Incarnation: Wandering Stars Volume One (43 page)

But the
other
Anduar
was quicker.  He turned and thrust his spear upward, plunging it through the bird’s chest.  With a swift, pivoting motion, he brought the bird crashing to the ground and leaned on the spear to keep
the
animal’s
desperate spasms from becoming a liability.

With the
soldier’s attention diverted, Sariel lunged
forward
and
brought his
v
aepkir
to bear,
cleaving a deep gash into the
angel’s
upper arm and chest
.

The
Anduar
instantly released his grip on the spear and fell backward, spinning as the force of the blade
d attack
drove him to the ground.

Looking up from the immediate confrontation, Sariel was disappointed to see that the discipline of the ground soldiers had taken over.  The
six
remaining
Anduar
ym
now had
spears in hand a
nd were assembl
ed
into a ring formation
with their backs to ea
ch other.

The element of surprise was gone. 
The infantry were now ready to repel any further attacks.

*   *   *   *

The moon shone brightly against the night sky, illuminating the fog that had settled into the shallow valley to the west. 
A short while ago
,
Ananel
had passed over the bodies of four soldiers and one Myndar. 
Though the mist
prevented him from seeing anything beyond a few yard
s
,
he
knew by scent that
the
Anduar
ym and his fellow S
hapers were
close
. 
With his paws
churning up the
wet soil, he descended into the valley while the rest of the pack struggled to keep up with his rapid pace.

Trees and shrubbery slipped silently past.  Only the swish of grass and his own breath could be heard.  The scent of the soldiers gave Ananel direction, while his canine reflexes responded to the terrain that came out of the mist.  Suddenly, the gray shroud lifted and a wide clearing could be seen.  The air was moving to the south
now and pushing the fog against the mountains.

Two hundred yards ahead
,
a cloud of frantic
shapes swarmed
in
the air
above a tight cluster of shadows moving along
the ground. 
T
he
Anduar
ym
were on the move. 
The winged Myndarym
were following from above
, but seemed reluctant to prevent the movement of the soldiers.

As
the pack neared the confrontation, Ananel
realized why
.
 
The
six remaining
Anduar
ym
were moving at a
steady
pace.  Each one kept a hand on the shoulder of the next, while holding a spear outward with the other hand. 
T
he two at the rear were nearly running backwards,
but
their defense seemed effective.

To Ananel’s right, a feline broke away from the
pack and charged ahead.  Ananel wanted to loose a howl to bring Jomjael back, but he kept silent to maintain the advantage of surprise.  His fellow Shaper must have seen a weakness and immediately responded to his animal instincts.  As Jomjael swung wide and disappeared into the taller grass to the north, Ananel identified the weakness.

One of the soldiers held his spear in a different hand than the others.  It restricted his forward mov
e
ment and the awkwardness seemed to command more of his attention.

Before the soldier even had time to react, Jomjael
burst from the deep grass and slipped under the blade of the spear.  With all his might, he bit down hard on the
Anduar
’s upper leg.  As the two dagger teeth on either side of his mouth sank into the muscled flesh, Jomjael
brought
his front claws around and gripped the lower body of the soldier.  He pulled his rear legs off the ground and allowed his weight to drag the soldier downward.

But the
Anduar
ran on with incredible strength, and maintained his footing.
  With a silent grimace, he retracted his spear and drove it through Jomjael’s stomach.

The feline’s left
claw slipped free, but he bit down harder and refused to release his prey.

Another soldier stepped out of formation and thrust his
vandrekt
through Jomjael’s chest.

Immediately, the Shaper’s animal body went limp and fell to the ground and the Anduarym continued their relentless march to the west.

*   *   *   *

With his higher vantage point,
Sariel saw
Jomjael
long before the enemy did, but still too late to prevent the attack.  When the second spear punched through Jomjael’s chest behind the shoulder, Sariel banked to the right and positioned himself between the enemy and the other land animals fast approaching.  He came to a hover above the ground and waved his hands erratically, trying to
draw
their attention. 
He knew i
t was pointless to attack the
Anduar
ym, and Jomjael’s
senseless death only proved it
.

Running low a
nd
swift across the plains, the four-legged Myndar
ym
came
through the tall grass
.  When they noticed Sariel, they slowed their approach.

“Don’t attack,” Sariel called out.  “It’s useless.”

“What can we do?” Ananel
growled
.

Sariel came to a landing in front of the pack.  “Surround them.  Stay close enough to harass them and probe their defense.  But don’t commit to an attack.  We’ll do the same from the air.  All we can do now is try
and
slow them down.”

Ananel’s wolfen snout snarled in frustration.  “And what if they reach Semjaza?”

“Let’s hope they grow weary and make a mistake before then,” Sariel replied.

The sky grew light in the east.

Sariel took to the air again, just as one of the winged Myndarym landed. 
Earlier in the
evening, he
had
implemented a rotation to allow one member of the winged group to rest every fifteen minutes.  The four-legged Myndarym had also followed this example, but were still showing signs of exhaustion.

The
Anduar
ym, wounded and carrying the extra burden of weapons, showed no signs of slowing.  Their race was remarkable in situations like these
a
nd it saddened Sariel
that they had abandoned their original purpose.  It was truly a shame to have to fight against them, rather than at their side.

As the sun crept from behind the eastern horizon, the mountains to the south gave way to flatter terrain.  From
high in the air,
the peak of
Murakszhug
could be seen
along the southwestern horizon, a hundred and fifty miles away.  And somewhere to the northwest of that mo
untain was Semjaza’s fortress.

Time was running out.

Moving into position over the
Anduar
ym,
Sariel reversed his grip on his weapons.  Holding the blades of the
v
aepkir
out in front of him now, he considered the price of an attack.  Their range with spears far exceed
ed
that of the
weapons
he held.
  And each attempt to attack would surely cost the life of at least one Myndar.  He could attempt to throw his weapons, but the
v
aepkir
weren’t designed for that.  It would likely be a waste of good weaponry.

Slowly,
he breathed a sigh of exhaustion and looked to the
sunrise
.  Somewhere out there behind the mist, dozens of miles across terrain already covered, new weapons lay scattered among the trees and grass. 
Unfortunately, Sariel had neither the strength, nor the time
,
to retrieve them.

Just
as all hope seemed lost, he noticed
a dark cloud mov
ing
quickly across the land
.  He watched in fascination as it sped over the trees, constantly changing in color, while its shape became more evident with each passing second. 
Alternating flashes of dark and
light
were interspersed with the glint of reflected sunlight.

As soon as
Sariel
recognized the narrow, pointed column formation, he smiled.  For he knew the terror
induced by the charge of an armored wing of
Iryllur
ym
.
  He remembered his years of flying at the head of such formations
;
the feeling of exhilaration at the first strike
; t
he look on the faces of the enemy as they realized, too late, what they were up against. 
And
before they even arrived, Sariel kn
ew that the
Anduar
ym below were now breathing their last breaths upon the earth.

“To me!” he shouted.  “All of you!
  Come to me!
”

The Myndarym looked confused, but were too weary to object.  Slowly, the creatures peeled away from the running soldiers and came toward Sariel’s hovering form.

Moments later
,
the air was thick with the drone of wings. 
Fer
-
Rada
Danduel’s soldiers came like lightning across the fields.  With armored
chests
and bladed
forearms, two
wing
s
of
Iryllur
ym
,
ninety-eight
in all,
engulfed the tiny
Anduar
force and broke them into pieces. 
Spearheads were sheared from their shafts, along with the limbs that held them. 
Heads rolled across the ground as
the lifeless
bodies were
scattered across the plains.
 
The formation of winged angels poured over, around, and through the enemy as
would
a wave hitting a rocky shoreline.

In the aftermath, Sariel descended to the grass and waited
while
the soldiers of the
Amatru
circle
d
back to land gracefully
among the carnage they had just created.

“The prophet said we’d find you here,”
said
one of the
Iryllur
ym
,
stepp
ing
forward
and
removing his helmet.

Sariel
recognized
F
im-
Rada
Nuathel
from his recent visit to the
E
ternal
R
ealm.  “
You’re
early
!  T
hank you for your assistance
,” he replied, inclining his head slightly
. 
“
We weren’t making much progress against their defense.”

Nuathel
wore a scowl on his face and remained silent.

Sariel was a traitor in his eyes, and this meeting was simply something he had to endure.
  U
nder different circumstances,
the
disappointed
look
would have been unbearable.  But
Sheyir was in
danger
.  E
very other emotion—regret, shame, even fear—was swallowed up by his love
for her.

“Where is
Danduel
?” Sariel asked,
dismissing
the cold reception of the officer.

“
The
Fer
-
Rada
…s
ent us ahead
,”
Nuathel
replied, emphasizing the fact that Sariel hadn’t used the officer’s proper title
. 
“
He and his
Anduar
ym
will
be here
by the day’s end.
”