CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR—THE WAY RAZ WOULD
With a roar of blades and battle cries in the air, Ali watched from behind his small army of five-hundred Scorpions.
The Angor’s tendrils whipped and struck out as they fought, and there was something languid about the great monster as they approached the Node Samira had told them about.
“Our plan must be working,” he said to Gohar. “Now that we are here, I want you to take a hundred men and look for the the Scorpions that were dragged away. Bring them together and send them back to the camp.
“Yes, my vizier.”
“Oh!” said Ali, “and have some of the men in the camp bring us water. I am thirsty.”
He nodded. “Of course,” the young captain said.
“I will… I will go with him,” said Yasser, his tone thin and almost tremulous.
“You sir,” said Ali, taking the healer by the shoulder, “will go nowhere, man. You stay here with me, as I have told you before, yes?”
He nodded.
“Good,” Ali said. “The other healers will be busy with the wounded men that make it back to the camp. I am certain that with the pressure we are putting on this monster, it is currently releasing many of them as we speak.”
Yasser swallowed. “I hope so, vizier.”
Narrowing his eyes, he turned back to the army making headway against the vines and nodded. “This is good. The distractions are clearly working.” He turned to the other officers. “More fire,” he said, “on the west flank. “The men are having a bit of trouble with the vines there.”
They nodded and gave orders. A signal pinion was quickly flown and a horn blown. The torch bearers ahead moved to support the section of flank that needed help.
“Perhaps we need more men. I would like it if we had a hundred men collecting brushwood for more more fires.”
“The grass burns well enough, does it not?” asked one of the officer.
“Sure,” Ali said with a nod. “But it is wet out there. We need more oil.” He turned. “Send a runner. “I want oil.”
“Yes, vizier.”
“She is here!” Debaku exclaimed.
Shiro nodded. He had no need to say that. Shiro already knew she had arrived as well as Debaku did. He is different, hopeful and agitated.
Would you not be? Jessamine conveyed.
Of course.
She said no more.
Jessamine?
She did not answer.
Shiro frowned. She is acting strange.
Samira appeared through the mist and sprinted to them, her face and neck and body glistening where her skin was exposed. She seemed harried.
“Where is Raz?” Shiro asked.
She shook her head. “He is…” she said, trailing off as she took a moment to gasp for air. “We was struck.”
Shiro’s heart sunk. “What do you mean he was ‘struck’?”
Stolen story; please report.
“I am telling you, Strange One, that he was struck! Is he dead. The Angor pulled him into the Node. He is gone!”
“What?” Debaku said.
“This is not possible!” Shiro spat. His first thought was for Ali. He did not know how the man would take the loss of his brother. He would probably break into some fool rampage and get himself and a lot of the men killed.
He swallowed. “Explain everything.”
“I just did!” she snapped. “The Angor—the tongue tendrils. He was avoiding them so easily. The monster seemed slow, but suddenly it whipped around and pierced him in the chest. I have never seen it move so quickly!”
“You are saying you do not know this monster half so well as you lead us to believe?” Debaku asked, and Shiro could hear an edge to his voice as his white teeth flashes and his snake-like eyes bore into her.
She snarled. “Do not look at me like that, Mar’a Thulian!”
“Wait,” Shiro said, raising his hands. He was confused and and angry as well, but something did not make sense. “It exhibited unnatural abilities?”
She looked at him. “Yes!”
It made perfect sense, or perhaps what Shiro thought he knew, simply made sense. He could be wrong, but—
For the love of the gods, Shiro, Jessamine conveyed, less pondering and more speaking.
Debaku seemed to sink in on himself. “What are we going to do?”
Jessamine whirled from thin air in a plume of blue mist. “Tell them.”
“Tell us what?” asked Samira, her sharp gaze flicking to Shiro.
The samurai cleared his throat. “I think I know what has happened.”
“What do you mean?” Debaku asked. “Explain, Shiro.”
He nodded. “The Angor,” he said, looking to Samira. “You said the monster can draw magical essences out of a person.
“Yes,” she said.
“Perhaps Archaemenes’ aura appeared because the Angor has been drawing on his powers, so that it could strike out with magical force far beyond its capabilities.”
She gasped, her eyes widening. “I have never known the monster to have this ability before.”
“No,” said Debaku, “you would not. You said you have studied the monster for close to a year. But have you ever threatened it?”
“Not really,” she said.
“That is why it has never needed to draw on any kind of magic to defend itself.”
“Hmm,” Jessamine mused, her smile self-gratifying.
“What is it?” Samira asked. “How can you have such a look on your face when one of your friends was just lost to the monster?”
“Friends?” Jessamine asked dubiously. “Please—I would befriend that peacock only under a single circumstance—and that time has long passes.” As she said the words she looked to Shiro, and he understood that his meeting her had necessitated her escape from Darius’ imprisonment.
“In any event,” she said lazily, “I do not believe the Abassir dog to be dead.”
“Wait—what?!” Shiro exclaimed. “What do you mean?”
She gestured with her hand as if she were offering that they turn and take a drink. As they turned to look upon the Angor monster, she said, “Archaemenes has not been slain by the monster. Why would it slay Raz?”
“But I saw when he was killed. The Angor pierced his body.”
“I too thought him dead for a moment,” Jessamine added. “But now I believe that he is being used to supply the monster with more magic. It is quite fascinating.”
“We must save them!” Shiro said.
Debaku nodded. “I agree, Shiro. But who do we save first, Raz, or Archaemenes?”
“We do not even know if it truly is Archaemenes,” Jessamine said, her tone bored, yet willing to explore the topic. “Maybe the monster has put suggestions into your head.”
“You feel it as well,” Debaku said.
“So?” asked Jessamine. “Perhaps the beast can mimic his aura based on our memories of him.”
“Wait,” Shiro said. “You have met Archaemenes?”
“Of course,” she said, her tone raising in pitch. “We of the jinni race all know one another, Shiro—and those of which we do not know, we’ve heard of.”
“Again,” said Debaku, “I ask you, Shiro. Who should we save first?”
The samurai did not like that Debaku asked him to make the decision. But he was leading this expedition. He had to do what was best for the army, for them all—and for Raz, who had only been taken away presently. With apprehension and a fast beating heart, Shiro glanced among them all. “I believe… we should save Raz first.”
Bebaku looked at him. “Shiro… you said—“
“I know,” he replied, wondering who Debaku was arguing when he had looked to Shiro to make the decision in the first place. “I know what I said, Debaku, and I will help you save your friend. But right now, Raz is the easier target. I have already destroyed one of the Nodes by myself. I think if we save Raz, we will prevent the Angor from using his magic against us when we save Archaemenes.”
“I do not even know if we can win this fight,” Samira said. “I tried to get Raz away, but I was forced to retreat.”
Jessamine laughed. “Well it cannot deal with the three of you.”
“You are right,” Shiro said, and he nudged the lamp on his side. “We must go—now. Debaku, please come with us.”
The Mar’a Thulian sighed heavily. “Very well, Shiro. Just know, that if this monster is drawing on Archaemenes’ power, we will have a terrible fight ahead of us.”
He nodded.
“So?” asked Samira. “What is the plan?”
Shiro ground his teeth and tightened his grip over the hilt of his scimitar. “We go to that Node where Raz is and we slice it to ribbons and get him out.”
“Mmm,” Jessamine noised bemusedly. “That sounds just like the way he would do it. The ‘Raz way.”
“Really?” asked Samira. “I thought he was rather lackadaisical and arrogant if you ask me.”
Jessamine raised an eyebrow. “You may be right.”
“Come on!” Shiro said. “We do not have any time to lose.”