I stared at the two excited knights with my mouth ajar. “You can’t be serious. We just faced an Ogre, and what’s coming will be much worse!”
“One can only hope!” Leith said, his mustache flickering as he smiled.
Moses’ jaw tightened. “Overconfidence is foolish. This may be a simple portal clear, but we should be prepared. This will require a little more.” He met the gaze of each knight, and an unspoken conversation passed between them all.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t suggest this,” Olav said as he touched his prot-belt. “I’ll have to cut my total kills in half.”
“How will you ever catch up to me now, dear friend?” Leith mocked.
All four knights activated a rune from their prot-belts, and then their power armor burst with a crimson light. Dust and debris kicked up around them as magical energy ionized in cascading ripples. Then the lights vanished, leaving glimmering runes on the surface of their equipment.
“Wow,” Elle said. “Those are impressive rune effects.”
Olav grinned at her. “You like what you see? Wait until I show you my—”
Leith shoved him in the back. “His upgraded Tornado rune,” the slayer finished the other man’s sentence.
Elle scowled at the berserker and then turned to me. “The power level of their equipment is insane.”
At the mention of insanity, I glanced at Olav. He hadn’t spoken to me or acknowledged me in the slightest during the battle or its aftermath. I was almost glad since I knew he still despised me. Our conflict wasn’t something I wanted to continue while we were fighting the enemy, and I guessed the berserker saw things similarly.
“It’s go-time!” Moses yelled, and all the knights filtered through the doorway toward the second ring.
Elle and I ran after them, but I paused when I realized the Dax weren’t following, and I saw them still standing over the dead initiates. Five more seconds transpired, and then they entered the corridor behind us.
The point clerk and I continued running until we were at a full sprint, but the knights had long left us behind. After we traversed the second ring and entered the first, I sighted a few recent corpses from some encounters Moses and the others must have had moments ago, and I wondered how fast the knights could move with their upgraded abilities. I could probably catch up to them with my recharged speed sequence, but that would leave my friend behind.
Perhaps keeping Elle away from the enemies wouldn’t be so bad. I didn’t want her to die after all. But the new power the knights had revealed could mean easily defeating the higher-level Grendels, so I probably didn’t need to worry about her.
We arrived at the end of the bending corridor where Moses and the others were taking cover behind a wall.
“What took you so long?” Flanagan winked at me as we approached.
The Dax came shortly after us, and I looked through a small gap in the wall used for ventilation. The portal was about four meters high and two meters wide, and it undulated with purple energy. Standing beneath the magical gateway were three massive monsters with human torsos, lizard heads, and snake bodies. They were about half as tall as an Ogre, but their serpent tails coiled behind them for a good three meters. Fully extended, they would have to be ten meters long.
In their webbed hands were glowing tridents with barbed prongs, and magical auras surrounded the weapons. Blue and red scales with barbaric rune structures protected their heavily muscled torsos, and they looked more like metal plate armor than organic growths.
I hadn’t studied higher level portals much, but a quick rifle through my memory bank and a simple process of elimination identified the snake-men as Nagas. They were among the most powerful non-classified Grendels, as deadly with their weapons as without.
A horde of Grunts faced the Nagas, as though awaiting orders. Warriors were positioned along the outer ranks, all carrying plasma rifles and enchanted scimitars. I couldn’t see any Elites or Ogres, and I was glad for that.
But this was a veritable army.
I glanced at the knights, and their excitement upon leaving the flooded room seemed to have disappeared.
All except Leith and Olav. Those two were giddy with glee, and Moses kept glaring at them so they would keep silent.
“Nagas, eh?” Leith said. “And there’s only three of them. Looks like we might be in for a bit of a fight.”
“Come on, Moses, we’ve taken on worse,” Olav protested.
“And we’ve been injured,” the shield knight said. I didn’t miss his eyes as they rested on the Dax for a second. I figured Moses didn’t think the knights would have trouble, but the Dax certainly would. He might have told them to remain in the corridor while he and the others dealt with the enemies, but that would be a slight against their honor.
I felt proud to be fighting alongside the man.
Sir Uram nodded at Moses. “We will fight by your side.” The initiates behind him didn’t seem so confident, and one peeked through the ventilation hole. He quickly turned away as though he’d just witnessed his worst nightmare.
“Nick and Elle, you and the Dax attack the Grunts,” Moses said. “You should be able to deal with them while we knights take the Nagas. If they come for you, then you need to run. Fast. Don’t attempt to fight them. Leave that to us.”
Moses beckoned the knights with a nod, and they spun out from behind the wall and entered the portal zone. Flashes of crimson and the barks of firearms accompanied the knights’ battle cries and Flanagan’s runesongs. Elle and I entered behind them with the Dax on our tails. The knights carved through the lower-level Grendels to meet the Nagas, and I saw Moses get thrown backward after a serpent-man dashed at him with its trident.
I beckoned the Star Spear and his initiates with a wave of my arm, and we entered the room. The Grunts spotted us in a second, and they charged forward. I wanted to preserve my prot-field because of the constant plasma fire dashing around the room, so I didn’t release a forcewave as they drew within range.
With the Dax soldiers by my side, I vaulted into the nucleus of enemies. I couldn’t let my weapon stop slashing for fear that I’d die, and my arms soon burned with a torrent of lactic acid. Every muscle cramped, begging me to relent, and it was only my will combined with Flanagan’s magical music which prevented me from giving in.
Every time I saw a Grunt come for Elle, my chest exploded with fear. I found it hard to fight alongside her because I was so concerned for her safety, but she fought with a practiced ease, and I soon learned she could handle herself without me stepping in every time a lizard came at her.
Sir Uram and his seven initiates performed well, and they slew at least five times their number. I lost count of how many Grunts I’d killed, but it was at least twenty. The Grendel Warriors were harder opponents, but they soon perished before our frenzied attacks. Our ease in disposing of the enemy filled me with confidence, and I figured the knights would have finished the Nagas, too.
When I had the chance to look at how they were faring, I was surprised to see them still fighting all three Nagas. I expected to see a few injuries on the serpent-men, but none appeared to be harmed. Earlier, the knights easily dispensed with the Elites, and now their armor shone with special runes which made them much faster. Still, they were nowhere near as fast as the Nagas. I could barely trace the giant red and blue blurs as they shot from one side of the room to the other in seconds, and I couldn’t understand how creatures so large could be so fast.
“Pin their tails!” Moses roared.
Olav jumped aside to avoid a Naga’s trident and then slammed his axe where its tail should have been. The lizard’s form had already shifted, and the berserker’s blade buried five centimeters into the ground. “They’re too fucking fast!”
“Let’s help them,” Elle said. Her eyes were ablaze with battle madness, and she was breathing rapidly.
“They told us not to fight them,” I said. “We’ve cleared the Grunts and Warriors. I think we should leave.” I didn’t inte
nd on letting the knights fight alone, but I wanted my friend and the Dax out of here. They’d shown themselves to be skilled soldiers, but they wouldn’t stand a chance against the Nagas.
“Let’s retreat,” I said. “The knights can handle—”
My eyes widened as a Naga appeared in front of Elle. Its massive form towered over her, and it pulled back its trident to strike. I jumped in front of the point clerk with my longsword angled to block the attack. My blade caught the enemy’s weapon between the first and second prong, but a concussive blast surged through it, along my longsword, and then threw me backward. I slammed against the wall and all the air was torn from my lungs.
Although black spotted my vision and I could barely breathe, I forced myself onto one elbow. I saw the Naga that had defended itself while Sir Uram harried it with his spear. All except two of the initiates lay dead around him. I saw Elle running toward me as a Naga chased her across the corpse-riddled room.
“Elle! Go back!” I screamed, but she didn’t seem to hear me.
The Naga pursuing the point clerk stopped and snarled, and I saw Flanagan behind it. Waves of magical energy rippled from his axe-harp and enveloped the serpent-man’s head. It seemed confused for a moment, and the enemy’s hesitation was all Elle needed to reach me. The Naga came out of the daze and thrust its trident at the herald knight. The three spikes weren’t able to penetrate the knight’s armor, but the impact propelled him into a wall.
Elle got beneath me and helped me upright. “Good to see you’re a tough one to kill,” she gasped.
“I was thinking the same about you,” I wheezed as I let her haul me over her shoulder.
There were still three Nagas in the room, and we seemed to be low priority for them. Two were attacking Olav as he cackled with madness, and his face was set in a grin that made me think he’d finally cracked. The berserker madness had claimed him, and he was oblivious to the injuries of his fellow crew members. Moses engaged in battle with another, and his chest piece was cracked down the middle, exposing his bare flesh beneath.
I still hadn’t gotten my breath back, but I needed to help the rest of the crew.
Elle grabbed my arm to stop me from returning to the fray. “You can’t fight the Nagas. The knights can’t even beat them.”
I scanned the room and saw Leith unconscious on the ground with his helmet broken open and a wound leaking from his head. Flanagan hadn’t moved from where the Naga had thrown him, and my heart dropped into my stomach.
“I have to help,” I forced myself to say. I could barely lift my longsword, and its tip dragged on the ground. I grunted in frustration as I made an effort to bring the weapon up, but it proved too heavy. Without Flanagan’s runesong, and with despair quickly setting in, my body refused to work.
The Nagas were too powerful. The knights had been overconfident.
Yet it was all my fault. I couldn’t control my mutation. I’d killed the Bloodrat and enhanced my powers. I’d never assumed I’d be fighting higher level Grendels on my first assignment, so I’d never studied that section of the bestiary. Otherwise, I would have known not to kill the lizard-rodent.
There was so much I should have done differently, but none of it mattered now.
An ear-rupturing BOOM rocked the walls, and I saw an energy field shoot across the room and ensnare a Naga. The serpent-man tried to tear free from it, but even its trident couldn’t pierce the field.
Olav nailed the entangled Naga with both axes, and the blades cracked its skull like cheap plaster. The monster toppled, and the berserker rode the dying creature like a bull until it hit the ground.
“What the fuck was that energy field?” he said while searching the room. The madness vanished from his eyes, and he gasped when he noticed his injured comrades.
I knew exactly what the field had been because I’d seen a much larger version destroy the RTF Bulwark. Olav had probably seen it, too, so I wasn’t sure why he didn’t realize it was created by the rune on the glove Casey had been repairing. It was the rune she’d combined with my longsword’s Forcewave rune and engraved onto the rune-cannon. Maybe the aftereffects of the berserker’s madness messed with his memory.
I searched for whoever was wielding the king’s gloves and saw Captain Cross equipped in bulky power armor and standing in the entrance.
He scanned the area with a contraption on his left eye, and I realized it was King Justinian’s monocle. I’d seen that item, along with the burnished gold boots the captain was wearing and the amulet hanging from his neck, in the Stalwart’s shrine.
After the captain thrust his fist forward, another prot-field projection enveloped a Grendel Naga. The serpent’s arm muscles bulged as it tried to tear free of the bonds, but the fields tightened like octopus tentacles. Unlike my forcewave, the captain’s attack was almost intelligent, and it applied pressure where needed while avoiding the serpent’s attempt to break free. I heard a sickening crunch, and the Naga’s chin dropped to its chest. When the prot-field dissipated like a cloud of dust specks, the monster toppled over, and its forked tongue drooped from a gaping mouth.
Commander Reynolds sprinted past the captain, leaped over two dead Grendel Warriors, and threw a pair of spatha swords at the remaining Naga. When the monster dodged both weapons, the commander held out her hands, and the weapons shot back into her grip like they were magnetized.
“For the queen!” Captain Cross roared as he punched the air with his right fist.
The captain’s assistance had caused two of the three Nagas to die, so I knew they weren’t invincible. The others seemed to share my revelation because I saw Moses pin the last serpent-man to the ground with a downward thrust of his naginata. The Naga hissed and turned to strike the shield knight, but Olav leaped at the creature and severed its right arm. Blood gushed from the wound while Moses climbed up the Naga’s tail and then slammed his tower shield into the back of its hooded head. Rather than knock out the creature, the blow only seemed to anger it. With its remaining arm, it cast Olav aside before tearing Moses from its back and pitching him across the room.
I’d seen the captain disable the Nagas with his prot-field projection, so I launched a forcewave at the serpent. It couldn’t evade my attack this time because of Moses’ weapon pinning it, and the full-force of my forcefield hit the center of its chest. Its sternum crumpled inward and then its whole body shot backward. As its torso came springing back, I pressed my prot-belt and used a burst of speed to meet it. My longsword sliced its midsection in two, and its top half hissed for a second before its eyes milked over in death.
“Nicely done,” Moses commented as he ran to the creature and removed his naginata from the dead Grendel’s tail.
As the gateway slowly closed, it gave a creaking sound like two halves of a planet grinding together.
We had cleared the portal.
I dropped to my knees in exhaustion, but I forced myself to stay conscious. I couldn’t see any sign of Elle when I scanned the room, and my breath caught in my chest. Then I felt a soft touch on my shoulder, and I knew it was her.
“We did it, Nick,” she said.
I smiled at the point clerk. The smallest recorded gap between when a portal was cleared and a second appeared in the same area was seven days, so the Ecomese on this Ark would have a lot of work to do to re-build the defenses. Still, it was more than enough time to prepare for a second onslaught. More than enough time for me to loot the Grendel corpses in this room for equipment.
I saw another figure enter the room, followed by at least forty more. My vision slowly cleared as I focused, and I saw Prime Minister Treyin and a platoon of enforcers. She was wearing her own set of Runetech armor, and the elaborate wings on her helmet and pauldrons suggested it was an older model. I guessed she had worn the equipment while a member of Captain Cross’ crew, but it was probably built even before King Justinian’s era.
Treyin glanced around the battlefield while gripping her enchanted khopesh. The woman seemed disappointed that s
he’d arrived too late, and she flipped her sword up to hang on her back with a fluid motion.
Captain Cross deactivated his helmet and stormed toward Prime Minister Treyin. The enforcers brought their staves and rifles to bare, and it seemed only the placating hand of the prime minister stopped them from letting loose on the captain.
“Treyin,” he spat her name like it belonged to a demon. “You have some fucking explaining to do.”
Chapter 13
The prime minister eyed Captain Cross, and the gills on her cheeks moved as though she were chewing her tongue while thinking of an appropriate answer. The captain had just asked her to explain herself, and she seemed reticent to fulfill his demands.
I helped Elle apply medkits to Flanagan, but I kept one eye and both ears on the conversation about to unfold.
“I’m waiting to hear your explanation,” Captain Cross said to the Ecomese ruler.
“I think we should deal with the Dax first,” Prime Minister Treyin said as the enforcers encircled the Star Spear and the two surviving Dax initiates. I was surprised to see them still alive although they were all sporting injuries of varying severity.
After I assisted Flanagan to his feet, he immediately assessed the situation before taking position next to the captain. Elle jogged across the room to Leith, and I followed to help her remove the slayer’s shattered helmet. The knight was alive but unconscious, and we dressed the wound on his forehead while I continued listening to the unfolding drama.
Captain Cross growled. “You’re stalling, Treyin. Tell me why there is a portal inside your Ark, and why you--”
The woman looked to her lead enforcer. “Execute this Star Spear and his initiates.”
“You cannot do that,” Captain Cross said. Moses, Olav, and Flanagan stared at the man, as though they were waiting for an order to intervene. I didn’t doubt these three knights could easily kill the prime minister and her guards, but then we’d have to escape the Ark. The captain shook his head in response, and the knights lowered their weapons.
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