Redemption (Book 6) (40 page)

And punched right through the metal skin of the abomination.

Harnathu lunged to a stop and screamed. Not in anger, or rage or to terrify.

It was a cry of sheer, total pain.

Kara stared at the monstrosity in complete shock and disbelief. The prayer died on her lips. She felt immobilized, unable to move. Everything seemed to suddenly slow.

Harnathu clawed futilely at its back with its metal claws, howling and wailing.

Liquid metal spurted from the wound in the creature’s back, dribbling down to the ground like blood from a wound. It hissed and smoked as it touched the mud and water of the street.

That was when Kara realized that there was no pain. She had bent and shot her bow and there was no burning, no stabs of flame in her chest. She could breathe free and clear.

Harnathu swung around. There was filthy, burning murder in its gleaming eyes.

Kara felt the resolve and courage drain out of her at the sight of the metallic beast’s horrific visage. She fumbled desperately for another arrow.

Joseph screamed something at her, but Kara didn’t hear what it was.

Harnathu looked directly at her, pinning her with his eyes. His growl filled the whole street and thrummed through the air.

“You wanted a Demonbane?” Kara called out. Her voice sounded small and insignificant in her own ears, but she tried her best to keep it from shaking. She fitted another arrow to her bow. “Come try me on for size.”

Harnathu stared at her for a moment longer.

Then he charged.

Chapter 23

Kara drew, aimed and fired in one swift motion. She breathed out as she released the string.

It felt amazing. There was no pain, no blurring tears in her eyes, no gasping for breath. She was finally the same as she had been before Vorten, before Indigoru, before the Soulbinder—

The arrow whistled down the street. It struck Harnathu in his hind leg.

The second arrow was just like the first. It cut through the hot metal skin as easily as if it had been made of wet paper.

Harnathu stumbled, gnashing his teeth in rage and pain. He crashed down into the street itself, sending muddy water and steam flying in all directions.

He was close. Too close.

Kara ran to her left. She reached for another arrow as she moved.

Harnathu gave another blasting roar that blew some of the shingles off nearby roofs. He whipped his arms wildly around. His curved metal claws ripped apart the nearby boardwalk, sending wooden planks flying into the air like a flock of birds. The heat from his molten skin seared and charred the sides of the buildings and sent gouts of steam up from the wide puddles that covered the street.

Kara paused, pulling back her bow for another shot.

The steam hung heavily in the air, blocking her aim.

She took two steps towards the next cross street, trying to find a better angle.

Harnathu appeared, his yellow eyes burning through the haze like miniature suns.

Kara bent back her bow and aimed for the creature’s head.

With a howl Harnathu leapt through the air. He hit the side of the nearest building and swung both his red-hot arms at it.

The structure exploded outwards in a spray of wood chunks, shingles, glass, and nails.

Kara gave a cry and jumped for the nearest boardwalk. She hit the planks and rolled just as massive pieces of wood slammed into the mud of the street, tearing up the place where she had been moments before.

Harnathu didn’t stop.

He came right through the wreck of the building, causing the wood to smolder and burst into flames as he charged through it.

Kara tried to aim the bow again, but the flurry of wood particles through the air blocked any attempt at aiming. The arrow would never make it through the flying debris.

She fired anyway, then turned and ran.

There was no chance the arrow would hit. It was a wasted shot, and Kara already cursed herself for taking it.

Harnathu howled.

Kara was so close that she almost dropped her bow to clamp both hands over her ears. She could feel the heat of the monstrosity behind her, burning through her green cloak.

The boardwalk ahead of her was covered with broken glass and pieces of wood. The store to the left had no more windows.

The ground shook behind her. Harnathu was coming right at her.

Kara threw herself through the open space where the windows had been.

She hit the floor of the store hard and rolled twice before she slammed into a display stand. A clump of raccoon and beaver furs fell down on top of her. She batted them off wildly as she got to her feet.

Outside there was a great smashing and tearing sound. The air in the store seemed to grow suddenly dry and hot. The smell of burning metal assaulted Kara’s nose.

She ran.

The trading store was rather large, two levels. It had once been filled with all manner of useful items for trappers, loggers, and hunters. Now it was a mess, looted and pillaged in the violence and chaos of the evening before.

It was about to get even worse.

Harnathu came right through the front wall of the store.

Kara ran, blindly and panicked, feeling the screaming howl of the Seteru as well as his scorching heat against her flesh. Boards thudded and cracked off the floor of the store in a wooden barrage. A metal chest spiraled through the counter and the wall behind it as well.

Kara glanced back, her hands and neck stinging from a dozen small cuts and flying shards.

Harnathu was
there
.

The wolf’s head leered down at her, the face of evil and death. It could have bitten her in two with one lunge.

In fact, Kara was fairly certain that’s what he intended to do.

Harnathu opened his mouth. Heat danced off his glistening steel fangs. His claws slashed through the walls and displays to either side.

There was a stairway right in front of Kara. One flight led up to the second story, the other led down. 

Harnathu came right at her. The intense heat from his mouth was like a hundred furnaces. The wooden floor of the trading post blackened and scorched from the searing waves.

There was no time to shoot, no time even to notch another arrow.

Kara got to the top of the staircase and jumped.

Harnathu smashed into the top of the staircase. One of his super-heated paws tore through the upwards flight of steps. He bellowed in pure rage and fury.

Kara’s side slammed hard into the steps. She rolled to the bottom.

Boards and pieces of wood showered down all around her. Most were charred and blackened from heat.

Kara could taste blood in her mouth. She was sick and dizzy. Her side throbbed from where she had hit the hard edge of the steps. She looked back up the staircase.

Harnathu was in a fit. He clawed and bit wildly at the narrow staircase, trying to find some way to get down at her. Each massive swipe of his clawed paws tore huge chunks of wood and plaster out of the ceiling and staircase.

Kara wobbled to her feet and lifted her bow.

Pain ignited in her upper right leg.

She gave a cry and almost fell. Instead she slammed hard into the wall beside her. Taking the weight off her leg, she glanced down.

A great splinter of wood jutted out of her leg, just above her knee. It was more than six inches long. Blood was already soaking her trouser leg.

“Foolish girl,” Harnathu growled. He stared down at her, his fiery eyes filled with rancor. “You seek to defy me? I will
destroy
you.”

Kara reached for an arrow.

Harnathu gave a mighty sweep of his arm.

The upper staircase and most of the ceiling came down with a crash.

Kara threw herself back against the doorway behind her, sheltering as best she could.

A mountain of debris and dust poured down onto the staircase, blocking Harnathu from sight. Dirt and sawdust choked the air, billowing out and filling the lower room.  

Kara dropped the arrow, coughing in the clouds of dust. She reached a hand down for the massive splinter of wood, then pulled hard.

She didn’t scream, though she did almost pass out. The room spun at least twice before she felt the sharp wood come out of her leg. Then she collapsed onto the floor.

Yelling came from behind her, out on the street. The smell of smoke and plaster dust was heavy in the air.

Kara tore the edge of her cloak, then wrapped the cloth as hard as she could around her leg. It was a poor bandage at best, but it might staunch some of the flow of blood. She reached for her bow and glanced behind her.

Through the yellowish clouds of dirt and dust that filled the room she could just make out a door that led out onto another street. It looked like a back entrance of some kind.

Kara took another breath, preparing herself for the pain, then hobbled over to the door. She pushed out onto the street.

The street sloped steeply downhill.

Worse, there were Jombards, at least twenty of them, on the other side of the street.

They were hooting and hollering, smashing apart the front of a store and dragging the contents outside onto the mud-spattered boardwalk. Already several had discovered whiskey and beer bottles. Others were tearing apart a side of smoked bacon.

Kara took a cautious step back towards the back door of the store. She didn’t feel so courageous now with her leg on fire and her side black and bruised.

One of the Jombards looked up and spotted her. He dropped the parasol he had been holding and pointed directly at her with a shout.

Kara notched an arrow to the bow with trembling fingers.

More Jombards turned and saw her. Almost half of the group leapt up and began to run towards her.

She couldn’t go back. The stairway leading back up to the trade store was a disaster. Nor could she outrun them with her injured leg.

Kara tripped backwards and raised her bow.

The lead Jombard gave a warbling shout. He raised a javelin to throw.

Kara bent back the string. She didn’t have time to shoot more than once or twice before the Jombards reached her. Not if—

The top half of the trade store ripped apart in a thunderous storm of broken wood.

The flying debris rained out across the street, pummeling the oncoming Jombards with splinters, nails, and glass. It tore into the mud and mire of the street, chopping it into little explosions.

Kara jerked back with a cry, covering her face with her arms.

Harnathu slammed down into the middle of the street with the force of a hurricane, crushing half a dozen of the Jombards under his enormous bulk. Hissing mud and water exploded out onto the surrounding buildings. Steam rose from his super-heated metal form.

The Jombards gave frightened yelps and retreated.

Harnathu flattened three of them as they ran, as casually as a person brushing a spider from their sleeve.

Kara still had the arrow notched to her bow. She lifted it again as she moved backwards, and bent back the string to her ear.

Harnathu whirled around. He saw her and grinned. “
There
you are.”

Kara swallowed. Her injured leg was shaking and pounding with pain. She could feel warm blood on her lower trousers.

Harnathu started forward.

Kara fired.

The shaft zinged through the air. It struck Harnathu in his upper right chest.

The Seteru lurched backwards with a roar that all but deafened Kara. More molten ichor dribbled from the arrow wound.

Harnathu looked down at Kara and smiled. “You’ll have to do better than
that
, little girl.”

Kara stumbled back, feeling a rising panic.

She was hurting Harnathu, but she couldn’t seem to kill him, not even with the blessed arrows that somehow seemed to cut through his metal skin. Perhaps a head shot—?

Kara reached for another arrow.

Harnathu lashed an arm forward.

The clawed paw cut through the entire side of the trade store, gouging out most of the wall and boardwalk.

Kara saw the boards and debris fly up to meet her, along with gleaming claws and an intense wave of heat.

Then she saw darkness, splotches of color, and the ground spinning around and around.

Dizzy, she was dizzy. She could taste mud, sawdust, and blood all at once. Her right leg was almost totally numb. Her whole face was wet. No, it was lying in something wet. Her ears rang.

Kara raised her head, blinking and trying to fight the lances of pain that came from almost every part of her body.

She was in the middle of the street, half-covered in fragments and rubble from the ruined store and boardwalk.

Kara groaned, pushing a large section of plywood off her. Her bow was in the mud just a few feet away.

Harnathu loomed above her. Liquid metal streamed from his puncture wounds, burning the ground black where they fell. He flexed the claws on his paws. “Death will come to you, girl. And then it will come to the nations of the west. I will drown them in fire and blood.”

Kara snatched her bow and struggled to her feet. Between the dizziness and the severe pain in her leg, she almost fell down again. She could feel the heat from Harnathu’s metal skin burning her face.

Harnathu looked down at her, his eyes mocking and vile. The Soulbinder jangled around his neck, the red darkness of the gem sucking in the light around it in a way that defied reason.

The Soulbinder
.

Kara reached for an arrow. To her horror, she realized that her quiver had spilled when she had been sent flying.

Harnathu stepped forward. Wooden boards exploded into flame and embers under his foot. “Come here, little one. I will make your end quick.”

Kara grabbed desperately into her empty quiver. Her fingers found something.

An arrow. One single arrow that somehow managed not to fall out.

Harnathu reached forward a clawed hand. The heat that radiated from his body became more intense than the open door of an oven.

Kara pulled the arrow out and notched it.

Harnathu’s nostrils flared. He raised his fist with a growl.