Shades of Death

by Ramy Vance

  The gnome shrugged as his fire caught flame. “And what do you do when you don’t have your fire-starter?”

  Naota frowned as he removed his sunglasses and looked out at the defense tower. “Guess you got a point there.”

  Kravis took out a pot and steel framework, placing the pot on the frame before pouring water into it. “You can’t be too reliant on tools: fire-starters, vehicles, guns, swords, whatever. You depend too much on them, you forget what to do when they’re gone. Say you don’t have any of your flashy weapons, and an orc comes at you? Is the only reason you know how to kill an orc because you got a gun?”

  “What would you do?”

  Kravis looked up from the fire. “Kick it in the nuts, or tear through its ankle with my teeth. Something that big. Only chance I got. Then get on top as fast as I can, and get my hands around its throat.”

  Naota hunched beside Kravis. “That’s deep. Pretty morbid, but pretty deep.”

  Kravis reached into his pouch and pulled out some raw meat. He held it over the flame and watched it cook. “That’s just the way I am. Ain’t changing anytime soon, I suppose.”

  Naota clapped the gnome on the back. “It’s sick. Don’t think I’ve ever met anyone with your outlook. You’re a cool little dude.”

  Kravis stared at Naota, appearing confused by the compliment. “Uh…thank you.”

  As they continued to talk, Blackwell walked over to Anabelle and Sarah, who were still surveying the defense tower.

  Sarah looked over her shoulder at Blackwell as he approached. “Looks like those two are getting along fairly well. Don’t see that very often. I can’t remember the last time I remember Kravis making a friend.”

  Blackwell sat beside Anabelle. “He’s an all right guy. Can’t see why he’d have any problems.”

  Sarah’s face softened—something Anabelle hadn’t seen often. “He’s been out here for a long time. All he’s known for a bit has been me and war. Not exactly the most stimulating environment for conversation skills to flourish.”

  Blackwell shrugged as he motioned for the binoculars. “Nah, I don’t think either of you is doing too bad. Maybe the extra company is what you guys needed.”

  Sarah winced at Blackwell’s words as if she’d been slapped. Then she smiled and handed Blackwell the binoculars. “I’m not going to lie…it has been good to have you three around. Practical. You’re a good fighter, and you follow instructions well. What more could I ask for?”

  Anabelle felt the words bubbling up in her again, as it had in New York. “You know, it’s okay to enjoy being around people sometimes. Even better to be around friends.”

  Sarah met Anabelle’s eyes. The elf felt like she could see something working behind Sarah’s gaze, her mind churning to understand what had slipped out of Anabelle’s mouth. Then she smiled. A real smile, her eyes bunching up tight as if she were about to cry. “I haven’t heard someone call me that in a long time. But don’t think I’m going to start getting all gushy on you guys just because you start saying nice things. It’s appreciated, though.”

  Anabelle stared out at the defense tower looming in the distance because there was nothing else to look at. “They’re not nice things. It’s the truth. We’re your friends, and I for one am happy to be out here with you.”

  Blackwell nodded as he stood up. “Same here.” He glanced over his shoulder and asked, “Food time yet?”

  Kravis grunted, annoyed. “If you want it any faster, you can get your ass over here and take care of it.”

  Blackwell walked over to Kravis and Naota as he said, “I’m gonna go show Kravis how to barbeque with some style.”

  Anabelle and Sarah sat quietly alone for a few moments before Sarah cleared her throat and coughed. “One of the first things I was taught was to work alone. The second thing was that you should never get close to the people you’re working with. In my line of work, your friends die pretty quickly. Slows you down over the course of years. If you cut them out, nothing slows you.”

  “Yeah, okay, Ms. Assassin. You know the emotionally distant sole warrior trope is a little old. Been there, done that. Seen enough of it as well. The way I see it now is, fighting beside your friends reminds you why you’re fighting. And no one is watching your back like someone who cares about you. That’s the whole thing with you and Kravis, right? You guys are always there for each other because of that love. You’d probably give anything for him and vice versa. That’s how I feel about my team too. The DGA, Blackwell, and that idiot Naota. And I know they feel the same way.”

  Anabelle took Sarah’s hand and squeezed it tight. “And you’re DGA, whether or not you want to admit it.”

  Sarah stared at both their hands before pulling hers away suddenly. She rubbed her eyes and stood. “Thanks. I’ll keep that in mind. We should go get something to eat.”

  Sarah strode off before stopping abruptly. Her eyes were wet, and she wiped them repeatedly. “I don’t know how to do these things. But I don’t want to ruin it…I don’t know what to say…I just…you know, it’s lonely…very lonely…”

  Anabelle came over to Sarah and wrapped her arms around the human, holding her while she cried.

  Over by the fire, Blackwell and Kravis looked at Sarah and Anabelle. Blackwell scoffed softly. “Looks like they’re having a moment.”

  Kravis turned his attention to the coffee brewing. “Just having a good cry. Ain’t nothing wrong with having a good cry. You should try it sometime. You might loosen up enough to actually be able to take a shit, and stop looking like you’ve been constipated for a decade.”

  Naota burst out laughing, but he caught himself when he saw how red Blackwell had turned. Then he scooted over as Anabelle and Sarah found places to sit around the fire. Without warning, he burst into tears, loud, booming sobs as he threw his arms around Anabelle, who quickly tried to crawl away. “What the hell are you blubbering for?” she shouted.

  “Your friendship! It’s so beautiful!”

  Anabelle and Sarah exchanged glances before the fae gave up and held Naota as he wept loudly. Once his tears dried, the party ate and drank coffee.

  Sarah outlined the plan in greater detail. There were four power generators in the tower. That was their first priority. Cutting the power would give them a bigger window to work within. From there, one team would take care of knocking out the hangar, and the other would make their way for the main general of the tower. If they took care of that, then the orcish forces would be in disarray. After that, blow the charges around the foundation, and hope the whole thing toppled.

  Kravis stomped out the fire and packed their belongings. “All right, how are we splitting up?”

  Sarah pointed at Anabelle. “I’m taking the elf. After that last fight, I want to see what Anabelle can do. You mind babysitting Naota and Blackwell?”

  Blackwell snorted derisively. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

  Naota, on the other hand, brightened up instantly. “Oh! Bro time! Sweet!”

  Kravis sighed and shook his head slowly. “Yeah, that’s good by me. We should get going, though. Now that we got a little food in us, let’s get this over with.”

  As they approached, the party split in two, one heading toward the western side of the defense, and the other taking the eastern route. There were few orcs along the way. Sarah told Anabelle it was because the orcs were lacking in resources around the defense tower. It took a lot to hold the entire gnomish world, and the Dark One’s forces were spread throughout the planet. That, and the orcs didn’t believe the gnomes had the slightest chance of rising up.

  “We’ll show them, though,” Sarah said. “They’ve made the worst decision you can in a fight. Two of the worst: underestimating your enemy, and the sheer power of desperation.”

  A small camp of orcs was situated outside the defense ring, barely large enough to be called a camp. It only took Anabelle and Sarah a few minutes to sneak in and deal with them. They hid the dead to avoid drawing any attention to themselves if so
meone were to pass through the camp.

  From there, they scaled the defense tower’s first floor. An air duct was built into the side of the tower, a construction flaw that Sarah meant to exploit.

  As they climbed, Anabelle couldn’t help but be impressed with Sarah. The way she’d gone about planning this mission was impressive, and its execution was razor-sharp. Anabelle could learn from Sarah, and she felt no shame in admitting that.

  They came upon the air duct, and Sarah popped the grating off. She grabbed it so it didn’t fall and tied it to the side of the tower before pulling herself into the vent, Anabelle following closely. The vent was tight but high enough that the two women could crouch and make their way through.

  After almost fifteen minutes of silent crab-walking, Anabelle’s legs were beginning to ache. She wondered how much further they had to go.

  Sarah held her hand up, signaling for Anabelle to stop. She pointed at the vent’s grate.

  Anabelle could see a few orcs walking back and forth beneath her. “First generator,” Sarah whispered. “The guards will probably just be technicians, and they won’t be expecting us. Assess the situation and hit hard. I’ll get the door.”

  Anabelle nodded confirmation, and Sarah pried open the grate. She dropped to the floor silently, and Anabelle came after her, pooling her mana as she clung to the wall, melding into the shadow cast by a chair.

  Six technicians were in the room, many working with the generator ahead of them, a hulking mechanical creation sending out temporary blips of energy. All the technicians were armed.

  Sarah was already creeping up behind the technicians.

  Anabelle picked a shadow of one of the orcs, and leapt across the room, landing in it as though it were a black pool of still water.

  Sarah struck first, driving her blade into one of the orcs as Anabelle seized another’s foot and dragged him down into his own shadow. Once the orc’s shadow disappeared, Anabelle materialized behind the other orc. She gripped it by the shoulder and pulled back, throwing the orc off its feet as she drew her mana into her fist and punched it in the throat.

  Another orc grabbed Anabelle, pulling her away. She spun, grasped his hand, and pulled it back. Anabelle jumped into the air and kicked the orc across the room.

  Sarah was still moving as well, sliding past Anabelle, drawing another kunai, and tossing it into an orc’s chest.

  Anabelle retrieved her kunai from the orc, filled it with mana, and threw it at another orc. When the blade struck, a small blast tore through the room, killing another orc.

  When the smoke settled, Anabelle and Sarah were the only ones still alive in the room. “Not bad,” Sarah said as she searched the corpses of the orcs. She smiled when she found a key card. “This’ll make things a lot easier. Come on, let’s set those charges.”

  The two went to the generator and inspected its perimeter. They planted two charges on the corner of the generator.

  Sarah commed Kravis. “You guys ready yet?”

  “Just cleared out the room and set the charges. How about you?”

  “About to blow the generator. Should kill about half the power in the area.”

  “Wait, hold on…Naota is doing something.” After a few seconds of waiting, Kravis said, “Hold onto those explosives. Naota found an orc to get into the system for us. We’ll disable all four generators remotely. Just make sure you fuck the thing up some, so we don’t have them turning it back on.”

  “Sounds good to me.”

  Sarah hung up and pulled off the generator’s electrical panel. “This is going a lot smoother than I thought it would.”

  The lights in the room flickered. “Guess the generators are going offline. Would you do the honors?” Sarah asked.

  Anabelle charged her hand with mana, and struck the electrical panel, frying it and sending sparks flying.

  The lights in the room cut off. “Okay, now we just need to get to the general. Kravis will take care of the foundation explosives and the hangar. We can help after we take out our target. Let’s go. We’re taking a direct route. Can you stay out of sight?”

  Anabelle scanned the darkened room. If the rest of the base was this dark, staying hidden would not be a problem. “Yeah, I’ll be good.”

  Sarah smiled as she phased in and out of sight, turning invisible. “Good.”

  A beeping green light, hardly noticeable, floated through the air. “Follow me.”

  The light headed toward the door. Anabelle slipped into the shadows, her body losing its consistency and becoming one with the darkness. She followed Sarah through the door and out into the halls.

  Orcs ran along the hall, barking orders to each other. A couple went into the generator room as Sarah and Anabelle slipped right past them. The two continued to make their way down the hall, passing orcs who didn’t notice the waist-level green light bopping faintly in the darkness like a drunken firefly.

  Anabelle did her best to keep up with Sarah, who was moving extremely fast, turning corners into new hallways. The human must have memorized the entire floor plan, Anabelle thought.

  Finally, the two came to a massive double-door bejeweled in a fashion quite different than the rest of the tower, which had been built to showcase its technology.

  Sarah pushed the door open, and the two women crept into the room.

  The throne room was ornately gaudy. Trophies of animals hung along the wall, alongside the heads of decapitated gnomes. The room was vast and empty, giving the feeling of an elusive power. A huge orc, covered in scars and warpaint, sat on the throne. He was talking to someone who appeared to be human.

  Rasputina, the lich.

  Anabelle’s heart went cold once she saw the lich’s pale, rotting skin.

  The lich turned from the orc captain and looked in the direction of Anabelle and Sarah. “Hm. Dethrok, I believe someone came in here to kill you.” She waved her hand and mimed a yanking motion.

  Anabelle was torn from the shadows and Sarah shimmered into sight.

  Rasputina motioned for them to approach.

  As Sarah and Anabelle walked toward the lich, Sarah spoke into her comm, telling the reinforcements to start rolling out.

  The lich conjured two seats in front of the throne. “Sit, sit. There’s no need for us to behave barbarically. Let’s have us a chat. For one, what are you doing here?”

  Anabelle took a seat. She knew better than to not play along with Rasputina. Besides, she wasn’t sure what the lich wanted. And she knew that neither she nor Sarah would win in a flat-out fight.

  Sarah crossed her arms as she sat. “What do you think we’re here for?”

  Rasputina jerked her thumb at Dethrok. “This big ‘ol guy? You came all the way here for him?”

  A loud explosion shook the room. “Oh. I see it’s more complicated than just Dethrok. You came for what he has, didn’t you? The gnomes.”

  “What are you doing here?” Anabelle shot back.

  Rasputina shrugged and sat on the arm of Dethrok’s throne as the orc glared menacingly at Anabelle and Sarah. “Bored, really. That’s all. The Dark One is moving rather slowly. I’m starting to think the poor boy doesn’t know what to do with himself. He might work better under pressure. Or maybe he’s spread himself too thin. It’s kinda hard to be everywhere at once.”

  “You seem to be doing a pretty good job at it.”

  Rasputina laughed as Dethrok squirmed in his throne. “This? Oh, this was just luck. I’m just as tickled as you are. Tell me, how is Myrddin doing? Has he gotten better yet?”

  “What do you fucking care?”

  Rasputina raised her hands in mock offense. “Hey, hey, why the tone? Me and Myrddin are closer than any of you ever could be. I’ve had my hands inside him. We’re practically lovers.”

  Anabelle and Sarah stared silently at the lich, the elf’s lips tight with hatred.

  Rasputina sighed. “Okay, okay. How about we have a little truce, okay. You want something here. I want something from you. A bit of inform
ation. Let’s just play nice, and I’ll let you go so you can keep playing war or whatever the hell you mortals want to call it.”

  Neither woman spoke.

  The lich pulled out her knife. “Okay, I’ll go first.” She leaned over and drove her knife into Dethrok’s throat, sawing at it like a maniac before tossing the weapon onto the floor. She straddled the orc, caressing his chest while she tore at his throat with her teeth. He screamed as he tried to bat the lich away, but she merely pushed his head with her hand and kept eating.

  Dethrok eventually stopped screaming and moving. Rasputina stood, and Dethrok slumped over before the lich tossed his corpse onto the floor, taking the orc’s seat at the throne. “See. I’m not all that bad. Now all you have to do is answer my teeny little question, and you can go.”

  Anabelle swallowed hard. “What is it?”

  The lich pulled a bone out of her side and picked at her teeth with its sharp edge. “The girl. The one with the tentacles. Did Myrddin do that?”

  Anabelle was confused by the question. Why was that something Rasputina would care about? “No. She was like that when we first met her.”

  Rasputina brow furrowed. “Hm…interesting. Well, thanks.”

  Anabelle’s seat popped out of existence, and she fell flat on her ass, along with Sarah.

  Rasputina stood and walked off. “And Myrddin will be okay in another week or two. His body’s probably sensitive to ancient magic, like a bad cold. Oh, and you can take credit for…all of that,” she said, waving at Dethrok’s body. “Have fun with your battle.”

  The lich’s body began to decay rapidly until she crumpled into a pile of green dust that was swept into the air before vanishing.

  Sarah raised an eyebrow at Anabelle. “What the ever-loving fuck was that?”

  Anabelle shook her head as she walked over to the orc general’s body. “I don’t have the slightest clue.”

  Another explosion rocked the defense tower. Kravis’ voice came through the comm. “Last one, and the reinforcements are outside. We got a comm saying most orc forces are already outside, ready to engage. You two take care of that general?”