Reality's Plaything 4: Savants Ascendant

by Will Greenway

  **Do you think they were watching back in the park?**

  **Probably.**

  **You should get security to clear them out,** Tal said. **Last thing we need is a bunch of battle voyeurs.**

  **The order is already in,** Marna confirmed.

  **Damn waste of time,** Tal grumbled. He leaned into a fast trot up the street.

  The rest of the forward team increased their pace to stay with him. Bannor leaned into a jog as well, he felt the pressure of time even if they had only been on the move for half a bell.

  At the end of the street lay a circular complex with a high domed roof. Crystalline tubes similar to the ones they had come in only smaller ran up out of sight and through the walls of the enclosure. The stairs running up around the periphery and the marble-appearing columns reminded Bannor of a combat arena.

  As they topped the steps Bannor saw that the entire structure was a circle of archways, all of which gave off a soft blue light.

  Tal stopped at the nearest opening and punched on a rectangular panel positioned by it. A pulsation and a humming came from the glowing arch, and for a moment the air flickered and rippled like the surface of water.

  **Goin in,** Tal said. He stepped into the opening and vanished in a flash of light.

  There was perhaps a half breath of time in which the whole team seemed to tense up.

  **Landing zone looks clear,** Tal said. **I think our hostess is getting impatient. She rerouted gate drop to a platform barely a stone throw from the target. Come on down.**

  Loric moved in with Desiray and Terra close behind. Dulcere and Daena stepped in only moments after.

  **Team One, clear,** Dulcere advised.

  **Team Two move up,** Aarlen ordered.

  Bannor drew a breath, crossing the street, and climbing the steps to the portal. Dominique stayed at his shoulder.

  “Don’t think about it,” she advised. “Just step in.”

  Heart thudding, he leaned into the last few steps and pushed into the shimmering surface. There was an icy feeling like he had pushed his face into a snowbank and a ripple of static hummed through his clothing. Threads whirled and flashed around him. For an instant there was a brief sense of falling, stars seemed to rush up at him from a black abyss, then light flared around him and he stumbled down onto something metallic that clanked underfoot.

  Warm hands gripped his arm to steady him. He looked into Daena’s glowing green eyes. She smiled at him and he smiled back.

  He stepped down off the platform as the archway behind him hummed and shimmered. Dominique seemed to step out of a pool of rippling reflective metal. Tiny bolts of lightning seemed to crackle along her skin as she passed through the surface and clumped down onto the landing pad.

  Bannor looked around. They stood in a railed circle perhaps twenty paces across. Boulders and trees overgrown with ferns and moss surrounded the structure. Water cascaded through rocks nearby sending a spray down over the far side of the circle. The area smelled of age and living things, the air cool and wet.

  He noticed Daena looking up to a point behind him. He turned and craned his neck up. A vertical spire jutted out of the landscape, its summit shrouded in clouds, its polished sides reflected the verdant surroundings, lakes, rivers, and dense forests. Somewhere at the top of that colossal structure Wren waited for them.

  Tal snorted. “Prettiest damn place I ever faced death in.”

  * * *

  Chapter Five

  Armed Tactical Negotiations

  « ^ »

  After the first time I kissed him, I always thought of Bannor as mine. He brought me out of darkness and led me to a life among friends and sweet affection. He can marry Sarai or a dozen other women, it cannot change the fact that he was meant for me. It might take a while, but I will make it true. After all, I’m immortal now, and I have all the time in the universe…

  —Daena Sheento,

  Ward Prodigal of Malan

  Surrounded by vegetation, a pale sun glowed overhead in a cloud-dappled sky, it was impossible to envision where they stood was not just some strange locale on Titaan, the world of his birth. The reflective spire jutting up through the clouds, its base surrounded by lakes and rivers made the wild possibility more believable.

  It was as Tal had said, a most beautiful place to confront death. The rocky sloping terrain saturated with thick vegetation, laced by watercourses and dotted with lakes and ponds was a defender’s paradise. A creature could vanish in five steps in the thick undergrowth. Hard cover was abundant. The numerous waterfalls provided obscuring noise to cover movement.

  Bannor doubted any confrontation would occur out here. The mammoth structure with its hundreds of levels and chambers was the most likely battleground.

  “Quite a place,” Loric breathed.

  Aarlen, Damay and Idun stepped from the portal onto the platform behind Marna. The four of them stepped down to the surrounding deck.

  The white-haired Magestrix thumbed the comm. on her neck. **Team Two, clear.**

  **Acknowledged,** Eclipse answered. **Team Three move up.**

  In moments, Algernon appeared on the platform in a crackle of energy. Ziedra and Radian soon after. Last came Eclipse. The burly Kriar male stepped down to the platform and surveyed the area with glowing blue eyes. He frowned. He turned to the gate and punched something on the panel, the glow of the archway dimmed to black, the hum it made going silent.

  The Kriar warrior looked around at the terrain, brow furrowing in thought. He looked up to the massive spire. “Teams, we go airborne from here.”

  One by one, the team members reached in to jackets, cast spells, or activated devices, and rose off the ground. Damay, using her nola, swept into the air with a thump of vibration that rumbled through the structure underfoot.

  Ziedra drifted over and cast the spell of flight on himself and Daena again.

  “Oh yes, thanks Lady Zee!” Daena burbled. “Next thing I learn, it’s going to be how to fly on my own!” She swooped up and did a flip in the air. She grinned and looked down at Bannor.

  He drew a breath, the magic humming around his hands and feet and rose a few paces into the air. He had to admit the flying was growing on him. After spending all the time in the citadel airborne and under his own volition, the weightless feeling no longer made his stomach sour. There definitely was a freeing sensation to be able to move any way he wanted with little more than a thought and a sway of his balance.

  **Team one, move out,** Dulcere signaled.

  Tal accelerated away from the platform, and shot out over the vegetation-choked landscape. Loric, Desiray, and Terra followed only heartbeats after. The group moved fast, easily two or three times the speed of a galloping horse. Daena and Dulcere hissed out after them in a flutter of wind blown clothing.

  He swallowed, counted to five, and urged himself after them. Ziedra’s powerful flight magic had him moving far faster than he ever wanted to go in just a few heartbeats. Fast as that seemed to be, with the rocks and trees whipping by underneath him, he was already falling behind.

  “Come on,” Dominique urged. She took hold of his arm and pulled him faster so the air was nothing but a roar of speed in his ears.

  Ahead of him, Daena seemed to be having the time of her life, arms outstretched and sweeping around Dulcere as the Kriar woman flew arrow straight over the landscape, hair flying in the wind.

  He glanced back. Marna cruised along behind them perhaps a dozen paces back, face composed, arms behind her back.

  Aarlen, Idun, and Damay flew in a triangular pattern, their expressions serious and bodies taut.

  Algernon and the rear guard all seemed comfortable with flight and dipped through the uneven terrain with fluid precision.

  Tal did not track straight toward the immense edifice, halfway there he dropped lower and shot down into the valleys and cuts between the hills. The rest of the assault team were forced to follow a snaking high-speed slalom down river courses and shallow rock-studded valleys. Th
e big man’s speed did not slow, if anything, he speeded up—mist and dust forming spinning vortices as he streaked ahead.

  Dominique, obviously a veteran of such maneuvers pulled Bannor through the careening rise and fall of the darting dodging course.

  Ahead of them, Daena was less joyous, the tight maneuvering obviously taking all her focus. What surprised Bannor was that she could do it at all. Without Dominique to help him, he would have long ago eaten a tree or boulder.

  Another glance back showed the rest of the team smoothly mirroring the gyrating flight.

  **That’s enough sight seein’,** Tal rumbled on the comm. **I saw enough. Shall I spike?**

  **Copy Lead One,** Dulcere’s voice responded.

  **Acknowledged,** Aarlen answered.

  **Affirmative, Lead One,** Eclipse replied. **Go for spike.**

  “Hold on,” Dominique told him.

  Hold on? They were going to go faster?! They were bloody ripping the leaves off the trees now! Bannor’s heart, already beating fast, picked up to hammering gallop.

  Ahead of them, Tal drew out his sword, and then gripping it ahead of him tightened his body into a hard line and accelerated away from the lead team. Contrails spiraled off the hilt and tip of his sword as he shrieked into a climb, fired into the sky as though from crossbow.

  Loric, Terra, and Desiray did not follow him, but fanned out, also increasing their speed and climbing toward the summit of the high tower. Dulcere and Daena stayed together, only angling up slightly and steering as though to circle the tower.

  **Spotter going high side,** Dominique spoke over the comm.

  **Go.** Aarlen answered.

  “Grab your stomach,” the pale-warrior told him.

  Bannor didn’t have time to even wonder what she meant as a flare of light surrounded them, and the threads of the universe spun and flickered. The two of them plunged down through darkness and immerged high above the terrain some hundreds of paces above the pinnacle of Quasar’s immense fortress.

  “Ack.” Bannor grabbed the side of his suddenly aching head. “What…”

  “Focus,” Dominique ordered gripping his shoulders. “Look for enemies.”

  As he looked down, he noticed the entire tailing anchor team had vanished.

  “The spike maneuver is something we’ve practiced,” Dominique explained looking over his shoulder. “The intent is draw out the enemy and shake any pursuit. The lead team splits up, the striker/spotters go to high ground, and the tail guard goes stealth active to flank anything that’s flushed out.”

  Bannor dove into his thread vision. Instead of looking for enemies, he listened. The powerful and clever alien magicians had developed the most perfect concealment imaginable. However, he had seen the way that powerful magic bent and twisted the threads of reality. The ether itself resonated as it was warped by those strange forces. So, while he couldn’t yet ‘see’ them, he could detect their presence from the vibration of the threads the armor disturbed in its passing.

  It had been such a short time since the Baronian attack at Kul’Amaron, a little over two bells. He didn’t expect the creatures to have mobilized an attack.

  His stomach twisted as he witnessed eight trails of disrupted threads now scattering across the landscape.

  **Frell,** he murmured into the comm.. **Eight enemies, but I can’t—**

  **Dom, sense-link him now!** Aarlen ordered.

  Bannor felt the pale woman’s hands tighten on his shoulders, and suddenly the cool woman’s presence was in his mind. Like a misty ghost she seemed everywhere in him at once, making his whole body tingle. He felt threads spin out from him, spearing across distance to every other member of the assault team.

  The sky all over the valley seemed to ignite as magic and Kriar weapon blasts shrieked out at each of the concealed targets.

  Half the now fleeing spies simply disintegrated under the horrendous assault. The other half where smashed out of the air to slam down into the lakes and ravines near the base of the tower.

  The previously invisible anchor team, aided by Aarlen, Idun and Damay fell on the staggered opponents. Bannor could tell from the size and power of the enemy threads that these were Baronians and they were not common foot soldiers but elites with the powerful auras he’d come to associate with elders.

  The point team also came shrieking out of the sky to assist as these last enemies fought back.

  Against any other group, those four aliens might have been able to fight clear, but under the concentrated assault of Loric, Aarlen, Idun, and Euriel, backed by the Eclipse and Dulcere and the others, they were simply overmatched. In a span of a long breath, the huge warriors were down, with the black stealth armor stripped off them.

  **Well done,** Eclipse commended. With them so far below Bannor couldn’t really make out any details but he could feel the ancient Kriar looking up at him. **Our thanks, Bannor.**

  Bannor heard clapping come over the comms. **Excellently performed,** A cool female voice that was unmistakably Quasar’s. **That should shake any confidence they might have had remaining in their stealth abilities.** There was a pause. **You should hurry up here to the aerie, they’ll feel pressed for time now that their agents were discovered.**

  He looked down to the building below and located the balcony where he and Daena had entered only a short time ago. With a growl in his throat he dropped toward the open windows and landed with Dominique behind him.

  Quasar stood in the opening with arms folded, dressed in some kind of heavy red armor, far more bulky than what she wore at the way-point. She had one of the large weapons over her shoulder and a mark VI on either hip. Her long hair was braided and clamped. She had painted black patterns on her face, and highlighted her glowing eyes with white outlines to make her look even more fierce than she already was.

  Further in the room, Bannor saw Wren and Azir stand up. The two of them were also wearing armor that looked significantly more sturdy than the simple torso protection given to himself and the others.

  “Welcome,” Quasar said. “Rather lightly armed to fight a war.”

  “We weren’t interested in fighting your war,” he growled. “Wren are you and Azir okay?”

  “Fine,” Wren answered. “What’s happening?”

  “I don’t know yet, but this place will probably be swarming with Baronians in just a bit.”

  “Quasar, let them go,” Dominique said in a low rasp. “You got your frelling wish… we’re here.”

  Behind Dominique, members of the assault team started landing on the balcony. First to hit the ground was Euriel, closely followed by Idun, Damay, and then Vanidaar.

  Euriel was a study in fury as she stormed toward Quasar. “Spawn of Fenris, I’ll have your head for this…”

  Wren sprinted forward. Quasar who made no move to impede her as the blonde savant intercepted her mother three steps from the Kriar warrior.

  “Mother, no!” Wren hugged the powerful woman. “I’m okay, she didn’t hurt us!”

  “We will have an apology for this effrontery,” Idun said, stopping to put a hand on Wren’s shoulder. The goddess’ eyes burned as though aflame, and a golden aura of magic licked and sparked around her body. “Else we will have your life.”

  Azir, keeping an eye on Quasar and a hand on the sword at his side, moved past her to step next to Idun. He put a hand on the goddess’ arm. She glanced down at him and then glared at Quasar.

  Behind the Kergatha family, the rest of the assault team took up positions on the huge balcony which could easily hold four times their number.

  Quasar stared into Idun’s eyes and raised an eyebrow. “My apologies for using your grand-daughter in such a fashion. The need was great and she and Azir were by far the best catalysts to serve that need.”

  “Devil you,” Vanidaar snarled. “You had no right. You could have asked.”

  The Kriar shrugged. “If only I could have. You are here because only under emergency tenets could the Vatraena assemble such a team to
fight within the bounds of Homeworld. An unfortunate truth is that most of my brethren are cowards—especially our leaders. Excepting perhaps the Vatraena herself.” She looked to Idun. “If you wish my life, you may have it, but slay the Baronians first.”

  Eclipse strode around the back of the group and stepped up beside Bannor. He focused glowing blue eyes on Quasar. The burly Kriar folded his arms and stared at the female with a tilted head. “Since you value your life so little, will you give it to me instead?”

  Quasar glared at him for a moment, then the hard lines of her face softened, and her lip trembled. A single tear squeezed out and trickled down her jeweled cheek. She swiped at it viciously. “You already have my life! You took it with you when you left. You and your dark forsaken ‘doing the right thing’. This is the right thing, damn you, and you know it.” She stared at Marna. “You needed an emergency, a potential scandal, a disruption with a high ranking family in order to take the permissions you needed to get these killers before they get us. You have it. All you needed was a martyr.” She slammed an armored fist against her chest. “Here I am! As I have been a thousand times before, ready to lay down my life to protect a flock of worthless stargazing cowardly sheep!”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “Don’t I?” Quasar seethed. “Ask your own daughter! She fought in a war that almost killed our entire people. She faced death, dishonor, and worse. Why? It was because the leadership and its citizens were too weak—too afraid—to stand up to some pompous aggrandizing fool with a violent streak. He dragged us down into darkness Marna—and you let him. We’ve picked up the pieces, but the same stick-our-heads-in-the-sand cowardice that nearly destroyed us before is still there on the brink of doing it again!”