Bastial Energy (54 page)

Zoke explained it to Vithos. They each stomped down the tunnel, swinging their heads left and right to search for a big enough opening. The Humans were doing the same.

Zoke soon realized that if he was more than a few steps from the mage, there was no point in looking. Only around her was there enough light to see a claw’s distance into the black crevices littered throughout the walls.

“Tenred is attacking the Fjallejons?” Steffen asked.

“No, the Fjallejons should be hiding within the mountain,” Terren said. “They’ll be safe as long as our men still stand. The King sent warriors and mages to guard this pathway. He figured Tenred would want to take control, as it’s the only way through the mountains, looks like he was right. They could be dying up there. Find that crevice! Effie, more light over here.”

The mage ran to him, leaving Zoke and Vithos in sudden darkness.

“Wait!” Vithos shouted in common tongue. It was one of the few words Zoke had taught him. Effie slid to a stop and came back with the rest of the Humans following. Vithos was pointing at the wall, but from where Zoke was it just looked like he was pointing at rock. Then Vithos squatted as low as possible and edged into the wall, disappearing from view.

“Good work, Vithos,” Terren said, following on his hands and knees because he was too big to fit otherwise. “Effie behind me, we need light in here! Alex behind her. Reela and Steffen, stay here in the tunnel.”

“I can fight,” Reela said as she squatted to follow Effie. Steffen stood motionless with unblinking eyes.

“Fine,” Terren replied. “Just stay with me.”

Zoke was last in, leaving Steffen by himself. Zoke was wider than the Humans, barely able to squeeze through, and not at all with the bow around his shoulder. He had to push it through first, then his quiver, and squeeze himself through last.

The crevice opened into a stairway that had been carved out of the mountain. Inside, the walls and ceiling were only a foot wider than the opening he’d barely managed to fit through. Zoke had to keep his back bent while he climbed the stairs, but he saw it was the same for Reela in front of him.

The walkway was so dark it seemed to devour light. From the mage’s glow, he could see the steps well enough when they were four ahead. But by the time he stepped on them, they’d disappeared into the blackness.

They climbed hundreds of steps. At one point, Reela slipped and fell out of the light, and Zoke heard the sound of her flesh slapping against stone. The noise itself was quiet, but it still gave him a start, perhaps because it had been the only disruption to the muffled interminable battle cries that had been growing louder as they progressed.

Zoke almost stepped on her but managed to shoot his foot to the side instead. Once over her, he looked down, but she’d disappeared into the black. He reached his hands into it to find her and scooped her up. He threw one hand on her back as she rose to make sure she didn’t go too high, letting go when she got to her feet again.

“Roof is low,” he said.

“Thank you,” she replied.

The woman’s flesh was so soft that if he’d used his claws at all they would have melted right into her. It made him sigh.
These Humans don’t stand a chance in a battle against Krepps, and here I am fighting beside them.

“Zoke!” Vithos was shouting from the front, but Zoke couldn’t see past Reela.

“What?” he shouted back in Kreppen.

“Ask them what the enemies look like compared to allies. I need to know in order to help.”

So he asked. Terren shouted back to him, “Humans of Kyrro will be in light blue. Can’t say what the enemies are wearing until I see them. Colors of Tenred are black and red, though. It will most likely be that.”

Zoke translated for Vithos.

The unmistakable sounds of killing and dying grew to a roar.

“No more light, Effie,” Terren said after the final turn that brought them to the top of the enclosed stairway. “Keep your voices down.”

After her light went out, there was still just enough illumination to see the stone beneath Zoke’s feet. Looking for the source of the light, he found a wall ahead that was shrouded in darkness except at its bottom, where light was seeping into their cave.

From outside, one Human’s voice came through louder than the sound of steel and screams. “Fall back to the tunnel. Fall back, Kyrro!” Then boots stampeded from Zoke’s left to right.

Vithos bravely started toward the small opening until Terren tugged on his shirt. “Wait,” Terren said loudly enough for them all to hear through the sound of the boots outside. Zoke didn’t need to translate. Vithos stopped on his own.

“Effie, Reela.” Terren turned to them, crouching to let down his bag and check on a knife strapped to his ankle. “You’re not trained for battle. Inside our own walls is one thing, but I don’t know what’s out there. I can’t force you into such an unpredictable situation when you have no experience fighting.” His eyes lifted to Zoke. “Zoke and Vithos, I don’t know what kind of training you have, but you’re not forced to come. If I don’t return, keep going to the Slugari.”

Effie and Reela spoke at once: “I’m coming with you.”

Zoke finished translating and asked Vithos what he wanted to do.

“We’re with Kyrro now,” the Elf told him. “We can no longer choose our battles, just change their result.”

He was somewhat surprised to find his friend so dedicated to Kyrro. It almost seemed as if Vithos wanted to prove that he was no traitor—that just because he’d switched sides once didn’t mean he was likely to turn again.
He never got to choose his side in the first place,
Zoke realized.
He was forced into the tribe through false information.
Now, he must’ve chosen a side, and he isn’t one to change his mind. Never has been.

Zoke didn’t feel the same. Yes, being with the Humans for now was his best option, but that could change. He even saw himself back with Zeti and the other Krepps in the future.
Does that make me more of a traitor than Vithos? I cannot let that be.

“We’re fighting as well,” Zoke told the Humans.

A light broke in behind them. Zoke spun with his sword ready only to find Steffen making the last turn into their cave with some sort of glowing object in his hand. “So am I,” he said.

“Put out that light!” Terren whispered loudly. “What is that?”

Steffen turned his hand upside down. The liquid became a glowing waterfall, going out as soon as it hit the ground. “Just a potion. The stairs were too dark without it.”

“You don’t even have a weapon!” Terren’s whisper had become angry. “Stay here. Everyone else, follow me and stay together.”

Without waiting for a response, Terren drew his sword and crept past Vithos. As Zoke followed, he could hear Steffen behind him fumbling through his bag.

To squeeze under the opening, the Humans needed to lie down and crawl through. A dismal realization popped into Zoke’s thoughts when he was lowering himself to the ground to follow:
How will Kyrro know I’m on their side? The moment they see a Krepp, they’ll attack.

The opening put them into a small cove. Tall edges of the mountain came up on all sides except in front of them, where there was a thin crevice—the only way out.

Terren was leaning into the crevice for a glimpse. He then snapped back, pushing everyone behind him until they were all clustered around Zoke in the opposite corner.

“Do you hear all the men rushing this way?” Terren gestured toward the crevice. His voice was a loud whisper. “They’re all from Tenred, possibly a hundred or more. They’re running past us, chasing our allies into a tunnel.”

Zoke did hear them going past, but the sounds of their shoes against the stone had begun to quiet. The noise of battle moved with them, stopping somewhere past the opening to their cove.

“You see this tall mountaintop?” Terren pointed to a triangular peak jetting into the sky a hundred feet ahead of them. “The mountain flats up here stretch for miles, but many natural gaps in the stone make it so only one route is available between two points. There’s a tunnel through that tall mountaintop. It’s the only way from our current side to the other side of that peak. Kyrro has been pushed back through the tunnel, and Tenred is following through from our side. That means we’re behind the enemy.”

Steffen crawled through the crevice they were huddled around. He and Terren exchanged some words in a stern tone, but Zoke was too busy translating for Vithos to catch it.

“Tell them I’ll stun the enemies,” Vithos said. “We’ll all run in and finish them off before I’m drained of energy.”

“And how long can you manage to stun them all? There are over a hundred men,” Zoke asked.

“Not long for that many, I admit. Maybe enough to cut down twenty. If I had more time to rest it could be more.”

“But there’s no time.”

“What are you talking about with Vithos?” Terren asked.

“He wants to run in first,” Zoke said in common tongue, “and stun them all with psyche,” Zoke quickly continued before Terren could consider it. “But he won’t be able hold the spell for long. The moment it wears off, they’ll turn and swarm us.”

“Unless they can’t find us,” Steffen added. He held a glass bottle in each hand. “Mix these together and it’ll create enough smoke to make the whole mountain look ablaze.”

A quick silence followed with everyone’s eyes on Terren.

“How certain are you the potion will work?” Terren asked, reaching for the bottles.

“Absolutely certain,” Steffen replied.

“Fine. Vithos and I will go in first,” Terren said, pointing to the crevice that led out of their cove. “Alex close behind, watching our rear for anyone coming for us. Effie and Zoke, we need you both looking for archers off to the sides. Take them out. Otherwise, we’ll be shot down as soon as the smoke clears. Reela with Effie, Steffen with Zoke.”

Terren had transitioned into a plan so quickly Zoke didn’t understand how his mind could work that fast. Suddenly, he remembered Terren had mentioned training for situations like this.

An eerie chill ran down his back.
Humans may be more prepared for battle than I thought.

Zoke gave the dagger from his belt to Steffen and readied his bow.

“Steffen,” Terren said. “How long does the smoke take to work?”

“It’ll start smoking the moment you pour one bottle into the other.”

“Fine. Listen, everyone.” Terren leaned toward them and moved a glance through each of their eyes. “If we don’t kill the attackers from Tenred, it could be us and the rest of our allies behind that mountaintop who die. You can’t hesitate when you get an opportunity to take out an enemy. Some of them will be women, but the moment you give them a chance, they’ll burn your nipples off with a fireball. Tenred isn’t going to think twice about driving a knife through Effie or Reela’s stomach, so don’t do the same for them.”

“What’s he saying?” Vithos whispered.

“Kill or be killed,” Zoke replied.

“It takes so many words for that?” Vithos was surprised.

“And don’t let your nipples get burned off,” Zoke added, to give some credit to Terren’s inspiring speech, but Vithos just glanced at his chest curiously.

“On my lead,” Terren said, walking toward the opening.

Terren mixed the bottles, peeked out, and heaved the mixture. He spun back behind cover to wait, readying his sword.

Zoke noticed everyone tensing their muscles. They were still, waiting for the order from their leader. Zoke looked to Vithos and received a nod from the Elf.

“Endure,” Vithos whispered.

“Endure,” Zoke replied, feeling a rush of strength that set his eyes hard and ready.

Chapter 54: Smoke

ZOKE

Zoke never heard the sound of the smoke potion breaking. The clatter of steel was too loud for that. But then, like the dying swell of thunder, the clatter faded into nothing.

A wave of panic replaced it, growing louder with each breath Zoke took. The Humans were shouting unintelligibly, and many of them began coughing.

Terren held three fingers…two…one. Upon dropping the last finger, he darted out with Vithos and Alex behind him.

Zoke ran out next with Steffen trailing him, adrenaline erasing all fear. He was hungry for blood.

Zoke quickly realized the smoke did look like that from fire but far thicker. There was an enormous cloud of it in front of the tunnel. It was spreading in every direction, leaving only a few Humans outside of its reach—archers and mages, from what Zoke could see.
My targets
, he said to himself. Time was against them. He knew he had to be merciless. Otherwise, the smoke would clear and Vithos would be slain along with the rest of them.

The Elf and the two tall male Humans already had disappeared into the smoke. He could hear screams of death but saw nothing of it. Zoke darted left out of the cove, putting him on the opposite side of the smoke as Effie and Reela.

He lost sight of the archers and mages he’d found earlier. The smoke had engulfed them. He pulled Steffen farther toward the outskirts of the smoke and found an archer moving in the same direction to escape it.