Sanctuary

by Chris Fox

  Somehow the matron had gotten involved with Necrotis. Had she been a part of this all along? That made no sense. Had the necromancers captured her? It didn’t really matter how it had happened, only that it had. Jerek should know, but he was too far away to do anything, so she stowed that for later.

  She missed him even as a knot of guilt formed. Later.

  For now she needed to link with Visala. She could see to the wounded, and lend her now much more considerable strength. Should she hide the golden cube first? It was obviously important, and she wondered if it was important enough for….

  A chill stole the words. The necromancer, the one who’d killed Inura, and distended her jaw in such a grotesque way to kill the captain, had appeared in the rear of her army.

  She’d be coming for Visala, and maybe for Vee herself. There was no way Visala could stop that monster, as impressive as the titanic white Wyrm clinging to the top of the golden pyramid appeared to be. Size meant nothing with gods. Inura hadn’t even tried to fight this monster.

  Vee raised a hand, and sketched out a missive spell. She flung it at Pickus, Jerek’s new friend, and the closest person to Lady Voria. Plus he had a little bit of a crush on her, and that meant he might be willing to help.

  “Vee?” Pickus’s freckled smile appeared as an illusion before her. His face fell when he took in her expression. “Are you okay?”

  “Just listen.” Vee glanced down at the hold but no one had come for her yet. “We’re in bad trouble, and we need help right now. Necrotis’s daughter appeared on the bridge. She killed the captain, and took her armor. Then she killed Inura. She…ate them. She’s just appeared in the hold where Highspire is under siege. I don’t think Visala will even slow her down much. We need a real god in here. Can you get those two you sent to save us from Bortel? Right now?”

  Pickus’s expression hardened into resolve by the time she’d finished speaking. “Crewes is available now. Aran has his own project, but I have a hard time imagining this lady giving Crewes a run for his money.”

  “Thank you.” She nodded gratefully, then terminated the connection.

  Vee was about to leap over the railing and make a run for the pyramid, but she hesitated. Open the cube as soon as she was safe. She wasn’t safe, and wouldn’t be until the battle was over. But if she charged in and Necrotis’s daughter spotted her, then she’d become a target, and the cube could be lost.

  She had to stay out of the fight, though it killed her to be nothing more than an observer when she knew she had the power to help make a difference. Especially with the power Inura had passed her at the end. She’d just become so much stronger.

  Visala took wing as she leapt from the pyramid, and breathed a cone of plasma at the necromancer ranks around the Devourer. The deck was scoured down to the blackened residue of everyone and everything that had stood there…save for twenty-meter zone perfectly untouched around Jolene and Necrotis.

  “A real goddess?” The necromancer smiled up at Visala. Then it became a sneer. “Well, almost.”

  “Voria will come for you,” the dragon taunted. “She’ll bring her pantheon and they will end you.”

  “Come now,” the Devourer taunted back. “You know that isn’t true. I have the Heka Aten armor. The Word of Xal has no captain. The Spellship fights alone against my moon, and my fleet. Voria can keep them at bay…until I finish killing you. Then I will come and tip the scales against her. She and any other gods present this day will die, as will their memories.”

  Her scythe came up and a wave of ghostly energy burst out. It crashed over all the students, and while some were warded, many were not. Hundreds died in that single attack, succeeding where so many threats had failed.

  Visala’s wordless screech carried the Wyrm’s rage, and she leapt from her perch and charged the tiny necromancer.

  Jolene skittered away from the Devourer in something approaching panic, easily reaching the safety of her forces as the dragon seemed focused on the Devourer. The Devourer simply stood there with her sneer and waited.

  Visala’s jaw clamped down around the necromancer, then swept up into the air as she swallowed the Devourer in a single gulp. Hope flared, but only briefly. A ghostly scythe burst from Visala’s neck about midway down, and neatly severed it.

  The Wyrm’s headless body toppled to the ground in a bloody pile, the sum total of her resistance inconveniencing the Devourer as the goddess climbed from the carnage. The necromancer rose immediately, and turned to face the demoralized students.

  They were about to break, and there was nothing Vee could do except maybe flee.

  A flaming ball of angry Confederate god appeared in the air over the pyramid. Crewes! Vee gripped the railing and smiled at the fire god. He carried a massive spellcannon no human could lift, and his armor smoldered with molten power.

  Vee didn’t know how powerful he was. Not the strongest of gods, but strong enough that he’d crushed legions in a few spells. Maker, let it be enough. Could she help him? Would a buff spell from her even matter to a god like that? No, it would only give away her position.

  Crewes aimed his cannon at the Devourer. His gaze took in Visala’s corpse, then the corpses of the children. “It ain’t going down like this, bitch. I cleaned up your damned spirits. Now I’m gonna clean you up.”

  A river of molten lave flowed from the barrel of his weapon. Living lava. Sentient lava. It became a gargantuan elemental, which landed next to the Devourer, then slammed her into the wall with a superheated fist.

  The move had clearly caught the necromancer off guard, but she quickly scuttled to her feet, though now missing another leg from that awful harness.

  Crewes wasn’t idle. He unleashed a magma bolt spell, far stronger than any mortal could have managed. It slammed into the Devourer, and while her wards stopped the spell, the force still flung her into the wall.

  She tried to stand, and the elemental knocked her down again. Elation soared, and Vee considered making her presence known. Crewes was winning!

  She was glad she didn’t.

  The Devourer rose, and a dozen pale grey chains exploded from her harness, streaking toward Crewes like living things. They wrapped around his legs, and he crashed to the deck as the thruster on his spellarmor sputtered out.

  “What? You magic draining ho.” Crewes grabbed one of the chains, and snapped it, but the others redoubled their assault, encircling both his wrists and pinning them together. “These things are really starting to piss me off.”

  The Devourer swept out with her scythe, which unleashed something like a spirit bolt, but backed by a darker energy Vee didn’t recognize. It slammed into Crewes, and the fire god screamed as he collapsed to the deck. His agonized bellow tore through the hold, and the chains only grew tighter.

  “No….” Vee backed slowly away, and ran. At least she could prevent Necrotis and her people from getting the cube.

  22

  I had no idea how to break Utred’s control. He/I ambled over to the Matrix with a capital M, and ducked inside of the slowly spinning rings. The power emanating from the artifact thrummed through me, deep and irresistible. Simply being near this thing terrified me, and I wondered at what it could do.

  This city had been where they created the Great Cycle. Maybe this thing had been how they created it. Could this Matrix forge realities? Steal the entire light from one? I bet it could, and that Utred had already realized that fact. He’d probably adapt his plan, so even if he couldn’t find a way inside the Cycle he could still carve out his own little empire.

  “I will make it inside,” he muttered, proof he could hear my thoughts, if I still needed it. Utred reached up and began tapping sigils on the gold, silver, and bronze rings. Those were the normal three. The others? I don’t think we had names for the metals. “This thing can get me there.”

  Reeva appeared once more. I don’t know why the dwarf kept disappearing as he clearly heard everything we said. He cleared his throat. “It can get you to the Cycle, bu
t like I said…you’ll die there. I can’t let you sacrifice Jerek like that without knowing the consequences. Both of you die, and you accomplish nothing. You cannot penetrate the shell around the Cycle.”

  “Not so.” Utred turned a vicious snarl into a verbal assault. “You are a fool, Titan. You’ve left too many clues. During the exodus you marched through something called the rent. There is an entire stanza about that, did you know? During the account Xal recorded. A rent is a hole. A breach. So when I use this artifact to find my way in I will be looking for that rent.”

  The dwarf shifted uncomfortably.

  “Ah, lad, you’ve got to stop this.” Reeva’s piercing gaze met mine. “If you can’t stop this bastard, then he could do what he’s saying. He’ll probably fail, and if he does you’ll die horribly. If he succeeds though? We cannot allow him to endanger the Cycle. He could wipe out countless realities.”

  What did the god expect me to do? The bastard hadn’t even given me water magic to help me deal with Utred the putrid. Hey that was clever. The necromancers had probably teased him on their little mausoleum playground.

  Utred the putrid.

  Putrid.

  Disease. Virus. Sickness.

  An idea germinated in my head, but Utred ignored me and focused on connecting to the fourth ring, the temporal ring.

  I reached for my new water magic, the crappy purify ability. Reevanthara had led me by the nose right to the answer, but I’d missed it until the last, most heroic moment. ‘Cause that’s how I roll.

  Greater Purify rolled through my entire body, the peal of some cosmic bell whose frequency dissolved all impure things. All diseases, curses, hexes, viruses, sicknesses, headaches, addictions, ailments, and yes…bindings were dissolved.

  Utred’s hold on my soul, that complex spell that defied understanding, melted. The sigils dissolved one after another, until his hold over my body broke.

  I fell to my knees on the floor of the Matrix, and vomited a river of scarlet smoke onto the deck. A hundred kilos left my shoulders as sudden control returned to my body. I sucked in deep lungfuls of air, and grinned down at the swirling ball of smoke.

  It moved up my leg with impossible speed, and raced for my mouth again. Oh, crap! Could he just reinfect me? I tumbled backwards and hit my head on one of the rings, then landed on the floor. I rolled away from the Matrix, away from the cloud of smoke pursuing me.

  “It’s all right, lad.” Reeva appeared again. “Let him try.”

  I forced myself to hold still, and waited for the smoke. I trusted that my interests and Reeva’s aligned right now. Utred slithered up my leg, and flowed up to my mouth…where he met some sort of resistance. Something I hadn’t conjured. He appeared unable to enter my mouth, so he tried my nose, then my ear. No dice.

  “You see, Utred the putrid.” Reeva stretched out a hand and seized the smoke by the scruff of its…smoke? “No violence can be committed here. You got in on a technicality, but the mischief ends here. You can’t infect anyone else. You’re trapped here. In that form. Forever.”

  He released the cloud, which swirled around in agitation. I actually felt a little bad. Maybe it was that polished exterior, but part of me liked Utred, despite how despicably evil I knew him to be.

  “What about my father’s shade?” I wondered aloud. “He left that on his body, which is probably with Necrotis.”

  “A different problem, and one you’ll have to solve on your own.” The dwarf reached up and clapped me on the shoulder. “Well done. Go ahead and get back in the Matrix, lad. You won’t misuse it. You’re just trying to get home, right?”

  “I can do that?” I wondered aloud. “Can I grab my friends too?”

  “Of course.” Reeva offered another genuine smile. Maybe those were why I liked the god. “You will them to be home first, then will yourself home. You’re already bound to the first four rings, and that’s all you’ll need for simple translocation within your home reality.”

  I relaxed for the the first time since I’d arrived. “To be clear…time isn’t passing right now, right? We’re outside time?”

  “That’s right.” Reeva sat down on the ground, and a funnel cake appeared in his hands, dripping with powdered sugar. “That means you’ve got time to think a bit, and choose how you get home.”

  I knew he couldn’t tell me what to do, that I had to figure it out myself. This Matrix was the most powerful spell amplifier in creation, theoretically. It might have made the Cycle itself. So theoretically I could cast any spell I knew. I could flame read. I could scry, and find anyone, or anything.

  I drew on the link Utred had established. Handy, that. I would have had no idea to bind with the fourth ring. I hadn’t had to do that aboard the Flame. The Matrix responded to my need, and I gained a second layer of perception.

  I could still see the Matrix, and Reeva enjoying his snack, but I could also see the reality I attempted to perceive. I willed it to show me Vee, as I wanted to ensure she was safe first. I focused on my own present, and waited to see what the Matrix would show me.

  Hot jealousy squeezed my chest as Inura and Vee filled my mind. I saw him pull my girlfriend to him, and kiss her. She savored that kiss, and then accepted a piece of his magic. Vee turned and ran.

  Behind her Inura moved to engage Utred’s sister, but the necromancer had been ready, and took him down with some sort of chains. The life god died, but at least he made his end defiantly. Good for him.

  Where was my mother? She’d…no. She’d have been the first target. If I was seeing Inura’s death, then my mom was already dead. I could play it back to be certain, but I didn’t want to see it.

  The view followed Vee, and ended up in the Highspire hold. I witnessed the terrible battle, and shared Vee’s shock when I spotted Jolene. How had she survived? Tears flowed down my cheeks, hot and unheeded, when Visala’s death added to Inura’s and my mother’s.

  Crewes arrived and both my fists clenched as I waited for the fire god to dispense the justice that monster so deserved. Shock and pain and rage filled me as the Confederate champion was overcome. Why had they sent him in without backup?

  That’s what he needed. Backup. I could provide that. A little at least.

  I shifted my focus to Hotep’s frigid body, and looked for my friends. Briff and Rava and Seket and Miri had all gathered in the inn’s common room, and were enjoying breakfast. If they had any idea I was missing, then either they didn’t show it, or didn’t care. The former. It was totally the former.

  I focused on all four of them, and in my head I envisioned a second location. I superimposed their table over the interior of the armory, at the top of Highspire. My friends winked out of existence, and just like that I translocated them across multiple light years.

  They appeared within the armory. Now I had a choice myself. I could immediately join them, or I could try to wiggle a few more cosmic answers out of the oldest god I would ever meet. He’d already told me to go to Nara for more answers, which was probably as much as I was going to get.

  Couldn’t hurt to ask though, and after everything I’d just lost I deserved something in exchange. I hadn’t even gotten any loot.

  “Reeva, I know that this place only works if I’m not self-serving or harming someone.” I struggled to put words to my question. “Am I making the right choice? I can use this thing to go back before Jolene blew up Kemet, right? I could stop her, and save my world.”

  “You could go to a timeline like that, yes.” Reeva wiped sugar from his beard, but it only spread it. “But you’d always know it wasn’t your timeline. Your timeline got fooked, and you walked away and started over. Stay the course, Jerek. Stay in your own timeline. Regrets and sacrifices will always haunt us, but you can’t ever get a true do-over. There is always a cost, paid by someone.”

  I nodded at that. He was right. It was time to go home, even if I didn’t like the circumstances. They needed me.

  23

  I appeared in the armory in the same instant I�
�d chosen for my friends, and had the pleasure of watching their amazed expressions as they suddenly realized where they were. Briff in particular looked shocked, as his now much larger body knocked over a stand containing some sort of inert magical nuke.

  “Jer!” Briff pulled his tail and wings in close, and wasn’t that much larger than a roller. “How did you manage it? We’re back! Though I was hoping to get air magic, and maybe spirit before we left….”

  “Don’t be greedy.” Rava punched Briff in the wing, which surprised me as she was the very last person to turn down power. “We made it out. We’re all here somehow.”

  Miri blinked owlishly at me. Then sprinted and threw her arms around me in a fierce hug. “I can’t believe you did it. We were just planning a heist to steal a ship from the Djinn, but…you did it.”

  “Yeah.” My shoulders sagged, and it was Seket who realized why. The paladin rested a comforting hand on my shoulder as I pointed out the problem. “I left the Remora there. We don’t have a ship any more.”

  “Ah, lad.” To my immense shock Reeva appeared, in all his bulbous-nosed dwarfness. “That was a taxi. It was never your ship. This is your ship.”

  And then he was gone.

  “Who was that?” Miri jerked a thumb at the spot the god had just occupied. She’d released me but I could still smell her.

  “Long story.” I sighed when I realized we didn’t have time to catch up. “We’re on the clock. Utred’s sister is out there murdering gods and children. I need to distract her while—”

  “Jerek?” Vee’s tentative voice came from the entryway to the armory. “Is it really you?”

  “Vee?” I blinked at her, guilty though I had no reason to be. “Wow, Inura really hooked you up with the magic. I’m, ah, sorry for…your loss.”

  Vee’s cheeks heated, and in that instant understanding passed between us. She knew that I knew, though maybe not exactly what I knew. I already hated the mind games around dating. We could have a straightforward conversation later.