99 Gods: Betrayer

by Randall Farmer

  Insight hit. What had happened back in the Room of Finding wasn’t happenstance. He had somehow helped her fight off the trap’s control. He hadn’t just physically subdued Elorie and kept her from running to the trap. He had broken the mental control’s grip on her. But how?

  Adrenaline and physical contact.

  Would the trick work again?

  He could try. He grabbed Elorie and held her to her tightly, letting his terror over Nessa and Ken’s dastardly attack overwhelm him.

  Her screaming subsided into sobs. “That’s better, that’s better, but this isn’t enough, make it all go away!” Smart woman. She had figured this out as well.

  Skin contact. Skin contact was necessary, and they didn’t have enough. Remembering Nessa’s games, he spun Elorie around, kissed her deeply, and ran his hands under her shirt until he could put the flesh of his lower arms against her body. She didn’t try to push him away.

  His fear and his urge to help the Watchers vanished, almost startling Elorie out of his arms. “This must work both ways,” he said, through the kiss. “Think of me as you and keep the Watchers’ magic off of me. They have me good.” The crawling insect sensations never left him, nor the urge to scratch off his skin. He knew the Telepaths were here to rescue him. He should be urging them on, not trying to call them off. One of the damned Watchers just threatened to kill him and he had agreed! Elorie’s touch had already undone those bits of Watcher-induced nonsense.

  “Oh do they?” Elorie said, nibbling his lip. “Give me that damned ring.”

  He did. She grabbed his ass, pulled him tight against her, and put the wedding band back on her finger. The itchy insect sensation vanished; numb calm came over him like one of Elorie’s icewater baths.

  “Better?” Elorie said. She had backed off a quarter inch, leaving them only lip to lip.

  “Uh huh,” Dave said. “I’d forgotten what they did to Georgia, Lisa and Osham. Damn those bastards!”

  “What about Jack?”

  He quieted her for a moment with a deeper kiss. She backed off again. “I think I need a little more time on the Jack question,” he said.

  Elorie giggled. “So we can work together; there still may be hope for us, Dave. I really do…” She interrupted herself by grabbing him and wrestling him to the ground inside the building to their right, all with appalling ease. As he recoiled away from Elorie and ‘Ow!’ed from the impact on the hard ground, five more Watchers tumbled through the air, right where they had stood an instant earlier. Elorie screamed and grabbed him tight again, this time cheek to cheek, mouth to ear.

  “Don’t let go of me, whatever you do,” Elorie said, her voice a hiss. Her breath tickled his ear. “I’m losing my mind, I can’t help myself, whenever we’re apart my brain catches fire. I must be catching the fringes of Nessa’s telepathic attacks.” She paused. “How in hell were the Watchers messing with your head? I thought you were immune!”

  Dave nodded, grabbed Elorie tight, and looked around. They were in the Watchers’ stable. Ranks of stalls lined the walls, mostly unoccupied. A couple of restless horses fidgeted, uneasy at the noise. Dave and Elorie lay on the stone floor among the hay and horse manure, barely inside the wide double doors, in an entrance area lined with saddles and horse tack hanging from the walls. A mounting block stood at one side, and bales of hay lined the other wall. One door stood slightly cocked, a remnant of their entrance. Dave nudged it closed with his foot. With the door shut, the stable was almost completely dark. “I’m not immune to magic and I think the Watchers’ have tricks they haven’t told us about.”

  “Uh huh,” Elorie said. “They were definitely messing with my head, despite my so-called immunity to their magic. I couldn’t tell until now. I wonder if they have Telepaths among them…”

  “Or those things they carry, their, um…” Dave paused, trying to think of the word they used. “Their gamme. I wonder if their gamme are doing this.” He hadn’t told Nessa and Ken about the gamme. The Watchers must consider the gamme one of their deep dark secrets and kept him from passing on the information. “How much did the Watchers mess with your head?”

  “Such as when I told you my dirty secrets, the ones I’d vowed to myself never to speak of around you?” Elorie laughed, quiet in the darkness. “I hope your stomach’s as strong as it seems to be, because I didn’t lie, and I wasn’t just flying my freak flag on weekends or anything so sedate.”

  Dave hadn’t wanted to hear this. His voice froze in his chest.

  “The emotions weren’t true, though. I do love you and I don’t want to chase you off. Really.”

  Dave relaxed, comforted by her words, and also by the door between them and the chaos outside. “Sadistic bastards. They messed with us just to cause us pain.”

  “Uh huh. They also kept me from saying the rest,” Elorie said, whispering in his ear. “Like how I got a nasty addiction to amphetamines, which I broke by myself after I crashed and fractured my arm while hang gliding. Scared straight, I believe the term is. Or how I spent several years celibate because I didn’t know who I was anymore and didn’t like the person I’d become. Or how after I really got into my development aid career I gave up all my self-destructive behaviors.” Dave’s lips twitched, ready to speak. She felt the motion through her face against his. “Okay, what I gave up on was the partying, the drugs, and the stupid hurtful relationships. My crazy period didn’t even last two years, and what I told you made me sound like I never wised up. The Watchers didn’t even let me say anything about how I learned about how helping others, especially the truly helpless, helped me push back my own personal darkness and shut down my selfish complaints about how life treated me.” She relaxed against him, as the world shook around them. “They made me hate you, Dave. We still have some issues, but I don’t hate you. That’s not at all who I am. Hate’s just a waste of time.”

  “I want to hear those stories, El,” Dave said. “They’ll help me understand you.”

  Rocks rattled above them, dust and pebbles clattering down on them. A horse screamed, thunderous and horrifying. “Not now! Let’s get out of here before this damned building falls on us,” Elorie said.

  Dave nodded, and, with Elorie’s help, the two of them staggered to their feet. They crept out through the wide stable doors, and then forward to the outside corner of the building, which put them in sight of the front door of the Watchers’ fortress. He needed to see this fight.

  As he watched, the great front gate slowly opened. Through it, the four Watcher negotiators backpedaled, followed by Nessa, Ken and the rest of their group. The two Telepaths floated, their feet head-high off the ground, hand in hand, bathed in a nimbus of light, a tornado of dust and wind swirling before them. Save for Uffie, who trailed behind, their companions walked the ground in front of Nessa and Ken, occasionally firing their weapons at the Watchers to little avail – save that the Watchers didn’t appear to appreciate being hit by gunfire, even if they didn’t fall. The two Telepaths exuded a palpable awe that buckled Dave’s knees, almost sending him and Elorie to the ground.

  Invisible attacks peppered Nessa and Ken from the gesturing hands and fists of the four head Watchers, slowing their progress. Nessa looked to be in particular pain. Ken’s arms dripped blood from numerous cuts and he had an arrow through his abdomen. Nessa glared at one of the Watchers, Wisdom, and furrowed her eyebrows again and again; with each minute nod Wisdom staggered but didn’t fall.

  The fury of Ken’s telekinetic wind grew. Every few seconds, Ken would clench one or the other of his fists. When he did, one of the Watchers or a part of one would explode. Seeing one of them, Glory, missing half her body yet still standing brought home the point that the Watchers weren’t at all creatures of flesh and blood.

  Dave’s knees shook as he took in the sense-assaulting fight. This close to the combat a new odor, a stinkbug stench, overwhelmed the normal rock-dust smell of the Watchers’ village. The light of the fight camera-flash flickered all around him in the early mornin
g twilight, leaving spots behind in his vision. Bullets whined nearby as Nessa and Ken’s bodyguards sprayed the area; one bullet visibly bent and slowed as it curved away from him, illustrating the fact that despite all else, Ken knew where he and Elorie stood and protected them. The Watchers’ supernatural battle tricks emanated from their hands – more blinding flashes – or from small rods, pieces of jewelry and hand-made children’s toys they carried in their hands. Gamme. The gamme detonations were night black and reality warping, reminding Dave of high quality movie special effects. Only they weren’t special effects, but a harsh slap in the face and soul to someone who believed the supernatural complete bunkum less than eighteen months ago. Fear nailed Dave’s feet in place, his legs rubbery and unwilling to move. Elorie twitched in his arms in time to each detonation, her breathing rough and ragged. Dave wished for the shelter of the stable, or at least the alley, but they stood exposed in the open courtyard.

  Wisdom, ignoring Nessa and Ken’s repeated attacks, stopped his retreat and raised his hands. His fingers flashed and thunder boomed as lightning struck above Ken, once, twice, three times, the last bolt limning some form of telekinetic shielding that stood bare inches above the flesh of the Telepaths and their bodyguards. The lightning didn’t stop with the third stroke, but kept going for long painful seconds. Ken’s defenses held but the sheen of lightning coursed over Nessa’s skin and appeared to light her from the inside. This had to be an optical illusion, as Nessa didn’t fall. Nevertheless she screamed in agony, waving a fist at Wisdom, and her hair broke free of her ribbons to stand straight out away from her head, out to its full three foot length.

  Wisdom didn’t falter or lower his hands; the lightning strokes didn’t stop. One stray side branch of lightning walked itself forward to Dave and Elorie, freezing Dave in horror and disbelief. When it reached the two of them the lightning did Dave no harm, just ran along his skin and sent his hair all on end.

  Elorie cursed and grabbed at the stray lightning strand with her free hand. Before Dave had a chance to scream ‘No!’ the lightning vanished. Not only did the strand vanish, the entire bolt evaporated.

  A moment later Wisdom exploded into vapor.

  Elorie the death wish; what an epithet, Dave decided, coming back to himself. Go grab a lightning strand, see what happens…

  Nessa howled, raised both her arms to the sky and splayed her fingers. At first Dave feared a mortal wound or magical coup, but when he saw her he realized it was a crow of triumph. Her eyes glowed with a white light that made him think of the grace of God.

  Dave’s feet steadied underneath him as the detonations of combat lost their terror. He took a second to look at Elorie, whose hand stayed raised where she had grabbed the lightning bolt. Triumph covered her teeth-clenched face. When their eyes met, she hugged him tighter, this time with love.

  Two more Watchers materialized in Wisdom’s place, the River Twins, as they had named themselves to Dave. Sense penetrated Dave’s mind, and he ducked Elorie and himself back around the stable corner, before another set of attacks ensnared them. Around the corner, the deafening sound of the combat lessened.

  “Shit! Dave! Seeing the combat from under your mental shields, I know what the Watchers are now,” Elorie said.

  “Eh?” Elorie could think in this nightmare? Dave took several quick deep breaths. “What are they?”

  “Think about what you just experienced, all those multi-colored helical attacks of the Watchers. What I told you before is crap, Dave. These aren’t Supported tricks. This is God behavior.” Elorie paused. “The Watchers are Gods, like the 99 Gods.”

  Dave froze, not sure what to say. He hadn’t seen any multi-colored helical attacks.

  “You don’t believe me?” Elorie tensed in his arms.

  “The Watchers can’t be Gods,” Dave said. “They’re too foul to have been created by God Almighty.”

  “They fell, Dave,” Elorie said. “They’re fallen. This is what’s going to happen to the 99 Gods if they don’t give up their worshippers. They’re Fallen Gods, and Fallen Gods are bad fucking news.”

  “Yah,” Dave said. “I’d like more evidence, but I can accept this as a working hypothesis for now.” He didn’t want to discard Elorie’s idea. Elorie did tend to be right about many things.

  Elorie grunted at him, giving him a ‘you can be so dense at times’ look. “This is such a waste. The Watchers may be evil and fallen, but I still can’t believe it’s right for Gods to be so casually murdered. They must know enough to tell us how to stop the 99 Gods, if we can only find the right question! Our rescue can’t be worth that much.”

  I think we are worth that much, Dave thought, thinking through the last part of the fight. If he guessed correctly, Elorie’s immunity had broken Wisdom’s lightning attack and freed Nessa so her telepathic attack could work. He looked out from around the corner of the sable and observed the Watchers as they continued to futilely attack Ken and Nessa and futilely defend themselves. He still didn’t see any 99 God style helixes. Did the Watchers still have a magical hold on a part of his mind?

  He withdrew his head back to the shelter of the stable. “I’m not so sure there’s any murder going on,” Dave said. “I’m sure the River Twins got torn apart once already by Nessa and Ken and they just returned to the fight.”

  “This fight’s still wrong,” Elorie said.

  Dave nodded. “I have an idea, based on what you did with the lightning bolt. I think we might be able to stop this,” he said. He hadn’t lived through the disaster in the Room of Finding for nothing. Was this the moment where he stood tall and atoned for his past mistakes?

  Yes.

  “How?” Elorie said.

  “I think we can use our immunities to walk ourselves out of here.”

  “Shit!” Elorie shivered in his arms, took a breath and leveraged the two of them around the corner for a peek. She let Dave scurry them back. “Okay, okay, I understand.” She paused and looked him closely in the eyes. “This scares the crap out of me worse than skydiving without a parachute.” Dave tried not to think about what her comment implied. “You know, you’re not even close to being as staid and plodding as you think.” She grabbed him, behind the neck and kissed him deeply. Her eyes twinkled at him, of all things. “I think we can do this. I think you’re right, and we have to do this. We need to show the world that we normal mortals aren’t defenseless.”

  “Then let’s do this,” Dave said, forcing away the fear. He took a step toward the front gate. Elorie hesitated for a moment and stepped forward to tuck herself under his extended arm. When they passed the corner of the stable, Dave saw the fight raging ahead of them, the wounded River Twins still holding their ground.

  Elorie stopped three steps beyond the corner of the stable. “I can’t,” she said, in a squeaky whisper. “It’s too real.” He could barely hear her over the battle din.

  Dave bent over and put his mouth next to Elorie’s ear. “Concentrate on the immunity. The concentration blocks out the rest,” he said. He wasn’t any braver, but he knew he could overcome his fear and hammering heart. “Put one foot in front of the other and don’t think too hard about where we’re walking. Remember, we’re in this together.”

  Elorie didn’t answer, but synchronized her steps to his slow pacing. Another four bent bullets whined by, startling Dave. Ken protected them. Dave looked up and met Ken’s gaze.

  “Faster, dammit,” Ken said, with his teek voice trick, in Dave’s ear. Dave looked down at Elorie, and her face lit up. Ken had whispered in her ear as well.

  “Run!”

  Good idea, Dave thought. They picked up their feet and ran as fast as possible, huddled in each other’s arms. When they got to the middle of the path between the fortress gate and castle proper, the ground kicked up underneath them, sending them flying into the air. Hard rocks pelted them, and an arrow flew by, slowed and stopped ten inches beyond Dave’s face. Startled, Dave lost his concentration on his mind shield, no longer protecting Elor
ie’s mind. Fear ripped into him and his heart stopped, literally stopped, pain blasting into his chest. Elorie had lost her concentration as well.

  “Kiss!” Ken said in Dave’s ear, with his teek voice. Dave felt Elorie’s lips on his. His arms tightened around her and reached skin, the small of her back. His heart juddered and beat again, the fear vanishing from his mind. Slowly the pain eased. He closed his eyes and rode the adrenaline, forcing his immunity out, farther and farther.

  “Get a room, guys,” Nessa said, laughing. Dave’s eyes opened to find Nessa and Ken within touching distance. He and Elorie, still entwined, floated on air. “Lucky for you you’re not a teek shielder, or you’d be hamburger by now.” She turned back to the fight, snarling light from her eyes. The River Twins fell again, blown into dust.

  Ken lowered Dave and Elorie to the ground, dropping them right on top of Evil Dude, who had to scramble out of the way. Evil Dude looked like he was about to cuff them with his free hand when he stopped, his eyes stuck on Elorie. Without a wig or makeup, bruised, beat up, wounded and scarred, this was the real Elorie. Evil Dude froze in place, overcome by pity.

  Fool, Dave thought. Uh huh, big guy, oh yes she’s precious, but she’ll rip your fucking heart out and eat it for dinner.

  “Stop this, everyone!” Elorie said, screaming, her mind still focused on the fight. “We’re rescued, dammit!”

  The detonations and howls of wind died abruptly, replaced by moans and keens of injured Watchers. Dave swore he heard an ‘oh, right’ from Nessa. He looked behind him and found one lonely surviving, or at least visibly undamaged, Watcher kneeling in the road, head bowed. Sorrow. The rest hung back and nursed their wounds.

  “I surrender, I give my word that I surrender, and thus the Watchers surrender,” Sorrow said.