Chapter Forty Seven
She made her way out of the research building to see the glow of fire in the distance. She took off, her new speed almost tripping her up this time as her body adjusted, and ran in that direction. She reached out for Kenny and found she could locate him faster and more clearly than before. She felt the predator close the the surface and felt a sudden pull at her own consciousness. She pushed herself back and cut the connection. Her awareness of him continued to linger on the edge of her mind.
Damn, what now?
She reached out tentatively towards Borreal. She found him faster and more clearly as well, but she didn’t feel the pull on her consciousness. Odd. She added it to the list of things to worry about once they’d all survived.
Coming to the mass of fighters defending Barrack Nine she found Mazaran had taken command. Standing above the battle on a platform made of whatever barrier he’d manifested, he shouted out orders to the soldiers below. Occasionally someone took a shot at him but everything just stopped a solid six inches from him. Dahlia marveled at his abilities. To be that confident, he must be neigh untouchable.
She reached out for Arreal and found him near Kenny. She headed in that direction, dodging through the fight that had spread out. The soldiers had surrounded the area of the wall that had exploded. A few enemy soldiers attempted to engage her but she dealt with them quickly and moved on. Finally she spotted her barrack, fighting next to Kenny’s. She saw that the number of soldiers around him had been greatly reduced and her heart sank. It was obvious they’d born the brunt of the first part of the attack. His captain’s jacket was in tatters and she saw he was covered in blood but the insane grin on his face was still present. He clashed briefly with a large opponent. He toyed with him, driving the other man back relentlessly until he was overwhelmed then Kenny ran him through.
“Captain!” Arreal called out in surprise as she appeared with them.
“Ran into a little trouble, sorry I’m late!” She grinned as she caught an opponent’s blade with her own and threw him back before cutting through him with her other ax. The golden energy ran through her like fire. “What’s the strategy?”
“Well Captain Ravin thinks Captain Mazaran is trying to box them in using huge fires on either side of the breach so at least they can’t push wider. It seems to be working though the fires are dangerous to us as well. Captain Ravin with some of the other soldiers with the ability to withstand heat or hold it off with barriers are rotating in and out close to the fire. Captain Mazaran is having the fires put out as we push the enemy back.”
Dahlia tried her scatter shot and was pleased to see a line of soldiers fall. Crackles of gold ran over their skin and they were quickly taken out as opponents clashed around them. At least she’d gotten a solid return for moving forward the impending corruption of her soul.
“So just push them back? That’s the strategy?”
“Seems to be it. It’s working slowly.”
“Well,” she said, the heat of the battle adding to the fire in her veins, “let’s see what we can do to speed that up.”
She spun her ax over her head and, basking in her increased strength and speed, sent it crashing into an enemy who was too slow to dodge. She pulled it back as she met another. Gold crackled over her hand as she caught his sword with the ax in her other hand. Then the energy flashed forward and he crumpled before her. She brought her ax down to split his skull before moving forward to the next man.
She heard Kenny’s full laugh, long and loud, play over the sounds of the fight. She looked to find him faced with a man wielding an enormous broadsword. The man struck at Kenny and a line of blood appeared on his chest. Kenny sped up, grinning from ear to ear, hammering blows at the man who was able to counter.
“Come on,” she heard Kenny roar, “don’t hold back, this is all or nothing.” He grabbed the man’s head and slammed it into the ground before bringing his sword down towards it.
The man rolled, narrowly dodging, and jumped back to his feet only to find himself forced to parry Kenny’s blade. She noticed Kenny was keeping one hand by his side while his opponent gripped the blade with both hands. She shook her head. He wasn’t even showing off. He was just enjoying a real fight. Most of what he’d done up until now had been slaughter.
Kenny took another slash to the shoulder and a thin red line appeared. Dahlia worked her way over to Soa who was looking a little bedraggled. He was holding up a barrier on the side of his barrack to keep the fire from hurting them while fighting against the tide. She fired a scattered shot at the line of enemies facing his group to give them a moment to breathe. He grinned down at her when he saw her.
“Thanks, Captain. Captain Ravin’s an army in his own right but if he gets too far in we can get overwhelmed and I didn’t want to interrupt his current match,” he explained.
“Looks like he’s starting to get bored anyways,” she said.
Kenny’s opponent was starting to breathe heavily and he couldn’t avoid and counter without falling back. The light in Kenny’s eyes was starting to fade a bit. Suddenly he grabbed the sword in both hands, knocked his opponent’s strike to one side, and slashed. A deep, jagged cut opened diagonally across the man’s torso and arm. His sword dropped from his hands. Looking disappointed, Kenny drove his sword through the man’s heart, lifting him off the ground before throwing him back down off his sword. Then he turned and moved back towards his soldiers.
His eyes lit back up when he saw Dahlia.
“DeMorra, what kept you?”
“I ran into an old friend who insisted I stay and hear about his work,” she said cryptically.
“Uh huh, any chance I knew the friend?” He asked, taking in her torn shirt and wrappings.
“I imagine you would. By the way, have you noticed Horan is missing?”
“I didn’t notice, where might I find him?”
“Oh he just lost his head over something,” she grinned, “and couldn’t make it.”
Kenny’s grip on his sword tightened. “Pity, I think I would have enjoyed having a word with him about it,” he growled.
He started to say something else then paused and looked at her strangely for a moment. Then he apparently put it aside to turn back to the fight in front of him.
Soa had been right. Typically captains were stronger and faster than their barrack members by a magnitude. Most in the rank of captain could be expected to stand against the entire rest of their barrack and win. Dahlia had attained the rank purely through her skill with psychic attacks and the added muscle from her puppets. Kenny though, could stand alone against the tide of soldiers threatening to overwhelm any other group. It wasn’t even a stretch. Even when he was holding himself back, not allowing his body to transform and use his full abilities. To have had his barrack sustain the losses it had they must have been completely overrun.
Dahlia stood with their barracks and helped push back against the flow. Her newly enhanced abilities seemed to have no limit and she had gained physical endurance along with the speed and strength in the bargain. She felt the price she’d paid keenly, though. The elation she’d felt before was nothing compared to what she experienced now. She felt the rhythm of the fight running through her bones and she met each new opponent like a child with a new toy. She grinned as she felt her ax sliding through flesh and bones. The monster deep within her clawed to the surface and seeped into her soul, no longer a stranger.
She was also more keenly aware of the man she fought alongside. Even when he was out of eyesight, she had a constant level of awareness of Kenny’s presence just on the edge of her conscious mind.
She felt when the tide of the battle finally shifted and their opponents’ will to fight faded. She imagined their leaders had been told they just needed to keep the force engaged long enough and then another weapon would turn the tide.
She could sense when their expectations turned to fear and they abandoned the fight. The commanders began to quietly retreat and the soldiers at the back fled. The soldiers towards the front lines weren’t so lucky. They were taken down by vengeful opponents. Few who threw down their weapons were spared. Many who saw the fate of their fellows turned and ran, breaking from their own ranks.
Finally, Dahlia shouldered one of her axes and stood on the battlefield strewn with broken bodies and flames. The battle was over and they had won.
Kenny turned to her, “You know, I like your eyes that shade but it’s kinda strange they changed.”
Dahlia’s heart dropped into her stomach.