Cults of the Dragon Gods (Path of Transcendence Book 4)

by Brian McGoldrick

  * * * * *

  As the setting sun tints the clouds overhead with pink, we watch the submarine sink below the surface of the ocean from the deck of the Night Raven. I still have access to this sub's computer systems through Delphi, but the wards on the other seven Chinese subs are preventing it from spreading.

  I hope that nothing interferes with the launch of this submarine's nuclear missiles. As long as Delphi keeps sending the correct automated response, no one should think anything is wrong. From what I could find in the computers, Tie Quan and those like him on the other seven submarines are little more than glorified baby sitters. There is only a little over half a day until the missiles are launched, so with luck, no one form the Celestial Court will notice he is missing.

  Yeah, right. My luck is never that good.

  I show Duncrik a map on one of my burner cellphones. "Captain, we're here. This is the destination. Get us there as fast as possible. You can keep the cellphone."

  "Master?" Duncrik's face mirrors the wave of confusion emanating from him.

  Kanchek takes the cellphone and leads Duncrik toward the wheelhouse. "I'll show you how to use this. It's an interesting device."

  I look at the two cowards that came with Angelique. "You two give us the biggest tailwind you can manage. Take turn so that you can keep going for as long as possible."

  As their eyes shift between Angelique and myself, the pair of them have sullen looks on their faces, and auras of resentment surrounding them. Their worship of Talon is rapidly failing in face of the reality of Brand.

  "Yes, Master." The taller one's voice is barely more than a mumble.

  *** Central California – Earth ***

  Return: Day 354

  August 17, 2078

  (Brand)

  As we drop anchor over the Urehara Group complex on the north side of Fresno, the local time is just after 4:00AM. We have barely five hours to collect the patterning equipment and get clear of the direct effects radius of the warheads.

  "I'm going to borrow your girl and the two bobble-heads to open a hole in the roof."

  Angelique looks at Dacbold. "Why the three of us?"

  "That laser spell you used in the underground orc complex should vaporize most of the roof when I need a hole."

  Angelique does not hide her annoyed expression. "I don't need to cast the laser. I just don't use it because the spell is too clunky to make a useful weapon. Julious designed it."

  The raw indignation and resentment the taller of the two cowards directs towards Angelique almost makes me laugh. Pathetic losers like him get all bent out of shape when someone looks down on them, but when everything is on the line, they run away and cry in a corner.

  Dacbold looks at me. "Mind if I borrow her?"

  I look at Angelique. "Just bring her back. You can't keep her. She's mine, after all."

  As Angelique practically bounces up and down on her toes, her grin looks like it is about to split her head wide open.

  Dacbold sighs and shakes his head. "Come on, girl. We've got a lot of work to do and not much time to do it."

  *You are getting better at managing her.* Elan watches Angelique and Dacbold jump over the side of the Night Raven.

  As I sigh, I feel Dacbold's pain at dealing with Angelique and myself. *I wasn't managing her. It was the simple truth. She's mine, now. Nothing is going to change that.*

  Elan's satisfied smile seems to hold more than a hint of sadness, but she does not say anything else.

  In less than fifteen minutes, a beam of coherent white light bursts through the roof of the chip manufacturing building. Over then next five minutes, the laser turns most an area ten feet by twenty feet into gaseous matter. With the destruction of parts of two steel roofing trusses the area around the hole sags a bit but does not collapse. Being of a former Army Engineer, Dacbold must know his way around the construction and destruction of buildings.

  *Brand, I'm going to need you down here.* Dacbold's comment is in the raid channel.

  *Angelique, are you done burning up the roof?*

  *Yes, Master!*

  I jump over the side of the Night Raven and slip into the Shadow of the Od. Directing my fall through the hole in the roof, I drop to the ground with barely any impact and step out of the Shadow of the Od.

  Angelique stares with eyes so bright they are practically glowing, but I have no clue why. She does not have an aura of adoration or worship, which is the only thing I can of to equate that look with. Outside of obviously extrapolated causes for emotion in female, I have no clue how or why they think or feel. I would have as much luck guessing where the nearest inhabited world is in relation to Earth as understanding what goes on inside a female mind.

  I do not have the time to try and figure out what might be going on the twisted maze that passes for a female mind and join Dacbold next to the patterning machinery.

  "What do you need my help with?"

  Dacbold almost looks like he is about to smirk. "Heavy lifting. After me, you're the strongest one here, and I don't have time to find forklifts that can handle this stuff."

  The patterning machinery is bolted to the floor, and Dacbold squats down and starts unscrewing one of the bolts by hand faster than an Earth human could do it with a socket wrench. The power and network cables have already been disconnected and the machinery is silent.

  Steel is pain. Steel is cruelty. Trinity flows through me, and I

  The bolts are just common steel, and using the Symbols of Breaking, I turn one into rust. Using Trinity, the effects of the Symbol of Breaking seem to be greatly amplified over just using Mana. One after another, I destroy the rest of the bolts holding down the patterning machinery.

  Dacbold sighs. "I have got to learn how to use those Symbols properly."

  "If you want to practice using them, do it once we're back in Gor'achen. What's next?"

  Dacbold points at a steel pallet. "We put it on that and secure it."

  Dacbold gets a grip on the patterning machine from one end, and I take the other. Thing is about six feet wide and eight feet long, and it is heavy. I would guess it weighs between seven and eight thousand pound, but we do not have any trouble moving it. Threaded rods looking up from the surface of the pallet match the holes in the feet of the patterning machine perfectly.

  With the patterning machine in place, Dacbold nuts on the threaded rods and tightens them down by hand. After he finishes securing it, he takes steel beams and uses them to complete the other five sides of a cube.

  *Elan'fer'sha, we're ready for you to cast her spells.* Dacbold addresses Elan by name for the first time that I can remember. Like Thorrin, he tends to talk at her without addressing her, or he refers to her as the Wytch for my woman.

  A few minutes later, Elan floats through the hole in the roof with a levitation spell. Without saying anything, she takes out Power crystals and places them in holes and indentations in the pallet and the steel beams. Following behind Elan, Dacbold secure as each of the crystals with a small wire cage that he screws into the pallet or beam. With all the crystals in place, Elan walks around the pallet once more.

  After glancing at me with a faintly avaricious smile, Elan begins to weave the patterns for her spells. It takes her nearly a minute cast the spell and anchor it with one of the Power crystals. There are twenty-two crystals attached to the pallet, and she uses each one as the anchoring point for an individual instance of the spell.

  Having finished casting the twenty-two spells, Elan circles around the pallet again before taking out a staff. Seen through my pattern sight, the staff is clearly a Power focus. With the exception of her ritual magics to draw out my Power, I have almost never seen Elan use a Power focus.

  Power focuses serve two purposes for Casters. The first, which is obvious from the name, is to focus or intensify the Power of the caster. The second is really a side effect of the first, and it allows a Caster to remain in a single position while drawing a larger spell pattern. The Power that has been focused b
y the Power focus can be controlled over a greater distance with the precision necessary for weaving a spell pattern.

  Elan looks at Angelique. "Angelique, cast your flight spell on me with a duration of fifty hundredths."

  "Yes, Mistress."

  Angelique casts the spell in a few seconds, and Elan rises into the air and hovers over the patterning machine. After a few minutes, she begins to weave another spell pattern. Over the course of the next fifteen or so minutes, Elan slowly builds an extremely detailed spell pattern. This one connects to the twenty-two spell patterns attached to the Power crystals in a complex three-dimensional structure.

  As Elan activates her spell, the sphere of kaleidoscopic light Springs into existence around the pallet with the patterning machine. For about three quarters of a minute, the sphere pulses erratically, and then, it abruptly shrinks into a cube bounded by the power crystals on the pallet and the steel frame.

  Elan floats down and lands in front of me. The flow of Mana within her is little more than a turgid trickle, and her flushed skin is covered in sweat.

  Elan gives me a languid smile. "It is done. With those Power crystals to maintain the spells, that Delphi creation machine will remain isolated for the next year."

  I glance at the pallet with its kaleidoscopic cube of light. "What about after that?"

  "I can recast the spells again. If you can feed Mana into the Power crystals on a regular basis, that ward can be maintained indefinitely."

  Elan wraps her arms around my neck and rests her head on my shoulder. "I am tired."

  My dick immediately starts to get hard, but I redirect the flow of my blood. Now, we do not have the time to indulge in fucking.

  *Lower the winch!* Dacbold voices his command in the raid channel.

  On the Night Raven, the pair of winches that are normally stored in the cargo hold of been mounted on the deck. About thirty seconds later, two cables with chains hanging from them drop through the hole in the roof.

  Dacbold takes the chains and secures them to rings attached to each corner of the pallet. Jumping on top of the steel beams, he looks up toward the Night Raven.

  *Okay, haul it up!*

  With Dacbold writing on top of it, the pallet rises through the hole in the roof and disappears from my line of sight.

  "Fly us up to the ship, Angelique."

  "Yes, master!"

  On the deck of the Night Raven, the winches are moved to the open cargo hold, and Dacbold has the burlier gladiators help to move the pallet. It takes five of them to lift the opposite side of the pallet from Dacbold.

  After lowering the pallet into the cargo hold, Dacbold jumps down after it.

  "Captain, run out the Mana-cannons. Before we set sail, were going to bombard the building below until it's nothing but dust and metal fragments."

  "Aye, Master." Duncrik keeps his face completely expressionless as he gives orders to the crew.

  After a five minute wait, Dacbold returns to the main deck from the companionway. "Cargo is secured. Are we going to destroy the patterning machinery left behind?"

  As I glance over the rail of the Night Raven, I have a faint frown on my lips. "Of course. It's probably a moot point, but despite the incoming nuclear strikes, I'm not leaving the remainder of the equipment intact. Even without the patterning equipment, a researcher with sufficient knowledge would probably be able to unravel Delphi from just an active sample of the virus pattern."

  Dacbold shrugs. "It's no reason to not destroy it."

  "Captain, reduce the building to ash!"

  "Aye, Master."

  Crack. Crackle! Boom! Fwoomp! Boom! Crack! Boom!

  "Master, helicopters are headed this way!" Angelique's voice betrays her mixture of excitement and nervousness.

  After five minutes of bombardment, the production facility is little more than concrete dust and molten metal.

  "Captain, set sail to the west."

  "Aye, Master!"

  Since we never lowered the chameleon field, the most that the cruise of the incoming helicopters could have seen was balls and bolts of fire force and lightning appearing out of nowhere and landing on the building below.

  As the chaos surrounding the Urehara Group complex grows distant to our stern, I head for the companionway with Elan and Angelique.

  "Captain, that course for Santa Rosa Island."

  "Aye, Master." Duncrik takes out the cell phone I gave him earlier and starts searching for Santa Rosa Island.

  Closure

  *** Southern California – Earth ***

  Return: Day 354

  August 17, 2078

  (Brand)

  The captain's cabin is standing room only. Besides myself, Elan, and Angelique, there are four others sitting at the table: Dacbold, Kanchek, Valcrit, and Duncrik. Between the table and the forward wall of the cabin, there is a group of another dozen people made up of gladiators and guards from the Blood Rose Stable and the ship's officers.

  "Captain, how effective would the Night Raven's weaponry be against a dragon?"

  "Is the question theoretical, Master?"

  "No. We might be fighting a dragon."

  With his eyes wide open and his lips parted, Duncrik's surprise is visible on his face before he schools his features into the emotionless mask that he normally tries to maintain. "A Dragon is large enough that our Mana-cannons will have little trouble hitting it. The problem will be how strong the Dragon is. The higher its Path of Transcendence, the less likely we will be able to hurt it."

  "Assume that it will not be over the Third Circle of Coalescence."

  Duncrik frowns. "For her weight, the Night Raven is one of the finest airships I have ever seen. We would probably kill a dragon that strong, but the airship is likely to suffer severe damage in the battle. With you, the Mistress, the Dvergar, and your followers, we might do better. I don't know the level of your skills."

  If the dragon that Tie Quan mentioned has been on Earth for more than the past week, it is safe to assume that it is only in the Third Circle of Coalescence, but if it is a newcomer it could be much more powerful. The presence of Yggdrasil's drive made it more dangerous for those with a higher Circle of Coalescence to be on Earth, but with it gone, the Feathered Sky Lords might have sent a higher Circle dragon.

  "They said that if they did not return before time was to leave without them." Elan's soft voice breaks the heavy silence in the Captain's cabin.

  I do not try to hide my frown. If it was just Pancho, I would abandon him without a second thought. I never had issues with him, but we were never had much contact outside of the major battles. The idea of leaving being Thorrin behind, in the claws of dragons, sticks in my craw. He is the only Damned that ever tried to be my friend. I cannot make myself believe that I do not owe it to him to, at least, attempt to rescue him.

  "No. I'm not leaving without trying to get them back. If we fail, they we'll get off this shithole before the second was of nukes."

  Elan leans back in her chair. "I cannot probe that island with scrying. There are hundreds of wards all over it. When I saw the state of that island, I pulled back without trying to penetrate their wards. If I were to attempt to circumvent them, I would be certain to make a mistake and warn whoever set one or more of the wards that they were being spied upon. Without penetrating the wards, I found a manor house on the northeast peninsula of the island, but I could not identify where they might keep their prisoners."

  Going into an enemy camp blind does not particularly bothered me, I have done it many times in the past, but the presence of a dragon could turn everything upside down. I have both heard and read a great deal about dragons in the Battleground of the Damned and the Lands of Despair, but to my knowledge, I have never had direct contact with any of them. At least, some dragons have the ability to take on a human form, and they are supposed to be among the stronger of the dragons. Since this one is on Earth, it should be a dragon that has that ability.

  My frown deepens. "Will approach Santa Ro
sa Island from the north and lower the chameleon field when we're still a few miles out. I want the gunports open and the Mana-cannons manned, but no one is to open fire without my express command. All the marines and sailors should be armed and ready to repel boarders."

  I look around the faces in the room, and while there are no signs of outright fear, a few of them appear slightly anxious. I suppose it is to be expected. It is not every day that you openly fly into the lair of a dragon.

  "If the lizard returns Thorrin and Pancho, we'll leave without fighting, but if it doesn't, I intend to take them back by force. Are there any questions?"

  My plan, if you want to call it that, is simple, and no one voices any questions. Considering that I am the one asking, there might be a few among them that have questions but are afraid to ask them. If that is the case, they have no right to complain later.

  "Good. Captain, I want to hit the shore of the island at 8:30AM local time."

  Duncrik takes out his cell phone and glances at the time on the display. "Aye, Master. I will adjust the airship speed accordingly."

  "Everyone is dismissed. Get your people ready. Valcrit, wait a moment."

  With the exception of Valcrit, Elan, and Angelique, the rest of them file out of the cabin.

  Steel is pain. Steel is cruelty.

  I use pattern sight to inspect Valcrit. As best I can tell, there is no change to the damage to his pattern.

  "Master?" Valcrit's face is expressionless, but his voice carries an obviously querying tone.

  "If you can avoid it, do not get directly involved if there is a battle. Whatever Tie Quan did to you, it is left visible damage in your pattern for your Soul. I do not know enough to guess what the results will be if you use your Psi too much or if you are on the receiving end of an attack directed at your Soul."