Plight of an Empire

Chapter Thirty Seven-part 1: Arkayus

The Front Line, Rundil

No one knew what happened, least of all Arkayus.  The same words were on the lips of every man.  “The high queen is dead.”

He had watched as Audriel spoke with the one who claimed to be an Ice Kin.  Then he saw a flash of light and then she was gone.  What replaced her were the deafening howls of the Behemoths.

What she had asked him to do…  He told her it wouldn’t work and he had been right.  She had failed and now the Behemoths were charging.  Whatever she did, it only seemed to anger them.

The first Behemoth broke through the line like it was made of wet parchment.  With the line broke, the Behemoths poured into it, a cascade of teeth and claws.  A hundred screams rang out above the bellowing of the beasts.  Horses cried out as they were cut down.  No sooner than it had all began, the snow was turning red.

Arkayus watched as one of his stone golems crashed through the hoard, crushing and knocking back the beasts with each lumbering swing.  Another ice golem stabbed through the heart of one Behemoth.  When it removed its sharpened arm, it was stained red.

The beasts had not yet reached him at the back of the line, but they were making through quickly.  His Iceglass sword felt light in his hand.  He shared a glance with the knight riding beside him.  The knight’s face was white and his eyes big.  He was shivering too, but Arkayus doubted it was from the cold.  The crownless king gave the man a nod and returned his attention to the approaching Behemoths.

A stone golem crashed into one beast, knocking it to the ground.  He rose his foot and stomped on the beast’s head.  He felt the stone golem to his side.  Their hearts were beating as one.  He could see the pale blue light pulsing in its chest behind the rocks.

A Behemoth slashed its way through the line.  It was making toward Arkayus.  He could see the bloodlust in its eyes as they were locked on him.  He raised his sword, pointing at the beast.  “ATTACK!” he commanded, spurring his horse with his heels.  The gelding took off, racing ahead.   The stone golem matched the horse’s pace, running straight to the Behemoth.

Within feet of the beast, it took a swing at Arkayus, but the stone golem leaped on it before it could reach.  He drove the Iceglass into its flesh.  Blood sprouted out of the wound.  It roared and clawed at the golem, but its flesh was stone.  He rode on, allowing the golem to finish off the beast.

Everything was clear and sharp to him now.  The cold didn’t exist anymore.  He could see everything and felt everything.  Euphoria washed over him.  A laugh burst from his lips as he rode down another Behemoth.  The Iceglass tore into its flesh, ripping its guts open.  “For my brothers!” he shouted, laughing all the while.

On one Behemoth, he saw the face of Thane Mikald.  As he rode by, he sliced off the head of that beast.  The further north he went, the redder the snow became.  The red sea, he thought.  He hardly noticed the eviscerated corpses he was running over.  All he saw was the blood on the end of his blade and the next beast to bloody it.

His stone golem appeared beside him.  The gelding’s pace had slowed as they approached the red sea.  Melted snow was slippery, even for a sure-footed mount.  And the scent of blood unnerved the horse.  He thought about mounting his golem for a brief moment before a Behemoth knocked it to the ground trying to reach Arkayus.  It fell back into the melted snow, pulling the beast down with it.  They struggled in the soup, each trying to outmaneuver the other.  In the end, the golem came out on top and the Behemoth ended with a flattened head.

To the east, Arkayus saw men grouped by the dozen or more, beating down the Behemoths with stabs and slashes.  Several mounted riders, rode them down, slicing them open.  Beyond the light tinge of copper in the air, the cold devoured the stench of war.

Roars erupted in the west.  He spotted ten Behemoths slashing at half a hundred men and two golems, one stone and one ice.  Hundreds more were attacking the beasts in groups.  They couldn’t be brought down any other way.  A few bowmen on mounts peppered three Behemoths from afar.  The arrows only seemed to anger them, but the beasts didn’t see a group of four dozen men hidden away to surprise them.  Without their leader, they were just dumb animals.

A chuckle turned to a scream as he went down into the snow.  His horse screamed as he watched a Behemoth tear off its leg with its teeth.  Arkayus went for his sword, but it had been knocked out of his hand.  Not again.  A glint in the snow caught his eye.  The Behemoth was distracted by his still screaming meal.  He threw himself up and lunged at it.

When he turned around, grasping it in his hand, a swipe knocked him back to the ground.  But he still held on to the sword.  The once white Behemoth was the color of man’s blood.  The black pools that were its eyes were smiling at its new prey.

With his back on the ground, he could do little more than swing at the beast.  He kicked his feet on the ground, pushing him back and away.  He had to get up.  He couldn’t do anything unless he was standing up.  But the Behemoth was right on top of him.  He could smell the warm, rotten breath of the beast.  Its breath rustled his hair.  Holding his breath, he swung at the beast.  He caught it in the fur, but he never drew blood.  It danced back when he swung again, roaring at him.

Red saliva dripped down on his boots.  He scrunched his nose.  He could hardly stand a dog licking him and this was far worse.  He swung again, trying to find an opportunity to rise.  But the Behemoth just jumped back.  It was playing with him.  It wanted to play with its meal.  You’re going to have to work for this one, bitch.  He swung again, not even coming close to touching the beast.  The pain from his arms screamed at him.  He couldn’t keep this up much longer.

The beast chomped down right in front of his, missing by a thumb’s length.  He swung his blade, slicing its throat open.  A gurgled scream came out as red warmth poured over Arkayus.  He tried to push himself up as the beast straggled, but the snow melted beneath the warm blood.  Each foot slipped, knocking him back down into the red sea.  The Behemoth fell over, dead, its blood still seeping out of its open throat.

He had a moment’s respite.  Unable to get up, he laid in the red sea, feeling the warmth turn cold.  Every limb ached.  His pulsing heart sent pain pumping through his arms and legs.  If he were to die right here, he wouldn’t have minded.  None of them stood a chance now that Audriel was gone.  Whatever secret weapon she had died with her.  They were all doomed.

His eyes gazed up into the clear sky.  Light blue with a few wisps of white sat above the tree tips.  Hot breath escaped from his mouth, fogging in the cold air.  The cold snow and blood relieved the ache in his joints.  The pain was still present, but it was fading.

A single snowflake fell and landed on his cheeks.  It tickled as it melted against his flesh.

Beyond the veil of serenity that surrounded him, he could hear the anguished cries of the men that followed him into battle.  I tried to tell her that it wouldn’t work.  We should have ran.  She should have listened to me.  He took another deep breath, tasting the bitterness on his tongue.

Through his mind’s eye, he watched one of his stone golems battle with three Behemoths.  Its clubs were bumbling and slow.  It missed every time it took a swung.  Two of the beasts latched on to it and pinned it down.  The third pounced on it and began slashing at it with its claws.  The stones holding it together fell apart.  He felt its pale blue heart beat its last.  Then the stones sank into the snow.  His vision was lost, but in the distance he heard a roar of victory.

He felt his ice golem shatter from the attack of five Behemoths at once.  He was losing them as he was losing himself.

He would see his parents in the afterlife, he knew.  He could apologize for lying to them and disappointing them.  He couldn’t save them, nor could he save the empire, but at least he tried.  Audriel would be there too.  He wouldn’t tell her that she should have listened to him.  She would already know.

But Thane Mikald would still be alive.