Tales of Eleutheros

Katrina used her Dunamis again to send dozens of pillars and spikes at a force of advancing Sabree warriors who were trying to make their way up the main path to the palace. They turned and retreated back below the forward gatehouse, where they took shelter. She took deep breaths as her exhaustion started to set in and looked to see how the other warriors who had been defending the position with her were doing. They looked much the same, breathing heavily and sweating profusely.

“Kat!” Boros yelled from the courtyard of the Palace. She turned to see him standing on the steps. “Get over here!”

Maybe it’s something about that huge explosion, she thought, wearily. She stood from their small barricade and walked past her fellow defenders. “Let me know if anything else happens, we can’t allow them to make it past this point.”

“Yes, my Lady,” one of the warriors said.

She jogged her way up to Boros, who looked like he had been through hell. “That explosion was at the Regios estate, from the looks of it, the majority of our forces are being overrun as we speak. Their defenses were obliterated in an instant, and the Rexunii are pouring in. We can only assume that our fight for the city is lost.”

Katrina hesitated. “Wait, that isn’t possible. Daniel and Avria went there. They must have arrived. They will be organizing a counterattack of some kind.”

“No.” Boros choked. “I told you. If they aren’t dead already, they soon will be. We watched it from the palace tower. We must evacuate. There are tunnels from the palace out of the city. Vul De Rah has never been conquered before, so the deep tunnels will be tricky to navigate; we’ve never had to use them for this, but I’m sure we can manage. The remaining forces within the palace are gathering provisions for our departure.”

“Abandon the city?” she said slowly and looked out over Vul De Rah’s battered body. “I can’t leave my master or Daniel here. I can’t.”

“You can’t sit here and wait. Once whatever destroyed Regios estate comes here, no amount of defense could stop it. We must act. As of now, I am the acting Hego, and I need you to evacuate with me.” Boros let a tear stream down his cheek but wiped it away quickly.

Katrina nodded but still couldn’t bring herself to leave yet. “Have them finish their preparations. I will stay out here with the defense until they’re finished. Then I’ll go with you.”

Boros nodded reluctantly and turned to go back into the palace.

Katrina walked slowly back to the defensive barrier and slumped against the stone. Taking a moment to herself, she cursed the terrible turn of events and again felt the same pang of fear she had been quite familiar with when first arriving on this world. She heard sniffing and crying then, just within earshot, and perked up to see where it was coming from. She followed the noises around the stone barrier to find Illya sitting in a corner. She had her knees pulled up, and her face was buried in them.

“Illya?” Katrina said softly. How did she get out here?

Illya looked up, and to no surprise, her face looked much the same as Boros’.

“I know it’s hard,” Katrina said. “I can’t even begin to know what you might be feeling right now, but—”

Illya grabbed her by her hand and pulled her down with her. Katrina did her best to not flinch as she sobbed into her shoulder. Consoling wasn’t one of her strong traits, she remembered her mother crying after her grandmother passed away several years ago, but this was different. Illya’s agony was apparent with every heave, and all Katrina could do was hold her.

They both sat there for the better part of an hour, silent, except for the cries from Illya, until one of the defenders shouted, “Steady! Here they come!”

Katrina struggled to stand but was held by Illya. “Kat!” she said pleadingly, “Please don’t die!”

Katrina stared back blankly, up to this point too shocked to truly contemplate her own mortality. “I… I’ll try not to,” she stuttered, pulling her arm free and rushing to the barricade. She saw the thirty or so Lokkadonian guards locked in a heated battle with an advancing force of Sabree warriors. The pathway up to the palace was narrow and easily defendable from where they were positioned. According to Avria, the stone of the hill had been augmented thousands of years ago with the spiritual energy of the builders, making it impossible for Dae-Voh, or any wielders of the Dunamis, to manipulate it. This made coming up the sides and flanking extremely difficult. The same techniques were used in the creation of the Glade’s massive dome.

Katrina skidded to a halt and readied her hands to assist in the defense. She saw what looked like a massive boulder rolling its way up the pathway, slowly, and being bombarded by fire, lightning, blasts of water, and blades of wind. She was the only earth user in the defensive line and quickly added her own element to the fray. She closed her eyes and used the spiritual energy around her to form stone pillars. The pillars shot from around her and slammed roughly against the lumbering boulder. With a movement of her hands, the pillars angled downward and wedged against the wall, halting the advance. The Lokkadonian warriors cheered and redoubled their efforts.

Then, several holes formed in the boulder, opening to reveal several warriors within who blasted bolts of lightning out at the defenders. Katrina flinched as a man who was standing next to her was struck by one of the bolts. He screamed and fell to the stone, writhing in pain. It’s a Dae tank, she thought, unable to find any real comparable equivalent on earth. She stood again, ignoring the crashing sounds and shouts around her. She used all her strength to push against the boulder, attempting to roll it back down the pathway. Seeing this, the defenders within the tank began blasting the pillars she had created. To her own amazement, they were much more durable than she had expected.

The boulder moved a bit but stopped as the Dae within began to counteract her technique. She cursed loudly, and in frustration, she clenched her fists, and the tips of the pillars shed pieces until they were spikes. If it was hollow, she wondered if she could pierce it and get the warriors within. She strained against the stone boulder and pushed again with all her might. Sweat poured down her face, and finally, as her endurance came to near depletion, one of the spikes shot through the shell of the boulder, and she heard a muffled scream from within. Hearing the sound, she paused, but the others broke through as well, potentially skewering the operators within. The bolts of lightning ceased, and there were shouts of alarm from inside.

One of the palace guards leaped over the barricade and ran as fast as he could to the boulder. His crimson cloak flowed behind him, tattered and worn, and he pressed his hands into one of the openings. He yelled in anger and released an eruption of fire directly into the boulder. Billows of flames plumed from the other openings, and screams could be heard.

Again, there were cheers from the Lokkadonians, but the celebration was short-lived as dozens of warriors charged from around the boulder. They had apparently been using it as cover to get closer to the defenses before they launched their attack. They had no choice now but to attack. Within moments, the surge of Sabree warriors was upon the weary defenders. Katrina tiredly drew her sword and felt the thumping of her heart throughout her entire body. As adrenaline was pumped throughout her system, the scene seemed to slow, and her hearing became slightly muffled.

“Stand your ground!” one of the Lokkadonians yelled, using his spear to fight two enemies. Then out of the corner of her eye, she saw a blade swing directly at her head. The year of intense training with Avria and her strangely enhanced reflexes saved her life as she brought her weapon up to block it and stumbled back at the force. The Sabree wore tan cloaks, and their bone weapons, armor, and masks were not the same pearl white as the Lokkadonians or Rexunii. They were a strange gray color and had a different texture to them. Katrina blocked several attacks from the Dae, who obviously was trying to kill her quickly, and press on. He was not particularly skilled with the sword, but he was making up for that with his aggression. His blade came down again, and she deflected it, but she angled her sword, so it glanced off and slammed into the stone. The force of his strike was so strong that it embedded into the barricade. The instant he tried to pull it free but couldn’t, Katrina swung her weapon up, slashing his abdomen and spilling his innards out, then came down again and cleaved his head. It was a standard deflection and counter technique that Avria had taught her and made her do thousands of times. It had become muscle memory at that point. Even with the hours and hours of practice, she had still managed to screw it up by slicing into the man’s head instead of decapitating him. The moment she saw the gouts of blood spew from the wounds she had inflicted, she froze. The adrenaline helped by slowing her mind a bit, but the realization that she had just taken a life – up close and personal – came in and struck her like a train. She watched the blue blood gush from where her sword was still stuck in his head, and as the corpse fell to the ground, it jerked her weapon from her hands.

“My Lady!” One of the Lokkadonians grabbed her. “We need to get back to the palace! We are overwhelmed here!”

Katrina shook the shock from her mind as best she could and tried to respond. As she did, she was struck in the stomach by a spear that had been hurled at her. It entered her body with a thud, and she crumpled to the stone.

The warrior who she was speaking to covered her with his own body, as another spear meant for her lodged in his back. He grunted but managed to stay rigid above her. Her vision blurred as the weapon still stuck in her stomach was jostled around. She didn’t feel it though, it was more of an acknowledgment that it had happened with her brain, and her body was still waiting to catch up. After several moments of contemplation, the pain flooded in, and she choked on blood that flowed up from her belly. She blinked in confusion, watching the chaos around her as the defenders of the barricade were overrun by their enemies. Daniel… Robert… Avria... she thought, knowing that she was going to die now. “I’m… sorry…”

She flinched as a muffled blast of electricity struck several Sabree warriors around her. Her vision was going black. Am I going into shock? she thought vaguely. Her mind then turned to her life back home. Her father, sitting behind his desk and working on his computer late again. She smiled a bloody smile at the fond memory of seeing him after coming home from school and spending time with him. The smell of her mother’s cooking and her perfume when she hugged her. Suddenly she was jerked up but wasn’t quite sure why.

“Hey!” a familiar and annoying voice called out to her. “Don’t die, you hear me? I’m getting you out of here!”

“Del... mos…?” she asked, tasting metallic blood in her mouth.

Suddenly her vision focused, and she realized she was being carried on his back.

“Shut up! You need to save your strength! I don’t want a human dying on my back,” Delmos yelled.

She closed her eyes, trying to remember what Avria had taught her about self-healing. It wasn’t much, just enough to stop the bleeding and bring your mind out of shock using the Dunamis to augment her body. She felt the warmth of her power flow through her, and her mind suddenly became clear again.

“The… palace,” she said weakly, realizing she was being carried away from there.

“We can’t get to it!” he panted, running as fast as he could. “We have to find another way out of the city!”

“Where are Daniel and Avria?” she asked, fearing for their safety.

“Hey! I said, shut up!” he snapped. “Let me handle this, ok? I can’t navigate with you bleeding all over me and yapping my ear off!”