“This road is well-traveled,” Aysa remarked as the Badger slid sideways around a curve, throwing out a fan of dirt. “This must be a road to somewhere populated.”
“If that’s true,” Vinnie began, “that’s where the portal is.”
Astrid glanced down at the instrument panel, where all the needles were steadily moving to the left or right behind their round glass panels. A set of numbered dials ticked off some sinister degree past a thousand units.
“Not sure exactly what those thingies mean,” Astrid confessed, “but it doesn’t look good.”
“It’s not,” Vinnie said, unable to hide the worry in his voice. “The readings are nothing like what we’ve seen before. We’ve been following this for days. This is the payoff.”
The Badger rounded another corner, and the road ran arrow-straight toward a walled city. Or, what was left of one. Even at a quarter-mile away, the destruction was apparent. Black smoke billowed up beyond a V-shaped breach in the wall.
“Hold on!” Vinnie growled.
“You keep saying that!” Gormer shouted over the Badger’s metallic screaming. “My asshole is biting holes out of the damn jump seat!”
Boone turned his triangular head toward Gormer and pulled his eyestalks together until both his black eyes nearly touched. “Humans have teeth...down there?”
“No!” Gormer shouted as the stone wall loomed ever-larger in the front windows. “That’s what makes this so bad!”
Astrid couldn’t help herself. She threw back her head and laughed wildly.
“Gods help me,” Aysa exclaimed. “You are all insane.”
“You have no idea,” Astrid replied with a rapier-like smile.
The Badger hit the breach of the wrecked wall. To Vinnie’s great surprise, instead of plowing through the rock, the vehicle climbed it like a ramp and launched. They went airborne just as a giant Skrim came into view.
A moment of weightlessness shocked everyone silent. Vinnie pulled the steering tillers to their neutral positions to keep the wheels from spinning out of control. Astrid caught the surprised look on his face, which had drained of blood. He turned toward her with an expression Astrid had never seen. It was clear he’d not expected the Badger to fly.
Astrid shrugged. “This is new,” she remarked calmly as the Badger plowed into the carapace of a twenty-foot tall Skrim.
BOOM! The Badger was a drum again. The front windows were instantly spattered with bits of red shell and sticky, slimy, goo.
They crashed to the ground, and the Badger kept rolling. Vinnie pulled back on the levers, and they skidded to a stop.
“Pop the back hatch!” Astrid shouted. She was already running to the rear. “Let’s go!” she bellowed as she snatched her helmet from the armor cabinet along the way.
This would be the first time she had fought with the headpiece on. She was grateful for it, though the visor’s optics didn’t help her avoid the first hit. A massive red lobster-like claw would have taken her head without the helmet. Instead, the blow threw her into a shoulder roll.
She popped back to her feet in time to see Vinnie launch himself up. His eyes glowed like twin calderas as he became a human cannonball.
Damn it, Vinnie, Astrid thought. She knew the Irth magic that allowed him to manipulate his mass would give him near invulnerability for a few minutes, but it would drain most of his magical energy.
The big man tucked in the air and hit the monster dead-center of its scaled chest shell, knocking it back. Part of its shell had been smashed by the Badger, but it was still very much alive and extremely angry.
Astrid lunged forward as she pulled her rope dart from her shoulder and lashed out with the silksteel line. The weapon wrapped once around the beast’s ankle. She planted both feet and grabbed the line with both hands. She pulled, summoning all the strength she could muster from The Well. As the horned bug-beast fell, Boone blasted away at it with his magitech pistols.
The concentrated fire shattered its shell and set its innards on fire. Its death spasm nearly crushed a rearick woman who had just dealt a death blow to a much smaller Skrim.
Where Boone was tall and slender, the other Skrima was squat and round. It had no eye stalks, and its beady black eyes looked menacing even in death. It also had horns that gave Astrid chills.
“Look out!” Boone called in his strange raspy hissing voice. In his excitement, the words sounded garbled. Astrid was accustomed to Boone’s voice, but the rearick woman was not. To her, it must have sounded like some kind of battle call.
In her surprise at the sight and sound, the rearick woman froze as Boone lunged and pushed her out of the path of a thrashing leg. He just managed to avoid being crushed himself as the rearick tumbled to the ground.
She leapt up screaming in rage, and it was Boone’s turn to freeze.
“Not again,” he exclaimed—clearly this time. “New friends always want to kill me.” He danced backward, trying to avoid rubble and smashed beast parts.
But the woman was too committed to her attack to realize Boone was no threat. She lifted her ax and gave an almighty bellow.
“FOR TAHN! Come ‘ere, ya wee prick!”
The rearick lunged forward. Astrid gaped as the stout woman planted a foot, then froze, locked in place as if by magic.
“Bette?” The appearance of a glowing-eyed woman in a flapping white robe suggested that maybe it was magic. “Bette, he’s a good guy. I’m going to let you go now, ok?”
The rearick woman shuddered and stumbled forward. Undaunted, she hollered again and tried once more to leap. This time the spell hit her mid-air, and she collapsed onto the ground.
“My name is Julianne.” The cloaked woman turned to Boone and thrust out a hand. “Sorry about Bette. She gets like this sometimes. We might just…give her a minute.”
Boone allowed Julianne to lead him a short distance away, Astrid following closely. She was about to demand to know what was going on when the smooth-talking spellcaster interrupted.
“Astrid, I’d love to explain, but I’m just a little busy right now.”
Julianne turned back as Bette began to flail. A moment later the rearick stood and shoved her ax into her belt, sparing a grin for Boone.
“Ya have me apologies, ya ugly bastard. What the fuck are ya doin’, though, runnin’ round lookin’ like that in a place like this?”
Astrid’s muffled laughter escaped her helmet and Bette cocked her head. “Well, dip me in horseshit an’ call me a candle! There’s a woman under all that black and gray armor.”
Astrid gave a quick salute. “Yes, there is, my new rearick ally. My old friend here, he usually wears a hood, but that limits his crazy eyes in a fight.”
“I’ll take care of that,” Julianne stated calmly. Her eyes glowed as her face grew blank. Her head bobbed, then bobbed again. The third time, a hat flew through the air and was snatched up by a young man whose eyes also glowed white before he tossed it again. Julianne spun and plucked the hat from the air.
“Here,” she said, proffering the hat to Boone.
Boone’s eyestalks dipped to examine it as Astrid stifled a snort. He lifted it onto his head, but it squashed his eyestalks. Unperturbed, he removed it, stabbed holes through it with his sharp pincers and placed it back on his head with his eye-stalks protruding through the holes like strange finger puppets.
“I accept your gift, my new friends,” Boone declared slowly in a loud, clear voice. He made an elaborate set of gestures with his arms and legs.
“What the ‘ell is ‘e doin’ now?” Bette demanded.
“Showing gratitude,” Astrid explained. “Gift-giving is almost sacred where he comes from.”
“And where might that be?” Bette asked, though she knew the answer.
“I’m betting Hyrrheim itself,” Julianne suggested.
“Yes,” Boone replied, turning his eye stalks to Julienne. “I will not let the Overlords do to my new friends what they did to my people. Never.”
Without
facial features to express anger and determination, Boone chose to draw all his pistols and raised them to the sky. He stood as still as a totem pole for a moment.
“Glad ta have ya wi’ us then, Mr. Skrim,” Bette told him, and stuck out her hand.
Boone put away two pistols and shook her hand with half his arms. “You can just call me Boone.”
A loud shout followed by rushing footsteps gave everyone a start.
“GET OFF ME MISSUS!” Garrett charged forward, but Julianne flattened him like a flapjack.
The young rearick grunted and struggled.
Boone deflated, letting all his shoulders sag. He carefully put his pistols away and stepped over to Garrett.
“My name is Boone,” he said softly and reached down with one long spindly arm. “I’m on your side.”
“No bloody way,” Garrett stammered, blinking rapidly.
“It’s true!” Bette exclaimed. She stepped close to Boone as a demonstration. Her head came just to the lower part of his abdomen when she patted him hard on his back. “He’s naught but a wee thing. Ya don’t need ta be scared, lad.”
Julianne released Garrett, who took Boone’s hand in a tentative grasp. The Skrim helped him rise.
“I wasn’t scared,” Garrett muttered. “Just bein’ cautious is all.”
“Aye, that’s why ya near shite yer pants when ya saw him, fool,” Bette retorted.
“I’ll be damned by the Bitch and Bastard themselves,” he exclaimed. “Well, now I’ve seen everythin’. I’m sorry I tried ta crack ya open, then...Boone, is it?”
“Don’t worry,” Boone said. “If I could smile, I would. This kind of thing happens to me quite a bit.”
“Well, that’s a damn shame,” Garrett said as they shook hands. “A fighting friend is good, indeed. But…err… What the fuck do ya have on yer head, lad?”
Boone turned his eyestalks toward Astrid, who shrugged nonchalantly.
“It really is a shame,” Julianne agreed, fists to hips. “I’ll take care of that right now.” Her eyes glowed bright white as she worked powerful magic. After a few seconds, Julianne frowned. “There is a mind out there that seems familiar, but it is closed to me.”
Even though the sounds of battle still shook the town, Astrid took a moment to remove her helmet. “I know who it is, but I think I should let you find out for yourself.”
Garrett gasped in spite of himself. “Yer a woman?” he stammered. “A big one… She’s...” He swallowed hard and stared with wide eyes until Bette’s fist rammed into his shoulder. He winced. “She’s almost as fine as yerself, me love,” he told Bette warily.
Astrid gave him a quick wink and a warm smile. “Don’t you know it!”
“There,” Julianne declared. “I’ve reached out to as many minds as I could to show them an image of our new friend. Try to stay close to us, though, just in case.”
“Nice to meet you all!” Astrid said as she secured her helmet again. “Let’s finish this fight.”
Chapter Seventeen
After Vinnie bounced off the giant Skrim, he hit the ground running. A quick glance over his shoulder told him everything he needed to know. Astrid and Boone were on the job, so the monster was as good as dead.
He was more concerned about Aysa and Gormer, who had run off after a few of the smaller Skrima who seemed to be randomly attacking villagers. He took out a couple pill bug-looking beasties on the way using nothing but a sense of urgency, determination, and his bare hands.
Vinnie rounded a rubble-strewn corner to find Gormer slashing away at a Skrim with his long daggers to little effect. Sensing weakness, the devil beast continued to attack the skinny mystic even as Aysa hammered away at it with her magitech shield. The shock feature of the attachment did little good, and Gormer was slowing down. Blood streamed from cuts on his arms, and his tunic was ripped.
The sight sent Vinnie into a blind rage. He had little magical energy left, but the sight of his friend about to die gave him a different kind of power. When Gormer noticed Vinnie, his face showed fear for the first time…and it wasn’t because of his enemy.
“LEAVE HIM ALONE!” Vinnie bellowed. His eyes bulged, and his face was nearly as red as the Skrim’s shell.
Vinnie blocked two of the four arms that slashed at him. The other two tore at the skin of his arm, but he ignored the wounds as he slammed his broad fist into the side of the Skrim’s head. The shell gave way, and one of its eyes popped out.
Vinnie managed to tangle one of the blocked arms with his own, then spun in a circle with the Skrim’s arm pinned to his side as he delivered a potent backfist. Vinnie let go, and the Skrim flew more than twenty feet to shatter against a stone wall.
“Behind you!” Vinnie shouted as Aysa stared at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth. Vinnie was a portrait of extreme rage. She only moved when Vinnie charged forward.
He bent and drove his shoulder into the cockroach-like monster, and it tried to get away as Vinnie locked it into an obscene embrace. A claw almost took out his eye as he lifted the thing over his head, then he slammed the beast down over his knee. It split in half, spraying putrid gray goo everywhere.
“Holy fucking shit!” Gormer shouted after a gale of hysterical laughter. “I don’t know what to be more scared of—you or…”
“Maybe that?” Aysa shouted back.
Vinnie followed the direction of her pointing finger. A mega-Skrim some twenty feet tall lumbered toward them, shouldering buildings aside as if they were tipsy bar patrons in the way of its next ale.
“Get out of the way!” Vinnie roared. This time Aysa moved fast. “I think I can channel enough magic,” he muttered more to himself than his friends. He wasn’t sure they could hear him over the thunderous rumble of monster feet, and he didn’t much care. He needed to focus.
“I can do this,” he assured himself.
His eyes turned orange-red as he lifted both arms over his head and filled his lungs with as much air as they could take in. As the monster bore down on him, Vinnie lowered himself into a forward lunge and placed both palms flat on the dirt.
The magic coursed through him, making his head swim like it had for his very first kiss. His rage dissolved into perfect calm as the ground rumbled, then rippled outward from the points of contact of his knee and both hands.
The soil liquified and the monster sank to its hips. His vision blurred as he laughed softly to himself. The ground solidified, trapping the monster just feet away.
“Gotcha,” he muttered as he swayed in exhaustion.
They must have been shouting his name, because when their bodies hit him and pushed him out of the way their voices were very loud. A red claw nearly as large as Vinnie slammed into the ground where his body had just been.
“Come on, big guy,” Gormer grunted as he managed to get Vinnie’s arm over his shoulders. “We gotta move.”
Aysa used the leverage of her long arms to pull him around by his other arm. It took nearly getting smashed by another claw for Vinnie to snap out of it.
“I’m back! I’m back!” Vinnie shook his head violently to give the statement greater truth. “Thank you!” He stood on his own again, and they all scrambled out of the path of the flailing arms of the raging beast stuck in the ground.
It was digging itself out.
“What’s the plan here?” Gormer asked, holding up his long daggers. “I mean, we’re not going to finish that thing with this and the heavy hitters ain’t around.”
“I can’t channel any more magic,” Vinnie acknowledged in determined tones. “But I do have something left.”
The big man turned to the rubble and his eyes settled on a stone half as large as his chest.
“No fucking way,” Aysa gasped. “You're crazy if you think you can lift—”
Vinnie had the rock up over his head in seconds. His neck resembled a cluster of straining cables and the veins on his forehead looked as if they would explode. He took two running steps toward the monster and with a soft grunt, laun
ched the stone at its head.
CRACK-SPLAT! The monster was dead, half its skull gone.
“I thought you said you were out of magic,” Gormer stated.
“I am,” Vinnie confessed as he panted to catch his breath. “May not be able to lift my arms again.”
“The fight’s not over,” Aysa shouted over more rumbling.
“That way!” Gormer exclaimed. He pointed over piles of building debris toward the gates.
“No,” Vinnie called as he half-shuffled back the other way. “Help me get to the Badger. That’s the weapon we need.”
“Oh, yeah!” Aysa yelled. “It’s Badger time! I’ll go find Astrid!”
She headed in the other direction.
“There!” Julianne shouted. She pointed past the rooflines of a row of dwellings.
Astrid turned to see the top half of another giant Skrim moving toward some unseen victims. A moment later, the ground quaked and the Skrim’s head sank out of view.
“What the blazes was that?” Bette asked, bewildered. “An earthquake?”
“That,” Astrid answered, smiling unseen in her helmet, “was Vinnie.”
She sprinted toward the commotion, with Julianne close behind. Boone fell into formation, flanked by the two rearick. Three burly Skrima with turtle-like shells converged in their path from an alley.
Astrid didn’t slow down. Just before she reached the closest and largest one, she jumped up, heels forward. The impact threw the lead beast back into the others. Astrid slid along the ground on her back and stopped in the middle of the three as they began to rise.
Astrid bent her knees and executed the perfect kick-up to bring herself to her feet. Another high kick knocked one monster down again, but the others closed in.
Julianne swung her staff and broke a clawed arm that reached for Astrid’s neck. They fought back-to-back, turning in a circle as the Skrima tried to kill them. The fight ended with a single magitech pistol blast and a blow from Bette’s ax.
“Yer not leavin’ anythin’ fer me!” Garrett lamented. “Can’t get a damned hit in edgewise, ya selfish bastards.”
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