by John Corwin
She gripped the ballista, swung it left and up. Murk channeled from her fingers and into the weapon. A thick ultraviolet bow string formed between the prongs. "I am ready."
Elyssa pecked me on the lips. "Please don't die."
"I'll do my best." I climbed onto the ballista, hands held out in superhero position, and braced my feet on the bow string. I slid backwards as the energy stretched taut.
Tahlee almost seemed to be smiling as she cried, "Launch!" and jerked back her hand.
The g-force slammed my stomach against my liver. Wind whipped against my face. I soared out from the ship and into open air, zipping straight for Zero at incredible speed. He turned and saw me at the last instant, eyes and mouth opening wide with surprise.
My shoulder met his armored midriff with a loud crack. I shouted in pain and Zero grunted. The pain ripped through my concentration. I forced myself to focus on the itch in my shoulder blades and channeled my wings. Hot and cold blades knifed through my flesh and my wings unfurled an instant before Zero's back slammed into the cliff wall.
We dropped twenty feet and crashed onto a narrow ledge. Dust and rubble rained down on us. Zero broke free and leapt into the air. I caught his leg and slammed him onto the ledge. The flight gems on his armor sparked and cracked. He twisted away from me, a sphere of Murk flickering on the end of his fist.
"Surrender," I growled. "Don't make me do something nasty."
Zero wiped a trickle of blood from his forehead, his eyes never leaving mine. Without warning, he thrust his hand out. I slammed a shield in place, but the angle of Zero's arm was all wrong. I realized he wasn't aiming for me, but for something above and behind me. I looked back and saw an aether gem planted on the cliff face about twenty yards up.
"No!" I redirected my shield to block the shot, but it was too late.
Time seemed to slow down as my demonic survival instinct ramped into "Oh, shit!" mode.
Zero tried to fly, but his suit was too damaged. My wings were still extended, but I didn't think I could outrun the shockwave. The malaether gem sparkled and the air began to crackle. In a few seconds, tons of crystallized aether would bury us.
I turned toward the Falcheen. The ship was fifty yards out and thirty below me, besieged by Two and Thirteen while the Mzodi in Daskar armor futilely tried to keep them at bay. While the pair weren't doing much damage, they were doing precisely what Zero wanted—keeping the Falcheen in the perfect spot to get buried by an avalanche of crystallized aether.
There was only one thing to do.
Time seemed to return to normal as the decision hit me. I feinted toward Zero. He threw up his hands in a defensive stance as I delivered my real attack—a beam of Brilliance at an outcropping of rock above him. Large chunks of rock pelted him and I blurred in with the distraction.
He tried to block me, but a rock the size of a glurk smacked him on the noggin. Zero lost his balance and toppled over the ledge. I helped him stay upright with a hard left hook to the jaw. A grunt exploded from his mouth. Crimson splashed my fist.
The malaether gem hummed as the energy built toward detonation. I grabbed Zero by an arm and a leg and hit my comm pendant. "Justin to Falcheen! A malaether gem is about to explode right above us. Come get me!"
No one replied, but the ship lurched toward me, beams of light spearing from the cannons, Two and Thirteen deftly dodging the attacks. I couldn't glide down to the ship with Zero's hefty form in my arms, so I guesstimated the distance and flung him out into the void. He spun like a rag doll, glanced off the ship railing, and skidded across the deck.
I leapt, spread my wings, and aimed for the ship. A crackling roar filled the air, like two icebergs smashing together. My breath frosted into ice and the shadow of crystal aether eclipsed the sun.
There was no way in hell I could survive this.
Chapter 12
Adam swiveled the ballista. Tahlee pulled back with her arm and the giant crossbow launched a chunk of unrefined aetherite straight up into the air. I twisted sideways to avoid colliding with it and at the same instant, saw Shelton frantically waving his arms at me.
He cupped his hands to his mouth. "Dive, Justin! Dive!"
I didn't need further encouragement and folded my wings. I dropped like a rock, straight toward the deck. At the last second, I spread my pinions and tried to brake. I was partially successful and slowed down a little. The partially unsuccessful part started when I tripped over my own feet and rolled a few dozen feet across the deck.
I came to a stop on my back just as the red gem met the onrush of crystals forming in the air above the ship. The freezing aether blotted out the sun and for an instant, there was no light, just frigid air and the sound and fury of a porcelain store during an earthquake.
A blaze of red light erupted, like a dying star going supernova. Orange light licked at the mass of aetherite falling toward the ship.
"All stop!" Illaena shouted.
I tried to scramble to my feet. Tried to scream, "Are you crazy?" at her, but all the speed in the world couldn't save us, caught here beneath an aether hail storm that was going to bury this ship and smash it into the ground like a toy.
As the crystals passed through the light of the red gem, they lost cohesion and evaporated like steam. The avalanche roared past us on all sides. Razor shards passed so close to the railing I probably could have reached over and lost a hand to them. A huge crystal crashed onto the aft section, rocking the boat like a weeble-wobble.
The navigators wrestled the Falcheen back under control and nudged it into the safe zone provided by the umbrella of red light overhead. The next few seconds felt like eternity. The rush of crashing crystal subsided to a tinkle as the remaining shards covered the bottom of the pass. The red gem spent its charge and slammed onto the deck with a dense thud.
I worked my jaw back and forth to dislodge the tinnitus whining in my agitated eardrums. Elyssa appeared at my foot and held out a hand. I took it and she yanked me to my feet.
"What was that?" I asked.
"That was a super-concentrated gem carving enchantment." Adam jogged over to us, Shelton shuffling along behind. "It was totally a shot in the dark."
Shelton snorted. "Literally and figuratively." He booted aside a chunk of crystal. "Turns out Eor was working on a way to clear the pass in case we didn't stop Zero in time."
Eor strode up behind the pair, lips pursed in satisfaction. "It worked precisely as planned."
I looked around the ship. Crystal shards jutted from the deck where the enchantment had been unable to stop them. The toughened Murk shell of the Falcheen had more pits and scars than a prize-fighter's face. The Mzodi crew rushed to uncover comrades buried by rubble and the rest of us went to help.
Amazingly, no one had been impaled or crushed by the crystals that had reached the ship, and we got some bonus prizes as well. In addition to capturing Zero, we found Two and Thirteen trapped beneath separate piles of crystal.
The Mzodi stripped them of their armor and secured them in the hold with the other Daskar prisoners.
"What of the other bombs?" Illaena asked Adam and Eor, after we'd secured the deck. "Can they be removed without setting them off?"
"They're dangerous, but I don't see why we couldn't remove them," Adam replied. "I'd rather leave them here, though, until I have a chance to study them."
Eor tutted. "Considering how adeptly I rescued the ship, disarming these bombs should be elementary."
Illaena and Tahlee looked at each other and seemed to come to an unspoken agreement. "We will leave them in place until such time as we can safely disarm them," Illaena said.
Eor's mouth dropped open. "But—"
"Reverse course," Illaena said. "Land us in Kohvalla."
Tahlee dug down deep in her diaphragm and roared the instructions to the crew and the Falcheen headed back into the village.
There was no time to rest once we set down. We combed the military installation and searched for the dead and wounded. A complement
of Mzodi had remained behind to secure prisoners and we found them standing guard around nearly thirty Nightliss look-alikes who'd been stripped to their underwear and bound with the same shimmering ropelike material the Mzodi used for the gem nets.
I couldn't bear to look at them for long and did my best to put the dolems out of my mind.
By the time we finished securing the military zone, the sky had grown dark and we'd counted our losses.
Jayla and Raja, two Mzodi soldiers were dead. Another three were wounded, but expected to survive. Even though I wasn't truly a part of the crew, I'd been through so much with these people that it felt like losing family.
I'd talked to Raja only days ago and even convinced her to eat one of Shelton's French fries. She'd been insatiably curious about Eden, and in particular stand-up comedians. Adam had made the mistake of showing her a stand-up show he'd saved on his arcphone and Raja had been entranced ever since. A sad smile crept over my lips as I remembered her trying to tell us one of Shelton's recycled jokes.
Jayla, on the other hand, wanted nothing to do with us Edenites. She thought we were a corrupting influence on the crew and despised us for eating meat. Only Elyssa had escaped her derision. Jayla, like many other crew, admired Elyssa and requested training sessions.
For supper, I stuffed a cold hamburger in my mouth and forced it down. My body desperately wanted sleep, but my mind wanted answers and there was one place we hadn't searched yet.
Shelton chowed on a plateful of cheese-covered French fries across the table from me in the galley of the Falcheen. "Where to next?"
Elyssa already knew what I was thinking. "The octagonal building." She glanced at me. "Right?"
I nodded. "I think that's the foundry."
"The place where they make the golems?" Adam dropped a half-eaten hamburger on his plate. "Dude, I'm dying to see that place."
I clenched my hands to stop them from trembling. It was hard enough seeing Nightliss look-alikes dead or imprisoned by us. I dreaded what might be inside that building, but really had no choice.
Elyssa put her hand on my back. "Are you okay?"
I nodded. "Just trying not to let this get to me."
Shelton let out a loud burp. "I'm right there with you, man. These Daskar are creepy as hell. I feel like I'm fighting Nightliss's extended family or something."
Adam didn't seem all that bothered. "They're just physical shells." He shrugged. "I mean, just think of them as Halloween masks or something."
Shelton shuddered. "Hell no! Halloween makes me think of the most terrifying things in the universe."
I met his gaze and said the dreaded word in unison with him. "Clowns."
Elyssa groaned. "You're saying we'd lose if the Daskar dressed up in oversized shoes and big red noses?"
"Damn straight," Shelton said. He pursed his lips. "Or maybe it'd just make me fight even harder."
I raised both eyebrows at my girlfriend. "I seem to recall you nearly nuking a house because you found a spider in it."
She shivered. "Spiders are different, Justin."
"You fought demon crawlers!" Adam said. "Those things have a lot more legs than spiders."
"Yes, but they're big and I can see them coming." Elyssa grimaced. "Spiders like to crawl all over you while you're asleep."
Shelton snorted. "Yeah, and into your mouth."
"Gah!" She slapped him on the shoulder. "Why'd you have to give me that visual?"
I got up. My joints popped like an old-timer's. I stretched to work at the stiffness while the others debated the pros and cons of spiders versus low-level demon spawn. When Shelton started to agree with Elyssa, I decided it was time to break up the conversation. "Let's get a move on. I want to look inside before my body gives out."
We headed above deck and then walked down the gangway to the military training fields. The Mzodi had moved the prisoners from the field and the ship into the prison facility located near the command center. I was thankful I didn't have to look at the dolems again today.
Grow a spine, man! Nightliss had been one of my dearest friends, but I couldn't afford to let the revulsion I felt toward her demonic copies drag me down or slow me in a fight.
When we reached the entrance to the octagonal building, I stopped at the threshold and took a deep breath.
Shelton clapped me on the back. "We can take a look around, let you know what's in there if that'll help."
I shook my head. "No, I need to just plow through."
"Spoken like a true man," Elyssa said dryly.
I ignored her jibe and stepped inside. A corridor ran to the right and left around the inside perimeter of the building. I followed it since there was no other way to go until it ended at a wall with a gem. I charged the gem, but nothing happened. Two more attempts yielded no more success than the first.
"Must be locked." Adam took out his arcphone and scrolled through a long list of spells. He selected the one titled, Gem hack, and ran it. It took about twenty minutes to work its magic, allowing our imaginations to run wild about what waited on the other side.
"God, I hope it's not filled with bodies," Shelton said. "Or body parts, like Cinder's workshop."
Adam wrinkled his nose. "Yeah, I wish he wouldn't leave his experiments lying around."
"I think he just tosses extra parts onto the floor and forgets about them." Shelton snorted. "Maybe he ought to build himself a helper to keep the place clean."
"Cinder will probably want to set up shop right here," I said. "I hope he doesn't try to make dolems."
"Naw, he can't even make golem sparks on his own," Shelton said. "Poor guy can't do a lick of magic, much less summon a demon."
Adam's arcphone chimed and displayed a series of Cyrinthian symbols—the password for the door. They weren't just any old random symbols. In fact, they formed a name.
Naelissa.
Shelton sucked in a breath between his teeth. "That's Nightliss's given name, ain't it?"
"So Kaelissa said," Elyssa answered.
Adam shrugged. "Not all that strange given this entire project is built on Nightliss's soul and DNA."
"It's not strange," I said. "It's twisted as hell."
"Horrific," Elyssa added.
I sent a charge of Murk into the gem on the wall and mentally sent the password. Naelissa.
The wall dissolved to reveal a wide-open space. I located a gem on the inside wall and charged it. The ceiling emitted a bright white glow, illuminating the huge chamber from end to end.
A long table ran against one wall. Pairs of short, rectangular pedestals with curved cradles jutted up every few feet. All of them were empty save one at the far end, which held a smooth, clear gem in the cradle nearest the edge of the table.
The rest of the chamber looked empty, but it wasn't.
The floor was light gray, crystalline and hard. Only a few feet from us, black lines formed an intricate pattern within a perfect circle that measured about five feet in diameter. A row of similar patterns formed another circle that curved around the entire room. Thick black lines connected the circles while others braided yet another pattern inside the big circle.
Shelton walked to the edge of a smaller circle and knelt next to it. "What in the hell is this? Some kind of off-the-wall demon pattern?"
Adam took out his phone and snapped a picture. "This reminds me of something I read about the Demon War."
The patterns on the floor drew my eyes along their twisting, curving lines. I felt my inner demon jerk awake, a sharp tug on the nether half of my soul. A presence, something dark, watched me. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled and my heart constricted with dread. A thousand voices seemed to shout in my head all at once.
KHO VA JUSLAD.
I shouted and nearly fell over backwards in my haste to get away.
JUSLAD KHO VA MI?
It felt like a question, but one that terrified and confused me all at the same time. For once, my inner demon didn't want anything to do with this. Instead of tryi
ng to break out, it seemed to be cowering in its cage.
"Justin, what's wrong?" Elyssa gripped my hands and looked at the others. "He's not responding."
I squeezed shut my eyes and retreated inside to my mind's eye. I saw the huddled form of my demon soul. It looked like me, but glowing blue and with horns and a tail. Just beyond it hovered the window in my soul, the spiritual link to the demon world of Haedaemos. My inner demon usually resided there, but had retreated as far as it could go.
I sensed something huge and ominous just on the other side of the window. The voices echoed like thunder again and again, crashing against my mind like powerful waves. I moved toward the window, fighting an invisible tide with every step.
JUSLAD!
I gritted my teeth, reached forward, and slammed shut the window.
I slumped to my knees, panting and looked at my demon spirit. It glared back at me and bared its teeth.
"You know if you weren't such an asshole, I'd let you out a lot more." I flashed my teeth at this odd part of myself.
"You are weak," it said in a deeper version of my own voice. "It should all be yours. All!"
"And this is why we don't talk." I cut the spiritual connection and blinked back awake in the real world.
"Justin?" Elyssa smoothed hair back from my forehead. "Can you hear me?"
I pinched the bridge of my nose to ward off an impending headache and nodded. "I just had a close encounter of the demonic kind."
"Really?" Adam was suddenly all up in my face. "What happened?"
"Lots of loud voices and shouting." I accepted a hand up from Elyssa and rose to my feet. "I had to close my connection with Haedaemos just to shut them up." I gave them the details.
"Well, they sure weren't talking Cyrinthian," Shelton said. "Or if it is, it's a dialect I've never heard."
Adam looked up from his phone. "I ran it through my translators, but zero hits." He pursed his lips and looked out at the pattern. "I wonder if that had something to do with it."
"Probably. I felt another presence the moment I looked at it." I squeezed shut my eyes and tried to recall what we'd been talking about before the riot broke out in my head. "Adam, didn't you say something about a demon war?"