Sword of the Gods: Agents of Ki (Sword of the Gods Saga) (161 page)

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February: 3,389 BC

Earth: Village of Assur

Pareesa

Pareesa gaped as the sky canoe coughed like a sick animal, and then it leaned towards one side like a stumbling drunkard. The sky canoe wobbled. She felt like a dog that had chased a ram, and then all of a sudden the ram turned around and decided to charge.

"Take cover!" she shouted, just as the enormous arm attached to the underside shot its lightning straight towards the square. The warriors scattered, avoiding both the big shot that leveled what little was left of the Chief's burned-out house, and also the smaller shots of the lizard-demons leaping over the shattered barricade.

She lowered her firestick, amazed she'd even gotten the thing to shoot, and saw Mikhail detach himself from the opposite side of the sky canoe. The side that
he
was on glowed brighter, and then the sky canoe turned and began to chase its tail. It drifted down the hill with Mikhail hot on its tail.

A blast of a hand-held firestick landed precariously close to her face.
Goatshit!
Pay attention! She must fight or she would die. She crouched behind the low, stone wall which surrounded the central well and fired shot after shot at the incoming enemy soldiers.

Siamek crawled up next to her.

"Did
you
do that?" Siamek asked. His quiver was empty, and in his hand he gripped a brand-new sword.

"I see you found Ebad?" Pareesa grinned at him.

"Little good it does me with
those
shooting at me," Siamek said as he pointed at her firestick.

Up on the rooftops, the three warriors plus Dadbeh and Ebad fired their firesticks into the backs of the incoming invaders. As Mikhail had hoped, it forced them to linger in the alley which connected the inner circle of the temple with the first ring of houses. Pareesa stuck her head above the stone wall and dared take a shot at a pig-snouted demon who tried slithering along the walls to work his way behind him. The creature fell, not dead, for her aim was less than perfect, but out of commission.

One by one, the men on the rooftop ran out of magic for their firesticks, until the only one who still had one was
her.

The enemy regrouped, into their usual offensive position of three lines of men who moved one line in front of the other in a V-shaped formation as they pushed their way into the central square. The defenders were long since out of arrows, although every now and again one came out of nowhere as someone pulled one out of a body and used it to take another shot at the enemy. Unfortunately, the enemy's clothing had resistance against anything but a well-aimed direct shot.

She looked upwards and saw her little brother Namhu and some of the boys he ran in a pack with. He gave her a thumbs up. Pareesa wasn't certain whether she wanted to kill the little twirp, or hug him.

She saw the baskets, and she understood what he meant to do…

"Watch this," she told Siamek.

The boys edged towards the edge of the rooftops, each of them carrying a basket or a jar.

“NOW!!!” Namhu screamed at the top of his lungs.

The boys heaved the baskets and pots off of the roof.  The sound of pots breaking made the enemy invaders pause, no doubt remembering the
last
time pots had broken. The enemy began to scream. Pareesa laughed as they wasted their weapons fire stomping, clawing, and dancing as the creepy crawlies slithered into their midst.

Camel spiders.

Bees.

Aggressive biting ants.

And snakes.

“Take that!” Pareesa laughed as she took aim at a pig-man frantically clawing at his tusks to get rid of a dinner-plate sized camel spider. The vociferously aggressive, long-legged camel spiders could run faster than a man and jump a good four cubits onto any creature they deemed a threat. Having just been dropped off a rooftop into a bunch of enemies, the spiders acted accordingly.

"What just happened?" Siamek asked.

"Zakiti promised her friends that Mikhail would give them a ride for every spider camel they captured," Pareesa laughed. "She's been collecting them for nary a week."

"Does Mikhail know you've turned him into goat-cart ride?" Siamek asked.

"Not exactly," Pareesa said. "But Zakiti is a mercenary little thing. She will hold him to the bargain, whether or not he agreed."

Siamek looked longingly at his empty quiver, envious as Pareesa took aim with her firestick and shot a distracted lizard with a hive of angry bees swarming around him. None of the creatures was particularly venomous, but the enemy didn’t know that. Pareesa saw Ebad creep along the roofline, and then join the two archers perched there. The tail end of the enemy line must have moved completely forward into the central square.

Unfortunately, the enemy recovered from their little ‘surprise.’ The lizard demons reorganized and began moving forward again.

"Look," Siamek pointed. "They're pulling their swords."

Out of the corner of her eye, Pareesa saw a shadow move forward and slit the throat of one of the blue-men who hung back to hastily change the cartridge on his firestick. She reasoned it must be Dadbeh. The shadow disappeared before she could verify it was him.

A shot from a firestick demolished a piece of the barricade.

Pareesa popped up to get a lizard demon within her sights. She pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Blue lightning from a firestick exploded precariously close to her head. She slammed her body down. Her firestick blinked at her with an angry red light.

"Goatshit!" she shouted at the weapon. It was out of magic! Now she knew how Mikhail had felt all this time.

Siamek touched her shoulder, his brown eyes earnest, and for the first time filled with hope.

"We can do this," Siamek said. "We outnumber them. Now we can fight them hand to hand."

Pareesa stared at the advancing lizard demons, half again their height and twice their weight, armed not just with swords, but tails, and claws and fangs. The blue-people were even larger, and the pig-people had tusks in addition to their massive bulk.

A pair of brown-black wings descend downwards from the sky, behind the temple of She-who-is as Mikhail was an easy target for men armed with firesticks. The enemy soldiers wasted their few remaining shots trying to smite him and missed. A small cheer went through the Assurians as Mikhail crept up behind herself and Siamek.

"Did
you
take out that starboard engine?" Mikhail asked. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes appeared so blue it looked as though he might either shout at her or cry. She got the distinct impression she had done something wrong, but she couldn't fathom what that might have been.

"Bishamonten helped me take the shot," Pareesa said, her voice small like a little girl's. "I just cleared my mind, and he showed me a white dot on the side of the sky canoe."

Mikhail exhaled. He snorted, as though amused.

"That was one hell of a shot," Mikhail said. He did not look angry anymore, but he did not look happy, either. His expression softened. He reached out and squeezed her soldier. Whatever had him upset, he did not blame
her.

Another blast of firestick lightning exploded next to them, forcing them all to duck. Mikhail scrutinized the gash on Siamek's arm, and then looked from him to her. With the deep gash on his sword arm, Siamek was vulnerable.

"You two ready to do this?" Mikhail asked.

"Ready, Sir," Siamek said.

"Ready," Pareesa said.

Mikhail pulled his sword. He pointed it upright, so all the men on either side of them could see that he had returned. Their Champion now fought in their midst. It made them feel brave even though they all now understood he was every bit as mortal as they were.

"When you leap up," Siamek said, "the enemy will all target
you
."

"That's the idea," Mikhail said. He pointed his sword at the advancing enemy. "Take out who you can. I shall take care of myself."

A few more volleys of slung rocks, some arrows, the occasional spear or atlatl dart, and one last blast of enemy firestick lightning passed over the makeshift barricade where they crouched until they were certain there were no more lightning bolts. The enemy, it seemed was truly out of magic.

Pareesa pulled her sword. Numbers alone wouldn't turn the tide, but at least the weaponry had just leveled out. There was no more retreat. This would be their final stand.

“
Kyō wa shinu ni wa yoi hidesu
,” Mikhail said to her in the clicking Cherubim language. Today is a good day to die.

“
Kore o yarou
,” Pareesa replied, reaching out to grab his arm. Let's do this.

They shook hands, forearm to forearm in a shake of brotherhood,
and then she turned and gave the same shake of brotherhood to Siamek, and he passed it along to the elite warriors, then to Firouz, and Yaggitt, and Ipquidad, and the other members of the B-team until it had passed through all of the defenders and made its way all the way back to the Chief.

“It has been an honor,” Mikhail said to them all.

He clicked the Cherubim battle incantations until his eyes glowed so blue she could no longer see his iris's, and then he stood up, an easy target, and stepped fearlessly into the enemy's midst, his black-brown wings the only part of him which remained visible as he moved through them like a reaper harvesting the grain, wings pounding and sword clashing against sword as he took on multiple enemies.

'Mikhail…'
Pareesa thought to herself. She would not let him stand alone. With an ululating battle cry, she stood up and leaped over the barrier, rushing forward to take on the first enemy she encountered.

Blood splattered into her mouth as she fought for her life against creatures that were far larger and more skilled than she was, but the Cherubim god did not abandon her, and he whispered to her, and warned her with images.
Watch out. Keep your guard up. Stab him here. Remember that training kata, use it now with your sword.

Out of her peripheral vision, she saw Siamek get sliced by a lizard from his shoulder all the way down to his gut.

"No!" she shouted.

Siamek fell to his knees.

The pig-man she fought swung furiously at her, leaving her unable to help Siamek, forcing her to stay alive. She kicked the pig-man in the gut. He stumbled backwards.

She glanced over at Siamek to see how he fared.

The lizard soldier lifted his sword above his head. Siamek met her gaze, his eyes filled with resignation.

"Siamek!!!" Pareesa screamed.

The lizard began its downswing…

Siamek closed his eyes, his lips moving in prayer…

The lizard demon paused, mid swing, with a confused expression on his face.  Blood erupted from the front of his uniform shirt. The lizard man's jaws opened with a hiss as he looked down, surprised to see he had been run through with a sword.

The lizard demon toppled forward…

Behind him, her eyes so black they no longer had an exposed white, stood the ghost of Gita, so smeared with gore it was hard to tell where
she
stood and the background behind her began. A ripple of horror clawed at Pareesa's gut. The ghost's eyes were so cold and deadly it reminded her of the night that Mikhail had lost control of his dark gift.

Pareesa's pig-man recovered his wits and hacked at her again. Pareesa defended against the blows, using her speed to offset her small size. She went on the offensive. The pig-man stabbed at her and missed. She used the opening to stab him in the gut. Blood spurted out of his belly. Feinting a swing and instead kicking him in his injury, she spun the rest of the way around to gain velocity, swung her sword upwards as she leaped, and slammed downwards, not-too-neatly decapitating him, her strength enhanced by the Cherubim battle energies.

"May She-who-is grant you safe passage into the dreamtime," she whispered as he fell.