Glitch Hunter

by Skyler Grant

  Alex's bracer flashed blue and a moment later a strange hissing and popping came from it along with an unknown voice. "Kationa Vess, we have you logged as missing."

  "I'm being held captive in a magical and quintessence-sealed vault while a transcendence event is underway outside. Request a relay of a message to a non-House member," Kationa said.

  "Glad to hear you're well and we'll see what we can do. Who do you need to reach?"

  "You know her better than I do. Introduce yourself," Kationa said.

  "This is Alex Glaive of the House of Bats. We're looking to deliver the message to Ryn Cosis, who is most likely to be at the Windicott Merchant house in the city of Falkirk."

  "Greetings, Glitch Hunter. The message?"

  "That we're being held captive in the vault that held Ebonhart and request a rescue."

  "We will find a way to relay the message."

  "Glaive Bracer, End communication," Kationa said.

  "I find it irritating that everyone seems to have more access to my bracer than I do," Alex said.

  "It would drive me into a rage. Well, we have some time. Get drunk and have wild sex where my evil apprentice can spy on us?" Kationa asked.

  "I'll commit to the first bit," Alex said, reaching for one of the bottles. Whiskey, that would do.

  "So, are we really going to kill her when we get out of here?" Kationa asked.

  "I don't see where we have any choice. It’s her or the city burns. Whatever we might feel about her, I can't see us making that trade."

  "We could just leave, if there are other Glitch Hunters in town. The Tower has other mages. It doesn't have to be our responsibility."

  "It doesn't, but it is. You know that, or you wouldn't be wishing so desperately it wasn't the case," Alex said, taking a long draw from the bottle.

  If Ryn was able to break into this vault it wouldn't be a matter of minutes. His Glitch physiology recovered from being drunk quickly enough that no matter how smashed he got now. He'd be sober by the time Ryn reached them.

  "Is there another way?" Kationa asked. "You're the Glitch Hunter."

  "What about this? According to my Grimoire her transformation is fueled by the deaths of her subjects. If we could prevent the destruction of the town, and deny Sabrina the power she gains from people dying, we'd stop her from becoming a Glitch. In that case I don't know what would happen to all of the quintessence inside of her," Alex said.

  "It is likely she'd still become a Glitch, just a different kind," Kationa said, finishing off the last of her bottle and picking up another. "I don't know how I failed her so badly."

  "I think Sabrina’s rage is her business."

  "It isn't, not really. To drive someone like this, it’s been long buried and it festers. Sabrina is rotting from the inside out and I should have seen it. I should have helped."

  "There weren't any signs?" Alex asked.

  "Of course there were. After the death of her parents she wept and raged, and wanted to do that forever, but I couldn't let her do that. Not if she was going to survive and keep her rank. I made her smile at their killers. I made her swear her loyalty and state how much she regretted her parents’ treason," Kationa said quietly.

  "Right up until the Commonwealth came to town," Alex said.

  "Indeed. Then she was honored by their heroic sacrifice in the face of Youlash's oppression," Kationa said with a bitter laugh. "I became a member of the Grey Tower because I wanted to help people. Because I thought I was smart enough to guide their rulers better than they could guide themselves."

  "You haven't done a very good job," Alex said. That wasn't kind, but so far as he could see it was the truth. Sabrina had been allowed to go very bad, and Falkirk was hardly flourishing as a result.

  "I know, I wish I knew how to make it right," Kationa said. "I was just trying to keep her alive, and then one day something changed. Sabrina learned to play the game, to smile when needed. I was proud of her the day she became a good liar."

  "You might be a crappy adviser, but you're a good teacher," Alex said.

  "Magic, lying, I wish I could take all the credit, but I think she is just an incredible student."

  "What are you going to do when this is all over?"

  "If you did manage to get a lot of the population away, when this is all over some of Falkirk is going to survive, no matter what happens. Even if the city burns people will rebuild, a new ruler will come. I've failed two rulers in a row, I think I'm going to try to get it right next time," Kationa said. "You?"

  Alex chuckled. "If I fail in this I don't even know where I stand with the House. Corrupted and fooled by the Glitch I'd been sent to hunt. It has been a learning experience. I don't know if they'll see it that way."

  Kationa reached over and took his hand, giving it a squeeze. "Take this advice for what it is worth. Things are always complicated. Glitch Hunters make difficult choices all the time, they get things wrong all the time."

  "You sound like you have some experience," Alex said.

  "A Glitch Hunter passing through an area usually comes to meet the local ruler to see about any small quests they need, and so I've met a lot of them over the years. Hunts fail, innocents die," Kationa said.

  "Grim outlook."

  Kationa gave a shrug, "Look at it as half a win. Even if Sabrina satisfies her goals, a lot of the town survives because you hedged your bets. That is pretty much the best outcome one can hope for out of a bad situation."

  The dour conversation had put them both into a somber mood and the next few hours passed in a blur of drinking. Finally, one wall shimmered and faded away.

  An exhausted Ryn stood there, deep circles under her eyes.

  "You look like hell," Alex said.

  "Surprised you still have clothes on after being trapped with the creepy old lady," Ryn said. "One of you owes me a lot of money."

  "I'm not old," Kationa said sharply, before adding, "Compared to some. I don't look it either. If I have my magic back I assure you that I can transform you into something unpleasant, although it would be a challenge to find something worse than your natural form."

  Alex stepped out of the chamber and called his weapons. Unfortunately, there was no fetch rune on his armor, but after a moment his sword and hammer materialized in his hands.

  "How are things out there?" Alex asked.

  "We got hit twice. Those grey things came out of the water and attacked along the shore, and then later some kind of bird-lizard things dropped from the sky. Cass has armed everybody in town and your friends have been helping to organize them," Ryn said, wiping her eyes. "I'm exhausted, Cass is exhausted. It’s almost dawn."

  Alex hadn't realized that much time had passed. Although he functioned pretty well on a lack of sleep, everyone that had gone along with him to the third Coldflame must be teetering on the edge of collapse by now.

  Yet, Alex knew he couldn't suggest that they sleep. Every morning his bracer had been giving him the updated time. It was an estimate, but this morning the timer should run out. There was no way to know exactly what that meant.

  "If you intend to storm the keep I'll go with you," Kationa said.

  "I need you elsewhere. You're of the Grey Tower. I ask you to do whatever you have to in order to strip Sabrina of her baroness rank."

  Kationa paused and looked thoughtful. "Remove her rank and remove her authority over the people of Falkirk. But the Commonwealth has a council, it’s not like I can just go petition any monarch."

  "Figure it out. If we can stop her transformation maybe no more people have to die," Alex said.

  "On it," Kationa said, and snapped her fingers. A glowing fissure appeared in the air and she stepped through.

  "You really think that’s going to work?" Ryn asked doubtfully.

  "Not at all. But she regards Sabrina as a little sister and Kationa has suffered enough. If anyone is going to kill her, she shouldn't be involved," Alex said.

  "I didn't take you for a soft touch, Glitch Hunter," Ryn
said, as she limped away.

  It was hard to tell through the bruises that still marked Ryn's face, but Alex thought he saw fresh burn marks. On her hands as well.

  "What happened? You're injured," Alex said, following.

  "Dispel runes and the power goes somewhere. I'm got out of the way—of most of it," Ryn said. "So where are we going?"

  "I think you've done enough," Alex said.

  "Alex, every time I let you out of my sight things go from bad to worse. You aren't wrong if you think I'm in terrible shape, but I'm not leaving your side. Not until this is wrapped up."

  "Sabrina is going to know we escaped. Let’s get back to Cass's place and we can figure out our next steps from there."

  "What? No charging right back into enemy territory?" Ryn said.

  The last time Alex tried that Sabrina knocked him unconscious before he got close—but he didn't think she'd be able to do so that easily again. Their connection did cut both ways. Alex somehow just knew that in the short term he'd be far more resistant to her abilities, and that long-term he was vastly more invulnerable to them.

  That she had decided to imprison Alex instead of kill him was reckless—and meant she really did have some feelings for him.

  "Not without a plan and some allies. If we're going after her we need to hit with everything we have," Alex said.

  "Cass isn't going to leave the town undefended. You don't know how seriously she takes protecting it. I know it seems weird given the whole crime lord vibe," Ryn says.

  "No, it makes perfect sense. This is her home and her people, and she’s going to defend them to the last. You don't have to be on the right side of the law for that."

  "You really believe that?"

  "It goes for you too," Alex told her.

  Ryn shook her head. "I do the right thing, but I don't have a home. Falkirk is in the past, I'm just here to stand by my friends."

  Together they walked out of the cave, she was true to her word.

  42

  “The port city of Yalsen once vanished in a thick fog, seemingly lost, only to appear thirty years later, populace intact with no memory of what had befallen them. No explanation has yet been discovered.” Mysteries of Brightshy

  There were pyres in Falkirk, the fires of dead bodies burning providing bright spots through the fog. Cassandra had learned the lesson to burn the dead quickly, and it was horrifying how many there already were.

  When they got back to the Windicott estate they found Cassandra and Helen in a makeshift war room looking over a map. Cassandra looked even more exhausted than Ryn, with a number of bandaged wounds.

  "Didn't realize it was ‘fight the Glitch in our underwear day’," Helen said with a look at Alex.

  "Got taken prisoner. Had a fetch spell on my weapons, not my armor," Alex said.

  "Go tell Master Vinnik we need his project, and get this man some weapon sheaths," Cassandra said to a servant, who quickly ran off.

  "Master Vinnik?" Alex asked.

  "It was going to be a surprise. My people took the drake you killed. I kept most of the good bits because I'm greedy, and left you a little because we're friends," Cassandra said.

  "Thank you," Alex said. It only made sense that it was armor, and if Alex had to guess drake skin didn't come easily or cheaply. Cassandra was being more generous than she let on.

  "Morgan is off helping with the cavelings. They attacked an hour ago," Helen said.

  "I wish Yasmine was here. I think she spent over a year fighting those things," Alex said.

  "Plus was a total badass besides. We've got this," Helen said, but sounded doubtful.

  "I'm surprised you aren't headed out of town already. You're a survivor," Alex said.

  "When the day is obviously lost you'll see me slipping out the nearest exit. Well, probably you won't, since I'll be dragging your and Morgan's drugged, unconscious bodies behind me. We aren't there yet."

  Alex didn't think it was entirely a jest and vowed to watch what he ate and drank, if the day ever looked lost.

  "We also aren't all that far from it. The town has no real fortifications to speak of, not anymore. I have barricades at choke points, and archers on the roofs, and men with spears down below, but it isn't going to be enough," Cassandra said.

  "You have any plan that might result in a win?" Helen asked.

  Alex said, "The last time I moved directly on the baroness she knocked me out and locked me up. It may be we have to try that again, and it might work because I’ve discovered that I'm both resistant and strengthened by her attacks. We’re ... closer than I thought."

  "You slept with the big bad? Am I the only one not getting screwed?" Helen asked.

  Cassandra raised her hand. "No luck here either."

  "I'm not even trying," Ryn said.

  This wasn't helping.

  "Ryn, you need sleep. At least a few hours, get back into a usable state," Alex said.

  "I told you, I'm not letting you leave my sight."

  Alex stared her down, "I'm not joking, Ryn. I need you, and I need you at your best. Sabrina has to be casting her magic from somewhere and the Coldflames’ center was located at the keep."

  "Can you get someone else through the barrier?" Helen asked.

  "I'm thinking I may not need to. I've been through the upper rooms, I should have gotten a sense of any mysterious spell chambers," Alex said. “I don’t think it’s inside the actual keep.”

  "Dungeons, catacombs. People hide their secrets underground," Ryn said.

  "That’s what I'm thinking. Are there any entrances to beneath the keep from outside?"

  Cassandra thought about it. "There was, my agents used an old escape tunnel for coming and going. It collapsed about a year ago and I had to make other arrangements. There was a lot down there, but most of it old, full of traps, and not very valuable-looking."

  "If it wasn't valuable, why would it be trapped?" Ryn said.

  "I don’t know. I lost two people disarming them for zero return. I don't throw good coin after bad," Cassandra snapped.

  "You do need me. Two hours sleep is going to be enough. You leave without me I swear I'll get stabby," Ryn said, and left the room.

  She passed a wiry older man with a thick handlebar moustache and carrying a bundle of armor in his arms.

  "Master Vinnik. Meet Alex Glaive who is the Glitch Hunter you've been making the set for. How did it turn out?" Cassandra asked.

  "Two keywords, both potentially useful, but nowhere near top-tier," Vinnik said in a thick guttural accent as he set the armor out on a table.

  Alex went over to have a look. No matter what, there would be no cause for complaints. He had no armor at all, and an upgrade would be a nice bonus.

  Drakehide Glitch Hunter's Armor (Set)

  Slots: Torso, Arms, Hands, Legs, Feet

  Condition: Excellent

  Quality: Rare

  Keywords: Buoyant, Reflective

  Slots: 1 (Strength 1) / Points: 1 (Fetch)

  Blunt: 9

  Piercing: 9

  Slashing: 9

  Magic: 9

  Dissonance: 9

  This was a nice upgrade over what Alex had before. While the dissonance protection was only slightly enhanced over what the old armor provided, everything else was much improved. With this he would be far more resistant to the standard damage foes inflicted.

  Alex began getting equipped and asked, "Buoyant and Reflective?"

  "You'll float instead of sink in water. Good if something is trying to drag you to bottom, bad if you want to swim beneath the surface. Reflective makes it harder to sneak around, but sometimes magic attacks bounce off," Vinnik said.

  Alex wasn't really happy about either of those. They might have their uses, but he preferred anything that gave him options. The keywords on this armor were limiting.

  Still, he'd better get used to those limitations. Given the values were better than the armor he'd inherited—and that belonged to an experienced Glitch Hunter—he thought
it might be some time until he found anything better.

  It fit well, Cassandra had found some way to get his measurements.

  Helen said, "You're really going to take that girl with you? I should be the one. Whatever we might encounter, we'll be stronger with two Glitch Hunters."

  "This ends a few ways. If we can keep the people in town from dying we should prevent Sabrina's ascension. If I can find what is powering her spells and disrupt it at the source, we might stop the flow of power to her from the other end. I need you and Morgan in town working on the first angle and keeping the people safe," Alex said.

  "You left off putting a sword through the heart of the fucking bitch behind this whole thing," Helen said.

  "It isn't off the table. I tried the direct approach once and it didn't work. The underground tunnel must attach to the keep. Doing this doesn't take that option away," Alex said.

  Helen unbuckled her potion-caster from her wrist and tossed it over, "You'll need this, just a loan. Flame, lightning, and acid are loaded. I've got some potions for you too."

  "You're the one fighting Glitch hordes."

  "I'm going to be sniping them from the rooftops. Take it."

  Alex loosened the straps of her caster so it would fit his wrist. In a full set of armor and properly equipped he felt a lot more himself again.

  "Take Jess with you too," Cassandra said.

  "Was planning on it," Alex said.

  "Jess?" Helen asked.

  "Call her the emergency plan in case everything else goes wrong," Alex said.

  A wish from Jess could do almost anything, from all that Alex had heard, even if it rarely did so in the way you'd like. If all seemed lost and she were with him, perhaps a way still existed to keep the people of the city safe. If he got the wish right.

  "You should get some rest yourself," Cassandra said.

  " Just two hours as well," Alex said.

  "I'll have someone wake you," Cassandra said, motioning over a servant and having her show Alex to a guest room.

  It felt like he had no more shut his eyes then he was being shaken awake.