Sac'a'rith

by Vincent Trigili

  I felt a strong hand on my back and heard Marcus say, “Let me help you up.”

  With his help I regained my feet. I was about to enquire how he’d survived the blast and fall, but then I got a good look at him: he looked worse than I felt. Half his face was gone, and he only had one functional leg. He’d splinted the other leg with some scrap metal, allowing him to stand, but it looked completely destroyed.

  He spoke before I could and said, “No time for small talk; we have to get to the woods. Shira and the others are on the run.”

  I tried to take a deep breath to clear my head, but it brought on an agonizing coughing fit, which made me more lightheaded. I had to get to the forest soon to heal or I would do no one any good. I doubted I could walk all the way there, and even if I could the enemy ground forces would no doubt ambush me before I could get very far.

  “Will you be all right? Can you find a place to hide?” I asked. I could see the forest from where I stood. If I could teleport there, then I could heal.

  “Go. I’ll catch up with the Phareon forces until you can come back for me.” His voice was calm and controlled, despite how he must have felt with all those injuries.

  Mustering what was left of my focus, I teleported to the woods and clutched a tree to prevent myself from falling over. I stood there hugging it for a moment, trying to regain some clarity of mind. I let myself mentally fall into the tree and drew on its great strength to clear my mind. I could feel the tree reaching towards me and lending its growing power to help me heal.

  With its help, I was able to clear my mind enough to work my magic. I drew on the power of the forest to heal my body and felt my strength returning. I couldn’t risk taking the time to bring about a full healing, just enough to dull the pain so I could focus on the fight.

  Using the trees to search, I found Shira and Ragnar in battle with a sorcerer while Crivreen and Purwryn fought a group of those monstrous creatures. They were badly hurt, and I wasn’t sure how much longer they could survive.

  Raquel was still in the city, grappling with what I assumed was the most powerful sorcerer. Marcus was also in the city and the enemy ground forces had surrounded his position. They were moving in on him, and he couldn’t move fast enough to get clear in his current condition.

  That gave me three people who needed assistance; I couldn’t help them all, so I had to make a fast decision. I ran towards Marcus in time to see him fall against a wall with the enemy pressing in on all sides. They had no weapons, but they would soon reach him and the foul mutations probably had ample strength to rip him limb from limb, especially in his weakened state.

  Using my staff, I blasted an opening and charged in. As I neared him I had to stop firing or risk hitting him. I knocked aside the creatures closest to him, sending pain through my bruised and battered body.

  When I was within reach, I grabbed him and tossed him over my shoulder. I was surprised again at his weight; he was much heavier than he looked, but still manageable. With him riding on my shoulder, I used my staff as an assault rifle and blasted my way out of the fight. I ran as best I could with his weight and my injuries until we were deep inside the woods. When I felt we were far enough from the battle, I laid him down and said, “Find cover.”

  I didn’t wait to see if he did; I had to reach Shira and Ragnar. I hoped fervently that the delay involved in helping Marcus hadn’t cost me the chance to help them. Running through the woods as fast as I could, I drew on the life force of the forest to heal me as I went. I couldn’t concentrate enough to make it as effective as it might have been, but it was enough to allow me to run despite my wounded condition. I could see through the forest that Ragnar was hunkered down casting his runes for all he was worth, countering spells from the sorcerer, while Shira pressed the attack with bolts from her staff.

  Crivreen was down, but Purwyn was shielding him with his magic as the fight carried on around them. Surrounding them were an uncalculable number of the sorcerers’ infantry.

  I ran hard, not caring about the sounds I made or the damage to the woods, because one thing was clear: they were losing, and Ragnar was about to run out of runes.

  As I burst into the clearing where they were fighting, I roared at the top of my lungs and lowered my shoulder to charge. The sorcerer turned to see me coming, but he was a fraction of a second too late and I hit him hard. A full-grown Zalionian weighs a lot more than even a brace of humans, and I’d been running fast when I hit him. Had he been a mundane human his spine would have shattered under that blow, and his meager body mass would have been thrown clear, but he was no mundane.

  I hit something much harder than flesh and blood. The force of the blow sent him flying, breaking his concentration on his spells, but the recoil sent me flying back and I hit the ground hard on my left shoulder. I felt bones crumble and my vision turned red.

  I screamed again and clawed my way back to my feet as the sorcerer also rose. Shira took full advantage of the momentary distraction and fired her staff at full strength into the side of the sorcerer, knocking him back down. His magical shielding held, but she pressed her attack and he struggled to keep his feet under the barrage.

  I summoned my own staff back to me with my good arm and fired a similar blast. Ragnar stood and threw his explosive runes. The three of us poured on the firepower until he finally succumbed. The pain from my shoulder was overwhelming, and the wounds I’d received earlier were far from completely healed. I was paying for the punishment I’d put my body through to get here.

  “Raquel, still fighting?” I sent, or tried to; it was hard to focus with the pounding in my head, the daggers in my lungs and a massive beast dancing on what was left of my shoulder. I couldn’t even focus my eyes and gave up trying, letting the blurry world dance around me however it pleased. I collapsed, the last of the strength in my legs used up.

  Ragnar was by my side with a bottle. I had no idea where he’d come from or how long he had been there. He was dancing and weaving with the blurry landscape. I wondered if he would get dizzy doing that; I was certainly getting dizzy watching him. I tried to reach out to stop his dance but kept missing.

  “Here, drink this,” he said.

  He lifted the bottle to my mouth and poured it in. I didn’t know what it was and I couldn’t think clearly enough to decide if I should resist or assist. Warmth from the drink flowed through my body and my strength returned. Shaking my head to clear it, I saw Shira tending to Crivreen and Purwryn. The ground settled down and Ragnar stopped his dance.

  “They’re hurt too badly to deal with out here. We have to get them back to the Night Wisp,” said Ragnar grimly.

  “What about Raquel?” I asked, trying to get my mind back into the fight.

  “As far as we know, she’s still in the city. We were all supposed to gate away and regroup, but she didn’t make it through before that sorcerer arrived,” he said.

  “We have to go back for her and Marcus,” I said. I used my staff to climb back to my feet. Whatever it was I’d drunk had definitely helped with the pain, but I knew I wasn’t nearly back to full strength. I began absorbing power from the woods to restart my healing. I wished I had the time to sit and meditate. I could be back to full health in a short while, but would be defenseless in the meantime, and I didn’t know if Marcus or Raquel had that much time.

  “I agree, but we have to take care of them first,” he said, gesturing to where Crivreen and Purwryn lay.

  Shira came over and said, “Ragnar, I can open a gate to the Night Wisp and drop off the three of you; then Zah’rak and I can go for the others.”

  “Splitting up doesn’t seem wise, but I can think of nothing better,” he said. “Here, Zah’rak, drink another healing potion.”

  I chugged it and asked, “How many more do we have?” I had full use of my arm and wits again, but I could feel a dozen more wounds crying out for attention.

  “Not many,” Shira said and looked in her pack. “Two. We used the
rest to stabilize them.”

  “Save them. Marcus is in really bad shape,” I said. “If he lives long enough, he’ll need both of them and much more.”

  “Then you’d better get a move on,” said Ragnar.

  Shira nodded and cast her gate. I helped Ragnar get our unconscious friends onto the Night Wisp and then Shira opened another gate to take us near the outskirts of the city.

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  We came out near where I’d left Marcus; he was lying quite still on the ground. I had left him propped up against a tree, but he had fallen over on his side.

  “Marcus!” I called out as I ran over to him. He didn’t respond at all. That couldn’t be a good sign.

  “Is – is he dead?” asked Shira.

  “I don’t know. I don’t even know how to tell,” I said. I turned him onto his back but he was completely unresponsive. Did Cyborgs have a pulse? Did he need to breathe? I assumed he did, but maybe I was wrong.

  “Try to heal him!” she pleaded.

  “Guard me. This will take a lot of focus.” I lifted him back up and once again placed him against the tree. Placing one hand on the tree and the other on Marcus, I drew life out of the tree and pushed it into Marcus’ body. I could feel a weak life force in him still; I focused on that and transferred all the power I could into it.

  I heard Shira scream from behind and it broke my delicate focus. When I turned, she and Raquel were fighting the last sorcerer, but he wasn’t alone; behind him, slowly marching towards us, were more of those foul creations.

  I stood and pulled off all the grenades from the sling on Marcus’ pack and started to throw them into the advancing troops. Explosions ripped through their line, slaughtering large numbers of them, but they kept coming. I threw grenades until none remained.

  “Shira, Raquel, we need to gate out of here or we’ll be overwhelmed,” I sent.

  Shira broke off her attack and opened a gate. I grabbed Marcus and ran through it, followed closely by Raquel and Shira. On the other side I propped Marcus up by a tree. This time I grabbed the tree with both hands and drew power into myself. I knew the sorcerer would be along soon and I needed as much strength as I could get.

  The sorcerer didn’t disappoint and appeared moments later. Raquel was ready and launched a barrage of spells directly at him; Shira added bolts from her staff as quickly as she could.

  The sorcerer used one hand to catch the bolts from Shira while sending power out of his other hand and into Raquel. Her first wave of spells failed to break through his shielding, and she was forced to break off her attack in order to block the incoming power from the sorcerer. He pressed her hard, mostly ignoring Shira.

  Raquel looked bad. Her hair had gone completely white and her skin was heavily wrinkled. She seemed to have aged two hundred years since I’d last seen her. I had to find a way to help. Shira’s staff didn’t seem to be having much effect, so I doubted mine would either.

  I slipped around behind him, using my camouflage spell to disguise my movements. I doubted it would have fooled him under other circumstances, but I was counting on his attention being taken up by the fight. The camouflage spell was just a little bit of extra protection.

  Moving up behind him, I attacked in the way I knew best. I swung both of my swords down hard on either side of his neck. They would have cut easily through mere flesh and blood, but with a great shower of sparks they bounced off his magical shielding. His concentration faltered briefly but he continued his attack. So I swung again, and again, and yet again, each hit sending sparks flying and painful vibrations up my arms. I didn’t know what kind of protection he had in place, but I was hoping to chip through it bit by bit.

  Then my swords broke. Fire, light and sound erupted around me, tossing me away from the fight, but I roared and dug my clawed feet into the ground to halt my movement. For a brief moment the sorcerer was thrown off balance by the explosion, and I charged.

  I came in low, putting my good shoulder low into his back and lifting as I hit him. He went flying over my back and slammed into the ground. Raquel was on him in an instant and kicked him hard in the temple. His eyes rolled around in his head and she leaned back and raised her hands, chanting in a language I didn’t recognize.

  The sorcerer started to get up, and I was about to pound him when I saw vines come up out of the ground and wrap themselves around him. He tried to break free of them but more and more came out of the ground and pulled him back down, squeezing him against the solid ground. He screamed and cursed in pain as the vines squeezed tighter and tighter around his body. I took a step back in horror, watching as his shield failed and his body was crushed under the pressure.

  Out of the corner of my eye I saw Raquel collapse to the ground, looking even older than she had before. I ran to her side and scooped her up. At some point during the battle Ragnar must have arrived; he was propping up Shira, who looked exhausted.

  “We have to get Raquel back to Alpha World,” I said. “We can bring everyone; just get them to the gate room.”

  The adrenaline that had kept me going during the fight was fading and my legs were growing weak. My breath was ragged, and for the first time I noticed I was badly burned and my armor in tatters around my chest.

  “Get yourself in there. I can handle these two,” said Ragnar.

  “Marcus is a lot heavier than he looks,” I spat out between gasps. Fighting pain and fatigue, I forced myself to walk to the ramp of the Night Wisp and up to the gate room. Someone had already placed Purwryn and Crivreen in there. They lay there looking lifeless. I was too weak to reach out and see if they were still alive, so I decided to assume they were.

  I laid Raquel down and saw Marcus float in while Ragnar helped Shira walk behind him.

  “The engines are destroyed, and more enemy troops are incoming,” said Ragnar.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “As far as I can tell, while we were in the city wondering where the sorcerers were, they were out here blasting at our engines,” he said.

  “Was that the last of them?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “What’s our next move?”

  “Call Phareon and order the air strike. We’ll all go through the gate and figure out our next move another day,” I said. “After you make the call, gather what food and supplies you can. I don’t know how long we’ll be there, but it could be some time.”

  Ragnar left to get the supplies and I walked over to the gate and activated it. Shira stood up and walked through. I lifted Raquel and followed her. We came out deep underground in a tunnel I hadn’t seen before, just as I had hoped. I laid Raquel down by the wall and got ready to go back for the others.

  “Where are we?” asked Shira.

  “Under the central tower,” I said. “Last time we were here I updated our map and drew the gate there. Looks like the builders took the hint.”

  “Wow,” she said and sat down next to Raquel to rest. “Do you think she’ll make it?”

  “I don’t know,” I answered and took a few moments to rest. I was battle-weary beyond words and none of my wounds had received the attention they needed. Eventually I forced myself back through the gate and found that Ragnar had all three of them floating, along with our supplies. “Ready?” he asked.

  “Yeah, it’s safe on the other side. Go through. I’m going to lock up the Night Wisp and follow you shortly,” I said.

  I worked my way up to the command station on the bridge and turned on the exterior sensors. It was as Ragnar had said: the enemy mutants were approaching the Night Wisp. I flipped the screens to show me the Phareon tactical network and saw their troops pulling out. They would start bombardment operations soon.

  “Phareon command, this is Night Wisp,” I said over the comm.

  “Night Wisp, Phareon command, go ahead,” they responded.

  “Our ship is overrun with enemy forces, but we have another way out. Just make a crater out of what’s left. Immediat
ely.” I hated to give the command, but I couldn’t risk the gate falling into the hands of sorcerers, or indeed any of a dozen other enemies out this way.

  “Acknowledged. Bombers on their way. Phareon, out,” they replied.

  I punched in commands to seal the craft and wipe its memory stores just in case anything survived, then slowly and painfully made my way back to the gate, which thankfully was next to the bridge.

  It was sad leaving the first home I’d ever had, but I couldn’t take the time to say goodbye as it would soon be a smoking ruin. The gateroom was empty and I walked through the gate. When I reached the other side, I closed and locked it.

  Using a wall to prop myself up, I looked over what was left of my team. We were in sorry shape. Only Ragnar could still stand up straight, and I was fairly sure that he was hiding the effort it took him.

  “Shira, can you gate us to the top?” I asked.

  She nodded and used her staff to help her rise, then opened the gate and walked through without comment. Ragnar had everyone else floating now and he pushed them through. I followed him and hoped that I had gambled right that I could heal us all.

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  I stood in the vacuum of space in orbit around the planet where Zah’rak and his team fought. I desperately wanted to go down there and help, but I knew that would be foolish. At the sight of the grandmaster wizard, the sorcerers would run and we would lose any chance to establish what was happening here.

  Raquel fought her sorcerer to a standstill but did not push her attack. She was far more powerful then he, and could have defeated him if she had focused on the fight. As she was fighting him, however, she was using her power over nature to search the fortress. The toll of doing both at once was taxing her to the extreme; I could almost see her aging in real time before me. It made no sense. She should have killed the sorcerer and then searched, but for some reason she did not.

  Zah’rak fought with another sorcerer and the others took on the third. I winced as I saw Marcus fall, but he was considerably tougher than he looked. He might have been able to rejoin the fight, but he was quickly set upon by many of the sorcerers’ foul creations, managing to beat them off and go to help Zah’rak at great cost to himself.