Hard Magic: Book I of the Grimnoir Chronicles

by Larry Correia

  Heinrich appeared, walking right through the wall as he changed the magazine in his Solothurn. The barrel was white hot. “There are more coming. There’s little time.”

  They had to find this thing and find it fast. “One team up. One team down.”

  ***

  Faye was jumping around like a madwoman. She figured the best thing she could do was just keep moving, causing trouble, and besides, the longer she stayed in one place, the more likely she was to get shot. It was harder to aim at something that wasn’t there by the time you pulled the trigger.

  Other Actives worried about running out of Power, but she didn’t. It just seemed to be there, the same as always. She appeared behind a soldier in a brown uniform, stuck her shotgun in his spine and pulled the trigger. She was Traveling so fast now that by the time the action cycled, the spent shell ejected two hundred yards away as she landed right in front of another soldier and tripped him so he fell down a ladder and broke his neck.

  Her head map was filled with information. There were hundreds of people moving. Thousands of bullets. She had to stay in motion.

  One second she was in the flagship inside a room filled with dirt and windows like they were gonna try and grow crops and then she was outside in the rain where she hit a man in the head with her shotgun butt and watched him flip over the railing and then she was in a narrow little room filled with red light and shooting steam and there was one man in a black uniform using his Power to keep the hydrogen from catching on fire so she just shot him in the neck and then she was up in a room with a bunch of radios so she shot all of those folks too and then she shot the radios for good measure until her shotgun was empty.

  Whew . . . She paused to catch her breath as she pulled more buckshot off her bandoleer. Her Power might not run out, but she was getting tired and this was about the fifth time she’d emptied the stubby shotgun. The Browning was smoking hot and her shoulder was going to have a really nasty bruise. Faye brushed an errant strand of hair away from her eye. She still hadn’t seen anything that looked like her Grandpa’s Tesla device, but as soon as she did, she was gonna smash it real good. She couldn’t find it on her head map, because everything here was so filled with complicated mechanical devices that everything looked kind of the same.

  Her head map warned her to move, so she did, not even knowing why, and a sword cleaved through the air where she’d been standing. There was a woman in front of her where there hadn’t been anybody a second ago. She was dressed all in tight black, had red hair spilling over her shoulders, and was way prettier than Faye, and strangest of all, she had grey eyes too! “Hey, you’re just like me!” she exclaimed.

  The woman didn’t respond, she just whipped the sword around to take Faye’s head off, but Faye was too quick for that. The sword snaked chips from the wall and Faye appeared behind her. “Oh, so that’s how it is?” Faye said as she pulled up the shotgun. But the woman was just as quick as she was and the buckshot blew twelve holes in the wall instead of meat. Faye instinctively ducked as the sword stabbed over her shoulder.

  She appeared in an empty access tunnel two stories below, put her back to the wall, and kept loading the shotgun. Could the redhead follow her? Faye had never tried to use her head map to keep track of another Traveler before, so she wasn’t sure. She realized her shirt was torn and blood was welling from her shoulder. The blade had been so sharp she hadn’t even felt the cut, but she sure did now.

  The woman appeared at the other end of the tunnel. “You’re a slippery one,” she said, “but no one escapes Toshiko of the Shadow Guard.”

  “Well, I’m Faye of the Grimnoir knights, and I wasn’t trying to escape,” Faye answered bravely. “I was just waiting for your slow ass to catch up.”

  The woman screamed, raised her sword, and charged. Faye lifted the shotgun and fired as the woman Traveled, appearing just behind the passing buckshot, and swung, but only raised sparks off the grating as Faye disappeared.

  Faye landed at the opposite end of the tunnel. The woman was too fast, but maybe she was like everybody else and her Power had to run out sometime, just like Delilah had taught her. “Hey, Toshiko! That ninja suit makes you look like a fat cow.”

  The ninja raised her sword. Red light reflected down the razor steel.

  It would be just like playing tag. “Catch me if you can, fat cow!” Faye taunted before Traveling as far as her map would take her.

  ***

  Sullivan swung the barrel of the BAR around the corner and caught the lead crewman in the face. Cheek bone shattered, he stumbled back into his companions, and Sullivan followed, using his Power to tumble them down the hall into the far wall. These were in navy uniforms, so maybe they knew their way around this giant maze. He dropped the rifle, knowing the sling would catch it and hold it against his chest, as he drew his .45 and walked forward. He put one bullet into each head, but stopped at the last one. He grabbed the soldier by the throat with his left hand and picked him off the ground and slammed him against the wall.

  He didn’t know if the Jap spoke English, so he kept it simple. Wherever his brother was, that’s where the Tesla device would be. “Where’s Madi?” The sailor started to jabber something. Sullivan lowered the .45 and shot him in the knee. The sailor screamed. “English! Do you speak it?”

  “Madi! Madi!” The man pointed down, said a bunch of other words, but Madi was in there, and he kept pointing in a downward direction. That would do. Sullivan slammed the sailor’s skull into the metal bulkhead then dropped him. There was an interior stairwell around the next corner so he started down.

  He paused at the next level, but then snapped back as a subgun barked, hitting the corner of the wall. Someone bellowed from behind the gun. “More ninjas!”

  English? “Grimnoir?” he shouted.

  “Sullivan? That you?”

  “Yeah, don’t shoot,” he answered, coming around the corner. He’d forgotten about the black mask and goggles. He pulled them off and shoved them into his coat. Sure enough, it was the Grimnoir. Dan Garrett was in the lead, followed by Heinrich Koenig, a dark-haired stranger, and more people were coming up behind them out of the darkened passageway.

  “One of yours?” the man with the Thompson asked.

  “Proud to say yes on that one,” Dan answered. “Sullivan, have you seen Jane?” When Sullivan shook his head, Dan lowered his. “Damn it. I’ve got to find her.”

  “Engineering is this way, I think,” said the man with the Thompson. “Come on.”

  Heinrich grabbed Sullivan by his coat. “Listen to me, friend. There is something I must tell you. Something—”

  “It can wait, Heinrich,” Sullivan answered.

  “No, it can’t.” The woman’s voice came from the darkness of the hallway. She stepped forward into the dim light.

  Sullivan blinked hard. “De-Delilah?” It couldn’t be, but he recognized her shape in the shadows, but something was different, something was wrong. “How?” Had the Healing magic worked after all? But why wasn’t she coming closer? He started to go to her, but Heinrich held on with all his might.

  “Sullivan, please, I beg you. Listen to me.”

  He shoved the Fade off and ran for her, his heart leaping. Delilah stepped out of the shadows and—

  She was dead . . .

  It was obvious. He’d seen thousands of zombies during the Great War. The unnatural fire in her eyes, the way her skin hung loose over her face. She was dressed in a formless UBF coverall, but black blood had congealed all around the hole in her abdomen from the wound that had killed her.

  Delilah stopped right in front of him. “I’m sorry,” she cried, her voice trembling. Her skin was pale white, but blotted with black and purple bruises.

  He encircled her in his arms. “It’s not your fault,” he whispered. “It’s mine. Oh, God, forgive me. Please forgive me.” Now that he was close, he could smell her. Her body was already decaying. “I didn’t know. I never would have left.”

  “Jake. I’m go
ne. Let go of me. Please, let go.”

  He did so, uncomfortably stepping away. He wanted to die. “What . . . What . . .”

  “The Lazarus magic got me. I died while it was still in effect. I think it was a fight between your magic and his, but his was stronger.” She raised one hand and stroked his cheek, fingers hard and dry. “Heinrich was going to mercy kill me, but I told him who better to go on a suicide mission than somebody who was already dead?”

  “Shhh . . .” he pleaded. “I’ll find a way. There has to be a way to fix this. The Power—”

  “No . . .” she answered. “You can’t understand the pain, Jake. I’m using my Power just to keep it in check enough not to go crazy, and when I run out . . .” she sighed. “I won’t turn into one of those mindless monsters, out of their gourd with pain. This is a one-way trip for me, baby. You have to let me do this.”

  “I can’t.”

  “You can, because you’re the strongest and best man I’ve ever met. Do this for me, Jake. Let me go. Be happy. Promise me you’ll go on and live a long happy life, have lots of kids, and die of old age.” She leaned in and kissed him gently on the lips, cold as ice.

  He started to cry. “I can’t.”

  “You can, and you will, because that’s my dying wish, you selfish bastard.” Her blackened lips cracked into a smile. She took his hand in hers, placed it on the center of her chest, where there was no heartbeat, and he died inside. “Now come on. I deserve to go out with a bang.”

  Heinrich was waiting for them, his hat down low, covering his eyes. “This way,” he said softly.

  ***

  Faye had jumped a hundred and fifty-two times in the last four minutes, she’d counted, and that damn ninja cow bitch had stayed with her every step of the way.

  The two of them appeared at the very tip of the Tokugawa where the three balloons came together. Lightning crashed and rain pounded, as the other battleship loomed right overhead like a big black shadow. A single white biplane screamed past being chased by ten black ones, all shooting, and the white biplane exploded in a ball of fire. The old pirate ship had been shot so many times that most of its gas had leaked out, and it was gradually crashing into the side of the flagship. Her head map told her that men were dying all around her and a strange magic energy was building in the center of the ship, which could only be coming from the big, evil, magic superbomb.

  Faye was gasping for breath. She’d lost her shotgun after using it to club a passing officer in the face, not that it mattered, since she’d gone through all her shells by that point. She’d been counting Travels, but she’d lost track of how many people she’d killed, shot, stabbed, maimed, pushed overboard, set on fire, or blown up. She was armed now with a meat cleaver that she’d picked up in the kitchen. It was still dripping blood from where she’d taken off a sailor’s hand.

  Toshiko had dogged her the whole time. The ninja was panting almost as hard as Faye was. Her magic kanji were burning so hot that the rain hitting her instantly exploded into steam. Faye had shot at her, but she was always one step ahead. She’d pulled the pins out of grenades and dropped them, hoping that Toshiko would Travel right into them, but she’d been too smart for that, and would always Travel outside the blast zone.

  The ninja raised her sword in a salute. “You are the finest Traveler I’ve ever known,” Toshiko said simply.

  “And you’re still a big mean cow,” Faye answered, not that she was being honest. Cows were wonderful creatures. Imperium assassins, not so much. “Ugly and mean.”

  “Surely, you’re almost out of magic by now?” Toshiko hissed. “I have direct lines to the Power, granted by the Chairman and his finest wizards. You have none. You cannot possibly outlast me.”

  Faye checked. She still felt the same as ever. Physically, she was bushed, but magically, she was fine. “I’m just getting warmed up.”

  “Let’s finish this, child, so I can get to killing your friends . . .” Toshiko had an evil smile. “That gives me an idea. Let’s see if you can keep up with me this time?”

  NO! Toshiko Traveled. Faye checked her head map. There.

  The ninja was in the control room of the pirate ship. She yanked her sword out of the driver’s back in a spray of blood. The bald pirate captain was turning as she swung her sword at his face, but Faye crashed into her forearm. “No, you don’t!” Faye shouted in her ear. Toshiko grinned savagely as she Traveled out of Faye’s grasp.

  Faye screamed as her clothing burst into flames. Some pirate woman had just set her on fire! “Not me, stupid!” she shrieked as she Traveled.

  She caught Toshiko a short distance above, balancing on the slick top of the flaming pirate ship. The crashing rain dashed out the fire on her clothing. Her feet squished into the balloon fabric, once hard with gas, but now falling apart. They were about to hit the Tokugawa. Toshiko swung her sword, but Faye appeared behind her, trying to put the cleaver into her back. The two danced, steel swinging, both disappearing and reappearing so fast that Faye was only moving on unconscious instinct.

  The ninja had been trained how to fight with a sword, and Faye hadn’t, and the steel drove through her calf. She screamed as she toppled, sliding down the edge of the balloon. Hydrogen fire was licking up to meet her. She had to outwit Toshiko somehow, something crazy. She Traveled as she entered the flames.

  Faye hit the metal engine housing on all fours. The giant propeller was screaming only inches away, a huge black blur that would destroy her instantly. Maybe Toshiko’s head map wouldn’t be as accurate and—

  The ninja appeared on the next engine over and waved. “Damn it!” Faye screamed in frustration. Toshiko mouthed something, but she couldn’t be heard over the roar of the propeller, but she just knew that she was going to go kill some of her friends. The Shadow Guard disappeared, but Faye was right behind her.

  Lance was on the deck, hunkered down behind one corner, rainwater pouring off the edges of his big hat as he fired his Winchester at the approaching Imperium troops. Francis was off to the other side, smoothly working the bolt of his Enfield. “Look out!”Faye screamed.

  But where was—and then she gasped as the sword hit her square in the small of the back. Faye rolled forward through the water. Toshiko stood over her, blade gleaming overhead, and the ninja was triumphant, knowing that she’d just struck a lethal blow.

  “Faye!” Lance shouted, but Faye was already Traveling. She folded space and fell through, landing on her face in a puddle of water on top of the Tempest, only a few feet from where she’d taken her oath. Toshiko appeared, gloating. “You can’t run when you can’t feel your legs. I felt my wakizashi bite the bone . . . Pity. I have no doubt that if you were with us, you’d be the First amongst the Shadow Guard.”

  Faye was coughing, lying on her back. She reached around behind her and found the little Iver Johnson .32, her faithful little companion that she’d bought in Merced for ten dollars, the same amount of money that Grandpa had bought her for. The mighty sword blow had nearly cut it in half. Once again, her life had been saved by ten bucks. “Oh, that wasn’t my spine, but you really messed up my gun.”

  Toshiko finally lost it. She screamed in fury as Faye Traveled.

  Faye appeared, falling in midair, right in front of the astonished Lance. “Shoot me!” Faye screamed.

  To his credit, Lance Talon didn’t hesitate. He lifted the .351 Winchester and pulled the trigger.

  Toshiko appeared behind her, still screaming, but according to the ninja’s map, the area had been clear, safe, and a tenth of a second before, it had been. Time seemed to slow to nothing as Faye’s head map recorded everything in the universe. The bullet traveled from the barrel, straight and true, and Faye only needed to fold space a tiny bit to get out of the way, and it was almost as if she could watch the bullet rotating as it passed through the air she’d inhabited, past Toshiko’s descending blade, and right into the Shadow Guard’s chest.

  The bullet cleaved through her sternum, breaking and turning as it pulver
ized her heart, severed her spine, and flew out her back. The blood droplets and bone fragments seemed to hang suspended, intermingled between the raindrops, and then Faye reappeared off to the side. Time restarted. The ninja was looking at her, as if to say, how the hell had that happened, but then the lights went out. Lance hit Toshiko twice more as she fell, even though she was already dead.

  “Told you so, cow . . .” Faye went to her knees, swooning from blood loss. She felt Francis’ strong hands on her, and the next thing she knew, she was in his arms, and he was carrying her away from the gunfire.

  Chapter 25

  I must tell you, Kermit, of these three particularly remarkable Heavies amongst the volunteers. They come from brave stock, as their father had been with me during the advance on Kettle Hill. Though all three are exceedingly similar physical specimens, these Sullivan brothers could not be of more disparate temperaments. One is a simpleton, with the gentle soul of a child, yet a more diligent soldier you could not ask for. One is a killer of men, a force of calculated belligerence, I fear he is only obedient to his officers because a discharge would jeopardize his opportunity to murder more Huns. The last is a thoughtful young man, the quietest of the three. He shows great promise as a leader. Never before, in all my years of campaigning, have I come across such stalwart troops. I tell you, son, the three are a terror to behold in battle, and if I had a thousand more Sullivans, this war would already be won.

  —General Theodore Roosevelt,

  personal correspondence posted

  before second battle of the Somme, 1918

  Imperium flagship Tokugawa

  Madi was waiting at the end of the twenty-foot-wide catwalk. He had been joined by two other Iron Guards: the wretched Lazarus, Hiroyasu, and the stalwart Nobunaga, a Brute who was also the Chairman’s champion sumo wrestler. Sumo was another weird Jap obsession that Madi had never gotten into. He found the whole thing kind of queer, with men pushing and slapping on each other in loincloths, but Nobunaga had been a tough guy before he’d picked up half a dozen kanji to increase his already formidable strength and vitality. Behind the three Iron Guards was the engineering section’s Torch and twenty of the strongest Marines on board.