A Promise of Vengeance

10. Victas

Victas

Tobias led the way toward town, followed closely by Rahg, Darstan and Magmar. A familiar cluster of maples sat upon the ridge, signaling a downslope of the knoll at the edge of town. Almost there, Rahg thought. I just pray it's not too late.

Exhaustion had been a companion most of the morning. Rahg's back and legs ached, and lather lay heavy on his mount's neck. He dug his heels in. "Come on, boy, just enough to top the ridge then it's downhill to town."

The challenge of the final hill fell to the strained pounding of the hooves, bringing the valley and Twin Forks into sight. Rahg's shoulders slumped and his mouth fell open. Buildings and houses were aflame and black smoke hung thick in the air. He gagged with the next breath. "Darstan, what's that stink?"

Tobias urged his mount forward. "Ride, lads. Ride hard! That's people you smell burnin’.”

Fire had razed several buildings and more than a few houses. Six men crowded together on the steps of Havril's Inn, but twice as many Victas surrounded them, each clawed hand clasping a bloody sword or axe. Bodies littered the square like autumn leaves.

Rahg panicked when he saw the Victas. They stood as tall as men, with green scales and claws shaped like hands. The cold, damp chill of fear seized him.

"Keep up, Rahg. Follow me!" Tobias charged toward town brandishing his sword. "Stay close."

Rahg, Darstan, and Magmar dug heels in and raced after Tobias. Rahg's horse responded with a lunge. Kor Trasken, Eru, and two others were fighting a group of ten Victas near the Grandel's house on the east side of the square. Tobias veered his mount in that direction.

Rahg's fear turned to anger, then rage. His body grew hot and blood boiled. Though he asked for speed, the horses moved slower as they roared through the soft, newly planted field, clumps of dirt spraying Rahg with each stride. Two Victas jumped from behind a tree, racing to intercept him.

"On the right!" Tobias yelled, and turned to attack. He dispatched the first Victa with one blow, while Magmar's first strike merely delivered a wound, though the second blow killed it. "Be prepared." Tobias reminded them.

Rahg held onto his sword like a vise in the blacksmith's shop. Soon he had to relax his grip or risk losing control. A slap on his mount's flanks had the horse moving toward Kor and Eru. As they rode through town, Rahg's mount sidestepped a corpse.

"It's the Marg boy," Rahg said. The boy had a deep gash in his face and his skull was smashed. Tears wet Rahg's cheeks. He choked down bile rising in his throat.

Mrs. Nasher's scream ripped his attention to the left, where she scrambled to escape a pursuing Victa. Rahg winced as a Victa axe dug into her back. The last meal Rahg ate threatened to surface, but he somehow forced it down, remained calm.

Havril raced from around the corner and stabbed the lizard, dropping it. They worked their way to a position between the Grandel's house and the one next to it, where Kor and Eru fought. Havril's Inn lay north of them, just across the square and a little west.

"Bows!" Tobias ordered as he dismounted.

Rahg nocked an arrow when a large Victa, painted the color of blood, leapt from the roof of the house. Two arrows struck the lizard, one in the throat, the other in the chest. Darstan nocked another arrow and claimed his second kill with a shot to the head. Four more lizards died, while three more, with wounds that would have killed a man, continued fighting with arrows protruding from their backs. "God's mercy, but they're hard to kill."

"Wattle!" Tobias yelled above the din. "Try and hit that soft skin hanging below their chins. That's the most vulnerable spot."

Tobias led the charge with steel flying. Rahg spied a large Victa about to get Eru. He stabbed his first victim in the back. The shock of the impact stopped him short, his arm aching from the jolt. This was much worse than the sacks of dirt Kor had them practice with. The feel of that blade digging through scales and muscles produced an eerie feeling—somewhat sickening but somewhat good.

The axe of another Victa just missed Rahg's head, Eru blocked the blow aimed at Rahg, then carried through with a s***h that crippled the Victa's leg. Rahg killed it with a chop to the throat. This kill produced no queasy feelings.

Darstan slew the last Victa in the group, then stopped to catch his breath. He breathed slowly. Green Victa blood stained his black hair and streaked his face, and blood from his own wound stained his shirt. He shook his head and took a sip of water from a flask Kor handed him. "I hope Ben wasn't in his house when it burnt. Look at it; it’s all but gone.”

"I haven't seen him," Eru said, wiping sweat and grime from his face. He grabbed hold of Darstan's shoulder. "Did you see our house? God's sake, there’s nothing left.”

The Trasken's house had been razed to the foundation, a chimney standing tall like a towering emerald all that remained. Darstan just stared.

Darstan coughed, forcing a hand to cover his mouth, and he wiped tearing brown eyes on the sleeve of his shirt. The smoke tasted oily, rancid. "Damn, Rahg! That disgusting smell is people burning." He spat until his mouth was dry.

"I know, Darstan. Tobias told us on the way in.”

Kor Trasken stood next to Tobias. "A score of Sykoran soldiers came just before the attack. They're all dead, but they took a lot of Victas with them."

"I don't need to know who's dead. Catch hold of yourself, Kor. How many people are left?"

"There are a handful of people inside of Havril's, and we sent some of the women and children to Arn Bulta's earlier. I pray they got away. Everyone else is dead." Kor's head hung low. "I don't think we can make it, Tobias. Too many of them."

"What about Kanella?" Rahg asked.

"I wish I knew, lad, but I don't." Tears formed in Kor's eyes.

"C'mon," Tobias said. "We've got to get to the inn."

"More coming!" Magmar called.

Darstan cleaned the blood off his blade and gave it a quick snap with his wrists. "Guess we better get going. That may be the last reprieve we get.”

Tobias unsheathed his sword. "We need to get to Havril's now!"

They ran toward the inn, but as they crossed the square, splattering through pools of blood and leaping over corpses, a large group of Victas moved to block their path. Another band advanced from the east, poised to hit their flanks.

An anguished scream from Havril tore Rahg's eyes in that direction.

"Kora! My baby Kora!" Havril knelt and grabbed her limp body, squeezed her to his chest. Blood mixed with her tangled hair, covering the right side of her face.

Tobias grabbed hold of Havril's shoulder. "C'mon, Havril, we need you alive. Martha and Ella might still be at the inn." Havril nodded, but he refused to let go of her. Finally, with prodding from Magmar, he set Kora down, easing her head on his coat. With Kor's help he stood, a man struggling to raise himself, to even survive.

They fought their way through a small band of Victas and made it to the side wall of the inn. Victas blocked the entrance and were closing in from all sides.

Rahg felt as if he had been fighting for days, though the sun still sat high over Kenner Peak. Bodies lay all over the square. I'll probably soon join them, he thought, then shifted his worry to wonder about Kanella. I hope she got away.

A fresh patrol of Victas mounted a furious charge, forcing the battle to resume. An immense, blood–splattered Victa sliced Darstan's arm with his short sword. When Darstan's defenses dropped, another Victa poised his axe to strike. Rahg stepped in to protect him and, while he and Darstan battled, he saw something strange from the periphery—a huge black stallion raced through the square, straight toward a group of Victas.

Astride him sat a man wearing a long black cloak that whipped wildly behind him. The horse trampled two Victas who had leapt in front of it, then lashed out with its back feet, striking a Victa in the head. Four more Victas rushed the stranger as he slipped from his mount. The black–cloaked man shouted challenges while standing in the square, still as a demon in a night wind.

The man wielded a sword in one hand and a trident–shaped swordbreaker in the other. The stranger's steel cut down two more Victas with little struggle. A madman had just joined their cause.

Rahg's stomach burned with the singe of steel—only a thin cut, but instinct spurred a quick response. He raised the sword in time to block a lethal blow from the Victa, but when he did, another one pressed the attack. Rahg's racing heart lent speed to his arms, but not enough; he'd never defeat two of them. Rahg shuddered when he looked into their beady black eyes. He had never felt such coldness. By the gods, but this is a horrible way to die.

The first lizard came at him, scales glinting with sunlight and stained red with blood. Rahg trembled. "Help, Darstan!" He tried blocking the blow but the axe beat him down. His knees buckled and his arms were too weak to hold the blade.

Tobias rushed to stave off the killing blow. "Get a grip on yourself, lad. If not, you'll die."

Tobias' blade cut the Victa's arm then, quick as a cat, he struck its neck. Before the second Victa could react, Tobias killed it also. Rahg had never pictured Tobias as much of a fighter, not much of anything except storyteller. "Thanks, Tobias. It would've gotten me if not for you."

"Save your breath, lad." Tobias reached down and took a short sword from the Victa's belt. "Use it as a shield." He then turned to Darstan. "Get that other sword. We need to get to the back door before they come again."

"I'm having trouble enough holding onto one sword."

Tobias turned around and glared. "Pick it up! You'll wish you had it when you go to block an axe and all you've got is your arm."

"Get the sword!" Magmar said. "More coming."

"Bows," Tobias shouted. "Shoot like they're targets, lads. Forget they're lizards."

Rahg dropped both swords and nocked an arrow, but he shook so much that the arrow wobbled on the draw. The arrow flew wide of its mark and the Victas were now too close to chance another shot. Tobias dropped one on his second shot, and even though Magmar had gotten two shots off, and both hits, the lizard rumbled toward them, arrows protruding from its chest like straw from a scarecrow. Darstan's first shot missed, like Rahg's. His second shot was only a leg wound. Kor, Eru, and Havril had spent all their arrows long ago.

"Watch it, Rahg!" Darstan screamed.

A Victa sword almost caught Ragh. Fear overtook him as the Victas approached. We shouldn't have come back. What good did we do? He blushed, and felt as if everyone knew his thoughts, as if his face had yellowed instead of reddened.

"Don't worry, lad. We're not dead yet."

Rahg jerked toward Tobias. Shame drowned his fear. "I'm scared, Tobias."

"Right now, lad, there's nobody more scared than I am. Just hold onto those swords and kill as many Victas as you can." Tobias laughed. "You can always tell when I'm scared, lad—I talk a lot."

Tobias had gotten Rahg to laugh. Their odds had not improved, but Rahg had voiced his fear and lived through the shame. Death might be bad, but perhaps it wasn't the worst of things. Rahg stepped toward the front. Somehow the swords felt lighter. He chanced a quick glance to the stranger, who was cutting down Victas like a bear does pack dogs.

"Blasted lizards!" Darstan yelled. "Blasted, bloody lizards!"

"I'm coming, Darstan," Eru yelled.

Rahg struggled against a Victa wielding an axe and a sword. The Victa backed him up against the wall. Rahg braced his elbow in his side, then shoved against one of the Victa claws holding the axe. The claw felt like steel and he cringed at the feel of the scales, like singed leather.

"You will all die," the Victa said. Its garbled voice sounded like rocks scraping together.

Rahg's arm gave way. The axe took a bite from his side and sliced his gut. Rahg winced but managed to strike a crippling blow to the lizard's right side followed by a killing strike to the throat.

Magmar looked over. "You all right?"

"I'm all right."

"Don't let 'em get so close," Kor said. "They're too strong."

"Anyone know who the stranger is?"

Two Victas rounded the corner and focused on Rahg.

"Hang on, lad." Kor Trasken's voice infused him with hope. As Rahg dodged a Victa axe, Kor's blade caught its neck. With one gone, Rahg and Kor dispatched the second one with little trouble.

"Thanks," Rahg said, while keeping his eyes alert.

"More comin'. Keep alive."

The only ones left were Darstan and Havril—guarding the left side—Tobias, Eru, and Magmar—at the front—and Rahg and Kor holding the right. And that madman.

Six more Victas reinforced their brood members, pushing hard on the front line. Tobias and Eru met them but soon had their backs pushing toward the wall. Havril rushed to relieve Tobias and drew three Victas at once. He flailed to keep them at bay.

"I'm coming, Havril," Kor yelled. He killed the Victa he was fighting then charged to save Havril but was too late, a Victa's axe had all but beheaded him.

"Watch it!" Darstan screamed.

A Victa axe chopped a rut in Kor's side, ripping through flesh and bone. Kor turned and reached for Eru before he died.

Eru leapt into the middle of four Victas, slashing with his blade. A badger guarding honey from a bear couldn't have been more ferocious.

"Eru, no!" Darstan screamed, but the warning went unheeded. Eru's quick sword slew two of them and wounded a third, but the fourth Victa delivered Eru's inevitable fate.

Rahg choked on his fear. "Eru, dead!"

The onslaught subsided when five of the Victas rushed to engage the madman. Two Victas succumbed to his steel before another patrol shifted to converge on him. The stranger whirled to face them, blades slashing and jabbing, drawing blood with every strike. Lightning-quick, he parried two blows, and with reflexes that a wolverine would envy, ducked, jabbed and sliced two more. He carved a path through the rest of the lizards and joined Rahg by the wall.

"Stab their backs when they come to get me, boy."

"I will," Rahg said, then heard a scream from Darstan.

"Father!"

It stabbed Rahg's heart. He felt certain that it was Darstan's death song, but when he stole a glance, he saw a knife in Magmar's gut, blood gushing from the wound. Darstan had the crazed look of Ned Barker just before he attacked the mountain cat.

"Father! are you all right?" Dread filled Rahg's bones. He struggled to make his way to Magmar, but Tobias stopped him.

"You won't do your father any good if you're dead. Stay alive. That's the best you can do for him. Now take hold of yourself."

Rahg knew Tobias was right but he had to get to Magmar.

Tobias butted him with his shoulder, knocking him back three steps. Rahg felt as if he'd been nudged by a bull. "You'll be dead as Eru if you don't listen, lad. Stay put!"

A few paces away the stranger fought-on. Whenever a Victa swung an axe or sword, his trident-shaped weapon caught it and twisted it out of the Victa's clawed grasp, then he followed through with a thrust and stabbed the lizard in the wattle. The stranger was killing quite a few Victas.

A flicker of hope lightened Rahg's sword, but only for a moment. Fresh Victa troops marched across the square with two rock dragons running ahead of them. Rahg gasped. They looked worse than he had imagined from Tobias' story. Rahg couldn't take his eyes off of them. Huge feet, like a bear's paw, supported gray scaly legs as thick as the young oaks at the sawmill, and their necks were as round as Havril's belly. Three giant claws on each foot dug into the ground as they moved, each step lifting their legs like a man trying to walk with his shoulders hunched up. Their heads were triangular and funneled to a long snout that housed daggers for teeth. Rahg shuddered when he saw their eyes—red as blood and staring right at him.

When the terrifying hiss came again, fear buckled his knees. He was about to lay down his sword when the stranger shouted and pointed toward the woods.

Off in the distance a shape appeared, a blurry mass the size of a black bear that bounded across the fields, its paws tearing at the soil and hurling clumps of dirt high in the air. Rahg tried to keep watch while he struggled against the renewed blows of sword and axe.

The huge shape surged forward with ground–eating strides. At one-hundred paces, the creature took the form of a giant black dog—a brilliant, blinding, glinting black that absorbed the rays of the sun then spat them back. The fur was as black as snow was white. It had the look of a dog, but it had no tail.

"Vargel!" Tobias shouted as if he just sighted a demon.

In the span of a few heartbeats the beast was within striking distance of the rock dragons. They turned to intercept it.

The vargel leapt and landed on the nearest rock dragon with a crunch that smashed the dragon's bones. With the next lunge it seized the second dragon by the throat, large teeth ripping through the soft underside to open a gaping wound. The first dragon, hampered by its shattered bones, then suffered a similar fate.

The vargel ignited fear in the Victas and they turned to confront it.

Green blood covered its massive jaws and dripped from huge teeth, meant for the rending of flesh. For tearing tendons and cracking bones. The vargel pounced on them before the Victas organized an attack. They flailed with sword and axe, but the vargel proved so swift that none of the blades drew more than a trickle of blood. The vargel finished with them and then charged the remaining Victas.

Rahg had decided the vargel was more dangerous than the stranger but it didn't matter, both delivered death-blows to the Victas—one with whirling blades of steel—the other with teeth as hard as steel. Before long, it was over. The Victas were dead.

At first, Rahg couldn't believe it. When no more Victas rushed to attack, the realization set in. Rahg's legs wobbled. He dropped to his knees and threw up. Then he saw Tobias holding Magmar. He jumped up and ran to him. "Is he alive?"

"Barely, lad. Just barely. I'm no healer, but I don't think even the best one could save him now. The wounds are too deep."

Rahg took Tobias' place, holding Magmar's head. "Father..." Tears filled Rahg's eyes and ran down his cheeks to mix with the dirt and dried blood. "Don't die. You can't. Not yet."

Darstan rushed over, blood dripping from wounds as bad as Rahg's. "Father, are you all right? Don't worry. We'll take care of you."

Tears traced Magmar's face, his raspy voice a whisper. "I loved both of you boys... Sorry to..."

Darstan knelt beside him. "Save your strength. You'll be all right."

"Listen to Tobias, he..." Magmar's eyes closed with his last breath.

Darstan found it difficult to swallow, and even harder to fight the tears. He pulled Rahg to his feet. "Rahg, I know how you feel but this won't do any good. Father would want us to take care of each other. He'd be glad that we're still alive."

Rahg nodded between sobs. He stood for a while, then stumbled toward the inn. He fell and lost consciousness before he hit the ground.

Darstan knelt beside his Rahg and wiped his head with a cloth. He stayed with him a few minutes, until Rahg came to, then he moved to kneel alongside of Magmar. He took Magmar’s bloody hand between his own. A lone tear traced his cheek as he whispered in his father's ear. "I love you. May the gods accept you as you are."

"Help me over here, lad."

Tobias brushed water on Rahg's face. He coughed as he woke, then jumped up on shaky legs. He looked to his father on the ground, then found Darstan and hugged him. "They killed him, for god's sake. He's dead!"

Darstan held back tears while he consoled Rahg. "Come on. We need to help get things ready. We'll get some shovels from Havril's and start digging graves."

The stranger spoke for the first time since the battle had ended. His voice was cold. "No time for graves. Get food and water and gather as many arrows as you can. Pull them out of the dead, but make sure to clean off the blood or they won't fly true."

"We've got to bury them!" Darstan shook as he said it.

The stranger turned a cold stare onto Darstan. "Boy, I know this was your village. I know these people were your friends and family, but there will be more Victas coming. They'll be here to check on these, and then they'll track us down."

"That's my father! I'll bury him even if I have to do it myself." Darstan stood tall and firm, brown eyes cloudy with tears and his black hair matted with sweat and blood.

The stranger looked at Tobias.

"Talk sense into them, old man. I'll search for survivors and bury their father." The man glared at Darstan. "We don't have time for words over his grave. You help get things together and find more horses. There may be Victa scouts watching us now."