Chapter 59

War Mustaffa’s army, even the small part that had pushed through the narrow pass, was massive; however, Karn’s fire-setting tactic and the attack of the beast-men had disorganized it. Hundreds of enemy soldiers met Karn’s eyes. They swarm like a sea of worker ants around crumbs on the ground.

The soldiers moved in every direction—some rushed to rejoin their units in preparation for the battle against Kel Tora’s approaching army, others ran about in a frantic attempt to put out the fires. Several more just stood still, panicked and confused in the onset of battle.

Zian’s jackalweres cut a swath through the befuddled ranks of Mustaffa’s men with little effort. Broken bodies, severed limbs, and a fine mist of blood in the night air were left in their wake.

Karn ran as fast as his tired body would allow, but it felt impossible to catch up with Zian and his kin, even when they slowed down to engage the enemy.

Those men they did not kill, they left mortally wounded and stunned. Blood poured down one pikeman’s body. He was no more than a boy.

He’s shocked, unaware of the fatal injury he’s just sustained from the claws of that one jackalwere. Karn approached him and, with a quick swing of his sword, cleaved the young pikeman’s head from his body. He kept moving, but out of the corner of his eye he watched as the boy’s body convulsed before it fell over.

For the first time since he started his dash through the gully, Karn stopped and spun around. He feared he would see the tunnel Zian had ripped through the enemy soldiers collapse behind him into a mass of angry footmen. Instead, he saw Lieutenant Hart and what was left of Kel Tora’s squad. At the center of their charge, leading the way, was Tala.

Karn waited for her to catch up. To his further dismay, she had removed her armor and was unarmed. She stood out like a thin ray of sunshine that had pierced a sky full of thick storm clouds and she looked just as fragile.

One young, beautiful woman surrounded by hate and death. Karn wished she would have stayed out of danger, but he understood now, that was not in her nature. As she stepped to Karn, she slid a foot under a fallen soldier’s pike and flipped it into her hand in one smooth motion.

“What are you standing around for? Keep moving. Your time is now, hero,” Tala said.

Karn did not answer; he nodded, turned, and started to run again. Lieutenant Hart and the remainder of the squad had almost caught up. Their disguises were good, so good that at times it was hard to tell whose side they were on.

As he ran, he fixated on the first dead jackalwere he had seen. Then he spotted a second and a third. Even Zian’s savage warriors fall under the sheer number of enemy troops.

“How many of those beasts are there?” Lieutenant Hart yelled to Karn.

“I’m not sure. It’s too dark and they move too fast to tell.”

“We’re almost at the opening!” Tala shouted.

Karn turned about. Mustaffa’s men were in disarray and cut off. It was the advantage Kel Tora needed. If all continues as planned, Kel Tora’s soldiers will engage Mustaffa’s army soon. We can win this. We’re going to win this.

Suddenly, Mustaffa’s men began to hold their ground and the noise of battle that rang in Karn’s ears dropped to almost nothing. He laid eyes on Zian. He and a group of other jackalweres paced aggressively; mere feet in front of them was a line of giant men.

“They must be Mustaffa’s personal guards,” Tala said between her teeth.

“Do you know how to use that?” Karn motioned to the pike with his sword.

“I prefer daggers.”

“Fine, but can you use a pike, Tala?”

“Worry not, my love. I have killed before. All elves have.”

Karn faced Lieutenant Hart. “Hold fast. Defend her.”

“From everyone?” Lieutenant Hart replied.

Karn saw the enemy that pursued them; they too had come to a halt a safe distance from the giants and jackalweres. Something’s wrong. Karn spun around. We’re surrounded.

“Hold here, Lieutenant,” he said as he approached Zian for counsel.

“Like we have a choice?”

As Karn drew closer, he could put a number to the jackalweres that paced back and forth and growled at Mustaffa’s big men. There were fifteen counting Zian, more than twice the number of giants.

“Zian, why did we stop? We’ve allowed ourselves to be surrounded. What’s wrong?”

“These giants,” Zian grumbled. “They belong to a mountain-dwelling tribe. They were once our allies.”

“Then what the hell are they doing here? In league with him?”

“It has been long rumored that several families were exiled along with Naraboo ages ago,” Zian stated coldly. Not once did he shift his eyes off his opponents.

“Zian, listen to me. It no longer matters who these men once were. It only matters who they are now.”

“Odd… coming from you.”

“Damn it, Zian! We fight, or we die!” Karn shouted.

“Fight or not, you will die tonight, mage pawn!” a deep voice echoed.

Mustaffa himself stepped out from behind the row of colossal guards; his sudden appearance seized the attention of everyone in the area.

Karn’s eyes locked on the man. It seemed Mustaffa stood seven feet tall, almost equal in power to the giants beside him. Although he looked to be in his fifties, except for his bald head and weatherworn face, the warlord showed few signs of old age.

He wore thick, heavy armor. The plates were as black as the night sky and seemed to absorb what little firelight touched him. Atop his shoulders sat large spiked pauldrons, making them look as wide as an anvil.

The anxiety that had been buried inside Karn from the first moment he laid eyes on the conquered town of Weiden’s Rise resurfaced. Just like the warlord that possessed him, Karn saw his home in ruins. Fear began to dominate him. It felt like it was rising from his feet to his legs, through his body. Karn felt as if he might collapse.

“What do they call you, boy?” Mustaffa’s voice made him jump.

Karn stepped through the jackalwere ranks, just as Mustaffa had moved through his men. Once his feet were firmly dug into the ground, he announced himself.

“My name is Karn.”

“Karn?” Mustaffa laughed. “Are you so sure that’s your name?”

“I—”

“I had an identity such as yours, Karn,” Mustaffa interrupted before he shouted: “Before the mages ruined my life.”