Magik & Myth: Falling of the Dusk: Blood Dawn (Chpt 3)
It took some time, as I'd lost my internet connection for a while there, but here's Blood Dawn's third chapter. Enjoy. (^_^)
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Chapter 3 - I Can Hear Drums...
The night wore on steadily, and Halo eventually parted ways with Tidus as he made for the tribal trader to discuss the business of supplies.
The silvercross made his way back to the LongHouse, and was surprised to discover, upon entering, the Kaia was stilling at the table, just left of his own chair, and a seat away from Halo's father. The old silvercross was telling one of his war stories about his comrades' amusingly insane antics to kill time before being sent off.
Kaia listened intently, and though she was just out of battle herself, the humour and vigour with which Talen told his story drove all the thoughts of actual war from the girl's mind. She simply laughed and enjoyed the story, and it took her quite some time to notice Halo leaning on the doorframe entrance, smiling at the pair of them, recalling his own kithood;
his being fascinated time and again by the same stories, no matter how many times he'd heard them.
Upon seeing the silvercross, Kaia stood, making a slight bow, and mumbling 'thank you's for her safety. Halo chuckled and shook his head. "No need for thanks, it's the least we could do. There only one thing I ask in return, in fact." he said the last while taking a seat in his usual chair, at his father's right, now next to both him and Kaia.
The girl cocked her head to one side, looking curiously at the fox.
"I know that it must be hard for you, but we must know who it was that attacked the Temple of Dawn, and if they kn--"
"... know if I've escaped? Are they hunting me?" Kaia smiled shyly. She wasn't the most bold or outgoing person, but was devastatingly clever and knew how to use it. Many things others would miss, or take some time to figure out, Kaia seemed to pick up immediately.
Halo smiled, nodding to the human.
"I'm not sure, on either count, to he honest with you, sir." Kaia replied, not looking up.
"Halo." said Halo.
Kaia raised her head, looking into his eyes for a moment. They seemed to almost swirl, like a light blue whirlpool. She felt if she stared long enough, even she could fall in, and promptly looked away toward Talen, who smiled kindly.
"Well, Halo... all I can really say for sure is that they were beastfolk, lizards. They had black armour, and scales, They had huge machines too, that they used to attack the Temple, bringing down her walls in a few strikes. I've... never been so scared..." she went to hug herself, but Talen did it for her, walking around behind Halo to hold her as if he were her father, too. He tended to do this for those who had been through hell, those who were in need of some comfort. He was a strong fox, but kind to a fault.
Halo smiled as kindly, putting a paw on Kaia's shoulder. "You're safe here. We'll make sure if it, don't worry."
Kaia looked up at the silvercross, locking eyes with him for another moment, and seeming nothing but truth in them for what he told her, she nodded quietly, and said finally, "I think I'm the only one left... I don't even know the ScaleGuard who saved me, he was a panther. He told... he told me... the I had to find the Champion of Dawn..."
Halo and Talen both looked at each other. The kept they're maws shut, as much as they wanted to dangle open out of complete shock. They both knew the legends. The Champion of Dawn was he who could find and wield the fabled Key of Time, QuickSilver.
The only one who could find him, was Illhamman, the Prophet of Dawn. The Leader of the DawnWalkers. If this girl was told to seek out The Champion of Dawn, that could only have meant the Prophet of Dawn was killed during the attack, and she was the only DawnWalker from the Temple of Dawn to survive. A Student. Someone who didn't even fully understand the Legends herself, was expected to shoulder the entire DawnWalker Faith.
Halo growled quietly. "All the more reason to keep you safe, Kaia."
The tent flap opened, a familiar voice drifting in from the outside. "Halo, something's up."
The silvercross stood, followed by his father and Kaia. "Tidus, what's wrong?"
The human said, bluntly, "Get out here."
Halo and the others ran outside, stopping to see Tidus straining for some unseen reason. They assumed, as his hand was cupped around one ear, there was something he could just barely hear. Halo looked around, seeing a large, empty clothing pole in the ground to his left, he volted up it's length as fast as his limbs would let him. Upon reaching the top, he angled his ears to the wind, listening carefully, and focusing his mind.
Just as Elder Mia had taught him as a boy, just like when he was hunting, he closed his eyes, and listened to the pulse of every sound around him, slowly turning them all into background noise, all but what he was searching for. His ears twitched. He could hear it, what his human friend could barely make out, what Kaia would fear the most as she came to hear it. And it was coming closer. Quickly.
Halo jumped down off of the clothing pole, landing in a small cloud of dust. He looked around at those gathered, Kaia, Tidus, and his father. He said, "I can hear drums..."
It wasn't another hour before the tribal warriors were assembled. Halo stood before them, telling them what little they knew of the forces coming against them, and swatting any naysayer who suggested giving them Kaia.
The human girl stood with her counterpart, the trader smoking a green, crushed leaf from his hand carved, willow pipe. He'd made it several days before, and enjoyed the odd taste the willow wood added to his smoke.
By now, all in the village could clearly hear the drums. The tribal warriors had gathered outside the village camp, facing north toward the approaching force. Halo, looking through a warped piece of crystal, examined the magnified enemy group. Tidus came up next to him, Kaia in tow.
Halo glanced at her, then looked at Tidus, handing him the magnifying stone. "I count 3 dozen strong, no siege machines, but they wouldn't need them with our wooden fences. Get her out of here." he nodded at the girl.
"No." she replied, before Tidus could say a word, stepping forward and pulling out her steel dagger. "I know I can't do much, and I'm likely to fall in this battle, but I'm NOT going to stand down from it."
Tidus raised the bent, clear stone to his eye, throwing the distant army into sharp relief, while the silvercross spoke quickly to the young Prophet. "Listen, kit. You're the Illhamman, now. If you don't find the Champion of Dawn, nobody will. Thus, if you get killed here, we're all fucked. Now get out of here."
Kaia looked up into Halo's eyes, fire blazing in her own. "Halo, are you a Faithful DawnWalker?"
Halo stepped back a pace, looking at her curiously. Without saying a word, he nodded, frowning slightly.
"Good, then as the Prophet of Dawn, as the Illhamman, I order you to keep me in this battle, for better or worse."
He didn't react for a moment. He simply stared into the girl's eyes, a look of being completely gob-smacked on his face. Finally, though, he smiled, and turned toward the oncoming wave of black scaled death. "Tidus, cover her."
The trader chuckled, telling Kaia to stick close to him and not to hesitate. She nodded her understanding, as they & the tribal warriors gazed out upon the gathering forces.
Only about 30 yards apart now, they tribal warriors could clearly see they're new enemies. 8 feet tall, black scales from head to foot, and piercing red pupils set into eyes so black they seemed to defy light entering them. They carted they're claymores and battleaxes like short swords and hatchets, and their thick, black, steel armour was finished with a tower shield they each wore strapped to the forearm.
These three dozen lizard beastfolk hissed and spat before them, as if the entice the tribal warriors to attack. Even the toughest of the warriors was only half the size of one of these monsters, and much more poorly equip. Halo knew this, as did Tidus. Chances were good, that every one of the warriors, and tribe's people, did too.
Kaia stood firm, though a few tears did leak from her eyes, and her insides screamed in terror, she wasn't going to back down again from this.
The rain began to clear, as one of the lizards stepped forward. His armour was slightly different, embroidered with lines of gold in interesting patterns across his chestplate.
He said, in a low, hissing voice. "The girl, cannot survive. We have been dispatched to ensure this happensss. You will ssstand down, and be slaughtered quickly, or face usss, and you will agonise long before you die..." he finished his painfully generic threat by pulling out his own weapon, a claymore so large, even he had to hold it in two hands, the blade alone being almost as tall as Halo.
The silvercross chuckled, stepping forward himself. "You obviously have no idea who you're dealing with, do you? This is the Lunas Tribe. So long as one member of this tribe stands tall you will not have your prize, I can promise you that." he slowly drew his old, battered cutlass. Though it looked as though it could break battling a strong breeze, it was still as sharp as it had been since the day his grandfather had made it. It had since been pasted down to his father, and now to him. So long as he held this blade, there would always be one member of the Lunas tribe to draw breath. Him.
The Lizard General roared in what could have been taken as some perverted form of laughter, looked at Halo with an equally perverted form of smile, and said to his troops. "Wipe them out."
The lizard army was on the warriors with such speed it was staggering. Several tribesmen went down in the first waves alone, with only one or two of the lizards getting clumpy, and thus killed.
Halo and Tidus fought side by side, sword to sword, as they had done for years, bouncing attacks and counter attacks off of one another, keeping each other, and Kaia, alive. The Prophet of Dawn herself wasn't standing idly by either. As the attack wore on, and tribesmen began to fall even faster, she dove into the fray with Halo and Tidus, lunging forward at the perfect moment to strike down a lizard, who'd gotten the drop on the trader.
The tribal warriors, while going down quickly, where managing to hold off the attackers. The enemy numbers had dwindled to about half by now, but there were only the same number of tribesmen left to fight, when they had had double the lizard army's number when this had begun less than an hour ago.
The leader of the lizard army suddenly came into view, as Halo downed another of his men. They locked eyes for a moment, then the lizardfolk charged, screaming a battle cry that could shake the heavens.
Halo raised his bloodstained cutlass before him, but suddenly heard a cry from behind him. Turning briefly, he saw another lizardfolk, a blade sticking firmly in it's gut, under the bottom lip of it's armour. The blade was help in a familiar paw, with a familiar wink and smile. "Watch you're back, Kit."
"Aunt Scara!" Halo laughed, turning back to the lizard army's leader. He was on top of the silvercross faster than any of his men seemed to move, which was already a fair clip, but Halo jumped sideways, and with near perfect aim, volted off the raised shield of another lizard soldier, slashing his cutlass as he flew toward the commander.
One, two, slashes got through or around the lizard's armour before he turned, bringing his claymore crashing down atop the silvercross. Halo smiled, rolling to the left and spinning his cutlass on his rise to his feet, cutting at the legs of the commander, who stumbled backwards with a loud roar. The lizard steadied himself, holding his claymore firm and letting out a maddening shriek as he launched, again, toward Halo. The fox smirked, bending low and launching himself high into the air. He curved midair, bringing his cutlass down in a arch as the commander's momentum pushed him toward the attack.
In one yell, and a massive swing of his arm, Halo pulled his cutlass down, separating the commander's head from the rest of his vile form.
Halo landed in a cloud of dust and blood as the battle kept raging around. He launched sideways, piercing his cutlass into the side of another lizardfolk. Tidus, who was already fighting this one, and not doing overly well at that, nodded a quick thank you before finishing the creature and moving onto another.
Even though the forces of the Lunas Warriors were vastly outmatched, by now, the tides seemed to have turned. They were almost a quarter their original size, but had taken the lizardfolk down heavily as well, making the match fairly even throughout.
One of the Lizardfolk looked around him. He knew that things were going badly. They might lose here, which was unacceptable. He looked down at his roughly made leather belt, on which hung a large, carved, hollow horn. He grabbed a hold of it, raising the smaller end to his huge maw, full of sharp crooked teeth, and blew hard into it, sending an ear piercing blast of sound across the Rouge Plain. All around him started in fright, all but the creature's fellow lizardfolk.
Taking the advantage, some of the lizardfolk took down more of the tribal warriors before they could react.
Kaia struck down another, now fighting with a short sword taken off of one of the lizardfolk, (apparently he'd had it as his dagger). She stood, fresh blood soaking into her Temple Robes, back to back with Scara, the Elder's blade and armour also stained heavily with the black blood of these creatures, and some blood of her own.
Kaia looked to the east. There was a light. It was very faint, but she was sure there was a shaft of sunlight creeping over the horizon. Her eyes narrowed. No... there was something else there too. She peered as closely as she could at the horizon, then she saw it. A shape, long and massive, moving from the horizon, toward them.
She called out to Halo, the silvercross turning. She pointed to her new found fear, Halo's gaze following her finger, his eyes going wide. "No...." he mumbled in disbelief. Being human, she might not have been able to make out what it is she was seeing, he knew this. But he could. He saw them clearly, as the sun crept over the eastern skies, pouring light over the Rouge Plains like a bath of blood. And showing Halo what he feared most.
On the horizon, at least a half mile long, was another force of the lizardfolk, about three times the size of the force they were barely holding against now.
His people... his whole home... they were next to be wiped out.
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