A single incandescent streamer arced toward Borba and flung him to the ground, where he convulsed. The electricity bridged the air to Inleio, and he was knocked away too. He kept his footing though. The lightning-protection potion had worked.
The King swiped at Inleio, but the master hunter dodged back and flicked his spear forward to pierce the gap between the bear’s claws. The King scowled, and I saw a cunning in his eyes; his intelligence noted the combatants around him, as well as those farther out. I saw… I saw his decision to expand the scope of his attack: the single streamer into an auroral conflagration.
Coronal streamers arced from the King’s body in every direction. They struck the nearby hunters as they ran for the protection of the wired spears with enough energy to send them tumbling. The air ionized. I smelled heated iron and smoldering buckskin, burnt hair and charred wood.
The aurora spread and covered the entirety of the field. The King gloried at the blazing center of an electrical storm. The intensity of light and its afterimages obscured my vision. My breathing labored under the pressure of his intent. And yet, I was untouched. The lightning licked at everything and everyone except—mysteriously— for me and Otwei.
The corona dissipated and left behind random discharges of electricity between the planted spears. The King ignored them and the prone hunters, and then chose instead to pounce upon Otwei. She dodged aside, but the tiniest sliver of shock and disbelief slowed her. The King’s claws tore through her left shin, ripping her foot from her body. Blood sprayed, but Otwei marshaled her qi to stem its loss. She spun away, though the bear followed with another swipe that tore her open from chest to belly. A final swipe severed Otwei’s head from her body.
Alarm rang through Yuki, but the piece of them inside her escaped through the sudden gap—before the King snapped up Otwei’s head and crunched it. A moment later he bit into her body; his claws shredded through her as if searching for something.
I ran in with my spear. Honestly, it was a stupid move, but all I could think was that I had to distract the bear and save that portion of Yuki. So, I thrust. More ballistae bolts thunked into the bear. Arrows peppered him from all directions.
The King scowled and turned toward me. He sniffed, and saliva dripped from his jaws.
Yuki’s alarm only intensified. They recognized the hunger in the bear’s eyes. It was the same as when they’d resided in the Red Room—when the King had come to visit to feast on the eilesheile, the thing he most loved to eat in the world. Somehow, he had recognized the presence of the uekisheile within Otwei. Within me.
Time. We needed time. To run and think and plan for this new development.
The piece of Yuki that used to be inside Otwei pulsed with qi—that drew the King’s attention. He lunged, but the lichen sped away. Small and fast thanks to Dog’s Agility, they avoided his attempts to capture them. Meanwhile, I ran for the trees, released my Dog’s Agility, and plunged into Camouflage and Scentless Hunter. I did my best to regulate my breathing and calm my thundering heart.
The other combatants picked themselves up to rejoin the fight. Their renewed attacks caused the King to lash out at them, which in turn was distraction enough to give Yuki the leeway to get the separated piece into hiding too.
The King knocked the hunters’ spears aside. His massive head swiveled, but he was no longer able to sense Yuki. Both the main body within me and the separated piece were now hidden. His anger and frustration grew as the hunters’ spears poked and prodded him.
Electricity crackled along the King’s fur, ready to discharge once again, but the dolbecs smashed into his side to knock him off balance. They were blasted back for their trouble, but the opening was enough for Inleio and Mumu to get in front of him. They went for his eyes.
The King ducked, their spears scraping the top of his skull. The next moment, he got under the hunters and tossed his head to send them flying.
The King leapt away, likely to search for Yuki. He sniffed at the air and batted aside the hunters who got in his way. And then—when he realized that he’d lost the uekisheile—he roared his frustration. Lightning splashed in all directions, filling the field with its radiance. The planted spears drew away what they could, but the hunters struggled to remain standing.
I was well away by then, hidden and still.
A pair of ballistae bolts hit the King across the scruff of his neck. Raging, the bear launched himself at the closer of the two hills. He landed with a crash and splintered the logs protecting the emplacement. I moved forward for a better view and spotted the crew retreating. The ballista had been crushed under the King’s weight.
He leapt at the other emplacement, but a blunt bolt hit him across the shoulder to deflect him aside. Another smashed into his nose. And then came a third, just as quickly. The last was a regular bolt, and it pierced the flesh between shoulder and head. The three bolts had flown too quickly—magic must’ve been involved.
The attacks infuriated the King even more. He launched himself at the emplacement, but the crew was already gone and running down the hill. The ballista was smashed apart by attack after senseless attack.
The hunters on the field picked themselves up. Inleio said something to Mumu, and she signaled with her hands for the outside teams to retreat. Kesa’s team was to fall back and dive in only if there was a hunter in trouble.
Inleio and the rest had enough time to reposition; the dolbecs and their shields were in front, Tegen behind them, and the rest behind him. Banan and Kuros hadn’t run—if anything, their faces were stony and their eyes narrowed as they gripped their spears. Was it loyalty to Otwei? A desire for revenge? She would’ve understood that.
I was surprised by my own feelings of loss at Otwei’s death. She was spiteful and petty, but I’d also spent days nestled against her thoughts. I’d learned from her, yet now her experiences were gone. At least from the material world. Her ghost yet raged, her voiceless mouth spitting anger at the King.
The bear bellowed when the destruction of the ballista was complete. A massive stroke of lightning announced his triumph. He leapt back down onto the field of battle and charged at the dolbecs.
They knelt and braced their shields, taking the same position they’d used against the charging musk ox alpha. The King didn’t have a charging talent, but he out-massed the musk ox many times over. He smashed into Agath and Moon and threw them aside. Yet, they had slowed him enough for Tegen to drive his spear into the wound left by the last ballista bolt. The other hunters flowed around him, quick as a blink to thrust their spears at the bear’s face.
Borba didn’t have Dog’s Agility. Where the others attacked three or four times, his spear lagged—and yet that worked to his advantage. While avoiding the dangerous fast spears, the King ignored the slow one, and it bit into the open wound at his shoulder. A rusty glow spread from Borba to the bear, and it surrounded the wound.
The King reared to avoid further attacks on his shoulder. For the first time during the fight, he backed off. The rage in his eyes diminished, and he looked at the hunters before him. The glow at his shoulder didn’t dim, however. It pulsed, and the rusty-red light along Borba’s arms pulsed in time with it.
Stick-thin Borba grew visibly thicker. The expansion started at his arms and moved into the rest of his body like a balloon being filled.
At the start of the battle, the King had been a tower of qi, but the level of qi had dropped as he generated lightning, losing significant amounts during the coronal discharges. If Yuki was sensing it correctly, then he had half his qi left. And now, it decreased even further, a slow leak that fed Borba.
He threw himself at the hunter, his mouth gaping to bite Borba’s head off, but he was warded off by Mumu and Inleio’s spears long enough for the dolbecs to intercede and knock him aside.
Banan thrust his spear at the unbalanced bear. His attack was straightforward—polished, mechanical, and powerful. Kuros followed after him, and his spear was like water, a series of rippling thrusts and slices that tore through the King’s hide to create gaps for the others.
And so, the combatants fought—the King swiping at the hunters to keep them at bay so that he could reach Borba, and the others doing everything in their power to keep that from happening. Borba hung back, his body slowly swelling.
This hadn’t been part of the original plan. No one had known that Borba’s dusk abilities would be this effective, but these were all experienced hunters. They adapted, improvised, and fought tooth and nail against creatures that often vastly outpowered them.
Finally, the bear could take no more. He lit up with lightning’s fire, the streamers pouring from his body. I turned my eyes to keep them from being blinded, but only long enough to reinforce them with qi.
When I turned back, I saw the hunters struggling to stand—all except for Borba, who this time seemed unaffected. He charged at the King to keep him from attacking the others, since they were in no condition to defend themselves.
As far as I knew, Borba still wasn’t able to cast spells—his dusk abilities were instinctual—and yet his strike against the bear reverberated loud enough for me to hear it from my hiding spot. His attack was faster too. The second thrust hit the bear across the right foreleg. Blood arced along with the lightning.
The bear struck back, and Borba rolled to avoid it. He stood in time to dodge a second attack, but the third he had to block with his spear’s haft. The wood sheared, and the King’s claw carved Borba’s chest open.
The King’s corona died.
Borba stabbed with what was left of his spear, his face twisted in rage. I saw the white of his ribs and the mottled gray of his lungs. One lung was torn, and the tissues fluttered as he moved.
Yuki—
Yes.
I dropped Scentless Hunter, and Yuki pulsed their qi. The King turned to where I hid, but that didn’t stop his final strike. His claws tore into Borba once more, and the rusty glow that had surrounded him dissipated.
The King leapt towards my hiding place, but I’d already re-cast Scentless Hunter and changed positions, moving as quickly as I dared. He shredded bushes and knocked down trees to find me. When that didn’t work, he poured lightning into the area.
The lightning licked at me, but my chainmail drew the worst away. I closed my mouth and eyes, though a trickle penetrated through my nose, only to be blunted by the lightning-protection potion. My body felt numb, heavy, and jittery, like I’d drunk too much coffee after staying up for two nights, but that was all. The potion’s protection had held. I opened my eyes, and continued my escape.
The King rammed trees, knocking them down, and they fell all around me. At first, I thought it was random, but then I realized the trees were forming a circle to enclose me. I quickly moved back toward the field of spears, so as not to be trapped.
In the middle of the field, Kesa’s team surrounded Borba. Mumu knelt beside him, and listened as Inleio talked to him. All their expressions were grim. Was the man still alive? His spirit still seemed to be attached to his body, and the connection grew as Ben and Mumu poured the contents of their water skins across his chest. Healing Water, no doubt.
Ben took Kesa’s water skin and poured that as well, and then one more from his team. Borba jerked awake, and the others had to hold him down as he howled to get free. He was thin again, though, and the wound on his chest was only partially closed.
Inleio knelt and grabbed Borba’s hand to force the remnants of his spear into it. Inleio then pushed the spear into his own chest. The rusty light ignited upon Borba’s arms, and it spread to Inleio’s body. The lodge master stepped back, but the light followed him. He visibly began to shrivel.
Mumu yelled at Borba. She slapped him until he came back to his senses. Borba stopped struggling then, and the others let him stand. They gave him a new spear, and reformed their formation.
Inleio took his place among them. Then it was his turn to catch fire: an orange-red glimmer that spread to his chest and limbs. His body filled out, and his strength returned to him. His qi was full to bursting, spilling out when his body could no longer contain it.
The hunters jogged toward the forest, and their path took them close enough for me to hear.
“I won’t last long,” Inleio said.
“We’ll finish it before the spell ends,” Mumu said.
Inleio shook his head. “We do what we must. If it takes longer than I have life left, then that’s the way of things. Now, let’s move.”
Horrified, I remembered that he had a spell called Body Burner, and that he was part of a group called the Last Line. Their duty was to sacrifice their lives for the village.
“Inleio,” I whispered.
The hunters must’ve heard me, but none stopped walking towards the forest. Mumu merely nodded, and Inleio smiled.
Years ago, in another life, I had been reviewing footage from World War II: soldiers pressed against each other in their landing craft, traveling across the water to storm the beaches at Normandy. There was a lad among them, sandy-haired and freckle-faced, who’d caught the camera man filming and smiled.
At the time, I had asked the editor to stop the reel, then stared at the frozen still for a good long time, communing with the dead and trying to understand that innocent, haunted smile. I had sensed meaning there, but it had been too deep and too complicated to parse.
“To fear death is to fear life,” I whispered, and turned around to sneak back to where the hunters fought.
