Bastial Explosion (The Rhythm of Rivalry: Book 3) (41 page)

“Then psychics, are you ready?”

“Ready,” around ten people answered.

“Go!” Terren yelled.

The two mages at the gate created a jet of fire from their staffs and held them around the corner, pointing them into the gate. Effie could hear Krepps screaming.

Vithos and the other psychics leapt out from the wall, each holding their palms forward to cast pain.

The Krepps’ screams worsened.

“Mages, line up behind the warriors,” Terren said. “Into position, now!”

Not all of the warriors carried shields, but those who did crouched and pressed them against the gate. A line of mages knelt behind them, their staffs pointed over each warrior’s shield, extending through the bars of the gate. Of those Effie could recognize besides Terren, all of them were third-year students or instructors.

Arrows crashed into the bars of the gate and the shields held by the warriors. A few of them flinched, but no one was struck. In return, the mages blasted fireballs through the bars.

Effie felt as if she wasn’t doing enough. Her role was to wait for Krepps to breach either the wall or the gate, but both seemed to be holding well. Reela was still atop the wall, debilitating Krepps with pain the moment they made it over so a nearby warrior could run his blade through them.

“What’s the Slugari doing?” Effie yelled to Reela when it looked like she had a moment.

“He’s slithering toward the gate!”

Effie hustled over to Terren. “The Slugari is coming,” she notified him.

“Alright warriors, keep an eye ahead for that ugly brown bastard.”

A barrage of arrows and fire continued to be exchanged at the gate.

Soon the mages stopped casting. Effie came around behind them for a look and found the reason—the Krepps were too far away. Then the cluster of Krepps spread apart and the Slugari came through the center.

“Archers!” Terren shouted. “Shoot him!”

But the Krepps already had their own archers shooting at the gate. A few men got off arrows, but they were done in haste and missed.

“Back behind the wall,” Terren commanded.

Effie had moved as well, now unable to see what the Slugari or Krepps were doing. A burst of fire slammed into the bars of the gate, some splintering through the gaps to create singe marks in the shape of long lines.

A few warriors too close to the gate jumped back. One was nursing his arm and wincing through his teeth. A chemist ran to him, but the man shooed him away, his face still showing pain.

Soon Effie heard the rhythmic crashing of the battering ram. It meant her time was next.

Penny and a few other mage instructors had gathered near the gate, each of them calling for their groups. Effie and the twenty-nine others in Group One huddled around Penny.

“Line up here,” she said, gesturing with her hand.

By the time they were done, there were hundreds of mages creating a half-circle around the gate. The warriors were next, finding a place behind the mages. Effie felt a hand on her back.

“Think you can kill more than me?” She turned to find Alex raising an eyebrow.

“That depends,” she said. “Is Vithos going to set up all your kills for you again?”

“No. He’s with Terren somewhere over there.” Alex pointed to the other side of the mages and warriors. Effie realized there must’ve been some psychics mixed in between the warriors,
but what about the chemists? Where’s Steffen?

The gate hadn’t begun to break, so she had time to look the opposite way. Then she saw them. The rest of the warriors, mages, and chemists were all waiting, some staring at their comrades fighting along the wall, but most with glances toward the gate.

Effie caught sight of Steffen. He was standing between a group of warriors who were behind the mages waiting for the breach. A potion was ready in his left hand. Clearly, he meant to toss it, though Effie had no idea what it was.

She heard the metal of the gate beginning to break.

Krepps began to flood through.

“Now!” Penny shouted.

Effie and the other mages had trained for this moment, casting out and combining their Bastial and Sartious Energy to create a river of flame that washed over the Krepps.

Some were daring enough to try leaping through it. But the fire was too fast. Every Krepp that Effie could see fell and was consumed by the fire.

It poured out of the gate, and no Krepps came through until it stopped.

Steffen threw his potion into the heap of corpses. Effie almost screamed at him for wasting it. She couldn’t understand what was going through his mind.

But then the next group of Krepps tunneled through, and when the next river of fire passed over where Steffen had tossed the potion, there was a burst of flame that rose nearly as high as the ten-foot wall. The mages didn’t need to waste any more energy, for all the Krepps who’d entered already were dead.

Another chemist threw a potion into the same area.

Effie waited, eager for more, but they didn’t come.

Then Effie heard a blast from a horn behind her—
the south wall, they’re coming from there.

“South team…” Terren began to shout—but he was interrupted by another horn, this one from the west.

“West and south…” Terren was interrupted by a third horn, this one from the north.

Bastial hell, they’re coming in from all sides.

“North, west, and south teams!” he shouted. “Go now!”

Effie was part of the north team. She knew Reela was as well and turned to find her friend already running toward her, too out of breath to speak.

Chapter 36:

STEFFEN

Being part of the west team, Steffen exchanged his small shield for a bow that he’d stored nearby and hurried to the west wall. He had quite a lot to carry—his sword and three potions on his belt, the quiver over his shoulder, and the bow in hand.

As he neared the western wall, his heart swelled with fear when he saw that Krepps already had climbed over it and now were jumping off the walkway.

We were supposed to be warned as soon as they started going around from the east!
But before Steffen could blame the horn blowers, he remembered how fast the Krepps were. They must’ve made it there and climbed over the wall before Steffen’s team could get in place.

Before the battle began, a few hundred Humans already were standing along the walkway of the western wall, but they appeared to have been overrun by the sheer number of Krepps. All of them were engaged in battle, most killed before Steffen could get to them.

Steffen stopped, unsure what to do as a Krepp ran toward him.
Where’s my commander?

An unnervingly stout warrior instructor by the name of Hanick was to command the western wall. Steffen’s swelling heart burst when he saw Hanick’s limp body being kicked off the walkway.

He noticed Krepps finding the lever to the gate. Usually it took two men to move the steel bar, but one Krepp did it on his own—and with frightful haste. Hundreds more started running through the gate.

Steffen drew an arrow, steadied his hands, and shot his attacker in the chest. But there was another Krepp close behind. Steffen panicked as he drew his second arrow, and this one slipped through his fingers as he tried to attach it to his string.

Luckily, the rest of the west team had made it near the wall by then. Two warriors jumped in front of Steffen to protect him. The Krepp swung wildly at both of them as the warriors moved to entrap their enemy from either side.

One warrior swiped at the Krepp’s feet when he had the attacker’s focus. The Krepp danced backward, but the other warrior was already there, sliding his weapon through the Krepp’s flesh so that it came out the other side.

The victory was short-lived, as five more Krepps sped toward them. With no more warriors coming to save Steffen, he decided a potion was necessary here.

He drank his beloved fire potion, the bittersweet flavor a familiar comfort. Two of the Krepps were shoulder to shoulder when his fireball propelled toward them. It wasn’t enough to kill them, but it did knock them over, dazing them long enough for the warriors to finish the task.

Three more Krepps were already there, two of them bumping into each other as they went after the same man. Steffen was able to get an arrow off, catching one Krepp in the arm. The Krepp uttered a screech as he stumbled over. But soon he was back on his feet and hurrying toward Steffen.

He’d already managed to uncork his blinker potion, tossing it in the Krepp’s face. Steffen turned and ran, knowing he needed some time before it took effect. But the Krepp was so much faster that Steffen soon found himself needing to dodge instead of run, using his sword to deflect the blow that would’ve caught him on the shoulder.

The force of it took the weapon out of his hand. But he’d stalled enough. The Krepp was swinging at where Steffen used to be. Steffen picked up his weapon and put all of his strength into his attack—a stab through the Krepp’s chest. His enemy fell, his yellow eyes confused.

The two warriors who’d protected Steffen still were fighting two Krepps, but three more were coming quickly. Steffen noticed something behind the trio, though, some white beast that had come through the gate.

Steffen barely could see it, and he didn’t have time to figure out what he was looking at. One of the two warriors had been struck in the thigh and fallen. Steffen readied an arrow as the warrior’s comrade tried to protect him. But the one standing was driven back after blocking an attack, and a Krepp’s sword found its way into the fallen warrior’s chest.

Letting his arrow fly, Steffen felt panic begin to creep in once again as he saw it miss to the side. Before he could get another one ready, the other warrior was slain with an overhead slash. Suddenly the two Krepps were running at Steffen with the trio not far behind them.

Steffen had another fire potion, but he knew it was useless against five Krepps. All around him the west team was busy fighting. There was no one to help him.

Knowing he couldn’t outrun them, Steffen readied his sword.

The white beast was coming up behind the Krepps. Then Steffen noticed a man was riding it, and he held a sword that was on fire.

It was no beast, Steffen soon realized, but a horse! It had taken some time for him to recognize the animal…and even longer to recognize who was riding it.

The Krepps stopped to turn as they heard the galloping, but it was too late. Cleve’s horse crashed through the middle of them, his fire sword taking off one of their heads.

“Cleve!” Shouting his name was all Steffen could do, his body frozen.

Cleve came galloping by and circled his horse around to face the four Krepps left. They were stunned, two of them picking themselves up off the ground, none of them taking another step forward.

Cleve took Steffen’s bow from his shoulder and slid his fire sword into the sheath on his belt. He grabbed an arrow from Steffen’s quiver and aimed it at the Krepps.

Only then did they start charging once again. But Cleve shot one, then another, and then a third, all before they came close to reaching him. Steffen backed behind Cleve and watched in awe as he dropped the bow, drew his sword, ducked under an attack, and cut the fourth Krepp’s head off in a single swing.

“Where’s Reela?” Cleve asked in a hurry. The severed head hadn’t even rolled to a stop yet.

“Northern wall with Effie,” Steffen answered.

Cleve picked up the bow and quiver and shoved them toward Steffen until he had both in his grasp. “Keep yourself safe,” Cleve said, jumping on his horse.

“I will,” Steffen replied. Only, Cleve was already too far away to hear him.

For a breath, Steffen simply stood there with his arms wrapped around his bow and quiver.

Then a female’s scream brought him back—the other members of his team. Marratrice, where was she?

Steffen knew she’d been out on the field, for no recovery building had been set up. Too many Krepps had gone to Kyrro City for it to be of benefit. The injured would be tended to after the battle.

Even worse, the scream sounded like it could be hers. Steffen sped between the student houses toward the sound of it.

Chapter 37:

CLEVE

Something within Cleve was nagging him to ignore everyone else he passed and just find Reela. But he couldn’t simply ride by Krepps killing his comrades and do nothing.

His Bastial steel sword cut through their tough flesh with ease. Most Krepps didn’t even see him coming. The Humans he helped let out utterings of confusion.

He quickly lost track of the number of heads he removed as he flew by on Nulya’s back. Then he spotted a familiar face—Alarex Baom.

Alex,
Cleve reminded himself of his friend’s nickname. He was fighting beside someone—no, not someone…Alex was fighting beside a Krepp!

With most Krepps being around Cleve’s height, this Krepp was short in comparison. He wore a blue tunic of Kyrro and appeared to be the target of aggression of every nearby enemy.