And then I telepathically dominated it.
The spiraling around me brightened as the creature fought my will. But I was angry, desperate and afraid, and I took power from those emotions. I forced my way into the foreign landscape of the phasilion’s mind. I wasn’t sure if I was watching a memory from the phasilion or if my Glimpse had kicked on, but I saw a bald man with a tattoo of a sun on his neck standing before a phasilion. It was the same man from Megan’s photos and Thad’s shop—Robert Maxwell. “You will stay here and distract Corinthos during the attack,” he said.
“Yes, Lord Treggen,” the phasilion responded. Treggen? I filed that for later. I was too worried about the Urisk right now. I forced the creature to open its portal to the Urisk homeland and I staggered through the swirling lights into the dazzling sunlight of the Bright Side.
Which was on fire.
Chapter 15
To: Robert Maxwell
Once the golems were operational, I sent them into the city to hunt for paranormals. One of the first they discovered was a female gremlin. After many tests and experiments, I was able to replicate and enhance the gremlin’s genetic matrix. My breed of gremlins is much stronger and faster than their predecessors, and the venom they secrete can incapacitate creatures of up to five hundred pounds in weight.
Further enhancements are not possible without access to the original gremlin creator’s knowledge. NS has furnished me with the name and address of that individual, and I have taken steps to recover the desired information from her.
-Email message recovered from Kira Leevan’s computer
I was surprised that there wasn’t more smoke. Then I realized the fire was coming from my pyrokinetic followers. The Urisks’ faith flooded into me, and the last of the neo-gremlin’s toxin burned away from my body. My strength returned, and my powers surged. I had come out next to the Urisk city wall, right in the middle of a battle.
A group of my followers were perched atop the city wall, raining down fire and bolts of force against two dozen of the crystal soldiers. The soldiers stood eight feet tall and looked like linebackers made out of clear prisms. The runes in their chests pulsed and brightened as the Urisk struck them, but it didn’t look like they even felt the attacks. They ignored my followers and pounded against the city wall with their massive fists, cracking the thick stone and shaking the Urisk above. If they continued at their present rate, they’d break the wall down in a matter of minutes.
I threw my arms out to the sides and telekinetically latched onto the soldiers, intending to fling them away from the city. They barely moved, but the runes on their chests suddenly glowed so bright it was almost painful to look at them. I ground my teeth and imagined I was trying to lift a fleet of school buses. Then I heaved. The creatures were yanked from the ground and soared twenty feet up, so they were even with the top of the city wall. The runes on their chests glowed like tiny red suns.
Then they exploded. The shockwave picked me up and carried me close to five hundred feet. I crashed into a rock and the world went dark.
I’m not sure how long I was out. I felt like I was on fire and my arms and legs didn’t want to work. I hastily opened my mind to the Urisk. Their voices were panicked, horrified, angry and scared. Their prayers were filled with suffering and they were singing songs of lament. I hauled myself up, wincing as my bones knit. Here on the Bright Side, I’m not invulnerable, but I can’t be killed, either. My strength returned quickly and I ran for the Urisk city.
Most of the wall I’d raised earlier was gone. A giant crater that swallowed half of the city stood before me. Smoke trailed up into the sky. Homes that had not been destroyed were skewed on their foundations, and it didn’t look like any of the glass in the city had remained intact.
Urisk lay in the streets, some of them smoldering. I ran past them, sending out waves of healing energy. They groaned and began getting back to their feet. I continued on to the cathedral, where about a hundred of my followers had gathered. I burst through the doors and found them all lying on the floor. My shoes crunched on stained glass fragments as I hurried across the room to Lotholio, who slouched over the pulpit. He must’ve been leading the Urisk in a sermon to bolster me during the attack.
A wedge of glass the size of a slice of pizza had been driven into his chest. His eyes were flickering and pale pink blood covered his stole. I tore the glass from his chest and laid my hands on him. He gasped as the healing energy flooded into him. I cradled him against my body like an infant and, after what felt like a very long time, his eyes began to glow.
“Lord,” he whispered. “You came.”
“Rest, Loth. There are a lot of people who need my help.” He nodded and leaned back against the ground. I dashed over to the next fallen Urisk and laid my hands on him. This was taking too long. I sent out healing waves, stabilizing all the Urisk in the city. They’d be in excruciating pain until I was able to properly heal them, but at least they wouldn’t die. I cursed myself for not being faster, but even as a god I can only do so much. Healing a body isn’t like repairing the land or cleaning the air. There are a lot of complicated systems working together, and if you try to force a healing, you might kill the person.
So the stabilizing waves kept them alive as I worked. I lost count of the hours as I moved from Urisk to Urisk. One had lost both eyes to glass, and I restored them. Another’s legs had been severed, and I regenerated her limbs. A third had been impaled by one of the crystal soldier’s arms. And on and on.
I had just revived a small Urisk boy when I felt a hand on my shoulder. “Lord,” Lotholio said quietly. “You should rest.” I looked down at my hands. They were covered in pale pink blood. So were my shirt and pants. More of it was drying on my face and in my hair.
“No time,” I said as I moved over to the next victim. “The people need my help.” My eyes felt gritty and my head was pounding. Had I ever felt tired on the Bright Side? Had I ever felt like I was weak? No, I hadn’t. Too many of my followers had died, and I was drawing on everything, literally everything, the survivors had left to keep them alive. “Where are the healers, Lotholio? If I revive them, that will take some of the strain off.”
Lotholio was quiet, and I looked at him. “Well?” I demanded.
“The healers are gone, Lord.” he said in a half-whisper. “Their hospital was obliterated in the explosion. That entire half of the city is gone.”
I swore. I swore as loud as I could. “Who sent these things, Lotholio? What were they? Goblins and trolls don’t have allies like this!” Some of the volcanoes I had quelled earlier in the week suddenly belched forth clouds of smoke, and I could sense the lava welling up in them. The land began to quake around me. It took a moment to realize I was causing that. I shook myself and forced the land to quiet. Lotholio’s eyes were shimmering in a wavy pattern I knew to be fear. “Jesus Christ, Loth,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
He gave me a weak smile. “It is all right, Lord. I have ordered some of the remaining defenders to scout the area for more of the creatures, and if possible, to learn their origins. We will do what we can.”
I felt my faith reserves replenishing. This was the first time I’d ever been aware of my reserves while on the Bright Side. Usually I was bursting with power. Now I was depleted. Lotholio and his priests had been searching for more survivors, and they brought them to the cathedral’s grounds. The wounded group had swelled to several hundred Urisk. Several hundred more who needed my healing. This was too much for just me to do.
I turned to Lotholio. “The four priests who performed Shallar with us, Loth. Are they still alive?” Lotholio nodded. “Good. Go get them while I prepare.” As Lotholio hurried away, I knelt down and closed my eyes. My followers’ faith flowed into me, a trickle compared to the flood it had once been. It would be enough. I ran my hands through my hair. It was slicked with sweat and Urisk blood. I clenched my fists. Whoever did this was going to pay and pay dearly.
A few minutes later, Lotholio returned with the pr
iests in tow. They were battered and bruised, but they were alive, and I could feel their faith in me.
“Kneel,” I said. They knelt down across from me. I took Lotholio’s feather-topped head in my hands. “I charge you with the health and well-being of my followers,” I said. I touched each of the other priests in the same way. “It is your duty to tend the people when they fall.” Power flowed from me into the priests, and the light in their eyes swirled, the equivalent of gasps.
“I have blessed each of you with the power to heal. Lay your hands on the sick and wounded and they will recover. The stronger your faith, the more complete the healing will be. I chose you because I know just how strong your faith is, and even now can sense that you are true to me.” I stood and motioned for them to do the same. “I have every confidence that the five of you will be able to heal every wounded Urisk.” I swept my arm across the cathedral grounds. “Tend to them. I’m going to repair the damage to the city.” I walked away, trying to keep calm. Revenge was for later. Damage control was all I could concern myself with now.
I walked to the crater’s edge and skidded down the embankment to the center of the hole. By my best guess, it was right about where I’d lifted the creatures into the sky. I shuddered when I realized that if the crystal soldiers had detonated in the center of the city all the Urisk would be dead. I closed my eyes again and concentrated. The land rumbled beneath me. I screwed my eyes shut and pulled with everything I had. Just a few days ago, flattening the landscape had been a simple matter. I’d done it effortlessly. Now, I had to strain to move every rock and bit of dirt. Slowly, very slowly, the earth below me began to rise.
When the crater was level with the rest of the land, I smoothed it over and brought up some grass. I couldn’t manage any trees this time; I just didn’t have the power to spare. Instead, I took everything I had left and focused on the ruined wall. The first time, I’d made it out of rock. I thought that strong granite and marble would be a formidable defense. Now I realized my people would need something better than that.
I laid my hands against the jagged, cold stone and took a deep breath. I’d never tried anything like this before, but hey, I’m a god here. That has to count for something. I sent energy into the stone, life and sentience. The rock wall shimmered slightly, then the broken segments began to reform.
Began to heal.
The wall was confused for a moment. It babbled as its mind formed and language took hold. “You are Aegeon,” I said. “You are responsible for protecting my people. When armies attack or invaders approach, you must warn the Urisk and me. The one who leads when I am absent is called Lotholio. Do you understand, Aegeon?”
I understand. His voice came back strong and deep. I didn’t realize I’d made him a bass. It fit.
“Guard them well, Aegeon.” I left the wall and went back to the cathedral grounds. Lotholio and the priests were working quickly. Many of the fallen had been healed and were helping their neighbors. I surveyed the city. Aegeon rose twenty feet high, but siege equipment or flyers could still get in. I rubbed my temples. More of my followers had regained consciousness, more of them were praying, and everyone that the priests healed in my name was offering up words of thanks. I took that faith and stretched out my arms.
All the shattered glass in the city began to rise. I called it from everywhere. From the bodies of the dead, from the wounded, from where it was embedded in homes and furniture. I pushed it up, until the sky was a swirling spiral of glimmering glass shards. I sent my power into the glass, heating it, shaping it, restructuring it. Sweat ran down my brow. I clenched my fists and began to seal it into place. When I was done, a translucent dome sat atop Aegeon. There was no seam between the wall and the dome; they were part of one another, and would provide a much better defense to the Urisk than just the wall alone.
Lotholio came up to me. His hands were covered with pink blood, too. “The wounded have been tended to, Lord,” he said. “All the people are healed.”
I blinked at him. “That was fast. Nice work, Loth.”
Lotholio looked at me in confusion. “It has been close to seven hours since you blessed us with the gift of healing, Lord.”
Seven hours? I frowned. My powers must’ve been a lot weaker if it had taken me that long to repair the damage here and build Aegeon and the dome. Still, I could feel my faith reserves replenishing at a much faster rate. Lotholio turned his eyes toward the dome.
“Lord, forgive the impertinence, but what if the glass breaks?”
I smiled. “Nothing to worry about there. I’ve altered it at the molecular level, Lotholio. That’s not glass anymore. It’s solid diamond. It’d take a helluva blast to shatter that.”
Lotholio’s eyes shimmered, the Urisk equivalent of a smile. Then he froze. “The wall is speaking to me, Lord,” he whispered.
“That’s Aegeon,” I said. “He’ll help protect you while I’m gone.”
“He says that a group of Urisk are trying to get into the city, but they can’t find the gate.”
“There isn’t one,” I said. “Aegeon will open at any point for people that are allowed in. Right now, though, he doesn’t know who’s permitted. He’ll show you an image of whoever’s trying to gain access to the city, and if you permit it, he’ll grant them passage. He can also allow rain or snow in through the dome if you want, and he’s permeable, so he cycles in fresh air for the city, too.”
Lotholio nodded and focused on Aegeon. A hole twenty feet in diameter appeared in Aegeon to our left, and five Urisk came through, pulling a cart loaded with vegetables. The hole closed as soon as the last had passed. I turned back to Lotholio.
“Let the people rest, then start rebuilding as soon as you can. I’m going to pay a visit to the hobgoblins and trolls. Aegeon,” I called. “Open.” I took off at a run, surging through Aegeon’s gateway. The top speed a normal human can attain is roughly thirty miles an hour. Petra, going all out, can top sixty. Me, as a god, on the Bright Side? Well, let’s just say I could give the Flash a run for his money.
The landscape flashed past me in a blur: mountains, meadows, volcanoes, ponds. I could see the jagged range of mountains ahead where the hobgoblins and trolls made their homes. I’d charge in, grab the leader of each tribe and then I’d make them talk. I’d—
I hit a solid wall in the air. Moving at the speed I was, I bounced off and flew sixty or seventy feet before I crashed into the ground. “Turn back,” a voice sneered. “You are not welcome here.”
It was a phasilion. No, I realized, it was an entire clan of phasilions. Dozens upon dozens of them, linked together to form an invisible, solid perimeter around the hobgoblin and troll lands. “Treggen said to give you a message, Corinthos,” the voice continued. “Surrender, or your people will continue to die.”
“Where is Treggen?” I demanded. “I will speak with him directly, not through some lackey gateway of a fae.”
A tension, almost a sensation of electricity, buzzed in the air. As a god, I’d be able to resist if a single phasilion tried to transport me somewhere against my will. I’d probably even be able to resist a small group of them. But I doubted I could resist every phasilion in the clan. The voice was angry when it spoke again.
“The message has been delivered, Corinthos. Treggen will expect an answer. Will you surrender?”
I considered trying to compel them, like I had the one by the Children’s Museum. I thought about trying to just burn them all, and force my way through. But with half my followers dead, my powers were much weaker than they had been. If I failed and ran out of power, the phasilion would overwhelm me and the Urisk would be without their god. I ground my teeth.
“Sure, I’ve got an answer,” I said calmly. “You tell Treggen to go fuck himself.” I shot out blasts of force and fire as I turned. They wouldn’t be strong enough to kill the clan, but it would hurt a great many of them, and right now I really wanted to hurt something. Shrieks of pain resounded around me as I raced back to the Urisk. Aegeon sensed
my presence and opened for me. I sought out Lotholio, and found him drafting plans for the rebuilding.
“Loth, does the name Treggen mean anything to you?” He thought for a moment, his eyes brightening and fading. Finally he shook his head. I told him about the phasilion clan I’d encountered. “See if you can learn anything about him, okay? But be careful, he wants the Urisk for something.”
Loth nodded.
“I will, Lord, and thank you for everything.”
I nodded and tried not to grimace. Half his population was dead, half his city was gone, and he was thanking me. I’d never felt more inadequate in my life. Part of me wanted to try Shallar again, but I knew my followers wouldn’t be up for that.
I made my way back to the cathedral grounds, where I could sense a phasilion. “Aviorla?” I asked.
Her voice was a soothing sound. “Yes, Vincent Corinthos?”
I relaxed muscles I hadn’t realized were tensed. “There was another phasilion in Boston,” I said. “Did you know it?”
“Grenlori,” she said. “I tried to call out and warn you, but he blocked me. I hope you did not come to any harm as a result of his actions.”
“I’m fine, thanks. But how did I not sense Grenlori before?” Phasilion can move under their own power, but it takes years for them to move a few yards. I should’ve been able to sense Grenlori long before he was able to superimpose himself over Aviorla.
“Someone moved him in front of me,” Aviorla replied.
“Who?”
“I know not his name,” she said. “He looked like this.” An image formed in my mind, a picture of Robert Maxwell, a.k.a Lord Treggen. “I feared him,” Avirola whispered. I certainly couldn’t blame her there. Something about this man was downright unsettling. I said my goodbyes and stepped into Aviorla.
Imperium (Caulborn) Page 13
