Physicians in the lynx district grappled with the endless wounded. Others unencumbered from the jaguar district made their way across to theirs. King Raban wasn’t as interested in attacking as his fellow monarchs. Gawahir’s own words in faded ink. Which meant that the emperor and chieftain doubled their efforts.
Nadiyya gazed out over the besiegers amassed before the walls. As many as when they first arrived. At least with the Tigers, the chief’s numbers dropped on the other hand. He was always bloodthirsty.
The towers edged closer, but abandoned in the early morning. Only flickering torches remained at their peaks. None were fool enough to linger atop of them this close. During the day, the golden palace guards were ever present now, glimmering under the dull southern sun.
There were some Lynxes in furred armour. Most were in the gatehouse, but their numbers dwindled. She meant to send word to the Cheetahs reinforcing the marketplace in the lynx district, but Arno was yet to return from his mission. She didn’t wish to send away any more Tamers, dark or light.
Jun coordinated his dark Tamers differently now. They doused the braziers, blinking in and out to keep their archers busy. While the towers ground forward, churning the soil below.
Nadiyya narrowed at the tower journeying towards the gatehouse. Taller than the others, yet wider than the bridge over the Beast’s Tear.
The emperor prepared another assault, and all that remained was to wait. She wouldn’t risk dark Tamers in the palace guard for a counterattack. There were still the other districts. News from them was quiet. No, they must hold for Zaki.
Pharaoh Nadiyya belched her bland breakfast into her fist, blowing it away into the cool breeze. Pride lingered down in the district, imposing himself amongst the physicians and guards around the converted buildings.
She nodded her greetings at everyone, but despair captured many. Most of their greetings faltered, or were barely stronger than squeaks. They wavered too quickly.
Nadiyya skipped down the steps, irritated by her growing stink. There hadn’t been a recent fight to justify it. This was a stench born from idle watching, which worsened her annoyance.
The fresh air high on the walls ended. Her nose suffered endless health poultices, rotting flesh, and sour sweat. Pride joined her as she stomped along the main street of the lynx district. She doused the wounded wailing from the surrounding buildings. He wasn’t in the mood himself.
Pride snorted through their bond.
Calm came once she left behind the gate courtyard. Sole archers manned the tallest grey stone structures in the lynx district. It ended before her eyes saw the bustling and fortified marketplace. Coloured by the vibrantly leather armoured Cheetahs present in strong numbers.
They rushed into formation upon noticing her, with no need to call for their attention. Impressive for Unblessed.
This might lift my mood.
“Who are the captains amongst you?”
Nadiyya ate her late lunch, ignoring Pride’s quiet condemnation. His complaints about her wasting time by bolstering their numbers. The beast refused to understand, no matter how many times she explained morale and its intricacies to him.
“They will flee or they will not, trust in their duty.”
“We are not so simplistic in our nature as you beasts,” Nadiyya sighed, before rushing a smile towards the one who retrieved her empty bowl of broth.
“It is not simplicity that you lack,” Pride grumbled. She paused for elaboration, then snarled when she realised it wouldn’t come.
Nadiyya adjusted her sheathed khopesh on her waist, donned her roaring Sinha helm and exited the lynx gatehouse. A spotty gloom welcomed her as the afternoon approached. Her ears picked up a distant rumble towards the northeast, but there was no hint of moisture in the air.
The Tigers buzzed amongst their endless lines of tents. There was hardly grass in the camp now, just brown stomped soil beneath their endless boots and siege machines. Nadiyya stood beside the Cheetahs, under Captain Inam, many with their bows ready and quivers full. Not one Tiger revealed themselves to their arrows, and so her impatience worsened.
With the approach of night, so did the rumble of the emperor’s siege machines. Fires blazed atop the walls within the braziers, as well as in the pits beside the emperor’s catapults. Nadiyya groaned as the dark Tamers of the palace guard replaced their golden brethren. Another bombardment then. Pride didn’t enjoy her disappointment.
Fiery hay bales brightened the night. Some hid clay pots of exploding oil, but thankfully all too deep into the district. Physicians and the wounded remained safe. Still, the palace guard kept watch, water on standby.
Pharaoh Nadiyya was never more alert than during the night, studying every flying hellfire attack before scanning the nearby towers for movement.
Nothing.
This time, her wounded hand itched for a different reason. With its stiffness all but gone, and scars already fading. She tested her fingers from time to time, but it being her offhand, she didn’t worry too much about it.
The hours flew by without the need to draw her khopesh. Morning colour arrived swifter than winter should have allowed. When the golden palace guards returned, she stomped her way back to the gatehouse and rested her eyes for a few hours.
“Pharaoh, wake up!”
“Girl!”
Loud crashing and wailing woke Nadiyya. It took her a moment to find her bearings in the chaos. But with Pride’s monstrous presence and his golden gaze. A stately palace guard in glorious golden scale stood over her.
“An attack?”
“Bombardment upon the walls, Pharaoh,” the palace guard said.
Her onyx eyes sparkled, but the rest of her face was a mural of her previous battles.
Nadiyya saw the rubble and endless debris on the wall. There were one or two mangled Cheetahs amongst the destruction, which was the best case considering the sight.
“We should prepare planks as an immediate remedy to the destruction. We need to stay on these walls.”
“As you say Pharaoh.”
“What about the destruction in the district? What about the kumkani and the inkosi?”
“Nothing still from the kumkani. The pharaoh and inkosi suffer the same.”
Silence followed the palace guard’s words. Nadiyya grabbed the palace guard before she could march out into the open. She shook her head and nodded at a few nearby Cheetahs. They understood her orders, reluctantly. Five of them nocked their bows, with one shield bearer ahead as they stepped out into the open.
Pharaoh Nadiyya held her breath as their boots crunched the gravel. She listened to their taut bowstrings, the caressing of the feathers at the end of their arrow shafts.
“Take cover!”
She was happy there was nothing worse than grunts of effort. Every arrow crunched against stone rather than flesh.
“Everyone out and stay low!”
The Cheetahs slowly filled the walls, and a few cried out in pain. They collected their own arrows for a counter volley. The whistle was a song to her ears when they let loose their arrows. Tigers wailing beyond the walls was the lift she needed.
An ever-present gloom darkened the gatehouse through its small murder holes.
Nadiyya cursed.
“The towers are at the walls!”
She grimaced at her bad breath and drew her khopesh as she stomped out of the gatehouse. The gloom remained above, blocking out the sun. Creating a bright night to serve the emperor’s dark Tamers.
All the fire drained out of her the moment she gazed out onto the battlefield beyond. The towers were halfway through the Beast’s Tear, and still tall enough to drop a drawbridge onto the walls. They didn’t, and silence followed. They abandoned the tower before the gate.
“What is this?” She asked.
“We should light the braziers as a precaution.”
“You have the right of it, and what do I call you?”
“Nasira, Pharaoh.”
“Send word to your dark brethren without leaving your post.”
“As you say Pharaoh,”
A loud crash exploded below, which spun herself and Nasira together. It came again and rumbled the stonework beneath her feet. Her eyes widened at the enormous tower hugging the gatehouse.
It’s a house for a ram!
“We need to ride to the gate courtyard now!”
“Nasira, hold the walls, do not allow them into the gatehouse!”
“Yes, Pharaoh!”
Pride’s speed surged, making quick work of the difficult remains of the wall’s surface. He became the wind down the stairs. Nadiyya shivered at the bottom, where the other Cheetahs prepared their shields and spears before the trembling lynx gates.
Hairline cracks snaked along the face of the towering lynx gate, stretching and widening with every blow it suffered.
“Your captain remains on the walls. I will lead you all!” She boomed atop Pride, a mountain of gold on her monstrous Sinha.
“Archers to the front. I want a hail of steel to meet the first breachers.”
A paltry number amongst the strong contingent of Cheetahs and a scattering of lynx district guards stepped forward, a score of them. Pride carried her behind their single line, before the endless spears.
Two volleys, perhaps three, if there weren’t any Tamers in the vanguard. No, she was sure.
Every ram blow was like a thunderclap from above. She hadn’t drawn her khopesh yet, nor did she intend to until the need was near. But her clenched fist itched to unleash it.
The chanting Tigers on the other side drowned the nearby physicians and wounded in the surrounding grey stone buildings. They turned their heaving of the metal headed ram into a manageable rhythm, cracking into the gate. Archers clad in armour with tufts of fur poked their bows from their high vantages atop the flat roofs.
Scents of dull anxiety and determination mingled in her nose, eased by Tamers. Not the ornate resplendence of the palace guard, but the bronze and silver script strengthened, scale armour of Lions. She saw Isis, Osiris and Geb the most amongst them. Near a hundred of them, all mounted on their Tamed Sinha. Sweet confidence dared to overpower the other scents now.
Fires sparked atop the walls, fighting the gloom of midday. The pharaoh adjusted her helm, inched her arm towards her khopesh on her waist. There was clashing steel above, and the resumption of whistling arrows to coincide with the lynx gate splintering. She caught hints of lamellar through the ruined wood and finally drew her khopesh.
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“Pharaoh,” a Tamer approached, offering an extra ikem shield. “A precaution.”
“Thank you,” Nadiyya eyed the crook and flail of Osiris painted on its face and forced it onto her off-hand. Cumbersome really, she rarely fought with a shield.
Each thunderous blow shattered openings in the lynx gate. The low hinges groaned and chipped the stonework, clinging to stability.
“Tigers will meet their end in this courtyard!”
Boom!
“Their lamellar shall crumble against your weapons!”
Boom!
“They come like livestock to the butcher!”
Boom!
“We shall bathe in the blood of the Tigers!”
Pride turned away when the ram shattered through the bottom half of the lynx gate. The hinges groaned and more stone chipped as the wood fell away, opening a breach for a wide charge.
“Volley!”
Nadiyya expected little from the scattering of archers, but most went blind. Only a pair of Tamers dropped. It slowed them, but the second volley was a waste. Their shields took the brunt.
The Cheetahs prepared the next volley as the Tigers marched like a wall towards them. The handful of archers picked them off on the surrounding buildings.
“Scatter, find a high vantage and cover us!”
Spears stepped forward, taking the place of the archers, along with the mounted Tamers. The Tigers lowered their shields to reveal bows and crossbows behind.
Nadiyya cursed.
“With me!”
Pride roared and the Tamed Sinha around her followed suit. It bought time for their charge, but Nadiyya hid behind her shield. A few shafts flew, but most pinged harmlessly.
Their charge was a slaughter. They scattered shards of lamellar around like swatted petals of flowers. Limbs were severed and shortened, heads rolled, and everyone took on a shade of red. The lucky few wearing script strengthened armour only suffered broken bones, but were not in any less pain.
It was a short-lived attack, for Tamers atop their Bagha pierced the breach. With their masks of demonic expressions within horned helms, they, too, roared before a charge of their own.
Nadiyya tossed her borrowed shield at the first and hewed his neck open before he recovered. The Tiger’s Tamed Bagha leapt for her with empty rage, but Pride slammed it down and ruined its throat with his massive fangs.
Another met her with steel, and they traded a few blows before the Tiger parried an arrow from above. Nadiyya drove her advantage, breaking the Tiger’s arm and knocking her off her beast. Pride kept her down.
An Osiris came to her aid from behind and they both dispatched the mask-less Tiger in a flash. The Osiris sighed after an arrow took root in his eye, and he slid off his wailing Tamed before Nadiyya blinked.
She was on the floor, her khopesh clattered out of her hand as her lungs emptied. A sunset orange, black striped Bagha pinned her to the ground while the Tiger atop it twirled their spear for the killing blow.
Nadiyya flicked out one of her many hidden knives and stabbed away at the underbelly of the Bagha until the unmarked blade shattered. The Bagha growled and loosened its grip on her, bruised and throwing off its Tamer.
The pharaoh scrambled for her khopesh and spun around in time to parry the spear. She rolled away from the Bagha’s swiping claw, never losing her focus. Nadiyya gripped the spear and yanked, almost winning it from her attacker, before being forced to roll away when the Bagha swiped her chest with enormous claws.
She adjusted her helm, and Pride returned to her side, bloodier than before. Claw marks dug deep into her script strengthened breastplate. Black jagged scorch marks ruining the blood splattered gold, shutting the topaz eyes of the carved Sinha forever.
The road was slick with blood, and she saw more hewn Cheetahs amongst the corpses. An Isis replaced her against the spear wielding Tiger and Nadiyya cursed at the sight of a Tamed Bagha ravaging the archers atop the surrounding buildings. Droves of Tigers streamed through the breach.
There was no discerning the wailing from the courtyard and those above the walls. She had no time to linger.
Pharaoh Nadiyya mounted Pride in one motion, struggling to keep hold of her blood-soaked khopesh, and grimacing at the throbbing bruises on both her arms.
“Fall back!”
Her order was echoed.
“Fall back to the market!”
Barely a hundred followed her retreat. More than half of them were Tamers. She was bloody and sore, and the gloom above deepened. A sombre mood befell them, to infect the other Cheetahs and Lynxes within the heavily fortified market. She noted a few civilians amongst them as well, with a little disdain.
They carried water and food, sometimes bundles of weapons when called upon. Aiding with the movement of heavy planks and more supplies to further entrench their position. All of their eyes fell upon her and the Tamers, most stopped where they stood. The makeshift towers had many nervous eyes. Disappointment bubbled from her Tamers.
“Do we prepare for an assault?” A Cheetah approached in colourful leathers, another captain, though she didn’t care to learn the name.
“We can expect an assault at nightfall if they don’t follow. I suspect they will want to clear the walls, or at least make a defensible foothold in the gate courtyard before venturing forth.”
The Cheetah’s eyes scanned everyone returning, ordering for the wounded to be aided.
“What about the wounded and the physicians?”
“They are no threat to the emperor. No harm should come to them.”
She struggled to believe her own words.
“But Pharaoh, surely we should negotiate for their release?”
“If the opportunity arises. For now, we recover and wait.” Nadiyya was tired of all the eyes. She fought against a stutter, meeting as many as she could.
“Is there a place to clean myself?”
“With me Pharaoh,” the Cheetah captain nodded with noticeable softness.
Nadiyya pulled off her helm and shook her matted, sweat drenched curls. The Lions amongst the civilians had the decency to bow when she passed, with Pride as a menacingly enormous shadow padding silently behind her.
“I will send for warm water and a bath.” the captain said after leading her away from the bustling activity of the market towards a rather grand home of dark stonework. She pushed open the door to reveal a dusty, mostly cleared out space.
“Buckets are enough. I will take my food in here as well whenever it is served.”
“Shall I find a guard?”
“No, thank you.”
Nadiyya collapsed into a chair and sobbed, after the captain’s departure allowed for it. Pride shut the door with a swat of his tail, flickering the solitary torch fire burning within.
“It is not a failure, dear child.”
“What use have I if I cannot lead on the field? Why should I keep this title of pharaoh if I cannot hold the walls?”
“That was not your duty. We hold, and so we do. Do not turn the blade on yourself, at least give your enemies the chance.”
Nadiyya sniffed and wiped her face with an exposed sleeve. Pride’s humour almost broke her shame, but his subsequent purring was a comfort.
“There is still no enemy. Perhaps the wall is giving them more trouble. I shall check.”
“Please be careful.” Nadiyya rushed through their bond. He glanced at her with his golden eyes and bowed before departing.
His mention of the walls renewed a fire in her chest, and she clenched her fist to keep it in check. Nadiyya yawned and listened to the distant chatter from the market. The urgency of their movement and actions, the frivolity of their words.
It was cool, and there was a gentle breeze, which made her eyes heavy. Nadiyya unstrapped her khopesh from her waist and placed it against the wall with her helm. She crossed her arms, rested her head back, and snatched a moment’s rest.
Pharaoh Nadiyya jumped awake after a blink. Her heart sprinted before she opened her eyes. Reacting to the door slammed open with vigour.
“Place the buckets over,” she began, then blinked her eyes open to a dimly lit room.
The torch shone with the same flame as it went dark. The front door remained closed, and the air tightened, despite the open window to her left. She snatched her khopesh and drew it as she rushed for the torch on the wall.
Nadiyya followed the gentle tapping of an open door further into the building. Her torch led the way through the deep darkness, burning it from her path. She paused and pointed her torch into every abandoned room, seeing nothing beyond the range of the torch’s fire.
Her senses weakened, even her bond with Pride. When she arrived at the back door, she forgot about it. A whispering breeze caressed her and flickered her fire, not anywhere near as strong to open the door. She smelled nothing.
She stepped out into the cool night, narrowing her eyes towards every path laid before her in the alley. The darkest path pulled her strides, and the fire burned away the shadows from the narrowing walls. It wound left and right. Then left again. The walk took an age, and this time she called Pride. Even if it sounded like a feather stuffed pillow muffled her bond words.
The alleyway became a dead end, and it sucked away the darkness. Her ears opened, allowing in the distant noises from the marketplace, the whistle of the wind, faint noises from the clashes continuing on the walls. She smelled the subtle stink of sewage, of sweat, blood and strangers.
Nadiyya spun around with her khopesh to face three figures shrouded in blackness.
“I need you!”
Pride’s presence grew. She stiffened in preparation, strangling the hilt of her khopesh.
“Has the emperor stooped so low to send assassins during a siege?”
The trio stepped forward. She couldn’t make out more than cloth wrapping their bodies. From head to toe, only their eyes revealed to her, and they were lifeless. Hazel, black and green, shallow and monotonous, but the only sign of something akin to life.
They conjured weapons from nothing. Bows for the burlier black and green-eyed pair, while the hazel eyed one flexed two axes. Nadiyya bit back a curse.
“Come on then, cowards, earn the glory of killing a pharaoh!”
Nadiyya charged before their bows rose. She darted for the green-eyed one to her right and flung her torch towards them right as their arrow whistled at her. The green-eyed archer combusted into flames, and the pharaoh pinged the arrow away with the flat of her khopesh. But the black-eyed archer found their target.
She grunted, her khopesh deflected the arrow into the ball of her shoulder. Nadiyya swayed away from the dual axes. They had Tamer reflexes, but they were off. A wildness that was so unlike a Tamer, let alone a dual wielder.
Nadiyya ducked and weaved, though there was never a need to raise her khopesh even as the remaining archer abandoned their bow. There was no change in their eyes. The lifeless abandon remained, and their weapons had wills of their own. Steel controlled them, forcing their limbs forward.
She went low on the dual wielder, breaking their balance before hammering them down with a kick that would have shattered a beast’s ribs. Nadiyya roared when a greedy knife tore her right shoulder open. Her blind rage sliced back at the black-eyed shadow, splitting them from ear to ear. The top of their head lopped off after the pharaoh battered their jaw with her fist. The pain was twofold on both corners of her body.
The dual wielder resumed their possessed attack. A whirlwind flurry of hacks and slices with emotionless eyes. Nadiyya slapped one axe away, snapping a finger from the shadow, but their remaining axe disarmed her as well. She snatched the axe bearing wrist before it carved her head open, only for the shadow to wrap a foot around her ankle and land atop the pharaoh.
Nadiyya wailed as the knife’s blade snapped and dug itself deeper into her shoulder. Her right arm slackened, joining her left as it struggled to keep the axe away from her face. Defeat approached, but the shadow remained unfazed, hazel eyes dull, looking through her. There was no groan. No spit of perspiration from the shadow.
She choked when the shadow snatched at her neck, squeezing the life from her. Nadiyya’s vision became spotty, but she refused to give in.
Nadiyya squeezed the wrist of the strangling hand. She ground her teeth the tighter she gripped, fighting the exploding fires on both her shoulders. Her vision was patched with darkness, but she enjoyed the shadow’s wrist crumbling like a collection of dried twigs.
There was no change in the hazel-eyed shadow. She ended the strangulation, but the axe inched closer to her face. Nadiyya had nothing left, only delaying the inevitable.
Relief filled her right as the golden giant appeared over the shadow. Pride snapped his enormous maw and ripped them off. They swung their axe, but Pride swatted it away before stomping the shadow’s face into dust.
“You are late.”
“What manner of creatures are these?” Pride ignored her jest, eyeing the pile of ashes.
“Creature?”
“These are no Tamers, nor do I think they are assassins.”
“That does not mean,” Nadiyya stopped when the realisation hit her. She groaned to her feet, and Pride’s golden gaze fell upon her.
“The same that murdered those prisoners?”
She lifted the burning torch and touched the former dual wielder. The shadow combusted with a flash of unnatural fire. Hints of magenta caught her eye.
“We should keep one,” Nadiyya sent after blowing out the fire of her torch.
It was a bright night, despite the lingering gloom above.
“They are not Tamers, girl,” Pride sensed where her worries drifted.
Her mind became frantic, dulling the throbbing agony coursing all over her upper body.