I spun to see Gretch Yim at the head of the Wyverns. She appeared as smug as usual despite her advanced years. “Don’t underestimate her,” she said to Sadie. “She’s a Jackal, or was. You should know this.”
“Ah, Gretch, the most cowardly Wyvern in Bittertown,” I said. Blooming hate in my heart lent my words power. “I need to talk to you. It’s lucky you decided to show up. I suppose I’m lucky you are out in the open instead of hiding in a room, watching others fight like in the past.”
The terrible old woman raised one side of her lip. She was stooped now, her back bent, but still moved freely. “Keep throwing those strong words. Enjoy the time you have left.”
“Why aren’t we just shooting her?” shouted someone from the rear of the Jackals formation. I thought it was a good question. The best I could figure was some of these people really hated me and wanted to drag this out. This situation seemed to be sort of a murderous family reunion at this point. Whatever the point of prolonging the fight was, I was more than happy to use the time to pump for information.
“What are you afraid of, Gretch?” I called. “Is it because you know I have adomopathy? That is why you threatened my first mother and killed my birth mother, right? I will admit I was a good little soldier in the past, but things change.”
“I haven’t heard that term in a long time.” She cocked her head at me. “I see someone has been talking about things they shouldn’t be.” With a shrug, she continued, “That was a long time ago, but no, we needed your house.”
“What about my birth mother?” I asked. I’d come to Bittertown for answers, but I never would have imagined that one of the people I’d been searching for would just appear out of nowhere and start divulging secrets. Of course, she was probably certain I was going to die any moment now. Lucky me.
“What about her? Lisa convinced Hesst Nimal that since you and your sister had a gift, we should aim to have at least one of you left in Bittertown. If we’d pushed for both of you, your stupid first mother might have actually gone to the Guard. Even one of you was a stretch because you were so young, but we’d only want a survivor anyway.
“Your birth mother would have never allowed it, though, so she needed some poison in her tea one day.” She looked upward, like she was working to remember the past. “You were too young, so you probably don’t remember how connected your family used to be. All the leaders in Bittertown knew of the Hazards. Your father employed hundreds, after all.”
“So killing my birth mother was a, a—”
“An afterthought, yes. So was your fate. Lisa was right about one thing, that any street kid with fighting ability would probably become a ganger in Bittertown. If you hadn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered, though. We really just needed the house, and we didn’t have money to buy it at the time. If we’d killed your entire family, it would have defaulted to a bank, and then suddenly a lot of people would have cared more about it. The way it all happened, we had a year or two to work with before the banks got involved, and by then, we ran the entire neighborhood.”
They really did kill my mother, I thought. “So you were working with the Jackals the entire time? Jackals and Wyverns? We used to fight each other!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“We were working for the greater good, something most of us were not ready to understand.” She gestured at both groups of gangers. “It’s something we all work for now. The end days are coming.”
I shook my head. “How did you know—”
“No, that’s enough of that, Little Nora,” said Sadie from the Jackals side. “You too, Gretch. Lord Asag wants her dead, not chattering away like an old nurse. Let’s see her blood and get this over with.”
With the ease of long practice, I reached for floating time at the same time my hand came up with Pewpew before Sadie had even finished speaking. It was obvious that the time for talk was over.
If I lived through this, there would be time to think about everything I’d heard later, to figure out who I was now. Wrapping my head around the fact that I’d been part of a gang led by the people who had participated in the destruction of my family would not be an easy task.
As I triggered Pewpew, I decided that for now it didn’t matter. Just like the battle of Soron, the world had suddenly become very simple: I needed to live, and these people needed to die, especially Gretch Yim. Now I knew that Gretch, Hesst, and Lisa had all been involved with my family falling apart, my mother dying, maybe even my father being imprisoned.
Tanner Street was about to run with blood. Again.
Miscalculation
Pewpew’s violet beam lanced out, but was stopped by a green screen of energy that appeared out of nowhere, flaring with light. That must be from the things on the wall, I thought.
My attack had been aimed for Gretch, and would have mutilated her if the beam hadn’t been blocked. Her wide-eyed expression would have been comical if I had not been tracking multiple firing crossbows, all aimed at me. “Hazard!” I screamed as other cries erupted from both sides of the street.
I dodged the projectiles aimed at me, springing off the ground, using my air shields to help deflect them. My air shield could be more solid, but I could not protect myself from multiple directions if I concentrated it in one spot that way. It was better to compromise. I vaulted sideways, dodging another volley, and noted that the green shields seemed to be one-way. The barriers had allowed crossbow bolts to pass through from the side they were fired from, but stopped them on the other side.
They were obviously planning to shoot me down, and with shields in place, they didn’t even need to risk any casualties of their own to do it.
I jump up to a wall, using Flight to anchor myself there, using the power to push sideways as I lowered my body weight. Then I bent my knees and explosively shoved off, shooting across the street and rotating to land on the other side. The moment of confusion this maneuver caused my attackers was worth it.
Within the familiar clarity of combat, I noticed one of the enemy crossbow bolts ricochet upward and get caught in a strange web of green light. Well, that explains why those three mages or ‘Bonded or whatever aren’t doing anything yet, I thought. My heart dropped as much as possible in floating time as I realized the implication of the web trap.
My enemies either knew I could fly, or had suspected it. If I stayed on the ground, I would remain an easy target for the crossbows on both sides. The high, solid walls prevented me from just running away.
As part of my analysis, I eyed the walls and shook my head. If I tried to make a hole, I bet the three cloaked watchers would nail me in the back the second I did. There would probably also be another trap on the other side of the walls, at least I would have put one there. In fact, if I had planned this ambush, I’d put a net trap there too. If I got caught, immobilized, I’d be an easy target for the crossbows or the mysterious cultists. I might die if I so much as touched any of the energy barriers, but I was not planning to find out.
This was a trap, and a good one, and I’d walked right into it. A part of me was professionally impressed by the speed the gangers, or cultists had set it up.
I needed to escape, but flying away was not an option. Damn. If you can’t fly, the only real way to deal with an ambush was usually to attack right back, and hit even harder than the enemy. The time for subtlety was over; now I needed to use all the power I had.
“Armor,” I hissed as my hands touched my neck, and I could feel my body being covered in black plate. The lack of apparent surprise on either side of the street made my heart sink. If my enemies knew about my armor, they must believe they had a way to penetrate it, or be able to wait until it faded.
I half flew, half jumped from one side of the street to the other, running on walls, staying mobile. “Die, bitch!” one of the younger Wyverns giggle-screamed. “Asag have you!” She’d been loud enough that I’d heard her over the general bedlam, and I committed her face to memory. Like some of the other gangers yelling the loudest, sh
e seemed to be having a religious moment. She reminded me of Yvadne.
The crossbows that the Wyverns and Jackals were shooting were unlike anything I’d ever seen in Bittertown before. They were slow to load, but very powerful, military grade. A bolt hit a brick wall to my left and still penetrated deeply enough to make me blink. I’d bet that the gangers were using enchanted ammunition too, or had some ready to use after I got tired.
With a thought and a word, I flipped Eneus into my hand, returning it to weapon-size. This actually seemed to surprise a few of the Jackals, and my eyes narrowed. Good. With my spear in hand, I mentally shifted to focusing on a counterattack.
In floating time, I’d been counting the bolts I’d dodged, and I knew without looking that all the fighters armed with crossbows were reloading. Now I needed to hope that I could break through one of the energy walls I was trapped between—my instincts howled that the net above was a lost cause. Luckily, my decision of which side to assault was easy to make since Gretch needed to die. I just hoped that the first blast with Pewpew had weakened the energy shield protecting her. “Hazard!” I screamed, and leveled Pewpew again.
This time when my attack struck, some of the Wyverns flinched, and I noticed Gretch take a step back. The green shield held, but the barrier seemed dimmer now. In the sudden hush, one of the gangers, a middle-aged woman with greasy hair yelled, “What the rot is that?”
I grinned without humor. Pewpew really was powerful, but there would be a price to pay for using it, and it hadn’t arrived yet. I’d dealt with two simultaneous backlashes before, and it wasn’t pleasant. It was something to worry about later if I could survive the next few seconds.
Out the corner of my eye, I noticed movement. As I dodged another flurry of bolts, I turned to see the three cloaked clingers looking at each other. Then they all turned to face me, and one lifted a hand.
“Uh oh, time’s up,” I muttered. I’d ignored the mysterious trio up until now, hoping not to antagonize them. I’d also hoped that they were waiting for me to be caught in the energy net. That might have been true, but was no longer the case. A flurry of wooden needles appeared out of nowhere, slicing through one of the green shields. I managed to dodge, pushing off the ground with Eneus and using Flight to air-skate to one side. The projectiles followed me for about ten feet before they stopped.
The darts had been made from wood, but thin needles on the tip of each had driven into the paving stones, and a sickly-looking liquid created tiny puddles around the impact points. Rotting hells, I mentally swore. I directed enhanced hearing to the cloaked clingers, and heard one say, “You should attack again as soon as you can.”
“I am preparing more darts. It will be less than a minute.”
“Good.”
“Yes, just keep her occupied until the armor comes down, then we will end her.”
“Damn, I hate being right all the time,” I seethed. Then I dodged another couple crossbow bolts, but one had glanced off my arm. My enemies were wearing me down, even with my Endurance abilities. I needed another opening to attack with Pewpew without getting hit in the back. Planting myself before using the ring again was necessary. I’d never endured a full three blasts of backlash at once before, but if it came while I was attacking, I did not want to also be moving.
I knew what to do. One of the cloaked cultists had almost just killed me, which meant I didn’t need to worry about provoking them anymore. If this doesn’t work, it’s going to give me some good intel, I thought. I cocked my arm back, taking hold of Eneus’ crimson sash, and pumped as much Vibration power as I could into the weapon. With a grunt of effort, I hurled it at the smug, cloaked bastard that had attacked me.
My missile wasn’t even slowed by the trap around me. The spear drilled a hole through the green energy, moving with blurring speed, and slammed into the cloaked asshole I’d aimed for. Eneus hit beautifully, right in the chest, but then all the Vibration power released at once, turning the magic attacker into a cloud of red mist and guts.
That’s new, I thought. I jerked Eneus back down, and the spear returned point first, penetrating the green barrier again. With a flourish, I caught the weapon as it descended, turned, and took advantage of my enemies’ surprise to aim Pewpew at Gretch again.
The older woman’s eyes met mine as I attacked, and at the edges of my floating time, I savored her panic. The wall protecting the Wyverns shattered, thousands of magical fragments exploding outward from my death ring’s powerful violet light.
Pewpew’s beam grew dimmer after the impact, weakened, but still managed to slash through a dozen gangers, including Gretch. I’d cut the old goat in half. Good. The bitch had helped kill my mother. I hoped she stayed conscious while she bled out.
Tanner Street was near-instantly awash in carnage. The Wyverns I’d injured screamed in pain, and those that were still alive and standing recoiled in horror. These dumb cubs might think they were the weapons of a dark god, or some other soft-brained rot, but they’d obviously never been in a real battle before.
The green wall was down, and I knew I needed to take advantage of the new exit. I darted forward, hoping to make it through and escape. Suddenly, another purple wall blocked my path and I barely stopped in time to avoid hitting it.
I cursed and noticed that the remaining two cloaked figures had scuttled forward. One’s body glowed the same color as the wall—the other’s hood had flipped back. He had pale skin, thin lips, a spare mustache, and unremarkable features. Over my left eye I saw,
Ernest Gregory, Terran, Berban
Dolos Orb, Specialist Type, Generation 2
Second Rank
The orb-Bonded man began raising a hand, and I knew I was probably about to be screwed into a rotting hole. The realization was so distracting, I didn’t even notice another couple crossbow bolts until they went sailing past, barely missing me. Tanner Street didn’t get many magical lightshows, and the gangers must have been distracted. Lucky, I thought, a chill running up my back. I still didn’t want to find out if my armor would stop those bolts on its own.
Without any more hesitation, I cocked back and threw Eneus as hard as I could. The cultist that had apparently created the new wall created a small shield to block my spear’s path, but yelled a curse as my missile turned it into glowing dust. “Damn!” I yelled. Eneus had been slowed enough for Ernest the orb-Bonded cultist to dodge.
Without many other options, I pulled my palm back, gathering an air drill attack, and fired it at the wall. My only other option had been trying to force through one of the shields with Pewpew again, but a full three shots of backlash hitting me at once made me nervous. I wasn’t going to live through this ambush if the ring’s backlash knocked me unconscious, and three attacks was already pushing it—four would be too much for sure.
I didn’t expect the air drill to do much, since there was no way the gangers would have left the walls unprotected. I blinked in surprise when my attack didn’t fizz out, nor did a new magic wall block it. Instead, the Vibration-enhanced tip of my air drill savaged the brick it touched, boring through, allowing the miniature but incredibly powerful air vortex to do its work. Dust and old masonry flew everywhere. My jaw dropped as my attack left a round hole in the wall about the width of my shoulders.
Above me, the orb-Bonded were getting situated again, so I needed to think fast. I didn’t have much time left. I began gathering another air drill on my fist and ran toward the damaged wall. Right before I reached it, I fired another air drill below where the first had hit, widening the hole, and then I burst through with my armor-protected body. My impact sent me crashing through into the building beyond.
“No! Kill her!” someone screamed outside.
I didn’t see the attack land behind me, but I could smell burning stone. That had probably been Ernest the second-rank orb-Bonded. A few crossbow bolts buzzed through the hole behind me, but I couldn’t hear the projectiles over the screaming and shouting on the street. I rolled across the floor, keeping my mom
entum, and sprinted through the derelict store I’d crashed into. Without slowing much, I drew Vistvis to cut through the lock on the back door.
Then I was free.
“Well, that was dumb,” I whispered. I’d been too cocky. A second later, I gave myself a partial pass. Orb-Bonded, dark cultists, and crossbow-armed gangers running around Bittertown hadn’t been on my list of expectations. As I sprinted down Shade Street, I was tempted to lift off the ground and fly away, but I remembered the orb-Bonded and the elaborate magic traps I’d just escaped. It was probably wise to stay grounded for the time being, because I had no idea what other surprises the cultists might have waiting for me. Avoiding the energy net above Tanner Street had been a stroke of luck more than anything else.
After I’d made good distance, sprinting for a while, I held up a hand to call Eneus’ sash. After I could feel the cloth, I gave it a yank. I had no idea where the spear had wound up, but I hadn’t been too worried about recovering the weapon—I’d long since figured out that Eneus was special. With my spear back in my hand, I began to feel a bit more optimistic about surviving the night.
I rounded a corner, turning onto 20th Avenue, and suddenly all three uses of Pewpew hit me at once. A grunt of agony escaped me, and I almost pissed myself. My breath wheezed in and out of my lungs. I tried to keep running, but the next thing I knew, I was leaning against a grimy wall, panting and holding myself. My body felt like it might fall apart and be crushed to a pulp all at once. The pain was terrible. If I hadn’t enhanced my endurance with my orb, I was sure I would have died. This new agony was even worse than using the ring had been the first few times I’d only been first-rank ‘Bonded.
I wasn’t sure how long it took me to pull myself together, but the moment I could, I began limping forward again, shuffling in the best version of a run I could manage. I’d traveled about another quarter mile, hurting in places I’d forgotten I could hurt, when I spotted movement in the doorway of an abandoned building..
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