“Can you feel anything?” Yeel asked him.
“No,” the man croaked.
“I’m terribly sorry. There’s nothing I can do,” Yeel said. “The man is Uncir. I remember him.”
Uncir looked up at Yeel.
“My life ended in the garden. You gave me life for a while again, and I’m grateful.”
The man shook in pain.
“Please punish the Meridalae. The pain is—”
He shivered again, then passed out.
“Is he dead?”
“He will be soon,” Yeel said. “The neural pathways have been damaged.”
Jymoor shook her head, but when she spoke, there was only confidence.
“We have to continue. And quickly.”
“Through the upper archway,” Yeel said. “The lower one ahead of us is a trap.”
“You remember?”
“No. It’s only logical.”
“Well, I see no stair.”
“That thing has some kind of a ladder it can put down from its perch. But now it’s dead. I can lift one of you up there to look around.”
Jymoor shrugged. She walked down toward the door but stopped under the outer edge of the balcony. Yeel lifted her up.
“It’s so odd how you do that,” she said from above.
Yes. I project one image into your mind, yet you see me perform feats impossible with my illusory body.
“Beware! There may be other enemies nearby,” Yeel called up.
“I don’t think…oh wait, I have it.”
A set of stones extended from the wall to the right, forming a crude stair. Tiny streams of water poured from its edges. Yeel slid up.
He examined the balcony. The exit was merely a stone archway heading out to a wet corridor. A small pool of water had formed on the balcony. The walls nearby wept water slowly. Before Jymoor, a mess of a creature was all that remained of the guard.
As the Companions ascended the slippery stair, Jymoor and Yeel went further into the lair. The dark corridor split once, then a few paces later it split to the right again.
“Which way?”
“We have to send some each way,” Yeel said. “We don’t want any to escape on this world. No doubt they have means of traveling to other worlds in their main shrine, but we can’t help that.”
“Split up into three even groups?”
Yeel put the impression of a shake of his head into their minds.
“I think the shrine will be directly ahead, the deepest point in the lair. These side passages are probably not as important. I would ask five to go to each side and make sure no Meridalae there make any escape. Be mindful there may be prisoners from your world here, or from any world for that matter. If there’s any confusion, bring them to me afterward and I’ll determine their innocence.”
“I’ll go to the right,” offered a strong man in chain mail. Yeel had carefully remembered his name as Rodan of Mountover. Yeel saw that Rodan wore some of the dense weave fabric under the chain mail. Apparently, Rodan wanted a double layer of protection.
“You are armed?” Master Kasil asked.
The man held up a loosely clenched fist.
“The sword is invisible to all but the wielder. Yeel gave it to me,” the man said.
“Ah yes, that sword came to me from the distant—”
“Excellent!” Jymoor hissed, cutting Yeel off. “Will any join him? Four more?”
Four other Companions nodded or raised their weapons, moving behind the first.
“Then me and my brother can try the left,” a soldier offered. Yeel had remembered him as Captain Carmar. Another man stood at his side. It was his brother, Grael Carmar. Two more men and a woman joined them in the passageway.
“Good luck to you all,” Jymoor said softly. The large group of Yeel and nine Companions, including Jymoor and Master Kasil, moved forward down the central tunnel.
Yeel took the lead. The tunnel headed deeper underground. Rivulets of water flowed down the walls and the gentle sloping floor. It got darker, then lighter as a glow grew brighter from ahead. The tunnel emptied into a larger cave or chamber. The inside of the room was obscured by a low wall that forced a right turn at the entrance.
Yeel raised his tentacle.
“One moment,” he thought at them.
Yeel plucked a good eye from his ridge, then tossed it solidly away. The eye bounced off the stone floor and rolled into the next room.
Quan lay in wait inside. Yeel saw them and a low, chitinous creature with many legs.
Apparently they’ve been preparing for us. That’s their master. And that’s the one who’s dangerous.
“Quiet. It’s a trap for us. I’ll clear the way, then come in ready for a fight,” Yeel put into their minds. Yeel tossed a firebomb into the room. The flash of light was impressive. Yeel supposed the Companions would be able to smell the smoke, though he could not.
Yeel rushed into the room. One of the Quan had been hit by the bomb and lay smoking on the floor.
The other Quan moved in on Yeel and his Companions near the entranceway where they poured in. Yeel projected the image of himself growing larger, more fearsome. The tips of his tentacles grew into giant venomous spikes. He hissed like a wicked creature come to kill everyone nearby.
The Quan edged away from him, but they still engaged his Companions on the flanks. Yeel didn’t pay them any attention. He focused on the crab-like being behind them. He tossed his last firebomb in its direction, simultaneously shifting to conceal his next vlure sphere.
The creature chittered at him and moved aside. The firebomb failed to detonate. Another bolt of violet energy shot toward Yeel. This time he was ready with the vlure. The bolt struck his tentacle holding the sphere. Yeel felt a sharp pain as the energy bit into him, then receded as the vlure absorbed it. It cracked and opened in his hand, sending a small white form shooting toward the crab-thing.
The effect was immediate. The crab-thing scuttled and chittered, then flipped upside down, its legs waving like an overturned bug.
Jymoor and the others chopped up the Quan in short order. By the time they’d gotten to the crab-thing, it was dead. Yeel picked a few tools and reagents from the corpse.
Not sure what all this is. But I can categorize the spoils later.
“I’m confused, Yeel,” Jymoor said as she surveyed the room. “Some of these weren’t killed by us.”
Yeel looked around. Jymoor referred to several bodies at the perimeter, in bays against the stone wall. Most of them floated in small pools, though two of them had been taken out and put onto flat tables.
“The Meridalae may have tortured them. Perhaps they resisted. You see, the Quan were once a free and respectable people just like the citizens of Riken. Then the Meridalae got a hold of them. Took over their world,” Yeel said.
“Now the Meridalae are doing something horrible to them.”
“Some kind of experiments?” Master Kasil asked.
Yeel looked over the specimen before them. Its outer integument had been split open down the middle to allow access to its vitals. Yeel examined the scene carefully. Bits of arcane apparatus were spread about the corpse.
“They were working on this poor Quan to augment their control over him,” Yeel concluded. “With these devices in place, the creature’s life is in their hands. If the Quan disobeys, then death will result. This is the ultimate goal of the Meridalae: to enslave all worlds. To eliminate all resistance, to crush any chance of fighting back.”
“Those Quan I killed…they weren’t interested in harming us. They were simply forced into service.” Yeel couldn’t see Jymoor’s face, but he detected sorrow in her tone.
“You were given no choice. But we can stop this here and now. Kill the Meridalae and destroy this lab. Close the portal.”
“You said the portal would be at a shrine? It’s not here anywhere, is it?” Master Kasil asked.
“No. And we should look for it in a moment. It’s just that…there is still somethin
g of…interest, here somewhere…” Yeel moved around the vats, looking for a row of jars. At the same time, he watched for himself from the preserved eyeball. He saw a blurry bit of movement near the jar as he slid through the room.
“Something…of mine.”
Yeel approached a shelf of jars. The shadows moved toward the eye.
“There you are,” Yeel said picking up the jar.
“What are you doing?” asked Jymoor.
“You don’t want to know. Give me but a moment,” Yeel asked.
This will be unpleasant, but must be done I think. This eye has been useful, yet disturbing. The chemicals have somehow tainted its view.
Yeel unstopped the jar and drew the eye out. Nausea washed over him. Without thinking it over, he put the eye onto the shelf, then smashed it with the jar.
Arrrrrrrghhh.
Jymoor watched him patiently. A tremor flitted through Yeel.
“I’m ready now. Proceed,” he said. The brevity of his statement was almost as painful as smashing his old eyeball. Jymoor led the Companions to a tunnel at the far side of the room.
The passageway beyond headed steadily downward. It was dark. The sounds of trickling water mixed with their footfalls. Up ahead, the corridor widened a bit. A glowing sphere lit the wider tunnel.
“I have a vague memory,” Yeel thought to them. “This is it. We’re almost to the shrine.”
“Everyone ready your weapons. I’ll go first,” Jymoor said.
“Ideally, we would have had the vlure deployed more quickly.”
“There’s no way you could have known. Yeel, give me the last one.”
“What?”
“Give it to me.”
“The moon armor may awaken it.”
“Do you see a moon in here? Of course not.”
“Still, the armor might be powerful enough to make it hatch.”
“Life comes with no guarantees. I’ll take the risk. We need to make sure it’s ready instantly if we need it. I’ll be holding it, and I’ll be in front. Whatever comes, it’s going to come right at me. I’m very conspicuous in this armor. The next Meridalae we see is going to hit me with whatever they’ve got.”
“Please don’t die. I don’t like to use the Balancer.”
“Your concern is so touching.”
“I mean, I don’t like it when you die.”
“That’s a tad better. I won’t die. Just be ready.”
Yeel handed her the vlure.
She held it for a moment. “I feel something odd in it,” she said.
Yeel pulled an old eye off his ridge and held it close to the vlure. The sphere wobbled a bit. An oily sheen moved on its surface.
“It’s growing!” Yeel observed. “We must hurry! I’m moving to the back. I realize this may seem like a cowardly act and may induce feelings of betrayal in all of you, but I assure you I have a plan to help us, which can only be implemented if I’m the last to enter. The most important part, is, very simply, don’t look back. Rest assured I am not saying that to cover my own shameful retreat, but rather because I intend to blind our opponents, which I can only do if none, or at least very few, of you, are looking back…”
“Sounds good. Don’t worry, we trust you. I know you won’t abandon us.”
Jymoor took the lead again, this time at a much faster pace. Her sword was drawn in her right hand, the vlure rested in her left. Yeel fished a thick black wand out of his pack and held it ready in two tentacles.
Such a huge risk. The vlure is maturing with every step she takes.
The corridor widened again as they advanced. The ceiling became vaulted above them. A huge chamber opened up only a few paces beyond.
Standing above the entrance on a stone stair, a tall man in a maroon robe raised his arms.
“Above you!” Yeel warned Jymoor. “Slightly to the right…”
Thin flames appeared, roiling in the air between the man and the Companions. Yeel knew the power would explode toward them at any moment. But Jymoor held the vlure.
Jymoor’s bravery has likely saved us all. I wouldn’t want to trade places with that—
Jymoor raised her hand in front, letting the rising flames caress the vlure she held. A tiny white creature erupted from the orb and flew straight for the mage’s face. It had several small limbs like a bone-white hand that clenched themselves around his head.
The mage screamed so horribly it rattled Yeel’s brain. It was like the metabolic rush of his stimulant sac when surprised by an oplex worm or when a xorgior wraith darted out of a shadow toward his eye ridge.
Yeel saw blood then looked away. The mage hit the ground with a dull thud.
“Charge!” Yeel commanded. The Companions ran into the shrine. Yeel didn’t take stock of the enemies; as soon as he entered, he snapped the wand in half and pointed both ends away from himself.
White-hot light flashed out over the entire shrine. The lines of the huge chamber melted and joined until there was nothing but a uniform bright glow from all directions. The Companions slowed, momentarily blinded, but they recovered quickly.
The shrine was huge. Massive greenish stones formed the walls. Four thick pillars of stone rose to support the ceiling at five times Yeel’s height. A stone stadium covered most of one wall facing a set of altars and the world portal below. The portal looked very much like Yeel’s roveportal entrance. It flickered with a dim light.
Several other humans or humanoids staggered about, covering their eyes. It was clear most of them were helpless. The Companions leaped to the attack while they held the advantage.
Yeel caught sight of one decidedly nonneutralized enemy. A large spider-like being, with about a dozen long spindly legs, each as long as a human, stood and walked up to the edge of a balcony overlooking the portal. It wielded a device that looked like a crossbow with three long tubes running its length perpendicular to the arm.
That can’t be good.
The creature leveled the device. A missile shot forward with a loud snap, striking a Companion named Sayas. He fell to the ground.
Another innocent gone. I have to stop this one quickly. Perhaps a bluff will work just as well as a real weapon.
“Such a quaint device. Wait until you see what mine does!” Yeel thought to the creature.
He brought out his malinthander and planted the idea of a weapon similar to the one the creature held, only larger. Jymoor and the other Companions fought the other warriors in the shrine, but Yeel stayed focused on the spiderlike creature. It dropped down from its ledge. Another Companion, a woman wearing thick leather and holding a staff, faced off against it. The weapon snapped again and she dropped, dead.
Clerr of the Liscenium Temple.
Having dropped the Companion blocking it, the creature skittered away through the portal.
I wish that one hadn’t gotten away. I’d better remember that I’m going to be seeing him again, and he won’t be happy.
“The shrine is ours!” Jymoor yelled. Blood dripped from her sword. She stepped down from a set of stone steps built into the far wall.
“Then we have to obliterate the portal. More enemies could erupt from it at any moment.”
“How do we destroy it?”
“That requires a diamond,” Yeel said.
“You could have mentioned that earlier. Perhaps King Aruscetar would have given us a diamond.”
Yeel pulled a brilliant bit of stone out of his pack.
“You have one?”
“Yes, I brought a couple. Of course I hoped we would get this far.”
“You have another? Let me see.”
Yeel handed Master Kasil his other diamond.
“This should just about do for my services,” she said.
“I’ve already paid you to train Jymoor. Oh, you mean for your part in the fight against the Meridalae. I had rather hoped you would do that for free.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. Nothing’s free. I’ll split the money among the surviving Companions.”
&nb
sp; “That would be a bad idea. You would incentivize the Companions to allow each other to die in order to get a bigger share of the money.”
“I would never even think of the money over the lives of my fellows!” bellowed a man.
That would be Alward. Glad to see his mental insulator collar is still intact after the battle.
“Nor would I,” announced a female fighter standing next to him. Yeel struggled for her name.
“Can we get on with it?” demanded Jymoor.
Yeel answered by gluing the diamond to the end of a staff. He extended the gem out with the staff until it just eclipsed the blurry light of its surface. He held it there for long moments while everyone watched.
“Nothing is happening,” Master Kasil said.
“Maybe someone stole the diamond and put a fake in its place,” Alward suggested.
“It takes a moment—”
Snap!
The glimmering portal went black. Yeel retrieved the gem. It shined with an inner light.
“Your world is safer now,” Yeel said. “This is a solid victory. This moment should be remembered by all. Choose carefully what details you—”
“Our world is no longer connected to the Meridalae!” Jymoor yelled. The Companions cheered.
“Well, yes,” Yeel muttered. “Except for the portals at Eight Rod and Steelskull…”
“What did you say? I can’t hear you over the sounds of celebration!”
“Nothing…enjoy your victory!”
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: The House of Yeel
Chapter 2: A Plea for Help
Chapter 3: The Task at Hand
Chapter 4: Sojourn
Chapter 5: Far from Home?
Chapter 6: The Stone Garden
Chapter 7: Aftermath
Chapter 8: A Knight Reborn
Chapter 9: Under the Green Sky
Chapter 10: New Studies
Chapter 11: Skirmish
Chapter 12: Riken
Chapter 13: Yeel’s Memory Augment
Chapter 14: A Plan
Chapter 15: Barbarians
Chapter 16: Parlay
Chapter 17: The Balancer
Chapter 18: Gifts
Chapter 19: Battle under a Green Sky
Chapter 20: Battle under a Blue Sky
The House of Yeel Page 20