Chapter 11
Kieran watched from atop the battlements of his castle as the black forms of the gihox moved within the evening mist across the moat. He took great pains not to show any of the anxiety he was feeling, for he was the king, and could not afford such luxuries as fear. The men lining the long parapets around him looked to him for courage and guidance, and they had to feel as if he were invincible, immune to defeat. It was easier said than done not to let his fear show, for this would be his first time presiding over a battle.
Kieran glanced over his shoulder at the catapult crews down in the courtyard, and wondered if the war machines would even make a dent in the invading army before their supply of ammunition would run out. He refrained from shaking his head, and gave a particularly nervous man operating a catapult a reassuring smile. He then turned his attention back to the gathered army across the moat. He could barely suppress a chill as he counted the war machines the enemy had brought to lay waste to his castle.
Kieran reached up to finger the crown atop his brow, as if to remind himself of the responsibilities he had toward his people. It was a heavy responsibility, one that threatened to crush him beneath its weight. Still he took comfort in knowing that he had capable and competent friends serving as his commanders and advisers. Ky and Boomer were each in charge of a squad of soldiers, and Team Tuatha helped the catapult crews. Baphamel commanded his own squad of refugees who had done exceptionally well in the fighting arts training he had given them.
Kieran had received a message a few hours earlier, where he had been informed that a friendly army had come to Ireland to help fight the gihox. The army was under the control of the Redakai, and was supposedly only used in the most dire of times. The Redakai were a peaceful order, after all. But still, the news had given him fleeting comfort, for mere minutes later he had received the news that the evil giants were nearly on his doorstep. The army of the Redakai would never be able to get to the castle in time.
Kieran watched as two figures stepped forth from the gihox ranks, and the young king held binoculars up before his eyes, studying them. One was a gihox, the largest and ugliest of the large and ugly creatures he had ever seen in his life. Its face was a disfigured mass of white scar tissue that reached from hairline to neck, and on its arm it wore a dark blue sleeve of some sort. The other was half the height of his gihox counterpart, with green skin, and blue hair that was slicked back to reveal a face sporting an eye-patch. The generals of the gihox army.
Kieran heard the shuffle of feet and turned to regard a soldier loping toward him. ''The secret underwater tunnel leading into the castle has been collapsed as you ordered, your majesty,'' the soldier dropped a slight bow with fist to heart. He straightened, and straightened the helmet on his head. ''The gates there have been closed and barred, and guards have been posted there in case the gihox are craftier than we believe.'' The young king thanked the man and ordered him to take his place on the parapet.
Karbraxis drew his huge sword from his back and Zane performed a gesture that made the thick blade catch fire. Kieran understood that the battle was about to begin, and he ordered his soldiers to brace themselves. The gihox general waved his flaming sword above his head, and the catapults and ballistae behind him opened fire. Great stones and spears longer than a gihox was tall were hurled at the castle. Most of the missiles struck the walls and did some damage to them, but others hit soldiers, crushing bone and tearing flesh.
''Loose the catapults,'' the king waved his own sword, and the sky was filled with purple balls of energy that crashed into the gihox throng. Again and again the catapults fired, killing many giants, but their ranks remained deep and seemed undiminished. And all the while, the gihox war engines pelted the walls and parapets. The ground shook beneath the sheer fury of the exchange, many died and more were wounded.
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Zane stood off to the side of the battle, watching the projectiles soar back and forth through the air, cracking stone and ending lives. He reminded himself that he had a job to do, and so he took up his x-reader and flipped through his attacks. The one eyed general selected the one he needed, and then he grasped the air with his free hand. ''MAGMA MACE!'' he roared, a mace of red magma, mottled with black appearing in his waiting grasp. Laughing maniacally, he pointed the weapon at the moat, and lava spewed forth from it.
The water boiled and hissed in protest and a huge cloud of steam rose into the air, reducing visibility to nothing. But that was not the purpose of this move, for leading through the cloud of steam and all the way to the gates was a bridge of cooling magma. Zane rushed off then, for he needed to create several more walkways for his troops.
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Ky swore under his breath as he watched a line of gihox strike out across the bridge, moving slowly but steadily through the cloud of steam. He heard Kieran issue a command and the riflemen all along the walls concentrated their fire on the advancing gihox. But the shots were repelled by their broad shields, which overlapped on top and on the sides to form what seemed to be an enormous, armored slug. The column reached the gates and the shields in front were pulled back to admit a crew of gihox holding a battering ram.
''Brace the gate,'' the king shouted, and men rushed to do just that. Off to the side there came the sound of more magma hitting water, and another cloud of steam rose into the air. He saw gihox with huge ladders rush across the cooling walkway toward a less heavily defended section of the wall, and Baphamel and his soldiers rushed to take care of it. Ky noticed that the gihox across the moat were assembling boats on the bank.
Ky spotted the gihox general where it was bellowing commands in its stony voice, and he felt anger welling up inside of him. He crouched behind a tooth in the battlement and flipped through his x-drives, then selected the appropriate attack. He rose and extended his arm out toward the behemoth. ''PLASMA ENERGY BLAST!'' he roared through the din of the battle, and a line of orange energy engulfed the disfigured general. The young man gave a grim smile, thinking that he had done it.
The attack should have taken the gihox down, but when the orange energy dissipated a few moments later, he saw the truth of it. Karbraxis stood firm on the smoldering ground, his dark blue sleeve glowing slightly. The other gihox pushed each other back in an effort to keep away from where the attack had landed. The ugly general grabbed a spear from one of his underlings and heaved it across the moat, straight at the young Stax.
Ky desperately threw up a protective barrier of his inner kairu, and the spear banged off its surface. It was enough to save his life, but the impact was still strong enough to shatter the barrier, and throw him down from the parapet. He landed heavily on his back in the courtyard, and all the air was blasted from his lungs, leaving him gasping. He rolled over onto his stomach and rose to his knees. The three members of Team Tuatha rushed over to give him a hand.
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Baphamel watched the refugees he had trained in the fighting arts with pride, as they fought the gihox coming up the ladders and over the wall. They were doing well for people who had had very little time to train, working together to fell one behemoth after the other. One by one the ladders were pushed out from the wall, and those gihox who got over the wall found no lasting hold.
A gihox reared its ugly head over the top of a ladder and gained the parapet, thick cudgel swinging at the ready. It charged at Baphamel, no doubt thinking that this man, short even by the low standards of humans, and unarmed, whereas many of the other humans were using quarterstaves, would be an easy kill. The master charged to meet the gihox, but then reversed his momentum and jumped back as the heavy cudgel chopped down. The weight of the weapon forced the gihox to bend over, bringing its head dangerously close to the dangerous kairu master.
Baphamel set himself firmly and launched into a spinning circle kick that caught the gihox square in the face. The behemoth roared and stumbled back on its heel, blood dripping from the crushed socket of one eye. The master gritted his teeth and leaped at the gihox, crashing into its chest. The overbalanced creature toppled over the teeth in the battlement and crashed down on its companion coming up the ladder, taking them both down to the ground. The ladder fell away and into the milling throng below.
Baphamel leaped onto the battlement, and sprang into the air in a trajectory that would land him in the middle of the gihox. The behemoths glanced up but thought little of him, probably believing him to have been thrown over by one of their own. That was their mistake, for he extended his arms, and dozens of slime grenades shot from him. The bombs detonated, sending several gihox flying away to splash into the moat. The master landed and charged the closest behemoth, felling it in short order, then moving on to the next.
Baphamel dropped one gihox to the ground and glanced about, looking for another target to beat up. When he saw that the gihox were backing away from him and forming into groups he decided the jig was up, and turned for the wall, thinking to jet jump up onto the parapet and join his squad once more. He stopped dead in his tracks though, as he heard a call from behind, and turned to regard Zane, the one eyed general loping toward him with a wicked grin plastered across his face.
''Nobody touch him,'' Zane said as he moved to the front of the gihox throng. ''He's mine, and anyone who interferes will answer to me. Understood?'' He turned his attention fully on the newly appointed Redakai master, his single, dark eye burning with hate. ''I'm going to make you pay for humiliating me back at the tournament.'' He pressed his knuckles together and dropped into the customary bow, glare never leaving Baphamel. ''I challenge you to a kairu battle.''
Baphamel felt his mouth stretch into a wolfish smile as he reciprocated the bow, and the sky above them started to churn. Blue lightning flashed and thunder rolled, further adding to the titanic atmosphere of the battle. The wind picked up, tugging at their clothing and making the water of the moat splash against the walkway. They both assumed fighting stances.
''MANAGARM!'' Zane was enveloped by yellow energy and when it dissipated he was in the guise of his signature monster. His claws dug grooves in the stone of the walkway, and the wind grabbed at his shaggy coat of black fur. He reared his monstrous, lupine head back and let out a howl that carried across the battle, and then he turned his one eyed stare on his opponent, his red eye glowing eagerly as if with the flames of hell itself. ''I am going to tear you apart,'' the wolf said in a horrible, grating voice.
''You will try,'' Baphamel said under his breath.
Zane slowly shifted his weight from his rear left foot to his rear right, and Baphamel recognized his opponent to be readying for a leap. The kairu master grasped at the air and a flaming sword appeared in his hand. Then with a snarl the wolf leaped in at him, muzzle split open and trailing drool, claws extended. Baphamel spun to the side, slashing at the wolf as he came around, the fiery blade barely missing a foreleg. The wolf skidded across the ground as he landed, claws tearing up the stone, sparks flying. He leaped away as the fiery sword came flashing back across.
Zane pivoted as he landed and launched himself back at the kairu master, catching the blade of the sword in his teeth and yanking it from his grasp. The wolf spit it out, wisps of smoke wafting from the corners of his mouth. The wolf was clearly burned and in pain, though that only made him appear more menacing, red eye twitching madly. Baphamel did not show any sign of fear, but set himself firmly on the ground in preparation for the fearsome charge he knew was coming.
''ENERGY WHIPLASH!'' Baphamel shouted, darting to the side as Zane sprang at him, and pulled at the conjured energy rope. The cord had become partially tangled around the feet of the wolf, and when the beast sprang again, the kairu master just spun out of the clench and gave another tug, further trapping the wolf. The creature toppled over and to the ground, writhing with his legs bound together. The wolf strained against his bindings, but they held him fast, which made him fight against them even harder. Then the energy cord flickered and broke apart, the general rising to his feet.
Baphamel backed away from his opponent, moving slowly as to not provoke the creature with a sudden movement. He felt the stone of the wall press against his back, and he set himself firmly, using his inner kairu to strengthen his body. Zane sprang at him, claws extended and soaring for his throat. But the kairu master had planned for him to do that, and so he extended his own hands and waited for the right moment to strike. ''JET JUMP!'' he shouted, and green energy burst from his palms with tremendous force, pinning him painfully against the wall, but hurling the wolf back into the gihox.
Baphamel turned his arms down to hurl himself into the air, flipping nimbly up onto the parapet, and surveying the milling throng below. Zane scrambled back to his feet and snapped his gaze up to meet that of his enemy. ''SNIPER SIGHT!'' the kairu master shouted, and a thin, green beam shot from his hand. The wolf leaped aside, the beam tearing up the ground where he had been standing. Several more beams followed, but the wolf managed to dodge each one.
Zane issued a low growl with his fangs bared, and then his powerful legs twitched, carrying him in a great leap that brought him halfway up the wall. He dug his claws into the stone and gained a firm hold, then leaped up the rest of the way to the parapet. Baphamel narrowed his eyes and channeled his inner kairu into his arm. He gave a snarl of his own, then struck the wolf hard on the skull, right between the eyes. There came a bright flash of bluish-white light, but the wolf was not knocked back down from the wall.
Baphamel was not able to completely dodge as the wolf soared over the parapet, and the creature crashed into his shoulder. It was but a glancing hit, but still enough to make the kairu master spin, though he was able to stay on his feet. He centered his balance with the reflexes he had been honing ever since the murder of his family all those years ago. The kairu master fell into a fighting crouch, his shoulder throbbing. Zane staggered back to his padded feet, narrowing his single, glowing eye.
Zane surprised the kairu master then, for there came a yellow flash and when it was gone the general was back in his humanoid form. He had a massive bruise stretching from forehead to temple, making him seem even more angry. He growled something and a sword made of greenish shadows appeared out of thin air, and he flourished it with diagonal cuts, drawing lines in the stone. Baphamel channeled his inner kairu into both his arms, making them glow faintly.
The two circled slowly, then clashed together with unbridled fury.
To be continued…
I was looking forward to writing this chapter. I have always wanted to write a battle scene with one side defending a castle.
Here is another song for a character:
Cat (I know I already did a song for her, but this one fits her way better) = Vi's theme song, from League of Legends.