Aurix the Bold

In his rage and thirst for vengeance, Banjax never hesitated. He raised his sword above his head and brought it down with all of his might. It was on the downward arc of the blade that Ralin placed Xandra’s Tear in Xu’ul’s Gauntleted hand.

The transition was instantaneous. Even had there been time for him to comprehend what had happened, Banjax could not have stopped his momentum.

The edge came down on Xu’ul’s neck, and severed his head from his body.

As understanding dawned, Banjax was overcome by a paralyzing devastation tinged with confusion and dread. His master’s body had fallen away and was garbed in the boy’s clothes and cheap leather armor. His blood poured onto the ground and coursed along the uneven stonework. Xu’ul’s head lay at his feet. The unfocused eyes glared up at him, empty and accusing. He had killed his Ra.

It took several seconds more before anyone else realized what had actually happened. Laughter and cheers became gasps and then screams. There was confusion and mayhem in the square. The soldiers that had restrained Nyx, Inanna and Regulus released their prisoners and stumbled away from the spreading pool of blood in horror as if it might somehow burn them.

Aurix’s companions looked up from the dead king to the place where he had been standing seconds before, just in front of the throne. There, in the shimmering Armor of Gods stood their friend.

Ulixes Helm made sense of those things that Aurix still did not understand. Xandra had been the Goddess of Life, and had designed her Relic and gift to Valeria as a way to protect all that she had breathed into existence. It was the Tear of Justice, and by design, it would not abide anyone obtaining all of the God-Forged Relics unless they were of pure heart. When Ralin had placed the stone into Xu’ul’s hand, it caused Aurix and the king to immediately switch places—both protecting the Nexus from Xu’ul’s malice and madness and bringing him to instant justice at the hands of his greatest general.

The roar that erupted from Banjax’s throat was inhuman. The tip of his sword came off of the ground and he whirled toward Regulus. Inanna reached over her shoulder for an arrow and managed to get it on the bowstring before she realized she would be too late. There was no way she could save him. Her heart sank as she pulled the string back halfway and released.

There was a blur of movement, intensified by the swirling air surrounding the Relics. The sound of Banjax’s sword colliding with Ajax’s Shield rang out over the crowd. Aurix could have drawn the Sword of Cleaving from his back, but the thought of using the weapon that had killed his parents made him sick to his stomach. But thanks to the Helm, he also knew he didn’t need to.

Inanna’s arrow caught Banjax in the throat, cutting him off in mid-scream. He made a strangled, choking sound and dropped his sword. He started to bring his hand up to his scarred neck, but never made it that far. The warrior slumped to a knee, and then collapsed backwards, his blood mingling with that of his Ra on the stone.

Regulus looked at Aurix with wide eyes, just coming to terms with the realization that he wasn’t dead.

“These Boots are quick,” Aurix said with a wink. He handed off the Shield of Invincibility to Regulus, who bore it with little difficulty. Aurix rested his injured hand lightly on his friends arm for a second. Then he turned and walked back toward Ralin.

“Seize them!” Ralin shouted to the royal guard.

But they could not. They stood as still as statuary, bound by some invisible and immutable force, paralyzed.

The crowd was still screaming, unsure of what else to do. It was about to boil over into complete and unpredictable chaos.

Ralin dropped to his knees before the throne and cowered as Aurix approached. He held a hand in the air to ward off the inevitable blow. “Have mercy, sire!”

Aurix could feel the immense power of the God-Forged. A single strike from one of the Gauntlets of Might would easily cave in the man’s skull. A squeeze would snap his neck as easily as Xu’ul had snapped Inanna’s arrow. He felt invincible. Only the throbbing of his broken fingers reminded him that he was still human.

Aurix stopped and looked at the Regent with disgust. It took him a moment, but he swallowed down his hatred. “We’ll find something suitable for you, Ralin, regent of Xu’ul. Never fear.” He continued past the throne and ascended the steps in front of the castle so that all could see him. He raised his arms into the air. “Be calm!” he shouted.

Inanna and Regulus looked at one another. There was suddenly something very different about the boy they had met in Midian and traveled with from Grimvale.

“Be calm!” he repeated. His voice carried over the crowd with authority. “Xu’ul’s reign is over! It is done!”

The majority of the crowd quieted into whispers and murmurs. Aurix could hear the hiss of the Raspula and the chattering teeth of the Nulla.

“You are free. All of you. There will be no more slavery here. You may leave if you wish.” Over the crowd, in the distance he could see the streets and buildings shifting like a mirage on the Oose. He smiled inwardly. “But know this—if you choose to fight for your dead tyrant, you too will die here today.”

There were some titters in the crowd.

“Glynn has been taken! See for yourselves.” He pointed beyond them.

As one, everyone turned and immediately realized that they were surrounded. The Rilx had slipped in and taken up positions, their bows trained on the crowd. There were hundreds of them, most still but shades of their former selves. Aurix was sure that they were just a bit more visible—more real—than they had been before he left the Wraithwood.

When the gasps had fallen and the panic calmed, someone near the front shouted out.

“Who will lead us? Surely not you, boy?” There was more laughter, though with hundreds of arrows trained on them, it was far more subdued this time.

Aurix removed the Helm and tucked it under his arm, wincing only slightly at the pain in his hand. He smiled. “No. Not I.” He turned and beckoned to a familiar and heart-stoppingly beautiful young woman who had just stopped to check on Regulus, Inanna and Nyx.

She first looked up at him with bewilderment. Then her eyes widened, and her hand went to her chest in surprise.

He nodded and waved her forward again. She walked toward him slowly. Her eyes welled with tears as she came.

There was more mumbling from the crowd, especially on the side from which she approached the steps. People stood on tiptoe and arched their necks to see what the fuss was about. The murmur carried over the crowd like a boat on a swift sea.

When she reached him, Aurix held his good hand out to her. She was trembling when she took it. As she turned to face the crowd there was another audible gasp as reality set in for those that had not already gotten wind of who she was.

“I will not be your Ra,” Aurix said. “But I believe Alexa, daughter of Addix should take her rightful place on the throne if you’ll have her.”

Aurix knelt on the step next to her. He bowed his head and raised the back of her hand to his forehead, as his uncle had told him Addix had done in the tents before the Cleaving.

He heard many other knees strike the stone of the paved plaza. All of the shimmering Rilx knelt, as did Inanna, Regulus, and many in the crowd that had survived Xu’ul’s reign of terror and remembered Ra Addix and his fair-skinned, dark-haired daughter.

A chant of “Hail, Ra Alexa!” began somewhere. It took a few minutes to spread throughout. Before long, most in the square were cheering and had taken a knee.

Alexa held up a hand to quiet the crowd. “This will be a new age of peace and prosperity for Valeria! I will make right all that Xu’ul has taken from us. You have my word, whether Raspula or Nulla, or human we will all be better for what has happened here today.”

A few left peacefully, and were allowed to. Most stayed to celebrate the crowning of a new Ra.

As Nova’s last light waned, Aurix, with his head still bowed, saw a tear land on the step next to him.

Alexa pulled him to his feet. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him while the crowd cheered for their new heroes.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Her breath was hot on his ear, and her cheek equally warm against his. She kissed him softly on the corner of his mouth. “You will be king someday, Aurix the Bold. My king.”

Aurix grinned and realized that Shlee had been right all along. “It will be as you say, my Ra.”