Brian Pratt - Trail of the Gods

A bolt flies within inches of his face as one quickly takes aim and releases. Throwing their crossbows to the ground, the soldiers draw their swords and advance upon him. The first one strikes out as the second moves to flank him.

Crossing his knives, Jiron grabs the descending sword between them and kicks out at the soldier’s groin. Twisting the sword at the same time as his foot connects causes his opponent to lose his grip on the sword. A quick twist with his knives and the sword goes flying over the side of the cliff.

The second man who was flanking him, screams a war cry as he hacks down with an overhand strike. Twisting to the side, he narrowly avoids being cleaved in two. As he twists, he strikes out at the first man and catches him in the shoulder with one knife before bumping him with his shoulder.

Crying out from the pain erupting in his shoulder, the soldier stumbles back off balance and goes over the cliff. His scream echoes as Jiron turns to face the final attacker.

Having missed with his first strike, the man again tries to bull his way through Jiron’s defenses with brute strength. Slashing at him with both hands gripping his sword, he knocks one of Jiron’s knives to the ground as Jiron tries to deflect the soldier’s attack.

Barely deflecting the strike at the cost of one of his knives, Jiron lashes out with his foot and catches the soldier in the chest, knocking him backward. Following him, Jiron grabs the man’s hand that’s wielding the sword and prevents him from being able to attack.

He knees the man in the stomach hard, causing him to bend over and then follows through with another knee to the face. The soldier’s head snaps back as blood begins to cascade from his now broken nose.

Jiron pauses a moment and watches as the man staggers back a few feet. He wobbles a moment before falling backward to the ground.

Coming over to where the man lies prone on the ground, he sees that his neck is bent at a crooked angle and his eyes are staring off at nothing. Nudging him with his foot to make sure he’s dead, he then goes over and retrieves his knife before moving to the top of the stairs.

Aleya and James are already on their way up. He’s leaning heavily upon her as they make it up one step at a time.

Flash! Boom!

Another bolt of lightning strikes the cliff face near them, knocking them to their knees. Below them the soldiers have now reached the third rest area and are pushing upward quickly.

Taking the steps two at a time, Jiron comes down and helps Aleya in aiding James the rest of the way to the top. “Come on!” he hollers over the wind. “We’ve got to hurry!”

Flash! Boom! Flash! Boom!

Two quick bolts strike near and he can hear an audible groan from James as he works to deflect them. Falling to their knees from the concussion of the blasts, Jiron looks to James and sees that his face is pale and drawn from the effort to keep them safe. Getting back to his feet, he picks him up and carries James the remaining few steps to the top.

“Horses!” Aleya hollers, pointing over to behind the ruined watchtower.

The crossbowmen’s horses are tied in a group. “Thank god!” he exclaims as he carries James over to them. He suddenly comes to a stop as he remembers how James had stopped Abula-Mazki back at the catacombs.

Setting him down, he hollers, “James!”

Eyes opening, he’s surprised at how bloodshot they are. “Remember back at the catacombs?” he asks. “Remember how you brought them down on top of Abula-Mazki?” Getting a nod from him, he continues, “Can you do the same thing here?”

A weak, “Maybe,” comes from him as he again closes his eyes. “Get us as far away from the edge as you can.” That last statement almost too soft to be heard over the roar of the wind.

“Go get us some horses and meet us over there,” he says to Aleya as he indicates a spot far from the edge. As she nods and moves to comply, he yells, “And hurry!”

Lifting James up, he begins carrying him far from the edge of the cliff face. Aleya soon joins them with four horses. “We’re away from the edge,” he tells James as he lays him on the ground. A brief nod is all the response he gets.

Taking two of the horses’ reins, he says to Aleya, “Hold onto them tight. No matter what happens, don’t let go!”

“Why?” she asks. “What’s going to happen?”

Before Jiron has a chance to reply, the ground begins to shake and the horses start neighing as their eyes roll with fear. “Hold them tight!” he cries. “We can’t let them go!”

Several soldiers reach the top of the stairs and are thrown to the ground as the cliff begins shaking. A loud crack can be heard as the ground begins trembling even harder. Then suddenly, three feet from where they stand with the horses, the ground splits in two. A roar the likes neither of them have ever heard before comes from all around them as the gap grows wider, slowly at first and then more rapidly.

When the gap is over three feet wide, the side of the gap away from them suddenly drops away, the ruins of the watchtower toppling over as the ground disappears from beneath it. A tremendous roar, even louder than before assaults their ears as the cliff face comes away, taking a good portion of the ridge, as well as the soldiers upon the stairs with it.

Jiron has all he can do to keep the two horses he’s holding from bolting away. Aleya loses the battle with hers and the reins are ripped out of her hands by the rearing of the terrified horses. The two horses, now free, run away from the noise. One ends up going the wrong way in its fear and plummets over the cliff side while the other races down the trail leading away from the top on the other side.

When the rumbling finally stops, Jiron moves over to the new edge of the ridge and looks down to where the stairs used to be. Below them is a massive dust cloud, obscuring everything more than several hundred feet below the top. Where the stairs had been is now just virgin, jagged rock. All those soldiers who had been upon the stairs must now be lying down at the base, buried beneath hundreds of tons of stone.

Coming away from the ledge, he sees Aleya staring at them with fear in her eyes. “What are you two?” she asks him.

“I don’t think we’ll have to worry about pursuit from there for awhile,” he tells her as he goes back over to where James is lying. He’s unconscious, but otherwise appears fine.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she says with an edge to her voice.

Glancing over to her, he finds an arrow knocked and aimed right for him. Getting up, he turns toward her and says, “As for me, I’m just a pit fighter out of the City of Light. I hooked up with James here shortly after it fell to the Empire and we’ve been together ever since.”

“What about him?” she asks, indicating the comatose James with her bow.

“You can ask him when he wakes up,” he tells her. “Which won’t be for several hours I’m figuring. Watch him for me will you?” Completely ignoring the arrow aiming at him, he turns and begins moving down the trail to find where the horses had run off.

Lowering her bow, she asks, “Where are you going?”

“To get the horses,” he replies. “If you would have held onto them tighter, I wouldn’t have to. Be back in a bit.”

She lowers her bow completely as she watches him move away down the trail. Replacing her arrow back into her quiver, she slings her bow across her back and looks at her red, bleeding hands. When the horses had ripped out of her grip, the reins had taken some of the skin with them.

Walking over to the edge of the cliff, she looks down at the dust cloud below. It’s beginning to clear away and she can see the enormous pile of rubble at the bottom. It may be her imagination but it looks like there are still survivors down there trying to dig out their companions. The exact number is obscured by the enormous dust cloud filling the valley below.