Page 23

23

A Winged Victory For The Hunted

RIV

G limmer descended, rumbling onto the moon-like plane of the salt lake below.

Much higher still, Phantasm maintained orbit, its cams and guns aimed at the unfolding scene below where blinding light and heat beat down on the expansive crystalline flats.

A fast-moving Hawk Raptor gunship ratcheted from the bay of the much larger Katánian capital ship at high speed, heading towards land.

It thundered past Glimmer at supersonic momentum.

‘He’s trying to rattle us,’ Riv murmured from his captain’s chair. ‘Killen, do what you need to.’

Looking away from the sight of Devansi growing more prominent in the viewport, his son nodded to his father and strode down to the hold.

Riv maneuvered his craft to hover a few hundred feet over the planet, touching a button to slide open the hold’s large doors.

élisa took the stairs, following her son, grimacing as the hull slid shut, separating them.

‘Stay behind the inner door, my love,’ Riv cautioned from behind her as he tracked towards her.

His arms went around her, holding her close as they looked through the clear window as the outer doors parted, and Killen strode to the boundary of the rear airlock.

The young man turned with a small smile and dove into the air.

He twisted midair as his silver hair flared in a cloud above his head.

Chrome wings sprouted from his back and arms, unfurling and fanning out wide. His eyes blazed with silver flames, and his hands and feet transformed into burnished bronze.

His face was like the sun shining in full strength.

‘Go well, baby,’ élisa whispered.

Riv rumbled in her hair. ‘Not a baby, love, but a grown, strong K?str?l warrior at his most magnificent.’

élisa shook her head with vehemence. ‘He’ll always be my babe. You can’t take that away from me.’

‘I wouldn’t dare,’ Riv answered, giving her a sweet and lingering kiss as she trembled in his arms.

‘You want to witness what happens?’ he asked.

She shook her head. ‘ Nada . You go after him. Bring him back to me.’

Riv bent down for a quick, passion-filled kiss before stepping back.

‘Mirage,’ he called out, ‘you have the captain’s chair.’

He turned to his woman. ‘Angel, Zane, and Xion will look after you.’

His two fellow Riders, also onboard Glimmer, appeared at the edge of the steps, having stayed back to give the family some privacy.

‘Come élisa,’ Zane cajoled.

She took to the staircase with reluctance as Riv exited, his heart heavy.

He switched on the power on his meta suit, activated stealth mode, and donned his helmet before stepping out of the massive bay into the vastness of Devansi’s sky.

Two figures twisted midair above the salt plains. He headed towards them.

On approach, he readjusted his vision to focus on the pair, flinching at the crystal clear sight.

Killen was hovering in a circle around a creature so monstrous and large it obscured the sun for a mile in all directions. Its wingspan was that wide and broad.

The resemblance to Killen’s grandfather, Tempest Light, remained, but the Kíríga , in full K?str?l hawk mode, had morphed into a titanic winged predator with a brass beak. Its talons measured six feet long, and its feathered and cromed crest and crown shook in the wind at about ten feet above its magnificent skull.

Arrows of silver-white heat flashed from its eyes.

Its koya sāb?r feathers are also made from brass, which Riv remembered from élisa’s retelling that they could pierce armor and fire like arrows.

It circled Killen, beating its wings, which crackled with lightning and rumbled with thunder.

Riv trembled as he braced himself for the very worst.

The winged warriors circled each other.

Without warning, the Tempest Light let off the first salvo, a flurry of armed feathers aimed at Killen’s wings, accompanied by charged bolts.

Riv growled out as they hit.

His heart jumped as a section of Killen’s right wing, about two feet long, sheared off, the Kíríga’s koya cutting through it like an obsidian blade.

The King crowed, beating his chest at landing the first blow.

His large talons reached and grabbed at Killen’s brow from where his hawkstone shone so bright it blinded the older Katánian.

Killen, bleeding dark silver from his wing, used the bright light as a feint and managed to jerk from the Kíríga’s clutch.

Still, the older Katánian tried grasping for the hawkstone, lashing out with his bronze talons.

With a screech of frustration at Killen’s nimbleness, the King changed strategy, aiming his strikes at Killen’s vital organs, each blow designed to deliver a massive amount of pain and damage.

Killen, more agile, darted away, responding with swats of his razor-edged plumes.

Still, the Kíríga fired, lashed, and slashed through the air. His feathers shot out in all bearings in a scatter gun approach.

‘The trick is seeing the launch streaming toward you, son.’ Riv shouted into the void of his helmet. ‘If they come straight for you, don’t be too eager to make a move. Because if you dodge too fast, they will turn and catch you; if you wait too long, they will explode near enough to get you.’

It was as if Killen tapped into his thoughts.

The Katánian winged warrior whirled towards the surface and dove as hard as possible. Tempest Light followed but was too slow, heavy, and cumbersome to match the more agile K?str?l.

Killen twisted midair and reversed direction, going up with great force.

The King floundered and wheeled through the air, unable to match the trajectory.

It was the break Killen needed. He dove back down and turned across Tempest Light’s flight path at a sharp angle.

The unhinged plumage battle went on as the King used swoops of his oversized wings to swat at his grandson. Killen nimbly avoided each blow and raced past to pull up into the Kíríga’s blind spot. But the older Katánian was not content to fly straight and level.

Before Killen had a chance to fire, he slewed to one side, and seeing the newcomer on his tail, he rose into the only defensive maneuver possible.

Killen banked over to the right and pulled back, striving to get him once more into his aiming sight.

The violent manipulation applied terrific G’s to his K?str?l form, and he swayed, losing elevation.

Riv jolted. ‘ Fokk ! He’s starting to black out as the blood rushes from his head because of moving so fast. Pull up, Killen, and take a moment so the enemy is below you and can’t see you. Giving you enough time to recover and allow for the correct deflection.’

Again, it was as if his son discerned him and fell away from his grandfather’s reach before realigning himself to climb high above the enraged Kíríga .

Killen used his elevated advantage to swoop down on the King from the sun’s direction to hide his approach within the glare of the brilliant luminescence.

Using a high-side pass, he dived at the larger K?str?l, firing off a set of his lethal feathers in one high-speed pass. Finally, one of the serrated quills sank deep into the chest and heart of the attacking K?str?l King.

He let out a mighty, screeching cry. A guttural bellow that thundered all over the salt pan and the skies above it.

The Kíríga , the great Tempest Light, sank, his plumage failing, falling off him in tufts of silver and gold. He lost air and plunged towards the salt-crusted earth.

Straightening out, Killen rose over a bank of clouds. Gazing down as the massive winged warrior fell into a cloud of white salty dust, his body convulsing into a dune on the dry lake.

Not wishing to tempt the gods of fate further, Killen flew toward Glimmer’s protective cover.

He joined Riv, hovering beside the Sable gunship as both men kept a close eye on the King’s personal capital ship, hovering over the fallen warrior on the sands below.

Riv turned his head to his son. Shall we see to his condition?

Naam.

It was all Riv needed to hear. Mirage, give us close cover. We’re going in to check on the King.

Done.

How’s Kainan faring? Riv asked.

His missile load and beam cannons hit the remaining Katánian ships. Each volley was heavy enough to cut and smash through the enemy’s hull plating, chewing through reinforced armor like soft candy. The few that survived tried to attack, but we disabled them. After Tempest Light fell, some ships broke off and fled into hyperspace. I’d say the Katánian lead assault is dead in the water.

Riv grunted with thanks at Mirage’s concise report. Sante. However, keep an eye out for the second wave. We need to be gone before they get here.

éLISA

élisa stepped out of Glimmer, her heart racing, wiping away tears so her son wouldn’t catch them and think she blamed him for what he’d had to do.

She glanced up at the Katánian capital ship, the King’s carrier, which hovered high above the body of her fallen father, which lay half buried under a salt drift.

‘It’s the Kogun War Eagle, your father’s ship. They’ve sent a message of surrender.’ Zane rasped in relief beside her. ‘Nonetheless, the Phantasm’s rail guns are aimed at it, and if it even tries a thing, it’ll be obliterated in seconds.’

‘So much death,’ élisa whispered. ‘No more, please, no more.’

She walked towards two silhouettes that were making their way to the ground.

Her man and her son.

She broke out into a run as soon as their feet touched down. She was wrapped in their embrace for moments, holding both tight like she’d never let them go.

It took a long time before she came up for air. When she did, she kept her arms around her son, unwilling to ever be parted from him.

Killen gave her a soft look. ‘Are you angry -’

She reached a hand to touch his handsome, chiseled face. ‘Killen, I’m not anything other than relieved you are alive. As for the Tempest of Light, he chose the way of the K?str?l, which is to find honor in death for something you believe in. He believed in controlling his people with the hawkstone and died for his beliefs. Wrong, though, they may have been. So no, my love, I do not blame you. Not one iota.’

Killen’s worry lines lifted as he kissed the tip of her head.

Riv pulled a pack from his suit. ‘Let’s treat that shoulder before the bleeding gets worse.’

Killen glanced down at the deep, serrated cut across his upper arm. ‘He fought well.’

élisa twisted her lips in derision. ‘He did. Yet what a waste of a throne and legacy.’

She watched in silence as Riv used an electronic device to seal Killen’s wound.

‘Done,’ Riv confirmed, setting away the med tool as the wound healed before their eyes.

‘Shall we confirm the King is passed?’ her son asked, his voice raw with emotion.

élisa squeezed his arm. ‘It is the honorable way.’

The family of three walked towards the body of the fallen giant K?str?l. Trailing them were Xion, Zane, and Ki’Remi.

Soon, they stood around the gaunt, bloodied giant, who’d once been a proud, lethal fighting machine.

His hawk-featured face was thrust into the sand, half hidden by the white salt.

élisa knelt beside the deceased great Katánian King and closed the single eye, staring out into the mists of eternal darkness.

She spoke over him, her voice breaking as she delivered the fallen K?str?l Hunter’s farewell.

‘Oh Great, Kíríga, if only you’d let go of your bloodthirst

If only you’d let go of your greed and avarice.

Now, death is your only companion.

You thought you had kajabo magic.

But magic cannot ward off death.

Sacrifice cannot ward off death.

Magic cannot ward off death.

Death was the inevitable end of your hunting quest.’

She stood back with a shaky sob. ‘We’ll need to leave him here, right where he fell. It is our way.’

‘He’d have still had a fulfilled life and commanded the utmost respect without sitting on the throne,’ she added as Riv’s arms surrounded her to lend his strength and comfort. ‘If he’d stepped aside, he’d have enjoyed a long and prosperous life as the Kíríga’s Caretaker, which the Kings before him did with humility. When he died, he’d have been carried with honor through the streets of Katánopolis to the royal resting grounds, having left behind a significant legacy. Instead, this is what fate and his rapacity had in store for him.’

As she looked away from her father’s corpse, she noted the Riders shuffle their feet and give each other laden glances. ‘What is it?’

Riv turned to her with a curious look on his face. ‘Just got a message from Mirage via our neural nodes. The second fleet from Katánē is on approach and hailing us. They’re claiming they don’t intend to harm us. They also stress they were not a part of Tempest Light’s attack k?st and have come in peace. Mirage says they request that we don’t leave Devansi until their Commander speaks to us. One more thing, my love, they asked for you in name.’

élisa nodded. ‘Fascinating. Let’s give an ear to what they have to say.’

In the end, a contingent of fifty Katánians ships from the second wave arrived on the planet to speak with élisa.

The rest of the rear fleet, consisting of one hundred twenty vessels, stopped at the border of Devansi airspace. They hovered for about an hour, assessing the situation, before turning around and making for the distant Sarisian jump gate.

The remaining ships were parked above the salt plain, facing off with Kainan’s Pegasi armada.

It was a formidable sight and a show of strength from both armies.

élisa, Killen, and Riv walked onto the white landscape as the hawk-like silhouettes soared away from the Katánian convoy and descended towards them.

They landed one by one in a flurry of cutting wings and ominous talons.

élisa noted their lodestones shining on their foreheads. ‘These are the elite K?str?l Sāb?r Hawks of Katánē, the most superior of the Katánian soldiers.’

Her breath hitched as she whispered to Riv. ‘Yet two of them are Krypós,’ she breathed, pointing to a pair of chimeric winged creatures with sharp-beaked eagle features and the bodies of gigantic lions. ‘It’s a rare sight to see them working together.’

Killen met them, stepping forward, his arms crossed over his chest.

On sighting him, the twenty Katánians came to a stop, their lethal-looking talons and feathers melding away to reveal their human forms.

They stared at him, their keen eyes raking over his body that was larger and more jacked than their already immense and impressive size.

They studied his extensive, lustrous silver locks contrasting with their shorn sides and flowing crests.

He’d dimmed the gemstone on his brow and changed its orientation to resemble a small lodestone. It gave him a chance to study the Katánian contingent incognito.

‘Welcome, friends,’ he rumbled, his voice thundering over the plain.

One of the mammoth Krypós warriors stepped forward, a hefty creature with ropey muscled limbs under his tight, dark suit. ‘My name is Kaxim, and my hunter moniker is Sky Ash. I am the Commander of the elite Ka??m??r? Hunters of the Kain?s Katánē Army.’

Killen cocked his head as if reading the gemstone of the man before him. ‘I sense your spirit and intent did not align with the Kíríga , Tempest Light.’

Kaxim jolted. ‘How do you know that, off-comer?’

Killen’s lips turned up at the ends. ‘I know many things. What do you ask of me?’

‘Not of you, stranger, although we mean you no offence. We need to speak with the hawkstone bearer. We believe its last wearer was the daughter of the now departed Kíríga. May he soar in peace.’

‘You’re talking about me,’ élisa said, joining her son.

Kaxim and his fellow Hunters stared at her before their leader snarled. ‘You are the KiaMalkia ?’

‘ Naam . I am K’élisa, Kinti of the Tempest Light. But Killen is my son and now wears the hawkstone. He is your rightful leader.’

‘Where is he?’

‘Right here.’

Killen unleashed the full radiance of his hawkstone.

At sighting the glowing jewel enlarging on his forehead, the Ka??m??r? Sāb?r Hawks stiffened. Their talons reanimated as did their koya sāb?r feathers and the soaring chrome crests above their heads, their faces hardening as if for battle.

K’élisa gazed at them, unperturbed. ‘He is also the K?str?l who felled Tempest Light.’

The Sāb?r Hawks shared glances.

With no warning, they transformed into their Krypós and K?str?l forms as one, all human features disappearing as their formidable predator bodies transmuted.

The Riders took defensive stances, but Killen lifted a hand to stay them.

In near-silent flight, the Katánian hunters flew and took to the sky. They wheeled up high, then swooped in dizzying speed toward the gathered group.

When Riv moved to protect his family, élisa gripped his arm. ‘ Nada love, this is tradition.’

One by one, the Ka??m??r? Sāb?r Hawks fell at Killen’s feet, their chrome, silver, and gold feathers covering their faces, their talons tucked in, limbs bent to the ground.

They surrounded him in a curved circle, an honor guard in a protective halo.

He stood in their midst, rising out of them like a pillar.

Lifting his arms, he too transformed into his K?str?l majesty, and the stunning visual spectacle remained that way for a long time.

The only sound came from the rustling of giant wings and the whisper of feathers in the wind as if communing among themselves.