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Chapter 34: Defeat

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Ahrman empire capital city of Parigrah

They were surrounded.

Warrior skeletons dropped from the low-hanging cloud as if they were mini twisters and patiently waited their turn. For them, Breuke and Jericha were enough to go around. And if they were anything like their counterparts who decimated two armies, the skeletal enemies were truly ravenous.

That was what bothered Breuke the most. He could ride into battle to face off against the Midaharians any day of the week and skip a beat. They were on equal footing. But the monsters that peered at him so intensely were things of horrible nightmares. It wasn't just them that rattled his nerves, however.

What Alba could do, and had done, to Tasha had more of an effect on him than the royal guard was willing to acknowledge. With just one kiss Tasha was under Alba's power. Was it her falling under his control that flustered him, or was it the thought of someone else touching Tasha?

“What are you doing?!” Jericha shouted. She shouldered Breuke to the side and deflected an attack aimed at him. “Quit daydreaming, Breuke!”

“I-I’m sorry, but..” Breuke said. He looked around, taking in the size of the enemy forces. Their growing numbers weren't the main thing that worried him. Tasha or Lahan could show up at any minute. Lahan he could deal with, but not Tasha. Not her.

“Shouldn’t we retreat? We’re extremely outnumbered!”

“I know!” Jericha said, electricity sprawling around her arms. “I just wanted to give the queen a chance to escape!”

The queen’s chariot was long out of sight. It was impossible to tell if her highness’ journey to Five Points, an Ahrman city half a day’s ride by air, was an uneventful one. Her royal guards were ordered to convene there as well. If they escaped the capital.

Throwing lightning at the enemy stunned them long enough for the royal guard to rush by them. “Let’s go!” Jericha ordered.

A liquid cyclone carried them to the ground. Warrior skeletons instinctively followed them down, but very few of them landed with grace. Jumping off the roof all at once proved that their enemies were all bone as they piled on top of each other. Crushing the clumsy foes under a large fist of churning water required little effort.

Dashing through the palace’s grand halls and large chambers was the shortest way to the city’s aqueducts. The network of water tunnels had saved the capital countless times before from floods. Narrow and compact, they were a convenient way of escaping an enemy that was bigger than most doorways.

One of the many entrances to the water tunnels lied just beyond the estate’s majestic five-acre flower garden. Despite the number of enemies dropping from above, the path through the garden was calm.

Too calm and much too cold.

Overcome by a sense of dread, Breuke stopped in his tracks. “Jericha, wait!”

Jericha wasn't slowing down. “Why? We’re nearly there!”

“I think we’re heading into a trap!”

Breuke's concerns compelled Jericha to finally stop. Her round eyes expanded as she turned around. “Look out, Breuke!”

Breuke clutched his breath and slowly looked over his shoulder. Both Alba and Lahan stood too close for comfort behind the young man. A thin wall of ice expanded around them, forming a dome that left Jericha on the other side.

“Run along, Jericha,” Alba said, dismissively. “We’ll talk later.”

“The Hell we will!” Waves of lightning jumped from Jericha’s hand but were ineffective against the frozen barrier that surrounded the men. Dissolving Lahan’s ice into water was a strategy that aided him before, but no matter how hard he tried, Breuke couldn't recreate the same results. Had Lahan grown stronger now, or perhaps his water rune was weaker?

Warrior skeletons joining the fray only increased Brueke's heart rate.

“Breuke, you need to get out of there!” Jericha urged.

Don’t you think I’m trying?!

Alba had him cornered, and that terrified him. “Leave me, Jericha! We can’t let him get both of us!”

“No, I’m not leaving you!”

“Go!” Breuke ordered, summoning a water spout that carried her over the horizon. What he’d give to trade places with her.

He managed a brave face in spite of his fears. “Why are you letting that Damnation rune control you, Alba? Can’t you see what that thing has made you do?!”

“You don’t know Alba as well as you think. Now, kindly relinquish your Rebirth to me or I’ll have Lahan rip it out of you.”

“Come and get it!”

“Ccil gm dsko hcd,” Alba said. What language was he speaking now?! Or was it that rune speaking through him? How could a rune be alive??

Nothing made sense.

Damnation was predicted to come with Aiden, the Rebirth Destroyer. No one could have imagined that the spreading of chaos and destruction would be due to a new Rebirth and not Aiden himself. Either way, someone really should have done away with the child a long time ago.

Breuke steadied himself in anticipation of Lahan’s attack. But he hadn’t expected the Midaharian general to create five frozen clones of himself. One of him was challenging enough, and none of his clones responded to the Water Rebirth. Why wasn’t it working anymore?

The liquid he used to defend himself was instantly turned to ice and his polearm was split in half by Lahan’s curved blade. Kicking and punching, they were like cats with a cornered rat. Until that one cat grew tired of playing and moved in for the kill.

“STOP!” Breuke shouted, throwing his arms over his head. He opened his right hand and surrendered his Rebirth. “You can have it!”

The rune floated from his hand and landed in Alba’s. “Ylm'n ygta dsk c tlh esul, cqkc,” he smiled. “Thank you for your cooperation, Breuke.”

Both men vanished, leaving Lahan’s ice wall to shatter into small pieces, pelting Breuk’s slumped shoulders. It didn’t matter that the warrior skeletons were still there. Their advance didn’t go unnoticed by Breuke. He buried his head in his hands and sank to the ground.

Let them come and kill a coward.