gave Kenjiro a dark, triumphant look, “… and slaughter them!”

“Go, now!” The five warriors charged the group of monsters closest to the wall of the canyon, the howling creatures pounding the earth to meet them. Akemi drew forth Sekimaru and swiped one monster across the chest, shearing through flesh and bone and nearly cutting it in two. She shuddered at how easily the sword had cleaved through the beast. An instant later she rolled to the side to avoid a downward slash at her head, and a Chimsura’s claw dug deep into the ground. It drew back with an agonized howl as part of its arm fell to the canyon floor. Akemi didn’t need to finish the monster, for Shinobu came upon it with zigzagging slashes across its back. It crashed to the ground, quite dead.

The strider glanced over his shoulder to see that the second group of monsters was near. “Now!” he called, and he and Kenyatta leapt backward, landing behind the charging group while Kenjiro, Akemi, and Kita leaped forward and landed behind the first group. The monsters stumbled and slashed each other before realizing that their quarry had gone.

The beasts were crammed together, surrounded by the master warriors who put them down with merciless efficiency. Claws slashed and were severed, swords found their marks in the backs and midsections of hairy bodies. One Chimsura attempted to leap at Kenyatta and smother him under its heavy bulk. The Jamaican warrior brought both his swords up and stabbed the beast three times before stepping aside, and the instant the beast slammed to the ground he spun and slashed another beast across the throat with his right, then left blade, and then completed the motion, stabbed the fallen beast with his left blade.

Kenjiro avoided a right-armed slash from a Chimsura, then a descending claw from behind. He shifted left and right, working for a more advantageous position, but the two beasts matched his steps without giving any ground. The samurai held his sword in front of him and jumped straight into the air in a spinning front flip. Both monsters staggered away, grabbing at their ruined faces.

Kita stabbed one beast in the chest and withdrew the staff, jamming the butt of his weapon into the face of a monster behind him. He spun the staff over his head, forcing the monsters back, then launched it at a Chimsura and grabbed the end of it at the last second. The tip of the staff found its mark in the beast’s throat, and at the same instant, the shaft separated and Kita yanked free the whip-chain and flung it back across him to wrap around the neck of another of the hairy creatures creeping behind him. He yanked the whip back, the razor-tipped chains slicing into the monster’s neck. It fell to the ground in a pool of its lifeblood.

The sound of thin steel slicing through the air spoke of Shinobu’s mighty blade as it passed through monster flesh like a knife through silk. The other four warriors could not help but be impressed at their new ally’s skill, and the strange weapon that he wielded.

A particularly large Chimsura came at the strider with heavy yet quick slashes in every direction that would have surely had any average fighter meeting death instantly, but the strider hopped back and ducked under the sloppy assault.

To Akemi, it was as if he was actually dancing with the beast. She could see a hint of a smile on his face as he avoided those claws, and knew that he could have ended the fight the instant the beast attacked. Finally, Shinobu dealt the monster another zigzag cut, and it fell dead to the ground.

Akemi cut down a Chimsura and stole another glance at Shinobu. The strider practically sheathed the blade after every attack. Once or twice, Akemi saw that when he held the blade for longer than usual, it seemed to become insubstantial, as though it was made of light. She mentally shrugged the possibility away. The reflection of the sun and the din of battle played tricks to the eyes, no doubt.

After felling yet another of the hairy beasts, the ninja focused her attention to the sky. The three Bachatttas that had been miles away were now flying low and circling the battle, no doubt spying for their master.

I’ll give them something to report,
she thought. She drew a handful of shurikens from a pouch and launched them at the winged fiends. Every one of the small blades glided true and hit their marks with deadly accuracy. Without watching to see them flop in the air, she returned her full attention to the fight on the ground.

* * *

The last thing Brit and Kabriza saw was the earth rushing toward them, and then nothing. The Bachatttas had disintegrated before they hit the ground.

“It seems that your minions are not much more useful than mine, Quentranzi.” Brit turned a blank look on the demon general.

“What of the third group of beasts you sent?” Kabriza replied. “Perhaps they possess cowardice to complement their intelligence. Bachatttas can be summoned infinitely, but how many of those powerful four-legged meals can you spare?”

Brit had to admit that Kabriza was correct, but he would not give the fiend the satisfaction of saying so. Instead, he turned to Zreal. “Bring Szhegaza. I wish to meet with her.”

“As you wish, Master,” Zreal said with a bow, and left the room.

“Whether they perish in the canyon or out of it is of no concern, but they will perish, and once the tower is destroyed, we will attend to our own business.”

The fires in Kabriza’s glowing red orbs flared. “So we shall, tether.”

* * *

The Chimsuras were falling almost in a pile within the circle that the five warriors had formed around them. Aside from being outmatched by the warriors on equal terms, it was hard for the monsters to get a solid foothold when stumbling over the dead carcasses.

A roar split the air, and the remaining seven Chimsuras suddenly were hurled in every direction away from the circle. The three gray Krindras stood crouching as if to attack, eyes flaring, fangs bared. “Be ready,” Akemi said. “They are much faster than their size would tell.”

The warriors assumed a defensive formation around the snarling monsters. Kenyatta glanced over his shoulder. All of the remaining Chimsuras lay sprawled and broken. Kita and Akemi faced one, Kenjiro and Shinobu faced another, leaving Kenyatta facing the third.

“Think you can handle that one on your own, islander?” Shinobu asked.

“Think you can be quiet, just for a while?” Kenyatta snapped.

The three Krindras charged and the warriors met their attack with skill and grace. Akemi leaped aside and stabbed a Krindra in the flank, while Kita leaped straight into the air and stabbed down between the huge beast’s shoulders. He landed on its back, then leapt to the opposite side as Akemi.

* * *

Shinobu ran straight to the beast, and at the last second when it lunged forward, he slid underneath it, cutting the beast as he passed. When he rose to his feet, the gray monster whirled to face him, not showing any signs of pain despite the pool of blood forming at its feet.

Kenjiro suddenly landed on its head, sword first, thrusting it down to the hilt through the thick skull.

* * *

Kenyatta rolled to the left as the Krindra passed him in a cloud of dust. He then rolled to the right as it spun about and charged him once again. When he came to his feet he met it face to face.
She wasn’t jokin’ ’bout ’em speed or agility,
he thought. It lunged forward and slashed horizontally, catching the warrior across the front and leaving three shallow red gashes across his chest. If he had been any slower, Kenyatta realized, his entrails would be spilling at his feet. The Krindra lunged again, snapping its jaws, but this time Kenyatta was quicker. He hopped backward while delivering a right-handed outward slash, cutting it across the nose. It reared back at the painful cut, then stood on its hind legs. Kenyatta took a step back, completely covered in the shadow of the now thirteen-foot-tall beast.

* * *

The two warriors kept to the Krindra’s flank, pacing it as it tried to turn to face them. It spun and slashed at Akemi, almost scoring a deadly blow. The ninja stepped back at the last second, then countered with a horizontal cut. The beast withdrew its huge claw and was about to lunge when it stumbled forward, now favoring its left hind leg. Akemi saw its wounded leg when it struggled around to face Kita. She darted in close and hamstrung the other leg, and the thing howled. It tried to stand up on its hind legs, but instead tumbled to the ground in a cloud of dust and gray fur.

To its credit, the Krindra was fast. She had barely scored another cut to its flank before it had already regained its feet. She crouched, waiting for the inevitable lunge, when a whip-chain wrapped around its neck, forcing it back. This time it did manage to stand on its hind legs, and seeing the opportunity, Akemi brought Sekimaru up and went in straight, plunging the sword deep into its belly. She twisted left, then right, then withdrew the sword and followed the motion with another slash to the front of its hind legs. It stumbled backward and then fell forward, barely holding its bulk up on all four legs.

Kita, who had been flung in every direction, held on then landed on the creature’s back, still holding the whip-chain wrapped around its neck like a leash. With all his strength, Kita yanked once, then again, and the razor edged links of the whip-chain sliced through the bulky neck of the monster. It lumbered several more steps until it finally fell to the ground and lay still.

After her foreign ally had finished off the beast, Akemi glanced down at the sword in her hand with a bit of apprehension. She could feel a hunger in the sword, and wondered if it had to do with the drained feeling she was experiencing.

* * *

Shinobu sliced both the monster’s front legs, then sliced it across the face. Kenjiro withdrew his sword and leaped to the side. While the blinded monster thrashed about, he ran forward and slashed downward and then up. Kenzo sheared through flesh and bone, and the Krindra half stumbled, half fell, struggling to rise as its entrails spilled onto the canyon floor.

Shinobu arched an eyebrow. “A little sloppy, but impressive.”

* * *

The Krindra stalked toward the small human, teeth bared and claws ready to strike. Before it could react, Kenyatta rushed forward, arms pumping as he stabbed the monster innumerable times in the midsection.

He drove it backward, but the beast managed a desperate swing, grazing the warrior across the shoulder and drawing yet a few more lines of blood. Kenyatta leapt away and put his hand to his chest. As soon as he saw the blood on his fingers, he became aware of the stinging wound. He looked up at the Krindra and smiled.

The others were taken aback at the sight of the dark anger that flashed across the islander’s face before that wicked smile he now wore. The gray Krindra charged, and Kenyatta crouched, still smiling, and also charged.

“What in the abyss is he doing?” Kenjiro asked, staring at the crazed warrior. The samurai looked over at Kita, who had no answers. He had never seen this before and was equally surprised. Then, as he watched Kenyatta lower his left shoulder, he knew what his friend had in mind.