by Ramy Vance
Sarah didn’t know what to do. She could see the gnomes at her side, trying to figure out the best course of action. If any more time was wasted thinking, they could all end up dead.
One of the gnomes went to his friend, who was clutching his neck as the blood flowed, heavy and thick.
The snake snapped out of the darkness, grabbed the wounded gnome in its jaws, and disappeared into the black.
Just like that, Sarah’s team had been cut in half.
There was only one reasonable choice. The gnomes were simply too small for this fight. As far as the snake was concerned, they were prey. Sarah knew she’d have a better chance than any of them.
Firearms seemed like a bad idea. It could solve the problem easily enough, but Sarah wasn’t sure if this snake was a naturally occurring problem, or if it had been released by orcs further down the tunnels. Firing a weapon would only draw more attention. But maybe attention was what Sarah needed.
Sarah aimed down the tunnel. She fired three shots, lighting the tunnel up with plasma before hitting the knob on her pistols to switch to bullets, which she preferred. Then she hit her belt, cloaking herself in an invisibility field.
The gamble paid off. The moment the tunnels had brightened slightly, the snake came slithering out of the darkness that remained.
Sarah watched the snake coming for her.
It was fast.
But it had no idea where she was. That was Sarah’s favorite advantage. She ran up the side of the wall and leapt onto the snake, landing near its head and wrapping her arms around its neck.
The snake barrel-rolled, trying to crush Sarah. The force would have been enough to knock the wind out of a gnome, but Sarah was preparing for it. She held her breath as the weight of the snake pressed against her body. Then as the snake continued to roll, bringing Sarah up above the water, she released one hand, pulled out her dagger, and drove it into the snake’s skin.
There was no time to waste. Before she was certain of her safety, Sarah let go of the snake, stood atop it, and ran the dagger down the length of the body, stopping right before the head, pulling her dagger out, and then shoving it into where she hoped the top of the snake’s vertebrae was. She wiggled the knife, trying to force it farther in until her hand slipped into the snake’s body.
That should be far enough, Sarah thought as she sheathed her dagger and drew her pistol. She slid the pistol into the hole in the snake’s head and fired five shots.
The snake spasmed and fell dead in the water.
Sarah pulled her hand out and stood. Then she walked down the length of the serpent, cutting open its stomach. The two dead gnomes rolled out into the water in a pile of gore and entrails. “Take what you need to from them,” Sarah said. “We don’t have time for anything else.”
The two remaining gnomes stared silently at Sarah for a moment before nodding and attending to their fallen comrades. They removed weapons and personal effects. Then the three continued through the tunnel.
Abby had left the arena, but before departing, she built a smaller camera with nanobots that she attached to the arena wall. She had to get to the Dark Gate as soon as possible, but that didn’t mean humanity didn’t need to see what was going on.
More than anything, Abby didn’t want to watch Terra in a situation where she knew she couldn’t help. The beating the girl had already taken was brutal. Abby had no idea how she had gotten off the ground.
Creon paced nervously as he occasionally looked up at the screen. He had just returned to his computer when the lab door whooshed open and Anabelle walked in. “Did you fucking see that?” she asked. “Terra is a machine.”
Abby’s eyes glistened at the mention of Terra. She’d had an up-close look at how badly hurt Terra was. “Sounding a little excited there,” she muttered.
Anabelle didn’t seem to notice Abby’s tone as she took a seat. “Excited? That’s not the word. She’s a fucking fighter. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone fight like that before. She’s not going down, even if we never got to her. There’s too much at stake for her.”
“Other than her life?”
Anabelle nodded as she watched the holo of Terra staring down the abomination in the arena. “You’ve never been in a situation like Terra’s. It’s hard to explain. There are a lot of reasons to fight. We all have our own. But it takes a special reason to get back up after your body’s been pounded to shit. It takes a special reason to stand up when you know you’re going to die.”
“I thought you said she was going to make it!”
Anabelle’s face was serious, her eyes hinting at a knowledge far beyond anything Abby knew. The crush was still there, but Abby knew why now. There was something frightening behind Anabelle’s put-togetherness, something capable of understanding and causing great pain. “She’s going to make it,” Anabelle repeated. “I’ve seen what people like Terra are capable of. They don’t go down.”
Abby wanted to trust Anabelle. The most resilient person Abby knew was her father, but when he went down, he had stayed down. He hadn’t had a fighting chance. Maybe things were different then. Maybe things changed when you had a weapon in your hand. “I have to find out where that Dark Gate is,” Abby murmured as she turned back to her computer.
Looking at the computer wasn’t necessary. Abby knew she could close her eyes and reconnect with the tracker by using a mixture of the bots in her blood, Martin, and a boost from one of Myrddin’s many satellite signals. But it felt more normal to look away.
Abby reconnected with the tracker, which Martin had taken over the moment she disconnected. This was the second time Martin had picked up where she had left off. Abby wondered what the extent of their connection was.
The tracker had already left the arena. Apparently, Martin had remembered where the catacombs Terra had explored with the Game Master were. The tracker continued flying down the hallway, scanning each of the empty spaces carved into the wall.
Finally, Abby saw what she was looking for: the cracked-open door. She guided the tracker through the door and flashed a light. The Dark Gate was there, hooked up to a host of computers that weren’t running.
Abby landed the tracker on top of the machine. She dumped the nanobots out, and they began to crawl over the Gate, each bot growing tendrils that slid into the device, accessing the software, trying to break through its firewall.
“Are we in yet?” Abby asked.
Martin popped up in the corner of her vision. “There’s a snag. We’re in, but the collider has a host of other problems I didn’t see coming.”
“What kind of problems?”
“This Dark Gate isn’t like ours. We can send all sorts of shit through ours. Back and forth. Not this one. It’s a one-way ride. It only goes to the orcish world. Doesn’t leave. And it only works with orcs. I ran a couple of practice scenarios, and it’ll turn Terra inside out if we send her through.”
Abby sighed as she rested her head in her hands. “So, what are we supposed to do? Just wait until we hear back from Sarah?”
“Pretty sure that’s all you can do at the moment. I’ll keep trying to crack the firewall. See if there’s something I can figure out.”
Abby leaned back in her chair, trying to think of something she could do. It was the first time since she came to Middang3ard HQ that she hadn’t been able to solve a problem. She felt like a failure, even if she knew this was just something out of her control.
There wasn’t anything to be done. Creon was still working away, and Anabelle was watching Terra. But Abby couldn’t bring herself to watch Terra. She didn’t have the same optimism Anabelle had. It felt more like watching a snuff film than anything else.
Abby stood and headed toward the door. “See you in a while. Be back when my results come in.”
Anabelle turned from the projector screen. “Where are you going?”
“Just to lie down for a bit. I’ll come back when I can help.”
Before Anabelle had a chance to answer, Abby walked out o
f the lab. She went to the cafeteria, and after sitting there for a few minutes, got up and went to her room, where she tossed herself on her bed. For the first time since she arrived at HQ, she pulled out her headphones and listened to music.
Abby stared up at the ceiling, still thinking about the Dark Gate. She had originally planned on trying to relax, but her mind was still running, attempting to solve the problem. But there wasn’t a solution. Before she knew what was happening, she was weeping into her pillow.
Stress had never brought Abby to tears before, but she’d never been this stressed. Someone’s life depended on her, and she still hadn’t figured out what to do.
Allies, Enemies and Unknowns
Dark Gate Angels Book Three
Chapter One
The crowd was electric.
They could not be contained.
Even though Terra knew she was nothing more than a sack of flesh to them, the feeling was contagious. Her bones were still buzzing from whatever Cire’s gift had caused.
Abby’s words were still ringing in her head. Even though she’d never actually met the kid, her voice was like that of someone Terra had known her entire life. It was the voice forged in a bond that even Terra didn’t understand.
All that she knew for sure was that she wasn’t done. Not with this fight. Not after the next one.
A short wheezing was coming from the multi-legged flesh pile with the sagging face. It was supporting its obscene weight on its sword, huffing loudly as if seeing Terra rise had been enough to give it an asthma attack.
And it had been a surprising rally. Even Terra was surprised she was on her feet. Her body felt like it had been pulled through a meat-grinder and then ritualistically beaten for a month. It was one of the reasons she hadn’t moved in to attack yet. Standing was painful enough.
The lull wasn’t going to last forever. The creature was already trying to figure out what to do. Its mouth opened slowly, hanging slack-jawed as its hands flapped open and closed like the ignorant digits of the insane. “You rise to meet me again, human?” the creature said, its voice unnaturally soft and understanding.
Terra didn’t want to talk to the freakish monster, but talking was less painful than fighting. It would give her time to continue to catch her breath. “Of course I am,” she said, her voice filled with fury. “You think I’m letting a dipshit like you take me down?”
“Dipshit? Hm…your language is interesting. And you are the one who is to bring my suffering to an end. Perhaps not all can be dignified in their deaths.”
“Wait, what? You want me to kill you?”
The creature’s ribs popped out further, and he leaned more on his sword. “This curse has gone for too long,” it huffed. “My suffering for them must come to an end. You must wear the curse for me.”
Terra shook her head as she waved her hands in disagreement. “Whoa, whoa, hold on there. I didn’t agree to anything about taking over a curse. You’re going to have to talk that over with my agent because that is outside my contract. I’m just here to wreck shit and get wrecked.”
“Your naivety is beautiful, human. Live or die, you will serve the arena. The Game Master will make sure of that.”
Terra was getting tired of talking. She’d had as much rest as she was going to realistically get. “Okay, okay. I got it. Everything is terrible, and I’ll never escape. Let’s get this over with.”
Before the creature could respond, Terra sprinted toward him. She leapt into the air and slashed at his face.
The many-limbed monster raised its blade, blocking the attack. As Terra fell back to the ground, she struck again. Sparks flew between the blades of the two warriors as they slashed and sliced at each other.
When Terra hit the ground, she rolled to the side, this time intentionally getting underneath the creature’s many legs. She swiped her blade at one before the creature could trample her.
A screech like that of a thousand voices tore through the creature’s repulsive body as it slumped forward, a little off balance.
Terra didn’t stop cutting. She hacked at anything in front of her, slicing away, hoping she was doing real damage to the creature.
A hand grabbed the back of Terra’s head. The creature was up on its feet—or what remained of them. It bolted forward, bucking like a nightmarish version of a horse, before slamming Terra’s face into the ground.
Terra choked on her own blood. But she didn’t let the fight stop there. She reached up and prised the creature’s hands off her head, swung around, and wrapped her arms around its hand. Then she pulled with all her strength, yanking its arm forward and then to the left, snapping it in half.
The creature screamed and stumbled backward as Terra boosted to her feet and rushed at it. She sliced at the monster, and it thrust its sword up to ward off Terra’s blade. The pair danced around each other, blades flashing every few seconds as Terra threw herself at her opponent. She didn’t let up. With each strike, her muscles screamed, but she didn’t stop. The monster was on the defensive. It was backing up, only raising its sword to deflect her attacks. There was going to be a crack in its defenses. All Terra had to do was keep up the pressure.
Terra saw her chance. She had no idea how she knew it would be her chance, but somehow, deep down, she’d felt it, and her body reacted before she thought. As the creature’s sword lowered, Terra leaned in, shoving her shield into its neck.
As the monster stumbled away, Terra slammed her katar into its throat, right where her shield had been. Then she leapt into the air, landing on its back. She grabbed the hilt of the sword, which was still jammed in the creature. Terra pulled it free and slashed at its neck.
The blade stuck, sinking into the thick flesh. Terra tugged it out, ripping away skin, and slashed again as the monster stumbled to the side, holding the wound in the front of its neck, its eyes wide and fearful and wet, somewhat bovine in its terror.
The creature crumpled to the ground, still grasping at its neck as Terra stood atop it, hacking and slashing at its head. The air filled with the stink of blood and Terra’s rage-filled screams, the audience silent once more, there being nothing but the soggy sound of her sword cleaving through flesh and bone.
Then there was silence.
Terra stood over the foul creature as it shuddered, its words barely audible as it gurgled. “Ah…my suffering…I can never thank you enough.”
For the first time since the fight began, Terra looked down at the creature, really looked. She could see how pathetic it looked. How its existence looked painful, the legs akimbo and arms frail and emaciated. The thing had been suffering.
“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry,” Terra said.
“You are forgiven, human. Salvation is only a blade away.”
And with that, the creature shuddered once more, a sound like that of a horse coming from its lifeless head before its eyes closed forever.
The crowd must have been cheering. Terra didn’t know. She couldn’t hear them.
Or wouldn’t hear them. She didn’t wait for the guards to come and take her back. She tossed down her sword, stalked through the gate, and let herself back into her prison.
Past the tunnels, Sarah and the two remaining gnomes had come out into the last defense ring. Much like all the other rings Sarah had seen, the main center was in the middle of the complex, surrounded by an empty field.
Sarah knew the point of the field. The final defense was the ability to see everything unobscured. These were always the most difficult sections of the rings to penetrate. Either they were heavily guarded, or were turned into something like a barracks for the Dark One’s soldiers.
Sarah and the gnomes stood at the outskirts of the ring, watching closely to see if their presence had been detected. Once they were satisfied that they were still hidden, Sarah led the two gnomes in a small recon of the area. They walked the circumference of the ring, staying close to the shadows and the occasional tree.
From what Sarah could see, there didn’t ap
pear to be any guards. She had never seen a final defense ring with so little security. But she’d also never seen a defense ring on a conquered planet before.
The lack of security could have been hubris. From what Sarah knew of orcish society—which was very little, mostly tales she’d gleaned from ancient elves or dwarves who had seen orcs growing in their infancy—orcs never allowed pride to get in the way of practicality. War informed every aspect of their world view. They definitely wouldn’t leave their central information hub vulnerable to attack.
But orcs had changed since they’d aligned themselves with the Dark One. The orc hordes had always been happy to maintain peace. From what Sarah had learned, orcs hadn’t been that much different from any of the other races. They had their own culture, their own lifestyle, and their own lives. Since the orcs had joined the Dark One, everything seemed different. Some of the ancient elves refused to even refer to the Dark One’s orcs as orcs.
Sarah didn’t know much about the Dark One. No one did. All that she knew was contained in briefings, and due to the nature of her job, the information she came across had more to do with logistics and practicalities.
If there was anything in the final ring that could help Sarah gain a better understanding of a way out of this mess, she wanted to find it. She’d been floating through this war long enough. It was time to put a face to the horrors.
Once Sarah had made up her mind about her course of action, she explained the mission to the two gnomes. They were to stay behind while she slipped into the main center. What they did was up to them. They could meet up with the other four parties, see if there was another point of entry in other rings they wanted to explore, or head back home.
Both gnomes disagreed vehemently. They were offended that Sarah would bring them all this way, put their lives in danger, and make the sacrifices of their comrades pointless.
Sarah instantly grew annoyed at the accusations. “I didn’t drag you anywhere. This mission was happening with or without me. I’m just giving you a chance to get out of this alive. I have no clue what the hell is in this ring. All I know is that it is most likely going to try and kill me, and I don’t think the two of you should throw your lives away. But it's your fucking choice.”
