by CM Raymond
“Not on our own,” Gregory responded. “We need another pair of hands.”
“I’m one short of a pair,” a voice from the doorway said, “But I’m still stronger than you two nerds put together.”
“Aysa,” they shouted in unison.
“Don’t get all mushy. We have a cannon to install.”
She ran to their side, and with an impressive effort was able to help them lift the weapon and lower it gently onto the cart. Hadley guessed at how much effort she was putting in, and he figured that her assessment was accurate. She was easily stronger than both of them put together.
Once it was on the cart, Gregory wasted no time in moving it to the other room. He looked back at Hadley and Aysa. “This is going to take a while. You two need to buy me time.”
“How much time?” Hadley shouted.
“I don’t know,” Gregory said. “As much as it takes. The whole world is at stake.”
****
These Skrima were similar in form to the one they had killed the day they arrived in New Romanov, but seeing them side by side as they climbed into the city gave Parker a whole new perspective on power.
No wonder the lycanthropes had been afraid. These things were terrifying.
Laurel moved into action first, drawing first blood with her rope blade. Her weapon sliced open their red flesh, but it didn’t seem to faze them. Curtis and his people attacked next, launching a volley of arrows. Many only grazed them, and the ones that managed to stick had little effect.
Curtis simply shrugged and fired again.
Their refusal to give up pushed Parker into gear. He leveled his spear and let out a short blast. The blue light crashed into the shoulder of the smaller Skrim, slowing it down a step.
Well, that’s progress, he thought as he fired again.
Fighting these things was an exercise in playing cat and mouse. Curtis and his men threw spears and fired bows, then scattered as the Skrima drew near. Laurel was in and out, her rope blade a whirlwind. Parker moved in close to fire at point-blank range, then danced away after pissing them off.
It wasn’t glorious, but it was the only strategy they had.
The heavy firepower had gone north, but Parker hoped that enough smaller attacks would at least slow them down.
It worked well for a bit—until Curtis made a lucky shot. His arrow sank straight into the larger Skrim’s cheek.
The pain and anger in its scream shook the walls, and it barreled toward them in a rage. Parker narrowly dodged to the side, and he heard the scream of one of the men as he was torn apart by the thing’s claws.
Parker grabbed his spear and jumped to his feet. He powered up the weapon and started waving it back and forth, shouting obscenities—anything to draw its attention away from the fighters.
It worked, and Parker soon had the wounded Skrim barreling down on him.
Parker relied on his instincts to provide him the best course of action. They told him to turn tail and run like hell.
He took off down an alley, and the sound of the Skrim scraping along the walls told him it was still right behind him. He felt bad about leaving the others to deal with Monster Number Two, but considering he was now fighting the larger one by himself, it seemed more than a fair deal.
Parker turned left, then right, praying that he remembered the layout of New Romanov well enough. If this had been Arcadia, he’d have had no problem losing the thing.
He took another right, but it was a mistake. In front of him, two buildings leaned into one another—probably the result of a fight with another Skrim. They blocked Parker’s escape, and he was effectively dead ended.
He took a breath, then spun on his heel, spear at the ready.
The thing stomped around the corner and came to a halt. Its wounded face leered down at Parker, and Its canine teeth were on display in its smile.
Parker fired a blast from his spear into the thing’s chest, but it barely fazed it. The wolfish smile only grew.
He desperately looked around for anything that would give him an advantage, but there was nothing. He fired again and he knew the beast felt the impact, but it just didn’t seem to notice the pain. Its skin was too thick for the magitech to inflict any real damage.
Parker braced himself as the Skrim raised a monstrous clawed hand into the air, but it stopped short.
A blade attached to a rope flicked around its throat and tightened.
Parker looked up and saw Laurel straining against the rope like her life depended on it. Behind her were Curtis and a team of people from New Romanov. They were straining like the world depended on it.
But tug of war with the Skrim could only last so long. The thing was even stronger than it looked.
It leaned forward, pulling against the rope. Parker could see Laurel’s feet sliding as she lost ground. It pulled until its face was level with Parker’s. It had won, and it knew it.
The Skrim gave Parker one last doglike smile, then opened its mouth to let out a triumphant roar. But the roar never came.
Instead, Parker drove his spear straight down the thing’s throat.
The look in its eyes turned from gloating to confusion.
Parker smiled. “Suck on this, horndog.”
Then he fired.
The Skrim dropped to the ground.
Curtis approached, shaking his head. “Good luck getting your spear back, Parker.”
One of the young men, Roman, was on his knees laughing as another man stood next to him smiling. “Did you see that? I swear I saw light coming out its asshole. Best day of my life.”
Parker ignored all of them and walked straight to Laurel. “The other one… Did you stop it?”
She shook her head. “It got past me. I had to make a choice: go after you, or go after it. I chose you.”
“But the Oracle!” Parker said. “Gregory is with her.”
Laurel smiled grimly. “I trust him. It’s all I can do. Besides, if there’s anyone smart enough to figure out a way, it’s him.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
A loud roar echoed down the tunnel, and Gregory couldn’t help but feel the weight of the mountain above him. It made him feel the tiniest bit of remorse for the men he had buried in the Jannas Mines.
“Hurry up, man,” Aysa yelled from the doorway. She and Hadley had upended a large metal table to barricade the entrance into Lilith’s room. They propped whatever they could find against it and leaned in with their own weight, knowing that it was an all-but-futile attempt to stop the thing from getting to them.
“I’m going as fast as I can,” Gregory shouted through clenched teeth. “If I get this calibration wrong, then screw the monster—I could blow us all up right now.”
“I agree with your young friends, Gregory,” Lilith commented, her voice tainted with worry. “Patience is not always a virtue.”
Hadley opened his mouth to reply, but a sickening thud grabbed their attention.
It was followed by another, then another. The Skrim was pounding on the door, shaking the makeshift barricade.
Gregory looked up for just a second and saw that the metal table was bending beneath the creature’s force.
“We’re losing it,” Hadley yelled as the door began to give way.
“Hurry, hurry, hurry,” Aysa shouted.
“Almost, almost, almost—now!”
As Gregory yelled, Aysa and Hadley jumped out of the way. The barricade exploded in a dozen directions, sending shrapnel flying.
The Skrim stood in the doorway, head scraping the ceiling. It looked frantically for the Oracle, but found only the barrel of a cannon.
Gregory connected the two remaining wires and closed his eyes.
Blinding light flooded the tunnel, and a roar like thunder shook the room.
Dust drifted down from the ceiling and Gregory’s ears rang, but when he opened his eyes, he saw the unthinkable.
The Skrim stood across the room with a barrel-sized hole where its chest had been. Then it slowly slump
ed to the ground.
“Holy shit,” Aysa whispered.
“For once, I have to admit that your human vernacular expresses the sentiment better than my own,” Lilith said. “Holy shit, indeed.”
Gregory sat down, wiped the sweat off his brow, and immediately began making sure that the amphorald core and its connection to Lilith were secure.
Hadley, however, stood and walked over to the Skrim.
“What are you doing?” Gregory asked.
“It’s still alive. Just barely. But I can sense something else.” He reached down and touched the monster.
Suddenly Hadley’s eyes turned bright white. He slowly opened his mouth wider and wider until it looked like his teeth took up half his face.
Then he began to laugh.
It was a slow, steady cackle that grew in intensity until it filled the room.
“Hadley?” Aysa asked. “What the hell?”
“That’s not Hadley,” Lilith said, her mechanical voice grim. “I know that laugh.”
Hadley’s face turned deadly serious as he looked straight at Lilith. The voice that came out of his mouth was not the mystic’s.
“Hello, Peace-through-Superior-Genetics. It’s been a long time.” He looked her metal body up and down. “Although it seems I may have to refer to you as ‘Abomination’ now.”
“I do not answer to that name anymore, Laughter-Brings-Meaning-to-Life. You may call me Lilith now, or call me nothing at all. And from my perspective, you are the abomination.”
The voice cackled again.
“A lot has changed over the last several millennia, Peace. I’ve grown wiser. Stronger. You received a taste of that today, and I look forward to showing you more.”
“Give up your foolish invasion. This planet is off limits by the queen’s decree.”
Again, not-Hadley shuddered with laughter. “I recognize no queen but myself. But do not worry. I will give you a chance to bow to me before this is all over—after I have made your world my own.”
The voice laughed one last time, then fell silent. Hadley dropped to the ground.
Aysa and Gregory were by his side immediately. “Had, are you OK?” she asked.
His eyes fluttered, then he looked up at them. “Guys, I think we’re screwed.”
EPILOGUE
“You look like hell,” Aysa said, staring at Hadley.
With a blanket draped over his shoulders, Hadley sat at one end of the massive oak table in the center of the Olaf’s living room in New Romanov. His face was ashen—nearly bone-white—which emphasized the deep, dark circles under his eyes.
Tilting his head toward the Baseeki girl, he forced a smile. “I’m pretty sure I’ve been to hell and back, with the devil herself riding my ass all the way.”
The members of the BBB sat around him, along with Olaf and Mika. A full day had passed, but each and every one of them looked like they had tasted a small piece of the abyss during their time in Archangelsk.
Ezekiel placed a hand on the young mystic’s shoulder. “Are you able to tell us what you saw?”
He nodded. “I’ll try my best, but it was unlike anything I have ever experienced—and I’ve been inside Karl’s head once or twice.”
“If ye ain’t man enough to appreciate me noggin, then stay the hell out,” Karl said with a laugh.
Hannah rolled her eyes. “Glad to see you haven’t lost your sense of humor, Had. But maybe keep the jokes to a minimum when describing the great terror beyond?”
He smiled. “Sorry. But I’ve learned that a good laugh can help you cope with a lot. And if what I saw is any indication, we’re all going to need to find ways to keep our spirits up. When Laughter connected with me, a million images flashed through my mind at once, including a dark world full of creatures that make the Skrima we fought look like baby remnant.” He paused, taking a moment to scan the eyes of his friends. “But it wasn’t what Laughter showed me that has me riled. It’s what I felt. Whatever goodness once resided in the Oracle’s former friend, it no longer exists in Laughter-Brings-Meaning-to-Life. The Laughing Queen is a tyrant through and through, and she only has one goal—to make Irth her own. And she will never stop pursuing it.”
Hannah looked around the room. She could see the worry and exhaustion on everyone’s faces. But although she was dead tired herself, Hannah couldn’t help feeling elated.
She rose from her chair. “I don’t care. Whatever she sends at us, whatever comes through, the BBB can handle it. Laughter might be queen of her hell-world, but Irth only knows one Queen. And our queen is the baddest bitch there ever was. The Matriarch left this world in our hands, and I’ll be damned if I’ll let some skrimdick alien take it from us.”
Parker started clapping, and Olaf laughed loudly enough to shake the room.
Before she could continue, Gregory slowly rose to his feet. The revelry halted for a moment, and everyone looked at him.
“Actually, I’ve been talking with Lilith about our problem, and we think we’ve come up with a pretty good solution. A permanent one, I mean. There’s only one catch…”
“Ah, don’t tell me,” Karl growled. “Yer gonna need us ta get back on that bloody airship again, aren’t ye?”
Hannah looked at Gregory, and he smiled sheepishly at her. “I’m afraid so.”
Karl sighed. “Dammit boy, can’t we have a day or two just to enjoy solid ground? My legs are aching and me rash is back!”
“Rash?” Gregory asked. “What rash?”
Mika wore a sly grin. “Show him, rearick.”
“Scheisse, woman, the noble boy don’t have the stomach for it!” They laughed some more as Gregory sat there looking confused.
Hannah knocked on the table to draw their attention. When their eyes were on her, she raised her glass with a smile. “I propose a compromise. Tonight we take the mystic’s advice. You’ve all earned a drink and a laugh. But tomorrow we follow Gregory’s lead and get back to work. Irth’s counting on us.”
Author Notes - Lee Barbant
Written 09/20/17
So I was hanging out with Baby Barbant the other day (for some reason all my stories start like this now), when I decided to put him down for his afternoon nap. Normally this is a pretty easy endeavor. The kid likes his sleep, which is great since it gives me time to write. And I desperately needed to get some work in, because I had fallen a little behind in my editing.
So I do my whole song and dance routine, put the kid in his crib, and turn on my computer. Go time.
But then the pitiful cries of my four-month-old son come through the monitor.
I sigh, trudge up the stairs like a dutiful father, and put his pacifier back in.
Good. Done. He’s asleep, and I can figure out what Parker is going to do about the invading Skrima.
I’m two sentences in before the tears start again.
Me and Baby Barbant do this several more times, and I am starting to get a little frustrated. I mean, the kid has everything he needs. Full belly, comfy swaddle, weird owl nightlight that makes ocean sounds for some reason. What more could be there be? And yet he is crying! His mom is still at work and Chris refuses to come over and babysit, which means there’s no one to deal with this but me.
So I close the laptop, walk up the stairs angrily, throw open the door to his nursery…
And then I smell it.
Ah, I think to myself. So this is the problem.
Despite the fact that Baby Barbant is an actual baby, and despite the fact that I and his mom have to do everything for him, sometimes he knows better than I do what he needs. He can’t talk yet, but being a good dad means figuring out what he’s trying to say (and then cleaning up the dirty diaper after he says it).
Being a good writer is a lot like that—a lesson that Darkness Rises beat into Chris’s and my brain.
We started this book full speed ahead, and the words flew across the page. It was going so well, in fact, that we were several weeks ahead of schedule for the project (a rare event
for us, I can assure you.)
But then we reached a snag. Something about the book wasn’t right. The middle felt like an ending, and the ending felt like a cliffhanger. I tried all my old tricks to resolve this, but still we couldn’t work it out. And we had no desire to leave you all with a shitty diaper of a book.
So we took an afternoon and listened to what the book was telling us. And then we made a radical decision.
We cut twenty-thousand words, along with the outline for half the book. And by doing so, we went from having a major head start on our deadline to being nail-bitingly short on time.
Like I said, a radical decision.
And by doing so, I think we’ve ended up with one of the best books we’ve written to date (you can hop on over to Amazon if you’d like and confirm that for me with a nice review. I’m not above begging.)
The nice thing is that those words we cut are going to find a nice place to call home in Book 7, which we are already hard at work on. This second arc of The Rise of Magic has been a blast, and I can’t wait until you all get to see the wham-bam finish we’ve cooked up.
All right, enough author notes. I’ve got more work to do. It’s 1AM, but I’m currently reading through a brand-new series that will debut within the Age of Magic this month. I’m not telling you who it’s by, but let’s just say that the author is a badass, and they’re taking one of my favorite Age of Magic characters on a whole new adventure. I can’t put the book down, and neither will you. If you stay tuned to the Age of Magic Facebook page, you’ll get to see a sneak peek of what I’m talking about.
For Irth! (and Baby Barbant)
-Lee.
Author Notes - Chris Raymond
Written 09/20/17
Anyone else have a slightly embarrassing past as a kid? Go ahead, you can admit it!
In fact, feel free to send it along to me ([email protected]), and if I haven’t been thrown off the internet by the time you do, I’ll try to respond.
I’ll share mine with you, if you swear you’ll keep it a secret, keep it safe. No, really, you have to swear out loud, right now. Swear it on Sal’s life.
