Savage Messiah

CHAPTER LXXX

As Traax raised his bloodied sword arm, his dreggan flashed in the moonlight. The blade came down and split one of the awful thing's skulls. He watched his lifeless enemy tumble to the ground far below. Swiveling in the air, Traax looked for another opponent. With so many of the monsters surrounding him, it didn't take long.

It was well after midnight, the three Eutracian moons providing ample light as the airborne battle raged on. When Traax and his group had first seen the lone Black Ship sailing toward them, he and Ancaeus had thought their superior numbers would give them at least a fighting chance. But the Minions had no way of knowing that Wulfgar had already breached the azure pass and loosed the Heretic hordes.

This Minion attack was exactly what Wulfgar had been hoping for. Sure that the Jin'Sai would send the bulk of his forces north from the palace to try to stop him, he had ordered the K'tons to fly well behind the Black Ship as she traveled south. The K'tons' dark forms blended perfectly into the night sky. When the Minion warriors flying northward first saw the lone ship, they attacked immediately. The trap had been sprung.

At first Traax hoped that they might gain the upper hand, despite Wulfgar and Cathmore's azure bolts raining down on them with maniacal fury. But then the K'tons had caught up to the fighting, and the Minions quickly found themselves in dire straits. Even Traax, with all his battle experience, had never expected such a devastating onslaught.

The K'tons outnumbered the Minions, and they were proving as capable at dealing death as any warrior who ever lived. Those Minions who fought their way through the K'tons to land upon the ship's decks were cut down by the surging slavers or vaporized by azure bolts. The decks were slick with blood.

As the battle raged, Traax became sickened by what he saw. The Minions had been bred to be savage, ruthless warriors who would gladly die in the service of their lord. But there was no glory or honor in what he saw in this killing zone so high above the ground.

Some of the more confident K'tons actually paused in their fighting to consume a Minion conquest-whether the victim was alive or dead. Minion blood ran red down their chins and chests. More flew to the ground to pounce upon the corpses of both the Minions and the demonslavers littering the fields of Farplain. In their deep desire to feed, they saw no distinction between the corpses.

Bloodcurdling screams rang through the night air as the butchery and gorging went on. Traax was quickly becoming worried about his forces' ability to survive.

Looking around, he found the Black Ship. She hovered safely above the fray, allowing Wulfgar and Cathmore to shower the Minion forces with azure bolts. He watched in horror as two more deadly shafts streaked down to tear into a group of struggling warriors not fifty meters from him. Amid their awful screams, some were vaporized instantly. Others caught fire and lost arms, wings, or legs to the bolts as they crashed to the ground.

Traax suddenly realized that Wulfgar and his skeletal captain didn't care whether their bolts occasionally struck their own awful forces. He has more of these twisted servants than he will ever need to take Tammerland, Traax thought. If he has to purposely waste some of them in order to smash my troops in a single battle, then he will. But not before I try to kill him myself. I owe that much to the Jin'Sai.

Traax was about to soar up to try to board the Black Ship when Ancaeus flew up by his side. His second in command was wounded in one wing and was having trouble staying aloft. His hands and chest were covered with K'ton blood. Then Traax saw another K'ton coming straight at him. As it approached, its teeth flashed in the moonlight.

Traax twisted in the air and lifted his sword. As the monster soared by, he pushed the button on the dreggan's hilt and the blade jumped its extra foot, piercing the beast's wing and exiting the opposite side.

Gripping the dreggan with both hands, Traax used all his strength to hold it still as the K'ton soared by. The razor-sharp blade tore though the length of the K'ton's wing, sending it head over heels toward the ground. Satisfied for the moment, Traax shot a quick, questioning glance at Ancaeus.

"Battle status!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, but his voice was drowned out by the screams of friends and foes all around him.

"Ancaeus!" he yelled again. "What is our battle status!"

Ancaeus heard him this time and flew closer. As he did, another K'ton struck at him with a massive club. He dodged the blow. He was about to strike back when a warrior came up from behind the K'ton and took off one of the thing's wings with a single sword stroke. The K'ton screamed in agony. Ancaeus watched it tumble to the ground, smashing into Minions and K'tons alike on the way down. Safe for the moment, he turned to Traax.

"We are being defeated, my lord!" he shouted. Traax could barely hear him. "We must retreat! We cannot win; there are simply too many of them! We must save what forces we can for the defense of Tammerland!"

As the battle raged all around him, Traax tried to collect himself and decide what to do. His forces were dwindling, while the enemy seemed to keep coming and coming. If this kept up for very much longer, his army would be obliterated.

His blood boiling, he looked up at the imperious Black Ship. More azure bolts rained down. Wulfgar would have to wait, he realized. He looked back at Ancaeus and nodded.

"Sound the retreat!" he shouted. "We fly for home! But if they follow and we cannot outrun them, we shall turn to fight them again-no matter the cost!"

Ancaeus grabbed the battle bugle hanging around his neck and blew the retreat. Other buglers took up the call. Traax gnashed his teeth and turned for home. One by one, his bloodied warriors reluctantly broke off their fighting to follow him.

Looking down from the deck of the Black Ship, Cathmore smiled. He turned toward Wulfgar.

"They are in retreat, my lord," he said. "Shall I order the K'tons to pursue them?"

Wulfgar shook his head. "The Minions are of little importance now," he said. "We fought them this night only because we were forced to. We need to travel farther, so that I might call forth the orb before my dear half brother has a chance to intervene. When my business with the orb is concluded, we shall sail on to Tammerland, and the K'tons can gorge themselves on as many Minions and soft-fleshed civilians as they wish. Make our course south-southeast," he ordered. "I have unfinished business with the craft."