by John Corwin
I fell back on my ass, gasping for breath, sweat freezing on my forehead from the chill of Murk. Face grim, raven hair whipping around her face, Elyssa gripped my hand and pulled me to my feet. When I looked at the cliff wall, I knew why.
We'd gained maybe fifteen yards of distance. Nowhere near enough room to open the emergency wings.
Chapter 2
Adam's forehead pinched with worry. "Can you do it again?"
My knees wobbled, and my insides felt like a frozen microwave dinner, but I nodded. "Yeah, I need a moment."
"We don't have a moment," Elyssa said, looking up at the Daskar circling like vultures overhead as they waited for us to slam to earth.
Illaena rushed over to us, eyes wide. "What are you doing?"
"Making space," Shelton said.
Adam snapped his fingers. "Of course! We could use the ship's weapon gems at the same time!"
"Same time as what?" Illaena asked.
Adam held out hand, lining it up with the gem. "Justin's going to ram Murk against the cliff to push us away from it. Can you give us all you've got from the port side cannons?"
The captain nodded and shouted commands to Tahlee. "Power port side cannons. Fire on my mark!"
Tahlee relayed the orders and the tactical soldiers manned the stations. I took a deep breath and steadied myself. Elyssa put her hands on my shoulders and braced me. "I've got you, babe."
I can do this. My best friends were on this ship. My true love was right behind me. I had to do what it took to save them.
I summoned all my strength and channeled Murk. I was too tired to make jokes this time. Too tired to hold my arm up. Elyssa gripped my forearm and steadied my aim. I felt her warm breath against my neck. Felt her soft curves pressing against me.
"Justin, I think you're redirecting your power somewhere else." Elyssa said.
I blinked my eyes and tried not to think about Elyssa for once. "Sorry, got distracted."
"I'll distract you all you want later," she murmured.
My core temperature shot up and suddenly the Murk didn't seem so cold after all. I gathered my willpower and nodded. "Ready. Aim. Fire!" I unleashed everything I had. The ultraviolet energy gathered on the gem and exploded from the other side.
Illaena threw forward her arm and the ship cannons fired.
The crystalline tinkle of Murk filled the air and the ship lurched starboard. The massive explosion ripped gouts of rock from the cliff. Dust filled the air and was just as quickly blown away by the wind. Elyssa kept me from falling this time, but my vision went blurry and I nearly blacked out.
I heard Shelton whooping. Felt Adam clap me on the back. I shook my head and the world swam back into focus. We'd gained over twenty yards—more than enough room for the wings. Illaena's shouts filled the air. Crew ran to long levers set flush in the deck and pulled on them with all their might.
Elyssa and the others went to help. I sat down on the deck to gather my strength. The lifeless gaze of a dead Daskar peered at me through a broken mask—a single green eye glazing over in death. I reached toward the helmet, determined to pull it off and see one of the bastards who'd attacked us when my stomach sank like a rock and gravity toppled me over.
The wings locked into place with thuds and the ship leveled out its descent. With the assistance of the remaining levitation foils, the Falcheen rose ever so slightly and the violent turbulence stopped vibrating the deck.
Cheers rose from the crew. Shelton raised his staff overhead and shook it at the Daskar pacing us. "Who's got the power now, bitches?"
"Lock foils, prepare for assault!" Tahlee shouted as she relayed another order.
The dozen remaining Daskar joined a tight arrow formation and dove. The levitation and weapon gems on their armor glowed brighter and brighter, as if they were charging everything all at once.
"What in the blazes are they doing?" Shelton said.
Adam's mouth dropped open. "They're overloading their gems. When they hit the ship with that much magic, they'll explode!"
I raised a trembling hand and then dropped it. "I'm too tired to stop them."
Elyssa reached for her light bow, but it wasn't on her back anymore, probably lost in one of the earlier scuffles. "We're screwed."
Shelton slammed the butt of his staff onto the deck. "Not if I have anything to say about it." He ran to the focusing gem and rotated the housing. "Adam, aim this damned thing for me."
Adam rotated the brass housing up, eyeballing the distance. "I won't be able to touch the gem while you're firing."
"Lead them a little," Shelton barked.
I stumbled over and pushed Adam out of the way. "Let me aim it. I can survive a little magic damage."
"Don't count on it," Shelton said. "You touch the wrong side of the gem and you'll lose a hand."
I summoned a trickle of Murk—just enough to tether the top and bottom of the housing. "I can aim up or down. Adam, you rotate."
Adam knelt and gripped the rotation lever on the base. "Ready!"
Shelton spun his staff in a pattern. The lines of the pattern glowed brilliant orange, hovering in place before the Arcane. The magic sizzled with heat. Sweat broke out on Shelton's forehead and his face reddened. He thrust forward his staff and shouted, "Ra!"
The lines of glowing energy poured into the gem until it lit up like the sun. Orange flames gouted from the other side, miniature solar flares. Fire licked at the sky, missing the Daskar by a wide margin.
"We're too high!" I yanked on the bottom tether and lined up the shot.
Elyssa motioned at Adam. "Ten degrees starboard!"
He pushed on the lever and the solar flare spell raked across the Daskar. A chorus of screams went silent in an instant as the aether gems on their armor overloaded. Ultraviolet energy cascaded across the sky, thunder rumbling the final death cry of the attackers. The edges of the explosion washed across the deck, pushing the Falcheen forward on a tidal wave.
"Nice work, Shelton!" Adam clapped him on the back.
Shelton didn't look happy. "It took a damned magnification gem to make me halfway useful in a fight."
We grabbed hold of the gem housing and held on for dear life as the sky ship rocked and swayed in the turbulence. We careened hard starboard. The emergency wing on that side grazed the cliff, sending another shudder through the vessel.
The navigators wrestled back control before the wing could tear loose.
Massive columns appeared through the haze several hundred yards ahead. Adam swallowed hard. "We're almost to the shield wall."
"Why didn't Kohval's people wait to attack us at the wall?" Shelton said. "They could've pinned us in."
"Possibly," Elyssa said. "Kohval probably knew we'd anticipate an attack at the shield, so he tried something different."
"Kohval anticipated our anticipation," I added helpfully.
"I'm sure he had eyes on the coast just waiting for us to make an appearance," Elyssa said. "He knows Justin is the biggest threat to his plans."
Adam rotated the gem toward the shield and latched the Chalon back into place. "Let's just hope my brilliant plan for piercing the shield works."
Shelton looked at me doubtfully. "We didn't plan on Justin being out of juice at this point."
Adam's plan had been pretty brilliant. If Kohval had waited until we'd reached the shield to attack us, we would have punched a hole through it using the portal gem and been on our merry way while his forces were trapped on the wrong side. Adam had tested his theory on my shields, and while it had worked fine, the shield wall used to keep Brightling invaders at bay was far more powerful than anything I could muster.
A curtain of sparkling violet light shimmered between the giant columns braced against the canyon walls. A handful of Daskar hovered in the air before it, but they were far fewer than what had attacked us earlier.
Shelton laughed and slapped his leg. "They blew their load on us already! All we gotta do is punch a hole and we're home free."
"Don't
count your chickens yet, Shelton." Elyssa folded her arms and focused on the objective. "Kohval might have another surprise waiting."
"Justin can't power the gem," Adam said. "We need the crew to help."
Illaena was already on it, shouting at a group of people near the aft section. A bald seraph pushed through the others and made his way forward. "I am more than prepared to save the ship," Eor bellowed. "You may place your faith in me." He took the Chalon and set it back in its holder on the magnifying gem.
Illaena didn't look exactly pleased to see the head gem sorter, but at this point, we couldn't afford to be picky. The soldiers and deck crew looked exhausted, leaving our fates in the hands of the last people on the ship to see action—the gem sorters.
Eor and five of his people gathered before the focusing gem.
"Do you know what you're doing?" I asked.
"Of course." He waved away my concerns. "I watched you test this many times." He gestured toward the Mzodi paired off to either side of him. "They will chain with me and allow me to focus energy on the Chalon."
"One hundred yards and closing to shield wall," Tahlee shouted. "Two minutes to impact!"
Adam flinched at the interruption then turned back to Eor. "Channel Brilliance into the Chalon and then will it through the gem. The gem will do the rest."
Eor sighed dramatically. "I know, boy. Now, let me save the ship."
Adam's jaw tightened and he muttered something.
Eor's eyes widened. "Why would you say such things about my mother?"
Adam bared his teeth. "Just pierce the damned shield, okay?"
Tahlee's voice rang out again. "Seventy-five yards, one minute, thirty seconds to impact!"
"Stop scaring me!" Shelton hollered at the first mate.
The other gem sorters made a chain, touching the shoulder of their neighbor with Eor at the center. The head gem sorter cracked his knuckles, cleared his throat, and then held out his right hand. A beam of white Brilliance speared into the Chalon. The orb levitated from the brass frame and spun in the air. Intricate patterns etched in its surface glowed softly at first, growing brighter and more intense with every second.
"One minute to impact!" Tahlee shouted.
Eor flicked his fingers and energy poured from the Chalon and into the gem. A large, diffuse beam shot from the other side and hit the shield wall. Nothing seemed to happen.
"Oh, crap," Shelton said.
Adam tried to push up his nonexistent glasses again, eyes growing round as dinner plates. "It's got to work!"
Tahlee piled on with another reminder. "Forty yards, Thirty seconds!"
The shield wall flickered and misted away, leaving a space large enough for the Falcheen to fly through.
The gem sorters cheered.
"We ain't out of the woods yet," Shelton said. "What about the damned emergency wings? They'll never fit through that hole."
Elyssa leaned forward against the bow railing. "We'll lose altitude too fast without the wings."
She was right. Adam had aimed the gem just a bit lower than the ship, giving us a dozen yards of clearance all around, but without the wings, we'd drop well below the threshold and the lower hull would smack into the shield. I didn't want to imagine the wreck after an impact like that.
Illaena held up a fist and the crew manning the wing levers tensed.
"Twenty seconds," Tahlee cried. "Ten seconds!"
Illaena dropped her fist.
The crew pulled on the levers, muscles bulging, arms tensing with the strain. The massive wings groaned, folding back but not fast enough. The edges skimmed the hole in the shield, snapping the wings shut with a loud clap. The impact threw bodies across the deck, both living and dead, but with the wings out of the way, the Falcheen plowed onward through the hole and into Darkling airspace.
The hole in the shield shimmered and solidified behind us, just as Adam had expected. When we used to gem to make a gateway through the Voltis Maelstrom, it might remain in place for an hour or more, but its effects didn't last long against shields.
Without the wings open, the sky ship rapidly lost altitude. The crew struggled with the wing levers and opened them in time to keep us from smashing into Kohval's military headquarters, a tall black building. The last time I'd been here, the facility had been crawling with soldiers. Now the entire town looked deserted. Aside from the welcome wagon left behind in the Northern Pass, it seemed Kohval had taken everyone with him to invade Tarissa, the capitol city of Pjurna.
The crippled ship flew just past the town before Illaena spotted a grassy field that offered the best place for us to crash land. Without all the levitation foils functioning, there was little chance of making a nice, soft vertical landing.
We dropped lower and lower, strain showing on the faces of the navigators as they struggled to slow the ship. The tops of trees brushed against the bottom of the crystal hull, wood creaking and screeching. By the time we reached the field, we were less than a hundred feet in the air.
Ever the bearer of good news, Tahlee shouted, "Brace for impact!"
The crew who weren't helping the navigators channeled wings and glided away into the air. Illaena and Tahlee gripped their stations on the bridge, committed to going down with the ship.
I turned and watched the ground with growing horror. It was like rushing headlong toward death and I felt completely powerless to stop it. I was too tired to channel wings or even Murk to tether myself. "This is going to hurt."
Tahlee shouted another command. "Wings full tilt."
The crew on the emergency wings pulled sideways on the levers. The wings rotated nearly ninety degrees, braking the ship hard enough to send more bodies and rubble skidding across the deck.
Elyssa held onto the portal gem base with both hands, and wrapped her legs around my waist to hold me in place. I couldn't help but grin. "I could die a happy man like this."
She laughed. "I can make you even happier alive."
"Will you two shut up?" Shelton said between gritted teeth. "I don't want to die if the last thing I hear is your lovey-dovey cooing."
Elyssa gave him a sharp look. "As if you wouldn't say the same thing to Bella right about now."
Shelton didn't have a chance to answer. The ship thudded onto land with a loud boom. Rubble, corpses, and the living bounced and slammed back down. The ship ground through the earth, grating, rumbling, and vibrating for what seemed ages though it was probably more like a minute before coming to a stop.
Tahlee looked at Illaena and nodded in satisfaction before belting out new orders.
The Mzodi captain strode over to us, her tall strong frame bending with exhaustion. "We are not far from Kohvalla, and the repairs will take a day at least. I suggest you rest while you can because it will not be long before the Daskar reach us and attack."
Chapter 3
I pushed myself up off the deck and felt the hope drain right out of me at the sight of so much carnage and destruction. "There must be a ton of rubble from the cliff on the deck."
"So many bodies," Adam said. "I don't see how we're going to get this ship airworthy before Kohval's soldiers catch up."
I bent down to lift a fallen Mzodi, but Elyssa stopped me. "Justin, this is no time for you to pitch in. You need to rest and feed or you won't be able to fight the next battle."
"Or the next one, or the next one after that." I threw up my hands in disgust. "When we get back to Tarissa, I'm going to cram a Daskar down Kohval's throat!"
"That would be a sight to behold." Shelton sighed happily and looked up at the sunny sky. "I'll make sure to record it for posterity."
Adam snorted. "There's no reason we can't use a little magic to clean up this mess while the Mzodi replace the levitation foils."
Shelton flexed a hand and winced. "Man, after the light show I put on, I gotta rest too. That black aetherite definitely takes a load off my spell casting, but I need a break."
Elyssa looked up at the crow's nest where a Mzodi scanned the horizon b
ehind us. "We should have a decent warning with the lookout up there." She gripped my bicep and pulled me toward one of the rampways leading below decks. "You need some sleep, pronto." I was too tired to resist and let her lead me back to our quarters, a small room with a cloud bed.
The bed was powered by its own aether gems, so it responded right away when I lay down on it. I meant to say something to Elyssa, but drifted off to sleep before I could get it out.
I'd expected alarms to wake me—a call to arms as enemy soldiers swarmed the ship. Instead, I woke up after a strange dream about me eating ice cream with my sister Ivy. I lay in the darkness for a moment, pondering the afterimages of her smiling face. I hope she's okay. Ivy was stranded in Eden, tricked by Yuuki Wakahisa into staying behind while Victus sabotaged the Alabaster Arch—the only way to traverse the realms.
Let me rephrase that—the only known way to traverse the realms.
We'd determined that the Voltis Maelstrom was actually a giant malfunctioning portal that might offer a way to reach the other realms. We'd left a flying ship and equipment with the Atlanteans so they could research the possibilities in our absence.
I stood up and stretched, feeling invigorated. I drew upon the aether and summoned a glowing white sphere. It felt like I still benefited from the effects of feeding on human soul essence. The effect wore off after time, but it was also cumulative, and I'd fed on humans a lot during the Second Seraphim War.
Our great enemy at the time, Daelissa, had completely consumed the light essence from the souls of humans, killing them in the process. It had made her incredibly powerful, and just as incredibly insane.
I left the room and jogged up the ramp at the end of the corridor to the top deck. The sun was low on the horizon, meaning I'd probably slept through most of the day. The deck was completely clear of debris and bodies, and only a lone sentry stood atop the crow's nest. I walked to the railing and looked over the side, but the angle of the ship made it hard to see if the levitation gems were repaired or not.
