Lost Empire (25 page)

“
Ahh, and you are only now starting the transformation, I see. A youngling who has no control yet.” He dropped down on all fours as his sharp pointed teeth grew even longer right before them. His slitted eyes looked similar to Athel’s, but now held a reddish glow. Razor-sharp claws grew out from under his fingertips, making a bloodcurdling crackling sound as the flesh tore away. His ears began to grow long, wiry brown hair as they crept up the side of his head and began to enlarge, taking on the pointed look of a wolf.

He only managed a single step toward her before howling out in pain. Jacob barely leapt out of the way as the powerful backhand whizzed past his face. Zhou winced as he pulled the bloody dagger from his leg, throwing in to the side and watching Jacob streak out through the splintered doorway. He turned back to Athel. “I’ll be back for you, but only after I slowly gut your friend. And I promise, I plan to take my time. It doesn’t look as if you will be leaving anytime soon.” He flashed a wicked fang-filled smile at the steel pole, then bounded out the door galloping on all fours like a beast.

Athel lunged over and over again, crazed animal instincts surging through her body as the urge to attack him—the urge to kill him—became overwhelming. But somewhere deep in the back of her mind, an urgent sense much less primal was forming. It wasn’t just blind hate driven by primal urges; it was much more than that—something intimate, almost tender, yet still just as desperate. Memories deep within her came flooding through with an urgency that far outweighed the primal instincts threatening to consume her.
I...I have to save Jacob
.

She turned and grabbed one of the chains with both hands, then yanked with such tenacity it sounded like thunder when the chain straightened. The steel pole creaked in protest as it shook vigorously. Each link in the supposedly unbreakable chain elongated, if only by a hair.
I won’t let him touch you
! She yanked again and again with inhuman strength and power, each mighty pull sending out an ear-splitting thunderous sound. Suddenly, links of chain sprayed the room as the first chain shattered like glass. She growled like an animal while placing both hands on the other one.
I’m coming for you
!

****

“
My bothers...sisters...rally to me,” shouted Nima before she grabbed Jade by the shoulder and spun her around. “You owe me nothing, you hear me? Run, get out of here!” Two women and three men ran up to them, eyes wide with panic but clearly happy to see Nima safe. They each wore long, red hooded robes, unlike the other fighters wearing black armor. Jade started to protest when one of them slapped Nima across the shoulder and pointed up the street.

Two boachards had pulled out of their circular forms and were marching toward the group. A single brave fighter rushed the first; his staff twirling in quick combinations proved he was not without skill, just physically overmatched. He struck high, trying to impale the hideous face, but the giant caught his spear with surprising speed and pulled him in close with minimal effort. The man’s scream was blood-curdling as the rows of tiny, clawed limbs lining the beast’s belly carved away his flesh strip by strip. His screaming mercifully turned to a death gurgle as life fled from his torn body.

Nima’s eyes filled with rage at the sight of yet another fallen brother. She turned to Jade once more. “Steel is of no use here. I said you owe me nothing. I release you from my service, now go!” With that, she and the others ran at the black giants, who looked quite amused at the sight of unarmed attackers rushing in blindly. But the powerful magic users were hardly unarmed. Jade watched in horror, wondering what they could possibly be thinking.

The six of them sprinted in fearlessly, driven on by rage. How dare these beings come here and spread death across their peaceful village? They each held out their hands once the boachards were in range. Orange and blue bolts of energy fired straight from their open palms. The black giants hissed and turned sideways, wrapping themselves with their huge arms. They seemed mostly annoyed as the sizzling shots peppered their armored shells. Nima’s attack, however, was far different than the others.

She spread her hands out wide as thick, glowing orange tentacles grew from her fingertips. The energy whips sizzled and popped as they dragged across the dirt road. She began to spin like a top; faster and faster she spun as the energy strands lifted her off the ground, giving her the appearance of a crackling orange tornado. The boachards collapsed back down into their armored forms when they saw the whirling tornado of energy heading straight for them, but it made little difference. She collided into them while spinning at an unbelievable speed. The ear-splitting sounds of grinding metal filled the air as she buzzed through them like a blade through water. They crumbled to the ground piece by piece as blue liquid flowed between the heavy armored pieces scattered throughout the street.

Jade watched in awe, having never seen such a display of power in her life. The show of raw force was breathtaking. Instinct alone snapped her out the trance as she dove forward, tucking her knees into a tight somersault and leaping back to her feet with a dagger in each hand. The tumbling dagger whizzed over her head, cutting nothing but air, but the assassin in green was hardly deterred by his near miss. He rushed in as another man in green quickly joined him.

His eyes went wide as his first three lightning-quick strikes were deflected easily by this unassuming girl, and was even more surprised when she countered faster than he could block. He deflected one blade to the side but two more got through, one slicing his cheek while the other nicked his shoulder. The other man moved around to the side, trying to flank this girl whom they were both taking quite seriously now. Jade kept moving and shifting to keep them both within her vision, all the while rolling her daggers back and forth over the tops of her hands.

The two must have used some type of silent communication, because they struck out at the exact same time, both slashing furiously to try and overwhelm her. Her blades spun with the speed of vipers as the sound of steel on steel rang out over and over again. She twirled and rolled, each maneuver used to keep the highly trained killers at least mostly in front of her. Each time she got to her feet, she was greeted with streaking steel she was just able to parry at the last second.

This was hardly the first time she had been forced to take on two opponents at once, but these two were clearly blade masters and seemed to be used to working as a single unit. Their precise high and low alternating strikes were giving her tremendous trouble, and she was forced to use all her energy to defend and parry. Light blue sparks showered off in each direction as the whirling steel collided over and over again. Little gashes were appearing all over her body as she shifted her hips, rolling with the strikes that got through, doing just enough to keep them from going deep. But as she began to tire, the amount of strikes getting through started to increase as spots in her clothes darkened with her own blood. Still her daggers whirled in vicious circles, deflecting and parrying with desperate tenacity.

A solid slash cut deep into her side, and she cried out while a second sent one of her blades flying from her grip. She dropped down to her knees as blood flowed from multiple wounds. She looked up as the assassins took their time flanking her once more. They had seen her undeniable skill and were not going to take any chances, no matter how wounded she appeared. But a sudden disturbance in the sky stopped both in their tracks as they gazed upward.

A golden line appeared brightly in the night sky for a moment, forcing many heads to abruptly gaze up at the strange sight. The line elongated as the rip in time hung in the air for several seconds. Golden sparks suddenly exploded through the sky as Eric and his flying beast burst through the rift. A high-pitched screech filled the air, echoing through the streets as attackers and villagers alike scampered about, driven by fear of the awesome sight. A long, comet-like tail of flickering red light and black smoke traced a line behind him as his blazing sword begged for blood and pleaded to be fed, a request Eric was more than willing to grant.

It didn’t take long for him to spot Jade down on her knees and clearly wounded. The two assailants began to run as he turned his beast in a sweeping circle and headed straight for them. There was plenty of killing to go around, but the two who had dared to put a hand on Jade needed to die first. Riding hard through the air, he streaked over the top of her while bearing down on the fleeing assassins. The one Jade had wounded earlier was quickly losing ground to the other. A sharp explosion of pain surged through his instantly broken body as razor-sharp talons tore through his back and deep into his lungs. In that fleeting moment, Eric’s only regret was that the man died too quickly. He longed to kill him...again.

He rode the beast hard as they glided only a few feet off the ground, his flaming sword begging for the fleeing man’s blood as they bore down on him. His beast was set to sink in his claws into the next fleeing victim, but Eric had other ideas. At the last second he jumped off the lizard’s back, landing squarely on top of the terrified killer, a killer whose training had never prepared him for such a thing. Eric kept all his weight on the man’s back, pinning him down with his face pressed hard into the dirt.

His flaming blade seemed to scream...to beg...it wanted to taste the man’s flesh, but Eric dropped it to the ground, watching the flames extinguish instantly. With seething anger coursing through his veins, he gripped the man’s hair right through the back of his green mask and slammed his face hard into the ground. He hammered it down over and over again as teeth and blood began to spread out across the dirt road. He continued on while hearing the crunching sounds of broken teeth and a newly shattered jaw.

He finally stopped, still holding the man’s head a few inches from the ground. The badly broken man was still breathing in shallow rasps, but that wouldn’t last much longer. Eric knew the man probably had minutes to live after the savage beating, and that simply wasn’t good enough. He slid the remaining katana from the assassin’s back. “Is this the blade?” he whispered in a shockingly calm voice. “Is this the blade you used to hurt her?” Of course the broken man couldn’t speak, but Eric patiently waited for an answer anyway. “Then the taste of this blade, as well as the sound of my voice, will be the last things you experience in this world.”

He slowly pushed it into the side of the man’s neck, stopping every quarter inch to give a slight twist before continuing on. He was in no rush. When the last gurgling breath mercifully left the man’s body, Eric found he was only partially satisfied.

****

Jacob stumbled through the street, jumping over bodies and zigzagging between fleeing townsfolk. All the while, the taunting calls from Zhou were getting closer and closer. His eyes scanned the terrain while trying to maintain as much speed as possible. He could actually hear the hard galloping of heavy steps fast approaching now. His eyes finally fell on what he had been searching for, but he needed to be quick. He lunged forward as a clawed hand swiped the back of his shirt, leaving three neat slashes, and completed a dive roll over the top of a fallen fighter. He got to his feet and whirled around at the last moment, just barely intercepting a second set of claws with his newly acquired staff. With lighting speed he struck high once, twice, then a third time at the large hairy ears of his attacker, forcing Zhou to stumble backward, if only momentarily. A second barrage of blazing strikes found their way across both his knees, followed by a groin shot, then an upper cut.

The enraged beast stumbled back yet again, surprised by the mortal’s speedy attacks, but the powerful beast recovered quickly and lunged forward in a blind rage. His open claws slashed down hard, turning the solid wooden staff into a shower of splinters as Jacob held it up defensively. He fired back upward with the speed of a snake, the back of his fist catching Jacob squarely in the side of the head, sending him sliding ten feet. Jacob tried to cling to consciousness as his blurred vision revealed two of the monsters vibrating in and out of each other. He inched away on the back of his elbows as pain surged through every inch of him. Zhou now towered over him wearing a grin that promised a slow death.

Ching..Ching...Ching...Ching

The sound of clanging metal approaching at an alarming speed forced both to look off in that direction. Zhou had just gotten his head turned when Athel drove hard into his chest with a hollow thud, sending both of them rolling across the dirt. They tumbled along the road while swinging wildly at one another before Athel jumped back to her feet. Bent links of chain still hung from her neck and wrists as she dropped low on all fours and growled like an animal before lunging at him again.

The sickening meaty smacks rang out as they pummeled each other in a blinding flurry of fists. The savage animals flailed away at each other with power and speed no humans could ever match, but the much bigger Zhou slowly began to land the harder shots as Athel started to slow, her knees touching the ground more than once as his heavy fists savagely pummeled her face over and over. Feeling her begin to weaken, he rushed in close, wrapping her in a bear hug, then slammed her to the ground with a thud. With the much bigger man on top, there was little she could do. He dropped his fist down into her face several more times, each hollow thud sounding like a watermelon being dropped from a rooftop. Her right eye closed almost immediately and deep cuts formed all over her face as the beating continued.