by Chris Fox
No hope. Narlifex thrummed in his hand. We die well.
Aran raised the blade over his shoulder and shifted into a guard position. “Come on, Wyrm. Let’s end this.”
Suddenly a wave of pale, grey energy washed through the lift. The spell reeked of spirit as it enveloped everyone, swirling over them all, and passing through their bodies, and then disappearing inside the walls. Aran wasn’t sure what the spell was, or who had cast it, but the effect was immediate.
All around him combat ceased. As one, the three surviving demons—no, four, Aran realized as the last one climbed to her feet—turned in his direction. They rushed Arkelion as one, each voicing a shriek of wordless rage. The demons came at the ancient Wyrm from all sides with a savage flurry of blows.
Arkelion’s blade was everywhere, but a few hits slipped through. The desperate concentration on his face showed the effort it was costing him.
“You know,” Crewes panted as he rose to his feet, “those demon chicks are strong as hell, but they seem to be a little temperamental. What in the depths just happened, sir?”
“I don’t know how, but that was a counterspell,” Aran explained in wonder. “The biggest I’ve heard of, much less seen. Someone incredibly powerful just saved our bacon.”
“Oh, come on.” Crewes barked an amused laugh. “We both know who it was. She ain’t never let us down before, and the major ain’t about to start now.”
Arkelion leapt into the air and shot out of sight into the darkness. Three of the demons followed, but the fourth turned to Aran. It was the one he’d shot. He was certain of it, though whatever damage he’d inflicted appeared to have already healed.
“Thank you, Outrider. For our freedom. It is centuries in coming.” Then she leapt into the air and disappeared, leaving them alone.
Somehow, they’d survived. Aran held Narlifex up for inspection, and watched with fascination as the shards arranged themselves back into place of their own accord. The cracks were still there, but the weapon appeared otherwise whole. “Did you just repair yourself?”
No. The shards broke away again, and then returned to form the blade. Shards useful. Narlifex will keep. Nasty surprise for foes.
“Man, I love having a living spellblade.” Laughter bubbled out of Aran, mostly the relief at still being alive. He turned to Kheross, who’d just limped over. “You think Arkelion will escape?”
“Almost certainly.” Kheross wore a truly evil smirk. “But he will not enjoy it, and I suspect those lovely ladies will never stop hunting him. Was that one of your tricks? How did you break the binding? I didn’t even see you cast anything.”
“Wasn’t me,” Aran admitted. “If I had to guess? Crewes is right. Voria arrived in the Spellship. It’s the only thing that makes sense, because a true mage had to have cast that spell.”
A drone whirred into Aran’s field of view, and unsurprisingly, Tharn wasn’t far behind it. She appeared to be mid-broadcast. “—has done it again. The latest demonic assault has been repelled, and as you can see, Captain Aran did it without losing a single member of his company.” She turned to face him. “Captain Aran, how does it feel to have survived another harrowing battle?”
Aran sheathed Narlifex and removed his helmet. The air was blessedly cool against his skin. “You broadcast the entire fight to the audience, right?”
“That’s correct, Captain. They saw it all as it unfolded, as they saw the battle before this one.” The drone whirred closer and a light came on over the camera.
Aran winced at the sudden bright light. He forced himself to look directly into the camera. “Then you’ve seen what we’ve been through. You know what we’re up against. The Krox threw everything they had at us. They came as hard as they will ever come, and you know what? We’re still standing.”
“Compelling words, Captain.” Tharn smoothly seized control of the conversation once more. “And what will you do now?”
“Now?” He looked back into the camera. “Now, I’m going to find out where the Krox will be next, and I’m going to get there first. And when they arrive, they’ll get exactly the same welcome we gave them here.”
49
Them or Us
Frit’s mind reeled as she stared down at her sister’s body, but she knew she couldn’t afford to wallow in shock. She needed control. She focused on facts, as she always did. Fritara was dead. Rita supported Nara’s actions, so the dissension had been quelled. The next threat was Ree and the approaching fighters.
“How did they find us?” Rita asked as she stared up at the approaching fighters on the scry-screen. Their golden forms were still little more than twinkling stars, but that would change quickly.
“Flame readers,” Nara supplied as she ducked into one of the matrices. “Probably other Ifrit, like you. They’re using slaves to hunt runaways. Frit, how do you want to handle this? I’d recommend we flee. We don’t have to fight this battle. We can just leave. I can open a Fissure right now.”
Frit took a deep breath. Then she shook her head slowly. “I am so tired of running. Besides, it’s not a fight we can run from. Ree will follow us wherever we go. She’ll hunt us and the sisters who went with Nebiat. If we don’t end her here, then eventually she’ll end all of us. This is survival.”
“It’s more than that, isn’t it?” Nara asked quietly. Frit detected no accusation in the question.
“Okay, vengeance then. I’ll admit it.” Frit took in Kaho and Rita as she sought the words. “Ree killed my friends, in front of me. All she had to do was let us leave and they’d still be alive. If that had been the end of it, then maybe I could let this go. But it isn’t. She’s flown across half the sector specifically to hunt us. Nara, you care about Aran, don’t you? I bet a dozen spellfighters would be pretty helpful on New Texas right now. But she isn’t there. She’s here, because killing us is her obsession.”
“Our course seems clear,” Kaho rumbled. His scaly tail flicked behind him, reminding her of a cat. “Who do you want in the last matrix, Captain Frit?”
“Don’t call me that.” Frit drummed her fingers on her thigh as she considered. “Nara, myself, and Kaho to start. Rita, stand second. You can relieve one of us if we run dry.”
“And our plan?” Nara asked. Frit noted she didn’t use the title, which was good, since hearing it made her feel like a thief.
“Um.” She gave Nara a helpless look. “I can fly, and I can fight, but plans aren’t my thing. You’re the brainiac, remember? How do we survive this?”
Nara closed her eyes for a moment, and began whispering to herself. If Frit didn’t know better she’d say that Nara was speaking to an imaginary person on her right. Alarming, but not surprising given all the recent trauma.
“First we ensure that we aren’t hunted for the rest of our lives.” Nara tapped a fire sigil to initiate a missive. “I’m setting up an open missive, so Ternus should have no trouble intercepting this. Just play along.”
Nara took a moment to adjust her hair, while Frit hurried over to the only unoccupied matrix.
“Kaho,” Nara hissed. “Get off screen. Rita take his place.”
“Ah, excellent point. I doubt they’d react well to the sight of me.” The hatchling ducked nimbly from the rings and move to a corner on the same wall as the scry-screen.
The screen ignited and Ree’s angry visage appeared. Her eyes flashed in triumph. “Pirate Girl. Confirmation at last that you’re working with the runaways. I knew you were in this together. How far back does your collusion go? Have you been doing Nebiat’s bidding the entire time?”
“Ree, please. Just listen.” Nara raised a hand, and there was a slight quaver to her voice. She looked scared and small. And disarmingly beautiful. “Nebiat was in control of some of the Ifrit. We stopped that, and took back the ship. We have the magibombs created by Ternus at their secret facility. These things wipe out worlds, Ree. Nebiat was going to use them on Colony 3 to wipe out not only this world, but the food supply for the entire sector. We stopped
that, and are more than happy to turn over the bombs. Please, Ree. Work with us.”
Ree gave a sharp, bitter laugh. “I’m not falling for it, Pirate Girl. You’re not dealing with some wide-eyed mongrel you can trick into thinking you need protecting. This time you won’t get away. There will be no quarter. No mercy. We will exterminate you. I want the whole sector to see what happens to those who betray Shaya.”
Frit gasped and raised her hands to her mouth. The words were bad, but the vicious tone was worse. Ree hated them all so blindly that it had eroded everything else…and Nara had just arranged for her entire rant to be broadcast to Ternus.
“If you attack us we will defend ourselves,” Nara cautioned. “Don’t do this, Ree. Turn your ships around, and let Ternus take possession of their bombs. We all walk away safely, and you can go back to your war with the Krox. You know, defending those people you swore to protect?”
“Run, Pirate Girl.” Ree’s eyes had narrowed to near slits. “I will find you. Or stay, and meet your end now.”
The missive was terminated from the other end.
“And the government of this system saw the broadcast?” Kaho asked. He blinked large, slitted eyes. “How will they respond?”
“They’ll stay out of it,” Nara said. She turned to Frit. “I’ve bought you the space we need to fight. If you want to take down that many fighters, we need to get them to chase us. We’re faster. All we need to do is kite them.”
“Kite them?” Frit asked in confusion.
Nara blinked, and an uncomfortable expression bloomed. “It’s a returning memory, something from Ternus. It means keep them at extreme range so we can hit them, while they can’t hit back. Anyway, never mind. Make for the Ternus lines around the umbral shadow like we’re trying to flee the system. We’re faster. We can reach it around the same time Ree does.”
“Around the same time worries me.” Frit tapped a fire sigil and seized control of the Talon. She poured as much magic as the ship would drink, and immediately battled vertigo as it flowed from her into the ship. She shook her head to clear it. “Kaho, do you have anything to add or suggest? We’ll take any help.”
Kaho finally rose from the corner where he’d sat with his wings wrapped around him. “I am not a tactician, as Nara can attest. She got the drop on me, and my brother. An encounter he did not survive. I’d trust whatever tactics she suggests.” He gave her a deferential nod, which pleased Frit. She sincerely hoped those two could learn to get along, though setting aside their past would be difficult.
Frit studied the approaching fighters, and compared them to their destination. It was going to be close, and both parties were still several minutes away. “Nara, do you have time to explain the rest of your plan? There is a rest of the plan, right?”
“It’s simple, assuming we can pull it off.” Nara brushed a dark curl from her forehead. “When we get close I’ll use a displacement spell. We’ll be cloaked, and they’ll see an image of us. We fly close to a Ternus station, and let Ree fire on the illusion. Their shots pass through the ship and hit the Ternus facility.”
Frit eyed Nara sidelong, and wondered how well she really knew her friend. “That’s horrifying.”
“Devious, but effective,” Kaho pointed out.
“It’s them or us.” Nara shrugged. “And it’s a damned sight better than us fighting them all and dying.”
“Do it.” Frit said. She touched another fire sigil and adjusted the scry-screen to show the rapidly approaching Ternus lines. They’d be flying between two of their massive stations, and every one of their hundreds of guns was now pointing in the Talon’s direction.
Frit was confident in her piloting abilities, but what Nara proposed added a new layer of difficulty. She needed to fly them safely, while positioning the illusion so as to get Ree or her companions to fire on the station. There had to be a way to do that without killing a bunch of innocent technicians.
“They’re almost within spell range,” Kaho cautioned from his matrix. He tapped earth, then spirit. Flows of pale-grey and deep-brown energy flowed from him into the deck, and an unfamiliar spell rippled through the entire ship. “I’ve reinforced the hull with an earth ward, and have prepared a spirit ward against their spells.”
Frit tuned out their voices, and became the Talon. The vessel was more refined than the spellfighter she’d trained in. It was far more intelligent, and capable of supplementing her piloting if she let it. Frit surrendered herself to its control, allowing it to actually fly while she thought about where she wanted to go.
“Spells away!” Kaho roared, though she could already see them, both on the scry-screen and through her connection to the Talon.
A volley of life bolts rained down on their position, but the Talon easily spun out of the way. “Nara, are you ready with that displacement?”
“On it,” she called back. Nara’s hands flew across sigils on all three rings, and a river of dream and air magic flowed from her into the deck. When it ceased, something cool rippled out from Nara, and enveloped the entire ship. “We’re cloaked. No more offensive spells, or we’ll reveal ourselves.”
Frit didn’t reply, instead giving herself to flying. She willed the cruiser closer to the nearest station, and threaded it through a pair of gauss cannons mounted along the deck. Their illusionary double followed in their wake, about three hundred meters behind them. It duplicated their movements perfectly, replicating each a few seconds after the Talon.
The cluster of golden fighters unleashed a second volley of light bolts, and they’d have converged on the Talon, had it not been an illusion. Instead, those bolts slammed the hull around the pair of cannons they’d flown past.
Those cannons detonated spectacularly, and sprayed shrapnel hundreds of meters into space.
“Okay, Nara. You’re on.” Frit poured more speed into the ship, and hugged the hull of the station as she zipped past it. The illusion was gone now, and their position was clear to the enraged Shayan forces. This was the most dangerous part of the plan.
“Here goes.” Nara tapped a fire sigil and the scry-screen connected to the Ternus HQ. A grizzled-looking man in a scarlet cloak of all things filled the screen. “Ternus defense forces, this is the Confederate ship, the Talon. We surrender. Repeat, we surrender.”
The man’s fleshy face drained of all color. “I see. I will inform high command. Please stand by.” He sprinted away from the screen, stumbling in his haste to make it up the stairway behind him. His muffled voice came over the missive. “Captain Rogers, Captain Rogers. I’ve got the mage lady on the line, sir. She wants to speak to someone in charge.”
Frit tuned out the scry-screen for the moment and focused on flying. She wove around more turrets, then put on a burst of speed and headed for the next closest station. That opened a gap between her and the fighters, but it wasn’t enough. They fired another volley, and this time she was too slow.
She winced as a pair of light bolts hit the aft side of the ship, but felt nothing on impact. “Did they hit us?”
“Oh they hit.” Kaho gave her a toothy grin. “My wards deflected them. I can reapply the ward several more times before I need to rest.” He raised a scaly finger and tapped another pair of spirit sigils as he erected another ward.
Frit gave a joyous whoop, and turned back to piloting. They’d reached the next station, and she interposed another set of cannons between her and the approaching spellfighters. This time, those cannons were active. They loosed a volley as the fighters approached, one the fighters seemed completely unprepared for.
The lead fighter was unmistakably Ree’s. How she knew, Frit couldn’t say. Perhaps it was part of being a flame reader. But she knew it was her nemesis, a woman she could have been friends with in a different reality.
A tear slid down her cheek as white streaks lanced into Ree’s fighter. Once, twice, a third time. The fighter came apart in a slowly expanding ball of flame, and Frit covered her mouth with both hands. There was no way Ree had survived tha
t.
She expected glee, or satisfaction, or even more anger. She did not expect the inexplicable tide of regret.
“The other fighters are breaking off,” Kaho called.
Frit watched mutely as the surviving fighters limped away from the stations. They were now effectively trapped in the system, unable to reach the umbral shadow.
“Nara.” Frit spun to face her friend. “Can you cloak us and get us out of here?”
“If you want me to, but Frit, I think we should stay.” Nara gave her a pleading look. “I know it’s scary, but we said we’d surrender. Let’s show them your people can be trusted.”
Frit considered that. Nara was right. They could flee, but if they did, Ternus would always see them as enemies. If she stayed, maybe she could convince them that the Ifrit were not to be feared. Depths, she might even make a friend for her people.
Still, the cost had been high. She stared at the glittering debris field that was all that remained of Ree. She felt nothing. No satisfaction. No vindication. Not even the brief regret. Only weariness.
50
Last Laugh
Eros’s teleport resolved with a pop and he appeared next to the Pool of Shaya, in the Chamber of the First. Its golden glow bathed the room, the only light source needed. He could feel the magic singing to him, a seemingly infinite amount. It was that power that no doubt drew Teodros, but there was nothing to say they couldn’t use that very power against him.
He scanned the rest of the chamber, and was relieved to see Erika standing with her back to him. She faced the chamber’s only entrance, a wide arched hallway that gave her plenty of room to use the naked spellblade in her hand. It was the first time he’d ever seen her wear the spellarmor of the Tender’s guard, but if ever there was a fight that required it, this was it.
“It’s good to see you wearing the gold once more. Keep me safe while I prepare our defenses,” Eros called as he knelt next to the pool. “Deal with the summoned minions, and I will see that we are warded by the time Teodros arrives.”