by Derek Landy
Sean let the case fall. “I’m not sure what’s going on.”
Vile lashed out, a wall of shadows smashing into Sean and throwing him back.
“Hey!” Sean yelled. “Help!”
Kitana emerged from the other room and froze. Doran came behind her. “What the hell is that?”
“It’s him!” Sean said. “It’s the skeleton!”
Vile kicked him and Sean went sliding across the floor. Kitana’s hand glowed, and a streak of energy hit Vile in the back. He staggered, his armour coiling and thrashing. He’d been hurt.
He turned, and sharp tendrils of shadow converged on Kitana’s position. She fell to her knees with her hands covering her head, but the shadows could only slither across the force field surrounding her body. She looked up, the realisation that she had somehow protected herself making her braver. She stood, still flinching whenever the shadows snapped at her like angry snakes. Those shadows withdrew at Vile’s command, and Kitana grinned.
“Get him!” she commanded, and Doran and Sean flew at Vile.
Valkyrie stumbled sideways, almost falling to the floor, and when she’d sucked in another breath she tried to straighten up, and found Kitana standing in the doorway.
“You just couldn’t leave it alone, could you?” Kitana said, and she punched through Valkyrie’s chest, grabbed her heart and squeezed—
—and Darquesse felt her heart burst, and it was like a million suns exploding inside her, a cascade of sensation that burned through her mind and lit up her thoughts. She felt, even in that instant, how her body was preparing to shut down, how it was all going to judder to a stop in the next few moments.
The next few moments were, of course, an eternity for someone like Darquesse. If Kitana had really wanted to kill her, she should have destroyed the brain. Without the ability to think, there’d be no way that Darquesse would be able to ignore the trauma and heal herself over while Kitana’s hand was still inside her.
Kitana’s big blue eyes widened, and she tried tugging her hand free. Darquesse gave her a smile, allowing herself to be dragged forward a few steps. It looked like Kitana’s wrist had fused to Darquesse’s chest. All very amusing. Finally, Kitana freed herself, and Darquesse healed again even before the blood had fallen to the ground.
Kitana backed off. “How can you do that?”
Darquesse didn’t pay any heed to the words. The girl was trivial, and didn’t deserve her attention. The power she wielded, however, was something that demanded more study. She saw how it flickered around the edges of the girl’s being, lapping like hungry fire. Such a delightful thing. Darquesse reached out to touch it but Kitana slapped her hand away.
Darquesse laughed, and hit her, and Kitana went away and Darquesse stepped into the corridor. Doran was on the floor, trying to get up. Lord Vile had turned his full attention on poor little Sean. He was using a trick that was affectionately known as the death bubble. She watched it expand to envelop the boy, and the life energy around his body dimmed immediately, losing its colour, fading into grey. His face, meanwhile, went white, eyes wide and mouth slack.
Darquesse watched it all unfold, waiting for Vile to draw the bubble back into himself, taking Sean’s life with it. The force field couldn’t do anything against an attack like this. This was magic, not instinct, and none of these children knew the first thing about magic. They’d been presented with a gift, and then just figured out the best ways to use that gift to hurt people. They were clumsy, awkward creatures with no understanding of the power at their fingertips.
A stream of energy hit Vile and he stumbled. The death bubble collapsed and Sean dropped to his knees, sucking in lungfuls of air. Kitana waved her arm and Vile flew backwards, smashing through the wall. She reached out with both hands, straining, and Vile contorted amid the rubble. Magic twisted in the spaces between them, invisible to the human eye but oh so obvious to Darquesse, who saw things much more clearly. Kitana was trying to tear Vile apart. It was fascinating to see, this girl with so much undeserved power going up against a weaker but more skilled opponent. And she was trying so hard, bless her. Her teeth were gritted, muscles were straining, and sweat was starting to roll down her red face. She was putting everything she had into this, but Darquesse’s brand-new partner still managed to hold himself together. What an impressive creature he was.
Darquesse moved in, shoved Kitana back and kicked at her leg. The girl’s force field was adapting, reconfiguring itself to defend against physical attacks. Darquesse kicked again and again, her boot smashing against the force field, driving the leg back slightly but not inflicting any damage. Darquesse ignored Kitana’s laughter and focused instead on the fields of power she was picking up whenever they clashed. Kitana’s power was purely instinctual, the force field a defence conjured up out of desperate necessity. But there was no thought behind it, no design, no subtlety, and as such it was a brittle thing, easily broken. Darquesse kicked again, and at the same time she sent her magic twisting downwards. The force field held against her boot but her magic slipped through, curled round Kitana’s leg, went taut and then snapped. Kitana’s leg broke backwards and her scream was like something a wild animal might utter.
Doran grabbed Darquesse from behind, hauling her back, his arm round her throat. Darquesse reached over her head, going for his eyes, but he turned away. Grinning, she dug her fingers into his scalp, and pressed. She felt his skull give way beneath her fingertips and Doran screamed, threw her from him. She looked back as he collapsed to his knees, hands at his head. His screams mixed with Kitana’s. They hadn’t taken the time to learn how to heal. Pity. Darquesse was enjoying this fight.
Now it was Sean’s turn. His magic picked her up, tossed her the length of the corridor. He couldn’t see it as a physical thing but she could. It was ready to instantly obey his commands, but he was an inexperienced fighter and his commands were hesitant. His magic came at her then retracted, nervously pulsing. If only he could see himself as she saw him, as unsure and scared, then maybe he would have taken this opportunity to run.
He made a decision, the magic solidifying round his body, but when he went to attack, the magic betrayed his intentions and she dodged it easily. She stepped into the air and flew, picking him up off his feet. He tried pushing her away but she grabbed his arm, wrapped her legs round him as they hurtled towards the far wall. They hit the wall and Darquesse pushed off with her feet, and now they were flying back again. She swung a leg over his head and he cried out as she hugged his arm and leaned sideways, hyper-extending the elbow into an armbar, and then she flipped them both, felt the arm pop and snap and almost tear itself from his shoulder. She let him crash to the ground, feeling like Ronda Rousey the way she hovered over him as he screamed. Atomic armbar, she decided. That was a good name for it.
An energy stream cut through her side and she spun in mid-air, glimpsing Doran lowering his hand and Kitana raising hers. Darquesse dropped, stumbled off balance. Kitana let loose a stream and Darquesse jerked back, but she was too slow. The stream hit her jaw, disintegrating the flesh and bone, and she fell. Another stream burrowed through her chest from behind and she twisted, slumped awkwardly to the floor.
Impossible. They were stronger. Their injuries had healed, and they were stronger. To Darquesse’s eyes, they practically glowed with power, when mere seconds ago they were half dead.
Kitana fired again and Darquesse held up her left hand, catching the stream in her palm, keeping it from her head. Her palm sizzled but she poured her strength into it, reinforcing it, buying herself some time to recover. Kitana laughed, and the stream intensified, and Darquesse’s hand burned away to a stump. Kitana raised her arms and let out a whoop of victory.
“You don’t look so pretty now,” she said, and laughed.
Doran looked down at Sean. “Stop screaming and heal yourself,” he said irritably.
They were changing. Now that they had learned how to heal they were directing their magic into other avenues. Their newfound confi
dence was overriding their instincts, and Darquesse watched as their force fields evaporated around them. They probably didn’t even realise that they were now vulnerable to a physical attack. But Darquesse did, and all she had to do was stand up and kick their asses. Which was easier said than done with one hand and half a face.
Sean’s whimpering died down as he focused on his broken arm. Grimacing against the pain they still hadn’t figured out how to dampen, the arm clicked back into its proper shape. He wiped his eyes as he stood.
Doran laughed. “Are you crying?”
“Shut up,” said Sean.
“Do you need a moment to compose yourself?”
“I said shut up.”
Doran grinned, oblivious to the shadows coiling behind him. Vile emerged silently. Darquesse wanted to shout encouragement to him. He didn’t know that they no longer had their force fields. He couldn’t see magic as Darquesse saw magic. She tried to tell him to just go for it, destroy the brain, but she had no mouth with which to speak.
Shadows wrapped round Doran’s head and yanked him back. Kitana whirled, straight into a wave of darkness that drove her to the ground. Sean stumbled, panicking, and shadow-knives raked across his face, drawing blood.
Vile saw the blood and cocked his head, figuring it all out for himself.
He flung his arms wide, his armour throwing sharpened streams of blackness in three directions. Sean covered his head, howling as the shadows slashed into his arms. Doran curled into a ball, tucking his head down. Kitana cut through the darkness with a wave of angry energy and got to her feet. The streams of darkness retracted into Vile’s armour, and he raised a cloud of shadows between them. Kitana fired blindly, one of her blasts accidentally hitting Doran.
Vile shadow-walked behind Kitana but she must have sensed him because she whirled, pushed him back against the wall, her fingers digging into his chest. Shadows snapped at her but she ignored them. She was trying to tear his armour off. Suddenly the armour parted, revealing the shirt and tie beneath, and Kitana uttered a laugh of triumph, mistakenly assuming she had won. Instead, the armour came back, slicing through her hands as it re-formed. Kitana staggered, her fingers dropping to the ground, and Vile struck her with a spiked fist, caving in half of her face. He then sent a spear of darkness into her throat, pinning her to the wall. Vile was about to take her head when Sean dived at him. Kitana fell to her hands and knees and Vile flipped Sean over his hip.
Darquesse got up, staggered away. She rounded the corner and fell to her knees. Argeddion stood before her.
They looked at each other. He didn’t attack. Of course he didn’t. And not just because he was a pacifist. He couldn’t attack. He barely had the strength for it. “Darquesse,” he said. “How did you escape?”
She finished growing herself a new jaw, and teeth and flesh and a tongue and lips. “You let me out,” she said with her brand-new mouth. “When Greta died. You shattered the psychic blocks in my head – including the one you’d set up yourself.” She stood, healing her body. “You’re making them stronger. You’re giving them all of your lovely, lovely power.”
“Not all of it.”
“Look at you,” she said. “You’re practically defenceless.” She reached out with her magic but he stepped back, the last dregs of his own power flaring to protect himself. “Even that took a lot out of you.”
Argeddion paled. “You can see it, too?”
“Magic?” she said, focusing on the new hand she was growing. “Yes, I can see it.”
“It took months for my eyes to adjust,” said Argeddion.
Darquesse shrugged. “I suppose I’m a fast learner. Or maybe I’m just better than you.”
“But if you see things the way I see them, if you see the beauty, then why do you want to destroy everything?”
“I don’t. The psychics say they’ve seen me pulling the world down around us, but I sincerely don’t know why I’d want to do that. I like the world as it is. It’s funny.”
“But you’re a killer.”
“I can be a little nasty, it’s true, but who isn’t a little nasty these days? Apart from yourself, obviously. And I bet you’re seriously regretting that now, aren’t you?”
“I will never regret not hurting people.”
Darquesse laughed. “I love that you’re ignoring so much of what’s been going on. Far more people have been hurt and killed because of your little experiment than I ever had the chance to hurt and kill. Look at the three lunatics you’ve given your power to. You’re responsible for everything they’ve done.”
He shook his head. “Once I started, I couldn’t interfere. They needed the freedom to make their own decisions. I needed to see what they’d do.”
“And now you’ve seen.” Her magic raged against his, driving him to his knees. “Scientists are a cold-blooded bunch. Standing by while innocent people are killed, while the power you so generously donated is twisted and warped by the fragile little minds of the ordinary people. I can’t believe you thought your plan would ever work.”
“It will work,” Argeddion said. “It’s not over yet.”
“Yeah? Give me a few seconds.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that. You can see everything about me, can’t you? My energy, my magic, my aura? Over time, you’ll be able to see other things, too. It’s all there, it just takes time to study. I can see all that in you, and I can see something else. You’ve been travelling through realities, yes? Bouncing back and forth.”
Darquesse let him talk, and busied herself with getting by his defences.
“I can see the energy that’s propelling you. There’s just a little remaining, enough for maybe two more trips. It’s going to need some time to build up momentum, but that’s the thing about magic. Once you see it, you begin to understand it. And once you understand it, you can affect it.”
His magic surged and Darquesse gasped, felt her arm suddenly throb, and then the world flickered, flickered, and he reached out for her and they were standing in darkness, in ruins.
“Here we are,” he said happily.
She adapted her eyes to see in the dark. They were still in the Sanctuary but there were rocks everywhere, like there’d been a cave-in centuries ago. Argeddion was smiling. “Thank you,” he said, stepping away. “I wouldn’t have known how to get here by myself.”
He was a sneaky one, she’d give him that. She didn’t understand magic like he did – not yet, anyway – but she knew what he’d done. He’d given her a boost of his own power, a boost that had sped up the looping time of Nadir’s little present. Now the last remaining bit of that energy was whizzing about inside her. It was charging itself so quickly, in fact, that she knew she wouldn’t be here for long.
She smiled back at him. “Here you are. And what? You go and find Walden? What then? I’m the only one who can take this trip, and I’m not feeling inclined to bring you back with me.”
“Don’t you worry about me,” said Argeddion. “I’ve had much longer than you to learn how things work – these days I just have to experience magic and I can replicate it. I’m confident I have enough strength to shunt back on my own, and I’ll be back long before you, my child. But when you do return? It will be to a changed world.”
She reached for him but he vanished.
Cursing, she flew upwards. The rocks thundered and crunched all around her, and the ground split and she rose into the grey sky. It was raining here. Even the weather was different in this dimension. The rain plastered her hair to her skull. She wasn’t used to the sensation of being beaten. She didn’t like it. The fact that Kitana and the others had posed an actual physical threat, and that Argeddion had outmanoeuvred her... It stung. It hurt her pride. It bruised her ego. She was Darquesse, for God’s sake. The Killer of Worlds. She was the one person on earth you did not want to mess with. And yet here she was, floating in the rain and waiting to go home.
She wanted to tear Kitana’s head off. She wanted to crush Doran’s throat and rip out S
ean’s spine. Then she wanted to pull Argeddion limb from limb and use his head as a football and eat his eyes and swallow his tongue and turn him to...
Dust.
A smile broke across Darquesse’s face, and she looked towards Ratoath. Now where would China have put that pesky little Sceptre?
atoath was a town under siege.
Mevolent’s forces hurled everything they had at the interlocking force fields. Buildings burned and smoke billowed like all it wanted to do was escape the madness. And it was madness down there. It was full of screams and shouts and blood and violence. There were the sounds of gunfire and clashing swords and the crackling of magical energies. A vast army, ready to swarm and barely being held at bay by the few Resistance fighters who stood behind the barricades.
There was fighting in the streets, also. Here and there, Mevolent’s army had broken through. Some mortals ran. Others stood their ground beside their sorcerer friends, and did their best to hold back the tide. A futile effort. Noble, certainly, but futile, definitely. The sheer numbers of Redhoods alone would overtake the town, never mind the mages who fought under Mevolent’s banner.
And Darquesse hovered above it all, searching for one person in all of that madness, reaching out with her magic to locate the unlikely leader of the Resistance. She saw her, China, in her white dress, sprinting barefoot down a laneway, pursued by Redhoods who ran two abreast. Fourteen of them, closing in. For a moment Darquesse thought that she might have to intervene, but as China burst out of the alleyway, the clever woman tapped a hidden sigil carved into the wall. Silly Redhoods, following her into a trap. The alley walls erupted and the Redhoods were shredded to bloody pieces, and no less than they deserved.