“Well, now we know why there aren’t any guards around,” Gamma said with her hands on her hips. “The heroes took care of them.”
“And are taking care of them still!” Khalid pointed off into the distance, at a glittery pink structure that thrust up into the sky like a poorly imagined sex toy. Something like big birds flapped around its spires, and distant explosions filled the sky. I knew those explosions. I’d tanked them on my forcefield not too long ago.
“THE HUMAN HARRIER. WELL, AT LEAST THE HEROES ARE BEING USEFUL FOR ONCE. COME ON, LET’S FIND LUST WHILE THEY’RE DISTRACTING HER GUARDS.”
Khalid sucked his teeth, and looked at Alpha.
Alpha palmed his face. “She’s totally in that big pink palace thing, isn’t she?”
“Most likely. It is her palace.”
“SO THE HEROES ARE ONCE AGAIN A PROBLEM, RATHER THAN A HELP.” I didn’t know why I had expected anything else, really. Heroes happen, heroes always happen. I debated taking to the skies, now that the guards were accounted for, but the Human Harrier would doubtless spot me. Also, it wouldn’t help our communications. We were in another world entirely; the servers that supported my vox network were out of our reach. I’d need to be close to my allies if we wanted to coordinate.
We picked our way past the unconscious forms, the shattered spears and broken armor. The heroes had managed to disable them without too much bloodshed; they were good at that. Queensguard were veterans, and I’d been fortunate enough to fend them off twice. But every clash gave them more knowledge of my equipment and tactics, and if we kept doing this then sooner or later they would have a chance of overcoming me. I couldn’t let that happen.
As we moved through the fields, the land around us changed. One second it was discolored but fairly ordinary wild grasslands, and then it turned into a riot of colors, reds and pinks and whites as flowers striped through the now neatly-trimmed grass, and ripe, purple fruit hung from swaying trees. The sky took on a golden hue, and a sun abruptly appeared in the sky, lending a gentle backlit ambiance to the rolling white clouds that hadn’t been there a second ago.
“KHALID?”
“I have no good answer to this. This is the part of her realm I am more familiar with.”
“I can tell you why it’s doing this,” Dru spoke up, frowning. “It’s glamour. It’s all glamour. She wants it to look this way, and she’s spending... essence... to do it. But she ent got that much, so the part that’s away from her home is wild and unshaped. But that’s not all.”
“NO?”
“The part we passed through, there was marks I could see. Wisps to me enchanted eyes.”
I restrained a snort. That last bit struck me as corny. Dru forged on, entirely serious. “It’s like a tide, ye see. You can tell where it’s been, aye, by the marks left behind. And by all I’m seeing, it’s like her pool of essence is shrinking. The glamour’s fading, and fast.”
“How does she get more of it?” Gamma asked. “Perhaps she’s been cut off from her source.”
“From mortals,” Khalid said. “They lure them in, and drain them of memories, emotions, all that raises humans above animals.” His face darkened. “It is not a stealing of the soul, but it may as well be. The end result of what is left does not long survive once cast out of the faerie realm.”
I closed my eyes. “ACERTIJO.”
“We may not find your friend in good health,” Khalid warned. “The earliest stories of the fae were the most accurate; none of them had what you would consider a happy ending.”
I took a breath, felt my hurt and anger at my lying lover fade. If he was wrecked, then I would help him become unwrecked. I owed him that much.
But he was strong, and little time had passed. Perhaps he was relatively untouched.
As it turned out, I needn’t have worried.
We crossed the gleaming, false landscape, picked our way around more clobbered, shocked, and downed guards, and just got within shooting distance of the palace when the pink wall exploded. Lust came hurtling out, driving a chariot of finned and web-hoofed horses that stomped through the air like it was solid ground, and behind her...
...behind her a single purple and gold figure duelled with Rumjack and the Green Knight simultaneously, fending off strikes, jabbing back, and finally catching both the ghostly cutlass and the Green Knight’s axe in a sweeping parry, before knocking them off the battlements to the ground below. A spray of tracer rounds flashed toward him and he rolled, jumped out into the open air—
—only to be caught by the chariot as Lust brought it back around, standing and moving aside to let him flip neatly in.
Something was off with her. She was wearing far more clothes than she had last time, a halter top and a short skirt, exposing a bloated belly.
“Well now,” Dru cackled. “Looks like I’m to be a great-great-grandma in a few months.”
Realization came crashing in, just as Lust and Acertijo embraced.
CHAPTER 17: FAMILY AND FOES
“Okay, so after th' first couple of times failed, an' she handed us our arses, we just tossed strategery out the window and said sod it, we'll just hit 'er with everything as 'ard as we can. And blimey if it didn't seem ter be workin'...”
--Rumjack, ghost and moderately-ancient mariner
Time slowed, as my superhuman brain considered the situation. My ex-boyfriend had screwed a baby into his captor. If I put stock in traditional culture and dramas, then by all rights I should be livid right now.
Was I?
I checked my feelings, found myself fairly ambivalent. There was a little bit of disdain there, a bit of disappointment that Acertijo had succumbed. Okay, she’d hit him with the time dilation, obviously, because I was pretty sure it took a bunch of months for a woman to get that pregnant. But still, Khalid had withstood her wiles for what were effectively years. Acertijo had been in there for all of two days, give or take? Two years, assuming the time dilation ran the same?
I thought he’d had more willpower than that. But... aside from that, I didn’t see any real reason to take unholy vengeance. Acertijo had lost my affection when his lie had come to light. We were done, even if he didn’t know it yet. To that end I didn’t care if he slept with other people. That was sort of Lust’s thing, anyway, hooking up with people to bind them to her. No, I’d let this one slide.
I finished the thought, nodded to the Greek Chorus. “ALL RIGHT. LET’S CLEAR THE HEROES OFF HER, SO WE CAN TALK—”
Lust heard me, turned from Acertijo’s embrace with wide eyes, and purest fear on her face. She snapped her hand at me, and shouted “Kneel!”
Her power hit me like a semi-truck to the brain. I rocked on my heels, as she turned into the only thing in my universe, her pregnant body beautiful, her skin shining and her pearly teeth aglow in a light from someplace I couldn’t determine and didn’t care about. Her hair billowed in the wind, and I wanted to... wanted to...
I growled, and the warmth that had momentarily filled my nether quarters faded as my anger grew. Guttural and fierce, my snarl echoed across the field and for a second everyone, even the horses, paused to look at me.
I would not be mindfucked again. Especially not by some penny-ante refugee from a bad urban fantasy.
With determination came clarity, and she shrunk to my eyes, turned the chariot to flee.
I folded my arms and looked back to the palace. Rumjack was already up and running along the ground after her, and I had no idea why he wasn’t flying. Probably some magical bullshit reason. The Green Knight was still putting himself together, glancing between Lust and me as his plantlike flesh knitted.
“WELL. CANCEL THAT THEN. PENNY-ANTE ENCHANTERS CAN SOLVE THEIR OWN HERO PROBLEMS.”
I snapped my fingers, ringing metallic as the gauntlet’s digits ground.
“Oh my god, is it time?” Delta whispered.
“It’s time!” Alpha confirmed. “Do it just like we practiced!”
Behind me the Greek Chorus rushed together, lim
bs sliding free of their frames, hanging by cables as they moved into each other, parts combining and mixing in a flurry of steel and carbon fiber. With clicks and clacks they twisted and contorted, and I smiled to see it.
When I sat down they skittered under me, catching my metal-plated rump with their interwoven components. By the time I propped one elbow up on a pair of grasping hands they’d assumed their final form: a huge throne.
I slouched into my minions, in a pose of pure disdain, sliding the side of my mask into my gauntlet’s hand.
The Green Knight finished relocating his shoulder, took one last look at me, and took off after Lust’s chariot.
“SMART LAD.”
“I still say this is humiliating,” Gamma muttered from somewhere around my left ass cheek.
“If it gets us through without a fight, it’s worth it,” Beta replied from my shoulder.
More of the palace wall crumbled, pink stone bricks like cotton candy pressed and made into slabs falling to thud on overly-bright green grass. A blue glow shone from within as a massive top hat made of energy burst free of the ruin and rolled across the ground before fading. Punching Judy, Miss Maskelyne, and the Human Harrier stood up, saw me, and fell into a loose defensive formation. I felt like chuckling, stifled the urge.
For a long moment they stared at me, and I stared right back, tapping the digits of my gauntlet against my mask, making a truly horrible rhythmic scraping sound. Khalid moved up to my right, his hand on the hilt of his sword. Dru took the left, hands in her pockets, squinting through Vector’s glasses.
The Human Harrier’s weapons started to reconfigure into something nastier, but Miss Maskelyne grabbed his shoulder before he could point any of them my way.
“Doctor,” she said, looking at me with wary but unflinching eyes, “what are you doing here, then?” Behind them the palace crumbled in slow motion. They didn’t even glance back, doing the full badass hero pose. I respected that. Heroes had their own kayfabe too, and it was nice to see it done properly.
“YOU KNOW, FOR A TEAM CALLED QUEENSGUARD, YOU’RE RATHER HARD ON CASTLES,” I observed.
“That’s not an answer. Why did you come here?”
I shrugged. “SAME REASON YOU’RE HERE, DIRE SUPPOSES.” I pointed toward the speck that was the chariot, off in the distance. Rumjack was throwing something glowy at it, and Lust was returning the favor, throwing green balls of fire back. I’m sure if I had any magical knowledge whatsoever it would have been very impressive.
“You’re here to save the swordsman then? Hate to break it to yer love, but he don’t need much savin’.” Punching Judy folded her arms and glared at me.
“HARDLY. HE MADE HIS BED. HE CAN LIE IN IT. BUT DIRE HAS QUESTIONS AND LUST HAS ANSWERS.”
Miss Maskelyne studied me, eyes flicking to either side as she took in my companions. She finally pointed a gloved hand at me. “Don’t go anywhere.”
“IT’S A COMFY THRONE. NO TRAVEL PLANS AT THE MINUTE. BY ALL MEANS, SECURE YOUR QUARRY, THEN WE SHALL PALAVER.”
They edged backwards, finally turning and running after their friends, shooting looks of pure murder over their shoulders at me as they went. Eventually the Human Harrier took to the skies with a fine sonic boom, and Punching Judy called up her chi for great bounding leaps. And I sighed in relief, and sagged back into my throne. Really hadn’t wanted a three-way fight here. I toned my voice modulator down, and looked over at Khalid. “GOOD TO HAVE THAT HYPOTHESIS CONFIRMED.”
Khalid raised an eyebrow.
“HEROES ARE BY NATURE TWITCHY AND INURED TO VIOLENCE. ESPECIALLY VETERANS, LIKE QUEENSGUARD. INITIATING A FIGHT OR THREATENING VIOLENCE, WELL, THEY WOULD HAVE RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY IN KIND. BUT WHEN YOU THROW SOMETHING OUT OF CONTEXT AT THEM, THEY’RE OFF BALANCE. FAR EASIER TO KEEP THINGS FROM ESCALATING.”
“I see. I would counter with the notion that your confidence kept them from pressing an assault, especially with a third front to secure.”
“THAT’S THE REASON DIRE’S NOT PURSUING HER. CAN’T FORGIVE LUST FOR THE ATTEMPTED MIND CONTROL—”
Khalid straightened up in alarm. “Wait, you have been ensorcelled?”
“DON’T WORRY. ALREADY SHOOK IT OFF.”
His eyes were wide as he turned to face me full-on. “I find that hard to believe.”
Dru cackled, and we shifted to look at her. “Don’t. This girl’s got spirit, Janny.”
“Please, call me the Last Janissary.”
“Eh, that’s a mouthful.” Dru turned to the side, hocked, and spat as she studied the fight in the distance. With the Human Harrier in the skies now, the chariot was hard-pressed to stay in the sky. Miss Maskelyne was on the case too, throwing out handfuls of blue doves like she was trying out for a baseball team. Did they have those in Britain? I didn’t know. Hadn’t spent much time watching the sports, well, except for football. Soccer. Whatever the heck they called it. Acertijo had been nuts about the game and I’d been stuck nearby while he had it on.
“ARE YOU READY TO PLAY YOUR PART, DRU?” We’d discussed it, briefly. It was a gamble, but it was simple, easy to try, and cost me nothing but the shade of a woman who was dead anyway.
“Don’t you be worrying about me,” she grinned through Vector’s mouth. “I know me blood. It runs true. She’ll help us or she’ll regret it.”
The heroes finally managed to knock the chariot to bits. The horses managed to bring Lust and Acertijo to the ground, and he sprang out, a sword in each hand as he laid into the Green Knight and Punching Judy.
Acertijo fought well. He fought hard. He fought with every ounce of skill that he’d trained into himself, and all the experience that he’d picked up in his decade of hero-ing.
Acertijo was glorious, and I sighed to see him go. But he was totally outclassed.
He was but a man, when it came down to it, and he was up against someone who could heal anything he could dish out, and one of the world’s premiere superpowered martial artists. This had only one end to it, and he knew it.
He looked to me, beckoned with his blade.
I lifted my head from my hand, briefly, and shook my head.
I’d learned much about social cues these past few years. Facial expressions were only a part of it. Body language was so much more honest. And as I shook my head, I watched his body sag, as hope left him. There would be no cavalry here, no happy ending for him. I almost felt sorry for him, but...
I spared Lust a glance, her with one arm over her belly, hiding behind her fish-horse things as they stamped and bit at Rumjack and Harrier. No, I wouldn’t give him pity. He’d made his choice. If he was ensorcelled I’d free him, or the heroes would free him, but if he was acting of his own will then he deserved what he got.
Ten seconds later he stepped back, cast his blades down, and raised his hands. As they went up, Rumjack managed to grab the horses and clonk their heads together, sending them to the ground in an unconscious heap.
“No!” Lust shrieked. “It’s not over! I can...”
“You can surrender,” my sensors caught Miss Maskelyne’s voice, distant but commanding. “You’re under arrest until we can untangle this mess.”
“I’ll tell you anything, I’ll do anything, please!”
“We can discuss it back on Earth. Now come quietly, and—”
“No! I’m dead if I go back there! Please, have mercy upon m— upon us!”
“You’ll be in the middle of us. We’ll protect you.”
“You can’t! He’s in your heads!”
Miss Maskelyne folded her arms. “Well, that’s convenient, innit? You’ll pardon me if I’m not buying it.”
“ACTUALLY SHE’S TELLING THE TRUTH ON THAT ONE.”
The heroes jumped, and I stifled a chuckle. Then Miss Maskelyne gestured them over into a huddle. The heroes bickered, and Acertijo went to go hold Lust, while she wrapped her arms around him and sobbed. Acertijo’s gaze never left my mask.
I was the wild card in this little mess, and I had every reason to play
that to my advantage. Besides, if they hadn’t opened fire on me by now, I thought we might be able to come to some sort of accord.
The huddle broke, and the Human Harrier opened fire on me.
“No!” Punching Judy shouted, but he boosted at me as bullets ricocheted away from my forcefield. Tracer rounds slammed into the sphere surrounding me as Khalid and Dru ran for cover. The minion throne was inside the field, but my friends weren’t, and I felt supremely annoyed as I stood.. Across the way, I saw Miss Maskelyne palm her face and Rumjack’s head whip back and forth as he looked between her and Harrier.
Boy needed a reminder of who he was fucking with.
I cast my cape back with a flourish as he boomed over my head, came around for another run. “YOU DARE?”
“No collateral out here!” He shouted back. “No civilians, no city, no reason to pull my punches! I can take you!”
“BETTER HAVE TRIED.” I took to the air, cursing under my breath. Fucker had to succumb to testosterone poisoning.
Yellow indicators flickered to life on my HUD, as the impacts grew louder. He’d moved on from bullets to plasma pulses. I could take it for a while, but each impact bore more force than the last.
“IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE? PATHETIC.”
He stopped half a kilometer away, and his back bulged, pistons churning along his armor, gears rippling as components peeled away from his suit and joined the weapons array. Barrels lined up next to barrels, coils extruded and spun, and my sensors chattered as he drew in energy from the surrounding area.
That gave me an idea. I blinked up the appropriate menus, and activated a gadget I hadn’t expected to use on this jaunt. And when the menus came up green, I laughed.
“YOU GET ONE SHOT. MAKE IT COUNT.”
Human Harrier paused, and I saw the flash of white teeth under his visor. The weapons ground together, combined into one massive conglomeration...
...and went ‘CLUNK’.
His grin faded.
DIRE:SINS (The Dire Saga Book 5) Page 21