The Ravens of Death (Tsun-Tsun TzimTzum Book 4)

by Mike Truk

In my mind’s eye, I withdrew my arm from Manipura. The deluge of magic slackened to a regular river, the funnel collapsing.

  Above me, Brielle was plummeting toward us.

  Emma’s ward flickered and went out.

  I screamed, extended my hand, and unleashed a myriad of levenbolts, easily a dozen or so as thick as my wrist. But instead of finding individual targets, I swirled them below us, raking them across the ground in a whirling spiral that tore up rocks and sent bodies flying.

  The rate of attacks slackened, and Emma managed to summon her ward once more.

  My attention turned to Brielle. I felt like I was inching along now, barely moving through the air; exhausted, a bone-deep depletion. Still, I pushed, giving myself no slack, angling my ascent to intersect her fall.

  I girded my frame with enough Manipura so when she hit me, I was able to catch her with one arm. Allowing myself to drop a dozen yards so she didn’t crush herself in an abrupt halt, I slowed her fall, then clasped her to me.

  She clung to my chest, arms wrapped around my neck, panting in panic; her eyes were wide, hair a crimson, tousled mess, burning blade still clamped in her hand.

  Up we flew; higher, the attacks ever fewer, until at last we were a couple of hundred yards above the cavern floor.

  My mind was spinning; I could barely collect my thoughts. I turned to see what had become of the colossal statue - the only threat to us up in these heights - and saw instead the Contessa impact against the cavern floor.

  The shockwave that blew out from her crash site dropped thousands to their knees. It sent those closest flying, only to disappear in the billowing cloud of dust that roared out as the airship buckled, snapped, and shattered upon the ground.

  I stared, feeling nothing, numbed by the knowledge of how many had just died within the Druach vessel. A moment later, a purple fireball erupted from the rear of the wreckage, a mushroom cloud of magic potency that unfurled a hundred yards high.

  The worst of it was, that fucking mushroom cloud was glorious. Beautiful beyond belief. Shaded and shot through with variegated hues, a neon dream of impossible glory.

  A blast of superheated air blew past us, sending me yards back.

  It was all I could do to simply hover in place, staring at the wreckage of the airship. But Brielle turned, twisting in my grasp and pointing off to the side. “Noah! There!”

  I turned my head woodenly and saw Neveah. She was a dark fleck flying about the statue, and she was destroying it.

  Its once-smooth frame was now crisscrossed and hatcheted with slender incisions, many of which seemed not to hamper it at all. But entire chunks had been carved out here and there, including a vast triangular wedge that had been hewn horizontally from its face, destroying its eyes.

  The loss of its sight didn’t seem to faze the statue; it still swung its mutilated arms with terrible speed where Neveah flew, trying to swat her from the sky.

  Little Meow clung to her back, while Imogen streamed below her, clutched in one hand. With the other, Neveah wielded Morghothilim, and occasionally unleashed a blast of black fire that pulverized the rock, boring vast, ragged tunnels into its petrified flesh, or gouging huge trenches across its frame.

  She was trying to demolish a mountain. It would take her hours to bring down such a vast mass of stone.

  “Neveah!” My voice was strangely hoarse. I flew toward her, feeling as if barrels of bricks were strapped to each leg, worn out, nearly spent. “Neveah! We have to go!”

  Emma, showing surprising muscularity and athleticism, climbed up to wrap an arm around my shoulders, placing one foot atop my own for purchase. “Look down there,” she called, and even over the rushing winds, I could hear the wonder in her voice. “Holy shit, look.”

  For the first time, I really took in what was happening across the cavern floor. Three huge portals, each the size of a building, had opened to distant worlds. From my vantage point, I could make out a little of what lay beyond them. One opened to a verdant jungle, a road of cobbled stone leading to the portal’s edge. The light that came through was diffused and tinted green. The other opened to a desert, a sandstone road as broad as a three-lane highway leading to the portal, with plumes of pink and rose dust blowing into the cavern from the winds beyond. The final opened to a ridge of snow, a road of ice leading into the cavern, blizzard-like gales blowing through.

  Through each portal streamed an army. Ranks upon ranks of soldiers, the occasional floating palanquin bearing what looked like a mage, or robed figures in flight. Saurian behemoths were plodding through the green gate, reins leading from their various heads to riders atop platforms on their backs. Huge, white-furred, yeti-like creatures lurched in from the snowy realm, while abominations of bones and leathery skin came from the desert - undead ogres, or who knew what manner of monster.

  They were joining a fourth army that had already assembled on the cavern floor, regiment upon regiment of black-armored people whose weapons glowed with a faint blue light.

  There were thousands below. Tens of thousands, and more were coming.

  The floor fell out from under my stomach. Such multitudes, all of them staring up at me. Even at this distance, I could feel their hatred.

  “Oh no,” said Brielle. “Here they come!”

  From across those assembled armies rose flying warriors, as different as they were numerous. Some lifted into the sky astride dinosaur-like pterosaurs, long lances held at the ready. Others came atop giant black-furred bats, short bows in hand. But the majority were clearly practitioners of magic. Robed and mysterious, or nude and emblazoned with tattoos, riding clouds or standing astride great glowing runes, some simply flying up without any obvious assistance beyond their own power.

  They arose like a great cloud, tens quickly becoming hundreds.

  I couldn’t think; I could only stare down at that vast throng, rising ever faster toward us. Some had eyes of glowing purple, others left trails of black flame in their weak; some were wreathed in lightning, others the center of their own private immolations.

  All of them coming with grim determination right toward us.

  Chapter 17

  There was only one rational response to that rising tide of enemies: to flee higher into the cavern.

  Straining, I flew toward Neveah, toward the colossus, and forced myself not to keep glancing downward at our doom.

  Too many thoughts were spinning through my mind, whipped into motion by panic and exhaustion and an overload of adrenaline. How had they known we were coming? Where had those armies come from? What the fuck were we supposed to do - ?

  “Noah!” Neveah disengaged from the statue and flew toward me, looking fresh and ready for war. Unhurt, unwinded, she appeared as I’d felt five minutes ago before burning through my reserves.

  The very sight of her gave me hope.

  “We need to get out of here!” I yelled as I drew close. The nape of my neck was prickling, anticipating the first attacks that were surely about to slam into us from below.

  Neveah studied the cavern floor and our rising opponents, eyes slit and expression grave. I searched her face for a flicker of doubt, of fear, seeing nothing but determination and steely calm.

  “Agreed. I’ll find us an escape while we fly together.”

  Behind her, so large it was the background to my entire field of vision, the statue was taking one vast stride toward us, moving to attack.

  “Fly together!” shouted Imogen from where she hung desperately, Neveah’s hand locked around her wrist. “Overlap our wards!”

  “This way.” Neveah turned, rising and swooping wide to avoid the statue’s incoming arm. I gritted my teeth and tried to keep up, digging deep to just match her pace, to fly in close.

  Our wards went up. Six in all, with Neveah’s the largest, encasing Emma’s emerald sphere next, then the rest melding and fusing about us.

  It was just in time. The quickest of our opponents had drawn close enough to attack; the first bolts of lightning crackled out
to play over us, flashes of power that disappeared as quickly as they came.

  “There have to be tunnels leading out of this cave,” shouted Imogen. “If I could get down to the floor, I could find which one was best -”

  “No need for that,” called out Neveah. “Ajna is mine once more. Combined with Sahaswara, I can sense our environment even as we fly.”

  I’d never seen Imogen look so taken aback. “You can use geomancy in the air?”

  “Yes. But first, we must get closer to the cavern side. Hurry!”

  Putting on speed, she began to draw away from me.

  “Fuck,” I growled. I was near-empty. My ward flickered and disappeared as I cut off the trickle of magic I was pouring into Anahata, dedicating everything to Manipura once more.

  For the first time in what felt like forever, I engaged the Priyam Mantra. I used its tempering influence to ruthlessly control my expenditure of magic, extracting as much benefit from the tiny amount I had left:

  Om nashta vahkaya prim; om nashta vahkaya priyam.

  I brought the First Prism technique online as well, needing to intensify the power of my vanished reserves. In my mind’s eye, I saw the few remaining clouds of magic cycle down into Muladhara, refining it over and over again, purifying it once more, increasing its potency, and in so doing extending how long it would be available to me.

  I’d grown so used of late to the vastly increased reserves that I’d grown careless in its expenditure.

  But it wasn’t enough to keep up with Neveah, who turned as the back of her ward pressed up against us.

  “Faster, Noah!”

  “Can’t,” I growled. “All out of juice.”

  Frustration flashed across Neveah’s features.

  “I can help,” called out Imogen. “Harmiel will hide us.”

  “Against some of them,” said Neveah, allowing me to catch up with her once more, our wards becoming concentric again. “Many Hexenmagi will see through it.”

  “Do it!” I shouted, the rate of attacks that hitting us growing ever faster.

  Imogen bit the finger of her glove and tore it off, holding aloft her tattoo-covered hand. The dolorous hues swirled across her skin. Imogen stared fixedly at her palm, then spat her glove into her free hand.

  “It is done,” she said. “We’re as hidden as I can make us.”

  I risked a glance behind us. The cloud of foes had stretched out now, the fastest forming the tip of the spear, the bulk forming a swollen center, and the slowest trailing far behind. I saw those in the lead - riding clouds, knifing forward Superman-style under the power of Manipura - blink and stare around in confusion.

  But not all. Shouts of warning went up from some of the leaders, to no avail; those who couldn’t see us no longer had a target.

  “Let me help,” said Neveah, sliding an arm around my waist.

  “What are you going to -” I began, then immediately found out as Neveah put on speed and pulled me along.

  We surged forward, outpacing the statue’s last clumsy swipe at us, and sped toward the distant wall. Somehow, we kept accelerating; I couldn’t help but marvel. Neveah was carrying Imogen and Little Meow, and pulling along Brielle, Emma, and myself, while somehow still going faster, ever faster toward the cave wall.

  I risked another glance behind us. Only a dozen enemies had managed to both pierce Harmiel’s veil and draw closer. They were a rogue’s gallery of individuals, none alike the other, only united in their clear desire to draw close enough for an attack.

  Looking forward, I saw the wall of the cavern drawing ever closer. It was made of natural rock, mostly the color of lead. Flecks of crystal were embedded in its side like mica, glittering in the omnipresent blue light that filled the cavern. The rock was folded in great vertical drapes like the curves of a curtain, with some vast trenches completely hidden in shadow. I saw tunnel entrances far below us, leading out to the cavern floor; saw swooping balconies carved into the raw rock, connected by long flights of stone stairs. But all of these bristled with enemies.

  “Where to?” cried out Emma, flinching as black fire engulfed us then fell away.

  “Let’s find out,” said Neveah, and closed her eyes.

  The air around us thrummed with her power; from within my reservoir, I heard the clear note of a tuning fork being struck, a sound that came from deeper within me than I’d ever heard.

  We were still a hundred yards from the cavern wall, but that distance wasn’t a problem for Neveah; she abruptly changed the course of flight, cutting down and to the left.

  “There,” she said. “A hidden entrance. Covered over by illusion! I sense beings beyond it, but they’re unlike those who pursue us. We can only hope!”

  “Speaking of!” Brielle twisted about and aimed her blade behind us. I heard the dull roar of her fire attack; its heat washed over me, its brilliant illumination playing across the interior curve of our wards.

  “Good idea,” said Imogen, and unleashed a shattering levenbolt that rippled through the air, disappearing behind me.

  We were diving down toward an innocuous patch of cavern wall. I studied it, knowing Neveah had this figured out, but couldn’t completely deny the senses that told me we were hurtling toward a cliff face.

  More attacks rained down upon us, and some of these had a real kick to them. They started knocking out one, two, sometimes even three of our wards at a time, piercing Neveah’s, then whittling down those that remained. My companions ceased returning fire, instead focusing on keeping our defenses up, but whoever was behind us knew what they were doing.

  “Watch out!” screamed Emma. “He’s on us!”

  A wizened old man, head as bald as a peanut and crouched low on a small black cloud, whizzed past us, an impossibly long halberd extended sideways to cut through our wards. Its head was inscribed with glowing green runes; it shattered Neveah’s ward as it passed through, then cut through Emma’s and Brielle’s.

  At the same moment, black acid poured over the remaining wards, engulfing Imogen’s and Little Meow’s in moments - then they went down as well.

  I cut my power to Manipura, diverting everything to Anahata just in time to raise my own ward - but it was too late.

  Black acid gouted against my back, washed over Brielle’s side, and spattered onto Little Meow where she clung to Neveah.

  It was like being dipped in boiling metal. My whole body spasmed as the pain coursed through me, and Brielle locked up, so hurt she couldn’t even scream. My ward faltered, having deflected some of the attack, then went down.

  Immediately, cooling magic flowed into me; Emma ditched her own ward to press her hands against me, but our little group was unraveling, falling apart.

  The old man cut in front of us, halberd still extended, slashing Neveah’s ward apart as she tried to raise it once more.

  Then he was blasted off his cloud as Neveah hit him full-on with a flood of shadow, timing her strike exquisitely to catch him off balance. The old man let out a hoarse cry as he fell, but when his cloud zipped down after him, I knew he’d survive.

  There were only seconds left. The cliff face was total in every direction. Neveah wasn’t slowing. Glancing back, I saw the other pursuers halting and fanning out, no doubt planning to form a firing squad that would demolish us with flames, our backs against the wall.

  We hit the cliff at full speed, flying through nothingness, an illusion of a rock face, and into a poorly lit cavern. Despite Neveah’s efforts, we came in too fast, at too steep an angle; though she pulled up, still we hit the ground hard.

  I spilled out from her grasp, Brielle clinging tightly to me as we rolled together, over and over, while Emma was knocked free.

  For a second, it was all I could do to lie there, the pain down my back terrible, exhausted beyond belief. I wanted nothing more than to close my eyes, to sink into oblivion; instead, I grimaced and forced myself to sit up, turning toward the cave entrance, expecting the others to follow us in.

  That’s when I saw th
e other occupants of the cavern, those who had been here before us.

  Corpses. Desiccated corpses swaddled in heavy brown and black robes, eyes milky white, lips pulled back from their elongated teeth. Their heads were near bald under the wisps of straw-like white hair that jutted down to their bony shoulders.

  After everything that happened, I didn’t even bother to cry out in alarm. I began to reach for Muladhara, to unleash a levenbolt, pathetic as it may have been, only to pause, palm outstretched.

  The score of cadaverous monks was rushing past us, toward the cavern entrance. There they raised their hands, chanting as they poured magic into the rippling wall of darkness that separated us from the greater cavern beyond.

  “What the…?” asked Brielle, climbing to her feet.

  “What have you done?” hissed one of the corpses, turning to us in obvious agitation. No - he wasn’t undead. I couldn’t see wounds, torn flesh, or protruding bones. He was simply a man who’d either grown so old as to appear mummified, or had been warped beyond recognition by some kind of Hexenmagic. His milky white eyes were narrowed as he glared at us, his long, spidery fingers flexing in agitation. “You have brought the whole world down upon us!”

  “Who are you?” asked Imogen, adjusting her glasses. “Wait. The Servitors?”

  “No time for such talk!” The ghastly man flicked a glance at the cavern entrance, at the wall of darkness. “We must collapse this entrance! They assault us from beyond!”

  “By all means,” said Brielle, reaching down to help me stand. “Collapse away once we’re out of here.”

  I rose, biting back a cry of pain as I put weight on my ankle. My leg immediately gave way under me, a lance of searing agony shooting up from the mangled joint.

  Brielle, graceful as a dancer, slipped down and under my arm, preventing me from falling.

  “We must run!” cried another of the Servitors. “Any moment now they will break through!”

  “Run, then, run!” The man who’d addressed us - though so gruesome in appearance, I hesitated to call him such - darted toward the back of the cave, then turned. “All of you - run!”