The wagon wheels’ rumble, the clip clop of horses’ hooves, and the thud of her soldiers’ feet might have been the only sounds louder than her own beating heart. Irmina kept her focus on the interconnecting lanes, the doors and windows in her periphery. Any movement would meet violence.
A brush of wind where there should have been none announced the attack.
“Above us,” she yelled, rolling away.
A flash of black and red landed next to her. A woman garbed as she was, brandished a short sword, cowl pulled tight over her head so only eyes showed, Similar forms fell all around them.
“Now,” Irmina said.
She opened her Matersense and felt the others around her do the same. It was odd being linked to Pathfinders in this fashion. To her, it was almost like touching the mind of an animal, except there was coherent thought rather than a ball of emotions. Oneness filled her, the collective consciousness drowning out any urges from the voices that normally rose with touching the essences.
Before the Raijin reacted, the Pathfinders, disguised as Dagodin, created individual shields for each person and the wagon. Along the exteriors of the buildings that lined the Shining Way, the walls shimmered. Ashishin appeared, having Forged a Masking to camouflage themselves as stone. Hands upraised, they shot arrows of light.
The projectiles blazed a trail through the air as they punched into the Raijin from all sides before slamming into the shields and dissipating. Smoking, bloody holes, no bigger than coins, riddled the Raijin uniforms. One by one, enemy Matii crumpled to the cobbles.
Yet as much surprise as her forces had on their side, some of the Raijin were able to react. They were trained and bred for this. Several had thrown up their own shields. A second group dropped from the walkways. Together, they turned on those near the buildings.
A storm of steel ensued.
This close, no one, not even the Ashishin dared to Forge. That gave the Raijin the advantage. As assassins, their close quarter combat was near unparalleled in the Iluminus. Within minutes, they decimated the Ashishin ranks in flashes of weapons, bone, blood, and screams.
The lone High Shin, Delienza, that led this first group for Irmina, was still standing, along with two Pathfinders. Not giving them a moment, the remainder of the Raijin charged in. Backs to each the other, the three fought, their weapons a synchronous flow of defense.
That was when the next group of Raijin dropped down.
High Shin Delienza gave a near imperceptible nod.
Irmina issued a silent prayer then called out, “Full shields.”
As a small cocoon of light and air essences wrapped around her group, there came a thump. Struggling for balance against the ripple in the ground, Irmina dropped to one knee and watched.
An eight-foot wave of earth washed out from Delienza and her Pathfinders in a concentric circle. Part slammed into the building, shattering its supports. The other raced toward Irmina and her charges. The ground swallowed the Raijin and continued to flow outward. With a rumble, the building collapsed, Delienza and her two disappearing from view amid mortar, brick, and dust.
“Go,” Irmina yelled, once the attack dissipated against their shields.
Her Ashishin on the opposite side hadn’t managed to replicate Delienza’s feat. It wouldn’t take long for the surviving Rajin to regroup.
The driver snapped his reins. Horses whinnying, the wagon surged forward, away from the destruction. Ahead, a glow lit the skyline between the towers and spires.
“Their other attacks will follow now,” she said, remembering Quintess instructions on Raijin tactics. They would attempt for quick kills. Failing that, the Tribunal would send whoever remained.
Irmina didn’t like the idea of hurting those who might be innocent in all this, but neither could she pick and choose who to fight. These men and women were following orders. It was either her life or theirs. She had a certain attachment to hers.
All pretenses gone, they sped down the avenue, horses’ hooves clattering, leaving the screams and moans of the dying behind. Irmina glanced back and nearly tripped. She had expected to see the Raijin running after them. Instead, the Matii disappeared and then reappeared several dozen feet from their original locations. Squinting, she picked out what they did. They were leaping from one mass of light essences to the other.
“Shimmering,” Hardan said from next to her, dropping his disguise. He made a signal and two Pathfinders stopped running.
They flung their hands out from left to right. Stone and wood ripped from the buildings and zipped toward the oncoming Matii. Then as one, the Pathfinders pushed their arms to the sky and pulled down. A translucent distortion formed above their fists. They made dual motions as if pushing something of great weight away from them. Irmina gaped as swaths of air coalesced, changing the once clear, even, light into semi-opaque, undulating bands.
Whatever it was, it threw off the Raijin’s Shimmers. It was as if they slammed into walls. In response, the Raijin had to spend time working around the Pathfinder Forges.
“May the essences bless them.” Hardan’s tone radiated reverence.
For a moment, Irmina frowned before she understood what he meant. The Pathfinders intended to sacrifice themselves to buy her more time. Not allowing the shock to overcome her, she focused ahead, ignoring Hardan’s signal to have two more of his men drop off to defend. She couldn’t help but wince every time steel clashed and screams echoed from behind.
They rounded a corner leading to a large square and the road near the Travelshaft. Immediately, they drew up short. She should have felt some exultation at acquiring her destination, but that troubled sense from when she found Rohan and Edwin missing still niggled at her. When she saw the square, she knew why.
Glass, pieces of buildings, dust, blood, and bodies littered the flagstones. With the earlier sound of battle all around her, she never heard this attack. Now, it echoed with the clash of steel and the bellows and cries of those locked in combat.
The many Matii who had joined their cause struggled mightily against an army of Dagodin, Raijin, Ashishin, and High Shin all wearing the Tribunal’s crimson, gold, black or white. Where space separated them, the Tribunal’s forces cut swaths into her army with Forgings of fire and light.
Buildings burned. Flames trailed along the cobbles, petering out, blackened stone left in its wake. Where the few Pathfinders loyal to her cause tried to form shields, Raijin appeared. Exchanges of sword and knife work happened faster than any untrained eye could follow, often resulting in the Pathfinder lying in a pool of blood. Ashishin attempting to do the same met a similar fate. So concerned was her people with defense, they were unable to attack.
Toward the square’s center, a milling mass of the Tribunal’s Dagodin and Raijin fought against a clump of defenders. Among the crowd, Irmina picked out High Jin Quintess’ strained face as she sent arrows of earth out into the attackers. A flick of a hand from Berenil at her side brought lightning shooting down from the clear sky, blasting foe and friend alike from their feet. Cobalt charges sputtered across the ground where men once stood.
A hand on her shoulder brought her attention to Hardan. He pointed past the battle toward the stretch that led to the liquid, silvery monolith that was the zyphyl. Behind it, set into a large tower, the Travelshaft’s darkness loomed. Upon a balcony, dressed in full High Shin regalia, stripes covering his robes, his cloak as dead as the nonexistent wind, Buneri overlooked the square.
Irmina snarled. She’d known from the start that the man was more than he let on.
“Do not attack him.” There was a sense of urgency in Hardan’s voice she hadn’t heard before.
Confused, she frowned at him.
“I suspected but I never knew for sure. He’s a netherling. What’s inside of us is reacting too violently to this much sela for him to hide himself. If you attack him, you will break the contract that’s saving most of their lives. It’s the only thing preventing any of us from becoming physically involved against humans.”