It went on like this for a while, and we lost track of how many rooms we’d been through. It soon occurred to Amelia to mark one of the walls with chalk, prompting curious looks from the rest of the crew. She shrugged, drawing another cross. “I want to see if we’re going through the same rooms,” she said. “Or, even worse, if they’re different. In which case, I have to wonder… how friggin’ big is this interdimensional space he’s built for us?”
We kept going after that, looking for any marks that Amelia had left behind. None were in sight, and that meant we were moving through different rooms. It worried me, because there was still no exit in view. We could wander around for days on end, if we kept at it like this.
“We should stop for a moment,” Herakles suggested, hands on his hips as he scowled at the umpteenth arrow in the umpteenth room. “Maybe consider changing our strategy here. We can’t keep doing the same thing, over and over, and expect different results. You know what that would mean, right?”
Raphael grinned. “That we’ve lost our minds?”
“Yeah, pretty much.”
Herakles was right. We needed to take a break. To think things through. To analyze what we’d done so far and find another way to get ourselves out of here.
“I think we’re lost,” Eira said.
Truer words had never been spoken, according to the sinking feeling that had taken over my gut. We could keep doing this forever. The end result would be the same. We were stuck in a maze of hexagonal rooms, and the only thing Eirexis could do for us was activate the painted arrows and open the walls to which they pointed.
We’d gone through so many hidden doors already. Where would this lead? Or would it even lead anywhere? Would we end up going through rooms we’d already explored and marked, later down the line? Would we finally get out of here?
Whatever the answer, Herakles had made a good and reasonable point. We had to try something different. But what?
Sofia
Gennen Fein had surprised us in more than one way. Not only was he a former GASP agent in possession of a red garnet lens, he was also a Hermessi child. The unexpected, jumbo-sized wrench that had suddenly thrown itself into our operation.
“Stop!” he shouted, drawing the Fire Hermessi’s attention from outside the temple.
“We need to move fast,” Derek said out loud. The Hermessi children next to us jumped back, gasping, as they couldn’t understand what was going on. “Semper Telluris. All hands on deck here!”
In a split second, the whole crew teleported inside the temple, each of them invisible and wearing red garnet lenses. They spread out quickly and jabbed the first round of Hermessi children with hypodermic needles before they could even realize what was going on.
Corrine and Ibrahim reached Sherus and teleported him out of here.
The guardian Fire Hermessi stopped in the temple’s doorways, and something strange happened. Lights went on, flames rushing across the ceiling and revealing all the elemental children, including Gennen, who set his sights on us. Using his Earth ability, he summoned the vines to strip away from the window and rush toward us like famished snakes.
Whisper’s eyes grew wide, looking right at me. “Holy hell!”
It only took a moment for us to realize that we weren’t invisible anymore. I took the red lens off to confirm, feeling my knees weaken as I understood how royally screwed we all were.
“This was a bad decision for you,” one of the Fire Hermessi said.
Corrine appeared in front of him, casting a solid energy shield that blocked the door entirely. Ibrahim, Mona, and a couple of other witches did the same at all the other entrances. “You need to hurry!” Corrine shouted. “I don’t know how long we can hold them back!”
The Fire Hermessi unleashed their blazing wrath against the shields, making our witches grunt and sweat as they struggled to resist. There was no time now, and Gennen was literally gunning for us. The vines came at me, but Whisper and his friends destroyed them with their elemental powers, and Derek rushed across the temple and knocked Gennen out before he could do more damage.
He swiftly returned to me, and I shifted my attention to Whisper and his group.
“We can help you, take you to safety,” I said to them. “Please don’t make it harder on us.”
“By all means, get us out of here!” Whisper blurted, his eyes beaming with renewed enthusiasm.
The jinni in our initial group instructed them to link hands and teleported them out of here. The other jinn and witches and warlocks continued sedating and removing the Hermessi children in groups of ten—spending, on average, a little over a minute per cluster.
Some of the Hermessi children went willingly, but most put up a fight, forcing our crew to sting them and take them down first. They zapped them out of the temple, while the Fire Hermessi roared and rammed their fiery shoulders into the energy shields and the stone walls, desperately looking for a way in.
One by one, the hostile children were subdued and removed, leaving our group with just a handful of compliant Hermessi heirs. Ibrahim reached us as Corrine, Mona, and the other witches prepared to dash out. The last of the jinn in the temple teleported the remaining children, while Derek, Kiev, Claudia, Yuri, Ibrahim, and I moved closer to Corrine.
“Dammit, they are powerful,” she croaked, dropping to one knee.
The Fire Hermessi she was fiercely holding back took another swing at the energy shield, finally causing it to crack across like broken glass. Ibrahim wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back. I gripped his shoulder while keeping physical contact with Mona and the rest of our group.
“Semper Telluris! Everybody out!” I shouted, making sure the entire crew heard me, both in and outside the temple.
My heart thudded as we vanished, reappearing outside our hidden shuttle, in the forest clearing we’d left behind. Corrine nearly collapsed, but Ibrahim was quick to give her a tonic drink that replenished her within seconds.
“That was fantastic,” Kafei said, handing out tonic vials to all the crew members who’d helped with the energy shields, including Mona, who had an arm around Kiev’s shoulders and a hard time standing on her own. “You all moved so fast!”
“The perks of being a jinni,” Samira replied with a sly smirk.
“Or a witch.” Mona chuckled and gulped down an entire tonic vial. Her skin shimmered as the potion worked its way through her body.
They’d all teleported quickly, across a vast distance, multiple times in an extremely short period. It had taken its toll on their bodies, but they’d pulled through. Looking around, I couldn’t stop myself from experiencing the purest form of relief.
Whisper and his friends were awake and calm, along with the few dozen others who’d willingly come with us. The rest of the Hermessi children, Gennen included, were out cold. Chances were they wouldn’t wake until we got back into The Shade—there, we’d need to secure them with Devil’s Weed and charmed cuffs and everything else we could think of. They’d been indoctrinated into supporting Brendel, but I was certain we could find a way to talk them out of that nonsense.
“How are you all feeling?” I asked Whisper and his group.
They exchanged weary glances, trying their best to just smile and retain a sense of positivity. “We’re tired,” Whisper replied. “But thankful to be out of that wretched place. How did you find us?”
“A lot of hard work went into this operation,” Derek said. “We have allies among the rebel Hermessi. One of them made it close enough to learn of your location.”
“Oh, I think he means Ramin. Remember him?” Basti, one of the female Hermessi children, replied as she looked at Whisper. “Ledar screwed him over. Pretty sure you were awake for that one.”
Whisper nodded, holding back a smile. “Yeah, I remember. Glad to hear the poor fella made it out to tell you where we were.”
“How is Sherus?” Mona asked Corrine and Ibrahim, who’d already flanked the fae king, carefully holding him up and checking his
vitals.
Corrine gave us a sad look. “He’s alive, but barely.”
The amber glow was still present, covering his entire body. Poor Sherus was still under the Hermessi’s influence, but at least he was out of Brendel’s reach for now. “Someone should reach out to Taeral and let him know,” Derek said, staring at Sherus with genuine concern.
“As soon as they can, they will,” Kiev replied. “Chances are they’re still waist-deep in Thieron trouble back on the Fire Star, but I’ll send word to Nuriya. She can tell Taeral once she can reach him again.”
“In the meantime, we need to vamoose!” Claudia exclaimed, pointing at the invisible ship. Kafei whispered a spell that revealed the vessel in all its mid-sized glory, and the Hermessi children gasped and moved away, unable to take their eyes off it.
“Yeah, the Fire Hermessi won’t be far behind,” Ibrahim said, frowning as he gazed into the green distance.
There wasn’t much to see with all the trees, but none of us wanted to wait and find out what happened when you stole something from Brendel. Kiev lifted Gennen off the ground and threw him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, while Derek activated the shuttle hatch.
We began loading up the unconscious Hermessi children first. The jinn and the witches teleported them inside the shuttle, strapping them into their smaller seats and slapping cuffs on their wrists and ankles, each of them charmed with powerful swamp witch magic to prevent them from using their abilities in case they woke up before we reached The Shade. The cuffs had been embedded with crystals similar to those we’d used on the sanctuary fae.
Sherus was ceremoniously carried inside, as well, and laid on a square, soft surface. Unwilling to compromise or risk anything, Mona covered the fae king’s hands with charmed crystal covers, of which there were plenty aboard the shuttle in case we needed them.
Whisper, Basti, and their friends watched it all unfold, their mouths slightly open in awe. I moved to their side, smiling softly. “I take it you’re impressed?” I joked, but they all nodded energetically in response, making me laugh.
“Mundi, where I come from, is pretty cool and organized, but we don’t have stuff like this,” Whisper said, pointing at the shuttle.
“We had to be well equipped and organized in order to help you,” I said. “Personally, I’m just glad you’re not all team Brendel yet.”
Basti shook her head, frowning. “No way. That fire lady is crazy. I’d never allow her to destroy my world, or any other world, for that matter. We might not have done the best work with our planets, but we try hard enough. We love, we live, we laugh… Who’s she to decide it’s time to pull the plug and wipe us out of existence, huh?”
Corrine giggled, returning from the ship. “Truer words were never spoken.”
“Come on, get on board, everyone,” Derek said, glancing up at the sky.
Flashes continued to streak across it, Ramin and his rebels giving the guardian Hermessi a good run-around out there. It was up to us to do the rest, and, for better or worse, the first half of the mission was basically done, with zero casualties.
I didn’t want to get ahead of myself, but I had to admit… we’d done all right, given our relatively limited intel and powers, as opposed to the Hermessi we’d just basically shafted. But the worst was yet to come, and we all knew it.
Watching Whisper, Basti, and the others go up into the shuttle, Derek and I understood that our greatest challenge was underway. We were far enough from the temple for the grounded Fire Hermessi to have trouble finding us, but the ones in the sky, waging their war against Ramin and his rebels…
Oh, they were dying to get a piece of us, and they were bound to notice us now. Surely, the temple Hermessi had already raised the alarm. My only hope was that we’d be fast and cunning enough to evade them. Otherwise, we risked total annihilation before we even left this solar system.
Derek
With only minutes remaining before one or more of the Hermessi would eventually come upon us, we boarded the ship and locked the access bridge, along with its hatch, and quickly strapped ourselves in. Kafei had already drawn the interplanetary travel pentagram outside, fitting it with the herbs and minerals required, a sample from The Shade included.
I took Sofia’s hand in mine, squeezing gently, as Kafei began her chant. Soon enough, light would surround us, making it more difficult for the Hermessi to take us down—though not impossible. Swamp witch magic wasn’t immune to the elementals, and its resistance to their attacks was limited. Depending on how much rage they came at us with, our survival odds varied. Therefore, the sooner we got out of here, the better.
Corrine and Ibrahim flanked Kafei just in case she might need additional energy to protect us from an attack. There was no extra power required to steer the spell bubble, since its destination had been set and sampled, thus allowing us to focus our efforts on defending the shuttle and its precious cargo.
“I don’t think they’ll destroy us per se, if they do manage to breach the spell bubble,” Sofia murmured to me. “They don’t want to kill the children.”
“True, but they will have no trouble taking the shuttle apart and picking us off, one by one,” I replied, keeping my voice down. My gaze wandered across the shuttle’s main area.
Our crew was mostly on one side, seated and strapped down safely, their backpacks and pulverizer weapons handy. The Hermessi children occupied the smaller seats in the right longitudinal section of the shuttle, strapped in but also heavily sedated, their hands and feet secured with magical devices to stop them from using their abilities. The conscious ones were considered friendly and didn’t need restraints, but they did look frightened.
Who could hold it against them, after everything they’d been through?
Whisper eyed Basti nervously. In turn, she gave him a confused frown. “What’s wrong?” she mouthed, as if not wanting anyone else to hear.
He shrugged, but didn’t answer, instead moving his gaze to Sofia and me. I’d seen the way he’d looked at the other members of our crew. The witches had certainly impressed him, but there was a cold tone in his eyes whenever he focused on us. As if he’d recognized our leadership position.
“Oh, you better hurry up, Kafei,” Corrine muttered, her eyes popping wide. A literal inferno was about to unfold outside.
We could see the Hermessi stumbling through the clearing. The shuttle’s windshield was wide enough to give us a full and frightening view as the fiery figures hurtled toward us. Light wrapped our vessel in a perfect sphere, just as the Hermessi rammed into it.
I heard Basti gasp. Turning my head to see her for a moment, I noticed she’d covered her mouth, horror draining the blush from her sharp cheeks. Whisper, on the other hand, didn’t seem all that terrified, as opposed to the other Hermessi children.
“We’re taking off now,” Kafei announced.
Awful thuds and moans emerged from outside; the Fire Hermessi were relentless in their pursuit. They formed massive blazing towers that attempted to surround the spell bubble, the flames engorging as we were lifted from the ground.
It got so intense that all I could see was the thick curtain of fire as it tightened around us. My heart jumped in my throat, as the possibility of failure increased in probability. Not that I’d ever been the most optimistic among my peers, but I’d done this mission with the intention of surviving it—and succeeding, on top of that. Screwing up had not been an option, yet the hotter the fire burned around our shuttle, and the higher the temperature got inside, the more I started to wonder whether I’d gotten ahead of myself.
Claudia played with the ship climate features on one of the control panels, but she couldn’t get the temperature down. Giving me a concerned look, she wiped the sweat from her brow. “I think the interplanetary spell won’t stop us from getting roasted inside this ship,” she said.
“Corrine, Ibrahim, I need you,” Kafei managed, her hands glowing white as she placed them on the glass controls. “I have to push back on what the
Fire Hermessi are doing.”
Corrine and Ibrahim didn’t hesitate, touching her shoulders and lighting up from the inside as she drew power from them and whispered a series of defensive spells. Whisper, Basti, and the others frowned at us, understandably concerned for their wellbeing in these circumstances.
Sofia gave them a reassuring smile, but it didn’t seem to do much.
“We’re still gaining altitude,” Kiev said, checking the computerized screen above the windshield. “They’re not having much luck in keeping us down.”
“That won’t matter if we reach our cooking temperature before we exit Yahwen’s atmosphere,” Kafei groaned, her entire being shimmering white as she struggled against the Hermessi’s devastating fire.
If it felt like this inside the shuttle and the interplanetary spell, I could only imagine the devastation these elemental flames could cause if they caught us outside our protective layers. Chills pricked my skin as I noticed the steely expression on Whisper’s face.
“There’s something off about him,” I whispered, drawing Sofia’s attention.
“What do you mean?” she asked, following my gaze.
“He’s too… calm.”
“When was that ever a bad thing?” she replied.
Whisper unstrapped his seatbelt and shot to his feet. His hands glowed orange, and my instincts were alight. He summoned a fireball in his palm and hurled it at Kafei, Corrine, and Ibrahim. It happened so fast, I barely had a second to react.
“Watch out!” I shouted.
As if gifted with eyes in the back of his neck, Ibrahim threw his arm back and cast an energy pulse which instantly disintegrated the fireball. Whisper wasn’t done, though, and I couldn’t understand why he was doing this.
I got out of my seat and darted toward him, my fight reflexes completely on and buzzing. He spotted me and threw fireballs to stop my advance. Mona appeared between us, her forearms crossed in an X as she caused a rippling shield to spread out and protect me.
A Shade of Vampire 75: A Blade of Thieron Page 20
