“Um… I have no idea,” I said, looking around the hallway. I was pretty sure someone would come to see what had happened sooner or later, but I also wasn’t sure where to go. Obviously, we couldn’t go into the room behind us because it was vented to space.
“You can’t use your magic to find your friends?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at me, suddenly concerned. “I thought that was a witch thing…”
“That’s a fantastic idea!” I said, shutting my eyes and concentrating.
Magical energy swam all around me, but there was still a weird quality to it, like the autotune in the chorus was all jacked up. As I reached out with my power, focusing on my friends, four little ribbons appeared in my mind’s eye. They stretched out in the corridor in front of me. One was the color of asphalt mixed with blood, and as I pulled it into me and tied it to my senses, I realized it belonged to Jeffry the vampire.
The pink and purple flowery one belonged to the fairy, Niko, and the furry one the color of a golden retriever was definitely the werewolf, Chloe. That meant the one that looked like orange and green spandex was definitely my good friend Oliver, an Atlantean who had sex by shaking hands.
Satisfied all the ribbons were tethered to me, I searched around for Captain Brand, but it was like he wasn’t there. No, it was worse than that, it was like he’d never been there, and as I tried to find some trace of him, something warm and wet dripped from my nose.
My eyes opened as I wiped my nose, and it came away crimson. That wasn’t good. Using a spell like that shouldn’t have hurt me. Worse, it meant I couldn’t break through whatever was hiding him, at least not without serious bodily harm to myself.
“Get anything?” Morg asked, taking a step closer to me, axe at the ready.
“Yeah, I can find most everyone, come on,” I said, making my way forward. I gripped my wand, even though it didn’t really do anything. It was simply a focus for my spells, but given that I wasn’t super confident in my powers about then, I didn’t want to risk not having it. The absolute last thing I wanted to do was blow a hole in a spaceship on accident. On purpose? That was fine with me.
“Good,” Morg said, coming along behind me, and even though I got the impression he was trying to be stealthy, his footsteps echoed in the empty hallway. “Maybe there is something to the quality of children you could bear after all.” He rubbed his chin. “Perhaps I have been too hasty.”
“Gee, thanks…” I mumbled, focusing on the glittering ribbons of energy that snaked out through the ship. I still expected people to confront us, but as we moved forward, no one did. No, they all left us alone, assuming there were more of them. Surely there had to be for a ship this size, right?
“You know, it seems like we should have found someone by now,” I mumbled, looking around as I tried to extend my senses to look for any other life. Unfortunately, I felt only the same emptiness I’d felt when looking for Captain Brand.
“I agree,” Morg replied, gesturing at the corridor ahead with his axe. “I don’t smell anything either. It’s definitely curious since they cannot possibly run a ship this size with only a few people.” He shook his head. “It’s like trying to celebrate the Feast of the Bloodening with only a few hundred of your closest friends. It’s impossible.”
“The Feast of Bloodening?” I asked, turning to look at the door to my left because the ribbons were intersecting the polished steel. We needed to go through it, but judging by the red light on the keypad next to it, that wasn’t going to be super easy.
“It is the feast where we celebrate how we rooted out all the heresy by killing all the heretics. Their blood ran in red rivers down the steps of the citadel.” He smiled, clearly caught in a memory. “It was simply wonderful. Almost makes me wish there was more heresy.”
“Sorry I asked,” I said as I filed away the tidbit for later. His words had been a subtle reminder that just because Morg and I had worked together on the Plutarc mission, did not mean I knew him. At the end of the day, he was an alien orc with a culture completely different from my own.
I moved closer to the scanner next to the keypad. It had the outline of a handprint with what I’d have sworn were Nordic runes etched into it and the keypad. Only that made no sense because while I wasn’t as up on Norse runes as some of the other witches I knew, I could definitely make out what looked like Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer. Only that was insane, right?
“Say, why was that dude so impressed by my magic?” I asked, glancing at Morg. “I mean, he was impressed before he knew I was a witch from Earth.”
“Admiral Vah believes magic users are superior. The only purpose for those without magic is to serve those who do have it.” He shrugged. “Basically, he was a slave conditioned to believe you’re his better.”
“That sounds pretty terrible,” I said, my shoulders slumping. “I can’t imagine being a slave, nor being raised in such a way.”
“There are many worlds out here among the stars. Not all of them have things I agree with, either, but we must do what we can with what we have.” He shrugged in a way that told me he’d long since accepted the way of the universe.
“You know, for an orc, you sure know a lot of earth sayings,” I said, reaching out to the keypad. A spark of magic leapt from its surface. It had a weird quality to it, reminding me of synthetic sugar. Too sweet and a weird aftertaste.
“I watch a lot of television.” He shrugged. “Not a lot to do on Alpha Prime.”
“Uh huh,” I mumbled, not paying attention as I focused on the tendrils of magic. It was asking me if I wanted to open the door magically. I’d never heard of anything like it, but as I sent my response through the ether, the door opened to reveal a pulsing cascade of sapphire energy. The smell of ozone hit me like a punch in the face as I took a step backward.
“What the fuck is that?” I asked, pointing at the array of light and sound just beyond the door as it snapped, crackled, and popped.
“That’s exactly what we need, Mallory Quinn. Good job.” He clapped me on the shoulder. “That is a transporter field. It is linked to all the other ones within this ship. Once we step on it, as long as we know where we want to go, it will take us there.”
“So what’s the catch?” I said, glancing at my orcish friend. “‘Cause that seems too easy.”
“The catch is it requires magic to use.” His grin got wider, making his tusks jab through the air. “Seems, they didn’t expect this ship to get attacked by a witch. Bad planning that, given what happened last time.”
“I suppose so,” I said, still feeling wary. The energy coming off the field within the room didn’t feel natural. It felt fake and wrong in a way I couldn’t explain, but if it would get us to my friends, I guess I’d have to deal with it.
“What’s the matter, you scared?” the orc asked, right before he shoved me inside.
7
I wish I could rightly explain what it felt like to have my body torn into its associated atoms and still be able to think and feel, but I can’t. The best explanation I can think of is that it’s like being stuck in a pool of warm Jell-O, only you can’t move. Which yes, is as terrifying as it sounds because you still try to move, try to breathe, but you can’t. That makes your heart hammer and fear swell up inside your guts. Only you don’t have any of those things either.
Then you sort of settle down into the void of nothing as the transport takes hold. Pain burns every nerve ending even though you don’t have any, and then, after that lifetime expends itself in a femtosecond, you realize what’s going on. It still hurts oddly enough, but not in a way that makes sense because, you know, no body.
That’s the state I was in now. I could feel energy zipping around me, feel my mind melded with the infinite abyss of the universe, but this was a bit different because the whole of the ship spread out before my mind. It was insane because I could see the pulse points for each transporter array, and as I reached out to them, stroking them with my metaphysical fingers, I clued into the ribbons trailing from my
essence like bright spots in a pit of darkness.
With a bit of concentration, I was able to overlay them across the transporter field. Just like that, I knew where to go. The array we wanted was near the center of the massive ship. I guess it hadn’t struck me as to how big the Planet Breaker actually was, but now, staring at the hundreds of jump points all over the ship, I realized it was huge. Like a small moon huge.
I shook off the thought as the orc next to me bobbed in the energy beside me. That wasn’t quite right since he was just a smear of color in the backdrop of my brain, but I knew it was him.
“I know where to go,” I said, but the primordial forces of the universe turned my words to raspberry jam. The blob seemed to understand, although I couldn’t have said why. Then it reached out toward me, and I felt the cold rush of Morg’s particles merging with mine.
Trying to push that sensation out of my brain, I directed my consciousness toward the array I wanted, and just like that, we were there. We didn’t travel linearly. Instead we sort of hopped from one spot to another like an electron changing shells.
As we settled into the new spot, cold rushed over me. A scream tore from my lips as we were spat backward out of the transporter. I hit the ground hard, pain rampaging through my body as my stomach roiled like I’d just been on a three-day bender.
Morg lay on the ground beside me, his huge body convulsing as he struggled to stand, failed, and tried again.
“What are you doing here?” an annoyed voice said to my left, and as I turned my blurry eyes upon the speaker, I found myself staring at another Corim.
This one had jet-black hair and was wearing a white gown that reminded me of a hospital smock. He had a giant flaming sword in one hand. He flicked it nervously through the air in front of himself as he took a step toward us.
“Go away,” I mumbled, whipping my hand out without thinking and unleashing a blast of Hellfire that hit him square in the chest. Magical energy crackled across his clothing before exploding in a burst of color and heat.
He collapsed forward onto his knees with a basketball-sized hole burned through his chest. More magic snapped and sparked from the burned edges of his costume as I turned away from the smell of burned meat and tried not to throw up.
“I hate teleporting,” Morg said, finally getting to his feet. He leaned heavily against the far wall. He swam in my vision as I looked over at him in time to see him wipe his mouth with the back of one hand.
“Me too.” I gestured back at the array. “Something about that is unnatural.”
Morg nodded. “I’ve been told it is quite unnatural.” He moved forward and offered me a hand. “They say the magic within this ship, and much of Vah’s was stolen. Part of the reason for his unholy war was power.” Morg sighed. “After all, who do you think got the lion’s share of the magic they ripped out of the half-bloods? Vah. He kept it for himself.”
“That’s terrible,” I cried, shutting my eyes as I tried to stave off a memory from my youth. I had met a siphon once, a person with the power to temporarily steal another’s powers. It was fine, for the most part, but well, we’d shared a kiss that had sucked me dry of my magic for a week. It had been horrible. I’d felt empty and broken, and as I recalled the memory, I knew why so many would rather die than lose their magic. That Vah had purposely done that to people was inexcusable.
“It was. That’s why Vah needs to be stopped.” Morg nodded as I got to my feet and approached the downed Corim. His tunic or whatever was still reacting to my spell, and as I knelt down to look closer, I could feel the way the fabric tried to suck away the magic. If I’d used a little less power, the fabric would have dispersed it harmlessly. That was good to know.
“I agree, but something has me worried.” I turned to look at Morg. “There’s not enough people here.” I gestured at the downed Corim. “And worse, I don’t feel any magic. At least not normal magic, not the kind of magic that would let me believe someone with the power to blow up a planet was here.”
“Let us hope that is true,” Morg said, tightening his grip on his chain-axe as he looked around the hall and sniffed. “Because we do not want to face Vah.” He cracked a hollow smile at me. “As much as I’d love to tear his still-beating heart from his chest, I fear we’d both be destroyed.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I said, shifting my sight back to the ethereal ribbons attached to my chest. “But I agree, let’s just get my crew out of here.”
I walked forward, following the glowing trail of color as it zipped off down the hallway. Now that we were back out of the field, the sense of innate wrongness pervaded my every sense, pushing against my brain and making it hard to control my power. With every step, my magic welled up inside me like an amorphous blob. As I reached out to touch the magic roiling in the air around me, it recoiled deep inside me like a scalded kitten, and that worried me. What if my magic didn’t do what I needed when the time came?
It made me glad I had Morg with me. While I might need magic to throw down, Morg didn’t need shit to engage in good old-fashioned fisticuffs.
“Something doesn’t smell right,” the orc said, glancing at me, one thumb sliding toward the button to engage the chain on his axe. “I can’t put my finger on what it is though.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, looking over at him. It was a little weird because I could see his shadow on the wall next to him, only some distortion of the light made it seem more hideous than the orc was. For one thing, he didn’t have fangs like that and…
“Get down!” Morg cried, launching himself sideways and tackling me to the ground as a burst of blue light swept through the air where my head had been. Crystalline trails of glittering frost filled the air over me as a being made of darkness stepped from the wall itself. Its eyes burned like haunted sapphires, and as it bared its fangs, hoarfrost crackled along the metal beneath its feet.
Gooseflesh sprouted on my arms even though I was wearing a Federation battle suit and hadn’t felt cold in it, well, ever really.
“Why are you here, ice wraith?” Morg asked, leaping to his feet in a burst of agility that would leave Bruce Lee jealous. He pointed his axe at the wraith as it hovered there all hungry and hate-filled.
“We are the masters of this ship,” it hissed in a voice that made me think talking snake. “It was our gift from the void.” Its steely eyes fixated on me. “Give us the girl, orc, and we will not suck the heat from your body.”
“Not happening,” Morg said, twisting something on the bottom of his axe. This time, instead of whirring to life, the blade on his axe began to glow with etheric green light.
The wraith shrieked, backing away, one arm raised to cover its eyes. Morg struck, his axe whipping out like a striking cobra and rending the wraith in two. Black fog erupted from the wound as it howled and twisted.
“Come on. We need to get out of here,” Morg said, holding a hand out to me as more wraiths popped into existence all around them, held at bay only by the light burning from the orc’s axe.
I didn’t argue. I grabbed Morg’s hand, allowing him to hoist me to my feet. Then we ran, him waving his axe around in a circle overhead, using the light like a torch to ward off a flock of hungry bats.
“What the fuck are those things?” I asked as frost chased us along the corridor. With every step we took, I could feel their ravenous eyes watching me. They wanted me, and while I didn't know what getting caught by them would entail, I was pretty sure it’d suck.
“Ice wraiths are the inhabitants of space. They’re drawn to tragedy and magic. A ship like this,” he gestured toward the Planet Breaker, “brings nothing but tragedy and is fueled by stolen magic. It is no surprise they are here.”
“Why wouldn’t Vah and his men get rid of them, then?” I asked as an icicle erupted from the space in front of us. Without missing a beat, Morg shattered it with his axe sending crystalline shards pinging off the walls.
“That is an excellent question. It was said Vah could control
them, so maybe he is not worried?” Morg shrugged, and as he did, I realized we had a problem. The wraiths had found the ribbons I’d used to tether myself to my crew, and what’s more, they were chewing on them like a bunch of damned mynocks.
“Get off my power cables,” I hollered, launching a lance of flame at the closest one. The bolt hit the creature in the face. Only instead of obliterating it, the thing’s body swelled with volatile energy like I’d just shoved an extra-large pizza with extra cheese down its throat. It let out a satisfied belch before drifting to the ground, sated.
“Don’t shoot them with magic,” Morg snapped, glaring at me. “That will just make more of them chase us.”
“A little late with the info share!” I cried, waving my hands frantically. “So how do I kill them?”
“You don’t,” Morg said, shaking his head. “They’re wraiths, just hunger made manifest.” He shook his axe, trying to clear a path through a group of wraiths that were floating in front of us, icy talons outstretched. As his blade hit them, it spilled more smoke across the ground, but it didn’t matter because more creatures filled the space, burying the glow of his axe with their bodies.
The wounded wraiths shrieked like the damned, but as the etheric light of the axe disappeared beneath the sacrificial wraiths, I felt the room come alive.
Wraiths came from everywhere. Icy air filled my lungs as I sucked in a panicked breath.
Then they were on me. Their mouths latched onto me, and their frozen tendrils tore at me. My magic writhed within my body as the creatures ripped it out one bite at a time. Pain unlike anything I’d ever felt before set my nerves aflame, and as my vision went pinprick small, I got pissed.
“No,” I snarled, reaching out toward the wraiths latched onto me with my power. As my magic touched them, I felt the spark of endless hunger within them. The thing was, I’d felt hunger a million times stronger when I’d held the Gideon Cube. No. these guys weren’t hungry. They were barely in need of a snack, and that wasn’t enough to eat me. Not nearly.
Planet Breaker: A Supernatural Space Opera (Witching on a Starship Book 2) Page 4