The Dawn of the Raven episode 17 Read online

  The Dawn of the Raven: Episode 17 © 2014 J.L. Blackthorne. All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced, transmitted, or otherwise disseminated in any form without the author’s permission.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, alive or dead, events, or places is completely coincidental.

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  The Dawn of the Raven

  Episode 17:

  Carnage

  He gazed at the beams of early morning sunlight as they pierced through what was left of the forest canopy. Here at the edge the flames hadn’t taken all of the leaves. His eyes struggled with the bright morning light. He wondered for a moment about his ancestors. Their eyes would have welcomed the beams of light, the beacon of a coming day. But his eyes burned from them. They watered in the corners and he grimaced as they were so painfully slow to adjust. After a few more moments, his massive dark pupils had narrowed enough for him to see clearly again. One of his warriors addressed him, and General Krex turned to listen.

  “Sir, there was no sign of any magical beings. However, one of the search parties that headed southeast hasn’t returned.”

  The Gekken General looked at his men. All night they’d waited patiently for the fire to run its course. The humans’ trick had been effective, but it had only bought them a little more time. But this dark magic that turned his own men against each other, cutting one another through with no warning . . . this worried him. They had to try and find the source. He hated to send good men off now, now that the time for the true battle was upon them, but this was a mission of grave importance. He turned to one of his top soldiers.

  “Wrathe, take your two best men and head southeast. You must find the source of the dark magic that has plagued us through this night and cut their life from them.”

  Wrathe nodded, and left with his men. General Krex turned his focus back to the rest of his warriors. Their hands shook with excitement. Some of them were drooling. The sweet taste of flesh, the craving that they desired at all times but could only satisfy on the battlefield, lay just moments away from them. The history of the Gekken was a dark, tragic one. Terrible, cruel misfortune had shaped them into what they were today. They had not always been like this. It was not their fault that they had been forced to live off of the flesh of their own people for centuries. Forced to eat their own weak and dead to survive. But over the course of hundreds of years they had gained a great appetite and taste for it. This was a delicacy forbidden to them now, the taste of the flesh of those who walk on two legs. Humans, when defeated on the battlefield, were the only exception. They felt their bellies begin to growl, and their grip on their blades begin to tighten. But more important than any physical hunger, what truly drove them was the chance to finally right the wrong of a thousand years. The cruel betrayal that had led them on such a dark path, and had led them to becoming that which they were today. When the humans were finally annihilated, only then could the Gekken retake their place amongst those who dwelt in the sunlight. How long would it be before their eyes would no longer sting so much in the light? How long till their skin gained back pigment? How many generations?

  General Krex looked over his soldiers. What lay before them was a battle they had waited centuries to fight. He yelled out to his men. He reminded them that this day was long in the making. Today, with this final victory, they could finally walk free again in the sunlight. Today, they would finally reclaim what had been stolen from them so long ago. Today, they would finally take back their home.

  It was finally here, thought Prince Treyan. A chance for true glory. He looked around him. His men looked ready. They’d tasted what this enemy had to offer. The enemy was great. They were powerful. They had lived up to the billing. But they weren’t unbeatable. He smiled to himself. He had longed for a test like this his entire life. His father and grandfather, they had been great warriors. They had conquered every other major kingdom within reach. All but the Kreyforians. Every other great civilization in their desert had fallen to their might during their reigns. There was no one else within reach to defeat. No way left to truly test himself in battle, to prove himself. His father had mocked him. Treated him as if he’d been coddled. Yet, he’d spent every day honing his skills, preparing himself for an opportunity that it seemed would never come. Yet here it was, finally, upon him. And, so far, he was up to the challenge. Finally he could hold his head high. The foe he was facing was even greater than those his father and grandfather had faced. Much greater, and he was defeating them.

  He looked at his love. She stood beside him. Her expression was one of concentration, resolution . . . iron determination. But she didn’t look as confident as the rest. He was surprised, considering that she was the most skilled of them all. He had seen what she was capable of, how magnificent she truly was. Her abilities on the battlefield were beyond anything he’d ever heard of. So why such a look of concern? Perhaps, he thought, this is what it takes to be so great. No false sense of confidence. No matter what, maintain one’s focus and fight with everything you have to the bitter end. Yes, he would follow her lead. He let go of his pride. He allowed any arrogance to fade away. There was still plenty to be proven on this battlefield. There was a lot more fighting to come.

  Kiella sat in the cavern, looking out at the horizon, but focusing her attention on her ears. She listened carefully to the sound of any twig, any falling branch or leaf, anything that might give away the sound of Gekken nearing them again. It was still hard to hear anything, however, over all of the sound Shyrea’s body made as it rolled and thrashed about. Kiella did notice that it was getting quite light now. They had made it to morning. A few hours earlier, it had looked like she would never see this day. She had all but given up, but her gorgeous friend had come to her rescue yet again. She stared at Shyrea there, her body covered in her cloak, her hands and legs bound and her face covered by her hood which was tied down over her beautiful eyes. She knew it wasn’t even her inside there. Who knew who, or even what, was in there now? A Gekken? A forest creature? An eagle? A bug? She saw her friend’s body getting far too close to the rocks at the back of the cavern. It rolled fiercely as whatever was inside her fought with complete disregard for her body’s safety to try to free itself from the bonds and the darkness it was trapped in. Kiella rushed over and bound her even more tightly, wrapping more ropes around her arms and legs and torso, making it even more difficult for whatever was in her to gain any leverage to move. The body could no longer roll, and just moved around in a stationary spot, wriggling and writhing, still trying with what little movement it could muster to slip out of its bonds, though this was completely impossible.

  Kiella examined the weapons that Shyrea had brought her now that she could see better in the morning light. The swords were nice, but very heavy since they were made for Gekken. Besides, if a Gekken came in, by the time they were close enough for her to try and cut them it would probably be a foregone conclusion as to her fate. The bow, however, interested her. She lifted the bow, and loaded an arrow from the quiver into it. She tried to pull it back, but it was no use. Not in her current state. Her cracked ribs screamed out in pain with any strain. She quickly abandoned her interest in it, and tossed the bow aside. She went back to listening, hoping that she had already seen all of the Gekken she woul
d encounter.

  As she flew above what was left of the forest, seeing that the fire was finally dying down, Shyrea did her best to examine what was left of the Gekken forces. She’d spent the rest of the night fighting them, swapping into the largest, the strongest, the ones with the greatest weapons or who were poised to do the most damage to those around them. She’d done all that she could to weaken them. But there were still many left. She feared for those she cared for. Those who waited on the grounds where the great palace of the Typhorians once stood. She flew down towards them, and inhabited the body of a soldier near her beautiful Typhorian friend.

  “It’s almost time. The fire is almost out. They will be upon you soon” stated the young soldier. He was barely a man, but his eyes held a deep somber concern. Raveena knew that it wasn’t his gaze that she felt, but Shyrea’s. Raveena nodded. The young soldier, like so many that were left now, wasn’t really a soldier at all. He was forced, like any of the able bodied that were left there now, to take up a sword and fight. And against the greatest of foes. Raveena knew so many of them had no hope of surviving the conflict. But without them, there was no chance. They needed every body that they could gather to help. The young man’s eyes suddenly grew confused, and he looked about as if he were disoriented. Raveena knew her friend had left him just as quickly as she had taken him over. Raveena turned back and looked over her troops, and then addressed them.

  “Dawn has come, and the battle will soon begin again. We caught them by surprise with our might and with the fire, but this time they will be ready. This enemy will not be easily beaten.” She paused for a moment, but felt, suddenly, how tenuous the sense of confidence was that had swept over them following their initial success. She didn’t want them unprepared, overconfident, but she didn’t want them to lose their courage. She realized instantly, as she felt it waver ever so slightly as she spoke, that it was more important to ensure that their morale did not diminish than to be sure they were wary enough of the ferocity and might of their foes. She stopped and looked around at them. They stood in silence, all waiting patiently for her words. “Yes, they will not be easily defeated. It will be the greatest battle we’ll ever fight. The toughest victory we’ll ever earn. But it will be victory. We will win. We will crush them.” The soldiers began to smile and pound their swords and shields into the ground. “Yes, we will win. We will hack their limbs from their torsos, separate their heads from their necks, cleave their flesh from their bone. We have seen them in action. They are mighty, they are savage. But we will be mightier. We will be even more savage. When they look at us, stare in our eyes, they will be the ones who will shudder. They will be the ones who will think they are looking in the eyes of monsters. We will be merciless. We will be cold. We will be ruthless. They have backed us into the corner, slaughtered our friends, our families, our loved ones. Burned down our palaces, raided our villages. They have done more harm to us than we can ever repay them for. But we will try.” The soldiers began to yell and cheer. “We will try our very best to pay them back for every last drop of blood they’ve spilled. Spill twenty of theirs for every one they’ve spilt of ours. Make them sorry they ever came back from whatever stone they’ve been hiding under for all these years. Today, we will end it. Today, we will send them all to their graves, and we will make sure that the Gekken never return again.”

  The soldiers cheered, but then, long afterwards, they kept beating their shields into the ground. They found a rhythm, and all fell into it. A look of determination settled into each of their eyes. Gone was the shallow empty overconfidence from earlier. It was replaced by a steel-eyed gaze. A cold, quiet fury.

  The first Gekken breached the tree-line and entered the field. They did not rush in wildly like those of the night before. They maintained their formation. They moved as one. There was no more over-confidence. They, too, emitted a cold, hard sense of focus. Prince Treyan looked to Raveena for a signal as to whether they should wait and meet them, or move forward and hit them head on. Raveena turned back, and motioned for archers to come to the front. They rushed ahead of the front faction of soldiers, kneeled, and fired far in the air, showering the Gekken as they approached in a sea of arrows. Half the archers were still positioned on the hill, and thus arrows came raining down on the Gekken from multiple angles. They did their best to duck and cover themselves with their shields and armor, but many arrows found their mark, and though few were fatal, many Gekken were wounded and slowed by them. General Krex watched from the rear, and was angered. He sent a small platoon, along with his own archers, to flank the archers on the hill and take their position.

  Raveena motioned, and human soldiers moved forward. Some of the archers spread from the middle to the right of the field, so that now Gekken faced incoming arrows from three angles. The archers were directed to keep the onslaught of arrows as consistent as possible until the human soldiers had reached the Gekken, then to continue firing only towards the rear of the Gekken to avoid friendly fire. The Gekken were too busy fending off the arrows to ready for the attack. To make matters worse, their own men began turning against them again. A Gekken would be busy ducking an arrow, when his comrade in front of him would turn and ram his blade into his throat. A Gekken next to him, witnessing this, would move from under his shield to try to attack the usurper, only to have an arrow catch him in the shoulder, distracting him just long enough for the fiend to gut him too. By the time the Gekken turned traitor had been subdued, another Gekken nearby would turn against his own as well. It was maddening. Their masses were great enough that it wasn’t enough to derail their attack, but it caused growing concern amongst the soldiers. They had seen this all night long, and it shook them now, and distracted them at all times, knowing that seemingly any one of their brothers could turn on them and try to murder them without notice.

  Krex saw the toll this was having on his men. He saw them cowering. He saw them fearful. This would not do. They would not just wait for the human army to reach them. Sure, the arrows would hit more of them if they stood and rushed in, but it was worth it. They didn’t look like Gekken right now. They didn’t look fierce. They didn’t look strong. Krex screamed out the order, and the Gekken stood, abandoned all caution, and charged.

  As the Gekken screamed and rushed towards them, the archers rushed as quickly as they could to reload, but their hands shook, and they struggled to load and aim their bows. All formation for the Gekken was immediately broken. Gekken stormed towards the archers who had spread out to fire from the side, and they had no hope of defending themselves. They were butchered in moments. The archers in the middle of the field were protected as Raveena, Prince Treyan, and the soldiers they led rushed past them and met the Gekken head on. The archers on the hill still eagerly showered the Gekken in arrows, but within minutes the platoon Krex had sent attacked them from the trees, slaughtered the soldiers who had been placed there to protect them, and every archer was separated from life and limb. In their place, the Gekken archers took their position. They loaded their great bows and fired down on the human soldiers as they met the Gekken horde head on. The Gekken arrows were large, and their bows great and powerful, and they were able to pierce the armor of many of the humans. The human archers on the field turned their attention to the Gekken archers and fired up at them, and a great battle began between them. As they focused on each other, the armies below crashed into each other in a sea of blood. Limbs were severed, flesh, muscle, and bone cleaved.

  Raveena took notice of the Gekken archers. She was surprised by their appearance. She hadn’t prepared for this, and she instantly felt a sense of panic. The Gekken they’d fought before hadn’t had any archers amongst them. Some of the Gekken archers held great bows that were made out of thick tree limbs that they bent with their massive strength, bows that stood from the ground to over their heads, that fired giant arrows that hit with such fierce momentum that they could burst through the strongest armor the humans wore. She watched as one of the arrows burst right through the chest
plate of a Kraulian warrior and obliterated him. For the moment, most of the Gekken archers were focused on the human archers who were firing up at them, but that war would be won by the Gekken, she knew, and once they were free to take aim at the humans undeterred she felt that the tide of the battle would turn against them instantly and fatally. She looked around, trying to think if there was some way to signal Shyrea. She screamed for her, but it was no use. There was no way to distinguish her voice from any other over any sort of distance, what with all the noise on the battlefield. She screamed out Shyrea’s name at the top of her voice, but there was nothing, and in a moment two Gekken were upon her, and her focus was forced back to fighting for her life.

  Wrathe and his men continued their search. He was angry that they were missing the great battle, the sounds of which could be heard in the distance. They’d waited all night for the chance to fight, and now here they were, far from the action. He wanted to finish this mission with as much haste as possible. Their search had been fruitless, and he and both of his men were growing tired of it. He ordered them to spread out, so that they may cover more ground faster. If they found the source, they would signal one another, and if they found nothing, they would reconvene at a fixed point in half an hour. One of his men headed northeast of their location, one headed south, and Wrathe himself kept going southeast, towards a spot where the terrain lowered into a ravine.

  Kiella heard footsteps. She shuddered as she heard him coming down the edge of the ravine. She looked around her. There was no hope, was there? She picked up the bow. She found a dip in the rocky floor of the cavern, a spot where she could anchor the bow, so that she could bend it back with both hands gripping the top. She leaned on it with her shoulder, putting as much weight upon it as she could to keep it bent as she loaded an arrow. She knew she’d probably only get one shot. She wished she hadn’t given up on it so quickly earlier. She wished she had practiced. She saw that it could be done. Though her ribs screamed out in pain as she strained, she could bend the bow in this fashion. The trick would be keeping it steady and on point as she loaded it and fired. And she would have to account for the arrow’s trajectory. If her ability to bend the bow and to pull back the arrow before firing was so weak, then surely she would have to aim high. Yet, the strength of the bow was so mighty that she knew that the arrow would travel fast enough that if the target were not too far away she should be able to hit it.