Alara Unbroken - Doug Beyer [91]
Ajani willed a bolt of rage and force at Rakka, and in a flash it manifested from Ajani’s body and smashed into her. The elementalist crashed head over heels, breaking through the spiny trunks of two tukatongue trees, her body landing somewhere out of sight. At the impact, a blinding cascade of lightning burst from where she landed, pent-up magic released by her death. A crack of thunder followed an instant later, echoing in the woods around them.
Ajani released the woman’s face and stepped back, taking and releasing a deep breath.
“I’m sorry,” he said.
“I thought she was your only way out,” said the warrior, angling an eyebrow.
“I’ll figure something out,” said Ajani.
“You were tempted, I could tell,” she said.
“Let’s get Kresh on his feet,” said Ajani. “We have a murderer to find.”
GRIXIS
Ready?” whispered Rafiq.
Both the human survivor Levac and the aven Kaeda nodded in unison.
The plan was all stealth and speed, with no fighting if they could help it. From their hiding place behind a stack of huge bones, Rafiq could see the vastness of the undead army to which the boy belonged. Fighting was not going to be a viable option. If it didn’t work, they would just have to abandon the boy and head back to Bant without him. He hoped it wouldn’t come to that. He re-checked the boy’s position in the army, and then tested the knots on the net and the line. It was as good as it was going to get.
“Let’s do it,” said Rafiq.
He and Levac rushed out from their hiding place, remaining as huddled and as quiet as they could. They ran to the edge of the marching swarm of undead, carrying the net between them. Behind them dangled the line that was attached to the net, leading back to their hiding place.
They managed to get the net around Vali with the first throw. It knocked the boy down, and he snarled and drooled a noxious ichor, thrashing around in the net. Rafiq instantly turned around and started running—but stopped when he saw that Levac hadn’t.
“Let’s go, let’s go!” he said.
But Levac’s eyes were locked on the rotting visage of his son, and he wouldn’t budge. The other undead turned to face them, scraping moaning sounds out of their dead lungs.
Kaeda flew straight up from behind their hiding place, the rope in his talons. He had doffed his heavy armor to lighten his load. Soon the line was taut, and he yanked the net, thrashing boy and all, into the air.
Rafiq ushered Levac out of the way, and they ran as fast as they could back to their hiding spot in the small hermitage. Once they got out of sight, the undead horde lost interest in them and moved on.
The boy was in their custody once more, but it remained to be seen, thought Rafiq, whether anything could be done about his condition. He helped Kaeda and Levac bring the boy back to the small hermitage, and prayed.
NAYA
Marisi’s mind was in tatters. His life had been extended far past its natural prospects by a deal with a dragon—a deal made by his youthful self, but one that his elderly self had to honor. His mind could not hold within it all the evil he had caused—to the nacatl, to the elves, to his entire world. As Naya became only a continent of some larger world, an inkling of the scope of what he had facilitated had begun to pierce his conscious mind. He couldn’t contain it. His reason tore into pieces rather than attempt to reconcile it all. His thoughts turned only to his name as a youth: Marisi, the Breaker of the Coil.
He had no plan, but knew he had to rally the nacatl around him once more. If he had warriors around him again, he could wear them as a cape of glory, and relive the purest times of his life. He hoped the mystique around his name, his face, his striped form was still enough. Did the Wild Nacatl, who owed him their very identity, still possess the fury in their hearts that had allowed him to overthrow the Cloud Nacatl civilization? Would they, decades later, still feel the pull of his leadership? He had no choice but to