Skirmish (The Stork Tower Book 8) Read online

  “That sums it up. When I stop meditating, then toss me a sword and follow me.”

  Moments later, a metal door opened and the ten were ushered through into a vast arena. The space was oval in shape like the Colosseum with a series of ascending seats for the ma’nav who were all standing and screaming Kiptanfors’ name. The floor of the stadium was made of a compressible tile worked into the floor in a variety of colours which formed a mosaic of Kiptanfors fighting a horde of ja’mar. Leah was able to get some impression from the sensations on her body, but it was Rundar who said, “R: That’s just wrong. He’s holding his sword the wrong way. How on earth did he do enough damage to save the city with footwork like that? Honestly, it’s pitiful.”

  There was a large ornate viewing gallery in the centre of one of the longer sides, which Leah assumed was where Jamaree’s mother and the Arena Master would be. Ignoring everything, Leah strode to the centre of the open area and turned to face the gallery then lowered herself into a meditative pose before closing her eyes.

  9

  December 27, 2073

  PNEUMATICA - GRAH

  Three informed her that the noise in the arena had started to lessen, but when she sat, it had exploded with sound as those in the stands screamed abuse at her and the others. Leah slowly let a small smile form on her face and began to focus on the impressions she was getting from under the flooring.

  As she did this, the Arena Master stood in the gallery and signalled for the crowd to be silent. It took several minutes, but when the crowd calmed the Arena Master looked out over the crowd. As she began speaking, Jamaree translated for Leah and the three Pyranthians.

  She said, “X: Welcome, citizens of Taranna. On this great day of justice as we remember the life of Kiptanfors. He was the greatest of our heroes. He deserved to be honoured by all who have life on this world as one who stood against the dark tide of the ja’mar and who risked his life to preserve this great city of ours. Instead, the traitor Jamaree, with a team of assassins and murderers from the terrorist organisation known as the Resistance tried to lead a horde of incensed ja’mar into Taranna. Their aim was to kill you and your families and to destroy our way of life.

  “Against this band of killers, it was once again Kiptanfors who put his life on the line to save us. Not only did he help destroy the horde, but he saved these ten from being turned when the horde fell upon them, he even gave them shelter within our great city. His hope was that they might be helped to see the error of their ways. When he declared one so wounded that they would soon succumb to their injuries and be a danger to the others, he offered to give the enemy their peace. Not only was his kindness and mercy rejected, but one of the humans he saved took advantage of his goodness to stage an attack. She killed Kiptanfors and three of his brave warriors. Those with her used these deaths to stage their own rebellion, and five more of our brave defenders were killed.

  “The eight who died will have their names added to the list of heroes beside Kiptanfors. Another list has been created by the Parishad. This is a list of names of those now recognised as the enemies of all Grah. No child may ever be given these names, and any who already have these names must choose another. To own these names is to be considered under a curse and deserving of death. The first is the name of the Murderer, Charlotte. The second is the name of the Traitor, Jamaree.

  “Even now, you can see that the Murderer sits calmly as she revels in the mayhem she has caused. We have tried to talk with her to discover what evil fills her heart, but she refused to respond except to speak abuse. Even when one of the Pramukh came to offer mercy through understanding and dialogue, the Murderer laughed in her face. The Pramukh have determined she is more malevolent than even the ja’mar. For their crimes and to protect the people of Grah, they have been condemned to face the ja’mar in battle. We hope that they might find redemption as they help rid the world of our darkness and our doom.”

  Jamaree was weeping as she finished and fell to her knees, sobbing. Rundar looked down at her and said, “R: These ma’nav are all crazy. No one with half a brain would believe that nonsense.”

  Takobi indicated the crowds who had all come to their feet and were yelling abuse. He could hear Jamaree and Charlotte’s names being used as curses by most of the crowd. “T: Less than half a brain, but look at them all. Honestly, they look like rabid Ja’mar at this distance. Still, there is hope for them, they haven’t outlawed good strong names like Takobi and Rundar.”

  As Rundar grinned and agreed, Leah was mapping the level below. From what she could tell, there were hundreds of cages filled with ja’mar. The cells were organised in rectangular blocks. In the centre of each block was an empty area and a ramp leading to the arena floor. Near the top of the ramp was a series of cogs and hydraulic pistons which could be used to lift the flooring to give access to the arena. She turned her focus to the various mechanisms as Jamaree’s mother stood to pronounce judgement.

  One part of Leah’s awareness translated the dots impressed on her virtual fingers into words while the rest unravelled the levers, cogs, springs and hydraulic hoses beneath her. She’d finally managed to trace the controls when Jamaree’s mother finished her speech and declared that the sentence was to be carried out immediately. Leah pulled back from her focussed search and spread her awareness over the entire arena floor. She was watching for signals that pre-empted the release of ja’mar. In the area where she’d traced the controls to, she followed the mechanism as a flicked switch released a lever before resetting it with a spring.

  Leah followed the sequence of events and watched as three cages with moderate to heavily disabled ja’mar were opened just below the main gallery area. She mapped the ja’mar who stood at the open doors for a moment before moving out when a small bell rang near the base of the ramp. As the ramp opened, the ja’mar were leaving their cages. When the sound of the crowd filtered through the opening in the arena floor, they started running, and staggering, towards the sound.

  She forced herself to focus on the mechanics rather than the ja’mar and traced the mechanism which dropped the tiles back into place. Now that Leah was aware of the mechanisms, she began looking for ways to counter, break or manipulate the components for her own purposes.

  Ten ja’mar rushed into the open and were momentarily disorientated by the roar of the crowd, but almost immediately spied the ten bunched together on the arena floor. The cries of the ja’mar were drowned by the noise of the massed ma’nav, but the condemned were watching and ready. As the ja’mar rushed forward, Takobi and Kimtora stepped in front of the others. They almost contemptuously dispatched the still mostly decaying ja’mar.

  The lack of spectacle first shocked the crowd into silence, then brought them to their feet demanding entertainment. Even as the noise of their clamouring began, the Arena Master manipulated her controls and released more of the freshly caught ja’mar. This time they emerged from three different points on the arena floor. Even though his wound still troubled him, Rundar stepped toward one of the groups and was joined by the girl, Adelia.

  Within minutes it was evident that the arena wasn’t used to the quality of warriors that were on display. Even the four Resistance fighters had experience beyond most of those who were usually condemned as entertainment. Only Jamaree seemed to have no skills and remained huddled beside Leah, becoming more comatose as the number of ja’mar introduced into the ring increased.

  After the fourth release of ja’mar, there was a pause, and the Arena Master waited for quiet before saying, “The next ten ja’mar are the property of Parshen Filpodfors. He has kindly offered them in service to the Parishad. All ten have been seen in the arena before but never together. The greatest of these was once Filpodfors’ own brother who was condemned for his sympathy to the Resistance. Filpodfors was awarded his brother’s estate for having the courage to warn the Parishad of the treachery within his own family. Once again, Filpodfors uses his resources for the welfare of all ma’nav.”

  At one en
d of the arena, ten fully healed ja’mar appeared, and for them, there was no hesitation. They knew that somewhere in the arena were living souls, and they rushed forward with purpose to find them. By the time all ten had been killed and given their peace, two of the Resistance fighters and Kimtora were wounded. One of the fighters had serious wounds to his chest, and his friends helped him towards Leah while Rundar and Takobi helped bind the wounds of the other two.

  Three rounds later and everyone, except Leah and Jamaree, had suffered a wound of one sort or another. Through all this, Leah had sat unmoving. The crowd had become somewhat subdued, and several had almost cheered for the prisoners. The Arena Master paused and looked down at what was left, then said, “The next three groups of ja’mar have been brought to Taranna by Pramukhen Malaree. In the first group are two Julgon whose ferocity exceeds even that of the murderous and barbaric Pyranthians who stand before us today.”

  Leah had worked her way through the mechanical system and let part of her concentration focus on the area behind her where she knew the ja’mar would appear; that was, if her understanding of the mechanics was correct. As the tiles lifted, the ja’mar rushed out. The two Julgon looked like the others she had seen, but all trace of peace and tranquility had been erased from their features, and they looked more like sharks than fish.

  As they ran, their mouths opened in a roar that showed an impressive number of razor-sharp teeth and sent Jamaree into a faint. The claws on their feet tore into the tiles, and several were pulled out of their setting as the Julgon powered ahead of the other ja’mar. Each of the other eight was already incensed, and Leah could sense pieces of hanji embedded under their skin. She struggled to imagine the suffering this caused the ja’mar.

  With Jamaree not conscious and Leah meditating, this left ten healed and incensed ja’mar for the other eight. As Leah let the scene wash over her, she tensed her body in preparation to join the others, then calmed herself as she felt the Arena Master move her hand nervously. Takobi waited until the first Julgon was five paces away then threw his sword overhand directly into the open maw of the Julgon.

  The Julgon’s momentum carried it forward, and Takobi had to throw himself to one side to escape the falling ja’mar. As he came to his feet, he found himself surrounded by three incensed and fully healed ma’nav ja’mar. Meanwhile, Rundar and Adelia, who since the first fight had worked as a team, stepped toward the second Julgon ja’mar. Kimtora and the remaining ma’nav had their hands full with the remaining five. They were all concentrated between Leah and where the ja’mar had entered the arena.

  The Arena Master’s hand flicked a switch on her console which released a wound spring. As the spring unwound, it turned a cog. Moments later, the mechanical system reached a series of cages in front of Leah and opened five cells. Each cell two fully healed ja’mar who had been pre-incensed using embedded hanji. As Leah’s muscles tensed to move, she felt the Arena Master move toward a second switch. Leah followed the mechanism and in the silence of her mind swore as a further ten ja’mar were going to be released into the same central area leading to a ramp which had just started to open a dozen paces in front of Leah.

  As the bell rang, Leah called out, “Takobi, a sword.”

  Takobi no longer had his sword and had to dive to his left to reach the dead Julgon. As he did this, one of the ja’mar reached out and tore a chunk out of his leg. Takobi turned the dive into a roll and reaching under the dead Julgon, pulled the sword loose. He then used it to take the head off the nearest ja’mar before turning only to see Leah diving forward into the opening of a rapidly rising ramp. He dodged one of the ja’mar before tearing its throat out, and then threw the sword overhand and sent it spinning rapidly to disappear through the gap before limping quickly after it. He grabbed Jamaree as he passed her prostrate body.

  10

  December 27, 2073

  PNEUMATICA - GRAH

  Leah hadn’t waited for the sword and rushed to where the ramp was opening. When the gap was large enough, she dived into the opening and headed down into the cage. Part of her awareness was on Takobi and as the sword flew towards her back, she swayed out of the way and grabbed the grip as it went past and changed the motion just enough to bring it down on the skull of the lead ja’mar who was headed up the ramp toward her.

  Instead of moving to one side, she threw her shoulder directly into the dead creature and used its body as a shield to push her way through the first few that came after it. As it toppled backwards, she fell with it and turned the fall into a sliding roll before coming to her feet at the base of the ramp, just as the second set of ten ja’mar left their cages. The nine remaining from the first set were turning on the ramp to face Leah.

  Instead of attacking the ja’mar, Leah turned and thrust the sword deep between several of the cogs on the edge of the ramp to lock it in the open position. She then threw herself backwards to evade one of the ja’mar and received a shallow cut across her stomach, which brought her ‘spirit’ meter to ninety-five per cent. By the time she regained her feet the meter had dropped to forty-five per cent and although she’d landed some blows, she was still facing nineteen ja’mar.

  Leah would have died if not for Jamaree, not that this was Jamaree’s intent, but her limp body had been thrown horizontally from the top of the ramp by Takobi and knocked over most of the first group of ja’mar. Leah used the pileup as a springboard. Stepping from one to another, she leapt to the top of the enclosure to hang from the roof of the briefly before swinging herself horizontal just out of reach of the incensed ja’mar.

  Takobi dispatched several of the fallen ja’mar before they could stand and was then joined by two of the ma’nav from the Resistance followed by Rundar, Adelia and Kimtora. As the last two ma’nav fighters stumbled onto the ramp, Leah shouted, “Remove the sword and drop the ramp.”

  Her voice increased the agitation of the ja’mar beneath her, and their increased focus made it easy for Rundar and Kimtora to finish them off. Takobi had stepped aside and pulled the sword free, dropping the ramp. As the last ja’mar was killed, Leah dropped to the floor and headed into one of the cages saying, “Someone get Jamaree and then follow me.”

  Kimtora reached down and dragged the still unconscious ma’nav from under the pile of bodies as Takobi and the rest followed Leah. The cages were only latched, not locked. After reaching her hand through a gap in the bars, Leah led the rest into the service walkways between the cages toward the control centre. No one said anything as the screeching and hisses of the dozens of remaining ja’mar drowned out even the thought of talking.

  Once everyone was in the control room, Leah closed the door then stepped to the large control board. She flicked several switches before turning a large circular lock in the centre of the room. She then turned to Takobi and said, “Thank you for encouraging Jamaree to help out. It saved my life.”

  “You’re welcome, I figured she hadn’t done much to help, and her whining was getting on my nerves. What now?”

  “I’ve locked the entry to this room from above and isolated the controls so the Arena Master cannot change anything. From what I can tell, the only other exits from this area are two large doors on the other side of the cages. I think they are the ways the ma’nav bring ja’mar into the area. I suspect one leads to an exit somewhere in the city above. The other probably leads to a portal through which the ja’mar are brought here.”

  Adelia said, “A: The portals are deep within the hanji mine.”

  “Portals? Not just one?”

  “A: Once a portal is open, the hanji needed to keep it open isn’t that much. Here on Grah, the inter-sanctuary portals remain open most of the time. They don’t let those who are not ma’nav know this so they will keep paying the high prices.”

  Takobi had found a first aid kit in the room and finished bandaging his wounded leg. He handed a large bandage to Leah and said, “T: Here, you’re still bleeding. Where are the doors?”

  As Leah lifted her shirt and wrappe
d the bandage around her middle, she said, “They’re on the other side of all the cages. The cage system is built like a maze that we need to go through. Unfortunately, there are still some cages that have ma’nav. We can either fight our way through the few blocked areas, or I can release them into the arena. All ma’nav in each area need to have exited their area for the way to be opened. While I’d like to release them, I’m not keen on letting them loose into the city. I’d hope there were guards ready to protect the arena boundary. Still, the ma’nav left are fully healed and letting fifty loose up above could destroy the city.”

  Adelia said, “A: Who cares, let them die. They’re responsible for the mess.”

  Rundar said, “R: That is true, but we are responsible for our own actions. That they are dishonourable gives me no freedom to also act dishonourably. Instead, my preference would be to show even greater honour that they might recognise their failings.”

  Takobi said, “T: Rundar’s correct, except for the philosophical assertion that somehow one can show ‘greater honour’. Not taking such a path would be dishonourable and therefore this path is merely honourable.”

  As Rundar, Takobi and Adelia started arguing over the philosophical understanding of honour, Leah considered the options. Turning to one of the Resistance, she said, “If I draw a diagram and mark the relevant switches, are you willing to open each section as we approach it?”

  When she had his agreement, she took his sword and one from the badly wounded member of the Resistance. Stepping out of the room, she was several paces down the first hallway between the cages when she realised no one was following. She typed out a quick message then as her voice called out, “Whenever you guys are ready, feel free to join me,” Leah continued walking.