Authors: Unknown
Chapter Two
Yara dashed through the corridors and descended the long staircase four steps at a time as the roof shook once again. Z was just ahead of her, Sam and Naiah were right beside them. Tardieh emerged from his office with Hikuro.
“What’s happening?” Z asked. “Who in Hiad is attacking us?”
“Balaur,” the king growled back. “I knew he’d come after the bullets but I didn’t think he had it in him to start another war over them.”
They followed the king to the control room. Yara had never been in there before, and in the midst of everything that was happening, the fighter inside her couldn’t stop but to take a moment and admire their surveillance system. Two of the walls were filled with flat screens. In the middle, several stations were set up, making the room look like a state-of-the-art rocket launch control area. Joel and Dyam were busy clicking and moving 3D keyboards which seemed to be suspended by invisible strings. Suddenly, both walls lit up and several images appeared, displaying different parts of the property.
Yara recognized the blue and grey dragon at once. That same oversized lizard had chased her all the way from Syracuse. Phillip. He was idling around the front gate where an army of razbian guards struggled to breach the red net of lasers. A few corpses lay lifeless on the ground. They had probably tried to force their way through the lasers and found out they couldn’t the hard way.
Another screen showed a massive black dragon circling around the castle. Just as Yara turned her attention to it, it blew a fire ball straight at the camera. Yara cringed in reflex.
“The laser grids are holding well, my lord,” Joel stated, from his control station. “But it won’t keep them off for long.”
“If we triple the power current we may be able to fend them off until the sun sets,” Dyam added. “That is, if the generators are not damaged on the attacks.” As he spoke, the left wall was divided into two screens, and images of three metal cabinets were displayed. One was obviously on the roof, the other two were hidden in separate places somewhere in the woods.
“So we’ll protect them,” Z replied with a determination that Yara had esteemed ever since they first met. She turned to Sam and her husband. “Hikuro, are you still capable of walking in daylight?”
Tardieh’s second in command nodded affirmatively. “For a good hour.”
“That should be enough,” Tardieh added. “The sun is almost touching the mountains. It won’t be too long before it sets.”
Ever since Sam and Hikuro got together, her powers had somehow rubbed off on him. She could control and create energy, and used it fantastically as a weapon. And Hikuro had become immune to the rays of sunshine. It wore off after a while, but nonetheless, that meant he could go out and kick some ass in daylight.
“Good,” Z replied. “So, you and Sam go to the roof and keep Balaur away from the generator. Yara, you’re coming with me. We’re going to teach Phillip a lesson once and for all.”
A deep growl reverberated in the room. Everyone stopped, in alert. Yara looked around in search for the source. It didn’t take her long to find it. Tardieh stood rigid by one of the control stations. His green eyes had turned bright red. His fangs were fully extended. It was obvious he hadn’t liked his pregnant wife’s plan one bit.
Z opened her mouth, probably to tell him that she was an experienced warrior with as many battles under her belt as he had, and that she could take care of herself, but he lifted his hand up, silencing her unspoken words. “I know,” he said, as if he had read her mind. “But this time, it’s not about you. It’s about our baby. If anything happens to you, it happens to the new life that depends on your well-being to survive.”
Ai, that was crushingly true. Yara felt Z’s torn resolve in her own skin.
Her leader stared at her husband for a while. No one said a word, no one dared interfere. After a moment, Z took a long breath and nodded. “You’re right, I must stay behind.”
Yara could feel how much that decision had shaken her friend. Z had always been at the front line of the battle, leading them into victory. It wasn’t in her to
stay behind
.
“But now we have a problem,” Z added. “We need to protect the generators in the woods and Yara can’t go solo.”
“Why not?” Yara demanded.
“I’ll go with her.”
Yara frowned at the new voice that resounded in the room and turned to check her suspicions. Yep, Naiah had been the source of that great suggestion.
“No way.” It was Yara’s turn to growl.
“You have no other choice,” Naiah retorted. “I’ve had battle training and even participated in a few drills back home.”
“A few drills?” Yara posed. “Naiah, this is the real world, the ugly world, not a test, not an adventure.”
Just as Yara was about to let Naiah know that there was no way she’d let her go out and fight, that she would die before adding one more death in the family to her consciousness, an alarm echoed in the house, deafening them all.
“The east generator has been compromised!’ Joel shouted and clicked a few invisible buttons in the air.
Everyone turned to the far wall and watched as the red laser net faltered a couple of times then disappeared. A wave of razbians swarmed in, running up the hill.
Oh, crap.
“Switch to satellite mode now,” Tardieh ordered.
“Switching to satellite mode,” Joel answered. “In three, two, one.”
At the end of Joel’s countdown, the small transmitters attached to every tree in the property flashed yellow a couple of times, then the lasers that had been deactivated burst into life again. The razbians who had managed to invade the territory were fried on the spot. Yara cheered silently.
Fry to the gates of Hiad, you fuckers.
But her joy was cut short when she saw that only a small fraction of the enemy was obliterated by the lasers, compared to the army that still surrounded the property.
“My lord,” Dyam called out. “We won’t be able to protect the grounds if they find the other generator in the woods. The satellite mode depends on at least two to be ignited.”
Right. And that piece of information sealed the deal for Yara. She turned to Naiah and handed one of her Glock 17 pistols. “Do you know how to use one of these?”
Naiah picked up the semi-automatic handgun in her hands and skillfully pushed the pin on the side to unlock it, then skated the slide on the top of the gun, easily advancing the first bullet into the chamber. She then stopped and lifted her eyebrows at Yara, as if saying “good enough?”
Show off.
Yara exhaled a curse. “Just stay behind me and follow every move, understand?”
Naiah nodded. “Understood.”
“Good, now let’s go kick some razbian ass.”
**********
It was easier said than done.
Yara knew that there was no way the two of them would be able to hold back an entire army of lizards. They needed reinforcements.
After just a moment pondering what to do, Yara remembered Dyam’s babies – a collection of cars, fully loaded and ready for the taking. She ran to the garage and didn’t waste much time being picky. Well, there wasn’t much of a debate really once she spotted the black Hummer H1
Alpha
truck in the corner.
“Hello there, where have you been all my life?”
She ran to the massive 4X4, Naiah followed her close. As per protocol the keys were in the ignition, just begging to be touched. Yara flicked them on, bringing the beast to life. Then she picked up the intercom on the control panel. “Dyam, I need you to cast me a nice red carpet to surprise those fuckers outside.”
“Roger that,” Dyam replied on the other end of the line.
With Naiah safely buckled up next to her, Yara roared the Hummer a couple of times then skidded out of the garage in style. Dyam didn’t let her down either. As she hollered out into the open, the network of lasers was turned off opening a clear trail for her to pass through unscathed. As soon as the truck was out, the killer beams were turned on again, knitting back the security grid into its fullness.
“Naiah, pick up the bulletproof vest and helmet on the back and put them on,” Yara commanded. “Then, go to the back seat.”
Her sister obliged dutifully, maybe a little too eager. After she was properly suited up and protected, Yara nodded. “Now, push that red button located on the floor.”
She did.
“Whoa!” Naiah exclaimed as the floor of the Hummer shifted to give room for a metal frame holding a machine gun to emerge. The roof opened automatically, then the seat Naiah was on lifted in tune with the rest of the structure.
“Now prove to me that your aim is as good as your tongue and kill those bastards!” Yara shouted. “And be careful!”
Together, they emerged out of the protection of the laser spider web and landed right in front of a horde of angry razbians. Naiah didn’t disappoint. She was quick on the trigger and after a few goes, she managed to hold the machine gun beautifully.
Yara drove around as fast as the truck allowed; running over anything that dared come into her path, while keeping her next move unpredictable so no one could attack Naiah from behind.
A weird gush blew past them against the wind. Crap. She had experienced that phenomenon not so long ago – that same day to be precise, when Phillip was on her heels.
“Duck for cover!” she shouted to Naiah and turned the Hummer sharply to the left. Even though the truck responded well and fast, it wasn’t enough to keep them completely out of range, safe from the fireball that followed. It struck them on the side, tumbling the truck over several times down the hill.
“Hold my hand!” Yara ordered Naiah as the toppling continued. Her sister obeyed even though she was clearly disoriented by the spinning.
Yara didn’t waste a second more; she waited for the right time and lunged out of the vehicle, pulling Naiah with her. They crashed heavily on the ground as the Hummer tumbled over the cliff.
“Are you OK?” she asked Naiah, who just nodded in reply.
She wanted to check on her and ensure she was truly OK, but the damned razbians were already closing in. Yara drew out her semi-automatic pistol and fired. Naiah promptly followed, mirroring her moves.
A dark, tall cabinet came into view. The generator.
She rushed forward while firing another round and killing three guards on the way. Footsteps stomped behind her and she ducked out just in time. The soldier’s punch met thin air. She swirled around low and kicked the prick on the knee. He plummeted to the floor with a loud grunt. She pulled out her combat knife and slid it along his neck, opening a deadly gash. Standing up, she caught a glimpse of leathery wings between the tall trees. Fuck, Phillip had found them.
“We have to make a barrier to protect the generator!” Naiah shouted as she blew the heads off of a couple of enemies in front of her.
“How?” Yara asked in reply. They were just two against the entire brigade of razbians.
“Magic, of course!” she yelled back.
Right. Of course. The only problem was that Yara hadn’t cast such a powerful spell in decades and she truly didn’t know if she still had the goods to make it happen. “I’ve been living away from the Emerald Lake for too long, Naiah,” she explained out loud. “My powers are not the same.”
“Nonsense!” Naiah bellowed. “You try and deny it all you want, Yara, you
are
a water witch.”
“A cursed water witch.” The curse her mother had put on her definitely morphed Yara’s powers, to an extent that nowadays she only trusted herself to do little tricks, like the one she did in front of the wolves earlier that day. She was definitely too rusty to pull off anything bigger than that.
They finally reached the generator. It looked like a metal cupboard, as tall as Yara. The razbians weren’t far behind and she could feel the wind moved by Phillip’s wings close by. “We don’t have much time.”
Naiah nodded, showing her acknowledgement. “Hold my hand,” she ordered.
Yara complied.
“Now repeat these words and wave your hands like mine.
Deusas the Apa Dobrý, suas filhas imploram sua benção. Despertem suas cobras sagradas, e protejam suas filhas do mal
.”
Goddesses of Apa Dobrý, your daughters beseech your divine shelter. Awake your sacred snakes and shield your kin from harm.
Yara chanted Naiah’s words, mirroring her movements. They chanted the rhyme a couple of times, waving and dancing. Suddenly, the ground shook underneath them.
Yara froze, startled.
“Focus!” Naiah shouted. “Don’t stop!”
Yara closed her eyes and forced her mind to bind the words. She imagined an invisible sheet appearing in front of them, then weaving a protective circle around them and the generator. Magic flowed through her arms and burst out. She felt the goddesses of Apa Dobrý answer their call, she felt the ancient power of the Emerald Lake course through her veins, waking up her own magic.
When she opened her eyes back up, she gasped at the sight she found. The earth had been lifted, forming a moving wall of snakes. But they weren’t real snakes, they were morphing serpents made of mud. Their empty eyes reflected the power Yara and Naiah had stirred. It felt like being inside a tornado, but the torment was kept outside. She could still spot her attackers through the moving dirt, flabbergasted by the monumental wall in front of them.