Richard Parker - Elsewhere

“Nev was right to choose you as his successor,” she said and squatted down next to a dead Palmerrio soldier. She used his long cape to clean off both her kali. “You fight very well,” she added.

“As do you,” he answered. They didn’t have time for any additional pleasantries as a large force of Palmerrio moved from the center to attempt to take advantage of the growing gap developing in the Massi lines. They were joined by the main section of infantry being held in reserve by General Sanchez. The bait was taken and now it was up to the Massi to hold until the Toranado could complete the circle and trap the enemy army. If the Massi lines collapsed now it would likely be their own army that was encircled and destroyed.

Gwaynn slid along the lines closer to Vio, encouraging the veteran Massi soldiers around him, but they needed little encouragement. The soldiers who had survived through the many battles to this point were hardened and skilled and though war was never desirable, some of the Massi were growing to relish it and even to enjoy fighting for their new and deadly young King.

“Are you all right?” Gwaynn asked as he finally reached Vio’s side. She was pale and looked a little ill but she turned her large dark eyes on Gwaynn and nodded. The truth be told her arms felt like rubber and her knees were shaking something terrible and she had a strong suspicion she’d wet herself during the fighting. She was not sure…the air was very damp and rain continued to fall lightly. She was still contemplating the possibility when the next wave of enemy soldiers reached her position and the fighting began once again.

Vio fought and fought, completely unaware that she was weeping through most of the battle. She killed or seriously wounded over a dozen enemy soldiers and did not take even a scratch herself. But she remembered the faces of all the men she struck down, and she remembered their dying expressions were filled with pain and fear. The Toranado were now over two hundred yards from the far left of the Massi lines but with the help of Gwaynn, N’dori and Vio the lines were holding even though the Palmerrio were throwing more and more of their reserves in their direction.

“Hold men!” Gwaynn yelled and the men around him yelled back and then when the enemy before them began to weaken once more Gwaynn turned to N’dori who was still at his side and nodded.

“Forward!” They yelled in unison and the Massi lines began to advance and push the Palmerrio back. As they moved Gwaynn glanced to the north east and spotted the Toranado in position and threatening to encircle the Palmerrio right wings, but they were up against stiff opposition and their advance slowed considerably.

Again a mass of Palmerrio moved to engage the Massi left and again the two armies fought for control of the gap. Gwaynn fought with abandon, killing so quickly that his immediate area was once more free of any nearby threats. He glanced again to the Toranado, but the rain was falling heavily now and their position was obscured. Gwaynn moved farther to the left where the Palmerrio lines were stronger and spotted a figure draped in black, clothes trimmed in red, moving directly toward Vio Valencia. But Vio, who was currently battling a large man with long flowing red hair, was completely unaware of the danger now stalking her way.

Gwaynn’s heart was hammering in his chest as he pushed through the crowd but then three Palmerrio soldiers moved to block his way and he was forced to take his eyes from the Executioner to deal with the immediate threat. He spun and killed one instantly but the other two circled and fought cautiously and were soon joined by two additional soldiers. Gwaynn fought aggressively but as he advanced they fell away, moving and circling. He spun once and caught sight of Vio in the distance engaged with a new enemy soldier, the man with the red hair gone, and he did not catch sight of the Executioner. A soldier quickly moved in and the tip of his kali caught Gwaynn in the right thigh, slicing through his pants and the top inch of skin and muscle. Gwaynn leaped back and was immediately attacked by those behind him and it was all he could do to keep from taking another blade between his shoulders. The five he was facing were now fighting together, eyes only for him. They were a very great threat and Gwaynn knew it. He forced himself to forget Vio and the Executioner and focus on the Palmerrio who were trying desperately to kill him. From somewhere behind he heard the high pitched scream of a woman in agony and his heart fell, but he could not turn, could not help, the soldiers surrounding him were taking all of his concentration.

Vio for her part was, in fact, aware of the Executioner moving steadily in her direction. The woman from Sinis moved at an easy pace, killing anyone who challenged her as she edged ever closer, black robes swirling behind in the light rain. And there was something about the way the assassin moved that disturbed Vio, but she did not have time to dwell on it as a Palmerrio soldier with a long sword hacked at her with a mighty swing. She gracefully ducked aside and with a fluid movement sliced through the back of the man’s left arm, hitting bone with a jarring thud. The soldier dropped his primary weapon, screamed and quickly drew a kali with his right, but by then Vio was in on him and plunged her own into his chest. As he fell she quickly turned half expecting the Executioner to be running in her direction but he…no she, was not. She was just walking, that strangely familiar walk.

‘She…’ Vio thought momentarily surprised, though she knew that females were a vital part of all life in the Inland Sea. ‘Female Executioners.’ The thought came to her with a flash as she watched the Executioner move toward her, smiling and twirling her kali in a smooth, practiced motion.

‘Female Executioners! Gwaynn’s Captain...Captain Huntley! She was on Light…she was an Executioner!’ Vio was sure and completely confident of her suspicions. She needed to get to Gwaynn. She needed to warn him, but then the woman in black struck with such speed and skill that Vio was thrown back, off balanced and surprised, taxed to the limit just to keep the whirling blades that came at her from penetrating her defenses and ending her life.

“You will die, little Noble one,” the Executioner said after her initial attack was thwarted. Vio did not answer but instead launched an attack of her own, and when she did she moved with the fluid grace Gwaynn always associated with her. The Executioner before her retreated but had little difficulty deflecting the blows coming at her.

“Very good…very good,” the Executioner crooned and then counter attacked and again Vio was forced to back pedal using all her speed to deflect the blows with no thought at all about attack. Harder and harder the Executioner pressed her, but still Vio was up to the task and remained unscathed. A Massi pike man moved in, attacking the warrior from Sinis. Vio tried to help but was unsure of how to fight alongside someone with such an unwieldy weapon. Seconds later the pike man was dead, his head rolling in the mud.

“I want your head as well,” the woman in black said, her frustration showing, as she turned back to face Vio, “and when I cut if from your body I’ll keep it as a trophy.”

She attacked quickly and confidently, but Vio was learning her patterns and actually began to spray in several counters of her own, but still neither inflicted anything more than a few minor wounds.

And suddenly Gwaynn was there, attacking with such fury that the Executioner retreated away from him at nearly a run. Gwaynn, however, was nonplussed by the retreat and even lashed out at several Palmerrio soldiers as they flew by. Finally the Executioner skidded to a stop, trying to hold her ground but she quickly lost her right arm in the attempt and then before she even felt any pain, Gwaynn swung around and sliced through the back of her neck, severing her spine. The Executioner’s head flopped forward and without a sound her body dropped to the ground, her face buried in the mud of the battlefield.