by John Corwin
The Mzodi leader looked from me to Illaena. "Would you be willing to undertake such a rescue?"
Illaena bared her teeth in a fierce smile. "Gladly. It has been over a month since our people were taken captive. The time for talk is past."
"Very good, captain." Xalara turned to me. "I take it there's more you wish to discuss?"
"We want to relocate our army to Kohvalla so we can defend the pass," I said. "We need your help to make that happens as quickly as possible."
Xalara nodded. "I will coordinate with Commander Borathen. I believe we can have most of them transferred within a few days."
"In the meantime, there's not much we can do to secure the Northern Pass," Elyssa said. "Once we clear out the rest of Kohval's forces, there won't be anything between the Brightlings and Pjurna but us."
"You will have to do your best," Xalara said. She held her gaze on Illaena a moment. "If there is nothing else…"
"We are done," Illaena said. "Next, we mount an attack on Kohvalla and stop the Daskar from destroying the pass."
Xalara held out her hands as if to grasp Illaena's. "May the winds blow with you, captain."
"And also with you." Illaena touched a gem and the hologram vanished. She turned to Elyssa. "You have proven yourself an apt strategist. We do not have much time to plan an attack, so I would like to hear your suggestions."
Elyssa smiled and blushed. "Wow, I didn't realize you thought of me that way, Illaena."
"I can hear her head swelling already," Shelton muttered.
Elyssa elbowed him lightly in the stomach without even looking his way. "Illaena, do you have a holographic map of the area?"
"Of course." The Mzodi captain set a gem on the table and zapped it with white energy. A three-dimensional landscape of our surroundings floated over the table.
"This is gonna take a while," Shelton said, "and it's getting stuffy in this cabin."
"I'm going above decks with Shelton." I pecked my girlfriend on the cheek, but she was too busy studying the terrain to notice.
"I'm going to stick around here for a little while." Adam tapped notes on his arcphone. "I may have an idea in case the Brightlings decide to invade before the rest of the army arrives."
"You do that," Shelton said. "We're all depending on you."
Adam pretended to pick up something off the floor. "Hey, Shelton, looks like you dropped a pile of steaming sarcasm on the floor here."
"Yeah, just don't sniff it," Shelton said as we walked out of the door.
We walked up the ramps to the top deck and enjoyed the sweet-smelling breeze drifting in from the forest.
"How are you feeling?" I said. "A little more confident?"
Shelton's hand went to the compact staff holstered at his side. "A little. The aetherite power enhancement helps, but I can't help but feel like a third wheel sometimes. I mean, every native in this world is ten times more powerful than me."
I leaned over the railing and looked out across the field. "I don't think that's true."
"Dude, your Arcane Potential score was forty-one. I'm half that." Shelton sighed. "The only reason I was able to hold my own in the fight against the Daskar is because they weren't paying attention to me."
"What about your sunray spell?" I said. "What about when you shackled that Daskar before she could attack?"
"In a one-on-one fight with a Seraphim, I'd lose," Shelton said. "I've just been lucky that hasn't happened yet. If I could get that geodesic shield to work, that would be something."
"Most of the Seraphim here haven't fed on humans," I reminded him. "They don't have the kind of firepower Daelissa had."
Shelton took off his hat and ran a hand through his short hair. "I hope you're right. It just sucks that the only reason I could contribute was due to the aetherite power modification Adam made to my staff."
"I don't think that's it at all." I plucked his hat from his hand and plopped it on his head. "You're one of the most powerful Arcanes there is, man, and spell casting is a lot different from channeling." I mimicked waving a wand. "You can program entire spells into your arcphone that I could never perform just by channeling."
"Yeah, but I don't know how much good that does me."
"Get creative." I clapped his back. "And stop feeling sorry for yourself."
He chuckled. "Yeah. Guess I'm starting my own pity party." Shelton's face brightened. "How about I cook up some burgers while we wait on your chief strategist to come up with our battle plan?"
"Sounds good to me." I went below with him to the pantry where the food the Atlanteans had given us was perfectly preserved by Seraphim magic. It didn't take us long to cook some hamburgers and gussy them up with all the fixings. By the time we finished eating, Elyssa and Illaena were ready to lay out their master plan for taking Kohvalla.
The entire crew of the Falcheen gathered on deck and Elyssa addressed them. "Xalara has authorized us to take Kohvalla by force."
Eor raised a hand and spoke without waiting for acknowledgement. "I find it hard to believe that Xalara would authorize such a thing! We are sky fishers, not barbarians."
Illaena flashed a sharp glare at the gem sorter. "Perhaps you would like to wait here while we go prevent the Northern Pass from being destroyed."
That comment drew a chorus of gasps and surprised shouts from the crew.
"But without the Northern Pass, our trade routes will be untenable," Eor whined. "This is an outrage!"
Elyssa let him finish his tirade before continuing. She explained the situation and then laid out the battle plan. It was divided into two parts and sounded simple in theory. I had a feeling the execution might be trickier than it sounded.
After she finished speaking, Illaena took over. "While I do not condone starting a fight, the Daskar have left us no choice. If the Northern Pass is blocked, it will add weeks to our northern trade routes. If you do not wish to fight, you may disembark and wait here until we return." She gazed out at the crew, but nobody took her up on the offer. "Very well. Report to your teams."
Elyssa gathered a group of short Mzodi around her and led them down the gangway to prepare for their part in the assault while the rest prepared the ship for takeoff.
Adam rubbed his belly. "Man, I'm hungry."
"I got some leftover burgers down in the galley," Shelton said.
"I'll take them to go." Adam's eyes brightened. "I have something I want to show you."
We swung by the galley and grabbed some food for Adam, then followed the excited nerd down to a cabin he'd used as a work room. A disassembled set of Daskar armor sat on a workbench, dozens of empty spark globes piled in a shimmering net hanging from the ceiling.
Adam moved aside the armor and picked up one of the crystalline spheres. Unlike the others, this one wasn't empty. Aetherial vapors drifted inside, a multicolored cloud of magical energy, sparkling like diamonds in a sandstorm. Smoky strands of gray coiled about the aether like a ghostly snake.
"Watch carefully," Adam said.
Shelton and I leaned in closer, watching the undulating gray coils that seemed to hold the aether into one cohesive form. A sphere bulged in the smoky substance. Small protrusions morphed into a nose, lips, and ears.
Shelton's mouth dropped open. "Is that a face?"
"Watch it," Adam said.
I did and felt nausea clumping like rancid milk in my stomach. The mimicked face was smoky and amorphous, but in brief instances solidified into a countenance I recognized. "It looks like Nightliss."
"I solved how the golems can do magic," Adam said in a hushed voice. "Every one of them is infused with a little piece of Nightliss's soul essence. Cephus must have extracted it from her when he took her prisoner."
"That soulless bastard," Shelton growled through clenched teeth. "I hope to hell he's rotting for all eternity in the Void."
I backed away, the nausea clawing up my throat. "Her soul is trapped inside these monsters?"
"It's not precisely like that," Adam said. "When you feed on
humans whether it's for your demon or angel side, you take some of the energy that makes up their souls. In essence, you take a little bit of them with you."
"But it's energy, not soul essence," I argued.
Adam waggled a hand. "It's a little bit of both. That's why Daelissa killed those poor people she sucked dry. It's how Daemos can literally devour souls." He put a hand on my shoulder. "Justin, Cephus wasn't working alone."
"No joke," Shelton said. "He and Victus were besties."
"Actually, neither Cephus nor Victus could extract soul essence in such pure form." Adam looked at the ghost inside the globe and shook his head. "There are very few entities capable of it."
"Then who the hell could pluck a soul and slice it up like that?" Shelton said.
"Only a Daemos." Adam turned to me. "Cephus and Victus are behind the demon golems, but now I'm certain they had a Daemos helping them."
I should have been surprised, but I wasn't. "Probably Yuuki Wakahisa or someone from her house." Thinking of them only made my spirits sink lower. "She's the one who tricked Ivy into staying behind while Victus sabotaged the Alabaster Arches."
Shelton shuddered and looked away from the spirit sphere. "Dude, put that thing away. It's giving me the creeps."
Adam set it on the workbench and clamped an opaque dome around it to keep it from rolling around while the ship was in flight.
Shelton took off his hat and set it on the bench then pinched the bridge of his nose. "I need something explained to me. How does one take so much soul essence from someone without adversely affecting them?"
Adam held up a finger. "Ah, now that's where it gets interesting."
"And hopefully less sickening." I took a deep breath and swallowed the ill feeling.
"So far, I've located three of these spirit globes," Adam said. "In one of them, the soul is very small, barely even a wisp. In this one, it's nearly four times larger."
"Maybe they used more essence for this one," Shelton said.
Adam shook his head. "No, it's not that at all." He placed a hand over his heart. "Our souls usually mimic our physical shell's size and shape."
"But they're not solid," Shelton said, gesturing toward the covered globe. "They're pure energy."
"More than just energy," Adam said, "but you're right—they're not solid so they can fit inside different vessels." He took out his arcphone and projected the outline of a person with a ghostly gray substance inside. "A Daemos can pluck bits of a soul from a person and store it in their psythus."
I touched my chest and nodded. "Yeah, it's like my demon stomach."
"Precisely," Adam said. A man with demon horns appeared in the hologram. He reached into the outline of the body and pulled on the soul. A part of it tore off like cotton candy and the demon swallowed it. His outline became transparent to show the soul fragment in a circle labeled Psythus.
"Hey, isn't this from our elementary social studies class about different supernatural types?" Shelton said.
Adam chuckled. "Yeah. I remember the teachers terrifying us with this lesson."
I shuddered. "They show elementary school kids how a Daemos eats souls?"
"Yeah." Shelton blew out a breath. "Arcane elementary schools like to scare the hell out of children."
"It's horrifying!" I shook my head in disbelief. "Talk about scarring your kids for life."
"I'm about to get to the scary part," Adam said. "You're definitely not going to like this."
My heart clenched. "Spit it out."
Adam looked at the opaque dome covering the soul globe. "In Daemos, the psythus digests the soul fragments, causing them to slowly dwindle to nothing. When they're kept in a container like those globes, something else happens."
Shelton's eyes went wide. "You mean—"
Adam nodded. "Yeah."
I was a second behind Shelton in realizing what it meant, and the prospect terrified me.
Chapter 10
"The soul fragments regenerate," I said.
Adam nodded. "Yeah, which means whoever made these golems has an endless supply of Nightliss's soul essence." He pressed his lips together. "Meaning, they could make as many as they want."
I reeled back, and not because I feared an army of demon golems. It was because somewhere, someone was using the soul of a beautiful person to create monstrous warriors. I swallowed the knot in my throat. "Is it possible that if the soul grows enough, the golem will have Nightliss's memories and personality?"
Adam's forehead scrunched. "I've given that a lot of thought, Justin, but I think these soul wisps are entirely reliant on the spark to remain in the vessel."
"If the soul globe is broken, the wisp escapes?" Shelton said.
"That's right," Adam said. "There's nothing binding the soul wisp to the physical body."
"What makes it any different than demon possession?" I asked.
"Demon flesh has no soul." Adam touched his chest again. "A demon possesses people by latching onto its soul. Demon flesh cannot bind a soul since it's a magical vessel and not a real one."
"Look, it's just one of those things you're gonna have to accept and move on," Shelton said.
Adam offered a wistful smile. "I wish one of these soul wisps could grow back into the real Nightliss, but judging from the personalities of the demon golems, it would seem that Cephus took a dark part of our friend's soul."
I couldn't disagree with him there. "I'll bet the soul source was in the foundry. Kohval probably took it with him to Tarissa."
"They must have used Kohval's soul to make his demon golem," Shelton said.
"Are we certain Kohval is a dolem?" Adam said.
"A what?" Shelton's brow pinched and almost immediately relaxed. "Ah, I get it. Demon golem—dolem."
"I was thinking the same exact name," I said. "Either that, or gemon."
Shelton groaned. "Let's stick with dolem, okay?"
I tried to remember what we'd been talking about and snapped my fingers when I did. "Elyssa was convinced Kohval is a dolem. We even saw a side-by-side before and after comparison. Unless he had cosmetic surgery, I think she's right."
Shelton scratched the back of his neck. "Assuming that this ain't just wild theorizing, that means the real Kohval might be dead. It means the fake Kohval is in charge of a legion that's hell-bent on starting civil war. It also stands to reason the Daemos who helped pull this off is probably with him right now."
"Maybe the Daemos is calling the shots," Adam said. "Then again, maybe the Daemos went back to Eden with Victus and the fake Kohval can't produce anymore golems without help."
I snapped my fingers. "Yeah, he needs someone who can summon demons, because pure Seraphim can't do that."
"Let's hope that's the case," Shelton said. "It's gonna get real awkward if we get to Tarissa and find another thousand Daskar waiting for us."
"Kohval had about four-hundred Daskar," I said. "That's already more than I want to fight."
I turned to the other odds and ends on the workbench. "What's the deal with all the armor?"
Adam pushed a finger up the bridge of his nose. "I was trying to see if I could replicate the armor and adapt it to Arcane purposes."
Shelton snorted. "How in blazes is an Arcane supposed to use Seraphim armor? We're casters, not channelers."
Adam didn't seem put off by Shelton's tone. "That's what I'm trying to figure out. It'd be really cool to have flight armor."
"You're forgetting something real important." Shelton jabbed a thumb at his back. "We can't channel wings."
"Yes, but what if I could adapt the black aetherite into a power source that would allow us to cast wings?" Adam grinned. "We'd have to do it differently, but the end results would be the same."
"Might as well flap your arms," Shelton grumbled. "I'll stick with flying brooms."
"Except our brooms are in rough shape from all the action they've seen." Adam shook his head. "I wouldn't trust them in battle until they've been repaired by an experienced broom technician."
/>
"Adam's right," I said. "Besides, I wouldn't mind a set of Daskar armor." I ran a hand down my bare arm. "My Nightingale armor is toast."
"Hmm." Adam held up part of a chest plate to me. "You're a bit tall and wide, but I'll see if Eor knows how to manufacture this stuff."
We headed back to the main deck to get ready for the upcoming battle.
Elyssa joined us moments later. "You guys ready?"
I nodded. "Everything work out with the soldiers?"
Elyssa tilted her head side to side. "More or less. I think we have enough to do the trick."
"We'll find out real quick if we don't." Shelton pushed back the flap of his leather duster and holstered his backup staff on the opposite hip of his primary.
Adam grinned. "How many of those things do you have, Shelton?"
"Never enough." Shelton narrowed his eyes at me. "I still can't believe you broke my all-time favorite staff over your knee."
I snorted. "That was ages ago! Besides," I reminded him, "you were trying to kidnap my dad."
"My favorite staff." Shelton shook his head sadly and turned to Adam. "Always keep a spare around. You never know when Justin is gonna flip out and break yours."
Adam barked a laugh. "Maybe if you kept your staff out of other people's business, it wouldn't get broken."
Elyssa winced. "Eww. I don't even want to think about that." She looked Shelton up and down. "I don't know why you wear that leather trench coat all the time. Doesn't it restrict movement?"
"Nah." Shelton pivoted and waved his arms. "See? Plenty of room for movement." He slapped the sleeve. "Plus it's enchanted with all sorts of spells."
Elyssa pursed her lips and gave a doubtful shrug, but she knew how futile it was to try to argue Shelton out of something. We headed down the gangway and joined two more groups of Mzodi. Tahlee led one while Illaena headed up the other.
Elyssa scouted ahead in the forest and the rest of us followed at a discreet distance. We reached the outskirts of the village without incident and the groups went their own ways, sweeping the civilian sector for lone targets.
