Starlight (The Dark Elf War Book 1)

by William Stacey

  Cassie managed to rise up into a kneeling position although she felt as though she was going to pass out at any moment. The white-haired woman was channeling now, and the sensation of mana was indescribable. Bolts of red lightning arced down, smashing into the pavement on either side of the basilisk. Clouds roiled in the dark sky above, and winds and pellets of heavy rain began lashing Cassie in the face as thunder boomed.

  Just like the night of the electrical storm, when all this insanity started.

  A glowing ring of bright light appeared in front of the basilisk. The ring began to spin, growing larger and brighter, so bright it hurt Cassie’s eyes, and she raised her hand to shield them, peeking through her fingers. The circle of light grew in size, widening to allow the basilisk room to pass through. Through the glowing ring, Cassie saw a vibrant green jungle, the likes of which she had never seen before, so beautiful it made her gasp in wonder.

  And then her gaze snapped to the woman’s arm, to the glove she wore. My Brace. She was wearing Cassie’s Brace.

  Outrage energized Cassie, driving her to act. She extended her hand, channeling telekinesis. The Brace, clearly too large for the woman, slipped off her arm and flew back through the air toward Cassie, landing on the ground just paces in front of her. The woman’s head spun about, her gaze instantly locking on Cassie, her alien eyes reflecting her rage.

  “Mine, bitch!” Cassie said through clenched teeth.

  She felt the other woman channeling and realized she was going to attack her, kill her for interfering… and Cassie knew there was nothing she could do to stop her. But then a whooshing sound filled the air, and fire flashed past Cassie, blinding her.

  What followed happened so fast that Cassie wasn’t sure what she saw, but the diminutive woman released the mana she had been channeling, redirecting it to create some kind of shield. The shield erupted in flames and smoke, the explosion flattening Cassie again. She lay on her side, watching Buck, who knelt on one knee, holding a huge metal tube on his shoulder.

  A bazooka—he has a bazooka!

  Another soldier stood behind Buck, rushing to reload the weapon for him so he could take another shot. More soldiers darted about, and Cassie heard loud cracking noises in the air over her head and realized it was the sound of bullets.

  The white-haired woman glared at Cassie. Then her eyes flicked to the Brace lying on the ground. Cassie extended her arm and channeled telekinesis again: the Brace flew to her hand, and she pulled it tight against her chest as her world began to go dim. The woman’s face contorted in rage—and the basilisk leaped forward through the glowing ring, the magical portal—just as Buck fired another missile. A moment later, the portal simply winked out of existence, and the missile flew past, exploding against another building.

  Cassie rolled onto her back. In the dark sky above them, clouds still roiled and churned, exposing bright stars, other worlds.

  The basilisk, the white-haired woman, and Colonel McKnight were gone.

  Part 4: Gateway

  Chapter 42

  Cassie watched as the base staff laid the dead in neat rows along the cold stone floor of the vehicle hangar, the same building that had held the basilisk for such a brief time. Together, the basilisk and the mysterious white-haired woman—elf, Cassie; that’s what she was, like something right out of a fantasy story, a dark elf—had killed more than a dozen people. Some had been petrified and then crushed by the basilisk, creating obscene fragments of stone on the outside with still-bleeding flesh on the inside. The basilisk’s gaze, it seemed, only turned the exterior of people to stone, which kind of made sense—in a grisly way. After all, it had to feed; it was a predator. The sight of the broken, bleeding body parts was both absurd and shocking—no, revolting. Other bodies had been burned to charred husks. The stench was unimaginable, yet somehow, Elizabeth stood right beside them, her rosary in hand, praying for the dead. Cassie knew she should do something to help, as well, but a sense of profound ennui gripped her.

  Helping was pointless. Everything was pointless. This was a secret army base, staffed by Special Forces, supposedly the best on the planet, and they had just had their asses handed to them by one woman.

  How was any of this possible? The basilisk was a creature from humanity’s legends. So were elves. If those creatures came from another world—and it had certainly looked like an alien jungle that she had seen through the magical portal the elf woman had opened—then how was it possible that they resembled creatures she knew so well from stories?

  There was so much going on that she didn’t understand. Everyone had been lying to her, she now knew: McKnight, Buck, even Alex. All these people were liars, and they were responsible for everything that had gone wrong—for the basilisk, for all the deaths, for the sudden presence of magic in the world. She was done helping them. It had all been a waste of time anyway. They should have killed that damned monster when they had the chance.

  And who was that damned dark-elf woman? Cassie was certain now that it had been her that she had sensed out in the woods and later on the base. The woman had made herself invisible, but somehow Cassie—perhaps because she could duplicate that particular ability—could still sense her. But where Cassie had only been able to hold the spell in place for seconds, the woman had somehow been able to maintain it for hours. Her strength was remarkable, far beyond anything she or Elizabeth could do even when linked. She must have been out there in the woods the whole time, secretly controlling the basilisk, directing it.

  As she began to understand, Cassie felt sick to her stomach. It was that dark-elf woman who sent the basilisk to attack the hospital, to murder all those people, to murder Alice.

  Even worse, Cassie had felt her presence earlier that evening but had done nothing, warned no one. There was blood on her hands, too. She swayed in place, shame threatening to overwhelm her, tears spilling out of her eyes.

  Once again, Cassie had let everyone down. She had failed her family; she had failed at school; she had failed here. Nothing but failure.

  Why had she thought this would be any different? She needed to stop making choices entirely. No matter what she did or didn’t do, people died. It was far safer to do nothing.

  Because when you take chances, Cassie Rogan, people die.

  Her eyes closed, she swayed in place, once again seeing the cold slurry of mud roaring down the mountainside, striking their car…

  She jumped in place when Elizabeth touched her elbow. She hadn’t seen the other woman approach. “What?”

  “They’re having a meeting. I heard Buck tell Alex.”

  Cassie stared at her, not really comprehending. Her eyes narrowed. “And?”

  “And we’re not invited. They’re going to decide what to do now, how to handle this.”

  “Handle what? It’s over.”

  “I think they’re going to shut everything down and pull out of here,” Elizabeth said, a hint of panic in her voice.

  Cassie sighed and forced herself to remain calm. “Elizabeth, what do you want?”

  “Don’t you get it? They’re going to abandon us, send us back home, while they pull out of here and pretend none of this ever happened. They’re just going to cover it all up.”

  Cassie glanced at the long line of corpses, the still-smoking wreckage. “Maybe that’s for the best. Look what happened here.”

  “Cassie, we’re a part of this. God has a plan for us, whether you believe in Him or not, He has a plan for you. They can’t just give up and go away. What about McKnight?”

  “I…” What about McKnight? Why had the dark-elf woman taken him? What was happening to him? He had given her a chance, offered her a role to play, and now she had no idea what to do about him.

  She saw the fear in Elizabeth’s eyes, and then she realized something: there is no such thing as going home again, not for a modern-day wizard. She felt her anger spike within her, burning away her self-pity. She couldn’t go home; McKnight couldn’t go home; why the hell should the others, Buck and Al
ex, get that option?

  “All right,” Cassie said. “Let’s go make them talk to us.”

  Elizabeth stalked out of the hangar with Cassie right behind. She didn’t know what role she and Elizabeth would be allowed to play but was determined to find out. Elizabeth led her to the dam’s two-story building, which the soldiers used as a headquarters. McKnight had kept his office in that building, Cassie knew, but neither she nor Elizabeth had ever been in there before; they had never been invited to the colonel’s staff meetings. And there had always been an armed guard out front. Screw Buck, and screw Alex. Both Elizabeth and Cassie were a part of this now. They had a right to be involved in any decision that was going to be made.

  This time, there was no sentry at the entrance, no one to stop them. Everyone was too busy cleaning up after the attack. Inside, they entered a reception area that looked pretty much like every other office that Cassie had ever seen. There was a counter in front of them, behind which were workstations, telephones, and office supplies. They filed past the deserted reception area and past empty offices filled with cubicles. The first floor was deserted, so they found a stairwell and climbed to the second floor. As they walked down a hallway, they heard voices raised in argument. The women glanced at each other nervously then began to make their way toward the noise.

  As they got closer, they heard Alex’s voice coming through an open door. Cassie peered around the doorway. Alex and Buck were confronting one another, their faces flushed with anger. They were standing in a large conference room with a wooden table that could have comfortably seated a dozen people. The only other person in the room was Dr. Simmons, who looked miserable. A large plasma screen was mounted on the wall, the footage split to show two conference rooms—one with a Canadian flag hanging in the background, the other with an American flag. Both rooms were empty, but it was two in the morning. What time was it in Washington or in Ottawa? Midnight? Earlier? She steeled herself then stormed into the room.

  Both men stopped abruptly and stared at her in surprise. “What are you doing here?” Buck said, glaring at her. “You’re not allowed in here. This is private.”

  “Bullshit,” Cassie said, meeting his gaze. “We’re way past the time for secrets now.”

  “We’re a part of this,” said Elizabeth, moving to stand beside her. “And we demand to be involved.”

  Rage filled Buck’s face, and he stormed toward them, his hands reaching out. Cassie felt Elizabeth channel, then Buck flew backwards, stumbling into an office chair before falling hard on his ass, shock on his face.

  Elizabeth stepped forward. “You will not put your hands on us. Do you understand?”

  Cassie saw hatred in Buck’s eyes but also a trace of fear. He climbed to his feet, watching Elizabeth warily.

  Dr. Simmons looked from Buck to the women and then to Alex. “We might as well tell them. Why keep it a secret now? They almost died last night, too.”

  “Do you want to go to jail, Doctor?” Buck demanded. “Because that’s exactly what’s going to happen to you if you open your stupid mouth again.” Buck rubbed the small of his back.

  Alex sighed, looking exhausted. “Enough. Just let it go. We’re way past the Security of Information Act now.” He pulled out a chair and sat down, placing both booted feet up on the table and crossing his arms. “Besides, as soon as the project managers in Ottawa and Washington get in, they’re going to shut us down. We’re done here. Operation Rubicon is done. Task Force Devil is done.” Alex extended his arm to the empty chairs across from him, looking at Cassie and Elizabeth, waiting for them.

  Cassie glanced at Buck, who shook his head. She pulled out a chair and sat down. “So, what’s really going on here?”

  Buck examined his fingernails. “Hope you like prison, Newf.”

  Alex glanced at him with utter contempt. “Whatever.”

  Elizabeth sat down beside Cassie and leaned forward. “They’re aliens, right?”

  “Not exactly,” Alex said.

  “Well?” Cassie prodded him.

  “They’re from another world,” said Dr. Simmons, “sort of. They’re actually from another dimension. We’re not sure where. We discovered it by accident.”

  “You discovered another dimension by accident?” Cassie said. “What does that even mean?”

  “It means we were trying to do something else, develop a cloaking field that could evade radar and visual observation. It would have been a huge leap forward in stealth technology—true invisibility from all sensors. Instead, one of the tests had… unexpected results. We somehow opened a wormhole.”

  “A wormhole?” asked Elizabeth.

  “To another dimension in time, space… perhaps even reality. We really don’t know which. There’s so much we don’t know.” Dr. Simmons looked decidedly unhappy. She leaned forward, resting her forearms on the table. “Two years ago, at a US Air Force testing site in Nevada, we inadvertently managed to create a localized wormhole, or gateway, if you prefer. It was only opened for a few moments, but it clearly showed an alien landscape.”

  “Oh my God,” said Elizabeth.

  “So why are you here? Why Canada?” Cassie asked.

  “We needed more power to keep the gateway stable long enough to send someone through,” Dr. Simmons answered. “A lot more power.”

  “Site C,” Elizabeth said. “You’re siphoning off power from the dam, aren’t you?”

  “No, we’re using all the power from the dam,” Dr. Simmons said. “What we send to Fort St. John is almost nothing, a fraction of the power generated here.”

  “This dam is supposed to be supplying energy to northern British Columbia, to all of Fort St. John,” Cassie said. “That was the entire point behind building it and behind all the damage done to the environment. Fort St. John needed more power.”

  Buck laughed unkindly then shook his head. “Honey, the United States government paid for this dam. Hell, we built this dam. We’re funding just about everything up here, and we’re sure as hell not doing it to provide you hicks with electricity. And let’s be honest: I don’t know anybody who gives a shit about your environment.”

  “Here’s the thing, Cassie,” said Alex. “The truth is that Fort St. John doesn’t need more power and never has. It’s just not that large. The power this dam generates goes into Operation Rubicon, into powering the Gateway Machine.”

  “Operation Rubicon?” Cassie asked.

  “As in crossing the Rubicon?” asked Elizabeth.

  “I don’t get it,” Cassie said.

  “It’s from ancient Rome,” Elizabeth said. “The Rubicon was a river close to the city. Rome’s generals were prohibited from bringing their armies across it for fear of them mounting a coup. So, when Julius Caesar chose to bring his legions across the river, crossing the Rubicon, it was a momentous decision, one that he couldn’t ever go back on. He was committed to treason.”

  “In this case,” Dr. Simmons said, “we committed to secretly visiting an alien world we’ve named Rubicon. The first true interstellar visit was amazing, wondrous. The creatures we saw…”

  “Wait a minute,” said Cassie. “You just started visiting an alien world? How?”

  “The Gateway Machine,” Alex answered. “It’s underground, beneath the dam infrastructure. It powers something we call a Jump Tunnel, a tube that when activated leads through a localized, stable wormhole—a gateway.”

  “There’s a machine that lets you travel to another world?” Cassie asked.

  Alex nodded, and Dr. Simmons grinned like an excited child. Buck stared at the wall, shaking his head and muttering beneath his breath.

  “So, you’ve been visiting this other world, this Rubicon?” Cassie asked.

  Dr. Simmons’s eyes practically shone as she nodded.

  “So, what happened? Did you bring these creatures back—the basilisk, the hellhounds?”

  “No, of course we didn’t bring specimens back,” Dr. Simmons snapped. “That would have been irresponsible!”

&
nbsp; Irresponsible? Did she really just use that word? Cassie stared at her but let it go. “Go on.”

  “There was… an incident,” Dr. Simmons said.

  Buck snorted.

  The scientist glanced at Buck and then lowered her eyes and her voice. “There were some… complications.”

  “The aliens apparently don’t like being spied on,” Alex said. “They attacked us. There were some deaths.”

  “Try all of my team,” said Buck. “I only just managed to get away.”

  “Within a day of that attack,” said Dr. Simmons, “we had our first intrusion.”

  “Intrusion?” said Elizabeth. “What do you mean?”

  “Hellhounds,” said Alex. “Somehow, they crossed over into our world. That’s the pack we hunted down.”

  “They came through your Gateway Machine?” asked Cassie.

  Dr. Simmons and Alex shook their heads.

  “The breach,” Dr. Simmons said softly.

  “You used that term on the Osprey,” Elizabeth said, “when we were looking for—”

  Cassie gasped. “The night of the bizarre electrical storm. The night mana flowed into our world.”

  Dr. Simmons inclined her head. “Somehow, the inhabitants of Rubicon, those elf creatures, are able to duplicate the effects of the Gateway Machine. They’ve breached our world.”

  “That’s where the mana, the magic, comes from,” Cassie said.

  They nodded, and Buck glared.

  “How is any of this possible?” Cassie asked.

  Alex raised his hands.

  A coldness seeped through Cassie. “You brought this on us.”

  Alex and Dr. Simmons looked down. Buck snorted again.

  “The basilisk?” Elizabeth asked.

  Dr. Simmons sighed. “At first, we thought the breach was an accident, an unintentional rift between the two worlds caused by the Gateway Machine, a side-effect of interdimensional string theory. So, we stopped all missions to Rubicon, at least until we could deal with the intrusion of the creatures. We thought perhaps that the presence of the hellhounds and the basilisk was a mistake, that somehow the animals had wandered through an unexpected wormhole. That… that hypothesis doesn’t look very likely now.”