The Burning Grove

by Skyler Grant

  This army of monstrosities the Spellweavers had summoned didn’t have to be an unstoppable horde. Instead, it could be a buffet of lifeforce for Banok. Armor did little good against having a lifeforce drained away with a thought.

  Within minutes Banok was surrounded by corpses, the bodies piled high, a menagerie of nightmares. It was intoxicating, this much power.

  Literally intoxicating, he hadn’t expected that. A rush that was dizzying the more he consumed. It wasn’t like drawing from the Grove. When the prey was unwilling it was …

  It was hard even to think. Banok found himself dropping to one knee, his weight supported by his staff. Even his magical vision was fading, the world plunging into darkness.

  Darkness with the sounds of gunshots. Powerful hands lifted him off his feet, one on either side.

  Banok forced his sight back for a moment. Orcs, a lot of Orcs. An effort to draw more power failed. Within himself, where all this lifeforce should reside, there seemed to be only a core of icy coldness.

  Banok’s vision went black again until a slap against his face brought him back.

  Cleo stood before him amongst all the Orcs. Orcs who had formed a battleline fighting off hordes of monsters.

  “The others? Where?” Cleo asked.

  “Town hall. Center building. We were looking for you,” Banok said.

  “Would have found me a lot sooner if you stayed home. You can pass out now. Get him back to the ship,” Cleo said.

  Banok really didn’t want to take that advice, but he did.

  26

  “The fairy is right. You’re an idiot,” Astra said, pacing beside the bed, the flames around her body flickering violently.

  Banok groaned and sat up. He still didn’t feel well although it was better than when he’d passed out. The room was familiar, his quarters on the Catspaw.

  “Aren’t you the one who is supposed to always be on my side?” Banok asked.

  “You Voidburned yourself. Do you have any idea what the risks are? You could have at least consulted me first,” Astra said, spinning around on a heel and jabbing a fiery finger at his chest. Banok’s robe smoldered at the touch.

  Banok rose from the bed. “I didn’t, or I probably wouldn’t have done it. Give me the quick version?”

  “When you just suck life out like that you aren’t just moving it around. Some gets lost, some becomes Void. You do too much, too fast, the Void hurts you,” Astra said.

  That definitely explained what happened. It hadn’t been a problem back at the Grove, but then the Grove had helped to provide him some insulation. And really, the quantity of lifeforce had not been nearly so extreme.

  Banok headed for the lounge. He was looking for more answers as to what had happened and someone had to still be up.

  Cleo, Nyx and Vanwyn were seated around the table with an Orc.

  “Well, this is chummy,” Banok said.

  “Banok, meet Ogdek, Ogdek, Banok,” Cleo said.

  “I meet you and find you fighting off an army single-handed. Knew I liked you from the stories,” Ogdek said, smashing an enormous hand on his chest.

  Right, the Orc liked him.

  Banok grabbed an ale from the bar and settled into a seat. “So what the hell were you doing on that planet?”

  “Looking for you. What do you think? Things went bad on the planet, Delilah wound up taken, and I barely got away even with all my plans. Figured I’d need you to get her back and went looking,” Cleo said, and then added more quietly. “I’m sorry.”

  “We’ll make them bleed for it,” Banok said with his gaze focusing on the Orc. “Go on.”

  “Bumped into Ogdek there, he was looking for you too. I and his people shot at each other for awhile out of habit, but then came to an understanding. They knew where the Spellweavers called home and I came looking for you here,” Cleo said.

  “And just why are you looking for me?” Banok asked Ogdek.

  “Story all its own there,” Ogdek said.

  “That whole shooting at each other out of habit thing is sounding pretty good to me right about now, so I’d start telling it,” Banok said.

  “My people are dying. We think the Lady of the Void can save us. We know you and her have something of a connection. We’re hoping you can find her for us,” Ogdek said.

  Banok closed his eyes as he took a swig of his drink. His head hurt, his everything hurt.

  “Your people nuked the druids almost out of existence. Why do you think I’d lift a finger to save you?” Banok asked.

  Ogdek shrugged his massive shoulders, “You killed a whole lot of mine, but you’d have died down on that planet if it weren’t for us. We might have been the gun that killed your people, but we weren’t the ones pulling the trigger.”

  There was always an argument to be made for that. When you lived on the edge, you took jobs you weren’t sure about, but still killed people because an order got given somewhere else. You knew it could always be you pulling a trigger, and you tried to make allowances when it was someone else.

  But this? This was a big ask. Of course, saving his life also counted for a lot.

  “I’m making no promises, but I’ll hear you out. Why are you dying?” Banok asked.

  Ogdek reached into a pouch on one arm and drew out a small ampule of a liquid that shimmered with a faint white luminescence. “We were made to need this to survive. A way to keep us loyal even when we became smart. Then we didn’t get the amulet, and we lost a shipyard.”

  “And now they’re cutting off your supply?”

  Ogdek nodded. “My clan at least. We figured out what was happening, stole enough to keep us going for awhile, but we’re already running low.”

  Cleo said, “I don’t like what they did either. But having them need something like this? You know what this can be like. They might as well constantly have a gun pointed at their heads,”.

  It was. It made a difference, if it were true. Banok wasn’t the forgiving type, but he could allow that the bulk of his grudge rested elsewhere. And the second attempt to destroy the Order hadn’t involved the Orcs at all.

  “We know who really hurt you. We have details. Help us, and we’ll help you,” Ogdek said.

  “We’ll need to head to the Fade,” Banok said.

  “We’re already on the way,” Cleo said.

  Of course they were. Cleo was always a few steps ahead. Banok only wished he had a clue what to do after that.

  27

  Hours later Banok met everyone except Ogdek on the bridge. He’d suggested the Orc not be present. Three Orcish battlecruisers were flying alongside the Catspaw and they’d reached the edge of the Fade.

  The Fade didn’t really look like anything so much as a glitch in the systems. Perfect, uninteresting blackness. No light made it through the Void, no sensors returned proper readings. The last time they’d been here they’d had an exact set of coordinates. It had allowed them to navigate to a world trapped within the Void, and it was where they’d found the amulet that Astra now wore.

  It was Astra that they most needed right now. Banok gave a push within his mind and the elemental materialized, lounging in one of the bridge seats that had been helpfully stitched with her name.

  Whatever fireproof materials Cleo had found to upholster the thing seemed to be holding up. There wasn’t even a bit of smoke.

  “Weird to look at the Void like this. Part of it feels like home. Part of me hates the darkness and wants to fill it with light,” Astra said.

  “You know that we’re looking for Urania? Do you have any idea how to find her?” Cleo asked.

  “It’s been a really long time and nothing in the Fade stays in one place. That is part of the point of the Fade, to hide what is important,” Astra said.

  “But from all I know of your alter-ego she was brilliant, organized,” Cleo said.

  “Flattery isn’t going to get you any answers. Urania would have panicked when she was resurrected. Moved everything. The amulet is connected to her and I
can use that, but if she doesn’t want me to find her ... well, she’s stronger here,” Astra said.

  “Will she know that we’re looking?” Banok asked.

  “She’ll be aware the moment we enter the Fade. While she can’t control everything inside, she’ll be aware.”

  Much like Banok and his Grove then. It made sense—this was Urania’s place of power. It was where she was the most dominant. For all that she had failed to conquer human space once upon a time, this place that had remained even after she was killed. The Void was where she had been reborn.

  “We didn’t come all this way for nothing,” Cleo said.

  “I didn’t say you did. I think she’ll want to meet Banok, and the Orcs are old servants of hers. If we fly into that, I think she’ll find us. It just won’t be the other way around,” Astra said.

  Banok knew that Cleo wouldn’t like that, Cleo always liked to be in charge and directing things. Waiting for another party to make the first move wasn’t her style.

  “Fine. Nyx, take us in,” Cleo said.

  “That was fast. You feeling okay?” Banok asked.

  “We’re under attack, Banok. Do you know my every effort to really hit those behind this conspiracy failed? Every agent I bribed wound up dead. Every avenue I pursued, closed,” Cleo said.

  “They were one step ahead of you,” Banok said.

  “They were, and still are. And you should be my wildcard for things like that. The magical powerhouse that will do anything. You’re not winning either, though. We’re both only staying alive and on the run.”

  “So you’re hoping what? To escalate things still further?” Banok asked.

  “It took a lot to bring down Urania Vox. She was formidable, and hopefully she still is. If not, I just don’t know what else we do. I’d rather stab them in the throat, but if not I’ll have to join them,” Cleo said.

  Banok hadn’t even seriously considered the possibility himself, but understood his hand could be forced. For all that he hated the people behind attempting to destroy the druids twice and didn’t want to give them an inch, if there was one sure way to almost guarantee his own destruction, and that of everyone with him, it was to stay on a losing path. Right now they were on that path.

  “Have you heard from your family?” Banok asked.

  “They got out safely, mostly. They’re in hiding now, they can’t go back home,” Cleo said.

  The Catspaw edged forward, breaching the edges of the Void, and suddenly everything went black. They were now fully in darkness, hungry darkness.

  Magically it wasn’t like plunging into something that wasn’t there. It was more like diving beneath water. You suddenly couldn’t breathe, everything became muted and another world away.

  Even the Orc vessels seemed to vanish, for all that Banok knew they must still be there. If Banok pushed himself he could feel the Orcish lifeforce, a distant pulse.

  “Can we communicate with the Orc ships?” Banok asked.

  “We can. I had to push the power levels higher than recommended, but we’re maintaining contact,” Vanwyn said.

  “So we just what? Go straight and hope?” Banok asked, turning to look at Astra.

  Astra said, “This isn’t like the last time you were here. Urania is alive now. Straight doesn’t exist here as a navigational concept. You’re moving towards something or you’re moving nowhere.”

  “Some people would call that straight,” Cleo said.

  Astra shrugged.

  Well, whatever it was, they were doing it. The Fade was vast, and Banok hoped they wouldn’t have to wait forever for some answers.

  28

  Three agonizing days in the Fade. Three days of going forward with no end in sight.

  It wasn’t easy on the ship’s systems. The Fade slowly drained them of power. After their last trip here Nyx had made some changes to the engines that helped, but even so they were burning through their fuel more quickly than they should. The Orc vessels reported even greater problems. They were having to use more of the drug that kept them alive.

  There was serious talk of turning away and making their way out when finally they come upon a break in the Fade.

  It was like stepping out of the fog. One moment everything was total darkness and then suddenly there was space again.

  A yellow sun orbited by a lone world. The world was mostly ice, although a band of islands around the equator provided some landmass. What had once been great oceans were frozen solid. The entire planet was encased in a thick layer of ice.

  Everyone gathered on the bridge to have a look.

  “Is that what we were waiting for?” Cleo asked.

  “This is it. This is Merea. This was home, but it isn’t … this isn’t right. It was a paradise, kind of tropical,” Astra said, her distress clear.

  “It’s been a long time,” Banok said.

  “She is down there,” Ogdek said. The Orc’s was expression almost reverant as he studied the displays. “I can feel her.”

  Banok could feel something himself, the most powerful magical aura he’d ever encountered. With all the power he’d absorbed he was a formidable force, but down on the surface there was someone stronger.

  It at least made it easy to figure out where they had to go. Banok tapped one of the islands on a display to expand it on the screen.

  It housed a city of white stone buildings visible even from orbit.

  “Salance. The center of the rebellion,” Astra said wistfully. “Home of the Academy. Once the greatest scholars and artists in the galaxy gathered there.”

  Right now it wasn’t a gathering place for anything but ice. The city appeared deserted.

  “I’ve never heard of her invasion being called the rebellion before,” Cleo said.

  “History probably hasn’t been kind. The Void was supposed to help people. Not … things got out of control,” Astra said, sounding suddenly weak.

  Banok had a death toll, but it was nothing like what had come from this place. Out of control was certainly one way to put it.

  Astra tapped a display and a hole melted in the screen at her touch. Nyx flew over, spraying a jet of what looked like liquid nitrogen over the damage.

  “The home of the grandmaster of the academy, later the palace. If she is going to be anywhere it will be there,” Astra said.

  “Who is going down?” Cleo asked.

  “Me, and some of my people. I insist. We need to speak with her,” Ogdek said in a tone that brooked no arguments.

  “The temperatures down there are a danger and the Void energy is extreme. Even with atmosphere suits I suggest limiting contact,” Vanwyn said.

  “I’m a druid, and Banok will need me with him,” Jia said.

  Banok shook his head. “Not this one. You don’t feel what is down there.”

  “I’m not letting you go down there with just the Orcs to watch your back, and we don’t have another magic-user with Delilah out of commission,” Jia said.

  Banok couldn’t argue with that.

  “You’ll need to be careful. With that much Void energy it is going to be difficult just to keep your body working. Although less for a druid than it would be for other mages,” Delilah said.

  “Fine,” Banok said.

  Together Banok, Jia, and Ogdek made their way towards the landing shuttle of the Catspaw and boarded, launching immediately. No defenses engaged them on their way down to the surface. Two other bulky Orcish shuttles landed alongside of them.

  The instant they were down though, things already started to go awry. When Banok and Jia stood, Ogdek didn’t—and more than that, his lifesigns were strange. Present, but muted.

  Even the worse, the Orc was coated in a thin layer of ice from head to toe.

  It was cold in the shuttle, and Banok’s breath left clouds in the air, but it wasn’t that cold.

  Trying to hail the other shuttles got no response, nor did trying to call the Catspaw.

  “What do we do?” Jia asked.

  “Let�
��s check first and make sure they’re all like this. Are you feeling okay?” Banok asked.

  “I’m cold,” Jia said with a shiver. They were both dressed in environmental suits, the best in technology, helping to regulate their heat.

  Banok didn’t feel the intense cold, but he was bound to the elemental of a star. Whatever cold this place had, it wasn’t reaching his core. It had affected the other Orcs though. When they checked both shuttles they found the occupants all still suited and all frozen.

  They weren’t dead, but they were in no state to be of help.

  “We keep moving,” Banok said.

  29

  The palace was ancient and covered in ice, and yet despite both surprisingly well maintained. This had been a beautiful place once, halls covered in mosaics and a great many bedchambers that were all appointed in some degree of luxury.

  Astra materialized beside them as they walked, little puddles forming in her wake.

  Banok knew their destination. He could still feel the other powerful source of magic on the planet and he moved towards it.

  “I take it this isn’t how you remember it?” Banok asked Astra.

  “It is and it isn’t. There should be people here. Everything here was meant to draw in the best and the brightest from a thousand different fields and give them unlimited tools, luxurious comfort,” Astra said.

  “Trying to build something new,” Jia said.

  “That’s what Urania always thought was our strength, being humans. So much of magic and technology are things passed down from the Elves and the Dwarves, but she thought there was a better way. That we could create, rather than just inherit abilities,” Astra said. “Even from what I remember, that started to disappear after the war began. Urania focused especially on the Void as a way to win, and people started to drift away.”

  “There’s no dead bodies at least,” Banok said.

  Banok didn’t really know much about the end of the war, not because he hadn’t looked, but because it simply wasn’t written about. However, he knew the medallion that Astra now bore had been a key part of the victory.