“Come. You cannot fall here.” He waved to the ground. “Nothing is real.” He tapped the spot on his head where I was anchored to him. “All you see is in my mind. Right now your body is back on the ship. Trust me when I say you are one hundred percent safe.”
“You’re not making it easy,” I said, anxiety welling up inside me as I took a step off the cliff. I didn’t fall, which was nice, but nor did I feel safe because the air didn’t exactly feel solid beneath my feet. Still, I moved on it as though it was solid, and before too long I was next to the orc.
“Come, there is much to see and not much time. Already your fairy friend is on her way down to see you. We must finish the vision quest and return to the pulsar room before she arrives. If not, things will become difficult.” He looked like he was going to say more, but instead turned and began walking toward the center of the dead zone.
“This is a bad idea.” I sighed, glanced around looking for a better idea, but finding none, moved after the orc.
I wasn’t sure how I felt about what he’d said about Niko coming down, but I knew why he’d been waiting for me to wake up. He’d wanted to speak to me first. If he’d done that, there had to be a good reason, and besides, after encountering Vah and seeing what he’d done to Captain Brand, I wanted to make sure that this time when we killed the fucker, he stayed good and dead.
As we moved closer, I realized there was a group of hooded orcs standing around a cauldron. They were dressed from head to toe in crimson robes and sparks of power danced all around them. Orange, viscous liquid bubbled within the cauldron as they chanted and danced from foot to foot on the scorched earth. Nearly all of them looked similar save the one in the center.
He was older and his gray beard reached his knees. In his left hand he held a staff made of bone, and in his right, he held a book with a green, withered cover. The yellowed pages within cast off eerie light as he spoke in a guttural language I didn’t understand.
“Orcish?” I asked, glancing at Morg as he pulled up to a stop beside the party and stood there for a moment, nostrils flaring as he inhaled. I followed soon and found that the scent of whatever was bubbling within the cauldron smelled good. Sort of like roast beef and candy canes.
“Yes,” he said, and made a gesture with one hand, drawing a symbol that sort of looked like an axe over his heart. “Of the Helios clan.” He shook himself. “The language of the demon summoners.”
“Demon summoners?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at the orc. “I don’t think demons are a real thing…”
“They are,” he said, and as I went to tell him that was absolutely stupid, he cut me off with the wave of one hand. “I know because this is the moment where Absoltooth came to take his vengeance.”
As he spoke, the ground beneath our feet burst open like an overripe pustule spraying gelatinous goo into the air. It hit three of the chanting orcs full on, reducing them to ash in the span of a second, and leaving the elder and his two compatriots to stumble back in horror.
The sky overhead boomed and rain began to fall. Only as it splattered across their skin, I realized it wasn’t normal rain, it was blood.
A hand the size of a Buick burst forth from the ground, tearing free of the earth and filling the air with the smell of sulfur and hellfire. The flesh was mottled yellow and covered in scabs and boils and as its great black claws gouged into the earth, the chanting from the remaining orcs rose in fervor in determination.
“What the fuck is that?” I asked, pointing at the thing as it began to pull itself from the earth, revealing thick, lean muscle on a skeleton that had way too many limbs for it to make sense. Tentacles writhed, tearing free of the earth as another hand burst free a hundred feet away, anchoring into the scorched earth.
“That is the demon Absoltooth.” He swallowed hard. “For many years, he was forced into captivity beneath the planet. Imprisoned there by the warlocks of old. Only they foretold his escape. That is why the high chieftain and his apprentices are here. Everyone else was evacuated.” He pointed at the old orc.
“Wait, you guys bound a demon into the planet? Is that why it was dying?” I asked, confused.
The old orc shifted backward on one leg and kicked the cauldron over. The bubbling liquid hit the ground like phoenix fire, bursting into brilliant flames of blues and greens before slamming into the creature.
Its skin began to bubble as the acid-like substance began to eat through his hands. A scream that rocked my sanity shattered my ears, and one of the remaining orcs fell, blood streaming from his ears as he clasped his hands over them.
“They prepared for this battle for centuries, and still nearly lost,” Morg said as the other apprentice threw himself forward. As he moved, his skin burned away, flaking off into the ether as his soul burst free of its fleshy prison. It hit the creature full on, blowing a building-sized hole in the tentacle-filled mass. The screaming stopped, and the silence behind was profound.
Lightning shattered the sky as the old orc raised his staff and gestured with his book.
His body began to glow, and as it did, flame leapt from his mouth and his words were as thunder. He slammed his staff into the ground, and the earth cried out in pain. Blood spilled from the sky as the monster’s grip loosened, its hands turned raw and blistering under the blood rain.
I moved closer for a better look as the orc slammed the staff into the ground again, and this time smoke began to swirl up from the earth. I saw the power of the planet travel up through the staff and into him, sufficing him with energy as energy crackled along his pages.
The whole planet opened then, and a thing that nearly broke me rose from nowhere and everywhere. Its squid-like tentacles wormed from every corner of its body, and as it pulled its blood body from the planet and loomed over the remaining orc like Godzilla himself, a blast of light erupted from the sky. It hit like a nuclear blast, and I turned my eyes heavenward to see a ship like the one Vah had blown up when he’d taken the Endeavor.
Its main cannon had fired, turning the battlefield into a smoldering heap.
Only I could feel the monster’s power in the air, and what’s more, even though the world burned, I could see the old orc standing there, his power blazing even brighter.
As the monster reeled, the orc took another step forward and slammed his staff into the ground, and the book in his hand flared, leaping to his call and grabbing the monster. Magical energy swirled around it as another starship appeared overhead. Then another.
The sky filled with the ships as their cannon fire beat into the demon, punching holes in it as the old orc continued to channel his spell, pulling the demon into the book bit by bit.
It felt like it took forever, but I knew it hadn’t been, and even though I knew I was watching an event in the past, I couldn’t help myself from hoping the orc would win.
“You can do it,” I whispered as the last of the demon’s essence was pulled into the gnarled book in his hand.
He snapped it shut in triumph and smiled up at the sky. He made that same symbol of an axe over his chest I’d seen Morg do earlier before muttering something in orcish I couldn’t understand.
As he raised his staff into the air, his skin began to glow with ethereal light that wrapped around the book. All at once, I understood. He’d somehow bound the demon inside the book with his own essence, substituting one prison for another. Only why would he do that?
The orc swiped at the air with his staff, tearing the world asunder, and revealing a swirling black hole beyond the void of the portal.
“Farewell, old one,” Morg mumbled next to me as the elder dropped his staff to the ground and, clasping the book to his chest, threw himself through the portal and into the nothingness of space.
19
As the scenery dissolved into fragments of color and I found myself standing on the starship Endeavor with Morg once again, I couldn’t help but find the sacrifice the old orc had made incredible. All of them had gone in there knowing they might die, but at the
end of the day, his entire plan had hinged on him being willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.
I couldn’t imagine doing something like that, but what’s more, as I turned to Morg, I felt a sense of understanding swirling in my belly. Did he expect me to do something similar? And, even if I was willing to do it, why would I?
“Okay…” I mumbled as Morg looked at me like I should understand. It was the same way my accounting teacher back in college had looked at me after explaining budgets. “I don’t understand what that,” I waved my hand weakly at him, “has to do with stopping Vah. I mean, I get the whole sacrifice thing, but you said there was an item…”
“There is,” Morg said, nodding at me. “Sacrifice is one thing, but weapons are better.” He took a step closer and took my hands in his own. The heat of his body overwhelmed me, and as I tried to take a step back, to create some distance between us, he leaned in close and smiled, causing his tusks to jut through the air beside my cheeks.
“I’m not following,” I said because I’d really thought he wanted me to sacrifice myself. “Wasn’t the point of that to teach me about sacrifice? To make me want to stop Vah—
“No.” Morg shook his head, causing his tusks to press against my flesh, and I found, strangely, they were warm. “For one thing, Mallory Quinn, you already want to stop Vah. I do not have to teach you to do that. For two, we already tried a similar method of sacrifice, and it was unsuccessful.” He shrugged. “Even if we tried again, I have no reason to believe it would work when it did not work the first time.” His eyes widened. “You think me insane?”
“No, I just… I’m not following,” I said, trying to take a step back because his closeness was overwhelming. Only, I couldn’t move. He was so much bigger and stronger than me, that the only way I’d get away was with magic, and since he wasn’t hurting me, I was just going to have to deal with it. Besides, he was an orc. For all I knew, this was totally normal behavior. Maybe, by moving, I’d offend his own cultural sensibilities.
“Oh,” he said, releasing me and cocking his head toward me in confusion. “Let me explain. The Bone Staff of Greatward still resides on my planet. With its powers, the old one was able to bind Absoltooth to a common grimoire. Imagine what one as powerful as you,” he gestured at me with one hand, “could do with such a weapon.”
“Oh,” I repeated, suddenly understanding that I was, in fact, an idiot. Morg didn’t intend for me to make any kind of sacrifice. He intended for me to curb stomp Vah and then blow his ashes out the back of a wood chipper. A smile crossed my face. That, I could do. Assuming, of course, the bone staff from the vision was truly that strong.
“Do you understand now?” the orc asked uncertainly. “If not, I’m not sure…”
“Yes, I got it,” I said, nodding. “Do you really think it will work, though? We’re betting a lot on it.”
“If we do not take this chance, we will not win. Even as it stands, we will likely die, but at least our deaths will be glorious.” He touched his chest with one stubby finger. “I would rather die bloody and broken having spat in Vah’s eyes, than cowering behind a ruined blockade as he sucks the life from my planet.”
“You know, that’s a fair point,” I admitted because truth be told, so would I. Mallory Quinn wasn’t built for hiding from threats. No, she was built for stepping the fuck up, and that’s what I was gonna do. “Let’s do it.”
“Excellent,” Morg said, clapping me on my shoulder. “I knew you were an excellent choice for a mate.”
“You need to stop with the mate stuff,” I said as he turned to leave. I moved to follow, but all I heard was his throaty laughter. “Dude, I’m serious. It ain’t ever gonna happen.”
“If I had a pint for every time I heard that, I’d be piss drunk,” Morg replied, waving off my comment as he strode down the hallway. Only before we took a few steps, I heard Niko’s voice from the other side.
“Mallory, come quick. Jeffry wants to go over the calculations with you and see if we can get back to Earth in time to rally the Federation forces.”
“No can do, Niko,” I said, reaching out and taking Morg’s hand. “We’ve got a new plan, and it’s ten kinds of awesome.”
“What?” she asked as I teleported Morg and me to the pulsar crystal room. Unlike normal, the crystals barely pulsed with life, and as the magic field they generated wrapped around my body, I could feel how goddamned weak it was. Worse, I knew we didn’t have the time it’d take for them to charge enough to give me the power I normally used back on Earth. Days. Weeks, maybe.
“Mallory, what are you doing in the crystal room?” Oliver asked, his voice reverberating in my skull. “There’s not enough power to do anything.”
“I know,” I replied, reaching out and touching one of the crystals with my hands. It was warm to the touch but not as warm as it should have been. It was hard to believe we’d used so much power.
“Then what—”
“I’m going to get us some,” I said, and before he could reply, I turned to Morg. “Give me the coordinates of your planet.” I pointed to the board at the front of the room. “Write them there, it will be easier.”
“As you wish, Mallory Quinn,” Morg replied, striding across the room. As he picked up a piece of chalk to write them down on the board, Oliver spoke again.
“How are you going to do that?” he asked, curiously.
“Oliver, do you trust me?” I asked, and I could feel the hesitation in him. Silence stretched out between us long enough for Morg to finish writing the coordinates.
“Yes…” Oliver muttered.
“I’m going to take us somewhere where we can get the power we need,” I focused on the symbols, and as I did, I realized Morg was right. We could get to his planet, but it’d exhaust the crystals, and what’s more, I wasn’t sure if the orcs could recharge them. However, I knew one thing. The planet in the visions had more than one sun, and that’d help a lot more than sitting in the vacuum of space.
“You can’t take us to the orcish planet,” Oliver said, clearly reading my mind as I called upon my power.
“Sorry, can’t talk now,” I chided, shutting off the mental link as the symphony of magic swirled around me, and like a master conductor, I whipped it into fucking shape. The crystals pulsed and spat, electricity dancing along their glittering edges as the entirety of the Endeavor wobbled uncertainly.
Morg smiled at me, and reached out, touching my shoulder with one hand as the coordinates became real in my mind. The Endeavor began to disintegrate, flowing into the endless void of time and eternity, and as it did, I felt his warmth spreading throughout my skin.
It was a good thing too because as the crystals used up the last of their charge to bring the ship into teleportation-state, and I projected us forward through space and time, I lost my balance and stumbled forward. It was only his grip on my shoulders that kept me upright as we reappeared within the atmosphere of his planet.
Flame rippled around the Endeavor, and as I turned to look at him in confusion because we’d come out exactly where he’d said, the Endeavor slammed down into the forest with bone crushing force, and I flew across the room and slammed into the wall.
I lay there for a moment, trying to orient myself to reality, when a half dozen of the orcish motherships appeared above us, energy flaring off them.
“Humans of Earth, why have you broken into our airspace in violation of the Concords of Arcadia?”
20
“Um… what the fuck is that about?” I asked as the orcish warships overhead began to glow like they were powering their lasers. That would be bad because even with our ship’s shields at full power, I doubted we could take one blast, let alone a half-dozen.
“Relax,” Morg said, his voice booming as he pressed his thumb onto a black spot etched into his neck. Almost immediately holograms of a half-dozen grizzled orcs projected from the spot in a flare of bluish light. They stood around us in a half circle looking like hammers in search of a nail.
&
nbsp; “Morg Doomslash?” the furthest left one said. He was an older orc with a black eyepatch, a knife for a hand, and long white hair pulled back in a ponytail. “You should be dead. Why have you returned?”
“I was on the planet when the Skull Crusher was destroyed. Alas, it was my great shame to not fall in battle, but I have brought urgent news,” he said, bowing his head as he spoke, and I could see color tinge his cheeks. Was he embarrassed?
“I do not understand,” the middle orc said. This orc was smaller than the others and had a chest that would make John Cena jealous. A huge crossbow was strapped to his back and what looked like animal skins were draped across his otherwise naked body. It covered him, but barely. “Your ship was destroyed, and yet you stand here. Did you run away in fear?”
“Yes,” a third orc piped up. “You should have thrown yourself at the enemy and died a glorious death.” He gestured at Morg. “You do not even look scathed.”
The way they spoke, made me think they were upset Morg wasn’t dead, which was insane, right? Shouldn’t they have been happy he’d survived?
“Enough,” Morg thundered, looking up at the assembled holograms. Then he pointed at me with one finger. I could see him shaking with rage, and for a second, I was worried he might lash out at me. “Mallory Quinn of the planet Earth and I invaded the Planet Breaker by ourselves, did battle with Admiral Vah, and rescued the Starship Endeavor.” He paused letting his words sink in as the assembled faces grew slack and pale despite being holographic.
“Vah lives?” the ponytailed orc said, and his voice had changed. No longer did it hold admonishment, anger, and resentment. Now it just held fear.
“And you faced him?” the middle orc swallowed. “And lived?”
“Yes, thanks to Mallory Quinn.” He continued pointing at me, and the orcs turned to look at me. I shifted uncomfortably but managed to keep myself from looking away and showing weakness. Admittedly, I knew very little about orcs, but I knew werewolves, and I was willing to bet they were a lot alike. Showing weakness wouldn’t go over well.
Planet Breaker: A Supernatural Space Opera (Witching on a Starship Book 2) Page 10
