The Iron Altar Series Box Set One: Books 1 to 3

by Casey Lea

  It was the scariest moment of his life, until Misty used some of her precious power to pulse her com and float further away. Please tell me you have space raptures, or oxygen deprivation, or something. Her frond touch trailed away, along with her body and Jace lifted his hands, automatically reaching for her. However, she tucked her arms tight around her torso and refused to reach back. I’m in shock here. I mean, I noticed you sleeping with everyone in the universe, but I didn’t know that included modes of transportation.

  Jace was swept by panic and the sudden suspicion that maybe confession didn’t automatically earn forgiveness. Look, I’m just going to talk because I do that a lot, but please listen. I love you. I fell in love with you the first time we kissed and I just got derailed for a while.

  Misty tilted her head slightly to study Jace carefully. By my interfering father.

  He was trying to protect-

  Don’t make excuses for him. You’ve got enough work to do for yourself right now.

  I swear I only wanted you, Mist. I was lonely and desperate and all those girls were just a cry for help.

  Misty’s jaw tightened and he felt her shock. All those girls? I thought I was exaggerating. How many doe-eyed harebrained sluts were there?

  There were no prostitutes.

  I repeat the question.

  I was too distraught to keep count.

  Gods, Ace. That many?

  No! No, no, no. Jace paused and tried to find words that wouldn’t get him killed, but there didn’t seem to be any. Some things simply didn’t have words. He flinched, tensing his shoulders and a blast of air shot from his furled wings, catapulting him forward. He had a glimpse of Misty’s startled face, before rocketing into her and then they were spinning through space together.

  “Wahoo,” Jace yelled and had to break off, panting in his thin air supply, while the stars spun past and Misty squirmed in his arms.

  “Let me go,” she gasped. This is no time for a wild ride. Pain/ grief/ jealousy.

  Jace flinched at her emotions and the gesture sent them spiralling in the other direction. How was he doing that and where was he getting the air for jet propulsion? From his limited com supply? He stiffened and flared his wings, opening them wide in an automatic attempt to shut down his jets. The pulses of precious air stopped at once and Jace started to relax, but the solar wind took him before he could.

  Plasma struck the smooth, teal curves arching from his back and he took off. Misty was still struggling to free herself and she was torn from his grip. He rocketed away from the distant sun and his mouth stretched wide in a silent yell. Suddenly he was traveling and accelerating so hard his head snapped back. In seconds he was moving far faster than he’d ever flown on his own before.

  The sense of speed faded as the acceleration eased, to leave him shooting through space ahead of the solar wind. That definitely deserved another whoop and Jace duly obliged. His photosensitive wings seemed to be acting as solar sails, carrying him as far as the plasma stream from the star went. They weren’t completely stranded after all, but the deceleration when they hit the heliopause was likely to be brutal.

  That risk made Jace furl his wings and twist to look back, trying to find his friends. Falkyn and Amber were too distant to see, but Misty was much closer. Her wings were fully spread and she’d clearly picked up his new trick instantly. Despite that, she was still well behind and not gaining on him.

  It was tempting to leave it that way, but Jace braced himself mentally and opened one wing. Just a little and at a careful angle. His momentum changed and he tacked across the face of the wind, thrusting with his jets to steer back toward the sun. He flipped his wing back into place and unfurled an edge of the other, to cut back and meet Misty.

  They collided and Jace grappled her close, but she didn’t resist this time. They clutched each other tight against the forces trying to pull them apart and by the time they stabilized he was panting.

  He grinned at her and squeezed her closer, before realizing her face was as stiff as her body and her features clenched with fury. Don’t think you can run away after dropping a mine like that.

  Jace paused in surprise. Wasn’t she just trying to get away from him? And now she was chasing him? Make up your mind, his fronds leaked before he could stop them and she pushed herself out of his arms, but didn’t stop there. She twisted to turn her back to him, so they were hurtling through the solar system together while she ignored him. It seemed they were marooned at speed, in the middle of a fight.

  We’re not fighting, Misty thought. If we were, you’d be more damaged. However, right now, I need some space.

  Jace made a gargling noise, but managed to stop a smart reply before it got past his throat. Amazingly, it seemed there were situations where a joke would just make things worse. Who knew?

  They drove on through the dark, but she must have appreciated his restraint, because she turned back far enough to let him see her profile. Despite some angry creases, it remained a lovely profile.

  I’m sorry, he thought as wistfully as he could and she turned to face him.

  For what? Misty wondered. It’s not as if you betrayed me. We weren’t together when you played pirate and went boarding ships.

  There was just one. Ship.

  She finally offered him a slight smile. That’s a relief. But what of the baby? And the future? What does Zyl expect from you?

  Jace paused to gather the right thoughts. I am sorry, Mist. For doing something thoughtless, with consequences that involve you. Although, Zyl seemed to think it might be preferable to keep me away from the babies. And there isn’t just one. There are ten. Well, twenty really, but only ten are mine.

  Misty’s eyes bulged and he felt panic at the thought that her com might have failed, but then she started to laugh. Jace crossed his arms and tried to look offended, but she laughed harder. Great gasping hiccups of mirth that only eased when she started panting.

  Ace, her mind sang, that’s delicious. Only ten are yours! How restrained.

  She looked like she was about to start with the totally inappropriate laughter again and Jace couldn’t allow that. He’d been thoroughly distracted by his confession, but there was a reason he’d started telling her this. They might have mobility, but they still didn’t have air and they were dead unless someone found them in time. Which left him with only one option.

  Jace felt for his com with a shaking hand, but his fingers were steady by the time he reached the level that overrode all safety settings. He ordered his personal program to cut his metabolic field and send its remaining power and air to Misty. He raised a finger to tap the activation code and her hand clamped around his as hard as ice.

  What the hail are you doing? Don't you dare. Anger/ threat/ terror. Don't.

  Jace relaxed and turned his hand to hold hers. Have to, hon. This doubles your chance of surviving.

  Misty pushed her face close to his and a wash of silver blinded him. If you send that energy to me, I’ll dump it all, along with my own. I swear it.

  Jace felt an answering flash of anger even stronger than his fear. Dammit, Mist, I’m trying to save your life. You could just say ‘thanks’.

  However, she pressed her mouth to his instead, so it seemed he was forgiven. He tried to focus on his goal, but the kiss stole his attention. Too bad he didn’t have a ship anymore. His brow creased, although his lips stayed locked to hers, despite his sudden inspiration. Perhaps it was a good thing he had a weirdly intimate relationship with his previous vessel. Even the unborn kids might help. He held Misty close, but pushed all thoughts of her from his mind to concentrate on another girl instead.

  It took an effort and he grew dizzy before he was ready to call out. The darkness thickened around him, but he pushed his thoughts through it. ZYL.

  The cry rang through passage space, but there was no response. He could only hope the mother of his hybrid lizard spawn was listening and willing to help. Misty sagged in his arms and his chest was on fire, but there was not
hing more he could do.

  ***

  Amber floated hand in hand with Falkyn and watched the sharp silhouette of a t’ssaa strike ship scoop up her friends. It was too distant to be certain-sure, but she hoped Zyl had arrived to save the day. With luck she should find them soon and Amber would at least have a chance to fix her latest horrible mistake.

  When the ship accelerated toward her she sagged in relief, but then struggled with a fresh wave of despair. She knew she didn't deserve to be saved.

  Unexpected grief from Falkyn swept through her, while his fingers tightened on hers and his wings spread wide to block out the sun. She had no time to ask what was wrong before they started moving. Amber’s head snapped back and she was dragged away from approaching rescue. They accelerated so hard the stars blurred and her blood tried to drain from her brain, despite her support field. We’re going the wrong way, she thought, but all she felt from Falkyn was pain and panic.

  Amber flinched and turned her attention to her companion. What could have happened? His grip on her hand was so tight it ached, but he was oblivious, staring rigidly ahead at their destination. She checked her com and realized they were hurtling at Gratuity. She magnified her vision for a better view and felt as if she’d been punched in the chest. The port was gone.

  No, not gone, transformed. Gratuity's rag tag collection of blotchy spars and gantries had been swallowed by ice. A glittering snowball hung in space, beautiful and still, and completely lifeless. A glacial tongue which had once been the main control tower abruptly collapsed into powder and the planet began to crumble beneath it. Gashes sliced through the ice, while dents appeared then imploded into craters, until only a white haze remained – a wafting dust as pale as bone.

  Can you fix it? Falkyn’s mind demanded, forcing an answer from Amber.

  No, never. There’s nothing left to fix.

  His hand went slack around hers, while his wings drooped. They flashed onward, into the blizzard that used to be a planet and a shadow grew behind them to hide those pallid motes. That darkness was shaped like a ship, but Amber scarcely cared whether it was Zyl, or their lost vessel coming to infect them. She floated on, locked in a prison of guilt as cold and deep as Gratuity's entombment.

  Oh gods, Harrier. Her sad little garden. Her weeping willow. How could this be happening? How could the frost be controlling ships? Infesting com signals? Pretending to be safely blocked from this dimension - its passage closed by Amber back in the lab - when clearly it wasn't? And how did it manage to whisper in her head when it first attacked, drawing her to it?

  The answer to her questions fell into place, straight after she saw the first piece of the puzzle. It had all been far too easy. Her search of intergalactic space had been unique. No one else had such technology, so she’d been the first to look so far for an energy sink. Yet she’d found exactly what she wanted within minutes? Never. What a dupe she’d been.

  Amber hadn’t discovered something new, she’d been found by something that was hunting. The ice plague wasn’t just some random phenomenon. It was sentient, and this was more than a horrible accident in a tiny lab. This was invasion.

  45

  The Contagion Spreads

  Darsey straightened her shoulders and floated back into the nest with a bright smile. Zak looked up and offered the faintest nod in greeting. “You get Nightwing?”

  Her smile tightened and she struggled to hold it. She had got Wing alright and she hoped he was still smarting. She clamped down on her own pain and wafted to her son's side. “Your father wants to meet you as soon as possible. Is that okay?” Zak simply grunted and Darsey crossed her arms tight. “Bad manners won’t get you what you want in life. I suggest you stop modeling yourself on a primitive Beserk.”

  Nikareon cackled before Zak could react. He shook his head, still chuckling and sidled up to Darsey. “I don't know what's twisting your corset, lovely lady. My parenting wasn't fancy, but I covered the basics. Zak could chug a beer and win a fist fight before he was ten.”

  Darsey turned away from him to study the visual that was now searching for Jace's ship. She was too angry to focus on it initially, but when she did she saw that the vessel they were tracking was still out of sight, hidden behind a piece of system flotsam. A frozen rock floated between them and the tracer they were following, looking like a misshapen silver moon.

  Nikareon's ship closed on the signal and Darsey flinched. She looked down at a sudden pain in her hands and saw she was digging her nails into her palms. She grimaced and forced her fingers to relax. It had been weeks since she last saw Jace. She looked up when the tip of his ship edged into view and forgot her nerves at the unexpected condition of her gift. It was no longer shiny and new, but instead looked strangely frosted. Its hull was a dull white and it floated motionless ahead of them, pressed close to the shelter of the icy asteroid.

  Unease touched Darsey, but then Nikareon did too, sliding an arm round her waist when he drifted against her. She thrust away from him at once and let her glare loose. “Don't you have places to be, Nikky? Things to do? Babies to steal?”

  “Ouch,” he said happily and grinned. “Play nice, missy. Zak wants me here, remember?”

  “Drakking right,” the disputed child agreed and straightened his shoulders. “Make the call.”

  However, before Darsey could move a hologram appeared above the com console. “Request for in-talk,” she said and checked the caller ID. She felt a rush of fury, but held herself very still, standing frozen for an endless moment, before looking slowly up at Nikareon. She had to clear her throat, before she could speak with icy precision. “I assume it's for you. Lamidia.”

  Darsey turned her back on the console and strode to the far wall. Perhaps not looking at the gat would help.

  “Can you not pass a day without me?” Nikareon asked the unwelcome caller. “People will think I'm your personal charm.” His voice faltered and a cold draft stirred Darsey's plait. The breeze brushed her hair aside and goosebumps rose on her bare neck. What could be wrong with life support? She turned to face the main console just as Nikareon backed away from it.

  A hologram filled the far end of the bridge and Lamidia stared down at them. She was almost unrecognizable. Darsey stopped in shock, but her son instantly stepped forward. He moved to join Nikareon, until the mermaridian snapped his fingers behind his back and Zak stopped too. They all stood silently and stared at the empty ruin of a once beautiful face.

  Lamidia smiled. Her lips cracked and flakes of ice chipped from them when they slid past slab-like teeth. Her skin was as white and shiny as the bloated belly of some dead sea-beast, while her eyes were fixed and glassy. Her hair was largely gone, along with her eyebrows and eyelashes, while ice-melt flowed from her scalp.

  Darsey felt sick and Nikareon stepped back again, waving at Zak to retreat.

  The older Beserk’s face tightened, but then he studied his nails and yawned. “I long thought you were frigid, but this seems to be a new extreme.”

  Lamidia's face remained frozen and her voice was so harsh it grated like a glacier on the move when each word was forced past rigid lips. “I've a present.” She clenched her hands together and then opened them wide. Her fingers spread and cold exploded from them, but Nikareon was already moving. He threw himself forward with his arms opened in a wild hug, to embrace that wintry blast. Ice exploded against him, but the Darsey ducked and it hardly touched her.

  Gravity returned with the explosion and they all dropped to the curved floor. Nikareon slid limply to the middle of the dip, while Zak and Darsey tumbled backward, thrown away to collect the far wall. They scrambled to their feet and their magnetic boots held them securely, but the hologram still there.

  Darsey heard a laugh that must have been Lamidia's, although it was no longer even remotely human. It was followed by a wall of snow. A heavy blanket fell from the com link to sweep over Nikareon and then on, curling above Darsey and her son like a frothy wave.

  She stared up at that cres
t in blank shock. It was starting to break, tipping over her in collapse, when Zak hit her with a full tackle. He carried her backward and the snow front exploded behind them. It lost its momentum to swirl wildly through the nest and they were trapped in a suffocating snow globe.

  Darsey grabbed a breath, but her lungs spasmed in the frigid air. More snow arrived through the hologram link, an avalanche that buried the couple. Zak snarled and braced himself against that drift, but it pushed him straight into Darsey and pinned them both to the wall. It was impossible to breathe and everything was white. White with pretty little stars.

  The pressure kept building and Darsey gritted her teeth, trying to hold on, but the world grew dark and blurry. Zak’s breath whistled through her hair when it was forced from his lungs. She stared over his shoulder and silver appeared again, but not as stars. This time it twisted and tangled to form a web of strands, which was weird. The light at the end of the tunnel didn’t look anything like she’d imagined.

  Darsey sucked desperately for air and got just enough to focus clearly. There was definitely a shiny net forming above Zak. Strands slid from it, slicing through the snow until a silver cocoon arched over both of them. The crushing weight of all those flakes eased behind a silver bird’s nest. She tilted her head slightly, trying to understand what she was watching and at that moment the criss-crossed surface contracted, every strand singing as it pulled taut. The pressure on Darsey instantly eased and Zak gave a strangled gasp.

  Darsey pulled in air and it was incredibly sweet. So frigid that it numbered her nose and throat, but still delicious.

  Zak dragged in oxygen through his mouth and pushed away from his mother, because there was suddenly room for them to stand apart. He smiled at her with blue lips and she grimaced back. They were alive. For now.

  However, before Darsey had time to appreciate that, much less work out what had saved them, Zak turned and launched himself into the snow.