The Gift of Volkeye (32 page)

Assuming that they wouldn’t be attacked anymore from this direction, the family had allowed themselves a moment to breath. However, as Khyeryn wiped the sweat from his brow, his adrenaline kicked back in. He could’ve sworn that he heard the distant rumbling of some type of engine, and he began waving his gun to and fro as he looked outdoors. For almost a minute, nothing happened and just as Khyeryn was about to divert his attention elsewhere, he spotted something hovering amidst the smoke outdoors! As he made to fire, he caught two laser blasts in the plates on his shoulder. Khyeryn had been knocked behind a torso of one of the corpses.

“Get down!” he yelled, seeing everyone scatter behind any overturned object they could find.

Khyeryn saw Asha attempt to run to his aid, but he waved her off.
I’m fine!
he motioned.

Bahzee was hiding behind a metal shelving unit that lay on its side, trying to rearm herself with more heavy debris. However, the laser power was solely focused in her direction now, and it wouldn’t let up long enough for her to stand and pick up anything. Khyeryn and the others retaliated. He propped his gun arm up on the dead creature’s body and began blasting through the wall’s open hole. His shots were followed by attacks from Asha, Sing, and Teshunua, but since their assailant was still dodging in and out of the smoke, they couldn’t hit him.

Zu had been about to disembark the ship when Bahzee crushed its face with the stone. Trapped in an incapacitated machine, sailing to the earth, Zu had no choice but to break through the shield in hopes that his jetpack had a sufficient amount of fuel for him to fly back to the castle and at least kill one or two of them. Intending to distance fight in this assault, Zu had donned the jetpack as a means of emergency escape, for his wounds from the battle at Rhameeryla were still fresh, and he didn’t think he was up to being pummeled with ammunition so soon. So far, the pack was working well for him, as he dashed back and forth outside the castle walls.

The strong little girl was his main target, because the stone she’d destroyed the ship with had hit him square in the chest, throwing him on his back with only moments to escape the aircraft. Not only did the impact reopen many of his gunshot wounds, but he knew he’d bruise horribly. Now, as he darted side-to-side, evading their attacks, Zu was aching. He grit his teeth in concentration, frustrated that he couldn’t hit Bahzee. He saw her trying to lift another stone, but he’d blown it to bits within her hand. Bahzee ducked again, narrowly escaping with her life.

Deciding he wouldn’t get her, Zu began blasting holes into the corpse on the floor, hoping to hit whoever was behind it. This was his last chance, for he knew that he’d have to retreat in a moment, as not to lose his jetpack fuel on a pointless pursuit…and he was also worried about the bird! Unless seeing the ship destroyed was enough to make it settle on the other side of the castle, he knew Jalum would likely be coming around for another pass. And that was one creature that Zu knew he couldn’t fight!

Zu took off one of the corpse’s legs, then another. He worked his way up the body and blew off the arm at the deltoid. Then he noticed that whoever was behind the corpse had stopped firing at him. The boy got up to run. Just as Zu made to pick him off, he was cloaked in shadow, assaulted by a cacophonous, ear-piercing cry.

Zu spun in the air and attempted to fire. However, as the trigger and handle to the weapon snapped off and he realized he’d destroyed yet
another
firearm, his back was slashed by Jalum’s largest talon. Not only was he deeply cut, but his pack was now damaged, bleeding Arhyz fuel just as profusely as he was his own blood. Zu hit a red button at the wrist of his jacket, and when the exhausts pipes on his pack let out a scorching flare of blue flames, he darted away into the clouds below. His only hope was to make it to a decent spot on Mune Ju and climb down the mountain himself, for there was no way he’d have enough fuel to get all the way to the ground!

Now, massaging his shoulder from the shots he took, Khyeryn ran to the wall and hit the shield button, knowing that Jalum and Maugrimm would be swinging back around. As raising the shield allowed even more frigid wind in, he braced himself. The air chilled him to the bone and whipped his hair into a tangled mess, but he couldn’t have cared less. All he was concerned with was the fact that he still had all his limbs! He perused over the others and found that they, too, had sustained no further injuries and was even more relieved…but only for a moment. Khyeryn suddenly gasped, realizing that all was
not
well. Why didn’t he notice before? Why hadn’t any of them noticed?

He looked to Asha.

“Mom, where’s Lyn Sha?”

12

Within the solitary confines of the library that Zynathian built for Lyn on her ninth birthday, she sat oblivious to all except the words composing each sentence. The technology used practically eliminated distractions from the outside. The only thing that could ever be heard from within was the turning of pages by one person (usually Lyn, as anyone else had to ask for permission to use her facilities. There was hell to pay if she caught anyone inside who hadn’t asked to visit!).

Lyn had felt the explosions, but from inside the movement was so faint, she’d dismissed the blasts as a thunderstorm. When she first got the gift, Lyn had praised her father for months on the efficient design of her library. Now, however, she would find that under the present circumstances, the room was brilliantly designed to a fault. The family needed her, and here she was, hypnotized by a piece of fantasy that she’d already read numerous times. With each turning page, she fell deeper into a seemingly unbreakable trance. Lyn’s mouth hung open in suspense of the events to come. She knew this bit by heart:

“HUSH, CHILD! I did not bestow such talent upon you for your courage to fail when it’s most needed. So fixed are you humans on age and inexperience! Let those not trouble you, for even the youngest, most seemingly insignificant being is capable of great things, for I have deemed it so! ...

“...Be careful, little one, your enemies are masterfully cunning! However, stealthy as they are, they cannot match your power. Your undoing could only come about from carelessness, and that’s why you have no room for error. Destroy them swiftly and without mercy, for they would show you none. ...

“You’ll soon come to appreciate the extra measures taken these last several months, for this is what you’ve been preparing for—the vanquishing of evil. By the heavens, I see them near! And so the moment has come at last! Be wary, young one, they are upon you!”

The uninvited guests startled her.
Designed to respond to emotional stress, by the time Lyn dropped the book, her arm had already transformed. There was no hesitation. Upon meeting the charcoal black irises of a muscular brute, Lyn leapt from the couch and fired. Though shooting out of fright, she was accurate. Lyn put three holes across the middle of his face, burning away his cheek and removing his nose. Shrieking in terror, she carelessly sprayed the entire front portion of the library, insensitive to the decor of her favourite room in the house. She let go of the invisible trigger and watched smoke rise from ruined books, burning shelves, and charred wood.

In addition to the beast now slumped against a bookshelf, whose face had been thrice blasted with her panic fire, there was another—a green beast—sprawled out on the floor. She ran to the wall and turned on the rest of the lights as to inspect them and the surrounding area.

Lyn found the green creature severed at the middle, his torso lay perpendicular to the position of his legs. Though mortally wounded, he was still alert. He coughed on his blood and set his yellow eyes upon Lyn for a last look, unable to believe that a moment ago he thought her to be harmless. What he now saw was a crying little girl, seething with rage. Her black skin was a milk chocolate colour, except for her cheeks, which had gone a deep purple from fright. Her left arm was no longer an arm at all—it was a weapon.

The beast’s eyes widened as she raised the silver instrument of death, meaning to finish him. Although on his last breath, he couldn’t help but notice the sleek elegance of her firearm. It was flawlessly sculpted, polished to perfection, with a gleam that blended into her natural tone so smoothly one might’ve thought the metal, too, to be her skin.

Heavens above! This is the child of a god!
he thought.

Lyn Sha had no mercy on him, taking aim at his chest and unloading until she had blown its contents all over the books behind. As she gazed about, wondering what the intruders were doing here, her stomach did a somersault. She somehow knew this wasn’t the last of the killing tonight.

The family!
she thought.

Lyn carefully tiptoed ahead, knowing that anything could be behind the shield, waiting for her. This first door was merely an opening to a long hallway, which led to the exit. That was why she was taken by surprise. Had there only been one shield, she would’ve heard gunfire the second it opened. As she came upon the door, which would reveal the horrors of her worst nightmares, Lyn swallowed her fear and went forward.

13

Jalum’s red tongue protruded stiffly ahead, much like a spear or a javelin, indicative of the thrashing to come. As he cast an immense shadow over his prey, he roared, inducing two of the soldiers to release the contents of their bowels. As his beak ensnared them, slicing into their bodies, his tongue made acquaintance with the putrid combination of flesh, blood, metal armour, and feces. He spat them out and ensnared the other four with his claws. They too suffered a similar fate as Jalum curled his toes inward, ripping them to pieces with his talons. He dropped the remains, scattering their carnal parts across the sky.

Again there was a heavy wisp of air and an explosion from behind. This, however, was not aimed at them. As they looked back, Jay and Maugrimm saw that a stone from the castle wall had devastated the entire front portion of the ship. Instantly, Maugrimm knew this to be courtesy of Bahzee.

As they propelled forward and around the side of the castle, they came upon the silver ship and were horrified to find the vessel already empty.

“Dammit, they’re inside! We gots ta’ get back ‘round front, Jay!”

However, before darting away, Maugrimm made sure to destroy the silver ship and its connection to the castle, letting off dozens more bomb rounds. When he and Jay flew back around the castle, they were surprised to find one lone beast, hovering with a jetpack, firing inside. Jalum belted a furious wail and raced forward to make quick work of him.

14

Zynathian, who was normally quite the expert with all of his inventions, was too flustered to find the proper listing in any of his menus. Pressing all the wrong buttons on the panel, he swore at himself as his desperate search for the “Initiate Escape” order eluded him.

“Dammit!” he growled at himself, slamming his fist upon the control deck. It was just dumb luck that he landed on the right button.

The computer screen blinked and, to his surprise, a message in red lettering appeared. It read:
“Initiate Escape?”

He gave the “yes” command and waited impatiently, pacing and biting his nails. Suddenly he felt the machinery beneath the floor and in the surrounding walls begin to shift. As the castle’s inner skeleton came to life, Zynathian was relieved that everything sounded like it was well lubricated and joined tightly, until…

“Bloody hell, not now! What is that?” he said, panicking, as he heard the castle’s parts stall and make strange grinding noises.

Zynathian lowered his head in frustration. Then he was startled out of his transition with the sudden rising of exceptionally heavy gunfire. He knew then that Khyeryn had thrown the first stone.

Kill everything in your path, boy!
Zynathian spoke into the air, looking to the monitor only to be petrified further.

“Escape request denied! Rocket shafts clogged! Launch presently impossible! Request denied! …Denied! …Denied! …Denied!”

“Blast! Damn it all to hell! Shit, shit, shiiiiiit!” he swore when he felt the castle’s joints rumble and go limp as they settled back into their natural places.

Zynathian could hear the shield being bombarded from the other side and realized that the enemy was now retaliating. He flinched as the door rattled back and forth as it was pummeled with laser fire, threatening to give away at any moment.

He ran to the corner of the room and hit a red button on the wall. Above him, a door opened, and a ladder slid down. Zynathian began climbing the steps leading to the many shafts of the castle, cursing at himself all the while. He distinctly remembered, over two weeks ago, thinking it a waste of time to check the rockets.

“…It’s not as if we’re being chased. So why bother?”
IDIOT!

Zynathian gasped, as he was shaken by yet another explosion (not knowing that it was Bahzee and her strength that had just unleashed hell upon the enemy). Then things suddenly went quiet. He had the urge to run back down to see if everyone was all right, but he knew Asha would’ve killed him. Tightening the straps on his armour, he hurried into the maze of moving gears, exploring the inner workings of the castle.

15

Phyllamon, witnessing Jalum’s wrath for the second time in two weeks, almost had a heart attack when he saw the moonlit, winged beast soaring around the castle. Wanting to avoid the creature, he ordered his pilot to take them to the window of the tallest tower, rising out of the middle of the castle. Upon reaching it, they shot out the glass and luckily found the room empty.