by Frank Morin
Verena tried for altitude, shooting into the air on full boost trying to leave the deadly monsters behind. Three bird monsters were winging after her, led by the giant eagle, and other monsters caught sight of her as she rose into the sky. They seemed to be closing from every direction.
She tried to control her rising panic. She couldn’t lose focus, had to think, but no option felt good. Verena glanced to her right, toward the military command building, but instantly discarded that idea. It was too far, and even if she fought through all the monsters between her and that possible safety, she’d never punch through the swarm of monsters already attacking the building.
The palace was also too far, and equally swarmed with scores of deadly monsters.
With no better option, Verena banked to her left and applied maximum thrust. She was burning through her thrusters with scary speed. They were enhanced versions, but such intense maneuvers consumed quartzite so much faster than normal flight. She was running out of time.
“Verena, what’s going on?” Rory demanded, his voice tight with concern. She had forgotten she’d left the line open.
“I’m under attack from all sides. Running out of options here,” she said, scanning the skies in every direction and checking the sightscreens positioned all around the Swift.
“Can you reach us?” Rory asked.
“Negative.” She was flying east, right into the flooded section of the city. At first it seemed the direction with the fewest direct threats. Fewer flyers were swarming over that area that was already mostly destroyed.
Water started erupting off the flooded streets, forming into slender water-bound monsters that extended grasping fingers of water so much farther than Verena thought possible.
Tallan help her, she was doomed.
Verena banked hard, spinning aggressively, and managed to avoid several watery tendrils, but more and more kept rising. She tried angling into the air, but flyers were closing from above. They’d rip her apart.
With a sinking feeling of dread, she realized there was no way out.
That made her angry, and she rotated the swift back down, aiming at a huge, water-bound monster that was rising on two dozen legs into the air toward her. Its entire torso opened into a jagged maw to swallow the entire Swift.
Verena fired her last missile.
It exploded inside the monster, shredding its watery torso into millions of glittering droplets. Verena shot through, grinning with what might be her final victory. They wouldn’t take her easily.
But the droplets didn’t blow off the outer edge of her shield. Instead they began to coalesce, gathering, joining, and reforming.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Verena groaned. She risked dropping the shield, and most of the water blew away, but some of it struck her in the face.
She yelped and brushed it away, reforming the shield, hoping that the water that landed inside the Swift was just water and not a mini summoned creature that would try biting her face as it reformed.
More water-bound rose into the air all around her, so she banked toward the eastern wall. If she could get past the wall, she could escape out over Merkland township and figure out how to best succor those trapped within the besieged city.
Except the wall was covered in water, and as she sped toward it, the entire expanse transformed into summoned creatures.
Verena screamed, unable to turn in time, and unleashed the last of her hornets. The little projectiles tore into the watery monsters, and she applied full thrust, hoping to burst through the hole.
She struck the wall of water with terrific force and it gave way. She plunged through and over the wall, shouting with victory.
Her cry died on her lips as her forward momentum slowed dramatically. The waters that she’d plunged through hadn’t bled away from her shield, but held on, like long fingers. More water was coursing up those fingers, reinforcing them and surrounding the Swift in a thin coating of impending death.
The speedslings were empty, her missiles gone. Verena activated the Puking Dooms. Flames tore through the waters beneath the Swift, and the entire craft shuddered, but did not break free.
She cut out the Puking Dooms and twisted the ship, trying to dive down through the hole she’d just blasted in the water, but the water returned too fast. It caught her and drew her back toward the wall where more monsters were forming.
Verena panted with fear, her hands shaking with cold panic. She blinked away tears, desperately scanning her diminished arsenal, trying to figure out how to escape.
She couldn’t think of anything.
The monsters were going to rip through her shield and tear her apart.
“Builder One is down. I don’t think I can escape this time,” she said, her voice hoarse and soft.
“Where are you? We’ll send reinforcements,” Rory offered, but it was a false hope and they all knew it.
“Don’t you dare give up,” Shona ordered sharply. That surprised Verena. She had expected Shona to gloat. She’d wanted Verena dead almost since the first time they met.
“My city is overrun. Don’t think you can avoid responsibility to help that easily, Builder. Fight, Tallan curse you. We all have to keep fighting!”
That rallied Verena a little, but as the watery fingers dragged her inexorably back toward the wall, she still couldn’t figure out what to do.
“Wait, maybe I can reshape my shielding in a way to allow me to escape through the hole,” she suggested.
“That’s the spirit. Do it,” Shona said.
It was a brilliant idea, offering one tiny hope, but Verena had waited a few seconds too long. The water holding her prisoner yanked her harder, ripping the Swift right out of the air and into the midst of the watery horde. Water slammed into the Swift from every side, shaking the shields and rattling the ship.
Verena screamed as the shield gave way and water plunged inside, ripping at her, tearing at her clenched lips, trying to pour down her throat and drown her. She thrashed within the grip of the waters, barely biting back a scream.
She activated a tiny personal shield. It sealed around her like a form-fitting second skin, driving the waters back for a second. It wouldn’t hold for long, but Verena would not surrender and let the monsters kill her.
Water slammed into her from every side. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t see, and felt like every muscle was getting pummeled.
“Oh, Connor, I’m so sorry,” she thought as crimson flames exploded through the waters all around the Swift. One of the other fire-bound monsters must have arrived to broil her.
Verena sat up straight and reached for her satchel, determined to fight to the end.
Abruptly the waters drained away and the Swift was tossed up into the clear air.
Verena was so shocked by the abrupt release that she almost forgot to activate thrusters. When she did, she accelerated away on full burn, racing away from the city. She didn’t stop until she flew out over the Merkland township on the far side of the river.
So far the township looked undamaged by the attack. When the monsters finished destroying Merkland, would they turn on the town too? Probably.
Only there, finally feeling safe enough to think she might survive after all, Verena ascended to five hundred feet and banked back around toward Merkland.
Instantly her eyes were drawn to the river wall that she’d just escaped. A man stood atop the wall, wreathed in full Dawnus glory. White-hot flames and ropy tendrils of deep blue water ringed him in a rippling, fast-spinning sphere.
He was striding down the wall, wielding fire and water like enormous blades as he systematically hacked apart all of the water-bound monsters clustered atop the wall.
Monsters swarmed him from every side, but he tore them all apart in a display of elemental mastery that rivaled anything Verena had ever seen.
He spoke, his voice coming through a speakstone in her cockpit. “Hey, did you miss me?”
“Ivor?”
43
Up th
e Creek, and It’s Burning
Verena cheered, despair washed away by the sight of Ivor’s return. “I thought we’d lost you.”
“I’ve been busy. Sorry it took so long to fight through to Merkland. You have no idea how many of these creatures I’ve had to dispatch,” he said, his voice calm even as he tore through elemental monsters charging in from every side.
Flames pierced monsters and they erupted into shrieking steam. Water harder than steel slashed through monsters’ heads, severed limbs, and simply ripped elementals apart. It was awe inspiring.
“I never imagined water could be wielded against water-bound like that,” she breathed.
Ivor chuckled as a big, blob-like monster exploded in front of him. “Neither did I until today. How’s the rest of the fighting?”
“Not good.”
“Well, I’ve got this side covered,” he said, and she exulted at his confident tone.
Then more water exploded up from the Macantact in an inverted waterfall. At first, Verena thought it was Ivor’s doing, but the wave plunged down over him and swept him right off his feet.
“Ivor!” Verena screamed as he tumbled, but continued fighting. His combined elements tore and ripped in every direction, but monsters were piling in like waves of an insane sea.
“Might take me longer than I thought,” he gasped.
Verena wanted to help, but she was mostly out of weapons. What could she do? She hated feeling helpless.
“Are you safe, Verena? Was that Ivor?” General Rory demanded. Behind him, the sounds of fighting were intensifying again.
“It was. He’s trying to regain the eastern wall.”
“Let’s hope he manages it soon. We need help. We’re under severe attack here.
“Here too. Palace main gates are breached. Intense fighting inside,” Shona said, sounding breathless.
Sounds of battle echoed through her line. Screams and shouts and monster roaring suddenly swelled. Shona shouted her battle cry and abruptly her connection cut out.
Verena couldn’t sit as an idle witness while all her friends faced annihilation. She needed more mechanicals, but all of the stores were in the city.
Wait, there might be some in the township. Verena banked around and plunged toward one of the huge, earthen warehouses that some of the Builders had used that winter.
“Lady Briet, do you have any ammunition remaining?”
“Negative. I wish there was more we could do,” came the immediate reply. Lady Briet sounded close to tears.
“There may be. Return to the township. We might be able to rearm from one of the warehouses.”
“On our way!”
Verena grinned as she plummeted toward the city. She only needed moments to rearm. Then she could rejoin the fight.
“Help! Is anyone there?” A desperate voice broke over the line.
“Who is that?” Verena demanded. She had thought she knew everyone on that line.
“Our commander is dead. I found this on his body. I’m with the Draw team. We’ve been overrun. Almost everyone is dead. The rest of us are trying to reach the citadel, but our last Sentry just reported that the monsters discovered civilian cavern sixteen. They’re breaking in!”
“Can you render aid?” Verena asked, horrified by the news. So far all the destruction of Merkland was mostly superficial. Buildings could be replaced, but she couldn’t stomach the idea of those monsters tearing into the masses of unarmed civilians.
“Negative. Every one of us is wounded and we’re under heavy attack. We can’t—”
The voice abruptly cut off in a scream. Verena briefly heard a monster roar, followed by a sickening crunching sound, then the connection broke.
Verena was only seconds away from the warehouse, only minutes from fully rearming. She stared longingly at the huge building and the promise of aid it offered.
If she took the time to rearm, she could better defend the cavern. How many civilians would die in those minutes?
Maybe the situation wasn’t as bad as she feared. She tried to link to the speakstones used in cavern sixteen, but got no reply. Was she already too late?
Verena banked the Swift and accelerated back toward the city. She simply couldn’t take the risk that her delay would seal their fate.
“I’m coming,” she whispered as she rocketed into the air to pass high above the embattled figure of Ivor.
Merkland spread below her, sections flooded, many buildings smashed to pieces, fires raging in dozens of locations. Dead littered the walls, while monsters roamed in destructive packs. At least a couple hundred monsters remained, most of them focused on attacking the few defender strongholds.
That fact offered Verena her one hope. Maybe only one monster had discovered the cavern. The Swift might be out of weapons, but she still had her satchel. She’d figure a way to destroy it and secure the cavern. Then she could return to the township to rearm.
Luckily no flyers seemed to have noticed her return to the city, and she dove toward the square on the southeastern quadrant of the city where cavern sixteen was concealed.
When she swooped around a tall, square tower, her heart sank. Three enormous earth-bound monsters were digging into the ground right above cavern sixteen. They were shaped like giant hounds, as big as wagons, with eight legs and fiery eyes.
Verena slowed to a hover, trying to figure out what to do. She doubted she could destroy those monsters if she landed, but she was currently useless from the air.
Without warning, something crashed into the top of the Swift, swatting it toward the ground so hard, Verena screamed. The restraints holding her into her chair tore at her shoulders. She fired the Puking Dooms, slowing her descent, but again the Swift was struck from above.
She finally glanced upward and groaned in new fear. It looked like the same huge eagle monster had returned to finish her off. It was directly above her, enormous talons gripping the Swift’s shield as it drove her down to the ground.
She crashed down hard, but the shield held. The earth-bound monsters nearby paused their work to glance in her direction. Verena wished they’d come fight the eagle for the right to eat her first.
They didn’t, but returned to digging. It looked like they’d encountered the first layer of shielding. It wouldn’t stop them long.
The eagle monster plunged its beak down and pierced right through the shield. The Swift seemed to scream as the monster ripped the roof right off and Verena stared up into the huge maw as it gaped wide that beak and shrieked so loud Verena screamed.
And she released a piece of quartzite that she placed beneath a piece of diorite.
Air exploded from the bottom of the quartzite, shooting it and the diorite up into that open beak in a makeshift missile.
It streaked right down the monster’s gullet before exploding.
That monster was filled with fire, so as the explosion ripped holes in the monster, flames poured out in a firestorm of destruction that tore the monster apart and boiled down over the Swift.
Verena activated her personal shielding and tapped blind coal. Flames filled the cabin, melting her controls and setting everything aflame. For a couple seconds, it passed harmlessly through her. She could feel it like a distant breeze, sliding somehow through her body but not quite able to gain purchase.
Then blind coal expired and Verena returned to herself.
Searing heat enveloped her, threatening to suck out her life, despite her last personal shielding. Blinded by fire and heat, unable to breathe, barely able to think, Verena pulled another piece of quartzite out of her satchel just as it disintegrated under her hand.
She activated the quartzite and air erupted from it. The makeshift thruster dragged her up out of the shredded remains of the Swift. Her restraints fell away, burning to tatters and she soared fifty feet before tumbling to the blessedly cool cobblestones of the plaza.
Behind her, the explosion exhausted itself and faded away, leaving her beloved Swift a blackened wreck.
Verena wanted to cry, but she was too busy staring at the eight legs of the nearest earth-bound monster as it turned toward her and fixed its glowing red eyes on her.
“That is so unfair,” she whispered.
The monster charged.
44
Some Days You Need a Friend with Bigger Guns
Verena was exhausted, winded, sore, and shell-shocked from nearly getting incinerated. Her personal shield was nearly spent, she was out of blind coal, and her satchel was gone.
So she struggled to her knees, her soot-covered hand grasping for the hilt of her sword. It might be a pitiful gesture, but she would not just lie there and let a monster eat her for breakfast.
The giant monster seemed as big as a house as it charged her, its eight thick legs shaking the ground like an avalanche. The square was empty, devoid of anything she could use as a weapon or as cover. All she could smell was smoke, her mouth was filled with it, and her ears didn’t seem to be working.
Her hand shook as she drew her sword and staggered to her feet. Raising it high she screamed, “Come on!”
The monster skidded to a halt, barely fifty feet away and turned in a surprisingly agile move, spinning in the other direction and charging back the way it had come.
Verena frowned. No way she’d scared it. She glanced back behind her, but saw nothing intimidating.
She turned back toward the retreating monster just in time to see it explode into a million bits of dirt.
She gaped as a figure burst right through the monster, their entire body blazing as if they’d swallowed the sun. Had she already died, but not realized it yet? Then she recognized the figure as he slid to a stop beside her.
Connor.
“Verena, are you all right?” Connor shouted.
“Connor? What are you doing here?” was all she managed to ask. She felt befuddled, in shock. The thought of sheathing her sword was more than she could manage, so she dropped it and stepped forward to throw her arms around his waist.