by Ryan Muree
Their eyes locked.
Burst!
But the sky went black and red. Pain rocked through his entire body.
Crushed.
He felt crushed.
His eyes wouldn’t open, his skin was on fire, and his metal armor was searing him. He squeezed his fist as tightly as he could. Four fingers to the sigil in his palm… Heal!
It was enough that he could open his eyes, but he still couldn’t see a thing. It was still black and red. He still felt crushed.
He grunted, straining to touch his littlest finger to his thumb, to activate the new sigil there. He imagined himself up and rushing toward the woman like before. He imagined seeing her on the rock for the first time. Reverse!
The darkness went from blazing red to white to the field coming in view again. His skin went from scorched to healthy. He was up and running backward. The woman turned her head away from him. An explosion nearby reversed.
Time oriented itself, and he was left standing in the field before she’d attacked him.
That had likely been the end of his life.
He looked up at the woman’s back as she brought more fire and stone crashing into the Keepers. Instead of rushing at her this time, he tossed his swordstaff and drew out his javelin.
Positioning himself like he’d seen Emeryss do, he cocked the javelin back and hurled it at the Caster.
It whistled through the air and exploded through the woman’s chest, throwing her forward and into the ground.
He dropped to his knees, heaving and trying to catch his breath. Exhaustion was taking over. He was already out of energy to fight. Training for years hadn’t prepared his body for casting, too.
A water Caster shot two ice spikes in his direction. One struck the side of his arm through his armor, the other whizzed past his head.
The Caster then conjured a swirl of water above Grier’s head. It’d either be hail large enough to crush him or it’d be a deluge to drown him in.
Time to see if his idea worked.
Deflecting a few more shots from the Caster, Grier brought up his black, crystalline shield and slammed it down into the soil. He grabbed onto the wrist of his shield-arm.
Absorb!
He tried to imagine the ether in the Caster’s attacks moving into him.
Hail, spikes… They pounded into the shield and were absorbed, feeding their ether back into him.
His arms grew stronger, his legs, his heart.
And he smiled.
The Caster stumbled, tripping over bodies to try to get away from him.
Grier stood, materialized his axe, and struck him in his back.
Catching his breath, Grier took the moment to survey the field.
Beside him, a man in regular clothes incinerated an RCA woman shooting air darts at him. Another man was shifting into predatory birds and clawing at the RCA’s eyes and heads.
The place was littered with average citizens fighting back and joining the Stadholdens against the RCA.
And the army looked thinner for it. Not gone, but thinner.
Several whines pierced the air, and everyone turned in their direction.
The RCA aircrews came around from behind the city and straight for them.
Shit. They were going to pick them off.
He grabbed a woman drowning an RCA member beside him. “Take cover!” he told her, pointing up at the airships.
She gasped and took off running.
“Take cover!” he shouted to the others.
Black shields went up across the field as the airships cruised just overhead, raining fire and electricity down on top of them. It took out swaths of Stadholdens.
Lightning, hail, cyclonic winds.
A few Keepers tried to use their ranged weapons against them, but the airships were too large and fast.
They’d never be able to counter this.
Kylah ran in his direction but wasn’t looking at him. She was eying an airship banking and coming back toward them.
“Kylah! Take cover!”
Using her new sigil again, she ran and leaped high into the air toward the ship, barely knocking the back fin out with her mace.
But the force was enough that the airship wobbled, lost control, and plummeted into the dirt in a ball of fire.
Well, shit. They couldn’t all jump up and swing at airships.
Almost immediately, the RCA focused their fire on her.
Forced to crouch down, she strained under her shield.
They were done.
They couldn’t do anymore.
If Adalai and Emeryss hadn’t made it in by now, if the people didn’t see what was possible, then there was no hope.
“Ingini!” someone screamed.
Heads turned again.
The sky was filled with an Ingini fleet barreling toward them.
Ingini UA fleet — Revel
Shoulder to shoulder, Clove, Mack, and Cayn looked on as the RCA aircrews advanced on the Stadholdens.
“See,” she told the commander. “I told you. Everyone’s trying to make it right.”
“You realize,” the commander said, “that you’ll be vulnerable in this fight, too, and if any of the RCA get their hands on us, we’re enslaved or murdered? That if you’re wrong—”
“I understand,” she said. “And I’m not wrong.”
The commander grumbled one last time and grabbed the communication device on the wall.
She reached over for Mack’s hand next to her thigh.
He looked down at their hands, squeezed hers, and looked back up at her.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered, unable to take her eyes from the front window. “I’m sorry.”
“Me, too.”
She’d gone to Fort Damned. She’d fought in Sufford. But this, this felt more final than before. Like somehow, she’d been convinced that since they weren’t all together those times that they couldn’t die. But now, now that they’d been reunited and were fighting together, it felt like anything could go wrong and it’d be over.
It was a silly belief, but…
“I want you to know,” she whispered, “that you’re home to me. You and Cayn are what I think of when I think of being home. You’ve always been, and I think I was just afraid I’d lose it. Now, I might really lose you, and I can’t die without telling you how much you mean to me, how much you’ve always meant to me. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry for hurting you—”
“Stop.”
She looked at him, tears ready to spill over.
“You were right.” Mack grinned. “You were right back then when you said we needed to grow up. I’ve been foolish and pushy and jealous. But I was also hopeful that we’d make it through it. That’d we’d grow up and still be… us. You know I don’t want to lose you either, and being a part of your life, however you’ll have me, is more important than my childish, romantic dreams.”
“They weren’t childish. They were… optimistic.”
He shrugged, and she smiled back at him.
“It’s a damn massacre,” the commander muttered.
Stadholdens had made their mark on the scrambling RCA troops on the ground, but their airships were picking the Keepers off with flame and lightning.
The commander ordered for their ships to move in.
Two airships broke off from the fleet and flew toward the RCA ships, blasting them out of the sky with ether-pulses.
The Stadholdens and REV who’d been running stopped, saw they were safe from the Ingini, and charged back in.
“Right take patrol. Left take ground. Center move up to the front.” The commander directed where each section of his fleet would move to take out the RCA.
Clove sighed in relief.
“Let’s just hope Adalai can do her thing,” Cayn muttered.
If anyone could take down Orr or die trying, it would be Adalai.
Chapter 36
King’s Palace — Aurelis — Revel
Emeryss draped them in an invisible bubble as t
hey moved through the corridors.
Adalai led the way.
Plush red carpets and polished nightstone. Gold inlay along the crisp white walls. Stone columns of rare lightstone. It was as if someone had taken the lavishness of the Great Library and infused ether into every crevice. It was a beautiful testament to their control over the ethereal realm but a slap in the face to those struggling to make ends meet with grimoires.
Adalai led her into a small, empty library.
The RCA on guard had been scarce, most likely because they’d been ordered to fight against the Stadholdens.
The lump in her throat and the ache in her chest still hadn’t subsided when she’d heard Grier tell her the RCA were attacking them.
But Orr was taking it seriously. They’d overheard lesser RCA command others to join the fight, and it was both satisfying to hear they’d recognized Stadhold as a threat, and it was frightening to consider the amount of force they were using against them.
Adalai opened a side door in the library and moved into another empty room. Night scenes had been painted on the ceiling with gold stars. The dawn had been painted on the walls with golden rays for the sun. Each room had been as ethereal and gaudy as the last.
“What is the point of all these empty places?” Emeryss whispered.
“Meeting rooms. Eating rooms. Gathering rooms. Politics is mostly about kissing asses.” Adalai led them to a winding stairwell, and they ascended slowly.
They were headed to the office Nendrik had told them Orr was hiding in. They’d considered entering from the outside—scaling the walls and Blinking through a window—but Adalai insisted on going through the front door—the only entrance.
Emeryss suspected it had something to do with confronting him rather than ending this whole thing. But, as long as they took him out and it was over, then Emeryss would support her.
Backs to the wall, they breached the top floor, ears tuned to any issues or too many guards.
Adalai ran her hands over her body, and she shifted into Nendrik again.
It had worked in the lower levels, allowing them entrance just as Nendrik had said, but those RCA were easily fooled. Orr’s guards might not be.
Adalai cleared her masculine throat. “Do I sound like him?” she whispered.
Emeryss nodded. “You’re going to have to really play the part and channel Nendrik.”
Adalai made a face like she was about to vomit but held up a finger. “I want to get Orr. He’s mine.”
“Okay.”
“But if he gets me somehow or kills me, you’re going to have to kill him.”
“I’m okay with that, Adalai. Let’s finish this.” Keeping her invisibility bubble just on her, Emeryss followed closely behind Adalai.
“Shoulders straight,” Emeryss reminded her.
Adalai corrected her spine, lifted her chin, and marched for the hall.
Four RCA guards were posted on either side of the long corridor to Orr’s office. They didn’t look special or anything, but the two at the end, the two guarding the door, had robes lined with gold and special metal gloves. Their hoods had been pulled back and down.
Six fire and water Casters sat right outside the office just like Nendrik had said.
Adalai strutted down the corridor in Nendrik’s likeness. She stopped mid-way. “What are you still doing here? The Stadholdens have breached the city. The Ingini are moving in—”
“We’re protecting our king,” one said.
She approached the woman who’d spoken and peered down her nose at her. “Your king? Your king was the best general Revel has ever seen. If anyone is stupid enough to come for your king, they deserve what he does to them.”
Emeryss crouched silently behind her. Please don’t be right about that.
“Out! Now!” Adalai boomed.
They jumped at her outburst and scurried down the hall for the city.
Adalai turned and marched for the two guarding the door. “Do you have a problem following my orders?”
“We’re not to move no matter what,” the man on the left said.
“Oh?” Adalai asked. “Who gave you that order?”
“The king himself,” the second guard, a young woman, answered quickly.
Adalai approached the man, standing mere inches from his face.
He was shaking and looking like he might be ill. So, it wasn’t just women who found Nendrik creepy?
Pretending to evaluate her masculine nails, Adalai flashed them to him. “See that? It’s blood. I got blood on my hands for our king. Do you have blood on your hands?”
“N-no.”
“No?” She clicked her tongue in disappointment and reached for a chain hidden just under the collar of the man’s robes. It had a locket on the end of it. “This is nice. Who gave it to you?”
The man stammered and stuttered. “My-my niece.”
Adalai nodded slowly and crushed it in her palm.
The man gaped as his eyes watered.
“I really hope your niece survives this attack. I really do. Ingini have been known to skin their captives alive, peel off their nails, suffocate them just to bring them back and suffocate them again.”
The man hadn’t blinked for several moments.
“I really hope you get to see your niece again instead of in the afterlife when she asks why her uncle left her to die… because he was too stubborn to get his nails dirty!” Adalai had ended on a shout.
The man ran off.
Adalai turned her head to the woman, and she quickly ran off after him.
Adalai’s posture slumped. “I was just making shit up as I went,” she whispered, still in Nendrik’s form.
“You did well. Ready?”
Adalai nodded, straightened herself again, and opened the door.
General Orr stood at the king’s desk, peering over papers sprawled out across it. His hair looked a little wild, and his beard was a little long. He was in traditional RCA garb—dark-navy uniform, matching jacket overtop, gold buttons and badges at his chest and shoulders.
“I thought I told you to leave, Nendrik,” Orr said, not making eye contact with Adalai.
Adalai fashioned ethereal daggers in her hands and held them behind her back.
“You’re a thorn in my side, you know that.” Orr looked at Adalai as Nendrik, but his face went blank. He chuckled. “That’s cute.”
“What is?” Adalai said, inching closer.
“That you really thought that would work.” Orr snapped his fingers, and two energy Casters hidden in the corners of the room leaped toward Adalai.
She dropped the guise before Blinking out of the way.
Emeryss released the invisible barrier and blew both Casters to the walls with Gust.
She lifted her hand up, gathered yellow-white ether, and slammed it down on top of one.
Spark!
The ether burned him into a smoking heap.
Orr and Adalai encircled one another, while the second energy Caster blurred past Emeryss.
The Caster was using Urla’s move, running around her so fast that Emeryss couldn’t tell where she would come from.
Most likely, she’d strike her from behind.
Emeryss spun, but nothing happened.
She would strike her from the other side, then.
Emeryss spun again, but nothing happened.
Unable to wait for the Caster to make her move and force Emeryss to defend, Emeryss brought out her shield. A foot thick and several feet wide and high, the shield expanded out on either side of her.
The energy Caster ran into it with a thud and a groan, falling back onto the ground for only a second before jumping back up.
Emeryss threw fireballs and ice spikes as hard as she could, but the energy Caster dodged them with a smirk and slammed Emeryss back into the wall with a blast of lightning.
The thin shield she’d conjured at the last second was enough to save her life, but a shelf splintered against her back, breaking off in pieces.
> She cried out, gripping the shattered wooden shelf for stability. A chunk broke off into her hand.
Enlarge size!
The piece grew several inches thick and several times longer, and Emeryss swung it at the Caster before she could come close enough to zap her.
The woman jumped for her again, but Emeryss side-stepped and rammed the wood into her chest, impaling her in the wall on the far side.
The woman fell limp.
Orr and Adalai were eye to eye, still circling.
“Do it, Adalai,” she said. “Get this over with.”
Orr lifted his hand into the air and an arc of lightning broke through the ceiling, nearly striking Adalai in the head.
It looked like… Spark?
Adalai had Blinked out of the way in time and tossed Dazzle at him.
Orr Blinked, too, and tossed Dazzle back at her.
Adalai stopped and glared.
“Remember what I said,” Emeryss warned. “He doesn’t need grimoires.”
Orr laughed.
“What are you?” Adalai asked, eyes glued to Orr’s every move.
She could anticipate it if she focused. She’d been trained to. She could outlast him, too.
“Ask your friend,” Orr said.
“I’m asking you. Where did you learn to cast anything you want?”
He lunged at her with Burst, and she Blinked to dodge him.
Once she caught his shadow, she Blinked into him with her daggers, swinging left and right. But he Blinked back, fashioning his own daggers.
They must have Blinked a hundred times, swinging and dodging attacks until both were left panting.
Every move she made, he countered.
Every cast she attempted, he could do it, too.
How?
How was that possible? It was like he was copying her…
Emeryss picked up a wood chip from the bookshelf and tossed it at him. It grew several times its size mid-flight, but Orr picked up a metal clip from his desk, enlarged it several sizes, and blocked the chunk of wood.
How was he able to do that? He was taking everything they gave him and—
Emeryss lifted her hand, and Adalai turned to her. “Stop! You’re just giving him more things to use against us.”