by Mike Truk
I saw Victor’s smirk. Enigma’s polished grin. Morgana’s seductive sneer.
Every one of them led me by the nose, treating me like a child.
Well, I was a child no more.
With a cry, I unleashed that dark rage, the seething pain that had been building within me; it burst forth from my chest like a sun going nova. A dozen levenbolts ripped through the air, each thick as my wrist, slashing through the air to wrap around the guards.
No Vam or Priyam Mantra. No Prism techniques.
Just the raw fury of the tenth Savior coming into his own at last.
My reservoir howled as a vortex of magic sank into Muladhara, which drank the torrent of power with endless thirst. It felt for a second as if I were touching once more that crystal network back in Ghogiel, mainlining the power of the Source itself.
The entire ledge was thrown into stark blacks and whites as Neveah unleashed her own power, directing a torrent of heavenfire at the same guards, helping me overwhelm their wards.
The dozen guards screamed as they were lifted off their feet, wards collapsing, to be hurled by the force of our attacks against the tower’s facade.
The golden-haired man was the only one to resist the initial onslaught, but even he was driven back on his heels by the force of our attack. He fell into a crouch, his golden sphere warping, teeth gritted, eyes wide with sudden panic.
He had but a second to look up for his panic to be replaced with fear, and I fell upon him like a vengeful angel.
Shard flashed down, a double-handed blow; I brought it crashing down upon his ward, which burst into a hundred flashes of light.
The guard screamed, knocked back by the force of released power, and staggered away from me, arms windmilling.
My feet touched the ground. I took a sliding step forward, then front-kicked him just like Sensei Rocco had taught me a lifetime ago back in the dojo in Ruddock. Forward thrust, knee up, all the power coming from the hips, my torso dipping back as I drove my heel straight into the man’s chest.
The power of Manipura flowed down my leg and exploded into the man, lifting him off his feet and sending him hurtling through the air. His body flew through the huge archway and into the atrium of the massive tower.
I didn’t break my stride. Walking forward, I climbed the steps to the entrance, not looking to the men and women who groaned about me, smoke rising off their charred armor and clothing.
The airship was connected to the ledge by an umbilical tunnel made of hinged metal struts and wrapped in thick canvas.
“Noah,” said Brielle, voice tense. “What are you doing?”
“Haven’t you figured it out?” asked Little Meow. “We’re stealing the airship.”
“We’re what?”
But I didn’t have the patience to explain or wait. I strode onto the surprisingly sturdy umbilical passageway that connected the airship to the tower. Accordion framing girded the tunnel of canvas, but I floated forth, ward brushing the sides.
The door into the airship was open; I sensed movement within. There was no time for questions, no time to consider practicalities. I needed to ride this wave of power, this burst of fell intention. I couldn’t allow momentum to slacken, for doubt to creep in.
I floated into what felt like a hangar. The scuffed metal flooring was covered by hexagonal rubber matting, with the enormous kind of shelving you’d see at a Costco, where palettes and crates of goods were stacked ten yards high. There were a dozen lockers against one wall, while a metal staircase led to a broad archway served by a suspended landing above the lockers. There were more doorways set at ground level.
The hangar was empty.
I floated to the archway halfway up the wall and passed through into what looked to be a control bridge. It was a large chamber, a captain’s chair set in the center before a hovering oval of softly swirling but featureless blue light affixed to the wall before it.
Other seats were placed before consoles, while occult machinery ringed the room, looking like no technology I’d ever seen. At a glance, it appeared to be something the Aztecs might have cooked up in a fever dream - carved into black rock, lights pulsing through cracks, all of it fashioned and contoured with an alien aesthetic.
The captain was a tall, somber-faced man in the same cerulean blue uniform as the guards; his, however, was marked by epaulets and a crimson sash across his chest. He was awaiting me, hand on the pommel of his blade, handsome face cast into an expression of disdain.
“It does not take much to board a Druach ship,” he said, voice ringing with command. “But all who do pay the price in good time. Our empire can reach any corner of the universe. You shall be hounded all the remaining days of your life and given ample cause to curse the day you hatched this ludicrous plan.”
“Unlikely,” I said, surveying the consoles and officers gathered before them. The air hummed with the activity of the strange machinery. Everyone stared at me with a mixture of terror and hatred. “I am borrowing this ship but have no intention of keeping it. Do as I ask, and you’ll be set free shortly to do what you will. Oppose me, and I will kill you and replace you with someone more biddable.”
The captain sneered. “You could never dream to operate an airship without our assistance, and this you will never have. Your venture has failed before it even began -”
I loosed a tendril of lightning the width of my finger at the captain. It leaped at him, causing his muscles to seize up and his hair to spring straight; with a cry, he arched his back, then fell to the carpeted ground.
“He lives,” I said. “But if my patience is tried, I shall grow less lenient. Who here is the first mate?”
“I am,” said an ashen-faced woman, black hair shaved close to the scalp along the sides. Her uniform bore the same epaulets but without the sash.
“Congratulations. You’re the new captain. Will you do as I ask? I give you my word as the last Savior that I have no intention of harming you or any of the crew, nor keeping this airship once it has served its purpose.”
She licked her lower lip, calculating, then raised her chin. “And what is this purpose?”
“To sail through a portal and appear at the Fulcrum in Tantaghrast.”
My own companions had begun to filter into the control room by this point and were fanning out, weapons drawn.
“Tantaghrast,” said the first mate. “I know it. Yes. That is possible. And you swear this on the Source?”
“I do,” I said.
She considered the fallen captain.
“Aisha!” a burly man hissed off to one side. “You cannot agree to this madness. When the captain awakes, he’ll have your hide, and the Consuls will see you thrown in prison -”
“Peace, Grefan.” I saw she’d reached a decision. “I agree. As long as we do as you bid, within the confines of your stipulated itinerary, you will not hurt any of my crew or the Contessa herself.”
“The Contessa?” I asked. “The name of the airship.”
A slow nod was all I received.
“Then we are agreed. Will you shake on it?”
She stepped toward me, gloved hand held out. Her grip was firm, her shake business-like.
“Very well. Sergeant Harul, please carry the captain off the Contessa.”
“This is mutiny,” said the sergeant, a square-shouldered woman with a mop of unruly blond hair.
“Mutiny is an open rebellion against proper authorities. The captain has been stripped of his, and the ship captured by the enemy. This is therefore not mutiny, but a bid to preserve the Contessa and prevent her from coming to further harm. Now, sergeant, you have your orders.”
The blond moved forward uncertainly.
“Your first mate is astute,” said Brielle from where she stood in the archway. “We serve the Source, which makes us, in your eyes, predictably naive and good-natured. You are guaranteed to come out of this unharmed if you do as you’re told. But we’re in a rush. Dawdle, sergeant, and I’ll personally toss you outside alo
ng with your captain.”
The sergeant tensed, the shadow of a scowl crossing her handsome features. Then she nodded to a couple of men in uniform by the rear door; together, they carried the captain into the hangar beyond.
“How does the airship work?” I asked, stepping onto the deck and releasing my bond with Manipura. “How long will it take to teleport to the temple?”
“Half an hour,” said Aisha. “The aether engine must be primed, the Crookstone ignited, and the hull pressurized. We must then coordinate the transference and initiate the jump.”
“Sounds complicated,” I said. “Let’s move away from the Druach tower while you get that done.”
“Very well.” She sat gingerly upon the captain’s chair, then reached out to place her palm on the console before her. Her voice took on the ring of command. “Retract the umbilicus, cast off lines, and close the bay doors. Maneuvering, initiate Primus.”
“Aye, captain,” said an officer, rising from his seat to hurry past us into the hangar.
“Initiating Primus,” said another, placing their palm on the rock console before them and whispering words of power. The lights in the console began to flicker rapidly.
“Cut in the gyro-repeater,” continued Aisha, “and the bridge rudder-angle indicator.”
“Aye, captain,” said another officer.
I moved to one side, joining Brielle and the others, and watched as officers worked intently at their stations. I heard a loud clicking sound coming from the hangar, then the hollow boom of a large door being swung closed.
A moment later, the officer returned. “Bay doors closed, captain. The sergeant chose to remain in the tower with the - ah - captain.”
“Very well.” Aisha didn’t bat an eye. “All hands up anchor. Maneuvering, report state of Primus.”
“Gathering magical potential, captain. We’re currently at twenty-five percent. Clear for running.”
“Excellent. Ease away, quarter speed, up bubble three degrees, climb to an altitude of a hundred yards.”
“Affirmative, captain.” The Maneuver officer channeled a flow of limpid white light into his console; a rumbling thrum passed through the airship from the front, as if a massive engine had come to life.
The floor beneath us tilted a fraction, and with the lightest of jolts, we began to move.
I stared out the window. The tower slowly slid past, dropping away as it did so, and the airship rose smoothly into the sky. Only the continuous thrum gave away the fact that it was motoring at all.
“Altitude seventy-five yards, captain,” said Maneuvering. “Eighty. Eighty-five. Ninety. Ninety-five. One hundred.”
“Set bubble to neutral,” said Aisha, “and hold air.”
“Setting bubble to neutral, holding air,” confirmed Maneuvering. For a good minute, the officers worked at their consoles, pouring slender rivulets of magic into the consoles, causing different lights to flare and slink away across the carved stone blocks.
“Very well, Savior,” said Aisha, turning to me once she was satisfied. “We are now holding a hundred yards above Argossy, which puts us about forty yards above the apex of the tower.”
“Very well,” I said. “Continue preparing to jump over the temple. When will you be ready?”
“State of Primus?” asked Aisha.
“Still gathering potential, captain. Currently at thirty percent.”
“We’ll need another twenty, twenty-five minutes before we can transfer.”
“Very well,” I said, moving to the closest window to peer outside. The view was stunning, a complete panorama of half the city; the rugged coastline crawling back around and out sight, and a portion of the temple complex almost level with where we were at the city’s peak.
We’d done it. The airship was ours.
“Captain, are you needed by your crew for the next ten, fifteen minutes?”
Aisha frowned. “I could step away. The process of preparing to transfer would stall, however, once the Primus was fully charged.”
“Then if you have a meeting room in which we could gather, I would appreciate asking you some questions. If what’s to come is to go smoothly, I need to understand a little more about this airship and what it can do.”
Aisha rose to her feet, smoothed down her uniform, then gave a curt nod to the burly man who’d addressed her before. “Grefan, you are now the acting first mate. You have the bridge.”
The man rose to his feet, hesitant, then gave a sharp bow.
“This way, Savior,” said Aisha, leading our company to the back of the bridge and through a doorway into a narrow hall. The walls were paneled with gleaming black walnut wood, the carpet a worn crimson, and everything had the faded grandeur of a turn-of-the-century hotel.
The Contessa continued to hum beneath my feet as I followed Aisha down the length of the hall, which ran to the very rear of the airship, then through a doorway into a small study. It was a simple affair, with a bookcase against the wall fronted by glass, behind which tomes were held in place by brackets, and a heavy desk with a swivel chair, both of them bolted in place. There was a brightly stitched carpet and numerous paintings on the wall depicting alien locales. A second door stood closed.
“If you wish privacy, this is your best bet,” said Aisha, moving to stand to one side, arms crossed over her chest. “We are warded against scrying here, and the larger spaces in the Contessa are too easily eavesdropped.”
“Thank you,” I said. The roaring within my core had abated, continuing to diminish with each passing moment; it felt like a sugar crash and was leaving me light-headed. I felt like I’d touched the third rail there for a moment, and everything seemed washed out and distant coming off that high.
Brielle moved to take the swivel chair, while Emma hopped up to sit on the desk’s corner. Little Meow insinuated herself in one corner, while Imogen stepped over to where I stood, kneeling to place her hand on the carpeted floor.
She focused, eyes closed, then hesitated. Pursing her lips in surprise, she rose to her feet. “Interesting.”
“Interesting, good?” asked Brielle. “Or interesting very, very bad?”
“Just… interesting. There’s magic at play. The whole ship radiates it like a bonfire. But there’s something subtle about this room. My geomancy was strongly affected. I couldn’t capture a good picture of the environment. It felt like trying to read a page held underwater.”
“You’ve done that?” asked Emma.
“Not willingly.”
“That would be the protective magic,” said Aisha. “As I said, we’re protected from scrying, and that will include other magics that surveil. It’s standard with key chambers on a Druach ship. You’re not the first to try and steal a vessel like this one, but we’ve done our best to make it so hard to do it’s not generally worth attempting.”
“Because your people will get vengeance for the theft,” I said.
“Exactly.” Aisha had a natural presence to her; if she was still intimidated by our company, she gave no sign. “In your case, we shan't bother. Lilith will no doubt take care of you in short order once you pass into Malkuth.”
Neveah, who had remained in the doorway, stared at her implacably. “You one of her faithful?”
Aisha gave a pained smile. “Hardly. But times being what they are, we Druach cannot dictate with whom we shall trade. When I say she’ll take care of you, I speak not with pleasure but realism.”
“How pragmatic of you,” said Brielle. “To align yourself so neatly with evil to enrich your coffers.”
Aisha stared stonily at Brielle but made no reply.
“I need you to answer a few questions,” I said. “Can you take us directly into Malkuth?”
“No,” said Aisha. “An airship cannot transfer into a major sphere.”
“You appeared here,” I said. “Gharab counts as one.”
“True. That is different. We are welcome here and have an open invitation to appear when ready to sell goods. Such is not the ca
se with the other major spheres. We could petition Lilith via her Morathi, but somehow I doubt that would help you.”
“But you can open portals to any normal world,” I asked. “Anywhere else in the universe?”
“Yes,” said Aisha. “That is the source of our power and wealth. We can trade with any planet.”
“How do you do that?” asked Imogen, tone curious. “This Primus of which your officer spoke?”
“My apologies,” said Aisha with a hard smile. “You’re asking after national secrets. I and the rest of my crew would die before explaining how we can transfer.”
“Fine,” I said, brushing aside the matter with a wave of my hand. “Does it always take half an hour to make a jump?”
“No,” said Aisha. “It depends on the degree to which Primus is primed. Usually, we begin to recover magical potential upon arriving at our destination. We only power down as we did here when we believe we shall be at dock for some time.”
“Can you get us to the Fulcrum in one jump?”
“I don’t know where the Fulcrum is located.”
“Tantaghrast, as I said.”
“That doesn’t help. Do you know anything about this realm to which you are seeking to travel?”
“Just that we need to get there immediately,” I said. “What else need we know?”
“It is a subterranean realm. We can travel there, but few are the caverns that we can safely appear in. Further, the magical properties of that realm will make even such a jump a challenge, as our sensors will be scrambled. I won’t lie, it’s a perilous journey.”
“Then why were you so glibly willing to undertake it?” asked Imogen.
Aisha’s smile was cold. “Because I understand I have no choice in the matter.”
“True,” said Brielle, nodding with judicious approval. “And astute.”
“Fine. You get us into Tantaghrast, we’ll take it from there.” I wanted to pace but fought down the urge.
“Problem,” said Neveah. “Why would Aisha here take us where we wished to go? What’s to stop her from transporting us to a place we could be all taken prisoner?”
Aisha raised an eyebrow when I turned inquisitively back to her. “That would mean the destruction, no doubt, of the Contessa.”