The first wave of hedeni hit the barricade, and it was madness. Tau stabbed
and swung at limbs and faces. He sliced away someone's fingers, praying
they'd come from an enemy's hand; was almost scalped by one of the
raiders; and barely managed to push away a third before she could climb
onto his side of the barricade.
It didn't matter. There were too many. There had always been too many.
It was why the Goddess had blessed her Chosen with gifts. It was why she
had given them dragons.
The burst of fire exploded a hundred strides in front of the barricade,
singeing Tau's eyebrows. He threw himself back, away from the searing
heat, and as soon as he regained some semblance of sense, he saw that
Jabari and Tendaji were on the ground too. Tau tried to speak. His spit had
been cooked away.
"Guardians!" yelled a hoarse voice from farther down the barricade.
"Guardians!"
His vision swimming, Tau looked up and saw his first dragon up close.
The behemoth, its body a mass of pure-black scales that drank in light and
twisted the eye, ripped through the air. Tau watched it course toward the
hedeni, sinuous tail trailing behind, lashing the smoke from Daba's fires to
hazy shreds.
When it was close enough, the black creature opened its maw and lit the
evening with a twisting pillar of sun-bright flame, thick as three men. Tau
tottered to his feet and climbed the barricade, watching the dragon's chain
of fire explode against the ground. The hedeni who were hit were
vaporized, and the dragon flew on, past Daba's plateau, turning for another
pass.
"Tau?" said a voice he would recognize anywhere.
"Father," he said, turning to face Aren Solarin.
"Why, Tau?" his father asked. "Why?"
Tau's mouth opened and closed, no words coming.
"After I heard about the raid, I sought him out and ordered him to
accompany me," Jabari lied. "It's my duty, as son of the umbusi, to fight
with my mother's men. I know I'm not yet an Indlovu, but this is my place,
and I couldn't come alone."
Aren eyed Jabari and shouted to the nearby listeners. "Shore up the
barricades! The Guardians won't do us any good when the hedeni are mixed
in with our own people." The gawkers snapped into action. "Jabari, as
inkokeli of your mother's fighters, your place is best decided by me. By
coming here, you've risked your life."
Jabari was forced to nod, accepting as strict a chastisement as Aren
could give him. Tau looked down and away. The words were also meant for
him.
"Please, Aren, accept my apologies," Jabari offered. "I'm only doing
what I believe I must." He lifted his chin and seemed to stand straighter. "I
also went to the keep barracks. The guard knows I'm here. They'll send
men."
Aren grunted. "Ill-advised, but smartly done. My men and I thank you
for it. Now, stay back from the fighting." He marched away to give his men
more orders. "It would break my heart to have to tell your mother that
you'd died." More words meant for Tau.
"Ihagu," Aren shouted. "Form up and help the townspeople carry what
they can." Everyone began moving. "If the Gifted have enough reason to
call the Guardians, it means we must run."
"Run?" Jabari asked Tau.
The roar of several hundred foreign voices answered in Tau's place, and
the two men stepped onto the barricade in time to see the full force of
hedeni raiders charging in their direction.
"Goddess…," said Tendaji, his voice little more than a whisper against
the howling tumult racing their way.
"Away from the barricade," ordered Tau's father. "Run. Now!"
Jabari was off the barricade first, Tendaji and Tau right behind. Needing
little encouragement from the Ihagu, the townspeople abandoned everything
but their loved ones, and they ran too.
"We're being herded," shouted Jabari. "When the flats end, we'll hit the
cliffs. There are no paths this way."
The raid had been well planned. The initial attacking force was large,
but not too large. The Ihagu and townspeople had been led to believe they
could hold Daba and had willingly trapped themselves with their backs to
the cliffs. Once they'd done that, the hedeni launched their real attack,
proving Tau's father's worst fears. This was no raid; it was an
extermination.
The Guardian made a difference. It would thin the hedeni's numbers, but
like Aren had said, if the savages got in among the Chosen, the dragon
would have to hold its fire or burn the people it had come to save. Tau
thought this through and knew what would come next.
"Ihagu," his father shouted. "Form up, battle lines."
It was the only reasonable choice. The Ihagu would stand and fight.
They'd slow the hedeni enough to allow the townspeople some chance at
escape.
Tau stopped running and turned to face the horrifying mass of enemy
flesh, with their sharpened bronze and bone. Tendaji was beside him, his
presence a surprising comfort. His father ran up as well.
"Jabari, Tau," he said. "I need you to guide the townspeople down the
mountain. Take them to safety."
"You ask too much, Aren," Jabari replied. "I'll be no help to them and
you can't save me from this fate. I'll stay, just like every other fighter here."
Conflicting emotions played across Aren's face. Tau saw pride and fear
warring with each other. He'd been trying to save them.
"We'll show them what it means to be Chosen, Father," Tau said, his
hands shaking.
"So we will," Aren said, holding Tau's eyes with his, before turning to
yell his orders to the rest. "Tighten the lines. Stand firm. Remember, the
men to your left, to your right, they're your sword brothers. Keep them safe
and they'll do the same for you."
Aren stopped there, waiting for the right moment. It came quickly. "For
the Goddess!" he bellowed.
"For the Goddess!" they screamed back as the hedeni front lines
smashed into them