Shield and Crocus

by Michael R. Underwood

  First Sentinel heard the sound as Ghost Hands spoke in his mind.

  [There’s something ahead.]

  Skittering. The sound of bone on bone.

  “Sounds like shardlings,” Blurred Fists said.

  “Ghost Hands, cover us from the air, Sapphire and Aegis to the front. Blurred Fists, watch our flank. Sabreslate and I are on support.”

  The Shields took their positions as the skittering sound intensified, rolling over and redoubling itself again and again.

  “Ghost Hands, barrier please.” he felt the wave of her assent in his mind. She levitated higher, robes flowing in the chill winds that ran through the hollows.

  A wall of barely-visible energy appeared around them. The surface shifted like a soap bubble, swirls stretching and overlapping as the group moved forward.

  After a few steps more, First Sentinel saw the shardlings. There were three, each a collection of more than a hundred arm-length slivers of bleached-white bone. They moved like a continual spill, collecting into a mound and then springing forward, leap-frogging over themselves again and again.

  When the shardlings hit Ghost Hands’ wall, the sound reverberated through the cavern. They probed again and again, jagged bones reaching out like tendrils to test the barrier.

  “We have to keep moving. Ghost Hands, push them back,” First Sentinel said, continuing to walk forward.

  The wall pressed forward as the shardlings continued to attack. One skittered to the drop off and disappeared out of sight. It’s not gone, it’s flanking. Several times before, he’d seen shardlings climb straight up the walls of the bone pathways to attack them, and he expected no less.

  “Blurred Fists, pick that one up when it comes back. Ghost Hands, can you make a full demi-sphere?”

  “Not for long. I can’t maintain it all the way and have any energy left for the fight.”

  So we have to pick a front and then go. Or, we can be smart.

  “Ghost Hands, on my mark, I want you sweep those two off the edge. Then we all run and get them behind us. Blurred Fists, I want you to run interference. Don’t get pinned down, but see if you can slow them.”

  The group all nodded, and they prepared for the charge.

  First Sentinel watched the shardlings’ pattern of attack, and waited until they’d disengaged a few feet from the barrier.

  “Go!”

  Ghost Hands swept the remaining shardlings off the edge, and the Shields started sprinting. First Sentinel downed an elixir that reduced his weight to nothing and had Ghost Hands push him along so he didn’t have to aggravate his leg. There were still several miles to go, but if they could get enough of a lead on them, First Sentinel bet that they could keep the creatures at bay with Blurred Fists’ speed and Ghost Hands’ shields.

  After a few hundred feet, the elixir’s effect expired and he had to run on his own. First Sentinel’s bones creaked and sharp pain tore at his side. Not enough painkillers. he grabbed a couple of pills out of a pouch and dry-swallowed them, then felt the tendrils of relief stretch down his blood. Thank the City Mother I made them so fast-acting.

  First Sentinel looked over his shoulder and saw Blurred Fists behind them, jogging in reverse as the shards emerged from the cliff, closing with alarming speed. Blurred Fists cracked their bones with the set of crusher gloves First Sentinel had made him. He allowed himself a small drop of pride in their craftsmanship. Then he reached to his pouch again and produced a small explosive.

  He raised his voice, calling, “Blurred Fists, bomb in my left hand!” he held out the explosive as he ran, and within a second, it was gone.

  The boom came mere moments later. First Sentinel had never figured out how to make longer-fuse versions small enough to carry in pouches. My to-do list would never run out even if I was designing full-time.

  The bomb had pulverized two of the shardlings, leaving just one on their trail. One, we can take.

  “Just one left. Stand ground!”

  The Shields stopped and turned to face the creature. Ghost Hands stayed high and Sapphire moved to the high end of the path, next to the wall.

  Sabreslate shifted her cloak into a pair of razor-tipped maces and armor while First Sentinel cracked his knuckles, activating his shock gloves. The remaining shardling charged right down the center, making its way toward First Sentinel. Aegis stepped in front of his father and leaned into his shield to brace.

  Sapphire shaved sideways to hit the creature at the flank. She grabbed handfuls of bone shards and snapped them in her grip, while the rest of the beast lashed out at her and Aegis both. Aegis covered her with the shield, and they pushed the construct back. Blurred Fists made several passes, and Sabreslate joined the melee with stone maces. Between the four of them, they pulverized the beast until the remaining stopped moving, reduced to a pile of inanimate bone.

  First Sentinel kicked at the pile, satisfied. “Alright, now double-time it to the exit. Our window is closing.”

  * * *

  They entered the compound without a hitch, dropping five guards by the gate and three more in the interior corridor. Sapphire mangled COBALT-3’s automata like they were paper and First Sentinel nourished fledgling hope about their chances for the first time since he’d woken up from his injuries. First Sentinel kept moving, cane clicking quickly on the tile so he could avoid thinking about what a bad idea it was for him to be there on the mission.

  He’d taken enough pain killers to put a grown Freithin under and balanced it with a full pot of spiced tea. It’s amazing I’m not buzzing as fast as Wenlizerachi.

  The ceiling was lined with electric runner lights, which led the Shields on the path towards the laboratories. Aegis took point, telling them about the patrols through Bira’s telepathic link.

  [ There should be a larger automata guarding the juncture up ahead. Sapphire and Blurred Fists, flank left, Ghost Hands and Sabreslate, go right. First Sentinel and I will go up the center. Keep out of those hands if you value your lungs. If COBALT-3 shows up, get her to First Sentinel and me. We’ve got a present for her.]

  A dull green light shone through the blurry glass windows in the double doors as Aegis led the Shields with hand signals, counting down. He closed his last finger into a fist as he stepped up to a door and kicked it open.

  The room was mostly bare, with laboratory supplies stacked along the walls beside large boxes filled with paper. As Aegis had warned, a twenty-foot-tall automaton sat in the middle of the room, illuminated eyes and rotating head scanning the room.

  “Go!” Aegis shouted, not bothering with telepathy now that the automata had seen them. Aegis and First Sentinel charged up the middle to draw the automata’s attention.

  First Sentinel primed his shock gloves and reached for a knife. As they charged, First Sentinel scanned the automata for a good handhold to climb up towards the power station on its back.

  Aegis dove under a massive mechanical hand and used the shield to shear the automata’s armored belly. Sapphire tackled the thresher from the side and Ghost Hands used her telekinesis to immobilize its left hand. First Sentinel scrambled up and around the left side towards the power plant and slashed the power cables, glad that he had thought to insulate the gauntlets.

  With their concentrated fire and the thorough application of explosives, the Shields brought the automata down with a loud crash.

  But that just cost us whatever surprise we had left. Aegis took them to the doors of the laboratory subjects’ wing by the time more forces arrived. They squared off against a dozen Ikanollo-scale automata wielding charged-tip pikes. The automata had turned a four-way hallway into a chokepoint, pikes out and buzzing. COBALT-3 doesn’t appear to be in residence tonight. She’s probably quartered somewhere closer to the summit. Luck is with us. Though he was curious to see if the scrambler he’d finalized would work.

  Ghost Hands knocked the electrified pikes up into the ceiling and the combined charge of Sapphire of Blurred Fists broke the automata’s line. After that, they made sh
ort work of the machines. Aegis dove into the fight, grace and power incarnate. He’s using the rage well. Keeping it contained, using it without being blinded by it. Maybe I should be learning from him, now.

  The laboratory wing was a litany of sins, spelled out in the smell of feces and vomit, the constant moans of the inmates, and walls with stained with dried-blood spatters in orange and red, blue and black.

  Ghost Hands relayed Aegis’ orders once more. [ We need to find the keys for the doors to break out the subjects. Ghost Hands, Blurred Fists, and Sabreslate, head through the north corridor. The rest of us will go south and meet at the other entrance. Don’t break anyone out yet, we need to do it all at once so we can handle the crowd. Be on the lookout for gurneys or other ways to transport the heavily wounded.]

  [ Go, now.] The group split again and First Sentinel waited for Aegis to give the order for the two of them to move down the south corridor. He’s keeping an eye on me, First Sentinel realized. It’s what I would do.

  Aegis nodded and spoke in a low voice, leading First Sentinel and Sapphire down the hallway. “The guard with the keys should be roving the corridors with an escort of two or three others, checking on subjects. It’s a more advanced model, better programming. Let me take it and just mind the escorts. The key-carrier has an alarm system, so we need to be fast.”

  A light fixture blinked ahead, casting the hallway in a slow strobe of periodic illumination. Aegis walked low, hunched over but eyes forward. First Sentinel listened to the slow drip of water from a crack in the ceiling and the gentle buzz of electricity. The Shields moved quietly, waiting for the telltale clicking of metal-on-tile.

  There it is. Forward and to the left, around the corner. Aegis heard it as well, holing up a closed fist. Aegis waved Sapphire and First Sentinel to the wall behind him. [Good, keep it quiet and avoid the other guards for as long as we can.]

  Aegis peeked around the corner, then turned back and gave another countdown.

  [Four. Three. Two. One more.]

  “Go.” Aegis took two quick steps out from the wall and turned, swinging the shield around to sever the cables and cords in the guard’s neck joint, popping the head clean off. Aegis snatched the head out of the air with his free hand and grabbed the construct, lowering it silently to the ground. Sapphire carried the lifeless machine over to one of the empty cells and hid it. She didn’t even ask me to help. Have to keep my eyes open, protect my team however I can.

  They crossed two hallways and turned another corner before First Sentinel heard the triple-staccato of the keyholder and its escort. He placed them at nineteen paces down the hall.

  Aegis leaned over to First Sentinel and whispered, “do you have any charge left on the ruby breath?”

  First Sentinel nodded, holding up two fingers for two charges. Aegis nodded and pointed around the corner. “Ten paces.”

  First Sentinel drew a foot-long bone from his belt, looked to Aegis, then popped out from the corner to face the automata. He waited a half-second until they stepped into range and twisted a segment of the bone. A red-and-orange gout burst from the bone and rushed down the hallway, swallowing the trio. Aegis leapt into the hall, grabbed two overhead pipes, then started to swing forward like an ape in the jungle. He swung down into a pair of the automata, kicking with fire-retardant boots.

  Sapphire threw one of the charged pikes, which embedded itself in the chest of the third, dropping it in a burst of electricity. First Sentinel pressed up the middle, moving as fast as he could manage while keeping steady. His staves flashed against the key-holder’s guard, luring it into creating an opening.

  The key-holder’s metallic voice filled the halls. “Intruder alert. Laboratory hallway B-3-7. Intruder alert.” Klaxons picked up the call, orange lights flashing. Damn. Our timeline just cut in half.

  Blows flew as the key-holder swung its glaive at inhuman speed, pressing Aegis back against the wall with a barely-blocked strike. The staves let him defend against the glaive, but when he closed, his blows barely dented the automata’s armor. Gloves only, then.

  “Press!” Aegis called, and the Shields converged on the key-holder. Aegis swung the shield high, First Sentinel ducked to sweep with the staves, and Sapphire knelt to deliver a cross to its midsection. The key-holder’s glaive blocked the trip and deflected the shield, but it couldn’t stop Sapphire’s body-blow. The construct crumbled in half and folded to the floor. Aegis dropped a shield-smash onto the automata to finish it, and snatched up its keys once it was down.

  Aegis looked at the keys, sorting them as best he could, thankful for COBALT-3’s obsessive organization. “We have to get the prisoners out as quick as possible,” Aegis said as he slipped some keys off the wide ring. “Split up, we each take one section.”

  First Sentinel reached out with his mind. [Ghost Hands, do you hear me? We have the keys. Converge on my position as soon as you can.]

  [Loud and clear. En route now.] a few moments later, Blurred Fists appeared and took over half the keys, then vanished out of sight. Sapphire took a handful and Aegis handed First Sentinel an even smaller portion. Time to prove I can pull my weight on this mission, injured or not. First Sentinel pushed his gait faster as he walked down the hallway, barely leaning on the cane as adrenaline ran hot.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

  Aegis

  Aegis heard a soft grunt as his father took a turn just a bit too fast. He’s not really healed yet. If we get into a protracted fight, he could become a liability. Now it’s my turn to keep him safe.

  Just halfway down the hallway of COBALT-3’s prisoners, Ghost Hands, Sapphire, and Sabreslate arrived from around the corner with four guards on their heels. The automata went down fast when the Shields stood their ground, but the guards continued to pour down the hallways, slowing their rescue efforts to a crawl.

  Ghost Hands relayed Aegis’ orders as he struggled turn a key in the rusted tumbler before him. [Regroup at the south entrance for the exit push. Make it fast.]

  As quick as anyone can be trailing a crowd of tortured citizens, half of whom can’t stand on their own. This had sounded like a much better idea yesterday.

  Aegis opened the door to a cell, letting the alarm-red tinted light of the hall seep into the small room.

  “Who is it?” asked a small voice. A male ermine-kin Millrej blinked at Aegis through the light passing by his upheld hand.

  “It’s Aegis and the Shields of Audec-Hal. We’re here to stop COBALT-3’s experiments and get you out of here.”

  The ermine-kin snapped up to his full height, and then almost tipped over. He looked painfully malnourished, ribs prominent through his thin shirt. “City Mother be praised!” he wobbled to the side and Aegis steadied him with a hand. Aegis walked the man out into the hall and the Millrej gained the strength to walk on his own.

  “Head down this hall and meet the rest of my team at the double-doors. If you see a patrol, shout for help.”

  “Bless you, Aegis.”

  Aegis smiled. This is why we fight. “You’re welcome. Now go, quickly.” The ermine-kin plodded along the hall, head down, whiskers out.

  Opening three more cells only yielded two more prisoners. The other cell held an emaciated Pronai man dead on his bunk. Aegis paused long enough to close the man’s eyes, wishing he had the time to gather the dead, give them a proper burial with the rites of the City Mother.

  Aegis exhausted his supply of keys, and then led the prisoners down the hall towards the south entrance. He paused for a moment at the cell where he was kept, looking in to the empty room. He mouthed a few silent curses before moving on.

  Never again. No more playthings, COBALT-3.

  Aegis and the survivors he’d freed rounded a corner to find a crowd of fifty patients and the other Shields. Sapphire had a tiny Qava on her back, and Sabreslate held a shaped-stone sledge for a man with a broken leg.

  “That everyone?” he asked.

  “Everyone that’s still living and could be moved,” Sabreslate said
.

  “Sapphire, let Sabreslate take that woman there. I want you on point. Wedge formation, civilians in back. Sabreslate, you’re on rear guard with the sledge.”

  The Jalvai nodded, but she didn’t look happy about it. We can’t all get the glorious jobs all the time. She and Ghost Hands could protect a crowd better than anyone, while still attacking their enemies. And they’d have to exploit every Shield’s capabilities if they were going to escape with the prisoners.

  Aegis stepped into place just behind Sapphire. He hurried forward to help with the double-doors, but they swung open without being touched. He’d thought Ghost Hands had helped them out. Then he saw three thresher units and COBALT-3 standing between them.

  “Greeting: welcome back.”

  Crap.

  The room was as empty of threads as it was everything else: no adornment, no furniture.

  Aegis relayed orders as he stepped forward, walking straight at COBALT-3. [Sabreslate, keep the civilians on this side of the doors. First Sentinel and Blurred Fists, hook left and right toward COBALT-3 on my mark. Sapphire and Ghost Hands, take the automata.]

  COBALT-3 continued, walking forward into the cold blue light of one of her electric lamps. “Assertion: Your return was expected. Explication: Received alarm and returned for confrontation. Assertion: You will not escape this time; experiments will resume.”

  Aegis laughed. “Request: Shut the hell up and fight.” [Mark!]

  He launched forward and threw a left hook with the shield. This needed to end quickly, before his father got tired, before they were surrounded, before the civilians could panic or collapse.

  So, fast.

  The room exploded into action. Variables and possibilities danced in Aegis’ mind as he dodged COBALT3’s punch. The automata creaked and groaned; sounds mixing with the screams of the tyrant’s former subjects; sparks flew and mixed with the plumes of magic from First Sentinel’s wands.

  Aegis jumped back away from a kick and risked a quick look over his shoulder to check on the civilians. A thick, mesh wall of stone had formed over the door, Sabreslate’s work.