Trial of the Thaumaturge (Scions of Nexus Book 3)

by Gregory Mattix

  The demon must have realized the mismatch as well, for it skittered away with surprising agility for something its size and then cast a spell. A roiling ball of what looked to be molten rock formed between its pincers.

  “I shall end you pitiful mortals,” the fiend roared as it released its spell, hurling the orb into the glass dome on the far side of the chamber.

  The glass broke from the impact, but the sound of its destruction was lost in the roar of the sea, hungrily pouring in like a ravenous beast. Cracks raced across the entire glass section, and a moment later, the entire triangular panel shattered, a sixth of the entire dome collapsing. The remainder of the dome held for the time being, not that it made much difference.

  Raging seawater surged across the floor, a wall of water twice Kulnor’s height. Aninyel was swept off her feet, being the nearest to the breach, then Creel went down, the two of them lost in the flood.

  Kulnor braced himself. The water struck him, but it wasn’t as deep near the edge. He slid backward but, with his enhanced strength, managed to keep his footing. A figure clad in green-and-dun forest garb spun past like a rag doll in the water. He reached out and grabbed Aninyel’s arm. With a grunt, he turned and flung the elf free of the river. She spun away and somehow landed gracefully on her feet atop the raised metal ring at the dome’s edge.

  Then Kulnor was overcome by the rapidly deepening water. His feet went out from under him, and it was all he could do to hang on to his hammer and his breath.

  ***

  Ferret had only enough time to give a startled cry before she was overwhelmed by the raging sea. She had remained near Taren and Mira during the fight. Without her metal body, she wasn’t much use in a straight-on fight, though she kept her short sword in hand, waiting for an opportune target.

  All thoughts of the fight disappeared as the deluge swept her under. She slammed against a wall and was thrust upward by the current for just enough time to get a desperate lungful of air before the water dragged her back under. The orange crystals blurred past as she was swept down a tunnel. The raging water tossed her upward to bounce off the ceiling. A sharp spasm of pain shot through her shoulder and down her arm, but by then she was already being swept down a stairwell.

  The laboratory—the water will flood the lowest levels first. That rational thought filled her mind amid the panic of impending drowning.

  Someone was flailing wildly nearby, grabbing onto her as they were flung together. They hit the floor of the tunnel beneath the stairs. The man beneath her, one of the wounded Nebarans, absorbed the blow, and bubbles burst from his mouth. She kicked the man away from her, and he was lost in the current in an instant.

  Her lungs were burning as she was propelled ever downward into the depths of the facility. She prayed to Sabyl that she hadn’t been returned to flesh and blood only to meet her end drowned in this wretched place.

  ***

  Taren was shocked at Bliezahr’s destruction of the dome. He said a silent prayer of thanks for his mother’s training after reflexively throwing up a shield against the water. The sea blasted around him in a white froth, but he saw both Mira and Creel swept away. As the water level went up over his head, he struggled to think of a way to save his friends while he was protected for the moment in his air-filled sphere.

  Gods, I hope they survive. I need to plug the hole in the dome somehow, or we all die. Something that will last.

  He turned his attention toward the water, drawing from the deep coldness of the ocean and amplifying it until the water began to freeze at the edges of the breached roof panel. He hauled on the earth magic with desperation, pouring as much power as he could into the patch of ice. The dark water lightened perceptibly around the edges of the breach, ice thickening around the girders and growing slowly outward over the gap. After a minute or so, the ice was thick enough to constrain the water to a hole the diameter of his extended arms. But the ocean still poured through with such relentless force that he had to strain mightily to close it off entirely.

  A fearsome shape loomed up before him, and in his surprise, he almost lost his grip on the magic. Bliezahr hurled himself against his shield, the magic sparking as the fiend bludgeoned it furiously. His eyes burned with hatred and madness.

  Come on, just a few more moments. We’ll all die if I don’t seal it shut.

  Taren ignored Bliezahr for the moment and put everything he had into the ice patch. Inch by inch, it grew smaller, the water slowing to a trickle until the hole finally sealed shut. The raging river flooding the chamber receded quickly as the water gushed into the lower laboratory, the water level that had been over his head reduced to waist high in moments.

  When he turned his attention to fighting Bliezahr, something suddenly seized his ankle, startling him. An automaton that had lain unnoticed within his protective sphere was prone on the floor, its fingers latched onto Taren’s ankle. Its mechanical innards were damaged, and its legs appeared not to work, but its hands worked well enough, for its grip was painful.

  Before he could react, the construct crushed his ankle with its powerful grip. Bone snapped, and sinew tore, and a wave of pain smashed him as hard as the unbridled ocean had struck moments earlier. He fell to the ground and lost his grip on the magic.

  Bliezahr loomed over him, a pincer that had been pounding his shield suddenly meeting no resistance. His wild swing slammed the ground, striking Taren’s head a glancing blow. The last thing he knew before blackness closed in was feeling the water sweeping him away.

  ***

  Kulnor saved me. I’ve never owed a dwarf my life before.

  Aninyel watched helplessly as the ocean poured into the chamber. She was safe for the moment, able to cling to the rusted bolts of one of the massive roof girders and keep herself above the water level, though her friends were swept away.

  The dwarf had pulled her from the water and flung her to safety at the expense of his own survival, being swept away in the floodwaters along with the others.

  I have to do something to help them. But what?

  The flow of water was actually diminishing after a couple minutes, she noticed. Water was crystallizing and turning white around the triangular-shaped hole in the dome, rime forming as it thickened and spread out, slowly constraining the breach.

  Ice. Is Taren doing that?

  She had thought the young mage lost in the flood along with the others, but as the water level receded, she saw him standing within a scintillating protective bubble of magic. He was focused intently on sealing the breach in the dome.

  The fiend Bliezahr abruptly surfaced, for it must have been hunkered down, able to withstand the flood with its great strength. The demon surged forward and attacked Taren’s magic sphere, battering at it mightily.

  Aninyel lowered herself to the metal ring beneath her, for the water level had sunk below it. She ran along the ring, trying to get closer to help Taren. In one section, she had to stop and clamber around one of the massive girders ribbing the ceiling, but that was a simple enough matter. She looked over and gasped, just in time to see Taren fall beneath a blow of Bliezahr’s pincer then get swept away, out of sight.

  A jolt of hot anger surged through her—a rare and heady sensation. She was a King’s Blade, well trained to not succumb to outbursts of emotion that could become a liability. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been so angry—roughly three centuries past, perhaps, when a man she’d cared for died in her arms.

  Bliezahr moved forward toward the tunnel to the laboratory, tramping over a damaged construct that lay on the ground. The water level was sinking fast, the icy patch holding the ocean at bay for the moment. But Aninyel’s friends had been swept into the bowels of the complex. If they hadn’t drowned, then they’d soon find themselves facing the fiend’s wrath.

  You’ve always sought out a challenge, Ani. Here’s a fitting one. Strike this fiend down singlehandedly and save Taren and the others.

  “I challenge you, scum of the Abyss!” She leaped
from the metal ring, splashing down a few paces from Bliezahr.

  The water was only ankle deep now, still a nuisance but no longer a hazard. Bliezahr turned slowly, as if shocked anyone had survived the deluge. She made the beast pay for its lassitude, leaping upward and scoring a deep cut across its muzzle with her saber, Wavesplitter. Teeth and black ichor sprayed out. Bliezahr roared and swatted at her, but she ducked and rammed her dagger into its right elbow. The slim blade penetrated the gap in the chitin and sank deep into the joint, cutting through muscle and sinew.

  Bliezahr bellowed its fury again. The dagger was torn from her hand when it reared back. She crouched and darted under it, stabbing her saber up into its belly. The chitin was thinner there, and the enchanted blade slid deep into Bliezahr’s gut. She dragged Wavesplitter, trying to disembowel the creature, but the blade caught momentarily at the ridge of the next plate.

  Damn, too slow.

  Pain exploded in her left leg as one of the demon’s clawed feet slashed her thigh open to the bone. Aninyel ducked and rolled away instinctively, Wavesplitter lashing out but deflecting harmlessly off another of its four legs.

  Bliezahr spun, ichor leaking from its belly. One pincer didn’t seem to respond to its commands, but the other was plenty deadly. Her wounded leg nearly gave out when she tried to dodge. The pincer missed her head by less than an inch, though it still ripped her tight knot of hair loose and tore hair from her scalp. She regarded the beast warily, frowning at the strands of silvery hair caught in its claw.

  Come closer, monster. I shall end this—need but a few more moments.

  She backed away, saber held low, trying to keep the weight off her injured leg as best she could, for it was bleeding heavily.

  “What are you waiting for?” she taunted. “Trying to fill up this room with that slime you’re leaking?”

  Bliezahr roared and charged. She sidestepped the powerful left-handed swipe of its pincer, leaping up with mainly the strength of her good leg. She landed on Bliezahr’s crippled right arm, just below the elbow, feet finding a split second’s purchase on the rough chitin.

  That instant was all she needed. A quick slash of Wavesplitter cut deep into the beast’s throat, and it was done.

  Bliezahr just didn’t know it yet. Aninyel hopped off her perch but collapsed when her leg gave out. The creature staggered and raged as ichor gushed from its neck. Aninyel regained her feet with gritted teeth and limped clear of its dramatic death throes.

  With a tired groan, the beast finally collapsed in a puddle of its stinking ichor. Aninyel waited to make sure it was finished and, not wanting to chance it being able to regenerate its wound, hacked its head free. It took two strokes to sever the head from the thick neck.

  Aninyel leaned against the wall, thinking she had better bandage her wound, for the leg of her dun breeches was soaked crimson, and blood loss was beginning to make her lightheaded.

  A sharp crack gave her pause.

  She looked around, afraid of what she might see. A large crack was forming across Taren’s ice patch.

  That thing is going to give way at any moment. It’ll finish flooding the whole facility.

  She froze, unsure what to do, but then another snap of breaking ice sounded as the crack expanded, nearly all the way across.

  Aninyel limped toward the tunnel to the laboratory as quickly as she could. She sheathed Wavesplitter and gripped the door and tugged, but unsurprisingly, it wouldn’t budge. Her lean muscles corded as she pulled for all she was worth, but she couldn’t move the door even a hairsbreadth.

  She studied it a moment and then sighed, knowing what she must do.

  Crack.

  Aninyel grimaced at the sound but positioned herself between the stuck door and the wall, where she could bring the whole of her strength to bear. She wedged herself into the gap and heaved at the door, lightheadedness nearly overcoming her for a moment.

  The door gave a groan and shifted minutely.

  Kulnor closed that other door on his own. She pictured the dwarf grunting and heaving it shut while she held off the Nebarans. He might be brawnier, but does he have the same strength of will? Challenge accepted, Master Dwarf. She grinned and steeled herself for one mighty heave.

  Crack! Seawater erupted through the rupture in the center of the ice, forming a geyser for a moment before the rest of the ice patch disintegrated in huge chunks as the sea’s inexorable might punched through. A foaming wall of water surged across the room toward her.

  Etenia, grant me the strength to do this. My friends, may we meet again someday in the tranquil glade.

  A sudden warmth surged through Aninyel’s limbs, the same pleasant sensation felt while engaged in the blade dance. Then she was back home in Fallowin Forest. The wretched unnatural dome beneath the sea was gone, with its humid stink of salt and rust and constant trickling of water. The peaceful symphony of the forest embraced her. Sunlight dappled the leaves of the trees overhead, grass soft and cool beneath her bare feet, the air fresh and clean.

  The screech of the iron door’s hinges breaking the rust’s centuries-old grip was only heard as the trill of a bird. Its ponderous clang when it slammed shut, the clear peal of a distant bell. The roaring of water mere feet away, the gentle breeze stirring the leaves.

  Perhaps I’ll see that dashing corsair Kovir Orsu again one day. She smiled at the thought.

  Aninyel’s corporeal hands spun the circular metal handle to secure the iron portal, but spiritually she was far away, lost in the blade dance. Her saber and dagger flowed easily in her hands, a symphony of grace and deadly beauty—she trained in her favorite spot in a peaceful meadow, as she had done thousands of times before over the centuries.

  The Earth Mother’s soothing voice spoke to her. “Welcome home, brave daughter of the forest. Rest now, and lay all your cares aside.”

  Gentle hands lifted Aninyel up and bore her away to Etenia’s tranquil glade, deep in the heart of the forest, far away from pain and sorrow. She went gladly, her worldly challenges overcome and her heart content.

  Chapter 46

  The rushing ocean poured down upon Ferret, doing its best to drown her like the gutter rat she had once been. Her thoughts were focused solely on surviving the powerful flood as she clung doggedly to a metal pole in the Shirak laboratory. The roaring and fierce buffeting of the water consumed her for an untold amount of time until she slowly became aware that the deluge was subsiding.

  Wait… the flood is done with. I think.

  She cracked an eyelid and was astonished to see the water rapidly draining away as if a plug had been pulled at the base of a gigantic bathtub. The black, murky water swirled around the laboratory in a whirlpool for a few moments and then was gone. A large hole in the center of the floor served as a drain. Revealed in the water’s absence was the huge rubbery carcass of the dead sea monster sprawled across the floor. The monster appeared to have been cut in twain.

  Have we survived? She could scarcely believe it but finally dared to let go of the pole. With her body battered and bruised, she sank to the metal grating, bereft of strength.

  “Taren? Oh, by the Balance, no.” Mira’s voice, worried, came from far away.

  What happened to Taren? Is he drowned?

  Ferret craned her head around and saw Mira across the room pushing on Taren’s chest. After a few moments, he spewed seawater out, which she assumed was a good sign.

  I better go check on him. But her body ignored that thought, deciding it had been through enough for the time being.

  Metal shrieked and clanged loudly somewhere nearby, and booted feet pounded the catwalks, the metal grating reverberating underneath her.

  “Dak? That you? I feel like I got run over by a team of aurochs and trampled into a mud puddle. A very big one.” She didn’t know if he could hear her and wasn’t entirely certain she was speaking aloud.

  The pounding feet grew closer, then a pair of boots stopped beside her, filling her vision. Those weren’t Creel’s worn leath
er boots. Instead, they were steel-shod boots worn by soldiers.

  A rough hand seized her by the throat. Before she could react, she was hoisted to her feet. The blade of a dagger poked her neck, and a powerful arm wrapped around her chest like a band of iron. The odor of sour sweat filled her nose.

  She flinched away from the blade and saw from the corner of her eye an ugly, hatchet-faced man with a crooked nose, a Nebaran, and every hard line of his face gave the impression of a callous murderer. She remained very still, not wanting to struggle and give him reason to cut her throat.

  ***

  When he had finished vomiting up seawater, Creel took stock of his situation. He was lying sprawled atop a metal console filled with an array of knobs and crystals. It took him a moment to realize it was the control panel for the Reverse Transfiguration Tank. A swell of water had carried him up and over the second-level catwalk, and he remembered grabbing on to the control panel and pulling himself from the water.

  He got to his feet and waited for the cacophony of pain to make itself known. It did, but not as badly as he had feared. His shoulder was the worst of it, and from the grinding when he tried to raise his arm, he realized it was dislocated. Besides that, his knee and hip ached, but those weren’t debilitating.

  Ferret was clinging to a pole a level below and partway across the room. In the opposite direction, Mira was tending to Taren, who appeared unconscious or dead. Of Kulnor and Aninyel, he saw no sign.

  The water level was much lower than expected. With an entire ocean thirsty to flood the facility, he was surprised the whole damned complex wasn’t totally submerged.

  Ah. Some type of drain. Wonder why it didn’t drain out the water before.

  The flooded laboratory had formed a whirlpool at its center as one of the artificers’ magical contraptions worked to remove the water. Within moments, it was gone with a loud slurping sound. The floor was covered with rusted detritus and slimy algae… and hacked-apart portions of the body of a giant squidlike creature that was quite dead.