Jordan inclined his head in agreement. “True…”
“The trick is to contain them within the confines of the pentagram. Once they appear, their first priority is always to break free.”
“What happens if they succeed?” Jordan asked, curiously.
“They wreak havoc upon the universe until they are recaptured,” Epone said.
“This might be what the thing wants to happen. Have you thought of that?” Uzochi asked.
“Constantly and obsessively,” Zorica replied.
“And yet you are still doing it?” Jordan asked.
Zorica shrugged. “We have no choice. If we are to defeat this thing, we have to know something about it. Right now we have nothing. No risk, no reward.”
“Indeed,” Uzochi nodded. “The question is, is the risk worth the reward?
Zorica sighed. “We shall see.”
She finished drawing the pentagram and then she and Uzochi stood on opposite sides as she chanted the invocation. Jordan, Uzochi and Jaime retreated to their respective orbital pods. The air got thicker as Zorica chanted until it was almost like a weight on their shoulders. It was even more difficult to breathe than the thinness of the air at that altitude would suggest. Darkness was an insidious thing, obscuring sight and dampening sound around them.
A red streak of light began to circle around the pentagram as Zorica’s labored chants continued with determination. Offshoots of black began to swirl through the air as the darkness solidified into a towering visage, looming over them in annoyance.
“Who summons me?” a booming voice inquired from above them.
“Oh stop with the melodrama Abaddon. It is I, Zorica Killa Warwick, supplicant and this is Epone Fayza, Elementalist. We beseech your help.”
“You beseech my help, yet you are rude to me?”
Zorica dropped down on one knee. “Abject apologies lord. What can I do to appease you?”
A pair of dark red eyes regarded Zorica with annoyance. “Your imps not enough for you anymore, Z?”
Zorica lifted an eyebrow at the familiarity. She had left libations for Abaddon in the past when she needed help her imps could not give her. But they had never had face to face interactions.
“Not for this,” she said.
Abaddon shifted within the pentagram. “Let me out and I will tell you what you want to know.”
Zorica shook her head. “I can’t do that. You know it.”
Abaddon shrugged. “Well then, we are at an impasse.”
Zorica went down on one knee, extracting ingredients from her black robe and placing them in a bowl at her feet. Skull of a sorcerer, blood of a mage, stick from the pit of eternal fire, light from the sword of a knight.
“Why do you have those?” Abaddon sounded alarmed.
“You know why.”
“You wouldn’t. Such magic might kill you!”
“Indeed it might. But it will definitely bind you and essentially compel you to tell me everything I need to know. Which will it be, Knight of Hell? Will you tell me or will you force me to make you?”
Abaddon sighed. “What do you want to know?”
“There is a thing that is living among the Stits-”
“Eshugurin, the Wizard.”
Zorica started with surprise. “Is that what it is?”
“He wears a cloak, does he not?” Abaddon smirked.
“Yes,” Zorica replied.
“He is old. Older than any I have seen alive.”
“How?”
“He will do anything, venture anywhere to discover the secrets to the universe and how to exploit them for his own gain.”
“Sounds lovely,” Zorica said, sardonically.
Abaddon blinked at her, its eyes the color of frank human blood winking in and out of sight. “I would not say so.”
Zorica made sure not to roll her eyes as she faced the Knight determinedly. “How can he be stopped?”
Abaddon laughed. “By one such as you? He cannot.”
“One such as me? So you’re saying there is one who can stop him?”
“One would have to wield extremely powerful magic to do so.”
“And once one has this very powerful magic, what does one do?”
“You must discover his weaknesses and exploit them.”
Chapter Twenty-Three: Secrets
Epone and Zorica exchanged glances.
“From what species is this Wizard?” Zorica asked.
“They say he was a Breksonite once upon a time. But with time he has modified himself so much that he would not be recognizable as such.”
“And probably not vulnerable the way a Breksonite would be,” Epone said.
“Indeed,” Abaddon agreed.
“Do you know what he did to himself?” Zorica asked.
Abaddon laughed. “I have better things to do with my time than follow a wizard around the universe.”
“Do you know of anyone who would know?” Epone asked through Abaddon’s laughter.
“Mmm. He has followers. You should ask the Stits.”
Zorica sighed with frustration. “We and the Stits aren’t exactly on speaking terms.”
Abaddon’s eyebrow rose. “Are you not Stits yourself?”
“Half-Stits. And I don’t claim them.”
Abaddon’s eyebrow rose. “Why is that?”
“All they did was infect me with a disease. I don’t need a family that badly.”
“Ah, the Fiery Malaria spread by blood to blood contact. Causes DNA mutations, dementia, and multiple malignancies. Incurable,” Abaddon recited.
Zorica and Epone stared at the Knight in surprise.
“Fiery Malaria? That’s the name?” Zorica mused.
“Yes indeed.”
“Why am I immune to it?”
Abaddon smiled. “Ah, you are the Anomaly! And Lucifer said that was a myth.” The Knight looked delighted and excited. Zorica and Epone were even more alarmed.
“The Anomaly?” Zorica asked.
“Yes. Because of the mix of your DNA, your blood cells are singularly unsuitable to carry the parasite. Much like humans suffering from sickle cell anemia were immune to the original malaria due to the shape of their blood cells.”
“So you’re saying no one else has blood cells shaped like mine?”
“Blood cells like yours are a singularity that defies scientific theory.”
“I did not know that demons put much store in scientific theory.”
Abaddon gave a side smile. “We are wary of singularities that cannot be explained. They rarely bode well for us.”
“Us being?” Epone asked.
“Why infernal beings of course.”
“So what do you intend to do about it?” Epone asked, stepping around the pentagram to stand by Zorica’s side.
Abaddon smirked. “How sweet. You will protect her with your life? Your body? When with a single thought, I could destroy her?”
“Not while you’re imprisoned,” Epone said.
“Maybe. Maybe not. In any case, there shall be no smiting today. We are here for information,” Abaddon said.
“We are? I thought you were here under duress,” Zorica said with surprise.
The Knight of Hell snorted. “That’s all you know.”
“So tell us, what it is you want to know.”
∞
“The general will see you now,” his AI, Golem, informed them.
AX and Ash stood up and followed it to the general’s office. He sat at a conference table, in front of a screen on which their flight from Planet Nine was playing. The perspective was from inside the ship, in the control room. Ash’s eyes widened in surprise even as AX gasped.
“You have us bugged,” he blurted.
The general looked up. “Oh no, just reviewing the ship’s logs. They download to my server automatically every fifteen days. Did you not know?” he asked.
AX shook his head. �
��No. We didn’t. Does the captain know?”
“I expect that he should,” General Klaus said, and then gestured to the chairs on the other side of the table. “Have a seat.”
AX and Ash both took a seat, after exchanging a desperate glance as to what they could now lie about.
“You have footage from all over the ship or just the control room?” AX asked, blue eyes gleaming even as he began his own attempt to infiltrate General Klaus’ servers. The security was certainly of a higher degree than any other he’d encountered.
General Klaus merely smirked before pulling a tablet to him. “Now, to get to the business at hand, what is going on with Planet Nine, and why was half of your team kidnapped? What did you find out about the explosion?”
Dr. Teke sighed. “The most pertinent piece of information we have is that the Federation is under imminent attack and the contagion you’re experiencing is lab-made or at least probably modified in a Stits lab.”
“Stits? I would not have thought they had the technology.” The general didn’t seem surprised by this news.
“They have help.”
The general stiffened. “Help? From whom?”
Ash leaned forward. “A mysterious being we have never seen before.”
The general leaned back in his seat. “Tell me everything.”
Ash and AX exchanged glances. Ash nodded to AX and he nodded back.
“First of all, we need you to allow us access to the infected. It would fill in the blanks that we have about this contagion.”
The general narrowed his eyes. “What could the contagion possibly tell you?”
“It will help us to understand why three of our squad were kidnapped,” Ash said.
The general hunched over the table, staring intently at them, his voice low and urgent. “Why? Are they infected?”
There was no hesitation as AX shook his head. “Of course not. We wore protective gear the whole time we were on Planet Nine.”
“But three of your people were already taken.”
“Indeed, but we got them back from the Scavenger vessel.”
“All except one.”
AX sighed. “Yes, Zorica was with the Stits longer than the rest but she did not become sick,” he said, choosing his words very carefully.
The general made a sound in his throat that might have been dissent or agreement. Ash took a deep breath, drawing attention to her. “Is it possible for us to see the infected?” she asked.
“It is not safe.”
“But your medical personnel do interact with them.”
“They wear hazmat suits, always.”
“We would do the same,” Ash said.
“The paperwork alone to get you in there…” the general said, shaking his head.
“Please sir, the fate of the Federation may depend on it,” AX said.
The general laughed. “I very much doubt it. In any case, I would like a full report of everything that happened since I gave the order for your team to investigate the bombing of Sub Sector Six.”
Ash clicked a few buttons on her comm. “I have sent the report to your server,” she said.
The general crossed his arms. “In your own words, please.”
Ash took a deep breath and went into a prepared spiel about the kidnap of Zorica, Uzochi, and Ash, the subsequent rescue of Uzochi and Ash, witnessing patient zero and going down into the earth on Planet Nine and witnessing the thing conduct experiments on Zorica. When they eventually found her, she was unconscious with high fever but that dissipated within a day or two. Now they needed data from the infected to understand the symptoms in order to know whether they were in danger of Zorica developing similar symptoms further down the line.
The general shook his head. “If she was infected, she would be exhibiting a number of symptoms by now such as unspecified growths, blood vessel decay, turning her blood black and viscous, onset of dementia…she would not be coherent. Is she coherent?”
Ash nodded slowly. “Yes, she displays none of those symptoms.”
“Well then, whatever experiments this thing conducted on her, it clearly had nothing to do with the contagion.”
“Or it did in a more advanced form. Can we at least look at the medical records?”
The general shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Those are confidential.”
Ash sighed in frustration and AX cleared his throat, shaking his head at her very slightly. “Thank you very much, general. Are we free to leave?”
General Klaus shook his head again. “No, we still have much to discuss. I expect you haven’t had any sustenance since you landed. Perhaps we should adjourn to the mess room.”
“That’s very generous of you, sir.”
“I expect we will be able to discuss at more ease with food in your bellies. Let us go.” General Klaus stood up, and Ash and AX reluctantly followed suit.
They followed the general down a long brightly lit busy corridor, with several people coming up to him with a problem or piece of information. As a result, it took them half an hour to get to the cafeteria. The general headed straight to a corner booth with a soft leather bench curving in a semi-circle around an imitation wooden table. A server appeared right away to take their orders.
“Some rice and beans for me, thank you, Anand,” Klaus said.
“I have not had fruit since we left, may I have some oranges and milk?” AX asked.
“Of course,” the server said after a glance at the general with a smile. The acid in the oranges changed the pH of AX’s physiology, making his polarity sharper and giving his circuits greater range. AX wasn’t sure if the general knew that or not; either way, he was getting his oranges.
“She-who-must-not-be-named, I am not sure what your people eat. Birdseed?” the general smiled at his own joke.
“We like nuts. And Aloe juice.”
“Anand, I do hope we have at least one of those items?”
“We have nuts. I can see about getting the juice.”
Ash shook her head. “It’s fine. Just the nuts. Perhaps some water?”
Anand nodded and went to get their orders.
∞
Abaddon looked from Zorica to Epone and then down at the pentagram. “Which one of you gave blood for this pentagram?”
Zorica exchanged glances with Epone who shook her head. “Why is that relevant?” Zorica asked.
“Because it should be weakening by now, but instead, it’s strengthening.”
Zorica frowned. “What do you mean by that?”
“I mean that my power is corrosive on the blood of most beings. The integrity of the pentagram only works if the blood remains unadulterated. This blood, it pushes back against my power. Which one of you gave it?”
Zorica and Epone simply stared at Abaddon.
“Cat got your tongue?” Abaddon prompted.
“Neither one of us gave our blood,” Epone said.
“Ep!” Zorica warned.
“The Knight can tell it’s not us. It’s not new information,” Epone told her softly.
Abaddon took a step closer to them. “Tis true, I can tell that this power emanates from neither of you. But the source is close.”
“So you are here to try and escape into the world?”
“Your realm is not the only one in danger from this contagion. The demons are vulnerable too.”
“Demons get diseases? Aren’t they simply evil spirits?”
“Yes indeed. Spirits that possess bodies to traffic with humans. And when they do, they are affected by this parasite too.”
“That is…interesting,” Epone said.
“Well, that is one word for it anyway. I would choose another.”
“So you wish to stop this wizard?”
“Yes. So let me out of this confinement.”
“I’m afraid I can’t do that, Abaddon. I do not think it would be safe,” Zorica said and began to chant the banishing spell.
“No! You don’t know what you’re doing,” Abaddon said urgently. “You need me!”
Zorica continued to chant while Epone reinforced the protections around them.
Abaddon began to push back, sending malevolence in a hateful gust that pushed Zorica almost off her feet. Epone reached out, keeping her upright as she continued her invocation.
“Don’t do this,” Abaddon said in a low dangerous voice. “You do not want to make an enemy of me.”
Zorica reached the climax of her chant, voice rising as she pushed back at the airstream trying to silence her. The pentagram exploded in pieces as Zorica finished and Abaddon gave a final push. The Knight blinked out as Epone and Zorica listened.
“I don’t know if I banished them or they managed to escape!” Zorica said fearfully.
“I expect we won’t know the answer to that question for quite a while.” Epone patted her arm. “We will take time to scry for the Knight but, for now, we have what we came for.”
“Abaddon was very forthcoming, don’t you think?” Zorica asked.
“Yes, very. I expect the Knight wanted us at our ease so as to get the answers to its own questions.”
Jordan, Uzochi, and Jaime approached them.
“What happened?” Jaime asked.
“We found out some things,” Zorica said.
“Right, let’s get back to the orbital pod so you can report,” Jaime said.
∞
“So the thing has a name; Eshugurin the Wizard,” Zorica began.
“A wizard?” Uzochi said in surprise. “I was under the impression those were extinct.”
“Apparently not. And this wizard used to be Brekson,” Zorica continued.
“What?” Uzochi jumped up from the seat he’d taken.
“Yes. A former Brekson that modified himself in ways unknown to Abaddon-” Zorica said.
“Or the Knight did not want us to know,” Epone cut in.
“Or that. The contagion has a name too. Fiery Malaria,” Zorica said.
“Fie-” Jamie looked gobsmacked. “What?”
“Yes. And I am apparently ‘The Anomaly’ according to Abaddon. Something in my blood prevents the virus from taking hold.”
“Well, I guess we knew that,” Jordan said.
“Yes,” Zorica said.
Mage Marine Misfits: Book 01 Page 19
