by Azalea Ellis
Adam muttered sarcastically to himself, “Only three things? I’m sure it’ll be so easy!”
I ignored him. “A lot of things could go wrong while we’re trying to achieve any of those objectives, so I’d like to try and build redundancies into the plan. Hopefully, we can do this sneaky and ‘hard.’”
Jacky grinned at me.
“The destroyer will hold the power-channeling stones,” Torliam said. “If we remove or sufficiently damage them, the barrier will fall.”
“Is that going to get rid of their death beam weapon, too?” Adam said. “My shields won’t hold against one, and I don’t think yours will either. How are we supposed to keep the people safe while evacuating them?”
Sam looked between the two of them, who were glaring at each other. “Are we so sure they’ll attack? Why don’t we just try and talk to them? They’ve been on Earth since before Eve’s broadcast. Maybe we could convince them, or somehow…use Eve and Torliam’s political capital to make them stop?”
“I want to try that, at least,” I said. “But I’m less than confident it’ll work. So we need to make sure we don’t just make everything worse. Is there a quick way for us to evacuate the civilians? What about your Skill, Zed?”
He shook his head. “I don’t think normal humans would survive in the Other Place for long enough to get them safely away from the destroyer.”
Adam tapped away on his link. “What about underground tunnels?” He fell silent for a while, then seemed to find what he wanted. “Yeah. Mordsmouth has been expanding and building on itself for a long time, and the infrastructure to support this many people isn’t all being held aboveground. I’m not just talking about sewers and stuff. We’ve made our own tunnels, before. We could get them to any nearby underground facility.”
Torliam frowned. “How do we coordinate the rabble? We must also remember that there are many weakened among them. Some may not be able to escape with their own strength.”
“I can help them,” Kris piped up from the corner. “If we can find some bodies for me, I could probably control seven or eight at close range, and carry maybe twice that many people. Ooh!” She straightened with excitement. “What about if we hid my marionettes in the crowd and had them pass out messages to get ready ahead of time?”
Jacky ruffled her hair. “What about mannequins? From those fancy clothes stores?”
Kris frowned. “Yeah, maybe that would work, if their bodies don’t just fall apart.”
Adam leaned back and started playing with a coin, running it nervously through his fingers. “I wonder if this will actually work. You saw what was left of NIX, right? A few feet of earth and concrete isn’t going to do anything to stop the destroyer.”
Zed nodded. “But, if they don’t just melt the city right away, it might keep them from being able to follow the civilians, if they get away quick enough, and we scatter them in different directions. I still think it’s a good backup plan.” He turned to Torliam. “I’m pretty sure I can get into the ship with Veil-Piercer. These power-channeling stones, do you have any idea where they’ll be located? If they don’t want to take down the barrier, maybe we just take that decision away from them.”
Torliam’s eyes widened. “If you damage the power-channeling stones, the destroyer will not be able to burn the city, though the smaller ships will not be hindered. This is a good idea.”
“I’ll infiltrate the ship with you, Zed,” Gregor said, crossing his arms. Before anyone could protest, he continued, raising his voice. “Without a Skill, how is Zed supposed to damage rocks? With a gun, which will draw the attention of every Estreyan in the ship?”
Zed frowned. “I was thinking I could just pull the stones into the Other Place. That should stop them from working, right?”
Torliam snorted. “They will be built into the floor of the room. However, it is the runes drawn into them which allow them to channel power, similar to the arrays which allow travel between our worlds. You need not destroy the stones entirely. If you damage them enough in any particular spot, the runes will break their connection, and the device will fail.”
“I’m still the best one for the job,” Gregor said. “I can take a few chunks out of these stones with my swords, more stealthily than anyone else, except maybe Eve. But Eve is needed to distract the ships while the rest of you save the civilians, right? Just in case they don’t listen to friendly reasoning?” He turned to me, bushy eyebrow raised.
I nodded reluctantly. “Yes. We can’t count on them backing down. If they listen, great. If not, hopefully I’ll have bought enough time for you guys to handle the rest. But you’ll have to be able to handle staying in the Other Place for pretty much the whole time.”
“That…might be a problem,” Zed said. “I’ve been noticing my tolerance to the cold seems to be building up, but I don’t know if that’s just because of my Skill getting stronger with use, or if anyone can acclimate to it.”
Gregor rolled his eyes. “Just get me a thermal suit or something. I can probably make one myself, if we can find some wetsuits in my size and a couple other things, and some chemicals…” he trailed off, like how Blaine used to, his eyes looking into the middle distance as he thought too hard to concentrate on the rest of us. After a moment, he seemed to come back to himself, and gave a single, sharp nod. “And I’m not useful to this plan in any other way. So this is the obvious choice.”
Torliam turned to me, blue-green eyes catching the light of the sun and shining almost like a cat’s. “This may work for the warriors of my people, but what will we do about NIX?”
I bit the inside of my lip. “If talking to the Estreyans works, then I’ll have time to get hold of NIX. In case it doesn’t, I want to give them a signal for another place to meet after we carry out the rest of the plan.”
We hashed out the rest of the planning as we prepared, digging connecting tunnels under the park, raiding abandoned stores and a not-abandoned broadcasting station, and preparing ourselves to confront an alien warship.
It was the last moments of night before the morning of the third day by the time we were ready. I wanted to initiate the plan before the daylight came, hoping the confusion of the darkness might make things just a little easier for us.
I gave the signal, and the floodlights lit up my form, glaringly bright against the smoggy darkness, throwing my shadow out dramatically onto the building roof I stood at the edge of.
Birch stood at my side, thrusting his wings outward and fluffing his fur dramatically.
“Warriors,” I called out in Estreyan, holding the modified sound-horn Adam had cobbled together up to my mouth. “I am Eve-Redding of the line of Matrix, the prophesied, known as the godkiller. I wish to speak with you. There has been a terrible mistake.”
The sound-horn didn’t amplify my voice, but I knew it was working when every device with a speaker throughout the entire city block echoed my words, a fraction of a second delayed. The Estreyans would get my message. NIX would, too, if Adam’s modified copy of the Estreyan’s hijacking technology was properly playing along military channels.
The destroyer turned in place, till it pointed directly and blatantly at me.
I gulped.
Nothing happened, for second after agonizing second, until I wondered what the hell was taking them so long. Wraith could reach the ship, but I had trouble penetrating the barrier of the hull far enough to spread through the interior. I had moved to focus my attention on the damaged part of the hull, hoping to find an easier way to push through at that spot, when they finally spoke back.
The link Adam had taken from Blaine’s house crackled on my arm, then spoke back to me, along with all the devices in and around the city block. “This is Ravanan, leader of this squad. If you will, show us the three gifts and the mark of Testimony, to give witness to your identity.” The voice also spoke in Estreyan, and I wondered what the humans close enough to hear this would make of it.
Down below, the crowds of people milled around with a
little more energy, shuffling into more tightly-bound groups around certain points.
I let out a breath, shifting the sound horn to my other hand so I could pull back my sleeve. I showed the ring, the armband, and the third, unsolved, puzzle, which I carried in my pack. Then I pushed away the leather jacket and shemagh I’d been wearing over my armor, to show both it and the crystal at my throat.
There was no response, so I raised my left hand and let a swirl of Chaos bubble up, dark tendrils distinct against the brightness of the spotlight.
“I thank you, Eve-Redding,” the voice said. “Are you without your companions? Those who bear the other marks of Testimony?”
I lifted the sound-horn to my mouth again. “They are in the city. I have come to you this night to stop a needless slaughter. Please, heed my words. You wish to eradicate the Sickness and those who harbor it, but the humans do not understand what that means. The Sickness was cultivated in secret, and only the most highly trusted of warriors of that organization know of its existence. The humans fall to minor illnesses easily. These people,” I gestured to the people contained within the park fences below, “are no threat to you. Truly, none of the humans are a true threat to Estreyer, as you have proved with your attacks.”
The commander’s voice hardened. “The Sickness is a threat to everything living, as you should understand well, if you are to fulfill your role. We must remove it. But I have no desire to kill the innocent cattle of a people. Only those who have fallen to madness and hunger will be destroyed, if they are brought here.”
My hands shook faintly. Would he let these people walk away, then, if I asked?
He continued, “They are here in the city, hiding. Let us bring you aboard to safety, Eve-Redding. Call your companions, and we will provide shelter to them, as well as help you to regain your way.”
I heard something in his tone, like the faint sourness of milk just beginning to turn. Perhaps it meant I really was starting to absorb the cadence of the language, but it only made the hairs on the back of my neck rise.
—Start evacuating. I think he’s trying to trap us.—
-Eve-
Below, the people milled a little more urgently, packing even more tightly into their groups. There was shouting, but I ignored it, and hoped the Estreyans would, too.
Birch growled, the rumble reverberating out from his throat and riding away on the winds.
“My path is on Earth,” I replied aloud. “The path to the Champion is here.”
There was silence again, for too long, and then the two smaller ships floated forward, their segmented-shelled, stingray-like bodies moving through the air with deceptively unthreatening slowness.
“Is that what you were told to believe?” Ravanan asked. “How is it that our god would be on this planet?”
What I was told to believe? Something had gone wrong, probably even before I’d revealed myself and started to talk. Queen Mardinest must have found a way to poison them against me already. I focused on the two smaller ships for any sign of attack.
—Time to go, guys.—
-Eve-
I took a few slow steps backward, speaking again. “He has been here all along, hidden. That is why you have never found him, despite all your searching.” I prepared to run to where my bike was stashed behind the air filtering unit sticking out of the roof.
A small wave of military vehicles burst around the corner of the two far streets, attacking the destroyer with a barrage of artillery and rocket launchers, all aimed with surprising accuracy at the damaged sections of its hull.
Chapter 17
The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.
— H. P. Lovecraft
My mouth dropped open. I’d had Adam signal the military and, through them, NIX, to set up a new meeting point. I had not coordinated an attack on the Estreyans.
People screamed. Some of the angry mob of guards around the park gates scattered, while others seemed to be frozen in a kind of stupid shock.
The destroyer tilted to avoid the attack, surprisingly nimble for a ship of its size, but the projectiles twisted through the air like homing missiles to strike the damaged section of the hull at a single point.
That’s when the Players burst out of a couple of the vehicles, wearing that familiar bodysuit and armor, and moving in a distinctly superhuman way.
Among the people trapped in the park, forms wearing heavy, concealing clothing scattered, each sprinting unerringly toward a specific person and swinging them into its arms like they weighed little more than a child. The marionettes then carried their cargo to another group of sick people.
One of the two smaller ships turned away from me, shooting a beam of concentrated fire toward the military vehicles. A tank exploded, and I felt the vibration and shockwave in the air, even from all the way across the park.
The civilians cowered, and a few of them ran away from their assigned groups. They’d likely just signed their own death certificate. Around each of the groups, blue light speared through the ground in a circle, as if they were at the center of some kind of mystical ritual. The people screamed again, even though we’d surreptitiously spread the news among them of what would happen if we needed to go ahead with the emergency evacuation. The ground beneath them collapsed in slow motion, and they disappeared into the holes in the earth. My teammates would help them escape, taking those in the most critical condition to a special location.
The destroyer lurched suddenly, and my heart jumped along with it. “Hurry,” I murmured aloud, turning to run as the second smaller ship shot toward Birch and me. I let Wraith spread out over the battlefield. Being able to watch my own back was a great aid to avoid being killed. I sprinted around the corner of the air-filtering unit, but had to throw myself out of the way as the ship shot a beam of fire and disintegrated any cover it would have provided. My bike was caught in the beam, and quickly turned into a heap of slag and melted rubber. I wasn’t sure if the attack had intentionally missed me or not.
I rolled to my feet and sprinted away, Birch at my heels.
—Bike destroyed, might need a hand.—
-Eve-
I used mental commands to send the message to Adam.
The ship turned to follow, zooming around to cut me off.
True darkness appeared, spilling out of a tear on the side of the destroyer and coalescing into a huge winged shape. Three humanoid forms rushed out, the rip closed, and they rode away on the ink creature.
In the park, a group of vibrating, identical Players ran right through the tall wall, and it broke apart where they passed through, leaving rough holes. The humans who hadn’t believed or listened to our instructions might be able to escape through them, if they didn’t get caught in the crossfire and killed. I knew that Skill, but I didn’t have time to wonder what Vaughn was doing here.
The ship attacking me blocked the far side of the roof.
I lashed out with a whip of Chaos, and it jerked backward to escape. I dug my claws into the roof and sprinted the other way, back toward the park.
A Player below shot dramatic-looking light beams at the destroyer, while another grabbed hold of the remains of the exploded tank by the end of its huge gun, swung it around, and launched it at the destroyer.
The tank didn’t quite look like it would reach, but then it lurched in the air and rose the last few meters, crashing into the side of the destroyer at full speed.
A line of fire burst up in front of me, as the fighter ship that had come after me once again cut off my path to escape.
Adam’s ink bird veered toward me, and Zed shot a few bullets at the small ship, drawing its attention for a second.
I picked up Birch with one arm and leapt through the wall of fire. Without the active attack from the fighter ship, the flames barely singed my hair. I launched myself off the edge of the roof as Adam flew the ink bird past it. I hit the smooth black surface and started to slip off the edge, the momentum too much, the ink feathers providing no gr
ip.
Birch landed right beside me and bit at the seat of my pants ineffectually, too small to move my large body.
Zed grabbed me by the elbow just in time, yanking me to safety with enough force to bruise my arm. “What the hell is going on?” he screamed.
Behind us, the fighter ship was already giving chase. The air above it flickered with a burst of light and then darkness, and something landed atop it, expanding quickly and throwing the ship off balance.
I turned my head backward to confirm what Wraith was telling me.
Vaughn clung to the base of its wing like a barnacle, multiplying himself with ephemeral duplicates that sank right into the ship as it flew through them, disappearing somewhere inside it. Where the ship touched them, silhouette marks formed on its hull, till it began to chip off and break apart. “It’s NIX!” I screamed back.
At the front of the bird, Adam cursed, pushing it to fly even faster. Gregor’s Shadow hand, even blacker than the ink beneath us, laid over my own with faint pressure, most of him too far in the Shadow state to affect the real world.
A section of the fighter ship’s hull broke open, and Vaughn slipped inside. The ship lurched and twisted, careening off toward the side in a spiral.
His limp form shot back out of the hull, speeding toward us like a rag doll launched out of a cannon. Vaughn hit the wing of our ink bird hard enough to send it careening through the air, too, along with the rest of us.
Adam cursed, and I wrapped my arms around Zed and Gregor and dug my claws into the ink feathers below us, heedless of the damage I caused the construct.
With a massive heave of wings, the bird almost righted itself, but it was too late. We plummeted toward the side of a building, the angle of the bird putting us between the building and itself. If it hit, we’d be crushed. I pushed Chaos out, forming it like a huge spike of darkness behind my back. I slammed it outward, and we crashed through the already bursting plastine windows of the building in a tumbling heap.