The Hunter:Sun Warrior Chronicles Book 1

Chapter 10:First Strike

They made it to Urazal without further incidents.

Jukira went into a pub. As she entered, she felt someone reach out to her mind. She recognized Kortea. Kortea directed her to a table in a corner.

Kortea and three apprentices sat there, a mug of ale before Kortea, and glasses of valos juice before the three apprentices.

"A mug of ale, please" she said to the pub keeper, placing 8 bronze Roens on the counter. The pub keeper nodded and poured the drink. "Enjoy" she said, taking the coins.

Jukira took the mug and sat down at the corner table.

"We heard about the raid on Iloar. How many survived?" asked Kortea. "14 soldiers, and 38 villagers. We killed the pursuers. We just got here" Jukira replied.

"Good. Haarzen and Casar attacked Erlem. Only I and our seven students survived, but four were killed by a horde of Kyroans shortly after we left the city. Haarzen and Casar were last seen traveling to the far north, somewhere close to the Roveskal Plains. They passed by the other cities and villages, leaving them be. For what purpose, no one knows. But it must be something important" Kortea said.

"Perhaps we should follow them" said Jukira. "Perhaps, but not until Lumaira, Juralen and Talaeos get here. They sent us a message. They will be here in a few days. Then, we will discuss whether we should or not" Kortea replied.

"Anyway, how is training going?" Jukira asked, glancing at the apprentices. "Fine. Though we still can only draw on limited amounts of light" Caelorn, a male Athol, replied, his curved, pointed ears drooping slightly.

"Though their mental abilities outstrip mine. Even the older Athols and Kalkars can not match their raw potency" said Kortea. Caelorn, Ernea and Laita perked up slightly, the latter two's head tails waving slightly. Caelorn's ears rose back to their original position, and his tail swished around. Kortea and Jukira smiled slightly at the young warriors. "Caelorn's screech is lethal, too. My ears hurt for over 8 hours after he blasted off during our sparring session. Everyone within several hundred meters heard that" Kortea said. Caelorn smiled, somewhat guiltily. Ernea and Laita's head tails flicked in annoyance.

"Anyway, has anything interesting happened here?" asked Jukira. "Nothing. Not even the typical gang raids" Ernea replied. "I trust that if anything did happen, you would be able to handle it" Jukira said, as she drank from her mug. The Kalkar's black skin turned quickly turned bright orange. "You are flattering... master" she said. Jukira and Kortea laughed. "Well, it's about time for us to go. Get some training done. Want to join us?" asked Kortea. "Yea, why not" Jukira replied. They finished their drinks and exited the pub. Kortea led them to a quieter area.

Caelorn, Ernea and Laita performed several acrobatic exercises. After that, Kortea had them practice various drills.

Jukira now understood what they meant-neither Ernea, nor Caelorn or Laita could conjure anything more than several balls of light at a time, and their shields were rather flimsy. Their physical enhancement was also severely lacking. But they made up for this deficiency with mental abilities impressive even for members of their species, lightning and telekinesis, and advanced skills with their swords, and excellent marksmanship. All three of them were able to contend with Kortea's telekinesis, and their lightning surpassed Talaeos's and her own, and matched Lumaira's. Their martial abilities were on par with Pyron, who had been a powerful Sun Warrior in his own right.

Caelorn and Ernea faced each other. Caelorn attacked with his sundaggers, and Ernea blocked with her curved sunsword. She evaded a slash and pushed him away with a triple kick to the chest, He attacked again, leaping over her slash and spun, kicking her on the chest, and slammed his fingertips into her gut. He channeled lightning, and threw her backwards. She retaliated with telekinesis, sending a barrage of loose objects at him. He defended with his own telekinesis, and sent out more lightning. She held out her hand, repelling the bolts. He channeled the energy into a telekinetic wave, which she blocked with her own.

She attacked this time, her curved sunsword clashing with his sundaggers. She reached out to the sky, and a lightning bolt came crashing down on him. He absorbed it and channeled it into his body, enhancing his strength. She enhanced hers, and her speed. She forced him backwards, kicked his ankle and blasted him back with telekinesis. He twisted in the air and channeled lightning through the ground, slamming her into a building. She channeled what little light she could into healing, easing the pain, and retaliated.

Jukira, Kortea and Laita felt the sudden burst of mental energy, as their minds clashed, in tandem with their weapons and magic.

They were evenly matched. Jukira decided to separate them, sending a burst of lightning into the ground, stopping them in their tracks. "Well done, both of you. I would test you further, but what you showed thus far is more than satisfactory" she said. "Thank you, master" they said, bowing.

Suddenly, a roar echoed against the walls. More followed the first. "Oratharks" Kortea said.

The civilians around them panicked, screaming in horror. The city garrison rushed to their positions, and the ballista on the walls trained on the approaching creatures. The Oratharks swooped down. The archers fired, taking down a few of them, but the rest formed into armored spikes, hurtling towards the walls. The long arrows glanced off their armor, not even making a dent. Waves of mental energy were sent at the city, killing dozens. Their roars frightened the defenders. The first of them struck the walls, impaling into the stone, like a hot knife through butter. Then, the Oratharks returned to their original form, blasting the walls apart, sending rubble at the defenders and the civilians in the streets.

Kortea raised her hands, preventing a large piece of rubble from crushing a few civilians, and, with a great effort, sent it at one of the creatures, hitting it with the sharp side on the chest. It roared as it fell back, flapping its wings rapidly. The stone pinned it to the ground, and it lay there, dying, unable to get out. Jukira, Ernea, Caelorn and Laita sent torrents of lightning at four more Oratharks, but the creatures formed their wings into shields, blocking the electricity, and their maws opened. Laser beams shot out, cutting through wood and stone.

"We can't kill them! They are too strong!" a soldier exclaimed in dismay, before an Orathark slashed with its paw, its long, sharp talons shredding the soldier's body.

The oratharks' armor protected them from most anything. Telekinesis was one of the few things that could bring them down. Jukira blasted an orathark with lightning before it could shield itself with its wings, and the energy fried its insides, killing it. "Jukira, Their maws are vulnerable!" Kortea called, as she retrieved her sunstaff from an orathark's maw with telekinesis. The creature gurgled, before collapsing on one of its dead brethren. Jukira nodded, and signaled to Ernea, Laita and Caelorn.

"We have to target their maws. Wait for them to charge their laser beams, and send lightning there" she said. They nodded. Caelorn gathered his energy and screeched. The sonic blast caused Ernea, Laita, Kortea and Jukira to double over in pain, and killed six of the creatures, attracting the others' attention.

The remaining two dozen attacked, sending laser beams at them. They evaded. As the lead orathark opened its maw for another blast, Ernea fired a bolt of lightning, and the combined energy exploded, killing the creature from the inside. It's head and neck exploded, sending chunks of flesh flying. The rest of the creature fell, crushing an abandoned wooden house underneath it.

Laita killed another orathark in a similar manner. As another creature prepared to fire, Jukira leapt before it, and, as it released the laser beam, she moved her sunspear before her, sending the beam back.

Caelorn, Ernea and Laita combined their power, and attacked the creatures' minds, shredding through their defenses, killing them.

...

After the mess was cleared out, the dead buried, and the wounded taken care of, the five Sun Warriors rested, recovering their strength. The attack had been repelled, and all of the oratharks had been killed.