12. Bracken
Chapter 12
Bracken
O ne thing I would never fault Sun for being was hopelessly optimistic. His former slave, Atlan, had done well in leading us to General Hideyoshi for help. Unfortunately for us, even with the battalions who had joined our cause, we weren’t enough. I had a sinking feeling we would lose even as I bolted skyward to assist the next strike.
“Stick close,” I growled as Clem plastered himself to my back, my wings a shield from flaming arrows as we surveyed the battlefield from above.
It had only taken a few days for the word of Emperor Gaulu’s betrayal to travel and as I had expected, there was more resistance than General Hideyoshi would have led us to believe.
The emperor’s army was not so easily swayed. And unfortunately, we were easy to find when everyone knew exactly where we were headed.
Kari was north so that was where we headed, but it was also where both our human and noc opposition knew to find us.
Luckily, against humans, I had only to worry about their pitiful offenses like arrows and rocks. And for once, I could take in the totality of the battle below without interruption from flying nocs.
No matter how you sliced it, we were losing, and sourness filled my gut. I was acutely aware of Sun’s fear through our bond.
We had slogged our way north along the River Yang, facing battle after battle after battle. But we were well rested, and Sun wore fresh new clothes that suited the weather better and oddly enough, Daaku’s forces never caught up with us. I took it as a sign that Atlan and those strange nocs had successfully sieged Yewan.
They had revealed no concrete plan to destroy the tower and escape the new nocturnal throne’s fury after liberating those humans, from what I had heard in their whispered conversation. But the warlocks, the rat, and the owl were strong enough that even I believed they’d pulled something out of their sleeve and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat.
Yet the tide of humans against us kept coming.
It truly felt like the whole of the human world was against us. The tide had turned, our forces thinning, even as more and more humans joined our cause everytime they saw Sun riding upon Hadi with the god stones raised high in the air.
More often than not, we were met not with defiance or allegiance but neutrality. Civilians fled, and armed soldiers deserted. And this pattern continued the closer we marched toward Kari until, if General Hideyoshi was right, our forces would be evenly matched.
I soared higher in the sky, searching for Sun, Kiar, and Hadi in the chaos. The smell of carrion was thick, and I felt ravenous to eat, to kill, but there was no time for that right now.
It seemed that we had ignited the unrest running through the land and a civil war was spreading. But instead of leading this wing of the war, we were now woefully caught in the fray.
“Blessed be…” Clem hummed, lost in some incantation. I didn’t have the strength to be irritated, as his spells had helped some. Landslides, concealment against trees, lighting strikes. They were nothing miraculous but powerful enough that even the other humans who fought with us began to defer to Clem, not just us, the more powerful in our pack.
And I had been proud of him, up until today. His irritation was palpable, demanding we drive deeper and deeper into enemy territory despite our protests.
Tsuki’s emissary? Clem was becoming one of her devoted loons as her blessing seemed absent now. The only thing stopping Gaulu was our corporeal steel, blood onyx, fangs, and claws slashing through what remained of our enemies.
“Bracken, there!” Clem shouted over the boom of my thundering wings, releasing a war screech as humans lined their catapult our way.
I swooped left and ducked low, a familiar back side coming into full view, Kiar defending his rear, while Sun, bullheaded, fought in front of our undead king. Odd fissures dotted the landscape around them as I swooped lower, and I could hear Clem murmuring against my neck, his hot breath branding me as magic melded with the air.
“Hold tighter. Hold steady,” I demanded, the sky darkening too fast for mid-day. The sun was not supposed to set for a few more hours. It was all so strange.
“She’s near,” Clem interrupted, squeezing my neck tight. “She’s coming. She’s coming, and she’ll… She’s… Goddess, please…”
“Clem? Oh fuck! Oh no. Clem! Clem don’t you dare faint on me,” I demanded as we nearly collided with a flaming ball of rock.
At the worse possible moment, Clem went stiff. Terror seized my heart as he jerked, and I was forced to plummet lest he fall to his death.
“You come with your visions at the worst possible moment,” I sneered as we fell faster, the sky nearly pitch-black when it should still be painted in yellow, orange, and red hues.
I made eye contact with Kiar, and he lifted on his tail as high as he could, taking Clem into his arms as I barreled towards a formation of human soldiers rushing him. Then I landed, shielding them both.
We fought, all surrounding Hadi and Sun, but Kiar was handicapped without the use of the arm holding Clem. Javelins broke through my defenses and pierced him. But he never let go of him.
“Up there!” Hadi shouted, a tiny bluff able to hold us all and get us away from the rows of soldiers clashing on the battlefield.
I took Kiar and Clem with me, and Sun leaped onto Hadi’s back. By the time we made it, the earth was shaking violently, and I wondered if Tsuki and Taiyo would destroy our world now since we seemed set to fail in our mission to redeem it.
“What is wrong with Clem?” Kiar demanded lips pressed to Clem’s sweaty forehead as he convulsed.
I swept the battle with my eyes, Hadi and Sun pressing in on us so we all shielded Kiar and Clem. Our enemies’ eyes were on us, ravenous, swinging hooks onto the rocks to climb, and we were trapped, unable to move Clem without one of us sacrificing our full fighting abilities. And Kiar was badly injured already.
“What’s wrong with him?” Kiar asked again, panic setting in as blood gushed from an open wound on his shoulder, his lips pressed to Clem’s cheek now, fangs erect.
Sun flew to their side and took over, holding Clem so that Kiar could stem the bleeding in his shoulder.
“Tsuki’s blessing, I suppose. Just pray she has a sliver of sanity left, or this is all about to go straight to hell.”