Julien

by Engor

Chapter 24

The boys were only about twenty metres away from the exit to the hall when the four Warriors of Yrcadia suddenly materialised no more than a dozen paces away from them. At first Niil thought they were Palace Guards – and about time too, he thought – but a second look was all it took to tell him he was wrong. These men weren't wearing the Emperor's colours of purple and gold, and nor did their faces show the white Marks of the Palace: instead they had no Marks at all and they were wearing dark blue abbas. They were carrying weapons and were moving into position ready to attack, too – clearly they had to be assassins. And assassins inside the Palace could only have one target in mind: they had to be after the Emperor himself.

Niil was the son of a First Lord, and so his tutor was actually a Silent Warrior, and the Honourable Kanekto had done his best to teach his charge, not only the arts and science that a Noble Son had to know, but all the subtleties of hand-to-hand combat, as well as the ability to handle a wide range of weapons. Niil might have had no actual experience of genuine combat, but he was a long way from being a helpless little boy: he had received extensive training, and he was absolutely loyal to his Emperor.

It's never a good idea to underestimate your opponent, and in the case of the nearest Warrior it was absolutely fatal. He walked forward confidently towards the smallest of the boys, intending to decapitate him with a reverse stroke from his short sabre, and he walked straight into a vicious kick to the temple that sent him straight to the special hell reserved for murderers. His sabre acquired a new owner as Niil snatched it up, and the remaining assassins instantly reappraised their targets and came together to deal with them.

Niil knew perfectly well that he had no chance here, but he was a Ksantiri to the end: his ancestors had proved their courage through the ages, every one of them prepared to give his life for his Emperor whenever he might be called upon to do so, and Niil was determined to follow their example and defend his Emperor by keeping the assassins occupied, hopefully until the Palace Guard finally put in an appearance. He knew perfectly well that his chances of survival were zero but, determined to do his duty to the end and to keep the honour of his House intact, he stepped forward to meet his attackers.

At that moment there came a noise that suggested that a huge hornet was flying into the hall, and indeed a multicoloured... something... flew between the two groups, buzzing about as if it couldn't decide which group to attack first and then, so quickly that the eye could scarcely follow, it flew straight at Julien and slowed at the very last minute before colliding with him. And as it slowed everyone could see what it was.

"It's a haptir!" yelled Ambar in a terrified voice.

Niil's heart sank: as if they didn't have more than enough trouble on their hands in the shape of the three human assailants, now they also had to count this terrible creature among their enemies. It wasn't its size that made the haptir dangerous – actually it was fairly small – but a combination of its other attributes. It was fearsomely intelligent, at least as intelligent as most humans; it had a perception of time that allowed it to think and act at a phenomenal speed; it had a complete mastery of flight; and, worst of all, it was extremely venomous. Its reflexes were far faster than those of humans, and only a top-flight Warrior would have any chance at all of fending it off, and then only briefly. And because there is hardly any contact between humans and haptirs, no warrior would have any chance to train himself in order to fight them.

The haptir, all its claws extended, twisted its body in front of Julien's terrified face, even as Julien tried vainly to protect himself with his hands. The little monster's wings vibrated like those of a dragonfly as it opened its mouth to display two ranks of sharp teeth and a bright blue tongue.

Julien flailed his arms about, trying to beat the creature away from him, but he knew nothing at all about martial arts, and so his efforts were feeble and uncoordinated. The haptir observed him briefly and then effortlessly slipped past his pathetic attempts to defend himself, gripped his right shoulder firmly and wrapped his long tail around the boy's neck.

And so, finally, Xarax, the haptir from Kretzlal, was reunited with his long-lost friend.

For Julien time literally stood still: the people around him were as immobile as statues, and a voice was speaking clearly in his head.

Friend, it said. Xarax has found you again after all this time! Have you forgotten Xarax? And why do you allow these killers to threaten your companions?

The confusion in Julien's mind vanished and was replaced by a tremendous sense of deja-vu, as if he had met the creature addressing him in an incredibly distant past. He had never seen it before, but he nonetheless remembered it, and his memory was steadily growing stronger.

You have changed, but you are still the same, said the voice in his head. Xarax knew you as soon as he saw you. You have forgotten who you are. Xarax does not understand everything that has happened, but he will help you to remember. Trust Xarax.

A sort of slow-motion lightning flash burst into Julien's head, a light far too bright to look at, but inside his head – and then, a fraction of a second later, he could see the people around him once more and he knew what he had to do. More importantly, he also knew how to do it.

Ambar saw Julien, with the haptir still wrapped around his neck, lift his arm, and heard him cry out in a weird throaty voice, "Han Khalimai! To Ganniwey!"

An orange jet of flame shot from his hand and instantly vaporised the three assassins who were advancing on Niil before going on to blast a hole big enough for a horse in the wall of the hall.

In the silence that followed, broken only by the fall of a few stones from the shattered wall, Ambar and Niil remained motionless, hardly daring to twitch. Then they heard Julien speak again, but this time in his normal voice, even though he sounded exhausted.

"That's enough, Xarax," he said. "Give me a moment."

And they saw their friend gently stroke the creature that was strangling him.