I doubted my summoned sprite would be strong enough to kill more than a few soldiers by itself, but it created a distraction I could use to escape. I had one last ditch effort for my mutation ability to work.
I concentrated on the squires outside and imagined laser bolts searing through the squires’ prot-fields and cooking them from the inside out. I’d already lost Alice. I’d very nearly lost Casey, too. I did not want to lose the squires who were my friends as well. Even Neville’s death would be a loss to the Stalwart.
My mind centered on the area outside. As before, my body winked in and out of existence so I was standing beside the other squires in the courtyard with my back to the domed-roof building.
“Nick!” Nathan said, almost jumping out of his skin. “Where the fuck did you come from?”
“From in there.” I nodded toward the building’s entrance. The courtyard was empty of robed worshippers now. They must have all fled when the soldiers attacked the squires. “We need to get out of here. There are many more enemies inside. You guys shouldn’t have stuck around when they started firing.”
“We weren’t going to leave you behind,” Richard said. “We knew you were in trouble and came to help you.”
Gratitude swelled my chest, and I gave each of them a quick nod.
An Aquitanian soldier sprinted out from the entrance doorway wide enough for only one man at a time to run through. Nathan leaped forward to take down the soldier, slammed his shield into the man’s face, and drove him backward into the enemy behind him. The squire kept his head down while pushing three men all the way back into the building. With Nathan’s shield blocking the doorway, none of the other soldiers could get outside.
“You guys go on!” he screamed. “I’ll hold them for as long as I can.”
“We can’t just leave him here,” Neville said, and Richard nodded.
I didn’t have time to be startled at Neville’s loyalty. I also agreed with him.
I slammed my hammer onto the surveillance building’s wall and jumped back as a lightning bolt struck the spot. A sprite appeared in the dissipating smoke cloud.
“Get out of the way, Nathan!” I yelled to my friend as I gave my summon a mental command to attack.
Nathan turned his head and gaped when he saw the sprite. He stepped aside, allowing the soldiers an opportunity to push through the doorway. With a devilish grin, my summoned sprite launched itself into the gap. The creature met the Aquitanians head-on in a flurry of blood and claws. Human screams filled my ears as I turned to the other squires.
“Let’s go,” I said.
We sprinted through the streets even as laser bolts pursued us. Robed men and women who hadn’t fled were downed by the enemy fire. I swore I’d make those soldiers pay for killing these innocents.
Thankfully, the gunfire stopped when we’d reached a quieter part of the city with less elaborate buildings. Cream-colored homes made from stone blocks about three meters wide rose up to both sides, and the people on the balconies stared at us as we passed beneath them.
The soldiers probably weren’t pursuing us because they were too busy reviewing their surveillance tapes to confirm the impossible. After all, I’d somehow escaped from a locked nullification cell, fired on them from behind, and then teleported outside instantly. They would have all seen jump mages with their portals before, but instantaneous teleportation was a different thing entirely.
When the pain in my sides became unbearable, I grabbed Nathan’s shoulder. “Let’s stop for a bit,” I said, sucking in air.
“Tired, Outlander?” Neville mocked. I still didn’t like him, but I was impressed with the way he’d fought those soldiers. He’d shown a hell of a lot more courage and honor than Ludas Barnes ever did.
My breath was back now, but there was something we needed to do before we resumed our frantic pace.
“We gotta deactivate our runes,” I said. “I don’t know whether Salenum’s law enforcement can detect active Runetech, but it’s a possibility. They might already be onto us. I don’t think there are any more of those Aquitanian soldiers around, so we’ll probably be alright.”
The robed natives were also looking at us strangely. It might have been because we all still wore our helmets fully extended, so the visors covered our faces, and our prot-fields shimmered slightly in the sunlight.
“Good idea,” Richard said with a nod to his brother.
The twins deactivated their gear and weapons.
“We wouldn’t be in this mess if it weren’t for you, Outlander,” Neville said, but he still followed along with the others.
Then we all retracted their helmet visors so the only visible metal was on the back of their skulls.
“Alright, let’s get moving,” I said.
“We left our jump mage, Patrick, waiting with an open portal to find you,” Nathan told me as we traipsed the stone streets. “He wasn’t happy about that. He’s gonna scold us when we get back. We expect some answers, Nick.”
“You’ll get them.” While we travelled, my mind worked on fabricating answers the squires would swallow.
I was glad the others knew where they were going because I’d forgotten to read the mission details and my helmet’s mapping function was Runetech.
We continued through the streets until the robed people gave way to men and women dressed in clothing I was more familiar with. The streets were dirtier here, and the people seemed poorer. Children clothed in filthy garments ran alongside mangy dogs, kicking up dust as they chased each other. Parents watched on with all the enthusiasm of cadavers. I couldn’t meet their vacant stares as we traveled, and I wished I could assist them in their plight.
My vision blurred for a moment, and I swayed on my feet, feeling like I’d run a marathon. I leaned against a wall to steady myself, and exhaled hard as the adrenaline wore off. The drugs I’d been pumped with had sucked all the energy from me, and I felt like I needed to sleep for hours.
“Come out of the street if you want to rest for a bit,” Nathan said to me.
I wasn’t happy about slowing down after Neville’s gibe, but I couldn’t continue for much longer, even at a lighter pace.
“You alright?” Richard asked me after we’d slipped into an abandoned alley.
“A little groggy. I was pumped full of some drug when I got captured. I’ll be fine in a minute.”
“Right.” Nathan cocked his head at me. I could tell he was trying to hold back his anger. After a second, he threw his hands in the air and let it all out. “What the fuck were you doing in there? And why the fuck did you jump through the portal early? You’re acting damned strange, man.”
“Who gives a shit about that stuff?” Richard said to his brother. “What I want to know is how he did that disappearing and appearing thing. Are you a mage?”
Richard seemed more intrigued than angry, but I didn’t have an answer for him either. I’d been racking my brain to think of some lies while we were running and I’d come up empty. I preferred staying silent rather than lie to my friends anyway.
“He’s certainly not a mage,” Neville cut in, saving me the trouble. “There wasn’t any portal for him to jump through. What he did was different.”
“Anyway,” Nathan said as he gave me a cold stare. “Captain Cross is gonna be furious. We jumped through the portal a few seconds after you. We lost you in the crowds of robed people. We’re gonna have a lot of explaining to do when we get back to the ship.”
“And we just made things a helluva lot worse,” I said.
“The Aquitanians?” Richard asked.
I nodded, and realization came to the other squires.
“Shit,” Richard said. “We’re fucked.”
“I only killed three of them,” Nathan said.
“I don’t think it’ll matter,” I said. I was also a little worried about the knight, Emeric, who would probably seek revenge once he found out what we had done to his soldiers. “The captain explicitly said not to get involved with the other Trium
virate Kingdoms. I’ll take the blame. I’m already in enough shit, a little more won’t matter.”
Neville gave me a confused frown, and I was expecting him to tell the twins about my comms device he’d found. But he didn’t. I wasn’t sure why, but that was another difference between him and Ludas Barnes.
“You don’t have to do that, Nick,” Nathan said.
“I do. I don’t have explanations for you guys, so it’s the least I can do.”
“You are quite the elusive squire,” a thick-accented voice said, and the three of us spun around to face the speaker.
The Aquitanian shield knight, Emeric, was leaning on a double-bladed axe at the alleyway’s entrance. Beside him was another knight, equally imposing in stature and holding a giant two-handed warhammer.
“Who are you?” Nathan said from beside me while he grasped his sword hilt, and I grabbed his arm to stop him from drawing the weapon.
We’d been foolish to hide in an alleyway with only one exit. I tried to use my mutation ability but came up blank.
Emeric grinned at me. “You have been busy, Little Squire.”
Chapter 17
“I’ll handle this,” I whispered to my friends. “Don’t attack the knights unless they attack us first.”
Emeric and the other Aquitanian knight slowly walked toward us, and their metal greaves crunched the gravel beneath their feet.
“Wouldn’t it be better for us to make the first move?” Nathan asked.
I shook my head. “Trust me on this.”
Nathan shrugged while Neville and Richard nodded their agreement.
“We have returned from watching the Stalwart’s knights clear a Grendel rift,” Emeric said as he strolled. None of my friends drew their weapons, but I could guess what they were thinking from their postures. They knew these Space Knights would probably kill us before we even had a chance to swing our weapons.
“It seems Atticus Cross’ men didn’t get their prize today,” Emeric continued. “But we have word they will try again later this evening. We would have continued following them, but then I heard of a little trouble in our surveillance building.”
The Aquitanian knight fixed his dark eyes on me. I felt like a rabbit cornered by a wolf, and I could see he was having fun taunting me like this.
“You were the one who captured me,” I said in my defense. “You broke the treaty by shackling me and throwing me into a cell.”
“Was your room not to your liking? Had you waited a little longer, you might have even tasted Christophe’s fine cooking. The youth in our kingdom are much more appreciative than Caledonian youth.” Emeric looked at me like a father might stare at an ungrateful child. Then he turned to the knight behind him. “Isn’t that right, Bernard?”
The knight grunted and cracked his neck with a push of his jaw. The veins on his shaved head bulged as they pulsed. He rolled his shoulders, entwined his fingers, and stretched his arms. The knight’s breastplate only covered his chest, and he wore no armor on his arms. His massive muscles bulged as he continued his stretching routine.
If we wanted to flee from whatever Emeric had planned, then we needed to go through Bernard. It would be easier to tunnel through a mountain with our bare hands than getting past these colossal men without a fight.
Getting out of this would require using my head.
“I will help you if you let my friends go.” It was a lie, but I couldn’t see an easy way out of this. Two specialist knights against four squires weren’t odds I’d bet on winning.
“I’m already aware you know nothing, Little Squire. Your only value was as a bargaining chip. But then you went and killed my men. I am an Aquitanian, and we never let a slight pass.”
“You tell me what you need to know. I swear I’ll get that information to you.” My voice grew desperate as Bernard massaged the giant warhammer in his hands. The runes on the weapon’s dark gray head glowed an amber color as the knight’s lips upturned slightly to form a terrifying smile.
“No, you won’t. You’re useless to me now,” Emeric said with a flutter of his gauntleted hand. “More trouble than you’re worth. I don’t know how you managed to escape from a nullification prison. Perhaps I’ll watch the video feed.”
Emeric hauled his axe into both hands, and the squires freed their blades from their prot-belts. I grabbed my lightning hammer and activated my visor.
Neither party made a move, and time seemed to crawl as the squires beside me shuffled their feet.
The Aquitanian knight stared at the keen edges of his axe. “Now, it’s time for you to die.”
Bernard jumped ten feet into the air and flew over the top of Emeric. He slammed the two-handed mace into the ground, and narrowly missed Neville.
I turned to Emeric as his axe arced toward me. The blade gleamed as it caught the sun rays, and I felt my heart jump into my throat as I tried to dodge. I twisted sideways, and the blade sparked as it glanced against my cuirass. My visor registered a significant hit, and I faced the knight while warning sirens blared inside my helmet.
The weapon in Emeric’s hand glowed, bathing his face a crimson color. Black hair hung over his eyes as he dropped the axe and then pulled it in an upward swing. I caught the blade with the handle of my hammer and then ducked underneath the other man’s arms. Nathan charged the shield knight, giving me enough time to activate my hammer’s rune effect. Now that the Minor Lightning Sprite rune was active, I could attack with my weapon and call forth an elemental creature.
While Nathan took Emeric’s right flank, I circled around the left. The enemy knight’s armor absorbed every one of Nathan’s swings. Emeric didn’t seem the least concerned with blocking the squire’s attacks.
When I pulled my arm back to strike the knight, he simply smiled at me. I slammed the weapon down, and my opponent stepped back with impossible speed. He couldn’t completely dodge the attack, and my hammer’s head smashed the big man’s right gauntlet with a sound like thunder. Lightning forked the air and struck the spot where I’d hit Emeric, and his axe was torn from the palm rune on his hand. Nathan came at him in a flurry of slashing strokes, but his short sword glanced against the knight’s armor, and only inflicted minor damage on the elite equipment. Richard screamed as he joined Nathan in battling Emeric, but the big knight moved like a panther, and dodged Richard’s first swing.
I saw the sprite I’d summoned attacking the bald knight. The claws on its feet were embedded into Bernard’s scalp, while its long fingers were wrapped around his neck. The knight was trying to reach the button on the back of his skull to activate a full-helmet, but Neville was keeping him busy with his twin rapiers.
The sprite was performing well, so I didn’t need to give it any mental commands. I turned to Emeric and saw him sprint free of the twins and charge toward me. Before I could spin out of the way, his powerful arms wrapped around my waist, and he tackled me to the ground. The wind exploded from my lungs, but my palm rune kept my hammer in my hand.
I was surprised Emeric hadn’t taken advantage of my poor position, but when I stood, I realized I had Nathan and Richard to thank for that. The twins were situated between Emeric and his axe, and the shield knight gained some space after activating an extended prot-field. The field reminded me of the one Moses had summoned while we were battling the pirates, so I knew it was almost impenetrable.
I guessed three minutes had transpired since I’d summoned the first sprite, so I activated my speed sequence on my prot-belt. My body surged forward as I pulled my arm back and slammed my hammer into Emeric’s forcefield.
Lightning struck the barrier, shattering the prot-field. A second sprite appeared in the alley and attacked Emeric, but the shield knight swatted it away with his massive hands like it was a gnat. I switched off the hammer’s rune effect and moved to attack the knight, but he threw me backward with a hard shove.
“I recognize the rune on your hammer. Your lightning trick cannot be used frequently,” he said. “Perhaps you will stand a chanc
e against me now I have no weapon. Although I doubt that very much.”
The knight’s confidence enraged me, and I came at him with a backhanded swing while my sprite flew above me. Emeric’s armor glowed a brilliant white as his prot-field extended to meet my attack. I wasn’t expecting his forcefield to move like that, so I was startled when the hammer’s head struck it with a clang. The force of my attack was reflected, and the impact tossed me backward with a flash of light.
I cried out as the connection between my palm rune and the rune on my hammer’s handle was severed. An invisible power tore the weapon from my grasp. Pain jolted up my arm, and my hammer spun to land on the rooftop five meters above the alley.
“How do you like my Power Block rune, Little Squire?” Emeric said. “Do the Caledonian shield knights have such an ability?”
Neville ran up alongside me, joined by the first sprite. Bernard was face down in a pool of crimson. From the bloody mess that was his head, I knew he wasn’t getting up. The sprite had done its job masterfully, gouging the enemy knight’s eyes while Neville skewered him with his rapiers.
With the bald knight dead, my sprites made a concerted effort to penetrate Emeric’s prot-field while I grabbed Emeric’s axe and fixed it to my magnetons.
“You attack the left side,” Nathan said to his brother and Neville. “Nick and I will take the right.”
I grabbed the squire before he could launch himself into battle with the shield knight.
Emeric was preoccupied with fending off the sprites with his hands. He seemed to be having little luck without his axe, but his prot-field was holding up against their weak attacks. They weren’t going to kill him, but they’d keep him here for a little while. We could try and penetrate Emeric’s forcefield, but he was a powerful shield knight, and we’d probably never breach it. Better to use the sprites as a distraction to give us time to flee.
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