What the bullets had done to the spray didn’t work on the main infestation. Juliana and Lester fired shot after shot into the incoming creature, but it barely smoked and it didn’t slow at all. As it came within ten feet of them, they dismissed this method and split.
“Bullets aren’t working!” Juliana called. “We’ll try regular Eggs next!”
Laura rapped her Egg against the amulet on her belt and slung it down into the mess. It flashed and sank with a plop into the darkness near the table legs, then blew. Light burst from the spot. Blackness went flying, singeing into smoke midair. It barely dented the thing. Laura was used to entire swaths of infestation ripped and singed in a single Egg attack, but this didn’t even register as a hiccup. It only affected a patch a foot wide. They might as well be attacking a canal with a stone. The infestation jittered a little, sounding more like inhuman laughter than fright. It plowed faster, toward Okane, and slammed up the wall when he leapt away.
“Egg isn’t working either!” Laura said, panicked. “That should’ve worked! It always works!”
“This creature might be older than you’re used to.”
Juliana armed one of her own Eggs, then lobbed it into the air. This sank into the middle of the mass, blew, and did even less than Laura’s had. That was a bad sign. That was a very, very bad sign.
“No panicking!” Juliana shouted. “We’ll wear it down! Keep hitting it!”
Okane threw an Egg. Lester threw an Egg. Anything they threw did little more than scratch the surface and shatter what glass it clung to. The monster eddied, churning near the center of the room as if waiting for something. The hive mind had probably told it Amicae’s strengths and weaknesses. It operated under the idea that they still had Clae’s level of magic, and waited, sniffing out a trap. Amicae’s forces wouldn’t be this weak. It was sad that the infestation had more faith in them than they did, but Laura took advantage of its stillness to keep throwing Eggs. She’d already thrown three and couldn’t see any damage.
At last, it realized that this was all it would be getting, and it seemed downright delighted. With a shrilling sound, the infestation pulled itself up into a column, twisting and spinning before throwing itself out in a wide wave. The Sweepers scattered, but just because the blackness missed them didn’t mean they went unscathed. The infestation flipped and launched the debris from its back. Okane ducked, and the pencil slammed half its length into the wall where his head had been. The jagged base of a glass caught Lester as he was running, and with a yelp he crashed to the ground.
“Lester!” Juliana cried.
“I’m fine!” he snapped. “Look out before it—”
Juliana ran to his side. Sensing a man down, the infestation swarmed toward him too. She stood firm in front of him, armed another Egg, but it wouldn’t be enough. Not with that magnitude. As the black tide reeled in, Laura jumped back to the floor and dashed for the bar. The source was somewhere back there. From her bag she pulled wire and two Bijou. A flick, and the wire sparked. As soon as the Bijou caught, she lobbed them over the side and went sprinting back the way she’d come.
“Get down!” Okane yelled, and Laura hit the floor without question.
The infestation was a foot from cascading over the MacDanels when the Bijou shrieked. The initial blast rocked the dance floor, smashed the bar apart so wood and metal flew and embedded splinters into the walls. The infestation gave a hideous wail, and it fell apart into ash.
One of the keys to fighting standard infestations was figuring out the location of the source amulet and how the infestation reacted to disguise it. The infestation howling and whirling to take up all the space it could made this difficult, but sometimes it got full of itself and focused too much on a point, leaving its connection to the amulet in full view. This one had stretched thin, lending all its bulk to removing the MacDanels while leaving the trail only inches wide. In this state the Eggs might not have any impact on it, but the Bijou Laura carried were old, and they sang with Anselm’s influence. They had no qualms about shredding this infestation like tissue paper. She hoped they would eat it right down to the roots, but that wasn’t to be. While damaged, the infestation wasn’t dead by any means. It had merely lost a limb. The body resurged from beyond the hidden door, a great cloud of seething, shining awfulness. The Bijou shrieked. The infestation roared. They railed at each other, and heavy smoke billowed around the room.
“Good thinking!” said Juliana.
“I’m not sure how long it’ll last!” Laura replied. “Got any plans to snuff it out?”
“Keep hitting it with whatever does damage.”
She dug in her own bag and pulled out more Bijou. They looked very similar to the kind Laura used, but when thrown they did little more than sparkle; they vanished fast into the black cloud, and the only light visible came from the Amicae variety. Juliana bit back a curse.
“Was our equipment damaged in transport?” said Lester, wincing as he tried to pull himself up.
“It can’t have been,” Juliana snapped, putting an arm under him to help steady his stance. “I was sure to take the ones properly matured. Unless someone specifically tampered with them in the shop … Okane, has there been any sign of a break-in?”
“None,” he said, and quickly ducked.
It wasn’t immediately obvious why he did that, but Laura copied the motion. Seconds later, the infestation lashed out. The Bijou spun through the air like screaming comets, close enough for Laura to feel the heat. One hit the wall and embedded itself, only to shriek and shudder in place. The last zipped past Lester and into the hallway. The infestation bubbled and snapped, spilling out and over the bar again, and Okane aimed the gun at it.
Bang!
This bullet definitely did damage. He’d only hit the edge, but a chunk of the creature two feet across sizzled and crackled to nothing, the edge falling to ash and the main body sparking gold. The infestation squealed. It rolled sideways and slipped off the bar, pooling tight and concentrating its remaining debris to bristle like spines as it tried to figure out what had happened.
“Old bullet?” Laura whispered.
Okane nodded. “Very.”
Juliana had taken advantage of the distraction to heave Lester back into the other room. She came striding back here, reaching for Okane.
“Okane, give me that gun.”
“What?” he spluttered.
“I’ve got better aim than you right now,” she said. “I’ll do the shooting, you go back there and help get Lester to safety. If the infestation decides to expand its territory, he’ll be a sitting duck and I’m not going to risk his life on faith in a flimsy wall. Get him into sunlight and then get back in here.”
“I—But—”
“Are you questioning your head Sweeper?”
In response, he held up the gun and popped open the cylinder. Six spent shells dropped and clattered on the floor.
“I’m out,” he said hopelessly. “I used the others at the range.”
“I’m not,” she snapped. “Hand it over.”
“But Puer’s bullets don’t fit properly! The gun will backfire!”
“Puer’s bullets are the finest stock in all of Terual!”
They didn’t have time to argue over it. The infestation snarled and snapped. It swirled out along the ground, reeled, and rose. Juliana shoved Okane toward the doorway with one hand, the other flying to the sheath on her thigh as she bared her teeth.
“Get out there and help Lester! We’ll hold it back!”
As Okane went, he nearly tripped on a Bijou rolling back in. Juliana yanked a long dagger from its sheath. Laura had never seen a blade imbued with magic before, but knew as it caught the meager light that it had been forged strangely. It had something like the reliable-dog feeling of Laura’s amulets, but faded. Like the negative of a photograph.
“What are you going to do with that?” said Laura.
“Fight, obviously,” said Juliana.
As the infestation whirled
toward them, she stepped toward it too. They came to a head in a flash of light. The infestation shrieked. A hazy glow followed the knife’s trail as Juliana slashed again, and more of the infestation billowed into nothingness. Laura armed an Egg and threw it to the other side, hoping to distract the creature while Juliana struck again and again. The action didn’t do much beyond anger it. Howling and twisting, the infestation brandished its table legs and broken glass. Juliana hopped back and in again, far too close, but the knife only had so much reach. While she focused on the mess at eye level, the creature branched left and right, swarming in on her sides. Laura had nothing in hand that could stop it, but one Bijou still spun by the door. She stomped one foot and cried, “Here!”
She gave the amulet’s command at the same time. The Bijou reacted immediately, spouting sparks as it shot straight for her. Juliana and the infestation stood directly in its path. It sped between them, careening through inky darkness. Its sparks caught and multiplied, searing over the creature’s surface. This time its concentration shattered, and the branches dropped into black puddles on the floor. The infestation snarled in frustration and turned to follow the Bijou, slamming one spattering arm after another in its sparking wake. The little bead sped faster than a bird could fly, right past Laura before swooping back to circle her. The infestation careened after it, and Laura threw her last Egg. The grenade’s light fizzled out like a candle on its back.
“This is such bullshit,” said Juliana, coming level with her. “How is it so strong?”
“Amicae’s home to a lot of mavericks,” said Laura, too busy watching their enemy to glance at her. “Look out!”
They ducked again as a black scythe swept overhead. Broken glass and debris chewed up the floor, forming gouges that made the Bijou jump erratically and slow in speed on its orbit. If the terrain got too damaged it could stop moving entirely. Juliana lashed out again with her knife. It did little good. The infestation surged closer, braving the smoke and searing light to grab at her. Juliana pulled back in time, but her weapon wasn’t so lucky. The creature latched on to the blade and yanked it out of her hands. She screamed in frustration.
“Do you have another one?” said Laura, panicked.
“No,” Juliana seethed. “Those blades are rare, it’s a miracle I even had one.”
She stepped back fast as the Bijou hit one of the gouges and veered. With its aim off, the infestation surged in. Laura grabbed Juliana by the shoulders and yanked her away without thinking. Juliana fell with a shriek, but the infestation missed her, and the Bijou righted itself. The blackness churned in a full circle around them. It hummed and clattered on the same frequency as the amulets. The creature was enjoying them now.
Laura wished desperately that Okane would come back and break an escape route for them, but what could he throw that they hadn’t already done? Nothing would work.
“I should’ve known,” Laura hissed.
Clae would never have kept Anselm in the Gin mix if he could survive with regular magic. Puer’s Eggs held nothing but Gin energy, held none of the potency they needed to take down an infestation. They didn’t have anywhere near the supplies or manpower to bring this monster down.
The Bijou was still going strong, but to do any damage it would have to leave them undefended, and even the limited shield it provided left their survival in question. The only thing Laura hadn’t tried was the blue capsule. It had some kind of effect, obviously, but the only time she’d seen it in action visuals hadn’t been clear. Was it worth attempting now? Yes, she decided, as another wave crashed high enough to curl up and cross the ceiling, tearing at the rafters; yes it was. She clacked the capsule against her amulet and threw it upward.
She watched it as if in slow motion. The capsule rose, reached its peak. It dropped, tumbling end over end. Halfway through its fall, the contents flared brighter blue. It changed course in an instant, shrilling sideways, and plunged into the infestation with force enough to leave a smoking hole in its wake. The creature withdrew, seeping and squirming wildly in its confusion. For a split second the tangle of black thrashed everywhere; the next, it had all folded in and vanished from the room.
“What just happened?” said Laura.
“I don’t know,” said Juliana. “What was it that you—”
A catastrophic bang echoed from beyond the door, and the entire building shuddered. The damaged rafters buckled, and down came the ceiling, the roof, in a thunder of wood and brick and shingles. Laura leapt back, and Juliana rolled. It was over in seconds. Soon half the room fell in, nothing but a heap of rubble in its wake. The bar was completely gone under it, no door in sight. Laura stayed frozen, braced for the infestation to lunge again. One second. Two seconds. Three. The dust settled. Slowly, acrid black smoke filtered through the debris. Nothing moved. Laura pulled out a flash pellet. It couldn’t do damage, but it would at least chase anything out of hiding. It landed in the heap and ignited, sending more debris scattering. One of the pieces hit the ground a few feet away, and Laura backed up fast from the smoking shard of blackness. She stepped closer to the flickering piece and realized that part of this material had been stained vivid blue, just like the capsule. The smoke had the telltale stink of a dead infestation, so she felt secure as she knelt down and picked it up. She turned it over in her hands, studying the smooth surface, how only one side was blue and how that sang with warmth and a deadly hum while the rest was smooth stone. Not glass. It wasn’t the capsule at all. It was the root amulet, smashed to bits. She looked up, horrified, at the mess.
What remained of the amulet was somewhere beneath all that rubble, scattered and easily host to new infestations. Where this monster died, she’d just ensured that five more could take its place. The capsule could only be a last-ditch destroyer. She bit her lip, fisted her hand around the shard, and turned back to Juliana.
“The infestation’s destroyed. So is the amulet.”
Juliana had propped herself up, but now the fight went out of her. She pressed her forehead to the ground and exhaled deeply. “Thank god.”
They remained still for a moment, not quite relaxed enough to move on but calming enough to catch their breath.
“Are you okay?” said Laura. “I didn’t really think when I pulled you over. If you got hurt—”
“I’m fine.”
Still, Laura went to help her up. Juliana let her heave her to her feet and blinked dazedly at the wreckage.
“That was … well, I suppose Puer’s further north. Amicae’s brand of infestation would be stronger. Closer to the hive mind.”
“I’m sorry,” said Laura. “I don’t know if it’s the spike or if we’re out of practice, or—It didn’t look like our weapons made any dent in it at all. Usually our Eggs do so much damage, but this time it just shrugged them off.”
“And the weapons were strong when Clae Sinclair was around?”
“Yes.” With Anselm’s influence, but Laura wasn’t going to let his afterlife serve as little better than a potion ingredient. “But it might have been that better hands wielded them. Clae had a lot of experience.”
“Better hands,” Juliana murmured. “And yet, the second-best hands had to save my life.”
Laura bristled. “Helping each other is what we do. You keep saying that’s the Sweeper way.”
“It wasn’t an insult,” Juliana said quickly. “It was just that—” She paused, regarded Laura with a strange, sad solemnity before whispering, “I’m supposed to be the one helping you.”
“You have,” said Laura.
“Not enough.” Juliana turned back to the damage. “Though somehow I’m doubting that tool caused all of this destruction. It’s only supposed to affect amulets.”
She strode for the rubble, and Laura followed half a step behind. She wasn’t familiar enough with building materials to recognize much beyond bricks and shingles and maybe plaster, but Juliana toed through the pile and unearthed something.
“Glass?” Laura wondered. “That’s big, co
nsidering the bottles it was carrying around. We broke those down to little pieces.”
“It’s curved,” said Juliana.
She stooped and eased it out. It was indeed curved, long and gentle like an ornamental vase but completely transparent. In the bottommost bend the dust had caked weirdly, half wet and sparkling gold. Laura dipped a finger inside it, tracing a trough in the grime.
“Kin,” she said.
“Yours?” said Juliana.
“No, ours burned on impact. This…” This felt different. Like an off brand of vanilla, technically the same thing but the wrong smell, and the flutter of energy she felt was downright dull—something she doubted was caused by its dusty state. “Someone was storing kin here.”
“Or producing it,” said Juliana.
They kicked aside more and more of the debris, and the theory proved right. Tubing, fasteners, more broken glass and glittering, evaporated remnants caught the light.
“A distillery,” said Juliana. “But why in a gambling den of all places?”
“Where safer for Silver Kings to store it, than the place no one would attack?” said Laura. “Really, no wonder we did damage. We lit an entire vat of kin at once. That should kill any infestation.”
Juliana nodded, but her eyes grew hungry. “Where’s the rest?”
“What?”
“The rest of the components.”
Laura looked over it all, trying to place what she meant, and then realization dawned. “The Gin stones?”
If kin had detonated nearby, the air would be choked with magic and the heavy scent of vanilla. She saw no additional light, and the blast hadn’t been enough to send something as large as Gin careening out of their range. Unless the mobs had only amassed small pieces?
The Monstrous Citadel Page 7