by Tim Waggoner
“Ksana!” she called out.
Though Lirra couldn’t see every member of the Outguard, for the fleshy mass of the creature stood before her and some of the others, she could still see the cleric. The woman was off to her left, and Lirra was glad to see she’d managed to retain hold of her halberd.
The half-elf’s face was scrunched in concentration as she hacked at the tentacle encircling her waist with her halberd, but whatever damage she inflicted healed before she could strike again.
“What?” Ksana called back, not pausing in her attack on the tentacle that gripped her.
“Do you remember what you did at the Battle of Corran Ridge?”
At first Ksana looked at Lirra without comprehension, but then awareness slowly filtered into her gaze. “But that was an entirely different situation! The creature they sent at us was a battalion of Karrnathi zombies that had been abducted and merged into a single massive creature! This thing isn’t undead! I don’t know if I can-”
“It’s evil, isn’t it? Besides, whatever the damned thing is, it’s going to be the death of us in less than a minute if someone doesn’t do something!”
Lirra thought the cleric was going to protest further, but instead she nodded and then turned to face the conglomerate creature. Her expression grew placid, almost serene, and Lirra knew she was preparing her spirit for what was to come. And then Ksana gripped her halberd tight and stopped resisting the pull of the fleshy mass that had been the white-eyes. Instead she ran toward it, her halberd blazing with bright light as the cleric channeled the power of her goddess-the power of the sun-into her weapon. When the half-elf reached the main mass of the creature, she raised her halberd high and cried out, “In the name of Dol Arrah, I command you to begone, foul thing!”
And Ksana brought the halberd down upon the creature with all of her might, burying the axe head into its pulpy flesh.
Dazzling light burst forth from the wound Ksana made, and though the creature possessed no mouth, Lirra heard its death cry in her mind, accompanied by a pain like someone had jammed a white-hot dagger blade into one ear and out the other. But there was another voice within her mind. Voices, actually. Men, women, and children, all of them saying the same thing: Thank you.
And then the conglomerate creature exploded like an overripe melon, and a putrid, viscous slime gushed onto the street. The tentacles gripping Lirra and the others fell limp and collapsed to the ground, releasing them. The Outguard soldiers didn’t stand around once they were free though. They rushed forward and began hacking away at the creature’s remains with their swords, just to make sure the damned thing was dead. Lirra wasn’t concerned about the creature anymore. She was worried about Ksana. The cleric, now that her work was done, staggered back from the remains of the creature, dragging her halberd because she was too weak to lift it. Her face was pale, her eyes unfocused, and Lirra knew Ksana was on the verge of collapse. The same thing had happened at Corran’s Ridge, and Lirra remembered how Ksana had explained it to her afterward.
“I don’t perform miracles, child. Dol Arrah does. I’m just the tool she uses to work her will in the world. But while my goddess has no limitations, the same can’t be said about her servants. We are a vessel for Dol Arrah’s holy might, but a mortal body can only channel so much divine power without sustaining damage. Stopping that undead monstrosity was nearly the death of me. I hope the goddess never calls on me to do anything like that again-at least, not anytime soon!”
Lirra saw her father heading for Ksana as well. No doubt he remembered what had happened at Corran’s Ridge as well as Lirra did. After all, the general had been in command that day.
Ksana’s legs began to buckle. Lirra flicked her left arm, and the tentacle whip sailed toward Ksana and wrapped around the cleric’s midsection just in time to prevent her falling. Ksana’s body went limp as she lost consciousness, but the symbiont held her upright. Shock showed on Vaddon’s face, only to be quickly replaced by outrage.
Lirra and her father made it to Ksana at the same time. The general started to reach toward the cleric, but then he fixed his gaze upon the tentacle whip and withdrew his hands. He then looked at his daughter, fury blazing in his eyes.
“How dare you touch a holy woman with that unclean thing!” Vaddon said. “Remove it at once!”
Lirra was hurt by her father’s tone and the expression of loathing on his face.
“I’ll withdraw the symbiont,” she said. “Just make sure you’re ready to catch Ksana when I do.”
Vaddon nodded. Lirra commanded the tentacle whip to release the cleric, and the symbiont slowly unwrapped itself from around the half-elf’s waist. Vaddon was ready, and he easily caught the cleric’s slight frame with his armored hands. He cradled her in his arms as if she were a child as the tentacle whip coiled around Lirra’s left arm once more and lay still. Evidently the symbiont’s lust for violence had been sated, at least for the time being.
Vaddon looked at her, his expression difficult to read. He opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again, as if thinking better of it, and turned his attention away from Lirra to check on Ksana.
Lirra looked away from her father to examine the aftermath of the battle. The people of Geirrid, who’d wisely remained hidden during the struggle with the conglomerate beast, poked their heads out of doorways and windows to see if it was safe to go back outside. The Outguard soldiers had finished carving up the creature’s remains, and they were using its tentacles to haul the larger chunks into the gutter so they’d be out of the way. Garrison soldiers would be dispatched later to clear away the mess, although Lirra didn’t know if there would be anything for them to clean up. The creature’s flesh was beginning to liquefy at a fairly rapid rate, and Lirra wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t anything left before long. Ranja had assumed her fully human form once more, and she grumbled to herself as she scraped her boots against the street curb to get the viscous muck off them.
Lirra turned to see Osten approaching.
“Are you all right, Lirra?” The young warrior had sheathed his sword, and though he was sweaty from his exertions, he appeared little the worse for wear.
“I’m unwounded,” Lirra said. She was glad to see that Osten looked at her directly, without suspicion or loathing in his gaze. The other Outguard soldiers kept sneaking glances at her, and while she had once been second in command over them, they now looked at her as if she were a stranger, and a dangerous one at that. But Osten had been host to the same symbiont she now carried, and if there was anyone in the Outguard who could understand what it was like for her, it was him.
Osten gave her a sad smile. “I wasn’t referring to your physical health,” he said softly.
She remembered then that Osten had fought back to back with Rhedyn against the white-eyes, and he’d no doubt witnessed Rhedyn betray them as he’d departed with Elidyr and Sinnoch.
“I’m fine.” It was a lie, and from the look on Osten’s face, he knew it, but the young warrior had the good grace to nod and say nothing more about the matter.
While Lirra had been talking with Osten, Ksana had recovered enough to stand on her own feet. Vaddon stepped away from her and approached Lirra. As he came, he drew his sword and leveled it at her. There was sadness in his gaze, but his voice was steady as he spoke.
“Lirra Brochann, in the name of King Kaius and his code, I place you under arrest.”
Vaddon stopped when his sword point was a foot away from Lirra’s heart, and though she could see the conflict in her father’s eyes over holding a weapon on his own daughter, his hand remained steady and the sword point never wavered.
“You can’t be serious, General!” Osten said. “Lirra is one of us!”
Vaddon’s gaze flicked toward Lirra’s left arm. “Not anymore,” he said, his voice now thick with the emotions he struggled to contain. “Please, Lirra … don’t resist. Let me help you.”
Vaddon was pleading with her in the same way she had with Elidyr, and the iro
ny didn’t escape her. Out of the corner of her eye, Lirra noted the remaining Outguard soldiers moving in to surround her. She was also aware of Osten taking up a defensive stance next to her, and she knew he intended to fight with her, should it come to that. Ranja just stood off to the side, watching, as did Ksana, the cleric still too weak to participate in the drama unfolding before her.
Lirra had no doubt that she could escape if she wished to. She could use her whip to poison the soldiers if she wished, direct its barb to put out their eyes or command it to coil around their necks and snap them with a twist, and she would be free to go after her uncle. Elidyr was still at large, and now he had the Overmantle in his possession once more. He would be able to repair it in short order, and once the device was functional again, there would be nothing to stop him from opening a doorway to Xoriat, releasing the daelkyr lord and who knew what other abominations into their world. And she wanted to catch up to Rhedyn and demand to know how he could betray them like that, how he could betray her. All it would take was a single thought, a slight loosening of her mental reins, and her symbiont would do the rest. The tentacle whip would strike, Vaddon would go down, and she could flee to do what had to be done.
The thought-voice whispered in her mind then.
Do it! Rhedyn isn’t the only one who’s betrayed you this day. Your own father has drawn his sword against you. How many times have the two of you fought on the same battlefield? You supported each other after the deaths of your mother and brother, found a way to keep going when the grief seemed like it would swallow you both whole. And now here you stand, in the middle of a slime-covered street in Geirrid, and your father is demanding your arrest. Strike him down! He deserves nothing less!
Lirra’s left hand twitched, and she felt the tentacle whip begin to uncoil from around her forearm, but then she regained control and commanded the symbiont to remain where it was. The whip was less than pleased but did as it was told.
Lirra still held onto her own sword, and she sheathed it. Then she bowed her head.
“I’ll go with you, Father.”
A number of emotions passed rapidly across Vaddon’s face: relief, guilt, and sorrow. He then ordered his soldiers to take his daughter into custody. Osten stepped back, evidently unwilling to comply with Vaddon’s order, but he made no move to stop the other soldiers as they advanced. Lirra was glad. She didn’t want Osten getting hurt trying to defend her-especially when she didn’t want to be defended.
As a pair of soldiers grabbed her arms, the thought-voice whispered in her mind once more.
You’re going to regret not running when you had the chance.
And as the soldiers began to march her down the street, while the rest of the Outguard fell into line, Lirra wondered if the symbiont would be proven right.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
You know, my mother always said that curiosity would be the death of me.”
Lirra sat on the wooden bunk, the only furniture in the small cell, eyes closed, arms folded over her chest, listening to Ranja complain as she paced around the room like a restless caged animal.
“And she said if that didn’t do it, greed would probably finish me off. I should’ve quit while I was ahead. If I had, I’d have a pocket full of new silver, which I’d no doubt be spending on good food, good wine, and questionable men. Instead, what am I doing? I’m stuck inside a garrison cell with you! I never did get all the muck the creature released when it died off my boots, and it’s starting to stink something fierce. Even you must be able to smell it! The first thing I’m going to do when I get out of here is buy myself a new pair of boots and burn the old ones.”
Lirra could smell the stench, and it was rank indeed. But she’d endured worse smells on the battlefield in her time. She spoke without opening her eyes.
“You could’ve fled when Ksana killed the creature. None of my father’s soldiers would’ve been able to catch you. They probably wouldn’t have even noticed, given how focused they were on capturing me. But you didn’t flee. You stuck around and allowed yourself to be brought to the garrison. Why?”
Ranja stopped pacing and sat on the bunk next to Lirra.
“I plead temporary insanity.”
Lirra smiled, though she still didn’t open her eyes. “I see two other possibilities: One, you still think there’s a way to turn this situation to your advantage-and increase your profit in the process. After all, given the skills you’ve acquired in your profession, you can probably escape whenever you want to.” Lirra didn’t want to refer directly to Ranja being a freelance spy, for the two warforged were standing guard just outside the cell door.
Ranja didn’t deny Lirra’s words. Instead, she asked, “What’s the second possibility?”
“That you’re not quite as much of a cold-hearted silver-hungry mercenary as you pretend to be, and you didn’t want to abandon a new friend.”
Ranja laughed, though it sounded a trifle forced to Lirra. “Shows what you know! Now I have no doubt that bonding with a symbiont has affected your mind.”
The tentacle whip had been mostly still since they reached the garrison, but it moved slightly against her forearm, as if irritated by Ranja’s words. Lirra ignored it.
“You must be getting used to my carrying a symbiont,” Lirra said. “You no longer keep your distance like you did when we met.”
“I suppose I am getting used to it … a little. Besides, the scent of the thing is mild compared to the stench of the white-eye muck.” Ranja paused before going on. “I’ve seen you in action a couple times now, Lirra. I know you can control your symbiont, at least as much as anyone can. I may not trust the damned thing that’s attached itself to your body, but I trust you.”
More fool, you, the thought-voice said.
Lirra opened her eyes and turned to face the shifter. “Thank you.”
Ranja looked uncomfortable, but she nodded. Then she turned to stare at the backs of the two warforged.
“So what happens next?” she asked.
“Father will send for you soon. He’ll interview you to find out who you are and what you were doing with me. Just tell him the truth-that I hired you to help me track down Elidyr. And only tell him the truth.”
Lirra gave Ranja a meaningful look that she hoped said, For the Host’s sake, don’t tell him you’re a spy for Raskogr. The situation was complex enough without introducing another element to destabilize it. She had hired Ranja to track Elidyr. It just wasn’t the whole truth.
“When you say your father is going to interview me …” Ranja trailed off.
“Don’t worry. He’s a member of the Order of Rekkenmark. The Academy teaches us to adhere to a strict code of honor. We don’t use coercion tactics on prisoners.” She paused. “Except in the most extreme circumstances, of course. And this isn’t one of them.”
Ranja sighed. “How reassuring.”
Sure enough, just as Lirra had predicted, a pair of soldiers arrived to take Ranja away for questioning. As she left with them, she turned to give Lirra a parting wink, as if to say everything was going to be all right. With Ranja gone, Lirra was tempted to lie back on the bunk, uncomfortable though it was, and try to get some sleep. She’d been awake for over twenty-four hours, and while her symbiont granted her greater endurance, her supply of energy wasn’t inexhaustible, and she was bone weary. But given the situation, she knew that she couldn’t afford to waste time resting. Better to use it to gather some intelligence.
She rose from her bunk, walked over to the cell door, and leaned on the iron bars.
“So you’re the two newest members of the Outguard. What are your stories?” Lirra had a good idea how the constructs had come to be under her father’s command, but she wanted to get them talking to see what, if anything, she could learn from them.
“We’re not supposed to talk to prisoners,” the lean one said. Lirra had heard some of the human soldiers call him Longstrider, and given his legs, she could understand how he’d come to be called that. He didn�
�t turn around to face her as he spoke.
“Though admittedly, you’re not just any prisoner,” the squat one, Shatterfist, said. He too didn’t turn to face her. “We know you’re General Vaddon’s daughter, and that you used to be second in command of the Outguard.”
“Technically, I still am second in command. That is, unless my father has gotten around to putting in the official paperwork to have me removed from the position.”
“Please tell me you’re not going to try to convince us to let you go because you still have your rank,” Longstrider said. Though warforged didn’t breathe and therefore couldn’t sigh, somehow the construct managed to give that impression with his tone. “Just because we’re not made of flesh doesn’t mean we’re stupid.”
“Why would I think that?” Lirra asked. “I fought alongside many of your kind during the war, and on average, they seemed just as intelligent-if not more so-than flesh-and-blood soldiers.” And they were a damn sight tougher too. Which was no doubt the main reason Vaddon had assigned them to guard her cell. Their stone and metal hides made them impervious to the tentacle whip’s poison, and she couldn’t use her symbiont coils to cut off their air supply and render them unconscious, for they had no need to breathe.
“Now you’re attempting to flatter us in order to gain our trust,” Shatterfist said.
“Not at all,” Lirra said. “Besides, you’re warforged. Flattery means nothing to you. That’s a failing of us meat-and-bone types.”
Shatterfist turned his head slightly so that one of his glowing crimson eyes could focus on her.
“Not necessarily. We are more alike than you might imagine.”
Now Longstrider half turned to look at her. Lirra thought there was something strange about the construct’s eyes. They still had the same glowing coal look common to warforged, but their color was slightly darker, and they were noticeably larger than normal.