“A bow and a sword?” Sam asked. “Isn’t that overkill?”
“The bow is good for larger spaces, the sword for close quarters. I like being prepared.”
Alex collapsed the bow and drew his sword.
“Except that you barely know how to use it,” Gaby quipped, drawing her own swords.
“Details, details.”
“Sorry to interrupt what I’m sure is a longstanding debate,” Harland interrupted. “But who are they?”
“Odds are that they are the mooks of the owners of the dreadnought. Their outfits look similar to the guys that broke into my university,” Alex noted.
“If I have to guess, their bosses call themselves the Fraternity of Gadol,” Gaby explained.
“I take it they are not nice people,” Harland replied.
“Understatement of the century,” Fionn added.
Through the school’s sound system, a feminine voice could be heard. Not amicable and certainly not warm.
“Deliver us Professor Hunt’s research and you will be left in peace,” the voice said.
“That didn’t sound nice,” Harland said.
“They are lying about leaving this place in peace. We need to go.” Fionn hurried them.
“We can’t let them have the professor’s research,” Sam said.
“We have his notebook with us,” Gaby replied.
“No offense, but with that mess, I’m sure you left behind more than that. I should know,” Sam complained.
“I don’t think they are here only for that information,” Fionn replied. “They also need casters for the spell. And here in Ravenstone are the best casters, all in one place.”
“Pretty convenient,” Harland added. “I suspect the random attacks on freefolk tribes weren’t as random as everybody thinks. They may be looking for certain types of casters.”
“We need to get everybody out of here, Dad,” Sam said with concern in her voice.
“Don’t forget the crystals,” Alex left the other three confused.
“Sorry?” Gaby asked.
“To punch a hole big enough to bring back a moldy god, they need massive power, remember?” Alex explained. “Sam just told me that crystals serve as conduits for magick. What better source of power than the huge collection of crystals they have stored here, or those at a city that was designed to be a circle of power with three massive crystal antennas, like Saint Lucy?”
“Listen, I will go and warn the Dragonking. We will destroy the passage to the crystal vaults and defend Ravenstone until everyone has evacuated. I want you to go to the platform and get out of here,” Fionn ordered.
“But, Dad!” Sam said, concerned.
“I will find a way to get out of here and reach you later. Right now, my main concern is to know that you are safe. This is not your fight. It’s mine.”
“Well, it is ours now,” Alex said.
“We can help,” Gaby added. “You are trying to do too much alone. Let us help.”
“They are right, you know?” Harland looked at Fionn.
“This place has enough guards and security measures,” Fionn said.
“I know that better than you, but more help can only be a good thing, Dad.”
“Listen, this is not a democracy. I’m not subjecting this to a vote,” Fionn said with a tone of voice that left no room for discussion. “And despite what you have been through, you are not used to the kind of fight we are facing. So I’m asking you to help me by getting my daughter out of here. That way I can focus on what I have to do. I’m trusting you with the most valuable thing in my life. That’s all the help I need for now.”
Alex tried to reply, but Gaby put a hand over his mouth.
“Count on us,” Gaby said with a tone of voice that left no doubt on who was taking charge of the escape. “Let’s go guys.”
Fionn found that attractive, if he was being honest with himself. But that train of thought would have to wait at the station. Then Gaby surprised him, and everyone else, by kissing his cheek.
“I need to play the hero more frequently,” Alex muttered to Harland.
“With any luck, you won’t have to,” Harland replied somberly.
BOOM!
A blast shook the room, taking down several walls. Clouds of dust covered the place. Debris peppered the floor. Sam stood in front of them, her hands extended. The protection spell she had hastily cast had protected them from the worse of the explosion.
The explosion had opened a new corridor to the other end of the school, where the promenade used to be. There were now chasms between the rooms, as several of the bridges connecting them had crumbled. On the far end the group saw broken totems and corpses of teachers, security staff and a few older students who had been killed. Only three intruders stood in the remains of the promenade. The first was a lady in metallic armor and long silk sleeves, by her looks, someone from the Kuni Empire. Next to her, there was a big man with a beard and sporting shades, wearing the same gear as the troopers and carrying a war cannon. Behind them stood a creature that looked like a man, taller than the bearded guy by a head and half, built like a mountain and wearing a full set of armor, with a helmet covering his face and a sword that looked eerily familiar to Fionn.
“That’s the lady from Hunt’s report. Madam Park,” Gaby pointed out.
“And that is the guy that broke into the lab and beat up my friend. You can’t beat them all by yourself,” Alex sheathed his sword, expanded the bow and got ready to let loose an arrow. Fionn stopped him.
“I have faced worse odds. Stick to the plan.” Fionn told them, his voice betraying concern. Alex noticed that even Harland’s demeanor had changed. Both he and Fionn were nervous about something. “Now go!”
“Be safe, Dad.” Sam hugged him.
Fionn pushed them into the kitchen and then ran in the other direction towards one of the bridges connecting the promenade to the cafeteria.
As they entered the kitchen, Alex pushed a button on his glasses.
“I sent the signal to Sid, he will be tracking us now. But I couldn’t help notice, why is Fionn so worried?”
“He got that way once I mentioned the Withered King and Lemast,” Gaby replied. A trooper appeared from one of the doors. Gaby kicked him towards the stairwell.
“Lemast is where an old mausoleum stood, on the far reaches of Ionis,” Harland explained. “It had a royal detachment to keep it secured.” He ducked as Gaby kicked another trooper and Alex shot at a third one standing a few steps below. Both fell into the stairwell with a loud thud.
“For a mausoleum that no one has heard of before? Why?” Alex asked, letting loose another arrow, allowing a student to escape a trooper’s grasp.
“Because a monster from the war was trapped there by Izia, Fionn’s wife. It’s a long story,” Harland said, reaching the mezzanine that would lead them to the platform. “If we make it out alive from this I will tell you the rest.”
Chapter 10
Escape From the Ravenstone
“Are you sure he will pick us up?” Sam asked.
“I only got static and what I assume was a lot of expletives in samoharo, which I take as a yes,” Alex replied.
“Shush!” Gaby interrupted them. “I heard something. Wait here.”
“Are you sure she should go alone?” Sam asked.
“When it comes to sneaking around, she is one of the best,” Alex replied.
Gaby tracked through the labyrinthine design of Ravenstone’s corridors, following the echoes of the footsteps. She found a heavy oak door ajar. Through the slight opening, Gaby saw a full platoon in the next room, the one they needed to cross to reach the pick-up point. She heard footsteps behind her.
“I thought I told you to wait for me,” Gaby whispered, without turning to see who was behind her.
“We go
t worried that you would get lost through the corridors,” Sam replied in low voice.
“And it was boring,” Alex added.
“Well, you will have plenty of action in a few seconds. There is a full platoon of armed troopers in front of us.”
“Is there any other route to the platform?” Harland asked.
“Yes, but it is too long of a detour and I doubt we have that kind of time,” Sam replied.
“I will open the way, you follow me once I deal with them.”
“All by yourself?”
“Please tell me you are not planning to do what I think you are planning to do,” Alex pleaded to Gaby.
“Fionn was right, you are not used to fighting multiple opponents,” Gaby replied, her voice full of coldness.
“I did at the incursion.”
“That doesn’t count. You were out of your mind, literally. And those creatures were more beasts than thinking opponents.”
“What are you two talking about?” Sam interjected.
“The proof that Fionn is not the only ‘one-man-army’ around,” Alex replied, shaking his head. “I’m gonna regret this.”
“Get those arrows ready just in case,” Gaby ordered. Her grip on her blades tightened. Goosebumps ran across her arms. She wasn’t a fan of what she was about to do, mainly because it was addictive. But sometimes the best way to untie a knot, was to cut it.
A few seconds later, the door exploded in a rain of splinters and debris, knocking down a few of the troopers. Where the door used to be, there was now a slender woman, with long braided golden hair and piercing blue eyes, staring coldly and unflinchingly. The troopers looked at each other and then at the woman. In her hands, there were twin blades that glowed red and blue. The wind started to pick up. Extending her left arm in front of her and holding aloft the right one, she challenged them.
“It’s just a dance,” Gaby said.
The troopers ran at her, their weapons ready to strike her down.
“Get ready for the show,” Alex murmured to Harland and Sam, looking at the scene from a vantage point on a balcony a few meters away, just within earshot of Gaby. “It will get messy and fast-paced.”
“What do you mean? Why are you not helping her?” Harland asked him.
“She doesn’t need my help. I would get in the way. When she enters that thing she calls the Ice State, it’s better to let her be. She hates it when I interrupt before she’s given me the signal.”
“What is the Ice State?” Samantha asked.
“I’m not entirely sure how it works, because Gaby has never wanted to explain it properly to me. As far as I know, it is a trance-like state she was taught by the Sisters of Mercy that makes her fight like a dervish at blinding speed. Opponents can barely hit her. It’s amazing to watch, in a way,” Alex explained with a pained look.
“Which, added to the Gift, makes her a one-woman army,” Harland added.
Gaby slowly approached the incoming troopers, selecting her targets. The first one got a kick in the head so hard that it smashed the mask that concealed his face. The noise of a cracking skull echoed on the walls as he hit the floor. With a spin, Gaby delivered a roundhouse kick to the plexus of a second trooper, breaking his sternum and sending him flying backward.
“That must hurt.” Harland grimaced.
A third trooper grabbed Gaby from behind, but she stomped on his left foot with such strength that the trooper released the hold. Then she used her heel to kick him in the nuts, which resulted in a squishy sound. The trooper let her go and she followed by thrusting one of her blades back and stabbing him. The trooper fell to the ground like a rag doll.
“Not as much as that,” Alex replied, wincing. He knew how hard Gaby could kick. Those family jewels were now marmalade.
Gaby now faced a larger trooper. He tried to cut her head off with an axe, but she deftly dodged the axe. The trooper pressed the attack, this time aiming at her torso, but she parried each blow with her twin swords, the clash of metal filling the air. The trooper looked at his axe, which fell to the ground, cut in pieces. Gaby then kicked him in the face, hitting his chin and sending him flying backwards as well. The crunching noise of a broken neck followed. Two troopers ran towards Gaby, but she received them with a jumping split kick, making them fall. She then dropped on them, her blades pointing down, and stabbed them so hard that the floor cracked. But blood didn’t come from their wounds, just black ichor. Without effort she pulled the blades out and looked towards the remaining troopers, who had discarded their close range weapons and now were shooting at her with their firearms without any concern for hitting each other. Gaby continued walking towards them, dodging their attacks with precise movements. When she reached the troopers, she sliced through their firearms. Then she kicked the troopers and cut off their limbs with ease.
“She is getting more ruthless,” Alex observed. He was worried. He wanted to make her break the trance before she went too deep, but getting closer without her allowing it would be a bad idea.
When one trooper got close to her, Gaby ran up a column and with a pirouette landed behind him and slashed his legs above the knees, cutting the tendons and nicking the femoral arteries. Bullets crossed the air, aimed at Gaby, but she deftly dodged them by somersaulting and jumping around until she got closer to the shooter. With a swift move, she sliced the rifle and his hands, before kicking him away. The leader of the squadron called for reinforcements while he ran towards Gaby, who received him with a punch in the face and a slash on the throat.
“Seems pretty handy,” Sam added, impressed. “Why do you say it like it is a bad thing?”
“A mystic trance called ‘Ice State’? The more she uses it, the more she loses touch with her humanity.”
“The perfect assassin,” Harland added.
“Exactly,” Alex said. “Look, those guys probably deserve a stomping. But Gaby certainly doesn’t deserve to have their blood on her hands, nor the regrets. Even less, to lose her humanity. I think it’s time to call it off.”
He approached the edge of the balcony. A sinking feeling formed at the bottom of his stomach. His heart was thumping so hard that it was the only noise he could hear.
“I hate doing this. I hate heights and the landings are hard on my knees,” Alex said, before jumping from the balcony, landing on three troopers and smashing their heads. He then yelled at Gaby at the top of his lungs.
“Gaby! Time for a break!”
But Gaby was so into the fight that she jumped, twirling in the air and landed on her feet, with her right arm extended. A few brown hairs fell to the floor. Heartguard’s blade stopped a few centimeters from Alex’s neck. Gaby blinked several times until her eyes returned to normal. When she realized what she was close to doing, she dropped her twin blades to the ground and hugged Alex.
“I’m so sorry,” Gaby said tearfully.
“It’s ok. I’m fine. Let’s go.” Alex smiled at her.
“These two are insane,” Sam followed them down the stairs.
“Not as much as your old man,” Harland said. “Trust me.”
† † †
Fionn reached the section of the promenade where a defensive force was barricading, under the directions of the Dragonking.
“I came here to get you out.” Fionn looked around. Everybody looked tired, injured or downright scared. A few guards were whispering about the towering man who was impervious to spells, and whose sword had shattered the best of their weapons as if they had been made of glass. A stout guard arrived, dripping sweat.
“Wait, my friend. What news do you have?” the Dragonking asked the arriving guard.
“My Lord, they have killed Master Ali and Master Kellback,” the guard said. “Master Bayara is injured, but he managed to escape with all the rest of the students with the help of Master Gillian, while Master Samantha and her friends have made t
heir way to the lower levels. However, the attackers have captured three students and two professors, Ortiga and Vertiz, and have taken them to their ship. The worst thing is that the creature is coming this way and there are a few older students still behind us, trying to evacuate. That thing is unstoppable.”
“That thing is called the Tovainar,” Fionn said with a serious tone. “And it is nullifying any energy attack or powers around it. That’s why none of your wizards could stop it. You need to escape. All of you, now.”
“How do you know that?”
“I have encountered something like that before, during the War. We need to leave. Now!”
“I won’t leave,” the Dragonking replied. “Not while there are students captured by these monsters. Watts, take the remaining students and lead them to the lower levels and into the caves. We will hold the line to give you time.”
“Yes, my Lord,” the guard replied with a salute. He then ran, followed by a few guards and older students, into a passage that opened on the side of a wall.
“Can I count on your help, my friend?” the Dragonking asked Fionn.
Fionn knew in his gut that he was going to regret it. “You know damn well that you can, Tharvol. I don’t run from a fight,” Fionn replied, using the Dragonking’s first name. “But we need to escape as soon as everybody is out. Your students, the freefolk need you alive more than dead.”
“I’m not planning to die today, my friend.” The Dragonking smiled at Fionn, extending his arm to embrace him. As Fionn took the other man’s arm, they were rocked by a shockwave hitting the hall.
Another wall crumbled and through the dust a towering creature walked slowly, emitting a noise through its helmet that resembled a laugh, an unnerving, blood-curdling, familiar laugh. Some guards tried to stop it but their blades shattered, the life from their bodies leaving as the creature’s sword pierced their chests. Others cast spells, but the creature was protected by an invisible barrier that caused their spells to dissipate into thin air. Just as Fionn had predicted.
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