Meg chuckled at the orcanin, who was twice her size, putting her hands on her hips and looking up at him. “I’ll not be opening any fancy schmancy black tie restaurant full of snooty customers! Everyone will be welcome, and prices will be affordable!”
Harmon bowed his head slightly, then waved her toward the restaurant space. “As you command, Lady Meg.”
They all followed her a few steps down the promenade and into the indicated space. There was a spacious foyer with a host’s podium and several soft benches just inside the door. Beyond that was a cavernous wide open space with a horseshoe-shaped bar in the center. The open area was empty of any furnishings, as were the walls. Sam whistled as he took it all in, and Meg was unusually silent.
“Depending on how you set it up, there is space for as many as a hundred tables of varying sizes. You need only decide how you want it set up, and it shall be done.” Harmon spoke quietly. Meg stepped toward the bar, spinning around in a full circle as she walked. Allistor could see her picturing table placements and a room full of customers. Finally she turned back to Harmon.
“You could fit our entire diner in here, two or three times. Show me the kitchen. It better be huge if you expect me to feed this many people without making them wait all night!”
“For your food, they would wait without complaint. But I think you’ll find the kitchen to your liking. I modeled it after your kitchen in the tower.” Harmon pointed toward the double swinging doors located behind the bar area. Meg just grunted and stomped her way through.
She got maybe three steps into the kitchen before stopping, forcing Sam to halt right behind her, where he promptly got smacked in the behind by a swinging door. They both looked around the oversized kitchen with its multiple ovens along one wall, and more than a dozen stovetops with six burners each. There were fryers and wide griddles, and prep space galore.
When Meg didn’t speak up right away, Sam turned around and gave a thumbs-up through the window in the swinging door to the crowd still waiting on the other side. Eventually, Meg turned back as well, speaking absent-mindedly to them, not meeting anyone’s gaze.
“Y’all go on ahead with your tour. Sam and I are gonna poke around in here for a while. Maybe make some lunch for when you’re done…” Her voice drifted off as she turned back around and headed toward the walk-in freezer door. Addy and Sydney volunteered to help, charging into the kitchen and almost smacking Sam with a door again.
“Oh, you’re in for a treat.” Harmon said to Cogwalker. “If these girls are helping, the food will have some interesting… enhancements.”
Allistor added, “If you could contact some of your people and get some temporary tables in here, I’m sure Meg will make enough to feed your entire staff.”
“Aye! I can do that!” the dwarf spoke briefly into his comms, grinning the whole time. Then he asked “What would ye like to see next?”
“Maybe one of the residential towers on the outer ring?” Amanda asked. “Or… where would we stay while we’re here?”
“The answer be the same fer both!” the dwarf clapped his hands. “We configured the tower nearest your landing bay to serve as yer royal residence. I can take ye there now.” He turned away from the promenade and headed back toward the exit, and the tram tube beyond.
Amanda began to follow, taking Allistor by the hand and pulling him close. “An entire tower, just for us? No way!”
Allistor shrugged. “They take the whole nobility thing pretty seriously. Seems like a tremendous waste of space to me, but it wouldn’t surprise me.”
Overhearing, Cogwalker explained as they stepped into the tram car and it began to move. “Your private tower be smaller than most o’ the others. The top several floors be your actual residence, offices, and other private spaces. There be room below that for staff, important guests, and such. And some o’ the space be taken up by emergency systems. The whole tower be a self-contained safe zone should there be a problem. Power generation, water and oxygen supply for a month, food storage, armory, and so on.” He paused as the tram stopped and began leading them down the corridor. “There’s even a system o’ maneuvering thrusters, in case ye need to separate and distance yerself from the station. And two small weapons batteries fer if ye need to defend against an attack. Though that be extremely unlikely.”
As he finished speaking, they rounded a final corner just about a hundred steps or so from the landing bay. There was a short corridor with transparent walls that ended at a huge round door. “Now that’s an impressive hobbit hole.” Ramon mumbled.
“Looks like the entrance to a bomb shelter or nuclear silo.” William added. “You could walk an elephant through there!”
Allistor agreed. The door was at least sixteen feet in diameter, taking up most of the twenty foot height of the corridor. And it looked like it weighed several tons. “Why so big?”
Cogwalker coughed into his fist, looking slightly abashed. He looked at Harmon, who took over.
“As a head of state, and owner of this station, you may find yourself entertaining a wide variety of species as your guests. Some are… larger than others. And a few require enclosed habitats transported atop hoverpads like the ones we rode when we met the queen. This tower was built to accommodate as many different scenarios as possible.”
“I’m getting an elephant!” William thrust a fist in the air. “Gonna walk him right through the front door.”
Amanda patted him on the head. “No elephant for you, young squire. But there’s lots of room for your dragon to grow, and still fit through the door.” She grinned down at him as his eyes widened.
“Yessss!” the elephant was immediately forgotten. “But they’re drakes, not dragons. Daniel says mine still might get big as a bus!”
Cogwalker cleared his throat, looking questioningly at Allistor. “The young lad has a pet drake?” Allistor sighed. It seemed there was no keeping that particular secret, no matter how hard he tried.
“We killed a mama drake who left behind a bunch of eggs. They’ve just recently hatched, and several of our people have bonded with hatchlings. William here was one of the first.” He looked down at his beaming squire. “But we can discuss all of that later, over a meal. Let’s get on with the tour, shall we?”
Just as he finished speaking, the massive round entry door in front of them began to roll to one side, revealing yet another griblin stepping through toward them. This one was wearing a tool belt and vest full of pockets and loops, each one filled with tools and gadgets of various sizes and shapes, clearly marking the griblin as one of the Stardrifter engineers. The little creature smiled and waved at Cogwalker before noticing the rest of the party. Upon recognizing Allistor, its eyes widened, and it immediately stopped walking, bowing low at the waist.
“Greetings mighty Emper-”
The griblin engineer never finished the greeting as it exploded in a bright white flash and a pink mist. The explosion was followed by the sound of screaming metal, screaming people, then the howl of rushing air. Allistor, having been nearest the blast, was knocked backward even as he was peppered with shrapnel, pieces of bone and metal gadgets from the griblin’s vest lodging in his skin. Standing right behind him, Harmon was also knocked backward, but his bulk cushioned Allistor’s fall. Momentarily blinded by the flash, Allistor heard more screaming, and blinked several times, moving his head back and forth as he blinked away spots caused by the flash. His eyes cleared just in time to see Amanda, who was crouched low and hugging William against her for protection, get pulled by the rush of air escaping through a newly blasted opening in the side of the corridor. He leapt forward, using every bit of strength his improved body possessed as he reached for them. William screamed as he and Amanda were sucked through the ragged hole in the wall, Allistor’s reaching hand just a foot or so away. He continued to lunge toward them, but a flash of blue light registered in his still spotty vision right before his hand slammed into something solid, his head impacting it a fraction of a second later. The so
und of rushing air ceased immediately.
An emergency force field had activated, sealing off the breach and preventing him from passing through. Allistor heard Cogwalker cursing loudly even as he himself screamed at the barrier in front of him.
“Noooo!”
Without thinking, he focused on the quickly retreating bodies and cast Dimensional Step, instantly finding himself in the vacuum of space. The cold bit at him, and his vision faded as his eyes began to freeze. Unfortunately, while he had appeared right in front of the spot Amanda and William had occupied when he cast the spell, he hadn’t taken into consideration the fact that the momentum of being pushed out the hole was still moving them away.
Amanda’s last act as she succumbed to the effects of exposure to space was to shove William away from herself, thrusting the boy back toward Allistor even as it sped up her own momentum in the other direction, sending her body spinning away. As Allistor’s eyes froze over completely, he felt William’s small body impact his hands. Latching on even as his fingers froze, he pictured the corridor and cast Dimensional Step again. An instant later he vaguely felt himself falling, then lost consciousness.
Chapter 9
Master Daigath was sitting on a branch of his new home tree, both hands on the trunk and his eyes closed as he communed with the tree’s spirit. Each day the tree shaped itself a bit more in order to conform to the druid’s desires. Daigath provided a nearly limitless supply of energy in the form of mana to feed his new friend’s growth. Already it had widened its trunk to nearly triple it’s original girth, which had been considerable to start with. The tree had also hollowed out large sections of its interior, opened knotholes to serve as windows, and was currently forming a staircase that wound around the exterior of its trunk from the ground up to the first level of Daigath’s habitat.
The ancient elf smiled at the tree, sending it thoughts of warmth and gratitude. And though the tree was not yet as fully sentient as his previous home tree, it was growing closer.
A distant roar interrupted the druid’s communion with his tree, the sound causing his eyes to pop open as it rang out loud and long. It was a sound that Daigath recognized all too well.
He hopped off his branch, using his magic to ensure a soft landing on the ground some thirty feet below. The moment he touched down, the elf dashed toward the source of the sound, which was now being repeated, and accompanied by a second, louder roar. With the ease of millennia of practice, and the natural agility of his race, Daigath rushed through the underbrush and dodged around trees without slowing in the least. It took him less than a minute to reach his destination and confirm his suspicion.
In a small open area next to a blackberry bush, he found Fuzzy and Fiona, both with muzzles and faces smeared with berry juice. The bears sat on their haunches, heads lifted toward the sky as they roared in anger and grief. Each roar ended in a sort of pained whine, sounding much like an injured dog. The ancient druid recognized what these sounds meant, having heard them before when a bonded companion lost their master. Regardless of the species of the grieving companion, the nature of the sound was always the same.
For an instant, Daigath feared that Allistor had perished. A quick check of his UI revealed that his agreement with the human was still in effect, which told him that it was instead Amanda who had died, severing her link to Fiona. Fuzzy’s grief was for both the loss of a beloved friend, and sympathy for Fiona.
Daigath began to whisper words to Fiona, holding both hands in front of him in a calming motion as he slowly stepped closer. He knew from experience that bonded companions that survived their masters often lost their will to live, and perished themselves. Others lost their sense of self and went wild, sometimes injuring or killing those nearby. He finished his whispered phrase, and Fiona was enveloped in a soft green glow. Her roar of grief faded, and her head lowered as she fought to keep her eyes open, to resist the sleep spell Daigath had cast upon her. But the druid’s magic was more than a match for the distressed bear, and she slowly succumbed. Her head drooped, then her body rolled to the side until she lay on the ground next to Fuzzy.
“She’ll be alright, Fuzzy.” Daigath took the final steps to reach the bears, laying a hand on Fuzzy’s head and scratching one ear. He instantly felt the tension begin to leave the massive grizzly cub. “It is no small thing to lose your bonded. She’ll need some time, and you should remain close by her side.” The bear’s answering growl was one of sadness and agreement. “Stay here and guard her while she sleeps, my young friend. Maybe hunt something for her to eat when she wakes? I shall go and learn what has happened.”
As Fuzzy chuffed and nodded his massive head, Daigath turned and resumed his run, this time heading for the Wilderness Stronghold.
*****
Nancy and Chloe were sitting in the grass not far from the upper habitat’s elevator housing, chatting with the griblin druid when alarms began to sound. Wide-eyed, their gazes flitted around the enclosure before both turned toward Gimble. “What’s happening?” Nancy asked, concern in her voice.
“I do not know.” Gimble raised one hand and pressed a button on a bracelet. His eyes widened, and he hopped to his feet. “There has been an explosion! We must get you both to a safer place. Come.” He began to run toward the elevator, motioning for the two humans to follow. He called out “Matilda! We need the elevator, right now!” as he ran. The little creature moved surprisingly fast for having such short legs. Nancy was just getting to her feet and reaching to pick up Chloe, when Gimble disappeared in an explosive cloud of red mist. There was a moment of stunned silence as Nancy’s hand moved without conscious thought to cover her daughter’s eyes. Then Chloe began to wail. “Gimmmble! NOoooooo!”
Nancy’s legs went weak, and she fell to a sitting position in the tall grass, clutching her sobbing daughter against her chest. Though both she and her daughter had seen more than their share of violence and death in the past year, she was having trouble processing what just happened. One moment the kindly old druid had been chatting with them in this pristine and serene meadow, happily discussing nature magic and fawning over Chloe. The next moment he was just… gone.
She was still sitting there, clutching Chloe tightly, muttering that everything would be okay, blinking in confusion and shock, when the elevator door opened and several dwarves emerged with weapons drawn.
The first dwarf took one look at the scattering of blood and biomatter just in front of the doors and began to speak into his own wrist device as two others quickly charged toward Nancy and her sobbing child, holstering their weapons as they moved. “Are you hurt?” the closest of them called out as he ran.
Nancy, shook her head slightly. “N…no. We’re okay. But Gimble. He… he just disappeared. It was…” her voice drifted off as she replayed the explosion in her mind.
The first dwarf helped her to her feet as his companion gently took Chloe from her. Both dwarves quickly inspected their respective human, looking for any signs of injury. Fortunately, the griblin’s speed had put him far enough from Nancy and Chloe that only a scattering of blood droplets had reached them.
“Let’s get you somewhere safe. Can you walk?” The dwarf began to urge Nancy toward the elevator as his colleague carried Chloe gently ahead of them. When Nancy stumbled in the tall grass, the dwarf simply scooped her into a princess carry and began to run with her.
*****
Meg, Sam, and the girls all froze when the restaurant floor beneath them shuddered, and alarms sounded throughout the promenade. The dwarves who had been carrying in tables and chairs dropped their burdens in unison and checked their wrist communicators. Even as Meg was shouting “What the hell’s going on!?” four of the dwarves dashed toward the humans while the others drew weapons and headed out of the restaurant.
“Please, there has been an incident. An explosion and hull breach.” A female dwarf called out as she approached Meg. “We need to escort you all to a safe location nearby.” She motioned with her hands for the four of the
m to move toward the back exit. Even as the humans began to follow, the other three dwarves took up positions surrounding them. They had only taken a few more steps when a second explosion, this one much nearer, sent a vibration through the promenade. The lead dwarf kicked open the rear door and stuck her head through, drawing her weapon as she checked the walkway in both directions. “All clear, let’s go. Hurry, please!”
Throughout the station, Stardrifter dwarves were rounding up their human charges and escorting them to safety. Their wrist communicators were updating them in real time with shocking reports of griblins exploding in several locations within the station. At least one of the humans had been killed, and several others injured.
The dwarves cursed quietly as they worked to prevent further casualties, some taking charge of the humans while others took weapons to hand and began to hunt for their griblin clansmen. This was a dark day for the Stardrifter Clan, one that would bring great dishonor.
*****
The first thing Allistor was aware of was the sounds of crying, mixed with a chorus of voices. Some were shouting, others cursing or issuing commands. Next came excruciating pain. Every part of him hurt, from head to toe. When he took in a ragged breath, even his lungs registered searing pain. It was as if his whole body was on fire.
Which wasn’t far off. He had in fact been frozen. Even as several healing spells washed over him, his nerve endings were waking up and screaming in protest over the abuse. They couldn’t tell the difference between thawing and burning, and just then neither could Allistor. He let out a groan of pain, and attempted to open his eyes, but they didn’t respond.
“He’s awake!” Allistor heard Helen’s voice cry out, half shout, half sob. He felt hands on his shoulder and chest, and the sensation made him scream. The sound that escaped his half-frozen throat was more of a strangled moan, but it was enough to make his point. He felt the hands quickly lift away from his body. Despite the pain, his lips twitched briefly when he heard Helen’s next words. “You friggin idiot! What were you thinking? You should have died out there!”
Shadow Sun Unification: Shadow Sun Book Five Page 15