Airel: The Discovering (Airel Saga Book Two)

Chapter III

Arabia—1250 B.C.

 

HOLD UNTIL I MAKE contact. Kreios stood alone, the Shadowers’ gift cutting a divot around his position, leaving him exposed and fully visible to the enemy on the moonlit little hill. I want them to believe they are fighting only one.

The clanking, ripping sounds of the demonic army came through the night to the angels, much clearer now as the horde began to emerge from the forest in a swarm, torches held high.

This was the kind of day for which he had been made. Kreios felt the leeching pull of the horde begin to try to attack him, but the Sword deflected it, even adding to his reserve. Stand ready the trumpet…

The army ascended the hill, weapons and teeth bared.

Kreios stood still, resolute.

Like the point of a spear, the first wave of the horde attack converged on Kreios, assuming he was ready to martyr himself, and that the fight would be over before it had started. Wicked men and demons ran on top of each other and killed one another in order to be the first to reach Kreios and snuff out his life. Trumpeter, sound the attack. Kreios held up the Sword, and Glory sprang forth from it in long spiraling webs of light. The enemy army threw up their hands to cover their eyes, but it was too late. Blindness overcame them and they fell, crying out in agony, crashing to the earth, clawing at their eyes. Their coming damnation was revealed to them by the light of the Sword; the trumpet resounded, and the Shadowers covered Kreios. The first angelic wave charged immediately, killing two or three of the cowering horde with each strike of the blade, axe, and mace.

Kreios moved lightly, wading through the horde, parrying, stabbing, cutting. The thirteen at Kreios’ side were unmatched. One of them, Veridon, at least a head above the rest, wielded the mace and took three or four of the enemy with each swing. The demons attacked each other in panic as they tried to meet with their invisible enemy.

A monstrous man worked his way toward Kreios, keying on the body parts that were being thrown outward from where he stood. A club was in his hands, dripping with blood. Spikes protruded from its working surface. Kreios leaped into the air, Sword held high, and brought it down squarely on the man’s crown, splitting his head in two. A fountain of black blood rushed forth from the man’s wound as he fell to the earth, flopping like a headless fish.

Kreios saw that this hordesman was still unmanifest, his Brother still hiding within him. Some have not yet divided their forms. The message was received, and the angelic army engaged with redoubled vigor.

The Seer hovered above the trees, robes billowing wickedly, chanting in ancient tongue a powerful spell. With upraised hands, he finished the incantation, and red flame sprang up from his feet, licking at his body to a point well above his head, removing his human form from view, and casting an eerie light on the battlefield. The incantation created an expansive shroud over the field of battle.

Then the gift of the Shadowers began to recede. The angelic army on the ground was no longer hidden, the protective shadow pierced by the power of the Seer’s diabolical shroud. The angelic army at Kreios’ side came into full view of the enemy. The tide on the battlefield turned, and Kreios saw his warriors begin to fall quickly before the demonic horde.

Kreios could feel his anger rise; he could sense each one of his men as they died, could hear them cry out in his mind. How could the Seer have known of our Shadowers? He did not allow himself to think about the treachery of the council now.

He searched through the ether for the mind of Yamanu. You must throw in your troops now, Yamanu. We fight to the death from here on.

The angelic second wave moved in thunderously, and there was the sound in the treetops of a great army. Kreios breathed more freely as fresh troops landed at his side, and the spent troops retreated to the safety of Yamanu’s shadow in the air. The angels were much stronger than the Brotherhood, but the advantage would be short-lived if not for the Sword.