Despite the fierceness of the girl’s attack, plasma bolts and weaponry shot through the air around her and before she came down Bannor heard her yell.
Marna’s thanes shot up through the opening in a blur, followed by Bhaal. Bannor took Sarai around the waist and leaped up into the passage, shielding her with his body and willing himself into battleform.
Fast as he was, it didn’t succeed, he yelled in pain as a couple shots tore into his back and arm in stabs of searing pain. Flesh still crackling through its transformation to metal, he grabbed Daena’s arm, yanked her up and pushed both she and Sarai ahead of him. Arrows, spells, and plasma shot by on either side of them as a line of defending Shael Dal, mecha, Kriar, Felspars, and valkyries assaulted the Baronian and Daergon formation.
“Move! Move!” he heard Tal yelling.
Unburdened by the armored mass, Daena and Sarai easily outpaced him. He sensed more hits score on his battle form but could no longer feel them. Somewhere behind, he heard Bhaal’s terrifying battle yells and heard the screams of enemies being slashed and rent. Footsteps pelted up the corridor as Janai, Ryelle, and the King and Queen escorted by Senalloy overtook him.
Grabbing the shaladen on his arm, he changed it with a thrust of will, the weapon transforming into a tower shield in a hum of eternity’s magic. He turned and hunkered down urging the royals by him, deflecting Daergon and Baronian attacks. Ahead of him he saw green Gaea pop up out of the opening, lunge to her feet and make a clumsy run toward the defenders.
He moved to give her cover, pushing her past him and moving to block any oncoming shots.
Marna, Dulcere, Eclipse and Quasar followed by the three valkyries were the last out. He urged them around him. Quasar and Eclipse stopped on either side of him and turned, the defenses of their armor gleaming red as shots careened away from them.
Twenty paces down the corridor, the gallery where the enemies had been forced back looked like a tempest of thrashing bodies. Somewhere in the screams and chaos was Bhaal. Most of the shots coming toward the defending line had ceased, as the attackers found a more pressing concern tearing through the center of their formation.
“Dark,” Quasar muttered, the jewels on her face flashing. “That creature is unbelievable.”
“Gaea has some pretty scary children,” he muttered.
“Back up,” Eclipse advised. “We’ll keep any stray shots off you, you’re already hurt.”
The three of them retreated toward cover of the defensive line, fewer and fewer shots being directed toward the Kul’Amaron militia.
“Bhaal! Return!” Gaea’s voice boomed out.
A few heartbeats later the blue-haired Lokori bounded out of the press and came streaking back up the passage. The few shots fired at her appeared half-hearted at best. No doubt the survivors in the Baronian formation wanted to avoid giving her a reason to come back.
Unlike the battles previous, Bhaal was not untouched, fierce cuts and burns marred her lithe body, places where Gaea’s magical armor had been boiled away by close shots. Completely soaked in blood, she would probably swim in the nightmares of the survivors for a long time.
He and the two Kriar commanders pulled back to the safety of the perimeter, behind the heavily armed and armored “boomers” now in service to Malan. Nomar, the big assault mecha he met when the Karanganoi subnet first arrived, nodded to him.
Bannor thudded to a stop as Sarai rushed up to him, and gripped his arm. “My One? Are you…?”
He shook his head and grimaced. “They got a piece of me. Are you…?”
“I’m fine,” she growled. “You’re hurt again.”
He winced. “Is Daena okay?”
“She’s over there,” Sarai answered, pointing.
The auburn-haired ascendant sat against the wall, one of the valkyries was binding a wound on her arm. He saw Gaea standing back. Bhaal, blood soaked and injured, knelt at her feet. King T’Evagduran and the rest of the family were hunkered down around the corner conferring with a circle of Kriar, valkyries, and Shael Dal.
“So that’s Gaea’s critter?” Tal murmured behind him studying Bhaal. “No wonder them things give the Kriar nightmares.”
“Tal,” Sarai said. “Is one of the healers nearby?”
“Sure, we’re keeping them back where it’s safe,” he pointed.
Sarai dragged on Bannor’s arm and he thudded along after her. He knew if he willed himself back to flesh with blast gouges in his back, he better have a healer there and prepared. His ascendant body was tough and healed fast, but as he had learned with the Lokori battle, its limits could be surpassed.
Two elves, a male and female who he assumed were mecha, were tending a small group of Kriar, valkyries, and Felspar family members. Considering what the citadel was facing and the amount of power being exchanged, he was surprised they weren’t swamped with injuries.
He and Sarai staggered as a blast made the air shudder. Bhaal’s assault had only driven back one front. The defenders were still fighting in at least two other corridors.
He heard footsteps and saw Gaea pushing Bhaal in front of her. Up close, the Lokori looked even more frayed than she had in the corridor. The all-mother had removed the silvery armor, revealing the numerous burns, abrasions, and other damage.
The male mecha finished his work sealing a bone-deep gash in a valkyrie’s leg. He received her thanks with a nod and turned to face them. Dressed in black tunic and breeches with green eyes, a narrow face, and long translucent hair he was completely indistinguishable from any other elf in Malan in his outward appearance.
“Peace,” he said to them, in the pleasant hum of high Elvish. “I am combat medical technician Vinn, how may I be of service Arminwen?”
Sarai pointed to Bannor. “He needs fixing—again.”
“Star, we’re in a war, wounds happen,” he mumbled.
She made a growling sound. “I hate it when you get hurt protecting me.”
“Star, I’m always going to protect you.”
“My One, it’s always going to make me mad.”
He sighed.
“Lord Starfist,” the mecha said in a patient voice. “If you would turn your back please.”
He stepped up and presented his injured back to the physician.
“Fine,” the Vinn said. “I have the necessary capabilities to repair the damage. Please lie face down on the floor. Do not revert to normal until I request it. At that time, I will stabilize you and perform the necessary regeneration.”
Bannor nodded and did as requested. In the length of a few long breaths, the pain and necessary regeneration were done. He thanked Vinn and rejoined Sarai.
His wife-to-be was watching the other mecha healing Bhaal. The all-mother sat on the floor with the Lokori’s head in her lap, stroking the creature’s blood matted blue hair while the physician worked. With Gaea calming her, Bannor didn’t doubt that volatile Bhaal would tolerate practically anything.
He noticed Quasar and Eclipse watching the operation as well, a strange interplay of fascination and fear in their expressions. The Kriar usually kept their emotions well concealed, even in their threads. The Fabrista and the Lokori did not have a happy history, and it showed. Of course, as he understood it, that history was a result of the Kriar trespassing on worlds where they weren’t supposed to be. It still wouldn’t stop them from being emotionally scarred by the savaging they must have experienced.
He looked around, in the short time he’d been down it looked like the entire team was getting ready to fall back. Most likely they would be moving to help the defenders in the other parts of the citadel.
A familiar female voice rang in his mind.
He composed himself and focused his thoughts.
There was a brief pause. He heard and sensed a flurry of activity as Wren focused her mind away from the telepathic contact. He felt blows struck and heard explosions twice, first in Wren’s ears then in his because she was only a few corridors away. Sh
e focused back on him.
“Wren’s in trouble,” he said aloud.
Gaea coaxed Bhaal to her feet. The Lokori tilted her head, glowing eyes peering at Bannor. “More battle?”
“An army more,” he answered.
The Lokori bared her fangs. “A warrior’s feast.”
He suppressed a shudder. Bannor oriented on his link to Wren, thankful to have his thread sight and senses back. He signaled Tal. “Tal, I’m going to go help Wren.”
The tactical commander of the Shael Dal looked up from his conversation with King T’Evagduran and flashed him a closed fist and a nod to indicate he’d heard. He glanced back at Sarai and thought for a moment to try to dissuade her from following. He gave up without trying. It would waste too much time.
Bannor turned down the hall, he made where he was going no secret, so anyone who wanted to follow would. He turned the shaladen back into a shield and pushed into a run, confident in Sarai and Bhaal’s ability to keep pace with him. Gaea would come along more slowly but she would have the others to guard her.
He blazed down the passage and around a turn and past the heavily fortified infirmary. The Baronian war-maidens, a half dozen valkyries and three Kriar stood guard outside. As he passed he saw that the treatment pallets appeared full with Wysteri, Mercedes, and Octavia all hard at work treating wounds with the assistance of a handful of the younger members of the Felspar clan.
Bannor rounded the next turn, stumbling as a roar followed by a shock that shook the stone underfoot. He caught his balance and increased his speed.
“Everyone get down!” he bellowed, leaning into a full sprint.
Fighting for their lives, most of the defenders didn’t have the luxury of throwing themselves flat, but several ducked and that gave him the space he needed. Wren, her clothing shredded on her lithe body stood toe-to-toe with the beast in a brutal clash of naked power versus skill.
He leaped over the back ranks of the defensive line that included three Kriar officers, Loric, Ziedra, Euriel, Vanidaar, Azir and Damay. Shaladen Dominique, Corim, Megan and Adwena, Cassandra, Dorian, and Desiray were pelting the corridor with arrows, energy, and spells, keeping the enemy from slipping around the fight.
Heart drumming in his chest, Bannor turned himself into a catapult shell willing himself into battleform in mid-flight, increasing his mass the whole time he hurdled through the air. Black blood sprayed as his fist pounded the creature’s head back, and his knees slammed into the behemoth’s chest. Despite the titan’s prodigious strength it fell back under the massive hit.
The beast let out roar as it smashed to the corridor floor with all of his weight crushing down on top of it. He knew better than to stay anywhere near those powerful arms and rolled off into the midst of the Baronians and Kriar with his shaladen shield up, ripping and tearing at every thread in sight. Blasts and spells came at him and he braced for it. The indestructible shaladen shuddered under the power, but tons of weight made him able to shrug it off. His throat tightened as he sensed the Daergons flickering through the ether toward him. He snatched for their threads but his grip slipped off. They moved so fast and kept their bodies shifting. With a realization that made him go icy inside, he realized they had devised a way to block the Garmtur.
Behind him, Bhaal descended on the staggered titan with savage howl and an eruption of black blood. The Lokori’s battle cry became a stone-shaking roar as the juggernaut’s immense lifeforce burst into blue-haired creature’s body.
Uttering battle-crazed shrieks, Bhaal launched past him into the group of oncoming Daergons. Claws flaring with Gaea’s power, she blazed through them, rending and tearing at hurricane speed. Shielded by their new defense, the Lokori’s ultra-sharp talons hit and deflected. Staggering the enemy warriors but drawing no blood.
Bannor couldn’t grip the threads of the Kriar themselves, but threads of their shields remained vulnerable. With a heave of will he clamped down on the main paths of power energizing their defenses. The interruption lasted only an instant. That eye-blink gave Bhaal all the opportunity she needed to rip through the hearts and minds of the rogue Kriar in gouts of white blood.
The golden invaders went down in shredded messes as Gaea’s ferocious knight stalked forward letting out a hungry ululation.
The half dozen Daergons at the back of the Baronian formation preparing to join the fray paused, staring at the blood-soaked apparition. With a nod from their leader, they vanished and in their place two dreadnaughts came bellowing and thrashing through the group toward Bhaal. Still stoked on the power of the titan, the Lokori lashed through the lesser dreads as if she were parting curtains. She let out the yowl of a great hunting cat as their power swelled through her body.
A few of the bravest of Baronian elite charged her and exploded into grisly pieces under her god-like ferocity. That final display of strength broke the Baronian resolve, the ranks turned and fled.
“Come on, you craven spawn,” he heard Gaea say. The all-mother had followed at greater speed than he imagined she might. She stood behind the line of defenders flanked by Quasar and Eclipse. She thrust the pointed end of the genemar toward Bhaal. “Do it. You know you want to. You know you need to…”
“Mother?” Ziedra said. “What…?”
Bhaal stood in the empty corridor, she had not bothered to give chase. She stood in the center of the carnage and looked back to Bannor. Her expression looked like a little girl that just had a prized toy stolen. “They ran away.”
He drew a breath, trying not to think about the sundered bodies all around him. He turned his head, noting the sounds of battle no longer shook the halls. With a sigh, he reverted back to normal flesh, feeling the energy rush out of him. Bhaal’s demonstration may have been enough to rout the entire assault. To carve through two of the titans must have shaken their confidence, despite the superior numbers and strength of the attackers. Who knew how many elite Baronians lost their lives to that enterprise? It would have been costly. Unfortunately, the enemy resources were larger than the greatest nations on Titaan—a thousand or ten thousand did not appreciably deplete their strength.
Shaking his head, he turned back. “Quick, we must move, they will regroup soon. Those Daergons will figure out we just got lucky.”
“Lucky?” Wren gasped. The blonde ascendant staggered and went to one knee. The ascendant’s immortal flesh looked torn and discolored, her clothing nothing but tatters. “You kicked their arses!”
He shook his head. “Trust me.”
“He’s right,” Eclipse said in the back. “Let us retreat to the infirmary corridor.”
Bannor went to Wren and gave her a hand up. Eyes wide, Ziedra and Damay, came up and took Wren’s arms over their shoulders.
Megan’s wings fluttered in agitation as she frowned at the scene of carnage. “Are you certain? Should we let them take this position?” She turned to Loric who was leaning on Cassandra and Desiray.
The gray-haired elder frowned. His gaze flicked to Bannor and then to Wren. He shook his head. “We’re spread too thin and the enemy can reinforce too easily. The infirmary corridor is the most defensible. I—we—need time to get back to full strength.”
“Come on,” Bannor made shooing motions. “You heard him. Go, Bhaal and I will cover your—” He jerked as a pair of blood slimed arms wrapped around him from behind. “—retreat.”
He swallowed. Wasn’t it bad enough baby ascen
dants and dragons fancied him—did he really need murderous beasts fawning on him too?
“Bhaal?”
The Lokori made a murmuring sound. “You helped me.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yes, Bhaal.” Still, he much preferred a bloody hug to being carved into pieces. Sarai stared at him. He made a helpless gesture.
“Bhaal, we have to watch for enemies.”
Her chin on his shoulder, the blue-haired creature made a rumbling sound. “Bhaal watching.”
He ushered Wren and the others ahead of him. As they plodded toward the infirmary Wren glanced over her shoulder and sent him a private thought.
He looked down at Bhaal’s blood soaked hands and trembled a little.
Wren sighed and nodded.
Her parents cast worried looks at their daughter. Vanidaar still looked weak; Damay and Ziedra little better.
He smiled at her.
She gave him a weak smile.
Gaea hung back to walk beside Bannor, picking her way carefully around the bodies and debris. Quasar and Eclipse stayed behind her. Sarai, and Senalloy also fell in with him.
“Sorry if I scared you, Star.”
His wife-to-be gazed into his face violet eyes unblinking. She put a hand on his shoulder. “I wasn’t scared, not that time.” She frowned at Bhaal who was hanging on his other shoulder.
Bloody fingers teasing his hair the Lokori met her gaze, tilting her head, she blinking glowing gold eyes at his wife-to-be.
“Bhaal,” Gaea said in a low voice. “Stop antagonizing Sarai.”
The Lokori pushed out her lower lip and shuffled over to walk with Gaea. Eclipse and Quasar made a wide space for the blue-haired female.
Pushing the dark hair off his shoulders, Corim daubed the perspiration from his brow. The man was scratched up, and his chain-mail hauberk rent and melted in places. He glanced over his shoulder to Bhaal and shook his head. “Truly a savage god.” He looked down to Senalloy’s hand as the lady Baronian gave his shoulder a squeeze. The man pressed his cheek to her knuckles which seemed to delight the silver-haired woman. Corim nodded to Bannor. “Friend Bannor, why do you say you were lucky?”
Reality's Plaything 5: The Infinity Annihilator Page 34