20. Sun
Chapter 20
Sun
F ury blinded me. Anger unlike anything I had ever felt coursed through my veins.
My family had been slaughtered before. That anger had driven me for all my years, but it was nothing like this. This was vitriol. It was poison.
My Bracken. A literal part of my soul being taken from me and for what?! For a corrupt emperor. He had done this.
I had minutes, maybe even less than that left but I would not go without taking every last person who opposed me with me. I would not leave this earth with Daaku breathing. I would not rot while Emperor Gaulu remained on the throne. I would not damn Bracken in exchange for my soul.
If the emperor appeared before me now, I would tear his heart from his body with my bare hands. But for now, I had Daaku, the disgusting beast that towered over us all. The one who had made Bracken fall.
With a cry, I dove forward with the wave of soldiers, all of us focusing on Daaku's monstrously large frame.
He fell forward, hitting the ground, crushing those in his way and we closed in on top of him, stabbing him, slicing him, tearing off limbs.
If he felt any of it, he did not respond, instead, lifting back up, throwing people off of him and slamming back down once more, crushing more bodies.
When he lifted again, I clung to him, hands around two of his tiny limbs so I was gripping something. He lifted high in the air. Even after often flying with Bracken, I was surprised by the sudden height, but an idea struck me.
Using his limps as foot and hand holds, I began to climb him like a ladder.
Our attacks on his body had done little to nothing, but perhaps his head was weak.
He threw himself down once more. My legs went flying into the air, but I held tight, not allowing myself to let go. Not even when he slammed into the ground and my body collided with his hard shell, winding me.
When he lifted up into the air again, I began to climb as though nothing had happened, determined to kill the bastard while I still had the chance.
He moved to fall once more, but I was so close, dammit. With a burst of speed, I hoisted myself, throwing myself higher, catching him around the thick throat just as he began his descent.
But my blade was ready and I knew this was it.
Without hesitation, I sliced through the bastard king's neck, pulling the blade clean from one side to the other. I felt how deep it cut into his flesh, the satisfying release of blood and gore as black gunk sprayed from within him.
I hit the ground, still holding tightly to Daaku, feeling his body twitch beneath me and a cry of celebration filled the air from those who had been fighting him with me.
I'd done it. I'd defeated the false noc king at least and by some miracle, I was still here... which meant that Bracken wasn’t quite dead yet, right?
Unless Clem had severed the bond… but no, he wouldn’t have without our consent. And I would have felt Bracken leaving us. I was sure.
Before I could dwell on it, Daaku's body gave a great heave, a last sign of his life draining away, or so I thought until suddenly, he lifted again, carrying me up into the air as though nothing had happened.
“What the hell?” I shouted.
His deformed head fell back limply, exposing bones and flesh. His eyes were open and unseeing.
What was happening ?! It was like something was controlling his lifeless body.
For some reason, I looked beyond the city walls and that was when I saw him .
Emperor Gaulu.
He stood on the fountain by the entrance just out of sight of the battle, but close enough to watch the proceedings and he held a book in his hands.
He read from it with such focus and determination, his hand raised in the air. Then, with a sweep, he moved his hand down and with the movement, Daaku fell, taking me with him.
That bastard.
He was controlling Daaku and it occurred to me, he probably had been controlling him from the start. Hadi’s noc kingdom had been too strong. They had been winning. Perhaps that was why he had finally decided to intervene, replacing the noc king with a being under his literal control. Everything that had happened, every moment of this war that had stretched on for years had been carefully orchestrated by the emperor.
Well, it ended now.
I threw myself from Daaku's back, not thinking about the landing until I was soaring through the air. I pulled myself into a ball at the last minute, hitting the ground and rolling onto my feet, unwilling to waste a moment.
I would not be distracted by Emperor Gaulu's puppets any longer.
I tore through the city gates with a cry of success. Satisfied by the way the emperor jumped when he looked up and saw me.
I expected him to run, I wanted the chase, to land on his back and slice through his neck the way I had done to Daaku. I doubted that he would rise again the way the puppet had. After all, he was the master.
He did not run though. No, instead, he whispered something quickly under his breath and suddenly, a shadow fell over me.
I looked up, barely diving out of the way on time as Daaku suddenly slammed down where I had been standing.
I hit the ground with even less grace than I had before, jumping to my feet, still fixated on my ultimate prize, Emperor Gaulu. But the bastard was running now, back to the palace like a little frightened mouse and Daaku...
The emperor had fixed Daaku's focus on me alone. Instead of lifting and slamming at random, he slithered toward me, his dead head still lolling.
“Damn you!” I shouted, but the emperor was gone now, leaving all of us to finish the battle on our own.
But how?! How could I stop a giant centipede that could not be stopped even in death?
“Sun!”
It was Jia again, accompanied by others, some on horseback, some on foot. A cascade of soldiers pouring into the city to help me. More than before, I was suddenly sure just as General Hideyoki rode in on horseback at her rear.
My heart soared at the sight of him. He had arrived just in time to end this battle for our side. Even if I was gone before I could see it, they would fight on.
“You made it!”
“Wouldn’t miss it, Sun!” he shouted to me in return.
Just in time too, because with sudden agility that I hadn't believed Daaku could possibly possess, he wrapped himself around me, catching me in his thick body.
“Tear it limb from limb!” Jia shouted. “If he cannot be killed, at least we can stop him from moving!”
His hold was tight, but not tight enough to stop me from fighting back, from stabbing into his hard shell and taking Jia's advice to pull and tug and cut at his limbs.
With a sickening crunch, one leg broke free in my bare hands. Around me, humans piled atop Daaku, attacking his body mercilessly.
With a hard push, I somehow managed to wiggle and kick free, even angrier now than I had been before, torn between ripping Daaku apart with my bare hands and going after Emperor Gaulu before he managed to make an even bigger mess somehow.
Daaku began to thrash, his movements growing in violence, making my decision for me because I could not leave my comrades.
I moved toward Daaku, ready to fight him until the end but a wretched feeling suddenly tore through my chest.
It was like everything bad in the world. It was like death and loss and despair hitting me with one solid swipe, a knife straight to the heart and I knew.
“ Bracken! ”
His name tore through my throat, taking me to my knees as life simply lost all meaning.
Damn it. Clem had failed. I was out of time.
I was fading.