Cory Herndon - The Fifth Dawn

“Move on?” Raksha asked.

“Tell me, did I squeeze you too hard, my Kha?” the elf said as she brought her fists together. “You can’t imagine how tricky it is to use only enough strength when you’re an ogre.”

“Ogre?” Raksha managed. He was already recovering, but tried to hide it. If Lyese got close enough, he might be able to surprise her.

“Gave you too much credit, I see,” Lyese said. “I’ll make it easier for you. Here’s a riddle. What do a Vulshok priest, an ogre, and an elf girl have in common?”

“Sounds like a bad goblin joke,” Raksha said.

“You are the opposite of fun,” Lyese said. “Vektro, at your service.” The elf strolled around the glowing artifact, which now hummed louder than before. When she reached the leonin, she took a deep bow with exaggerated flourish.

“Alderok Vektro?” Raksha said. “Alderok Vektro is dead.”

“Just Vektro, if you please,” the thing that wore Lyese’s body said. Vektro brought elf girl’s visage mere inches from Raksha’s and added, “The human Alderok is nothing but a smear on the path now.”

Raksha brough a gauntleted fist crashing into the imposter’s borrowed face, knocking Vektro backward. The Kha rolled forward onto his feet and spun into a crouch, faced the imposter, and roared. “I am Raksha Golden Cub, Kha of Taj Nar. I have no need of your services.”

The imposter screamed and charged the leonin Kha. Raksha had lost his sword, but no leonin was ever defenseless as long as he had his claws. He blocked Vektro’s first punch with his palm and drove a fist into the imposter’s gut. Vektro doubled over with a cough, and the leonin followed through with a knee to the face that knocked the imposter backward, stunned.

“Whatever you are, Vektro, it’s good to see you can take a beating no matter what you look like,” Raksha snarled. “Now get out of that body before we rip its head off. We really don’t want to do that.”

“No deal, Kha,” the imposter coughed. “I’ve been waiting a long, long time for a body all my own, and now that I’ve got it I’m not leaving. The master says this one is mine to keep. And I intend to.”

Raksha launched himself into a forward roll and tackled Vektro around the legs, bringing the ersatz elf to the hard metal floor of the old armory with a crash. He followed with a fist to the jaw and pinned Vektro’s head back with one elbow as he threw himself across the elf girl’s stolen body. “That device,” Raksha said. He nodded to the glowing ball of humming silver. “It is a weapon?”

Vektro smiled, and looked pointedly over Raksha’s shoulder. All traces of the strange Vektro-voice gone, Lyese screamed. “Yshkar! He’s gone mad! That artifact is going to destroy Taj Nar. We’ve got to get out!”

Raksha didn’t see Yshkar’s blow coming until it was too late. He was thrown back and struck his head hard enough to make the world spin. Yshkar crouched over him and placed a hand against Raksha’s forehead, then muttered a standard spell used by the leonin on those rare occasions it paid to take live prisoners in war. Raksha’s muscles went slack, and without ceremony Yshkar slung the Kha over his shoulder. Raksha would be paralyzed below the neck for hours.

“What is that?” Yshkar said, jabbing a claw at the whining silver globe.

“It’s a mana bomb, and he said it’s going to go off any minute,” Lyese said. “Yshkar, he’s betrayed us all. You have to leave him, or we won’t have time to save the rest of your people.” She leaned in closer and whispered loud enough for Raksha to hear, “Our people.”

“Most have already evacuated. I gave the order after that last blast,” Yshkar said.

“Good,” Raksha mumbled deliriously.

Lyese was already heading toward the cable ladder Yshkar had used to get down to the basement level. Within seconds the elf girl-and the being that controlled her-scrambled up the ladder and away from the glowing, whining bomb.

“Damn,” Yshkar growled, and followed. “Raksha, I will see you dead for this. But not today.” He followed Lyese up the ladder, and within minutes Yshkar and the elf girl were well clear of Taj Nar.

Yshkar dropped Raksha to the ground without ceremony and propped the paralyzed leonin against a pile of leonin bodies that reeked of blood and rot. “Yshkar,” the Kha croaked. “She is not-”

Before Raksha could finish, Taj Nar disappeared in a blinding flash of blue and white. A half second later, the deafening thunder of the mana bomb explosion reached his ears and blasted the world into silence. Unable even to shield his eyes, Raksha was forced to watch as his home, his kingdom, and the future of his people were laid low under a rapidly expanding cloud of destruction.

“You saw it go up,” Glissa said. Something tickled her cheek, and her hand came away covered with tears she hadn’t noticed until now.

“I couldn’t look away,” Raksha said. “Though my soul very nearly died that day.”

“I think I can figure out what happened next from what they told me,” Glissa interrupted. “Vektro accused you, and all Yshkar could see was you trying to kill the woman he loved. It sounds like she would have killed everyone if you hadn’t stopped her.”

“It was Yshkar’s evacuation order that saved everyone,” Raksha said. “My discovery only saved the imposter.”

“But what was Vektro? How can I get Lyese back?” Glissa’s eyes flashed with fury. “You told me she was dead, but this is worse. A lot worse. She’s still in there, Raksha. I know it.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Raksha said with a sigh. The leonin placed a firm paw on her shoulder. “He will not leave her until she is mortally wounded. We would have to kill her to save her.”

“I can’t accept that,” Glissa said. “We have to figure out what he is, and how to get him out. I want my sister back, Raksha.”

“Glissa, she’s dead. She has to be,” Raksha replied.

She stood to look the leonin eye to eye and jabbed a finger in his chest. “Why?” Glissa demanded.

“Because we have a chance to stop what’s coming now,” Raksha said. “If you choose to confront Vektro, you will fail to strike Memnarch when the time comes. That is why she must be dead. If there is a way to force Vektro out, we will do it. But you cannot concern yourself with her now. It’s one life, one life that might not even exist.”

Glissa knew the leonin was right. There was nothing she could do but fail if she tried to save Lyese now. “All right, damn you,” she said. “I’ll set Lyese-I’ll set her aside. But why even carry on this war? Lyese-Vektro-is a monarch. It doesn’t make any sense. She could have simply ended the conflict and let the nim in years ago. Why the bomb?”

“The war serves Memnarch’s ends,” Raksha said. “I do think I was meant to die in the bomb blast, but luck conspired to let me find it, and Lyese-and Vektro’s treachery before it was too late. Vektro only accused me as a last resort. I owe my life to Yshkar, despite what has come since. With Taj Nar destroyed, the nim and leveler armies could have moved on to Krark-Home, and maybe that was the original plan.” He stopped pacing, and placed a hand on Glissa’s shoulder.

“How did you learn all this hiding out in the Tangle?” Glissa asked, still unconvinced.

“Do you remember the name Ghonthas?” Raksha asked.

“Who?” Glissa said.

“She was a Sylvok. One of Vektro’s vessels,” Raksha said. “She knew you.”

“I don’t know any-wait,” Glissa said. “There was a Sylvok judge at my trial. In Viridia.”

“That was Vektro, inhabiting Ghonthas,” Raksha said. “The imposter was, at the time, trying to ensure the Viridians didn’t execute you, which would have spoiled Memnarch’s plans. When you escaped, Vektro was forced to leave the Slyvok.”