Spellship

by Chris Fox

  She turned back to the Fissure, which stood open behind her. It had reached its apex at about three meters, and showed the blaze she’d created. There was no sign of Ree.

  “Come.” A puff of smoke left Frit’s mouth as she spoke. Her voice shouldn’t have traveled in the vacuum, but her sisters all turned toward her. “We have a long journey ahead of us. But when we reach its end we will finally be home, and no one will ever use us again.”

  She prayed that was true. Nebiat had freed them, and though she might not be the demon that the Shayans had taught, that didn’t make her some magnanimous guardian. There’d be a price for her aid, and Frit hoped the price wasn’t too high.

  For now, at least, she was happy to pay it. Her sisters were safe.

  51

  Unwinnable

  Voria slipped back into the command matrix as Pickus slipped out the far side. She hurriedly tapped the void sigil and bonded to the spelldrive. “Sergeant, take over offense. Bord, I want you on defense. Pickus, Kezia, get down to the Talon and get her prepped for launch. If we have to fall back, that will be our only hope.”

  “Aww, come on, Major. Can’t I go with Kez? That freckled gigolo is going to make a move on my lady.” Bord whined.

  “Your lady?” Kez demanded. “Get to work, Bord. Make me proud. Then, joost maybe, we’ll talk afterwards about a proper date.”

  “You heard the lady. Move people. Move!” Crewes roared, so loudly a vein throbbed on his neck. Kez and Pickus both sprinted from the room, while Bord took up the defensive matrix.

  Voria turned her attention back to the Hunter. She closed her eyes, allowing its senses to overlay her own. They were above five hundred meters above the deck, moving between a pair of slender peaks.

  Behind them, all four carriers were advancing, and one was very nearly within firing range. “Specialist Bord, be ready to erect a ward, please.” Voria already missed being on the Talon, where she could tap into any matrix at will. She should be the one counterspelling this.

  The carrier flashed, and a white spell shot in their direction. “Now, Specialist.”

  Bord growled low in his throat and tapped the life sigil on each ring. Brilliant white energy rolled off him in waves, and sank into the bottom of the matrix. The scry-screen showed a quickly appearing sea of sigils snaking around the ship. They drew together to complete the ward just before the spirit bolt hit.

  Voria’s hands shot to her ears as the screams of the damned ripped through the ship. Thankfully, that was the only effect. “Well done, Specialist.”

  Bord released the ward and leaned against the stabilizing ring, panting. Voria eyed the approaching carrier. The initial exchange hadn’t gone terribly, but they’d used resources. Bord could only cast so many wards before he was too exhausted to continue. She needed to minimize their losses.

  And there was a way to do that. A way that had been given to her, she suspected, precisely for this battle and others like it. Voria tapped into her new senses, and examined the possibilities springing forth from this one. She followed the tide, watching as the Hunter died a hundred different deaths. A thousand. Each time, they were caught out in the open by two or more carriers and killed.

  She wiped the back of her wrist across her forehead, and it came away slick with sweat. She pushed harder. There had to be a possibility where they lived. All they needed was one.

  “Major,” Crewes said, “looks like they’re firing again, sir.”

  “Bord. Ward us.” She continued to search, processing tens of thousands of options. Pain shot through her temples, and for a just a moment she lost vision in her right eye. She blinked, and it returned.

  “Sir?” Crewes called from a long way away. She shook her head, and released the possibilities she’d been examining.

  “I’m all right, Sergeant.” She bonded with the Hunter once more, and dropped a hundred meters to hug the side of the mountain below. The move screened them from the enemy, as it had in the many possibilities she’d examined.

  She dropped into a steep ravine, as she had a thousand times. Two carriers crested the mountain behind her.

  “Ward us, Specialist.”

  The ward went up, and the spirit bolts were deflected. They passed low around the mountain, out of range of all four carriers. Voria pressed a void sigil, then an earth, then a void.

  “Major?” Crewes asked.

  “Trust me, Sergeant.” A crackling ball of black energy shot skyward, seemingly aimed at nothing. The first Krox carrier appeared over the horizon, just in time for the black ball to impact. Voria jerked her hand down hard, and the Krox carrier slammed into the mountain. “Finish them, Crewes!”

  “With pleasure, sir.” The sergeant’s fingers flew across all three rings, tapping every fire sigil. He roared as waves of fire magic rolled into the matrix. The Hunter’s spellcannon filled with a brilliant orange glow, and a river of flame blasted into the carrier.

  Turrets melted to slag instantly, and within a few moments the hull itself melted down the hillside like wax. The carrier detonated spectacularly, at the precise moment the second carrier was coming over the same hill. The explosion knocked it backward, out of sight.

  Voria used the opportunity to dive down another ravine. Every attempt she’d made to press her advantage here resulted in their deaths. They had to run.

  She snaked along the ravine, wincing as the Hunter’s hull screeched when they brushed the side of a mountain. Stones pinged off as they squeezed through the pass.

  “Sir.” Crewes said in a high pitched voice. “I don’t want to backseat fly, but can you try to avoid the walls? You’re making me nervous.”

  “Noted, Sergeant. Bord, get another ward around the ship. Give it everything you have, quickly,” she ordered as she guided the ship lower.

  A Krox carrier came over the hill, and launched a very un-Krox-like weapon. Dozens of fat missiles streaked from two ports on the aft side of the ship. They flew unerringly toward the Hunter in a mass, far too quick to dodge. Voria had already seen a thousand times just how destructive they could be.

  “Specialist?” Voria called. She seized the stabilizing ring with both hands, praying. If he failed to get that ward up in time…

  A sea of white sigils burst around the hull, then sealed just in time. A blinding glow covered the scry-screen for long moments, leaving them blind. Voria waited tensely, and counted a precise seven seconds before guiding the ship into the air.

  “Sergeant, fire at that outcrop there, on the left side.” Voria pointed at the scry-screen, indicating a long slab of granite easily a kilometer across.

  “Yes, sir.” Crewes didn’t ask questions. He fired the same spell, and the river of flame melted granite into lava, all along the base of the outcrop. It leaned drunkenly, then began to tumble free…just as a Krox carrier pulled into view underneath it.

  The enormous weight of the mountain slammed into the carrier, and knocked it down into the ravine. It tumbled, flipping end-over-end before hitting the bottom and detonating spectacularly. Voria gave a grim smile, though her heart also began to beat more swiftly. This was as far as she’d made it in the visions.

  Every path past this point ended in death.

  52

  Poorly Planned Ambush

  Nara’s ears rang terribly as she staggered free of the matrix. Wes stumbled in a slightly different direction, where he promptly fell to his knees and puked. She nearly join him. The nausea abated slightly, but it returned when the wave of stench hit her.

  She rose slowly. Her legs shook badly, and if she weren’t wearing spellarmor it was likely she would have fallen. She fed a bit of void into her armor and rose off the floor, then slowly lowered her helmet back over her head. She went limp, breathing slowly while she let the sickness pass.

  By the time she felt comfortable moving, a thick sheen of sweat had broken out, and she started shivering. Apparently traveling through time came with a physical cost.

  Nara drifted from the matrix toward the d
oorway at the far side of the room. It led into the same control room set above the same hangar, though time had not been kind to this place. The walls were corroded, but she’d expected that. What appalled her was the refuse, and the filth smeared on everything. It was as if someone had intentionally set about ruining this place in an attempt to make it as foul as possible. An oily black substance coated every surface, even the ceiling.

  She paused to remove her staff from the void pocket, then turned back to Wes. “Come on. I know this place is disgusting, but we’re going to have company sooner than we’d like.”

  “Right, right,” Wes muttered, then pulled himself to his feet with a groan. “I’ve been shot in the leg, but it’s superficial. Sadly, I’ve been through worse. Shall we explore a bit?” He tied a handkerchief around his pant leg, which was dark with blood.

  “You seem a little cavalier about having been shot.” Nara was genuinely surprised.

  “I said I was a coward, but I’m actually rather good with pain.” He delivered a weak smile. “I know time is very limited. Shall we get started?”

  “Let’s.” Nara drifted to the edge of the control room. The wide window overlooking the hangar had long since been shattered, and fragments of glass crunched underfoot as she approached.

  Almost all the sigils on the walls had gone dark, and those that remained failed to banish the shadows. Nara peered through the space where the window had been, down at the long, dark shape dominating the hangar. The ship’s exterior was covered in filth, though here and there blue-white circuitry showed through. That circuitry pulsed with magical power, and she suspected if she got closer she’d find every bit of it imprinted with sigils.

  “Wow.” Wes adjusted his glasses. “That thing is massive. Easily three kilometers long. Possibly bigger. I take it this is what you were searching for?”

  “That’s it.” Nara stepped through the gap where the window was, then turned to Wes. “Hop on.”

  “You know,” he said as he climbed onto her back, “it’s a real pity we can’t just take control of that thing and use it to blast the Krox following us.”

  “There’s a staff that serves as the key, and we can’t get in without it,” Nara explained. She realized she’d never taken the time to tell Wes much of anything. “The Krox stole that key. They’re going to use it to get inside the ship. Our only chance, as I can see it, is to set up an ambush.”

  “As long as that ambush doesn’t require me to be terribly mobile.” Wes’s words were delivered through gritted teeth. “Sorry about all the blood on your armor. I’m sure it will wash off.”

  “I wish we had Bord with us.” Nara wished she had everyone else, too. “Hang in there, Wes. We’ll get you into a covered position, and I can hide you with an illusion until they get close.” She only had one healing potion left, and as cold-blooded as it sounded, she needed to save that for herself.

  “So we’re going to attack them and hope we can overwhelm them?” Wes asked.

  Nara glided over a pile of crates covered in a vile black goop that seemed to be the source for the worst of the smell. She sketched a trio of fire sigils and cast a fire bolt into a spot behind the crates. The oily substance sizzled away, and it emitted a high pitched scream as it dissolved.

  “Is this stuff…alive?” Wes asked, his voice rising nearly an octave. “Why don’t we stay airborne?”

  “Because they’ll pick us off if we’re not in cover,” Nara countered. She landed in a relatively clean spot, then cast a second fire bolt to clear a spot for Wes. She set him gently on the ground, then used her armor’s enhanced strength to maneuver a stack of crates.

  She strained, and eventually it budged with a disgusting pop. She only moved it about fifty centimeters, just enough to give Wes a line of fire at the control room she assumed their enemies would come through, while still affording near-total cover.

  “Where are you going to be?” Wes asked.

  “I’ll be moving around,” Nara explained. She rose into the air and scanned the hangar. The safest place to start would be the last place they’d expect. She sketched an invisibility sphere, then zipped to the area over the control room they’d entered the hangar through. She hovered directly above the warped ceiling.

  They’d have to come through below her. Wes would open up when they came through, and she’d find a target of opportunity. This was exactly the kind of killing Eros had suggested she learn to master. She wished she had a bit more practice, but hopefully surprise would be enough to down their opponents.

  If it wasn’t, if she couldn’t stop them here, then there was nothing to prevent them from getting inside the Spellship. Nothing preventing them from using that Spellship to return to their own time, where they could deliver the hammer blow that would end the Confederacy forever.

  But she’d seen the Krox war mage at work, the one who’d called himself Tobek. Whoever he was, he was better than anyone else they’d ever faced. She wasn’t positive she could take him even if she had Aran. Without Aran? Things were looking pretty damned grim.

  Was this the right move? She fought the urge to second guess herself. She might be able to find a way inside the ship, and maybe she and Wes could hide there. They could sneak out after the Krox returned to their own time, and maybe find a way to take the ship back.

  No. That wasn’t an option. She must stop them here, or they would lose this war.

  53

  No

  Nara catalogued her remaining potions. She had two counterspells and one healing. Eros would chide her for still wearing spellarmor, but she found the idea that true mages should deprive themselves of powerful advantages absolutely idiotic. You used every tool at your disposal, especially the ones that allowed you to fly and protected you from spells or bullets.

  Of course, Eros never left Shaya. He was literally as far from the front lines as you could get. Exactly the type of person you did not want training your mages. People like Frit were criminally underutilized. What if an Ifrit were assigned to every ship in the—

  Nara snapped back to reality when something crunched underneath her. Then something else. She heard voices, and strained to pick up the words.

  “I see no sign of them. Are you certain she survived? There would be footprints in this muck,” a harsh Krox voice asked.

  Another voice answered, “She was wearing spellarmor, brother. And even if she were not, there are any number of spells that could be masking her presence. It’s possible she died trying to find this place, but I think it foolish to assume so. I remind you, Mother will punish failure harshly. Do not assume we have won. Such hubris was Major Voria’s mistake.”

  Nara bit her lip. She heard two other figures moving below, and she hoped they were simply garden-variety enforcers. Those could be knocked out with a simple paralyze spell. But the true mage and the war mage? Both were far more likely to resist, especially the war mage.

  She caught Wes eyeing her through the crack in the crates she’d created. She slowly shook her head. Not yet.

  The first Krox, the one in the spellarmor, glided from the window down to the ramp extending across the bay under the Spellship. He landed at the edge, and slowly aimed a massive spellcannon at the door.

  “It is safe enough, brother. Or appears so,” the Krox war mage rumbled.

  Nara sketched a missive with a single word. Now.

  Balls of golden light streaked out of the darkness between the crates. They weren’t aimed at the war mage, but instead at a target directly beneath Nara. The true mage. She smiled. Wes wasn’t as naive as he appeared.

  She crept to the edge of the roof, and sketched a paralyze spell. She flung it at the war mage, who’d turned to face Wes’s position. The spell slammed into his back, exploding in a shower of pink mana shards. Damn. His armor must have been enchanted with some sort of magic resistance. It had been worth the attempt, at least.

  Nara dropped prone and glanced over the lip of the roof. The true mage had erected a ward, which deflected Wes
’s fire. He stood confidently behind it, seemingly content to allow the war mage to deal with the threat. They hadn’t even noticed her failed paralyze. Perfect.

  She considered her target carefully. If she cast on the true mage, and he resisted, then both enforcers would be free to attack her, plus he could do the same. He was far more likely to resist than they were, so starting with them seemed like the smart way to go.

  Nara sketched another paralyze, and threw it at the enforcer to the right of the true mage. Both the true mage and the other enforcer turned toward their suddenly paralyzed companion. Nara threw a second one at the other enforcer, who fell just as readily.

  The true mage looked up, and his slitted eyes fell on her. He stepped closer and aimed his staff in her direction. Not just any staff, Nara realized. He held Ikadra. She braced herself for the spell, knowing there was no way to escape it at this range.

  “Disintegrate her,” the Krox rumbled in an emotionless voice.

  “Uh, I’m not really comfortable doing that,” Ikadra protested, his sapphire pulsing. “She’s kind of a friend of mine. Like a really good friend. If I had legs, and a penis, we’d probably be that kind of friends, if you know what I’m saying.”

  “Kill her!” the Krox ordered.

  Nara hit him with a paralyze spell. He staggered backward, then threw up his arms with a roar. The spell exploded into mana fragments, and his gaze fell hatefully on her. He began sketching a spell of his own.

  “Later.” Nara blinked.

  She appeared on the far side of the ship, in the shadows beneath one of the thrusters near the stern. The hatchling spun around, trying to find her—with no luck, of course. She was nearly impossible to detect. He gave a frustrated roar, then leapt from the control room. Nara lost sight of him for a moment, and crept along the engine until she could see him.

  He’d landed on the rusted bridge that connected to the Spellship’s docking port. She expected him to head immediately for the doors, but instead he stopped and began sketching a spell. Nara considered countering it, but that meant giving away her position. She waited to see what he was casting.