I have been looking forward to writing this chapter for so long, but here it is at last. Enjoy :)

Chapter 14

Ky came awake with a start as the gihox jailer opened the door to the dungeon cell that he shared with five other soldiers. Several armed gihox rushed into the room and herded him and his fellow prisoners out into the dungeon hallway. One brute picked up a man as if he were weightless, then held a thick-bladed knife to his neck and smiled, daring the young kairu champion to make a move. The men were led out of the dungeons and into the rubble-filled courtyard, making Ky wish he was back in the dungeon. For as bad as the air was down there, it was not filled with the stench of death that permeated this place.

Ky followed a gihox along a walkway crossing the moat, and into the gihox camp where he was to await his execution. A brute grabbed him roughly by the shoulder and separated him from the other five men, taking him off to the side. The gihox around him were all staring at him intently, weapons at the ready in case he tried something. The other men from his cell were herded into a larger group of men. Ky noticed that one of the gihox guarding that particular group had several x-readers on its belt. He dismissed any notion of trying to get to it, for his captors would strike him dead if he so much as twitched.

Ky looked around and spotted other kairu warriors, all of which were held separate from one another and from the regular soldiers. Dusibol was sprawled on the ground some distance away, critically injured after having been sprayed by shrapnel from an exploding catapult. Several gihox were standing a relaxed guard over the wounded man, and from time to time they prodded and kicked him. Yu Lin was screaming at the gihox to leave him alone, but that only urged them to greater levels of cruelty, and so she eventually stopped. Instead she just stared forlornly at her fallen friend with tear-stained eyes. Baphamel was not only under heavy guard, but was wrapped in chains as well, with a sturdy padlock on the front.

The gihox throng gathered to watch the executions quieted, and many of them parted to form a corridor of corded muscle and ruddy-brown flesh. Malice came striding along that corridor, her black cloak trailing behind her as she made her way toward the huge dais and the throne atop it, Zane following right on her heel. The dark spirit sat down on her massive throne, and her general took up a position beside her on the dais.

Zane looked at Ky and flashed him a vastly superior grin, but the kairu champion barely noticed. He was too busy wondering if he might manage to break free long enough to scale the dais and throw Malice on to the pyre once it was lit. It was tempting, but he dismissed that notion anyway, knowing he would be dead before he ever managed to reach the bottom of the dais. But would that be so bad, for then he would not have to watch his friends get thrown on the pyre and burned alive. And it would rob his enemies of the satisfaction of watching him scream on the pyre.

''Let the girl join her friend,'' Malice ordered, and the gihox guarding Yu Lin allowed her to go to the unconscious Dusibol. It seemed an uncharacteristic gesture of kindness from the dark spirit, but Ky knew the truth of it. The wretch wanted Yu Lin to experience hope. She wanted her to believe that perhaps there was a chance for her to help her injured friend, and that hope would only make his inevitable death all the more devastating for her. Malice smiled all the wider a short while later, when Yu Lin started crying and shaking her head, indicating that her friend was dead. Francesco cried out in rage and tried to break through the gihox blocking him off from his friend, but he was just knocked down to his knees.

''Damn you,'' Baphamel growled and fought against his chains, but he was unable to break through them.

Malice just laughed and motioned to a gihox nearby, and the brute stepped forward and touched its torch to the pyre. The logs and branches and furniture caught fire easily, and before long the whole thing was burning brightly. The dark spirit motioned toward a pair of gihox, who dragged Kieran McCann to the bottom of the dais. The young king had been stripped of his clothing, and stood completely naked before the dark spirit. It was meant as an insult, a means to humiliate him, but he stood tall and proud, staring unblinking at the petite creature seated on the throne.

''Kieran McCann,'' the dark spirit cried in a kairu enhanced voice. ''Your castle lies in ruins before me, and you and your men face execution. But this does not have to end in your death and the deaths of your men. You have the power to save their lives, if only you bend knee and serve me faithfully. What say you?''

''I say you are trying to make me forsake my principles,'' Kieran said. ''You would still give me to the flames, even if I agreed to join you.''

''Smart man,'' Malice chuckled, and the two gihox flanking the young king grabbed him and dragged him toward the burning pyre. They moved as if to throw him in, but then they paused, staring into the flames. The attention of everyone in attendance, human and gihox alike, went to the pyre. Its burning branches were rustling and shaking, and a black figure could be seen moving within its depths.

xxxxx

Maya strode through the inferno, her body covered from head to toe in a bluish-white glow, a shield that protected her from the bite of the fire. She knew she might not survive the coming encounter, but that did not deter her course, for her friends needed her. She peered through the inferno, flames rearing up before her eyes, but she was still able to see the vague shape of her evil counterpart, the figure atop the dais. She could feel hatred for that singular figure coursing through her in a raging torrent, threatening to interrupt her concentration and drop her fire shield, but she clung to it stubbornly as she strode on.

Maya burst out of the flames and into the open, swinging her quarterstaff at the pair of gihox that were holding Kieran. The behemoths were taken completely by surprise, and they went down easily at the end of her wrath. The camp around the pyre went silent for but a single moment, though it seemed to last much longer. She looked at her friends, who were all staring open mouthed at her. She smiled at them, but then her gaze shifted to the top of the dais, and her smile hardened into a dangerous scowl.

Malice was staring down at her, her face drained of blood, her purple eyes wide with horror, her mouth working soundlessly. At last the dark spirit seemed to find her voice, and started to bark a command to have all the prisoners slain, but Maya was the quicker. Her arm shot out, and a bolt of blue-white lightning struck the dark spirit squarely in the chest, making her muscles jerk spasmodically, before hurling her back into her throne. She took the great chair tumbling down the back of the dais with a resounding crash.

Maya rushed over to help Ky defeat a trio of gihox, and they dropped them to the ground in a few heartbeats. She moved as if to rush off to engage another contingent of the behemoths, but the young man grabbed her by the arm and turned her to face him. He was trying to say something, but no words came out of his mouth. Several memories came fluttering back to her, and a sensation of warmth blossomed within her, warmth reflected in the affectionate smile she beamed his way.

A mighty roar had them turning to the dais, just in time to see a massive tail smash the raised platform into a thousand pieces. A horned head reared over the rubble and opened its enormous, fanged maw, purple light washing over the pair as the dragoness charged her breath weapon. Suddenly a caper class ship with an orange paint job shot across in front of the beast, and something shot from it and into its gaping mouth. It was some sort of putrid, greenish slime, and a memory told Maya that it was a traditional dish from a planet that had been destroyed several years ago.

''Have no fear, Mookee's here!'' cried a voice from the loud speaker of the ship, as it banked hard to the right and turned about.

Malice spat out the last of the vile slime, and looked up at the approaching ship. She opened her mouth again, preparing to knock the craft out of the sky. But even as the blast of purple energy shot forth, the X-caper shot to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack. The ship slammed full force into the dragoness, knocking her over to crush a gihox in the process. But as the ship hit, it bounced off its scaly hide, and headed back into the sky. Kieran was still naked, but he had found a sword. He raised the weapon and charged at the dragoness, hacking at her scales like a glorious madman.

Maya looked around to see soldiers fighting gihox, to see Francesco and Yu Lin fighting to avenge the death of their friend. Baphamel was not far away, darting about like a caged beast, breaking bones and dropping gihox in piles, and the men and women he had trained in the fighting arts fought with precision and fury. Boomer dropped a gihox to the ground and took the x-readers the brute had been carrying on its belt and threw one over to Ky, who promptly mounted it on his wrist. That done the three friends started toward the fallen dragoness.

But the gihox were simply too numerous, and they were armed whereas many of the humans carried only rocks and sticks. And as the surprise started to wear off, the behemoths began to fight with more coordination and precision. They slew one human after the other, cutting them apart with their huge, wedge-shaped swords, monstrous spears, and clubs that seemed more like uprooted trees. For a time it seemed as if the gihox would carry the day, through sheer brute force and savagery.

But then a horn blast sounded in the fog drifting among the trees of the forest, and then more blasts followed, one after the other. Soldiers wearing blue and white uniforms appeared from the forest, gliding out of the fog like ghosts. At their head were several men wearing gray and red robes. Foremost among them was master Quantis, the head of the Redakai. He snapped off a wave, and the army of the order surged forward, attacking the gihox host with practiced efficiency.

Malice staggered back to her feet and fixed Maya with a hateful glare, then she pivoted, swinging her tail around to crush her enemies. But they managed to evade, and so she just bounded a few steps away. She glanced about to see gihox falling dead by the score, to see her army crumbling around her. Her attention went back to Kieran and the members of Team Stax who were charging at her, and then she looked at the masters of the Redakai who were also coming her way. One eye twitching with anger, she swung about, took a few running strides and took off into the air.

Malice glided over the battlefield until she spotted Zane where he was being pressed hard by several soldiers. The dragoness roared and upturned her wings, rear legs extending to grab him in a clawed foot, then she carried her flailing lover away. And all the while she thought of the catastrophe that had befallen her. Her plans were ruined, her army defeated, except for the meager garrison of her castle. Seething, she let out a thunderous cry of rage and frustration, as she soared away from the battlefield on leathery wings, leaving her soldiers to fend for themselves.

With her gone, the battle was over in minutes.

To be continued...