Sorcerer… Cyborg???

Chapter 227: Counterattack

"Well, what are we waiting for! Let's fly back up there and crush them!" Anteris yelled, eager as ever to head into battle, but then he frowned for a moment, as if he had forgotten something. 

"Hold on, let me fetch Graffius! He might be injured, but he'll surely be an asset when we fight them. And you, Rufus! You'll come up above with us, one of the others can fly you up." Anteris shrugged, and flew off into the distance, in search of Graffius.

"I'll take him. Vaya, Teves, I must impose upon you, would you be able to bring the leaders of my Mage Unit with you. Anteris is right, we'll need more than just ourselves if we're to do any real damage to their ship. They'll be wherever the ground is most misshapen." Tam said to the two chiefs, who nodded and flew off toward a tall tower of stone that now jutted up in the Inner City. It seems that Slate and Shale had created a vantage point for themselves during the battle.

"You alright, s- Rufus?" Tam caught himself, in his concern for Kothar he almost revealed his identity. 

"Yes, I'm fine, Grand Marshal." Kothar responded, half bowing to Tam, but his voice lacked conviction.

[Listen to him, Kothar. Your father is worried for you, give him something to work with.] Silane chided Kothar, for even she was growing worried with the amount of fury that was swirling around in Kothar's mind.

[Alright, Silane. I'll tell him.] Kothar replied, a little abruptly.

"I'm just angry, and worried, for the people of Ursten, and for all the people of Eclat. These invaders don't seem to care at all how many people are harmed, and their weapons are created to cause as much pain as they can." Kothar shook his head as he spoke to Tam, but he didn't dare to say what he was really thinking.

In reality, Kothar fury was not only directed at Aemos, but also at himself. He was consumed with guilt, since he was sure that Xerev had led them to Eclat by following him somehow. 

"No, the tr-." Kothar began to add, but Silane interrupted him.

[No! Kothar, you can't tell him. This isn't an ordinary mistake, and besides, you don't even know if they came here because of you. You're not thinking straight, Kothar!] Silane's voice pierced through the haze of guilt and anger that Kothar was stewing in, and inwardly he shook himself.

[You're right, Silane. Idwa isn't far from Eclat, and he may have already known where Eclat was when I met him, otherwise wouldn't he have tried to come to Eclat with me.] Kothar replied, half talking to Silane, half to himself. As guilty as he felt, he truly didn't want to be the cause for the fall of his home.

"Rufus? You alright?" Tam's spoke softly, as Kothar was talking back and forth with Silane, anyone other than Kothar's family wouldn't have noticed the momentarily faraway look in Kothar's eyes, but Tam was Kothar's father.

"I'm fine, don't worry." Kothar said, more firmly this time, looking Tam in the eye through his mask.

"Alright, let's go then." Tam said, as he noticed Anteris and the others returning in the distance.

Tam's  aura spread around himself, the enormous claws of his Hawk Aura, picking Kothar up by the shoulders, and they rose up into the sky. 

They rose quickly, Anteris, Vaya and Teves falling into formation around Tam, each of them carrying another person.

Kothar gazed down as Anzur shrank into the distance, the soldiers milling about in the streets looking  like ants milling about in a tiny city. 

The wreckage and destruction less visible from such a height, a clear distinction between the gray stone of the Inner City and the brown wood and brick of the Outer City.

As they flew up, Kothar was reminded of his past, of flying through the air, without a ship or any machine, powered instead by his own modified body.

"Once we get inside, I want us all to split up. Let's make it as hard as we can for them to close in on us!" Tam yelled out over the rushing of the wind as the enormous behemoth grew closer and closer.

"Let's keep it simple! We don't want this coming down out of the sky, so don't use any massive attacks, just try and find the command center, and any prisoners they might have managed to take so far." Anteris and the other yelled back in agreement as Tam continued to brief them.

"There! Some of their ships are heading back! I and Graffius here will try and follow them in!" Anteris yelled out, as he spotted a group of ships flying up toward the ship far in the distance. Without waiting for a response for the others,  he flew off into the distance.

"He doesn't change." Tam laughed a little, shaking his head.

They continued to fly up, aiming for one of the many openings on the ship, that had become pockmarked with dark openings when the first ships had launched.

Kothar looked up, at such close proximity, the sky was no longer visible, all he could see now was the side of the enormous craft, covered with the all too familiar inscriptions.

The bone chilling winds suddenly subsided as they crossed the threshold of the enormous opening that they had flown into, the winds had been replaced with an uncomfortable warmth, additionally the air inside the ship was strangely moist. 

All around them, the strangled yells of the Aemos sounded out, Kothar looked around, the sight strangely familiar. 

They were in an enormous rectangular  launch bay for the Aemos'  battle craft, rows of empty spaces where ships had been, as well as Aemos filing into ships further inside the launch bay. 

"Split!" Came Tam's yell, and he dove toward the far end of the launch bay, while Vaya and Teves dove down to either side, the Aemos screaming battle cries as they rushed to where the allies would land.