Alex's wish was granted since the assault on the palace began after the sun had fully warmed the ground. Since the Anolis females hadn't considered Rile or Alex useful, they were free to do as they pleased, so they watched from behind the ranks of the revolutionary warriors.
While archers from both sides rained a deadly hail of arrows, other Anolis revolutionaries advanced with ladders to climb the walls. A battalion of the Kuni's soldiers marched out of the palace to meet them. Alex was surprised at the lack of catapults.
"Let's fly straight into the palace," Alex said. "Fire truck these Anolis females. We'll leave them behind."
Rile tugged on her hand in warning. "No, wait. Let the front line penetrate the palace. Then the revolutionaries inside the palace will attack. The Kuni's forces will be caught between two fronts. Then we can enter the palace while they're busy. We'll confront the Kuni and free Gabe and Cale," Rile said.
As the rebels advanced, Alex flew Rile up for quick aerial recons and descended to fight at strategic locations. They kept a sword's arc away from each other and they cut swaths through the Kuni's forces.
Alex didn't use her power, in order to save it for the palace. Alex had trouble concentrating, for she kept glancing at Rile and becoming distracted.
Oh, those biceps and triceps contracting under that glittering hide!
If he was wounded, Alex would kill those who had hurt him, but for right now, she was enjoying the sight of his muscular body in action.
"Alex, duck!" A roundhouse swing from Rile's sword whipped over her head.
Where had that Anolis warrior come from?
Alex stood back up.
"Pay attention. Now up," Rile held out his hand and she took him aloft. "The revolutionaries have entered the palace. Let's go."
She flew him there, arrows from both armies bouncing off her slipstream.
Fire truck Anolis females, all of them.
"Land me there." Rile pointed to the front courtyard, full of fighting reptiles. "You stay airborne."
Alex did as he requested. Then she drew her sword and flew straight at a phalanx of palace guards. A flying slice and the entire front column collapsed, bleeding. The slipstream surrounded the sword and dulled it, but the sheer force of flying drove home the blade.
Rile watched in respect a moment before launching his attack. Alex continued her flying sweeps, leaving bloody paths until Rile signaled her forward into the actual palace building. She took him with her.
"Let's fly to the royal harem," Rile said.
She swept over him and he stretched up his hand. She took him aloft with practiced ease.
"Good thinking." Alex speed-burst and they were around the corner from the harem entrance
They both peeked around to see the empty hallway and heavily carved wooden door to the harem.
"Only two guards, probably because the fighting is too heavy to spare more," Rile whispered. "You take one. I'll take the other. Attack together."
"How about a speed-burst attack? I'm not in the mood to play fair," Alex said.
"This is war, Alex, not some contest. Speed-burst it is."
Alex held out her left hand. Rile shifted his sword to his left hand to hold her hand.
"I'm trusting your slipstream to add force to my attack," Rile said. "I gotta practice left-handed from now on."
Alex took off and they slammed their swords into the Anolis females like a steam train. The Anolis bodies hit the far wall while Alex braked her slipstream to stop.
"That's how it's done by a mammal," Alex said. "A really angry one."
Rile switched his sword to his right hand. "By two angry Guardians. Take their swords please, Alex. The palace harem might need them."
Alex did so and walked back to the harem entrance. She called out, "It's me, Alex," while cautiously opening the heavy door. She didn't want to be brained by a scared male.
Many Anolis male faces turned to her.
"Alex." Kress came up. "We've been evacuating by the back route as quickly as we dared."
"Any trouble at the exit? There could be an ambush," Rile said.
"Not that I know of, but it is slow as the tunnel is very narrow. We think that the palace guards are too busy fighting the revolutionaries to care about the tunnel," Kress answered.
"Here." Rile handed him the swords of the two guards. "Can you bar the door? Don't open to anyone but me, my brothers, or Alex."
"Don't worry, we won't. Your brothers are in the Kuni's private harem. The entrance is behind her throne. I don't know if the Kuni loses, if she'll bring them with her or execute them," Kress said.
Rile braced for the speed burst as Alex grabbed his hand. The throne room was in a fury of fighting.
"No Kuni," Rile said. "But there's the door."
"I'm smashing through it," Alex said. "You coming or you fighting?"
"I'm with you."
"Speed-burst it is," Alex said and she flew straight at the door.
The door splintered into a thousand pieces under the strength and speed of Alex's slipstream. Alex stopped on a dime and she and Rile brought their swords up.
They saw the backs of Anolis warriors as they stampeded out a side door. Alex started to chase them.
"Alex! Don't! My brothers first!" Rile shouted.
Gabe and Cale were kneeling in opposite corners, a thick metal choke collars around their necks with a chain that led to manacles on their wrists, hands behind their backs, and the manacles then chained to their ankles. Any struggling would have led to suffocation.
Rile raised his sword over his head and he towered over Gabe, who bent his head and exposed his neck.
"Rile! What are you doing?" Alex grabbed his arm. "Don't kill him!"
Rile's eyes bugged out and he stared at her. "You think I'd kill Gabe?"
"Uhm." Alex dropped her hand. "What are you doing, then? Those are metal restraints. We'll dull our blades and it won't work."
"These are Guardian swords," Rile said with patience. "They should cut through the inferior metal of collars and chains, but not other weapons. Watch." He swept his sword down in a wide arc and the metal collar fell off Gabe, sliced through.
"Show-off," Gabe said. "Just cut the rest of these chains."
Rile made an exaggerated bow. "You're welcome. Alex, you do the honors on my not-so-grateful brother's chains. I'll cut Cale free."
"Uhm, I don't have your strength." Alex backed away. "Or your skill. I'd probably chop off his hand."
"Rile, cut these chains now," Gabe ordered.
"Say please."
Gabe hiss-growled deep in his chest.
"Please, can we focus?" Cale pleaded from the other corner and Alex rushed to him. He smiled up at her. "Try sawing my chains with your Guardian sword, please." At her hesitation, he encouraged, "Just try. Go slowly if you're worried."
Alex touched the tip of her blade to the chains between his hands. Her sword flared brilliant blue, while the chain hissed black smoke and melted at the sword tip. The acrid black smoke burned her nostrils but then the blue smoke erased it, replacing it with the comforting scent of a campfire.
"Cale!" Alex cried when the blue flames chased the black smoke up and down the length of the chains.
Cale stood up and held out his hands, inspecting them and his arms. "I'm fine. I suspected these chains had the taint of The Adversary and this proves it."
"I wanna do that!" Rile touched his sword to Gabe's chains and the flames and smoke started their dance. "Why didn't it do that before?"
Gabe rubbed his neck and wrists. "Because you're a show-off, raising your sword over your head and all."
Before Rile could reply, Gabe's and Cale's Guardian swords appeared in mid-air before the two.
"They couldn't have appeared before?" Alex asked in exasperation.
"Guardian swords cannot be captured," Cale said, taking his and checking the blade. "They won't reappear until we're able to use them. I also suspect the enchanted chains kept them away."
Alex leaned close to Cale and whispered, "Are you okay? Did those miserable Anolis females—"
Cale patted her hand and smiled. "Don't worry. Deela was shrewd and transferred us here this morning. Cla agreed since she didn't want to share Gabe. The Kuni didn't have any time before the battle started."
"Then I'm off. I've a Kuni to catch."
"Stay," Gabe ordered. "I must strategize before—"
"I have a strategy," Alex said and Rile grabbed her hand a split second before she speed-burst out of the room.
***
Alex sped through the back hallway. They flew all the way outside with a sign of the Kuni, although there was another clump of fighting by the back gate.
"Alex, fly straight up for a look." Rile pointed and up they went.
The Kuni was running for the carriages, her elite guard surrounding her. Cla was not among them and Alex smirked at her demotion.
"The Kuni's escaping." Alex swept after her. "Kuni! Hey, you fire truck coward! Stop running like a scared chitterer!"
The Kuni didn't turn, but several of the guards did. Alex blasted every guard senseless. A quick burst of speed brought her in front of the Kuni and she landed.
"I challenge you. No guards, no substitutes. Let's see if you've kept in shape."
Rile hissed, but he hadn't expected anything else. His job was to keep Alex safe from the revolutionaries. They would stab Alex in the back as quickly as the Kuni's warriors.
Alex faced the Kuni and her hand tightened around the hilt, fingers locked onto the handle, and the blade was sharp, as sharp as a razor's edge.
When she pulled her arm back, the sword rose in the air and snapped forward, a crack like a whip that snapped her body back.
The sword seemed alive, not a blade. It was polished to a mirror's gloss, sheathed in leather, and a scent like new leather wafted from it as well as a faint whiff of blood clung to the weapon like a ghost.
Alex swung a strike and the cross-guards of their swords clanged together.
"Release me mammal, or my loyalists will gut every one of your emancipated males and hang them from their entrails."
"Not a motivational speaker, are you?" Alex savagely kicked the Kuni's ankle in the spot between the shin guard and armored sandal.
The Kuni collapsed, but used her forward momentum to bear hug Alex around her waist, trapping her arms at her side.
Instead of trying to break her arms free of the stronger, more muscular reptile, Alex slid her left arm up and crashed her elbow into the Kuni's muzzle.
The Kuni staggered back and Alex swept her sword in a low arc. The Kuni blocked it, so Alex redirected the rebound force upward. The Kuni blocked again and stepped back.
Alex thrust forcefully and when her sword contacted the Kuni's breastplate, the sword tip flared blue and black smoke curled from armor.
Surprised, Alex almost fell when her sword penetrated through the armor and into her opponent's chest.
That witch is using Adversary-tainted armor! But she should have been able to block that move. Guess she didn't keep in shape. I wonder why her sword didn't have the same fate as her armor? I'd feel badly except she tortured Trac to death. This is for Trac and every other male you've murdered.
"Why?" The Kuni gasped, holding the sword in her chest. "All Anolis females hate you, stupid mammal."
"For Trac."
"That dung heap of hide?" Hatred overcame the pain in the Kuni's eyes.
"He's worth more than a thousand Anolis females," Alex replied.
"Fool, you'll die-"
Her words cut off as Alex tugged on her sword. She found, that, unlike the movies, when you run someone through with your sword, it's hard to pull back out.
The Kuni collapsed in death and drove the sword further in.
What was my blade stuck on? Too high on the ick factor to think about.
Alex tugged uselessly for another moment, until Rile cleared his throat and motioned her up. She extended her hand to him, but he shook his head.
Rile motioned her over to the front courtyard. The courtyard's cobblestone was broken into awasteland of rubble and dirt, full of squirming shapes in the middle. "You need to be a rallying point for the revolutionaries. I'll find my brothers."
****
A/N: Satisfying enough battle? Or more detail needed?
There's still Cla out there!
Dedicated to
She's one of those encouraging souls every writer wants for a fan!
Thanks to
RainerSalt
For cheering me on for extra detail. Here it is !
Rewrite dedicated to IanReeve216
who noticed the inconsistency of the Guardian sword properties. I think I fixed it!