by A. R. Knight
The ghoul spasmed at the pain, ripping the lash from my grasp and flailing around trying to get the burning cord off. That gave me time, time to run up the rest of the leg to the edge of that mouth. I pulled the crossbow off my back, used a lever to crank a blue bolt in place, when the ghoul started to snap towards me. To stand up.
If I fell from the lip of the mouth to the street, I was going to get hurt, badly. Or worse, I could fall into those teeth and get carved up into a thousand pieces.
“Stay focused,” Alec called and, as the ghoul tried to get its feet under it, my friend carved his way into the ghoul’s right ankle. Pounded on it with his gauntlets and burned through the support lifting the ghoul upright. I kept myself balanced, my feet on the edge where the ghoul’s leg ran into the bottom of its mouth. Precarious, but as long as the ghoul was lying on the ground, I could stand.
The lever clicked when the bolt was tight and I aimed it into that gnashing maw, around the flailing tongue, and fired. This time the ghoul couldn’t deflect it, couldn’t dodge it, and the wrangling fire burst out inside the beast. An inferno of pale blue reckoning.
Unlike the first ghoul, the one Alec and I had fought around the Palace, this one didn’t disintegrate into nothing. Rather, the wrangling fire split apart the spirits that had come together to form the ghoul in the first place. The blue fire spread up and down the length of the ghoul’s body and out of it crawled a dozen soldiers, their spirits looking around in utter confusion. They’d stand that way for a moment until the Cycle took hold and began urging them along their final journey.
I picked up my lash from where, when the tongue ceased to exist, it’d fallen. Then I looked to see whether Bryce and my mother were still alive.
Chapter 59
The easiest way to describe how my mother and my mentor fought was to say that it was like watching a tornado of razor blades. The ghoul looked hapless and lost as it flailed its many arms around, trying to catch Bryce and Katherine. My mother, with her hooked batons, used every swing to give herself leverage for her next one, looping around the ghoul at lightning speed and leaving slashes of blue fire everywhere she touched.
Bryce, his voulge split into two halves, stabbed and rolled along the outside of the ghoul, darting in and out of the grabbing arms and leaving burning holes wherever he struck. By the time our ghoul finished disintegrating into a mess of spirits, its opposite was less a creature and more a ball of blue gashes. In a few moments after that, the pale fire lines that the two guides had left were burning up and over the ghoul.
Another ten soldiers emerged from the ghoul’s vanishing corpse, blank-eyed and ready for the Cycle.
“I think we killed ours through luck,” I said. “They took care of theirs with skill.”
“You mean you didn’t intend for me to get thrown into the street?” Alec said. “Because I was hurt and you didn’t seem to care.”
“I was waiting for my moment.”
“Next time, perhaps you wait a little bit less, yes?” Alec replied.
“I don’t know, it worked out pretty well.”
Alec shook his head and walked over to greet Bryce and Katherine. Showered them with compliments on their victory. I looked for Graham, but the man had disappeared.
“He vanished right away,” Anna said, coming up. “I guess he didn’t think his creatures would win.”
“He’s buying time,” I said. “Or maybe he thought he would get lucky.”
“With what happened to Alec, he wasn’t far off.”
“You have to take close calls as victories,” I said. “Especially in Riven.”
“Especially tonight.”
After we collected ourselves, the five of us continued heading deeper. Towards Graham’s building. Katherine and Bryce chattered back and forth most of the way, commenting on how nice it felt to be back together doing what they did best. It almost made me jealous, seeing the two of them talking so fast with one another. A relationship with my mother that I would never have. That close friendship and the bond of countless shared experiences. At least, I didn’t have it then. Maybe now there was a chance.
Graham’s building stood in front of us, glowing from the inside. It was hard to tell from what, but in the gray light of Riven it looked as though some sort of green lightning flashed from inside the building steps. We all stared at it, out there in the street, in silence for a moment.
“Anybody have any guesses?” I asked.
“Not a guess,” Katherine said. “There’s a breach in there. A big one.”
“That’s what he was waiting for,” Bryce said. “He must’ve noticed so many soldiers crossing through at this point. Claim the building and waited for the breach. If we don’t take him tonight, he’s going to push farther.”
“There’s no if,” I said. “Graham is going to the Cycle. We’re ending it.”
“Anyone ever tell you that you have a flair for this sort of thing?” Alec said. “The dramatic, I mean?”
“It gets old, doesn’t it?” Anna said.
“I’m trying to pump us up,” I said. “Trying to be a team player here.”
“We all appreciate it, Carver,” my mother said.
“Thanks,” I replied. It was time to get this fight underway.
The strategy was simple. Bryce and I go in the front door while Alec and Kathryn scale the wall, get up that second story and take care of any ambushing spirits so Graham couldn’t get the drop on us like he did before. Anna keeps an eye on the outside, let’s us know if there’s problems coming in. Fires the sparker if she needs to. Ideally Bryce and I would keep Graham engaged long enough for Katherine and Alec to complete the sweep, the four of us trap Graham in the courtyard and finish it.
Bryce and I made it all the way to the front door before things fell apart.
Chapter 60
I reached for the twin handles on the door to get into the building but, as my hand came close, the doors blew open. The force of the wood knocked me back down the steps. When I looked back to see what slammed the doors open, I saw a mad spirit biting at my face. Then Bryce’s voulge cut through the spirit and flung it away, burning it up with pale blue fire.
I scrambled up to my feet and was set on by another pair. I worked the knife and the lash; sending the first one to the ground with pale blue fire wrapping around its legs while I kept the second dancing away from the knife’s point. There were more spirits behind it, a wave of them bustling out through the door. Bryce whirled into them, going through a dance and sweeping the voulge up and down. Raking through spirits as they tried to grab hold of him.
There was no place for caution here. Slowing down would mean being overwhelmed.
“Should we help?” Alec yelled from the outside of the building. He was almost at the second level, my mother already climbing over through the open windows.
“Stick to the plan,” Bryce said, the man was braver than me. I wouldn’t have minded Alec’s gauntlets right about then.
I charged the second spirit and caught it by surprise, lunging forward with my knife and spearing it. The spirit fell away, blue fire crawling all over it. I continued up the stairs, back to the door. I’d fought with Bryce enough times to know how to work with them, how to use the lash to catch any spirits that he missed with the spear and soon we were making our way through. Spirits fell one after another, caught by the pointed burning end of my lash or Bryce’s voulge. Except there were always more, and they clogged the hallway. Bryce and I would get tired eventually. Make one mistake and get torn apart.
“When I yell; dive back,” I said. Bryce grunted an acknowledgment, dodging a spirit’s raking hand. I noticed all the spirits here were wearing soldiers uniforms, but different ones, with various countries’ styles on them. Riven didn’t discriminate, and neither did Graham. The soldiers who’d died bitter enemies of each other were working together to kill us.
I slipped the lash back in its holster and drew the crossbow, flipped the second of my three orange bolts into the f
iring slot and turn the crank. I watched as I turned the lever. Bryce ducked under a pair of grasping arms, only he wasn’t quite fast enough, their hands grabbing and tearing at his coat. Another two spirits dove at his legs, knocking Bryce on his back. Bryce swept the voulge down across his body, cutting off the spirit’s wrists and freeing himself from their hands, but the endless wave was going to crash over him.
“Get back now,” I called and pulled the trigger. Aimed the bolt just above the first row of spirits. As it flew, the bolt sank just enough to strike one in the back. I didn’t see the impact, but saw the orange blue explode upward and outward, its rays decimating their way through the ranks. Every time Nicholas’s energy leapt to another spirit, it feasted on the creature and then jumped to the next one.
As Bryce scrambled back, the front wave of spirits surged forward. Reaching for him and trying to escape the doom at their backs. One by one they went up in the orange fire. The last one, its hand an inch from Bryce’s feet, evaporated into nothing.
“What was that?” Bryce said.
“Secret weapon,” I said, looking at the empty hole in front of us. “Let’s go.”
“They’re gone,” Bryce said, looking at the empty hall. Standing up and matching my stride. “I don’t know what’s going to happen if those spirits don’t make it to the Cycle.”
“Promise I won’t use it too much,” I said. I figured there were always more spirits. It wouldn’t matter a whole lot if a few dozen never made it home. I hoped.
We scrambled down the hallway and looked into the courtyard. Or, what had been the courtyard. The ash-covered grounds where I’d been torn apart last time were covered in the glowing green mess of a breach. On the other side of the hole we could see the bright flashes of an ongoing battle. A trench full of bodies as bullets flew back and forth and exploded in front of our eyes. A portal to a world just as deadly as the one we were in. A window into our home.
“You think I’m a monster,” Graham said, stepping out from behind a pillar. “You think it would be so terrible for all of these poor souls losing their lives in a meaningless fight to come back and have another chance. And I’m the evil one?”
“That’s not the way it works,” Bryce said. “It’s a one-way road. There are no guarantees. No second chances.”
“Then you won’t mind following in their footsteps,” Graham said. The spirit that had been my father charged Bryce and me, his hammer raised. Behind him, from the breach, more spirits crawled out. Whatever time the crossbow had brought us, it was running out.
Chapter 61
Bryce snapped his voulge together and met Graham’s strike head-on, clashing his weapon against Graham’s hammer swing. With his left, Graham raised his fist and sent a burning wire right into Bryce’s face. The wire wrapped itself around Bryce’s head and lit up, causing Bryce to backpedal and drop his voulge.
Graham followed, raising the hammer for another swing, when I hit him with my lash. The whip curled around Graham’s hammer arm and I pulled it back towards me, spinning the spirit around and bringing his malevolent gaze to meet my own.
“Haven’t we already had this fight?” Graham said. “Don’t we know how it ends?”
“This time it’s going to be different,” I replied and pulled back on the lash again, drawing Graham towards me while keeping his hammer arm extended. No way for him to swing the hammer with any momentum. I had the knife ready in my left hand. Until a spirit tackled me from behind and drove me to the floor.
I felt Graham jerk the lash out of my grip as the spirit on my back clawed me through my cloak. I thought about activating the coat Nicholas had given me and burning away the spirit. I held back. Graham didn’t know about the coat, and I wanted to keep my surprises hidden.
“Incoming,” Alec yelled, landing next to me and pulling the spirit off. His gauntlets wrangled the spirit and their flame culled its anger. “No ambush on the second floor. All of the fun is down here.”
“Thanks,” I said pushing myself to my feet. I looked up as Katherine joined us on the ground, mixing it up with Graham already. Trying to keep him off of Bryce, who was busy peeling off the burning wire. My mother was faster than Graham and kept him moving, occasionally landing strikes with the batons while Graham used the hammer more to create distance than actually try to hit her.
If I could get behind him, with my knife...
“I’m going to need some help,” Alec said, looking behind me. I turned that way and saw another five spirits climb out of the breach, their pale fire eyes turning towards us.
“Keep them busy,” I said. “We get Graham, this fight is over.”
Not entirely true, but I figured if Graham was gone then dealing with more spirits wouldn’t be a problem. So I ran at Graham’s back as Katherine circled him away from us. Ready to thrust a stab in between Graham shoulders. As I closed, I noticed my mother’s eyes slip away from Graham to meet mine, and that was all the clue that Graham needed. He turned a swipe of his hammer into a full spin, bringing it to meet me. I had to throw the knife up to block and the hammer battered it away, sending it bouncing along the ground and leaving me weaponless.
Katherine tackled Graham from behind, striking him with her batons. The baton’s blue fire burned, but Graham shrugged her off, threw her side into the wall at the edge of the courtyard.
“He’s too strong,” Bryce said. “We have to work together.”
My mentor stood, slowly. A burning line crossed his face, running along Bryce’s nose and cheek, then around and behind his head. Bryce held his voulge was up, set his feet. I drew the crossbow and Graham looked at both of us, laughed.
“Even with all of you here, you can’t hope to win,” Graham said. “You’ll be overwhelmed in minutes. Torn to shreds.”
“Careful,” I said. “Your crazy is showing.”
I fired a blue bolt right at him. Graham moved fast, ducking it, but the move gave Bryce an opening. His voulge slashed across Graham’s shoulder, and Bryce quickly turned the swing, sending the voulge back, point first and stabbing into Graham’s back. Pinning Graham down into the ground.
“I can’t hold them!” Alec yelled.
The call came at the worst time. Bryce and I looked and saw ten spirits, with more crawling up behind them. Alec was a dervish, slicing up the spirits as fast as he could, but I saw more than a few scratches on the guide. As I looked, four spirits converged on Alec, two grabbing his arms while the second pair raked at Alec’s chest and face.
“Help him,” Bryce said. But we’d taken too long. Graham caught the hesitation and, still on the ground, swept Bryce’s legs out from under him. With the voulge still sticking out of his back, Graham stood. Turned to me.
“Carver,” I heard my mother’s voice, glanced as she threw my knife back to me. She jumped into the fray next to Alec, batons flying and scattering the spirits holding my friend. Buying us a bit of time. When I turned back, Graham raised his hammer.
“Come on,” Graham said. “Show me that you deserve to be a guide.”
I hefted the knife, tiny next to Graham’s hammer. But before my father could come after me, he screamed. Pain, surprise. Bryce had knifed Graham in the leg. Bryce was about to twist the hilt when Graham, reaching behind his back, pulled out Bryce’s voulge and, in one smooth movement, stabbed Bryce with his own weapon.
I yelled, but I wasn’t sure what. My vision went hazy, a film of red cast over everything. Anger in terror and frustration boiling over at seeing my mentor and teacher for these last twenty years struck so terribly. The voulge stood up like a sinister grave, marking Bryce as he shuddered on the ground, speared.
Knowing nothing else, seeing nothing other than Graham standing over Bryce, I charged. Took two quick steps and leapt at the spirit. Graham twisted at me as I hit him and knocked him over Bryce. Drove him into the wall and stabbed with the knife. But even then, even with surprise and reckless anger working for me, I couldn’t catch hold. My knife tore through Graham’s coat but he slithered
out of its reach. Pulled me aside and pushed me away.
“If you had given yourself to me,” Graham said. “Then your friend would still be alive.”
“Never,” I said, though Graham’s words struck home. I could have. I could have given him the path he wanted. The path back and none of this would’ve happened. I saw, in the corner of my eyes, Alec and my mother overwhelmed by the growing number of spirits. Driving them back towards us, raking and tearing at their arms and legs. In front of me, limping, weak, but still deadly, Graham. One hole back to the real world, one life, and this could have all been erased.
“Don’t give up,” I heard Bryce’s voice; slight, scratched. “Close the breach.”
I saw on his belt the same device we’d used earlier, the tablet with the sapphire. It glowed. Ready.
I returned Graham’s glare with one of my own. “I’m not done yet.”
I threw the knife at Graham and he raised the hammer for the block. I used that time to run towards Bryce, reach down and scoop the device, off of his belt. Ran towards the center of the breach.
“Give me an opening,” I shouted. The two guides, one current, one former, pressed their backs to one another and then, using broad strokes, cleared out a path. A small hole through which I could see the rippling green glow of the breach and the war happening on the other side.
I ran through that hole, squeezed between a thousand grasping fingers and dove into the center of the breach. Pressed down on the sapphire and felt its glow explode out around me. Azure tendrils reached out into the green and began to tear up and shatter the image of the real world, to bring Riven back together.
The spirits stopped fighting as the sapphire’s tendrils reached out and caught them too, wrangled them as the device closed the breach. Except one.
