Chapter 15: Chapter 15: The Knights of Cahrim

Chapter 15

The Knights of Cahrim

“Knights of Cahrim!” came the echoing command. “Fulfill your oath! Protect the princess!”

Alex saw Kairin turn around to notice the almost visible archer behind her. He nocked another arrow to his giant bow, and then vanished.

“Jovar!” she said under her breath, letting out a huge sigh of relief.

Then, as though out of nowhere, puffs of icy mists appeared everywhere on the street. Four warriors emerged out of the puffs, surrounding the demon ape.

“Remember the formation!” came the commanding voice once again, which Alex was now able to locate. It came from a tall, hooded figure wearing long, dark blue robes, who had spawned just ahead of Kairin. “Do not underestimate it!”

He’d seen this hooded figure before! He was the bald, tattooed guy who had ambushed them in the alleyway earlier.

Was he some sort of a knight?

He looked more like a mage to Alex.

But, more importantly, was he an ally?

It appeared to be so for now, since they seemed to be here to fight the ape alongside Alex and Kairin.

But why had they taken so long to respond?

Were they simply watching from the sidelines as the demon ape unleashed its rampage?

How could they?

The demon ape seemed to be taken aback; shocked at being suddenly surrounded by warriors spawning out of thin air.

As the ape shook its head violently around and groaned in pain—surely on account of the ice arrow sticking out of it—a strange hand rested on Alex’s bare shoulders.

He tried to move his head to look, but he was too weak for any movement, however small. Almost all bones in his body seemed to have shattered.

“Shhh, quiet,” said the young man to whom the hand presumably belonged to. He had just crawled into Alex’s vision from behind. “We don’t wanna spook the monkey.”

Alex mentally scoffed. As though he could make any noise!

“Steady now,” said the young man in leather armor. He raised two of his fingers up to his lips, while resting his other hand firmly on Alex’s shoulder.

Was he casting a spell?

Soon enough, small clouds of mists sprouted around them, merging into a sphere that veiled them from all sides.

“This’ll keep us hidden,” said the man. “Well, as long as you remain completely still.” The man paused for a second as he realized, then said, “Sorry, it’s not like you have much choice in that matter anyway.”

He giggled awkwardly. “I’ll… um… try to fix you.”

A strange, soothing cold emanated from his palms and pierced through Alex’s skin. It was the same kind of spell that Kairin had cast on him earlier. But Alex could tell that this one was much more potent.

Alex felt instant relief from the pain.

Whoever this man was, Alex wished upon him a long, happy life. With an incredibly hot wife. And loads and loads of children. Enough to build an army.

“Your thoughts might turn a bit doozy for a moment,” the man warned him in a whisper. “It’s a common side effect, but only for the first few minutes. So, um… relax!”

Alex tried to focus on the fight breaking out ahead. But all he could think of for now was to gift this man a Lamborghini of his choosing.

And maybe a second wife.

Soon enough though, his senses returned, and Alex could think like normal once again.

"Hey, look," said the man. He seemed to have felt the change, somehow. "You're back to surprisingly quick. You must have a strong physique, huh? A strong immune response too."

Alex was still incapable of speech.

But he was thankful that at least he could see the fight since his neck was tilted forward by the cracked ground underneath his head. Presumably because the ape’s punches were mostly concentrated on his abdomen, sinking him lower, curving his spine.

Just how much of his body had the ape mercilessly broken?

The horrific thought seemed to have abruptly increased his heart rate.

“Easy now,” said the medic. “Try to relax.”

Alex pulled his mind away from the state of his body. He just didn’t wanna know. Not right now, not yet.

He’d rather focus on the fight ahead.

The demon ape let out a deafening battle cry. He was still in berserk mode, judging by the fact that its eyes were still blank, and the coarse red aura still surrounded him.

Alex hoped the knights knew what they were doing.

They must be careful.

Something big and fast flew past the bald, tattooed guy’s side, whose name Alex only just recalled: Master Korne.

The large figure rushed the ape. It was a burly man, not very tall, but incredibly broad. And he had arms made completely of glowing blue ice. He looked more like a warrior than a knight.

Master Korne said something to him with his arm extended that Alex couldn’t hear.

A warning?

The ice-hands warrior shook away and charged straight for the ape’s belly.

The other two knights went invisible once again.

When he was up close, the ice-hands warrior changed his stance, spun on his ankle with expert footwork, and aimed a surprise punch at the ape’s foot, while the ape was busy guarding its lower body.

Alex could tell that he intended to cripple the ape’s movements. He must have seen the monster’s supernatural speed, and judged that his squad wouldn’t be able to keep up with it.

And here Alex took him for a brute fool who had simply rushed in without thinking.

This was no novice.

However, the demon ape was too quick for him.

It immediately pulled its foot out of the way of the ice punch and launched its scale-armor arm at the warrior to grab him.

Fortunately, the warrior was quick enough to dodge by jumping backward. The ice on his hands was gone.

The entire exchange surprised Alex. The ape was much, much faster before, when it was fighting him. Why had it now become significantly slower? What was different now?

The arrow!

It must be the ice arrow pierced through the ape’s chest that was slowing it down.

“Kormac!” yelled Master Korne. “Where is your patience? Wait for the disabling shot!”

“He is taking too long!” the ice-armed warrior named Kormac snapped back. “I waited enough.”

“Clearly not,” said Master Korne, pointing to the failed attack. Kormac spat on the ground distastefully.

“He is almost in position,” informed Master Korne.

“How much longer?” asked Kormac impatiently.

“We wait as long as it takes!” said Master Korne.

“We can.” Kormac’s face turned smug. He nodded at the ape and said, “He won’t.”

The demon ape finally seemed to have recovered from its initial shock from the surprise attack. It held the ice arrow sticking out of its body with its normal hand tight.

Alex expected the ape to snap the arrow. But the ice simply melted away.

The ape grunted twice and thumped its chest in celebration, announcing to everyone that it was unhurt.

And it was ready.

“Here he comes,” said Kormac, visibly unsure of whether he should stand his ground or dodge.

“If he manages to break through the twins,” said Master Korne calmly. “Leave him to me.”

“They better hurry,” said Kormac.

Free from the ice arrow, the berserker ape launched into a charge once again. The coarse red aura cracked the floor beneath it.

“Careful!” Kairin warned them, jogging toward Master Korne.

“Princess,” said Master Korne intensely, tilting his head to her without taking his eyes off the charging ape. His voice conveyed sincere care and worry. “Stay back!”

Kairin abruptly stopped in her tracks.

The ape was almost upon them, when—

From a spot far behind Kairin and Master Korne, another giant ice arrow shot through the dark and whooshed over them.

It connected with the ape’s chest with enough impact to instantly halt the ape’s onslaught, almost knocking it off-balance.

The two knights who had gone invisible when Kormac had rushed the ape, reappeared on either side of the streets, right at the spot where the demon ape had been hit. They put strange instruments that looked like miniature flutes to their mouths and blew in them.

The ape clasped both its giant palms to its thick, round ears and fell to its knees, shrieking in agony.

But Alex couldn’t hear anything.

They seemed to be blasting some sort of a sonic wave at the ape, Alex guessed. It must be at an exceptionally high frequency. Or maybe it was simply focused in a small cone. Or both!

Alex was so pleasantly curious. He wanted to learn everything about the knights’ fighting techniques.

The ape was suffering; and by the looks of it, sufficiently disabled.

However… There was something about the ape’s shriek that seemed off to Alex.

“Now!” yelled Master Korne.

Kormac shot toward the ape. The glowing blue ice on both his hands returned.

With the ape downed to its knees, Kormac moved in with confidence. He jumped to hit the ape square in its jaw with an upper cut, but that’s when the ape opened its blank eyes menacingly.

A smirk etched on its ugly face.

“No!” screamed Kairin.

Shit, thought Alex. It’s laying traps now!

The demon ape opened its mouth and let go another one of its savage, ear-splitting roar. Visible waves of sound shot out of its mouth and connected with an airborne Kormac, shooting him straight into the ground.

The visible sound waves blasting out of the ape’s mouth pushed through the knights’ disabling high-frequency sonic waves, and smashed the two knights on either side of the ape into the respective walls behind them.

Master Korne conjured a circular shield of thin ice in front of him that tanked the physical waves of sound blasting toward him and Kairin.

The ape used this window to immediately melt the second ice arrow sticking out of its body. It was back to full mobility.

The demon ape wasted no time and shot toward Kairin and Master Korne, completely ignoring a disabled Kormac lying on the ground.

It was still holding tight on its grudge against Kairin after all.

As the ape charged toward them, the ground below him turned to ice and progressively inclined upward.

The ape, momentarily caught by surprise, did not relinquish its plan and continued charging forward, and upward, until it reached the edge of the ice cliff.

With Kairin and Master Korne directly below.

The ape jumped off the ice cliff without hesitation, aiming to crash right on top of Kairin and Master Korne.

Master Korne shoved Kairin back with one arm, and, with the same arm, conjured a long, giant spear of ice aimed straight up at the falling ape.

The ape spotted the spear and shot its tail toward the edge of the ice cliff, and pushed itself away from the collision course.

The ape front flipped through the air and landed behind Kairin and Master Korne.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Soon, the three other knights gathered close to Master Korne, ready to take on the ape.

The demon ape eyed them down with hot steam blasting out of its flaring nostrils; its eyes were still rolled back, but they were now plush with boiling rage.

It looked like it was going to launch into a bull rush any second now, but then a long, ice arrow hit it from behind. The arrowhead poked out of its chest from the front.

The ape roared in annoyance.

“Go!” commanded Master Korne and the three knights rushed toward him. “Not you,” he said, blocking Kairin’s path with one arm.

“I can help!” Kairin protested.

Master Korne looked down upon her and smiled kindly. “You’ve done enough, my dear princess.”

“Yes!” cheered the medic knight crouched beside Alex. “The monkey’s toast now!”

The two disabler knights branched away from Kormac as he rushed straight in. The demon ape, slowed by the ice arrow piercing through its thick, armored chest, threw its arms forward in defense.

Kormac unleashed a barrage of ice-punches onto the demon ape. He was fast and relentless. Alex could tell he was favoring speed over power now, much more focused on landing a hit rather than risking a powerful punch that could miss.

The other two knights vanished into the mist, aiming to take strategic positions around the ape once again.

Alex was impressed. They weren’t novices at all. They were capable of learning from their mistakes on the battlefield and adapting in real time.

The ape was able to block each of the relentless ice punches, but was forced into a cowering defense. There was something in those ice arrows that severely limited its mobility. Alex was curious to know what. He’d ask the tattooed bald man the first chance he gets.

Alex felt relief seeing the knights hold their ground against the demon ape. No, not just that, they were giving it a proper fight. They might just be successful in taking it down for good!

He felt his eyes getting heavier.

“Stay with me,” said the medic knight beside him. “It’ll be over soon.”

As his eyes shrunk and his vision blurred, the coarse red aura surrounding the ape was the only thing that remained in focus.

The brief relief that had spread over him was instantly gone as Alex came to a sudden realization.

The arrow severely hindered the ape’s bodily movements. But it probably did nothing to the coarse red aura surrounding him.

And the ape hadn’t shown to the knights that the coarse red aura was more than just an aesthetic. He was playing that card close to the chest.

Only Alex had fought the ape from close enough range to actually feel the sheer physicality of that coarse red aura. Kairin had not, so she probably didn’t know.

Maybe the other knights knew, maybe they didn’t. But could he risk it?

He had to warn them. He somehow had to find a way to warn them!

That damned demon ape had another trick up its sleeve!

He felt the muscles on his arm twitch. “Relax now,” said the medic knight. “You’re tensing up, it’ll only worsen the healing.”

How much longer? thought Alex, frustrated.

Granted that this kind medic knight was probably saving him from a lifetime of paralysis—probably—but couldn’t he do it just a little bit faster? At least restore his ability to talk first?

Alex felt guilty for sounding ungrateful, even though he was just thinking to himself. But still…

He must find a way to warn them!

Alex glared at the medic knight intensely, hoping to catch its eye.

And by some miracle, he succeeded.

“What?” he asked innocently. “You want to say something? I, uhm… haven’t started with your vocal cord yet. Is it even damaged?”

Alex managed to whiff some air out.

“Okay, okay,” said the medic knight. “Let me see what I can do.”

Alex turned his eyes back to the fight. The demon ape was still on defense.

But it was waiting for something. An opening… of some kind.

The two disabler knights appeared on either side of the ape just like before, raising their flute-like instrument to their lips.

Same move twice?

That ape was smarter than they were giving it credit for.

“Careful!” shouted Kairin. She seemed to have come to the same conclusion.

The demon ape waited for all three of the knights to be in a close circle around it, and before the two knights could cast their high-frequency sonic wave attack once again, it made its move.

The coarse red aura expanded around the ape in the blink of an eye. The two knights were squashed into the wall once again; but this time, the aura held them in place with constant pressure, squashing them like bugs.

Kormac was blown off his feet and landed flat on his back, not too far from the ape. He kicked the air with both his legs and jumped back on his feet, but something invisible and extremely heavy stomped on his back and he fell forward, face first. It was like a giant, ethereal foot was pinning him down.

The coarse red aura was now acting like the ape’s extended limbs!

“Master Korne!” Kairin shouted. “Do something!”

“Patience, Kairin,” said Master Korne. “Trust in your friends—”

He paused and knowingly looked up at the dark sky above the demon ape.

A hooded figure seemed to have jumped off a nearby building and was now directly above the ape’s head; in the ape’s blind spot, sufficiently out of the red aura’s range.

“—and in your rivals. Especially in that one.”

“Jovar!” Kairin gasped with joy.

The archer named Jovar pulled on his bow string. A relatively short ice arrow conjured out of thin air. It was nowhere as big or long as the ones fired at the ape so far, but something told Alex that that was intentional.

This one served a different purpose.

Jovar shot the ice arrow straight down. It pierced the demon ape’s throat from above.

“Alright Jovar!” clapped the medic knight, taking his hand off Alex.

The excruciating pain that the knight was holding back with his magic instantly shot back through Alex’s veins.

“Oh, crap,” he said, clasping Alex’s shoulder once again. “Sorry I got excited.”

Alex felt his voice coming back, but trying to speak was still a struggle. “Th… Thek yu…”

“I’m sorry, what?” asked the medic knight. “Don’t try to speak yet. Just clap if you can!”

Alex let out an imagined sigh.

The quickfire shot from the archer appeared to have done some serious damage to the demon’s nape.

But it wasn’t down yet!

They were just falling short.

The archer was still hovering over the ape’s head, mid-jump. The previous shot had created some upward rebound that had helped him stay airborne longer than he would have. Perhaps there was some ice magic involved here too that Alex wasn’t aware of.

Regardless of how he was holding position mid-air, maybe he can manage another quickfire shot?

He had the same idea. Jovar pulled on his bowstring once again, a bright ice arrow appeared.

A slightly charged shot!

Aimed at the same spot on the demon’s nape.

This should do it.

Please… let this be enough.

A translucent red tendril appeared behind him. A constricted form of the coarse red aura.

“Jovar, watch out!” yelled Kairin.

The archer turned around in panic, but he couldn’t maneuver himself out of the way while suspended in air.

But that didn’t stop him. Jovar tried to shoot his shot at the ape anyway, hoping that the ensuing rebound would slide him out of the way of the tendril attack.

But he wasn’t fast enough.

The tendril shot at him at an unreal speed and wrapped itself around his waist and body, still holding him mid-air.

At the same time, three more tendrils shot forward toward each of the three knights downed on the ground, and wrapped around their bodies.

The demon ape had them. All four of them. In one move.

Shit! What now?

“Master Korne!” Kairin screamed at him.

Alex couldn’t see Master Korne’s face from this angle. But given his silence, Alex was sure he was concerned now. Genuinely concerned.

“He shouldn’t be this strong!” Master Korne said through gritted teeth.

“He’s a C-rank!” said Kairin.

“Kairin, my dear,” said Master Korne. “Your perception fails you yet again. You are letting your fear cloud it. This monstrosity, granted that it’s powerful, is no way above D-rank.”

What? This was a D-rank?!

Alex couldn’t believe it.

He couldn’t even defeat a D-rank. Imagine what he could do against an A or an S.

Nothing.

The demon ape seemed to be struggling to regain its full range of movement. But it was getting there, slowly getting there. All it had to do was touch and melt each of the arrows stuck in its body, and that should free it.

While it slowly managed that, the red tendrils held the four knights in place.

“Master Korne, let me go help!” yelled the medic knight from beside Alex. “I can do it! I can distract it!”

“No, Malti!” Master Korne shot back. His tone was grim serious. “Play your role. That is a command!”

“But…” Malti fell silent.

“Kairin,” Master Korne said to her, “Do you remember the spell we were practicing, before you fled the Kingdom?”

Kairin nodded. “Blizzard.”

“Can you do it?”

Kairin vigorously shook her head. “I don’t know!”

“Kairin,” said Master Korne intently. “Do it. Even a small, focused version will do. Aim for the eyes.”

“What if I can’t?” Kairin asked in a quivering voice.

Master Korne kindly smiled at her. He extended his arm and a silver staff with an icy white orb at the top appeared in his hand. He made a swishing movement with the staff, and there emerged a brilliant, glowing stag from the ground right under his feet.

The now-mounted ice wizard held the reins of his astral mount tightly, and responded to Kairin, “You’re a smart young woman, Kairin. I’m sure you will one day grow into a brilliant ice witch.”

The stag raised its two front legs, prepared to charge forward.

“Remember the lessons,” said Master Korne. “It is an avalanche emanating from your icy, cold soul.”

With that, he tapped on the astral reins of the glowing stag, and off he went, galloping toward the downed beast.

Kairin closed her eyes and stretched her arms wide open. A faint glow appeared at her chest and beneath her feet. She was then raised off her feet by some invisible force, that kept her floating a couple of feet above ground.

“Wow, Kairin!” Malti breathed. “You’ve come so far!”

The next second, fast, cold winds shot past Alex, some fifteen feet over his head. The chill almost froze him to death.

The medic knight, Malti, rubbed his shoulders, shivering. Even he felt the chill. And he was supposed to be from a frozen planet.

The demon ape was finally back on its feet, ready to deal with the four knights trapped within its red tendrils. The ice arrows had melted away.

But it had a new menace headed its way.

A corrosive blizzard, concentrated into a beam, was coming straight for its eyes.

Direct hit.

The demon ape violently shook its head, annoyed, and in pain!

The sharp ice particles must feel like shards of glass slicing through its blank eyes.

The coarse red aura, however, seemed to have a consciousness of its own. It hadn’t dropped the four knights still in its grasp.

Master Korne, riding his astral stag, was now close to the demon ape’s giant legs.

Then, he vanished in a puff of ice and mist.

The astral stag glowed brighter and brighter as it approached the demon ape, who was already blinded by the targeted blizzard.

The demon ape raised both its gorilla arms to shield its face and eyes. The intense white light from the astral summon must have burned its thick hide, especially its eyelids.

But the glowing stag’s target was not the demon ape’s body.

It was the coarse red aura.

As soon as the stag collided with the aura, it turned from its gaseous liquid form to brittle solid. Then, both the glowing stag and the red aura shattered into a million shining particles like a brilliant display of fireworks.

The three knights trapped on the ground were instantly freed, but so was the archer suspended in air, Jovar, who was dropped.

As he fell, Jovar fired a final, charged shot at the back of the demon ape’s skull.

Alex saw a splinter of meat and bones erupt out of the point of impact.

What power! He must have definitely gashed the back of the ape’s thick skull. Or at least cracked it a little bit.

This guy was powerful.

The impact from the charged shot pushed the ape’s head forward and it slammed into the ground with a huge thud, just like it had when hit by the robot blob’s missile.

Cold winds blew over the demon ape’s downed head, slowly but steadily giving form to a robed figure with a long, icy staff.

Master Korne.

He nodded at Jovar who crash landed beside him on a freshly-conjured bed of snow, as though giving him a non-verbal “Good job!”

Then, he raised his staff, which enlarged into a massive, glowing, astral spear.

Master Korne brought the spear down upon the back of the demon ape’s skull in a swift downward strike and shoved it straight in.

If Jovar had only managed to put a small crack on the demon skull, this definitely opened a wide, gaping hole.

Master Korne twisted the spear-staff to shove it farther in.

The demon ape roared in pain. The loudest that he had ever roared before.

No physical sound waves escaped its open mouth this time around.

It was wailing in excruciating pain. Plain and simple.

A blue ice mist seemed to have trickled through every vein in the demon ape’s grafted, abomination of a body. The thick hide turned a blueish shade of white; cold as death.

Alex saw the demon ape’s eyeballs roll back down. Its devilish eyes slowly, but gradually, lost their cursed light.

“All right, Master Korne!” Malti was on his feet, cheering and clapping. His hand was off of Alex’s body once again, so the pain was back.

But it was tolerable now.

Kairin dropped back to the ground. The rest of the knights scrambled to their feet.

“Is it done?” asked Kormac nervously. He seemed ashamed with his performance.

“Yes,” said Master Korne decisively. “The beast is slain.”

Kairin collapsed to her knees in relief. She turned to face a cheering Malti and an unmoving Alex and gave them a thumbs up.

Alex still felt glued to the ground.

The snow from Kairin’s Blizzard fell gently all around them.

It took all of their best efforts to bring down a mere D-rank demon.

Alex felt a little frustrated. He should have been able to bring it down on his own!

Suddenly, something pierced through the dark clouds above. Something big.

With wings.

The giant hawk let out a high-pitched screech that echoed through the wide street. Alex thought his eardrums were finally done for.

So this is the hawk that Clark was talking about!

No way! The knights looked tired and weak.

Were they ready for round two? This time with a non-weakened, airborne, demon hawk?

Couldn’t Master Korne pull a miracle move?

As the hawk drew closer, Alex noticed that his wingspan was so large, it would almost cover the entire width of the street once it was close enough.

Which he soon would be.

From the street opposite to them, Alex heard a familiar siren blasting through the air.

The firetruck!

And not one, but two jeeps, following it closely.

Dan!

Looks like he recruited more men to his squad.

They must be engaged with the demon hawk on the other side of town, while the demon ape unleashed its rampage here.

The hawk lowered its gaze to spot the carcass of the demon ape, and dived straight toward it.

“Get ready!” Master Korne commanded his weakened knights who were barely able to stand. “The battle’s not over yet!”

The demon hawk brought its giant wings closer to its body to gather speed. It put its talons forward and went straight for the attack.

Master Korne and the knights scrambled out of the way.

The demon hawk dug its deep into the demon ape’s carcass and lifted it into the air with gushing flaps from its giant wings.

As the hawk rose higher into the air, Dan’s squad got out of their vehicles and opened fire on the giant demons.

At the same time, from the second jeep, emerged Lucy and Aiden.

A small, odd-looking car emerged slowly from an alley behind them, as though peeping out, while keeping a safe distance.

Blob.

Alex’s heart felt alive again. They were all right!

The transparent sphere of ice mist from earlier covered Malti and Alex once again. Alex couldn’t recall when it had dissipated.

Even if he’d try to call out to them, they couldn’t listen from this distance. And it wasn’t like any sound would come out of him.

“The planet’s defenses are here,” came Master Korne’s voice as though he was right beside them.

Alex scanned the positions they should be at. But they were gone. They must have all turned invisible again.

So had Kairin.

The firing from Dan’s squad stopped as the demon hawk disappeared into the clouds.

“Took them long enough,” said Malti. “I think it’s now time to—”

He was cut off by Kormac who had suddenly appeared beside them, within the mist sphere. “Time to go!”

“What about him?” asked Malti, nodding at Alex. “He’s taken quite the beating. He wouldn’t survive without my care.”

Another voice broke through the misty sphere. “You saw what he is,” said the bald, tattooed man suddenly appearing beside them.

“He’s coming with us.”