Oblivion's Grasp

by Eric T Knight

  Then a scream came from beyond the wall and the moment broke. The Children all ran toward Heram, shouting, begging to be next. Shouts came from the soldiers as they fired arrows and ballistae bolts at Heram.

  The bent little man landed on a woman, one of the group of citizens waiting to share their Songs with the sulbits, and knocked her down. For a moment they rolled around on the cobblestones, the woman screaming. The other people backed hurriedly away.

  Then he got his mouth on her arm.

  A stricken look came over her face. The color leached from her with astonishing speed and she seemed to simply collapse. A few moments later she was dead and the man leapt to his feet.

  He didn’t look nearly as bent and withered now. The stolen Song rippled through him and his back straightened. His body filled out, a gaping wound in his side filling in.

  Of the people who had been standing there, one of them, an elderly woman, hadn’t moved, but was standing there frozen, her mouth open in shock. He grabbed her and jerked her to him, wrapping her in a rough embrace.

  She died without making a sound and he grew stronger.

  It all happened so fast.

  Owina was one of the Tenders manning the barrier that morning, along with Mery, who was also a veteran of the battle at Guardians Watch. When the first Child landed in the square behind her she started to turn, but then she remembered her duties and kept her focus the barrier. The FirstMother had drummed into all of them that, no matter what happened around them, their only concern was keeping the barrier up. If they failed at that, nothing else would matter.

  A scream came from behind her and her sulbit chittered in alarm. The Song flowing from it stuttered. From the corner of her eye she could see that Mery was having the same problem. Owina moved instantly to soothe the creature, stroking it with her free hand, whispering softly to it, both with words and silently, through the link they shared. The creature looked up at her, the expression in its shiny black eyes unfathomable. Owina continued to stroke it and whisper to it. After a moment it calmed down, Song once again flowing from it steadily.

  Then another person came flying over the wall—

  And landed right beside Mery.

  Mery gave a little shriek and lurched to the side, banging into Owina, both of them falling down. The sulbits squealed at the same time, the sound high and painful to the ears, and the Song from both of them cut off.

  The sulbits bolted.

  Somehow Owina managed to get a hold of her sulbit before it could get away and she clung to it grimly while it continued squealing, fighting to get away.

  Beside her, Mery was trying to crawl away, her sulbit long gone. The woman who’d come flying over the wall got a hold of Mery’s ankle, but Mery jerked her foot away and kicked the woman in the face so that she lost her hold.

  Owina managed to get to her feet, still fighting to hold onto her sulbit. Abruptly, the creature changed tactics. It swiveled its small, blunt head around and spat Song into Owina’s face.

  Owina staggered backwards. Her face was burning, her eyes searing pain. Blinded, she let go of her sulbit and clamped her hands over her eyes.

  The barrier began to flicker.

  Quyloc was clear on the other side of the square when the first Child came flying over the wall. Immediately he removed the leather covering on his rendspear and started running. As his skin came in contact with the spear the day shifted, flows of Song suddenly visible, writhing this way and that. There was a sudden flash as the man drained his first victim.

  Before he could make his way through the frightened, fleeing citizens, another one of the Children came flying over the wall and landed near the barrier. Quyloc shifted direction, shouting for one of the squads of pikemen to engage the first man.

  He saw one Tender struggling with her sulbit, saw the burst of Song it spat in her face. Blinded, she had no idea the Child at her feet was lunging for her until the woman got her mouth on the Tender’s ankle and started to drain her.

  Quyloc got there a split second later. The spear flashed and he stabbed the Child in the neck, causing her to scream and let go of her victim. The Tender staggered backward and collapsed in a heap. The Child reached for Quyloc, but he stabbed her in the face.

  Tender guards grabbed the Tender and dragged her away.

  Quyloc stabbed the writhing Child again and again, each time eliciting screams of pain.

  Nalene was almost to the square when she heard the first scream. She jumped out of the carriage she was riding in and ran. She was too late; she was sure of it. She ran down the narrow street and emerged onto a square that was in chaos. A squad of pikemen were facing off against one of the Children, who was just then dropping his second victim. Ripples were running over his body; new muscle bulged everywhere. Citizens were running in panic. Quyloc was by the barrier, stabbing someone on the ground over and over. Two Tenders were being dragged back by their bodyguards. The other Tenders were standing there, paralyzed with indecision.

  The barrier was flickering wildly.

  Nalene’s sulbit chittered in fear. Before it could try to escape she grabbed hold of it, stroking it, whispering to it as she ran. The link between them opened and she felt its fear as part of her own. For a moment her steps faltered as she succumbed to her sulbit’s desire to flee, but then she got herself under control.

  Shrieking wildly, Children were flinging themselves against the barrier, over and over. The barrier crackled and popped, weakening visibly by the moment.

  Nalene dodged around Quyloc and the Child on the ground and stopped before the barrier. There were holes visible in it now. A Child got his hand through the barrier, his fingers opening and closing spastically as he reached for her.

  Cradling her sulbit in her arms, Nalene crooned to it, urging it to release the energy it held within it. At first the thing hid its face in the crook of her elbow and she felt panic rising within her. The barrier looked like an old cobweb now, thin and tattered. Two more Children got arms through it.

  “Come on,” she whispered. “Come on.”

  Another of the Children came flying over the wall. The Child Quyloc was battling spun away from him and got a hold of one of the terrified citizens and began draining him, ignoring Quyloc’s attacks. Disaster loomed.

  Then all at once Nalene’s sulbit opened its mouth. A stream of Song, small at first, but growing steadily larger, flowed from it and into the barrier.

  The barrier began to solidify once again. Cries of pain came from the Children on the other side of it. Two of the arms thrust through it withdrew, but the third was not so fortunate. The holes in the barrier snapped closed all at once and the arm was severed and fell on the cobblestones.

  Twenty-five

  Rome started running for the wall as soon as the first Child came flying over and landed in the square. Looking up, he saw the soldiers swiveling the ballistae to take aim at Heram. The weapons twanged and the heavy iron bolts shot out. There was an angry shout from beyond the wall; at least one had flown true.

  Quickly soldiers began cranking the winches to cock the ballistae as others set new bolts into place.

  Then they just froze.

  Rome reached the top of the wall and ran to the closest ballista, pushing the soldier manning it out of the way when he got there and taking his place. He was bringing the weapon to bear when a heavy coldness settled on his limbs. He began to tremble and he had to take hold of the ballista to keep himself upright. With a great effort he turned his head and looked over the battlements.

  Reyna was standing there, less than a stone’s throw away. Her arms were flung out and up and she was yelling something. The air was blurry around her. Rome realized right away what she was doing.

  She was sucking the life out of every soldier on the wall. The only reason no one had collapsed yet was because her attack was spread over a large area, instead of being focused on one person.

  Gritting his teeth, Rome managed to turn the ballista toward Heram, who was in the pro
cess of tossing yet another of the Children over the wall. Grunting with effort, he aimed and fired the weapon.

  The massive iron bolt flew true and struck Heram hard enough that he staggered to the side. The Child he was throwing flew short, slamming into the wall about halfway up, bouncing off and falling heavily.

  But there was no way Rome could possibly reload. He managed to take another bolt from the rack and set it into place, but he didn’t have the strength necessary to crank the winch to cock the weapon. He slumped against the weapon, cursing impotently at the muscles which betrayed him.

  The first man who had been thrown over the wall was huge now, half again as tall as a normal man, swollen with stolen Song. Gray skin was falling off him in huge chunks, revealing fresh, pink skin underneath. Muscles bulged everywhere. His proportions were wrong, one leg noticeably thicker than the other, one shoulder hugely bunched with muscle while the other looked almost normal size, and his face was weirdly puffed, proof that his control over the stolen Song was limited. He dropped his second victim, so full of power that he was nearly glowing. He threw his head back and howled with ecstasy.

  Shorn hit him right at that moment. The huge club came whistling around and hit the man so hard his neck snapped with an audible crack and he was thrown backwards and down. He sat up, his head flopping to one side. His lifted his head in his hands and a second later his neck had healed. He looked up at Shorn and smiled terribly, then tried to get to his feet. Shorn pressed forward, hitting him again and again, the blows lifting him into the air with the force of their impact. They were blows that could have shattered stone, but they were having no lasting effect on him. Each time he simply healed and tried to get up once more.

  But Shorn had a plan.

  His next blow knocked the man back against the wall, near the base of the stairs. Against the wall was a wooden rack loaded with pikes. Shorn dropped his club, grabbed two of the pikes and held them as one. The man struggled to his feet and as he straightened, Shorn stabbed him in the chest, with such force that the two pikes were driven deep into him.

  He lifted the man into the air and started up the stairs. The man cursed and fought to reach Shorn but before he could do anything, Shorn had reached the top of the wall. He threw the man, pikes and all, over the edge.

  That’s when he realized that something was wrong. The soldiers on top of the wall were just standing there. He turned, saw Rome clinging weakly to one of the ballistae.

  “It’s her,” Rome whispering, managing to move one finger to point at Reyna. “She’s doing this.”

  Shorn took a spear from the nerveless fingers of one of the soldiers, planted his feet and flung it. Reyna, focused as she was on what she was doing, didn’t see it coming and it took her in the chest. She screamed and staggered backwards. The blurriness around her dissipated.

  Rome straightened, flexing his hands. “Nice shot,” he said. “Let’s see how she likes this.”

  Quickly he cranked the winch, shouting orders at his men as he did so. Bolts and arrows began to fly through the air and Reyna was forced to use her efforts to protect herself.

  Rome swiveled the ballista and sighted on Heram. He squeezed the trigger and felt the satisfaction as the heavy bolt slammed into Heram. A second later one hit Heram from the other side and he dropped the person he was holding and retreated into the gateway passage.

  Rome turned the ballista he was manning over to some soldiers and looked around. It looked like they were going to survive a while longer. Nalene had been joined by Bronwyn and the two Tenders had the barrier solid once again. A squad of pikemen had one of the remaining Children skewered on several of their pikes. The man was clawing futilely at the weapons. Quyloc was keeping the woman busy, each stab from his spear drawing another cry of pain from her. Shorn reached the bottom of the stairs, snatched up a couple of pikes and ran to get her. He came up behind her, stabbed her in the back, then ran for the stairs, while she struggled impotently.

  “Macht,” one of the nearby soldiers said nervously, pointing.

  Rome spun.

  Reyna had jerked the spear out of her chest and flung it aside. She shouted something Rome couldn’t hear and began advancing, heading straight for the ruined gates.

  “Hit her with everything you have!” Rome yelled.

  Reyna yanked the spear out of her chest and flung it down with a curse. “That’s enough,” she muttered. “This ends now.”

  She was done with being cautious. She was angry. Who were these ants to stand in her way? She was Reyna and this world was hers. She was taking it and she was taking it now.

  She heard the shouts and saw the ballistae swivel toward her. There was nothing they could do. She’d been too sparing with her power before. It was time to change that. She was like a general who’d been holding elite troops in reserve. Now it was time to commit those troops and end the battle here and now.

  Reyna drew forth her power, focusing it in her hands, and they began to glow like two small suns.

  Nalene heard Rome yelling from the top of the wall and knew instantly who was coming. She pushed her sulbit to release yet more while to Bronwyn she said, “Give it everything you have! Hold nothing back!” and felt the tall, young Tender respond. She turned her head briefly, saw a handful of Tenders standing nearby and shouted at them to come over and help.

  The barrier glowed brighter as she and Bronwyn poured everything they had into it, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep it up much longer. Sweat was pouring down her face and she was dimly aware of the taste of blood in her mouth. She shouted again at the other Tenders and two stepped forward, but the Song they were able to coax from their sulbits was only a trickle.

  Then Reyna arrived. Nalene could feel the power radiating off her and she quailed inside. Before that power the barrier seemed like a sheet of parchment. Her sulbit wailed and shrank back. The Song flowing from the other two Tenders faltered, then stopped. Bronwyn’s dropped to a trickle.

  When Reyna hit the barrier the first time, the shock went clear down to Nalene’s bones. There was a scream of tortured energy and for a second a sizable hole appeared in the barrier, revealing Reyna’s grimacing face, her teeth pulled back from her lips, eyes wild with rage and lust. Nalene’s heart pounded wildly. She gripped her sulbit tighter, whispering reassurances she did not believe through cracked lips.

  More blows fell on the barrier. New holes appeared, faster than Nalene could patch them. Her mouth was full of blood and there were ashes in her heart. Even if more Tenders arrived right now, it was too late.

  She felt Quyloc’s presence beside her. “Get out,” she snarled at him. “Get everybody out. I can’t hold it.”

  Quyloc only hesitated a second and then he began shouting orders to abandon the square.

  A groan came from the barrier as Reyna struck it yet again. This time she got a couple of fingers into the hole she made before it could close. There was a sizzle and the smell of burned flesh as she forced her hand through the barrier. Skin and flesh burned completely away, leaving only bony fingers that reached for Nalene.

  Eyes bulging in disbelief, Nalene fell back a step.

  Reyna smashed a new hole and forced her other hand through it, reaching for Nalene’s throat. Nalene fell back another step.

  Reyna slammed her forehead into the barrier, cracking it and then forcing her head through the opening. What emerged was a death’s head nightmare. Everything but the bone was burned away. Her teeth were bared in a lipless, feral snarl. Only the lidless eyes remained intact, staring, fixed on Nalene.

  The lipless mouth opened. “I’m going to kill you all,” Reyna said. “You’re going to die.”

  Then she flexed—Nalene felt the building tidal wave of power—and all at once the barrier simply shattered. Nalene was thrown backwards and struck her head on the cobblestones.

  Quyloc turned back just as it happened. He saw Reyna shatter the barrier and he saw Nalene go down.

  Reyna yelled in triumph and jumped
at Nalene. The FirstMother would have died then, but one of her guards threw himself in Reyna’s way, shouting as he swung his sword. Her eyes blazed fire and she grabbed the luckless man by the throat, lifting him into the air and draining him in an instant.

  Another guard grabbed Nalene and dragged her back as Quyloc moved up to face Reyna. Desperate thoughts flew through his mind. There was no way either he or the pikemen could possibly stop Reyna. She was far too powerful. But if he engaged her, angered her enough that she was distracted, he might be able to buy enough time for Rome to seal off the square.

  Reyna finished draining her victim and tossed him aside like a rag doll. She glowed with new power and in an instant the flesh that had burned away from her hands and head was restored, though she remained bald. She threw her head back and howled in ecstasy—

  Quyloc stepped forward and stabbed her in the chest.

  Reyna screamed, her eyes blazing. She held up her hands. The flesh shifted, her fingers lengthening, razor-sharp claws emerging from the ends. At the same time she grew even taller.

  She threw out one hand. A line of cancerous yellow energy snapped across the space between them, hungrily seeking Quyloc’s Life-energy, but Quyloc brought the spear around and cut through it just an instant after it touched him.

  Reyna screamed again and charged him.

  Rome saw Reyna hit the barrier and knew it would not hold. “Fall back!” he shouted to the soldiers on top of the wall. “Fall back!” Pushing through the soldiers, he started down off the wall. Before he reached the bottom, the barrier fell and Reyna surged through. Quyloc yelled an order to the pikemen who were formed up behind him. Then he stepped up and stabbed Reyna with his spear. When Reyna charged him, he fell back and the pikemen parted to let the two of them through. As soon as Quyloc and Reyna passed through, the pikemen reformed their ranks, all three squads stepping forward to seal the entrance. The Children charged in—and met a bristling wall of pike points. They screamed in rage and pain, but they were too weak to break through.