No time to watch, to listen to wonders. Kanmi heard Caetia shout, again, that the supay could only be killed once lifted free of their native earth, even as the valkyrie threw one of the creatures into the air, ducking back down again, to allow ben Maor to shoot it, catching it like a bird on the wing. He saw Trennus push Lassair back against the wall, and lift a hand; the earth around their feet carved itself and smoothed itself into the unbroken loops and whorls of a very large protection circle. “Stay in the circle!” Trennus shouted across to Kanmi and Minori. “Should keep the spirits out. Won’t help with the humans, though!”
Then Trennus, disregarding his own advice, slipped out into the main room, circling around to the north, trying to get to ben Maor, and give their friend backup, as four more of the damned supay rose up out of the earth, between Adam and Sigrun. The human guards to the north, spinning, realizing that they now had enemies on all sides, and a full-scale conflict between gods in front of them, fired wildly at Trennus, the bullets bouncing off the man’s shields. The human guards to the south, and the supay still positioned there, turned towards the mouth of the tunnel, facing Kanmi. And then Kanmi lost his ability to keep track of the entirety of the battlefield, and he rapidly began to incant. Distorting gravity was the single hardest skill Kanmi had ever learned. He couldn’t manage more than one creature at a time, and no more than about two hundred pounds of mass at one g. As the rat-like, monkey-like supay skittered towards him, Kanmi thought, No. Not the ahuizotl and Tlaloc all over again, and yanked the closest up into the air, aiming with his pistol and firing. He didn’t want to waste the energy or the concentration to use magic both to hold it up, and to kill it.
“Lift,” Minori urged behind him, pressing closer. “I’ll kill!”
They’re about to hit Tren’s barrier, Kanmi thought, but lifted the second as the creatures continued to charge, and watched in a kind of delighted awe as Minori took the air in the room, turned a thin slice of it to solid state, and lashed out with it, like a flying sword. Exquisitely controlled, like the reed sword she’d used in demonstrating her kendo skills, the blade of ice froze the rock hide of the creature as it struck. A secondary blade, this one comprised of the raw heat that she’d removed from the air in order to create the ice blade, whirled in the first’s wake. Cold and then heat, rapid expansion. Artistry in the incantations, too.
The rock hide shattered, and the heat blade, invisible but deadly, continued right through into the neck, taking off the creature’s head. “You didn’t tell me you could cast like this!” Kanmi shouted, and then, catching sight of the men beyond the monsters raising their muskets, he incanted, rapidly pulling up a wall of dry ice in front of them, holding it in place with raw will as the two supay closest to them leaped into the air, trying to climb over the wall before he could build it to the ceiling. Bullets from the muskets of the other guards slammed into its surface, spidering cracks all along it. He hadn’t been able to build it thick enough before they’d opened their fusillade, and he could see the dark forms of the supay, clambering up the wall, shadows outlined by the white glow coming from Mamaquilla herself.
“You didn’t ask,” Minori reminded him, tartly. “You didn’t even want to test my skills, because at a certain level, almost every spell can be deadly.”
“I take it all back,” Kanmi told her, balancing an equation in his mind. “Shield us!”
All the energy he’d pulled out of the air to build his shield wall, he now redirected, in the form of tiny orbs of flame, sending them through the cracked wall, directly at the shadows of the supay. The dry ice shattered, parts of it subliming away, and the bullets formed of heat hit the first supay, killing it, but missed the second. Kanmi swore as the ice wall fell and shattered at his feet.
As the supay leaped, Kanmi ducked reflexively, his instincts telling him that the creature was about to land and bite out his throat . . . but instead, it slammed, face-first, into the invisible wall over Trennus’ symbols on the floor, and fell backwards. It looked so surprised and disgruntled that Kanmi let out a bark of laughter, and then spun as a late musket shot clipped his arm, and he threw his arms around Minori, preparing to take them both to the ground. She shoved back, however, and he felt the spell she’d been holding release, and looked back over his shoulder as the dozens of fragments of dry ice left behind by his wall collapsing, lifted up into the air as a tiny cyclone spawned. Pressure inside her vortex lowered, and then the spinning dervish of dry ice and savage winds moved for the men and their guns, catching at least one of them and hauling him into the air, screaming. The other men fruitlessly tried to haul their companion to safety, while the supay in front of Kanmi gibbered and screamed, clawing at the air, trying to get to them. “I don’t do shields very well,” Minori shouted over the noise of battle. “I’m much better at offense!”
“And I am perfectly fine with that!” Kanmi called back, and then swore, as one of the giant creatures at the side of what was apparently the emperor of Tawantinsuyu, turned and lumbered directly for Trennus. To his frustration, Trennus, ben Maor, and Caetia were well outside of his effective casting range. “I’m going to have to leave the circle,” he shot at Minori. “Stay in it. You’re hurt. Just keep them off my back!”
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Adam currently had the best view of the combat situation, and swore as yet more supay appeared between him and Sigrun. He fired on one, trying to incapacitate it, even as three others leaped onto his wife’s back. He was out of rounds, and didn’t have time to reload; as such, he holstered the gun and moved out of cover, grabbing one of the creatures by the head and neck. They were human-shaped, more or less; they had flesh under a hide that appeared to be made of rock. He thought he could assume that they might have a comparable skeletal system underneath. His hands moved into the right positions, automatically. Right hand lifted the chin and rotated it, with a push, counterclockwise, while the left hand provided the counterbalancing torque. He could feel the bones inside the creature’s neck rotate and snap, as he more or less unwound the vertebrae. And because it wasn’t in contact with the earth, it promptly went limp, and he was able to haul it off of Sigrun’s body as she staggered, trying to tear the remaining creatures’ clawed hands away from her throat.
Movement, skirmishes all around him. One of the magma-like creatures had just been backhanded away by, startlingly, a blue-green, scaled woman. Where did she come from, anyway? Her voice held enough power to mark her as an entity . . . The supay flew past Sigrun, taking with it one of its brethren that had been attacking her from the front, before slamming into a pillar near Trennus. Now Trennus had two of the damned giants right next to him, and a handful of human guards. Sigrun tore one of her remaining supay off her back, shifting the grip on her spear to use the blade like a knife, slitting the damned thing’s throat. “Help Tren!” she told Adam, two more supay still on her, biting and tearing. “I’ve got this, go.”
“Not yet,” Adam told her, sharply, and snapped the neck of another supay, leaving only one small monster clinging to her, biting away another mouthful of his wife’s flesh. Horror in the pit of his stomach. Sigrun didn’t even scream. Too much adrenaline to feel it, probably. But already the glimmer of light that told him that her body was regenerating. “Help Inti. I’m with Tren.”
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Trennus, for his part, swore as he saw the first creature coming for him, and cut a binding circle into the ground. The massive creature hit him at a full charge, and its body went from cold stone to molten magma in an instant even as it toppled him to the ground. Saraid groaned with the strain in his mind. I cannot hold the shield for long. Not against so much fire. I am a creature of woods and streams. Fire is my bane.
Just hold on as long as you can. Trennus hadn’t fought something this damned big since the alu-demons, and this creature was easily twice the weight of the emaciated hyena-like creatures. The one that had tackled him to the ground shifted to its magma form, and rose up just long enough to dro
p its weight onto him again. And again. Like a parody of intercourse, or a repeated belly-flop. The only thing keeping him from being pancaked and burned alive at the same time was Saraid’s shield. But the creature was stone. And Trennus was very good with rock.
He reached down into the ground for ley-energy, and channeled it into the body of the magma-beast, reforming its body for it. Took igneous rock, and applied pressure, twisting, shearing. Compressing. The beast froze in position, as its outer coat went black and cool once more, and Trennus compressed, even harder, scooting out from under it as it wavered in place at the center of the binding circle. He felt its will surge against his, and fought it. Wrestled with it. Gritted his teeth, and solidified the entirety of the elemental’s body with ley-power . . . and, hissing between his teeth, forced binding sigils into the stone, like brands. The resulting boulder rocked back and forth, once or twice, and then remained absolutely still. You’re bound. Now stay down.
And then a second black-rock beast slammed into the pillar beside him, and Trennus rolled out of the way as chips of stone went flying across his face. Even as the cherufe rebounded and stood, suddenly aware of him, standing no more than ten feet away, Trennus was aware of something else. The Sapa Inca had turned, as they’d moved into the room, to stare back at the intruders. And, at the moment, the man stood completely alone, in the center of a dozen skirmishes. But his eyes were locked on Lassair, who stood just inside the protective boundary of the circle Trennus had drawn, peering out into the maelstrom of combat, expression uncertain.
And then a fist the size of Trennus’ own head, comprised of rock, slammed into his ribs, knocking him back into the wall behind him. Then Adam was there, firing point-blank into the back of the cherufe’s head, for all the good it would do. Trennus lay there, dazed for a moment, thinking, A good effort, old friend. But that’s not going to kill a creature that doesn’t have a brain . . . . His eyes dropped down. “Center of the abdomen, Adam!” he shouted, dizzily, as the cherufe spun on ben Maor. “Where it’s all obsidian. While it’s still stone!” Volcanic glass was brittle. Fragile. A bullet would be useless, however enchanted, once the creature became magma, but while it stayed stone? Aiming for the most fragile portions of its hide would certainly hurt it. Distract it, while Trennus started to bind it.
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Lassair stared at the fighting, unable to contribute in any meaningful way, horribly frustrated. If she were sure that passing into a different form, or into the Veil, wouldn’t harm the child, she could shield Trennus herself, instead of leaving it to Saraid. She could fight one of the stone cherufe, or turn some of the little supay into ash. She could go to Stormborn and heal her as the supay gnawed at her flesh and lapped at her blood. She watched as the god-born woman flew straight up into the ceiling, slamming the creature on her back against the rock there, over and over, trying to dislodge it . . . finally succeeding.
A voice whispered to her, suddenly, and her head tilted up, meeting the Sapa Inca’s eyes. You have power, spirit. You know what it is, to make green things grow. To bring life to barren places. You should join with us. Join with me. The voice wasn’t human. It also wasn’t male. It was distinctly feminine, and vibrated with power . . . only to fade away. To be replaced with another. All your humans will die, if you do not come to me. Your beloved, too, will die. Only by joining with me, can you save them. This voice sizzled like electricity in her mind, and carried with it the scent of rain. And, close behind it, a third voice. Bow before me, spirit, and be spared. Earn mercy for yourself. For the unborn within you. Surrender. Subsume yourself to my will.
I . . . no. Lassair was horribly confused, for a moment. She was speaking to three different voices at once. And all of them wanted her. Desired her. Not for her fleshly form, but for her power. She could read desire, in all its forms. Each voice thought of her as the tool by which it would achieve ascendancy over the others. And the voice behind them, the human one, which tried to hold them all together? Wanted her power, too. She’s the final piece. If I have just one more god-fragment within me, reduced to nearly a flat-line state, I’ll be able to balance them out. Earth, Sky, Life . . . she’s fire . . . no, one more after her. Water. I’ll be the whole of creation in one body. I’ll be perfect. I’ll be able to control them all.
No. I will not join with you willingly. You are insane.
Then I will consume you, spirit, as I have consumed a hundred others before you. You are more powerful than the spirits I have eaten to prepare myself to become a god, but I hold the power of three gods within me. Surrender, and be bound. Fight, and die.
I will not be bound by such as you. Lassair held up her hands, and sheathed her entire body in flames. The warmth and comfort of a banked fire, but she was already reaching for the star’s fury she’d used once before today. She was, however, not infinite in her resources. She hadn’t been able to return to the Veil to bask in the endless energies of that place since having used the attack before. Trennus was a conduit point, but a weak one. She might have to pull on his reserves, and she didn’t want to do that. It could damage him.
All the fragmentary consciousnesses within the human man gave voice at once. Fool/Whore/Stupid child/And so you die. A momentary war within, and then the man reached out a hand, and energy sizzled through the air towards her, a blue-white levinbolt that she couldn’t defend against. Spirit-senses saw it, in slow motion, the formation of electrons in charged chains flowing towards her. Body-senses were far behind, but spirit-mind took over, throwing the body to the floor, hoping that the lightning would pass her by.
Minori and Kanmi reached out, as one, and pulled that energy towards them. Redirected it back out into the combat area, sizzling it over several of the human guards, who screamed and fell, dropping their weapons. Smell of cooking flesh in the air, making them all gag. Lassair lifted her head from the ground, feeling Trennus’ wave of concern. Saw Supay, struggling with Mamaquilla and Inti, finally regain control of his obsidian club. Mamaquilla had been pulling down shafts of silver light from above, needling the death-god, while clawing at his avatar’s eyes. Now Supay spun, his sacrificial club in his hands, and struck Mamaquilla in the face with the weapon. The goddess stumbled backwards, jade-green blood pouring down her face, and slid to the ground, limply. Inti roared, a mental wave of fire and rage, and Lassair pulled her arms up over her head on the floor as Inti slammed a fist sheathed in sun-fire into Supay’s chest, trying to reach for the death-god’s heart. Supay kicked Inti back and stepped forwards, holding the club high. He swung, and Inti managed to catch it on a forearm, and a sharp sensation of pain rippled through the room. What the bodies were doing was one thing, but Lassair could also see what the gods were doing on another level. Could see Inti’s trapped, bound energies, struggling against Supay’s. Supay’s draining him. Devouring him. Mamaquilla’s energies struggling as raw entropic force ate at her avatar.
Behind Lassair, the god-born healer cried out, and ran to her goddess, right through the combat zone, even as Stormborn spun, the last of the supay finally dispatched, and attacked Supay from behind with her spear, only to have Supay turn and swat the valkyrie into one of the nearby pillars, as if batting at a fly. Trennus and Steelsoul continued to fight with the cherufe . . . and then the one to whom others were bound raised his hand again, and this time, Lassair was suddenly sucked down into the ground. Not magma, but mud. Lahar, a whisper at the back of her mind said.
Water everywhere, dousing her flames. Trying to pour into her body’s nose and throat. Darkness, everywhere. No matter how she struggled, sensation of sinking deeper. Spirit-self didn’t need to breathe. She could suspend the body’s need for air, but she didn’t know what would happen to the child if she did. Only one thought, as she tugged on the cord that bound her to Flamesower. She fought to hold her breath, held her nose closed with one hand to keep the enormous pressure of the wet earth from sliding into her lungs. Suffocation. She had fire, she could dry this earth with it, she could turn it to
magma and swim up through it, but so . . . much . . . pressure . . . Trennus! Flamesower!
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Across the room, Trennus could feel earth pouring into his own mouth. Could feel himself choking on dirt and mud, being buried alive, as he had, over the years, buried others in combat. It wasn’t a recurring nightmare, but he’d definitely woken up sweating, at least once, having dreamed of being buried under an oak tree, the roots growing through his chest. Lassair! Hold on! He and Adam had the cherufe between them now, the creature having heated itself into magma, and vomited flame in Adam’s direction. The Judean had had to spring and roll out of the way, and had just come back to his feet, panting. Trennus didn’t have time for an elaborate binding. He pulled on ambient ley, not tapping the line directly, and focused on the superheated form of the cherufe. For all that this form was more dangerous, it was also more vulnerable. Magma had plasticity. Trennus pulled, bracing his back against the wall, and watched the creature split down the middle, strands of molten rock hanging between its halves like taffy.
Trennus! The thought was frantic now. Pull me out!
Trennus reached out through earth and stone with his mind. Found Lassair. Pulled.
Nothing happened. Trennus’ eyes went wide, and he set himself, pulling again with all his strength, burrowing through the rock with his mind. Looking for leverage points, fractures in the stone, anything. There was nothing. She was in a womb made of earth, an egg made of stone, and it would not move. A hiss from the center of the room, and Trennus looked up in time to see the Sapa Inca, sweating now, throw lightning at him—only to have it redirected by Kanmi, right back at the emperor. “I can’t reach her!” Trennus shouted.
He saw Minori take two steps away from Kanmi, and begin trying to chip her way down through the stone. Blasting at it with a drill made of ice, then heat, then ice again. Oscillating heat and cold, trying to weaken the rock, shatter it. Trying to reach Lassair in time. “No!” the emperor hissed, and a hand made of earth reached up for Minori now, and Kanmi reacted, instantly, directing raw heat at Sayri Cusi, enough that it should have crisped his skin. A captive spirit flared to life around the emperor, taking the hit on its essence, dispersing the heat. Cusi himself didn’t move. Didn’t flinch. Just kept bearing down on Lassair. Trennus could hear it now. Surrender yourself. Surrender yourself. Give me your Name. Give me your essence.
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