He has learned our secret.  The Night Terror cannot be reborn.  We must protect the Sanctum to the last warrior.  How did he know it was here?

The Journal of Samara the Rogue

Daru sat with Maya in the north watchtower overlooking the gate.  They scanned the horizon for any sign of movement.

“When this is over, Arun and I are going to take a long vacation.  We’re just going to get away, somewhere quiet, where we can just relax,” said Maya, wistfully.

“Do you really, think this is the best time to talk about this?”

“As long as we have our eyes on tomorrow, there is hope there will be a tomorrow.  Do you think Ianus will ask you to marry him?”

“Maya?”  Daru blushed, “I really don’t know.  I thought about asking him, but with everything that’s been going on.  This just isn’t the best time.”

“When is a better time?  When it’s quiet?”  Maya laughed, “Listen honey, it’s never quiet.  You have to grab anything good that comes your way.  Life is only simple when you’re too young to see everything going on around you.”

“I know.  We did tell each other how we feel, and we shared a dance that I will never forget.”

“So much rests on Ianus, the weight must be unbearable.  Don’t neglect your work.  In the battle to come every warrior must stand strong.  Find what you’re fighting for, and hold onto it.”

“How will I know what that is?”

“It will be the same thing that urges you to get out of bed in the morning.  It is easy to find something to die for, but it is truly special when you find something to live for.  That will be the same thing that you would fight for.”

“I live for Ianus, no, I take that back.  I live for love.”  

“Then fight for love.  That is a powerful reason to live.  When I thought I lost my love, it was like the breath had been stolen from my lungs.  Hold on to it, and don’t ever let it go.  That is your greatest strength.”

Daru smiled, and looked away.

“All of your training,” said Maya, “Your whole life has conspired to bring you here.  You are ready for it.  You are more than a match for whatever comes your way.”

“Thank you.  That means a lot coming from you.  I have always seen you as something of a role model for my life.  I can’t thank you enough for being here with me.”

Daru stared off into the distance.  A great sea of trees waved in the breeze.  The smell of incense wafted up to the tower.

“The Parcae are praying for our safety,” said Maya, “Eman told me they would.”

“Is that a good sign?”  Daru asked.

“I don’t know.  I’ve never heard of them doing this before.  I like the idea of someone praying for us.”

Something caught Daru’s eye.  A faint twinkle between the branches of the trees.  Flickering lights, like a swarm of golden fireflies, streamed out of the forest.

“What is that?”  Daru asked.

“I see it too.”

A faint sound, a distant drumming slipped through the trees.  The creaking of leaves under many feet.  Flashing lights moved to the rhythm of the drumming.

“It’s an army,” Maya gasped.

Daru stared intensely at the serpentine lines of light slithering toward the hill.

“He’s using Eidolons!”  Daru shouted, “I recognize the glow.”

Maya leapt onto the rope hanging down from the ceiling, the large bell in the tower tolled overhead.

Daru ran and lunged from the tower into the city square, “Eidolons!”  She shouted, “Make ready.  He’s using Eidolons!”

Tuun swept down and landed in front of her.”  You saw them?”

“With my own eyes.”

“How many?”

“I don’t know.”

“May I see what you saw?”

Daru nodded, the images flashed before her eyes. 

“Hundreds,” Tuun said.  He closed his eyes.  “Thank you.  Now everyone who is sensitive has seen what you saw.  They are informing the others.  Did you notice if any of them had wings?”

“No, but I would assume they would already be in the air.”

Tuun closed his eyes, “They need us on the walls.  Come with me.”

He grabbed her under her arms; his Ceeri fanned its large wings.  Tuun carried her high into the air and swooped down on to the battlement.

Daru steadied herself and looked out at the encircling band of light.

Ianus and Aashen leapt from their watchtower and ran out to the center of the wall over the gate.  The crimson robed A’nath-ari lined the entire wall surrounding the city.

Faroh’s luminous army marched into sight.  A whole menagerie of creatures armed for battle.

“Call forth the Palladium!”  Eman shouted from his command post.

Ianus turned around to face the city.  He remembered what he had been told to do.  He stretched out his right arm with the rest of the A’nath-ari, and pointed his periapt toward the temple.

He concentrated on the image of Uma Nari, and repeated, “Come forth, protect our city, come forth.”

Struggling to keep focused, he watched the twelve winged celestials fly out of the temple and form a circle over it.  They drew their swords, kissed the blades and pointed them to the center of the circle.  A bolt of lightning shot from the tips of the swords, striking the temple.  A luminous fog poured from its doors.  It filled the streets and rose into the air.  As it ascended, the mist turned into the creamy azure mantle and robes of the titanic Eidolon that was forming.  Gargantuan silver wings stretched out behind the translucent woman.  She knelt over the city, covering even the walls with her massive wings.

“Focus on the wings!”  Eman shouted.

Ianus swiveled around with the others.  Through the silver wings he could see the Eidolons of the celestials swoop down on the approaching army.

Swords tore through the luminous skins of the approaching Eidolons.  The wounded fell and dissipated into mist.

One of the celestials charged a large mud colored monstrosity.  The celestial sheered off one of its horns; it lashed out tearing a deep gash in the celestial’s side.  Flapping its wings, it rose up away from the monster.  Ianus watched the wound in its side weave itself closed.

The celestials fought well, but they were hopelessly out numbered.  Faroh’s army flooded the wall and began to attack the palladium’s wings.  They hacked, slashed, clawed, and bit the shield.

Ianus could feel the vibrations in his periapt.  Each strike sent ripples of force back at the Makers who were struggling to buttress the wings.

He watched in horror as the clear distortions that out lined the Makers’ links to the Palladium began to shimmer and turn colors.  Their defense was weakening.  Brilliant violet lines of force flickered between them and the wings.

Pressure filled Ianus’ palm.  More of Faroh’s Eidolons were reaching the wall.  The periapt became warm.  He felt like the attacks were directed at him.  His arm began to shake.

“Be strong!”  He shouted, “Hold on, don’t give in.  I know it’s hard, I know you want to let go.  Hold on as long as you can.”

He watched as a bull headed warrior punched the shield so hard it’s arm snapped.  Many of Faroh’s eidolons were injuring themselves on the wings.  A thick fog of dissipated Eidolons flowed into the valleys and surrounded the hill.

“Hold on!”  Ianus shouted, “They are breaking at the wall.”

Three winged lions landed on the wings, and clawed at them.  Sparks showered down on Ianus.  He could see the wings beginning to twitch.

“She’s not going to last long,” said Aashen.

A’nath-ari shrieked as their tie to the wings broke.  Deep fissures tore through the wings.  The rancid smell of burnt flesh filled the air.  Moaning from the wounded blended with the creaking of the battered wings.  

“Give her all you can!”  Ianus shouted.

A wave coursed back through the periapt, striking Ianus like a nail through his hand.  He held his place.  He must not fall.  The wings shimmered and became opalescent; the Palladium groaned and slumped over.

Ianus tried to hold his place.  The force that he sent out to the shield recoiled on him and threw him off the wall.  Landing on his back, the air was knocked out of him.  He gasped.

The Palladium’s wings shattered, raining sparks and glowing fog down on the city.  The Palladium reeled backward and lost its form.

Ianus stood up.  Fear lashed his heart, “What will we do now?”

A loud bang startled him.  He turned toward the gate and watched it shake.  Along the walls, many of the A’nath-ari had formed bows, and were firing at the enemy.  The others were filing off the walls to fill the square.

Aashen swooped down on his Ceeri’s wings.

“We have to defend the gate, round up as many as you can and meet me there,” Ianus said.

He ran as fast as he could toward the solid metal door.  Bulging punch-marks and cracks covered the gate from top to bottom.  It would not hold long.

Valeryn and Kanu rallied a group of A’nath-ari and eidolon celestials.

“Soon, they will breech the gate,” said Valeryn, “Ianus and his troop will try to hold them there.  We need to make a retaining wall to keep them from entering the city.  Form up from wall to wall, and hold them back, and get ready to charge them, don’t let any through.”

Kanu grabbed the sleeve of an A’nath-ari running past him, “Take word to Tara and Pryor.  Let them know we will hold this position.  She has to protect the Temple and the Basilica.  Be sure to tell her to hold back until the time is right.”

The woman nodded, and ran toward the back positions.

Metal clashed at the gate.  The battle had begun.  Light flashed, a telltale sign that Eidolons were shattering.

“Their line won’t hold,” said Kanu.

Valeryn shook his head, “The line doesn’t have to hold.  It just has to buy us enough time to set our people up.”

The A’nath-ari at the gate broke ranks and ran.  Ianus and Aashen led the withdrawal.

Valeryn let out a loud battle cry and charged the oncoming Eidolons.  The line of A’nath-ari behind him joined in.

Hundreds of bull-headed and lion-like Eidolons poured through the gate.  They roared and snarled.  The too armies met.

One of Faroh’s eidolons fired metal bolts at Kanu.  They hit the field around him and crumbled to dust before they could hit him.

“What are you, defective?”  Kanu said, twirling his sword.  He ran at the thing and swung his sword at it.

The beast grabbed the blade with his hand, and head butted Kanu.  The creature slashed at him with its four-inch claws.

Kanu jumped into the air.  Landing on the beasts back, he formed two daggers and stabbed it on either side of its neck.  Light flashed from the open wounds.  The Eidolon collapsed on the ground.

Wind rushed over his back; the sound of wings filled his ears.  Rolling onto his back, Kanu threw his daggers into the throat of a winged lion descending on him.  Light gushed from the hole.

Kanu leapt into the air and grabbed its head.  Pulling it down, he flipped onto its back.  Thrusting his hands through the eidolon’s dissipating flesh, he ripped his daggers out of its back.  Out of the corner of his eyes he saw a bull-headed Eidolon about to stab one of the A’nath-ari in the back.

He melted the two daggers into a bladed whip and lashed the Eidolon around the neck.  He pulled back hard decapitating it.

Quickly, he formed the whip into a spear, and thrust it through the chest of another winged lion.  He tossed it over his left shoulder.  Changing the spear into twin blades, he deflected another bull-headed eidolon’s claws with the blade in his right hand and stabbed it in the abdomen with the sword in his left hand.  Pulling up, he tore the beast open.

“This is almost too easy,” he said, then he looked up.

Hundreds of Faroh’s eidolons swarmed the city square.  They were falling quickly, but more followed.  A thick haze covered the ground from all of the dead and dying.  The celestials fought well.  Fewer of them had fallen.

The tide was turning, without reinforcements, they would surely fall.

Kanu fought his way over to Valeryn, “This is not going our way!”  He said.

“I know, we have to regroup,” said Valeryn.

“We need reinforcements.  If this line breaks they will have a free run of the entire city.”

“We have to fall back.  There’s something I could do, but I’ll need you to help me get out.  It will drain all my strength, but it should give us enough time.”

Kanu nodded.

“Pull back!”  Valeryn shouted.

He clashed the flats of his blades together.  Light as bright as the rising sun flashed from the blades.  Flames poured from the electric arcs between the swords.  All of the Eidolons in the path of the blast shattered.

“Fall back,” Valeryn shouted, “Pull back, I can’t hold them back much longer.”

The light from the blades dimmed.

Valeryn closed his eyes.  The rays of light expanded destroying more of Faroh’s Eidolons.

The A’nath-ari did as they were told.

Kanu was getting nervous, “You have to stop.”

Valeryn’s arms collapsed to his sides.

Kanu grabbed Valeryn’s arm, and pulled him toward the back position.  A group of A’nath-ari fanned out around them to cover their retreat.

Ianus ran over, “Is he all right?”

“He just over did it.  We need to get the reinforcements deployed.  He cut down a lot of them, it’s time to finish this.”

Tara paced nervously in one of the back command posts.  Tuun and Pryor stood guard.  At any moment they would call on her to take action.  She watched the battle, and knew that they would need her.  Why couldn’t they have given her sometime to practice?

She knew what she was suppose to do.  The To’asaa knew as well, but it would not be able to help.  It could advise, that’s all.  She would have to do this on her own.  That scared her more than anything else.  They had based their battle strategy on her and Ianus being able to do what they had to do.  Her stomach churned.  Her moment was coming, and sooner then she had hoped.

She watched Kanu running toward her.  She knew what he would say.  The A’nath-ari lines were falling back.  Now was her time.

“This will be more than a battle for you,” the To’asaa said to her, “You will not see the battle before you.  You must fight the battle within.  It will mirror the outside.  You must be the mind of so many.  You will not see things as you should.  You will see them as you see life, shrouded by your own perceptions.”

“Reinforcements!”  Kanu shouted, “We need them now!”

“We will cover you,” said Pryor, “No harm will come to you as long as we have breath.”

Tara closed her eyes, and concentrated on the Eidolons buried under the city square.  She could feel her mind stretching out to each of them.

“Awake,” she whispered, and saw the stone begin to glow.  As the first one awakened, she could see through its eyes.  “Attack the line,” she thought, “Take out one in the middle.”

The next one awoke.  Suddenly she felt herself leave her body.  With each newly awakened Eidolon, she issued orders and went on to the next one.  As each one stirred she could see more of the battlefield.

“Soon your mind will not be able to sort through all that you see and hear,” said the To’asaa.  “Your mind will begin to project over the battle field.  Don’t forget to fight.”

She could see so much, all one hundred and twenty were awake now, she could see and hear everything that they did.  Her mind tried to composite the images and sounds into a virtual tapestry.

“Their right flank is weak,” she thought, “Push through.”

She was the mind of one hundred and twenty warriors.  Soon it became as easy as breathing, or moving her arm.  She didn’t have to think about it, she just willed it to happen and it happened.

They could fight on their own, but they lacked organization.  She moved them around like the fingers of her own hand, taking advantage of any weakness she could perceive.

It was surreal.  The battle was turning again.  Faroh’s army was falling back, regrouping, and mending its lines.

A nagging concern weighed on her mind.  So many were depending on her, friends and strangers alike.  She had never succeeded at anything she ever tried to do before.  She was a follower, not a leader.  How could this turn out any different.

*I was a fool to agree to this,* she thought, *I should have told them to find someone else.*

She had to pull her forces into the air to avoid a devastating charge.  In doing so, she lost her ground advantage.  Her troops would have to fight from the air until they could reclaim a firm position.

This was what she feared most, she was losing control of the battlefield.   Calling twenty celestials back to the basilica, where the fighting had not reached.  On foot, they charged the enemy front.  Hopefully, they could hold long enough for their companions to land behind them and join in a new offensive.

She had to succeed.  Others were depending on her.  She couldn’t let them down.  She couldn’t let herself down.  She couldn’t loose this time.  Failure would harm more than just her.  Countless numbers would die if she could not hold her ground.

She remembered something Arun had told her, “Life survives on life.  If we are not truly alive, we are stealing from the world that nurtures us.”

Never before had she considered whether she was truly alive.  She had been living in the past, robbing from the moment.  She lived in her failures.  She was not even looking for success.

All her life she had been a slave:  First to the predicant that lied to her for his own advantage, then to Panthera.  She thought that blind obedience to authority would free her.  She left Panthera to be a slave of her own past mistakes.  No more!  Never again would she be a slave.

This was her life.  No one else could live for her.  No one else could answer for her.

Ianus watched with amazement as the celestial Eidolon’s Tara summoned cut their way through Faroh’s army.  The battle was finally in their favor.  He lifted his axe and waited for an opportunity to rejoin the line.

Tara was a master.  She would open a hole in the line, luring the enemy to advance.  Then she would cut off the escape and destroy the stragglers.  It was like a dance.

She had contained the majority of Faroh’s army.

The once vast army had been decimated.  They still out number the forces of Usekht Maati, but they had stopped filing through the gate.

The line bulged, they were making a push toward the temple.

Ianus ran over to a hole in the line.  He swung his battle-axe, and cleaved an eidolon in half.  He spun around and slashed the arm off another.

He could see Eman towering over the crowd, a sword in each hand, hacking a path toward him.

“Ianus,” Eman said as he pierced an eidolon and tossed it aside, “Faroh is heading for the Sanctum.  He broke through the line!  You must stop him!”

Eman grabbed Ianus’ hand and pulled him into the air. 

Hopping from head to head over the battle, Ianus and Eman soared over the chaos.

Hands reached up for them, but they did not stop.  In the distance, beyond the crowd, he could see two figures running through the streets.  It was Faroh and Cythraul.

They landed just behind the A’nath-ari lines.  Ianus kicked off and bounded from wall to wall.  It was faster than running.

He past the bodies of several A’nath-ari and Enmadra.  They had been killed efficiently:  The clean strokes of a professional killer.

“Be careful,” said Eman.  “Cythraul cannot intervene.  The moment he does, his people and mine have the right to move against him— but don’t for a minute think that he can remain neutral.  He has found a way to circumvent the rules or he wouldn’t have come.  Just remember, I cannot intervene unless he lays a hand on you.”

“Who makes up these rules?”

“They are treaties that ended a most terrible war.  They have come to mean less and less over the centuries, but the pretence of neutrality is better than the horrors of open war.  In the last Raewyn/Enmadra war, dozens of worlds were rendered uninhabitable.”

“So you hold to the letter of the truce and not the spirit.”

“If we didn’t, none of you would be here.  If any Enmadra were connected to the death of a Raewyn, it would open the old wounds.  Now, go!”

Ianus leapt from wall to wall.

Two winged lions swooped down in front of them.  Ianus raised his axe and swung at the lion.  He buried the blade deep in it’s back.  The other lion lashed out.  

Pain seared his side, as the lion’s claws tore through him.  Ianus fell to his knees.

He heard a Bennu’s screeching cry.

Nahimanna swept out of the air and sank her claws into the remaining lions head.  She wrapped her wings around it.  It bucked and struggled.  The Bennu shoved its sharp beak through the lion’s back and breathed in its energy.  The beast roared as it’s skin began to shrivel and its eyes bulged in their sockets.  Pulling her head from the frail remains, Nahimanna let out a cry and leapt into the air.

She circled around Ianus and landed on his wounded side.  “I will hold you up.”  She said and melted into Ianus side.  

A flame burned over the claw marks; the pain went away.  Ianus stood up.  He could see the temple at the end of the road.

Exploding into a full sprint. He had to catch them.  He had to stop them.  He could feel his heart racing.  The voice of Adir Radd was so close.

Reaching the steps of the temple.  Two of the bull-headed Eidolons were watching for him.

The door to the temple had not yet closed.  They had just walked in.  He still had time.

“Run Ianus!”  Sakkara yelled as she ran up beside him.

“We will clear a path for you,” said Khensu on his other side.

“Don’t look back!”  Sakkara said, “Whatever Ianus does he must not look back.”

“We will see you when you come out,” said Khen.

Sakkara and Khensu attacked the two eidolons.

Ianus ran past them up the stairs.  He could hear their weapons clashing, he could hear their breath.  He had to go forward.  No looking back.  There was no time to wonder.  Faroh and Cythraul had to be stopped.  He heard two bodies hit the ground.  No time to look back.

Faroh and Cythraul entered the temple.  Faroh strode toward the sanctum.  The battle could not have gone better.  He had reached his goal, soon he would have victory.  “This is it,” Faroh said in triumph, “Let’s capture the flag, and finish this.”

“First things first,” said Cythraul, “That Akeru is right behind us.  I want his head on a pike over the gate.”

“Why don’t we just destroy the Sanctum now?”

”Because it is guarded by a simulacrum and several Eidolons.  It will be ours, remember the words of the Parcae.  You are the key to Usekht Maati.  We will have our reward.”

“What are we doing here if we can’t take what we desire?”

“We have drawn the young Akeru away from his friends where he is vulnerable.  He will not be a problem for you.”

“You want me to kill him?”

“It won’t be that easy.  We need him.  Don’t get me wrong, we will crush this Akeru.  His periapt is the key to the Sanctum.  Without it we will be lost in the Simulacrum.  I say we fight fire with fire.  I will construct a simulacrum of our own.  Within it, we will have the advantage.  We will crush him there.”

“Why not let me kill him with my bare hands?”

“I told you.  We need him to open the sanctum.  If he died in the simulacrum, he will become a mere shell of his former self.  He will be weak willed and docile.  We can have him do whatever we ask him to do.”

Faroh laughed, “He will become another prize.  We should let him live, at least for a little while.  He would make an amusing pet.”

“If it would make you happy, you may have him,” said Cythraul.  “You will have to stall him until I am ready.  Distract him, but don’t provoke him.  I need to take you both into the simulacrum at the same time.  A moving target will make that hard.”

“Don’t worry, Master Cythraul, “Faroh bowed and grinned,” I can keep him occupied.  He is an emotional man.  He lacks the cool heart that makes a man strong.  I have dealt with many of his kind before.  I know what to do.”

“He’s coming,” said Cythraul staring at the door, “Follow me, he has to catch us on the way to the Sanctum or he will become suspicious.  Let him think he has the advantage until the time is right.”

Cythraul and Faroh turned and began to walk toward the altar.

The door slammed open.

“Stop!”  Ianus shouted, “Yield, and I will show you mercy.”

“Yield?”  Faroh said as he turned around to face Ianus, “Why should I yield to someone like you?  There is nothing you can do to me.”

Ianus laughed, “This from the man who fled at the very sight of me the last time we met.  You’re all talk.  Face me now.  I challenge you to a duel.”

“You challenge me to a duel, how melodramatic.  How many Akeru have to die before your family chooses a simpler life?  You’re not good at this.”

“My birth father dethroned your former master!”

“And where is he?  Dead.  Where is your mother?  Dead.  O, and before I forget.  Thank you for the tour of Shiloh.  I never could have killed Ihy Khem without your help.  You made it so easy for me to get in and out.  Tell me, did he die in agony or did he go out quietly?  He struck me as a whiner.  I bet he begged for pain killers and when they failed, he begged for a quick and merciful death.”

Light flashed.  Faroh was momentarily disoriented.  He looked around.  They were still in the temple, but Cythraul was missing.

“You fool!”  Faroh said, “Welcome to my world.  You are finished.”

He formed a sword with his periapt, and was surprised to see Ianus do the same.  They were both makers, even the simulacrum could not take that away.  

Faroh ran at Ianus.  Sparks flew as their blades met.  Ianus slid backwards from the force of the strike.

Cythraul had made Faroh stronger here.

Ianus punched at Faroh with his left hand, Faroh dodged the fist and hit Ianus on the back of the head with his elbow.

Swinging his sword at Faroh’s waist, Ianus moved forward.

Faroh leapt into the air and kicked off Ianus’ shoulder.  He landed behind his adversary and punched him in the kidneys.

Ianus fell to his knees and struggled to breathe.

“You disappoint me,” Faroh sneered, “This was all too easy.  I only hope you make a better pet.”