The Immortal of Degoskirke

by Michael Green

Letty ducked under the blow and lunged upward tightening her fist at just the right moment.

  The blade ripped into the ryle.

  The goblins cheered.

  Instead of falling to the ground, Viqx roared, backhanding Letty with a powerful fist.

  She tumbled across the wreckage, her helmet flying off. Letty moaned and rolled to her feet, barely aware of the goblins helping her up.

  “How is she still alive? I caught her in the chest!”

  Viqx stared for a moment, realization working in her awful face.

  “A Seeress, all for me,” she growled, ignoring the queens and rounding on Letty.

  A dozen goblins leaped from the taller buildings, screaming as they flew. They landed on the giant ryle, stabbing and chopping as they did.

  Viqx shrugged off the wounds and then tensed her muscles in a strange way. The blade vanished, but her body was suddenly covered by shining and translucent purple armor.

  The goblins shrieked and flew off, singed and jolted by the armor.

  She can’t do a blade and the armor. It’s one or the other!

  Letty picked herself up and swung at Viqx. The ryle let the blow bounce off her armor before swiping at Letty.

  Letty dodged the attack, but quickly realized that she was massively underpowered.

  She isn’t unarmed; she could kill me barehanded.

  Blue barked orders at the goblins. They readied their javelins and short bows. Occasionally Viqx would swipe at one, forcing him to break off or dive for cover, but she couldn’t press an attack for fear of exposing a side to Letty.

  How can I get her to lose the armor?

  Viqx roared and lunged towards Letty who dived and rolled under the ryle’s massive legs. Without looking, Letty rolled to her feet and took off running.

  “You can’t escape, Seeress!”

  “Pursue!” Blue ordered, riding a goblin’s head and holding onto his ears.

  Letty turned at random down the winding streets. The eyes of the queens lifted to the noise from various round windows and doors. Letty descended into a tunnel but heard a sudden, sharp buzzing sound, like that of a one-ton honeybee.

  She’s flying over the building to catch me on the other side.

  Letty paused, looking around the tunnel at the doors to the buildings. She tried one and found it locked.

  “Come out, girl, I won’t bite,” Viqx said, bending and pulling herself into the cramped tunnel.

  Letty tried to keep herself from shrieking in fear at the sight.

  Think! Think!

  Letty used her blade to slice a way through the righthand tunnel wall. She rushed through the breach and found herself inside a wide, empty chamber. It had once been a normal building with rectangular rooms and long halls, but some regular masonry had been destroyed or replaced by smooth, curving insect walls.

  Letty realized the interior was large enough for Viqx to stand.

  Keep moving!

  She ran to one of the curving walls and cut a square into it before kicking the square chunk out to the other side. She looked through and saw the space on the other side was the same.

  “I see you!”

  Letty flinched and saw Viqx ripping the wall apart and pulling herself into the building. The roof buckled and dust trickled down.

  Bring the building down!

  Letty leaped through the hole she had just cut and ran around the perimeter of the room, slicing chunks out of the walls.

  Wait! What if it falls on me?!

  Cringing, Letty turned and sliced a way through another wall. There was only earth on the other side.

  Right, I went down a tunnel and then inside this building. I’m one floor down.

  Letty heard a blade rip through the wall behind her.

  With fear gripping, Letty dashed through the closest door and ran down a hall, looking through each door for stairs.

  “The more you run, the worse it’s going to be!” Viqx yelled, from not far behind.

  Letty ignored the doors to her sides and raced for the end of the hall. She heard a heavy buzzing coming from behind but dared not look. At the end of the hall she saw stairs leading up. She took them two at a time. The buzz was deafening and suddenly on top of her.

  She felt a claw grasp her leg and pull her back down the stairs. Letty struck with her blade but another claw intercepted her arm. Both claws wrenched, cracking her plated armor and tearing her skin. Letty cried out. Viqx raked her claws across Letty’s face.

  “Is there anything sweeter than destroying beauty?” Viqx whispered.

  Letty drew her pistol. Viqx raised a brow but recognized the threat too late. Letty focused through the pain and her trembling, and knew that she couldn’t miss. She pulled the trigger.

  Viqx released an unearthly rasping cry.

  Letty struggled free. Viqx had been shocked by the wound, but was not killed.

  Letty grasped the banister and pulled herself to her feet. She struggled so ferociously backward up the stairs that she couldn’t keep traction and ended up on her hands and knees.

  Viqx growled in fury and Letty heard her moving again.

  She isn’t dead! How isn’t she dead?

  Letty raised the pistol and fired it until every round was spent.

  Viqx only screamed. She refused to die.

  What do I do?

  Viqx pulled her trembling body up with the strength of her arms. She drove her claws into the walls and climbed up the stairs after Letty.

  Oh, God!

  Letty gasped and crawled up the stairs, dropping her spent pistol, before finally willing herself to stand. She felt something wet running down her face. She looked down onto her breastplate and saw blood twisting across its smooth surface. Shaking and nearly falling on every step, she finally reached the top. Her cheek felt like it was on fire. Heaving in breaths, she swung her blade at the walls of the stairwell, tearing them into pieces and collapsing them down the well. She went through the room, limping and swinging at the walls and beams. When the building finally creaked and shifted, she turned to the door. Letty looked back and saw the pile of debris in the well; it was still moving.

  She stumbled outside. The goblins spotted her and raised the alarm. They had scores of queens in tow.

  “Stay away!” she yelled at them, dragging her blade through the entire length of the building.

  She swung and swung, but the building only splintered and creaked. She cried out and kicked at one of the corners before the whole thing collapsed.

  Letty screamed at the top of her lungs and finally crumbed to her knees, before clutching her bleeding face.

  Somewhere in the distance, a bell tolled noon.

  Chapter 14

  Noon

  “Send your guards to the sewers! There are ravagers and brutox, in the thousands! They will attack at noon! These few ryle aren’t even the beginning! You have to listen to me, Ventalus!”

  The mouse rubbed at a bloody spot on his throat. Andy hadn’t seen him take the wound, but assumed it happened when the guards subdued his captors.

  Ventalus, surrounded by grumbling Exegesuits, was mortified by what he saw, but was still unready to listen to Andy, despite his rescue. Andy looked down onto his blade and knew they must dislike seeing it.

  They would prefer the ryle and I just kill each other and be done with it. Well, that won’t be the end.

  Andy refused to release his blade and looked back at Ziesqe’s crumpled body, which was still receiving treatment from Kal.

  Ventalus listened to the complaints against Andy, while people screamed at the guards to shoot the ryle, while others cried that Andy and his friends be killed.

  “He flaunts the sacred law in front of our eyes!” an Exegesuit complained. “We cannot send the guards on a fool’s chase in the sewers! It is clearly a trick to leave us exposed! They are acting, and still in league with each other!”

  “Guards! Fire on the boy!” An Exegesuit ordered.

  The guards looked to Ventalus to
repeat the order.

  Ventalus was silent.

  Andy noticed a robed figure fidgeting nearby. The figure wasn’t heatedly yelling and screaming, like everyone else, which made him stand out.

  Andy let the Argument flow into his eyes, granting him the Sight. The rush of noise sent his head spinning, but he saw beneath the figure’s robe. It was an ychoron, bearing a hidden dagger mounted on a piston. The device was strapped to his wrist and he was approaching Ventalus, crouched and ready to strike.

  The crowd gasped at Andy’s shining eyes.

  “Heresy!” one yelled, the sound coming to Andy as if through a thick mist.

  Andy raised a hand. “Assassin!”

  The ychoron flinched at the word but, after a moment of hesitation, lunged for Ventalus, the pneumatic blade shooting out from his sleeve. He was too late. The guards had taken the threat seriously and subdued him by weight of numbers.

  “The ryle are trying to kill you, Ventalus!” An Archatian yelled from across the stage. “How many times must the boy save you? Listen to him! Don’t be a fool!”

  Andy was about to speak when a bloodied guardsman pushed his way through the crowd and approached the stage. He was limping and his sword had been broken. All he held was a hilt and half a foot of blade.

  “They are attacking the brutox parcel! Ryle heretics and a force of mercenaries!”

  “This is his plan!” Andy roared. “His army is almost all brutox! He’s trying to kill the queens, because they are the only thing that can stop him!”

  Ventalus stepped forward, his whiskers in one hand and his ears tense in thought. The Exegesuits continued pestering him, but he raised a palm for silence.

  “Commander!” Ventalus said to a guardsman in gilded armor. “Get a company to the brutox parcel, and have half of your men take up positions around the cisterns!”

  “Aye, sir!”

  A sudden bustling attracted Andy’s attention. He turned and saw the Archatians had just settled something and were splitting up and heading in different directions at a run.

  “Well done, Lysander!” Ziesqe said, back on his feet and looking fresh, despite the wound on his face. “You’ve forced this city down the last and most violent path. Like a coward, you attacked me from behind. Actions define us, and for all this, I will—” Ziesqe paused at a sudden screech from above.

  Andy looked up and saw the beast circling above. Its roar was an unsettling mix of bird, dog, and what he expected a dragon might sound like.

  People looked for the sound but could not see it.

  “What’s making that noise?” Ithmene approached and asked.

  “I don’t know,” Andy answered, feeling his spine tingle.

  Andy realized that Ziesqe and the other ryle could see the beast, where almost no one else could.

  “Guards!” Ventalus snapped at Ziesqe’s tirade, “Arrest those ryle!”

  Ziesqe shook his head and raised his blade as the guards surrounded him. “It’s too late, tall mouse.”

  The bells tolled out noon.

  “What does that mean! He’s surrounded! Aren’t we safe now?” Ithmene asked.

  Andy shook his head.

  The ground rumbled, and a hollow sound of scraping filled the air. Andy saw the buildings all around begin to shake. Birds panicked and flew from their nests in droves and a low roar rose from the crowd. Some ran for cover while others avoided the buildings and filled the plaza, hemmed in on all sides by creaking structures.

  Letty, did you free the queens?

  A bursting sound rang out and a heavy metal grate exploded out from a nearby manhole. The street surrounding the manhole crumbled and burst outward. A loud shriek filled the air.

  “Ravager!” Andy cried, pointing to the creature’s head as its massive jaws cleared a way.

  “Take aim!” a sergeant cried.

  The ravager, having freed its head, erupted from the ground at speed. A few dozen pale manti leaped from its back, into the crowd.

  “Fire!”

  Wheel-locks all around fired, belching flames and smoke.

  The closest ravager cried out and faltered, collapsing onto a building that abutted the plaza.

  A cheer rose from the guards, who were instantly reloading their weapons. The cheer stifled as a second and then a third ravager spilled out from the ground. Andy saw the massive frames of other, larger ravagers, rising from the ground across the plaza. The dozens of invading brutox became hundreds. They surrounded Ziesqe who eyed the force of guards.

  He’s going to focus all his strength against the leadership. You must protect them!

  Andy saw fighting break out between the guards and the rushing manti.

  He’s right.

  Andy released his blade, tensed the muscles along his trunk and down his limbs, he felt the Argument flow and manifest as his suit of armor. Andy knew that he couldn’t wield the blade and armor, but as he thought this, his arm bent to one side, keeping the tensed nerves of his shoulder from affecting those lower. He took a breath and grasped. His honed blade appeared, its shape defined to such a degree that Andy thought he was holding an actual rapier.

  “What good will it do you, Lysander?” Ziesqe spat, raising his own blade and armor. “Surrender, and we’ll take a pleasant walk up the Guilt!”

  “Guards! Fire at the ryle! He’s their leader!” Andy cried out.

  Ziesqe seemed unafraid.

  A pair of wheel-locks burst and Andy saw the Counter armor shimmer as the bullets bounced off.

  “Wha—” Andy looked at the guards, “the Etherium tipped bullets! Use them!”

  A guard shook his head and Ziesqe laughed. “Each of us only had one loaded. There was never meant to be a battle!”

  Andy crouched and turned his side to his foe. His parrying dagger rose on its own. He found himself flanked by the guardsmen and their field of lowered halberds.

  Andy charged into the enemy, killing two manti before turning towards one of Ziesqe’s lieutenants. Ziesqe gestured, and the lesser ryle pushed through the line towards Andy, while he stood aside with Kal. “Take him alive, hew off his hands if needs be!”

  Don’t let his posture fool you! Ziesqe will wait until you become entangled with his underlings before striking! Fight with the halberdiers at your side!

  Andy resisted the urge to press forward. The ryle looked disappointed as Andy waited for the slow-moving wall of guardsmen to reinforce his flanks.

  “What are you afraid of?” a ryle spat, waving his blade and slicing the top off a halberd. “Should we kill your friends first?”

  Ziesqe raised a claw. “Charge them!” he cried. The brutox suddenly fell onto the guardsmen. The manti focused on getting their scythe-like limbs around the halberd hafts to split the weapons, forcing the guards to resort to their broadswords.

  Andy felt his anger rising as he saw the guardsmen being cut down, but he kept to his place and only struck at the enemy when they came within range.

  “Push! Funnel them to our core!” the guard commander ordered.

  The halberdiers strengthened their attack by pushing their flanks forward and trying to funnel the enemy towards Andy, who defeated them with ease.

  “Muskets inside!” a sergeant commanded.

  Andy’s peripheral vision caught more guards weaving into the fighting formation. They were armed with the wheel-locks.

  “Free fire! Advance to envelop their center!” the commander bellowed.

  “Get our champion to their command! He’ll cut off the snake’s head!” a sergeant cheered in response.

  Andy sliced through another mantis and saw that Ziesqe and his lieutenants were getting closer.

  Andy stepped out of the line and surprised a ryle by batting away his feeble blade and striking with his parrying dagger. The others were waiting for this and pulled away from fighting the guards to move in on Andy from three sides.

  Get back!

  Andy broke off his attack and stepped back until he saw the field of halberds ag
ain at his side.

  You are nothing without support! Don’t let success swell your head! If they surround you, it’s all over! You cannot fight more than two ryle, even with the armor. A single misstep could mean a missing limb!

  Andy growled his dissatisfaction for Caspian’s advice. Seconds later, he heard a shriek and the sounds of snapping jaws.

  Ravagers.

  Several beasts had demolished the buildings protecting the formation’s flanks and had since formed up to strike from those sides.

  “Shiltrom on the banner! Fall back to the guild-house!” the commander bellowed.

  “Damn!” A guard spat, “we almost had them!”

  “The sides can take it, just push a little further!” another guard yelled.

  “Silence! Make a circle, damn it! Pull in the sides! They will slaughter us at the flanks if we don’t!” a sergeant commanded.

  Andy saw the guards surround the High Exegesuits inside a circle of halberdiers with their banners at the center. A guardsman tried to pull Andy back with the formation, but was shocked by his armor. Andy barely noticed. All he could think about was the ryle.

  Ziesqe will get away!

  Two of the ryle saw Andy hesitate and suddenly pressed the attack, cutting him off from the guards.

  Andy let their blows bounce off his plates. Sparks and flashes burst when blade met armor. One let his guard down to lunge, and Andy deflected him with a riposte before finishing him with his parrying dagger. He faced the other. The ryle knew he had no chance, neither he nor his late partner could coat themselves in armor. Andy intimidated him into releasing his blade.

  “Throw down your orb!” Andy demanded.

  The ryle moved to obey, but took his time about it.

  Behind you!

  Andy turned in time to see a ravager’s massive jaws bearing down on him. He had stayed too long from the circle.

  The creature shrieked and snapped as it overran him.

  Andy rolled into the snap and ended up beneath its jaws and hundreds of piston-like limbs. He morphed his parrying dagger into another long blade and swiped at the passing legs. He sundered many, but several struck him in passing, beating him breathless, despite his armor.

  The ryle who had surrendered raced to Ziesqe and his growing circle of newly arrived brutox warriors. Many were gesturing wildly with their weapons as if asking for permission to attack, but Ziesqe held them back.