Ember's Echo (The Nimbus Collection Book 2)

by D. C. Clemens

  The rhythmic waves of the salty sea were shortly lapping against my boots. This would have been a sign for some that they had reached an impassible barricade, but having Vasilissa on my side turned it into our last opportunity for some kind of asylum. A flick of her hand began to freeze the saltwater, fashioning a glassy path of ice into the sea. We hopped on while she sustained her manipulation of the water, granting us a lengthening footpath. The soles of our boots could easily grip the ice, giving us the confidence that we wouldn’t slip. Vasilissa immediately re-liquefied the ice behind us as we paraded farther out, not wanting to even see how our enemy would handle a slick street. Fortunately, the land-based army’s advance was cut short by the ocean. We were sure they could swim to some degree, especially if they were forced to, but we banked on the hope that they couldn’t do it well enough to be an effective menace. Their puppeteers apparently thought the attempt fruitless. Of course, there was always the likelihood that the ocean contained worse creatures, but it was all about extending our time.

  At a thousand feet from the coastline, my fellow warrior determined the division was wide enough. She stopped and warped a wall of water into the air, freezing it in place around us. She repeated the action several times more, eventually establishing an impediment of ice thick enough to make a respectable iceberg. After the walls were entrenched, she next molded a cone-shaped structure for the roof, blocking out all exterior light and obliging me to switch on the low level lights in the shoulder pads of my suit. The reflective crystal wall shimmered quite prettily in the easygoing glow. With our umbrella of ice giving us some resemblance of cover, Vasilissa fixated on making the ice sheet at our feet an effective aegis, adding more layers to guard from whatever peril came at us from below. I put the doctor back on her feet once Vasilissa finished with her creation. The mock iceberg bobbed in the ripples of the ocean, but was placated when the eldrick began to slothfully propel the unique craft by warping the water around it. Anticipating a necessary journey back to shore when Vasilissa emptied her vida reserve, the arcanist drove us north, staying parallel to the shore. It was the unspoken hope that I would have recovered some of my vida by the time we were forced back to solid ground. We had all kept silent during the build, relying solely on taught insinuations to direct us. The icy encasement amplified every breath, footfall, heartbeat, and ricochet of thought as the three of us caught our third wind. The first words uttered came from Vasilissa.

  “How are you feeling, rookie? I thought you had been paralyzed or something.”

  “Paralyzed?”

  “Yes.” She then noted the confused expression plastered on my face. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m not sure. Wasn’t I screaming and thrashing like Emory had been?”

  “No, you went completely stiff shortly after the machine seized you, but you still spoke using the thought-comm. You don’t remember that?”

  I winced when I attempted to recall anything at all during that very long phase of my life. I only caught a flash of torment from somewhere deep inside my head. “I just remember being in a shitload of pain. I could have sworn I was screaming and squirming wildly, which is why I was surprised when I found myself being carried by you.”

  “We initially thought you were a lost cause, but you began talking to us, saying you couldn’t move. Since this was different from how Emory reacted, the captain thought it worthwhile to take you with us once we dealt with your hijacker, so as long as we disarmed you.”

  “What happened to Briannika?”

  “I think at least two of the machines had her. We disabled one, but she continued to be dragged off by the other. When her life signs were cut off, well, we then concentrated on you… By the way, you haven’t answered my first question. You said you were actually in a lot of pain?”

  “That’s all I can remember. I still feel like every cell in my body is sore, but I also feel… energetic at the same time.”

  “Hmph, I’m not sure what it signifies, but we’ll take what we can get.” Just then, the doctor took a seat against the wall. She brought her knees to her chest and embraced them with her arms. “I hope it’s not too uncomfortable, doctor. I could make it a bit warmer, but that would undermine the structure.”

  “Oh, it’s fine,” the doctor answered, taking her a moment to realize she was being talked to. “The cold is not important enough to complain about. How long can we remain in here?”

  “Sacred willing, most of the night if I don’t have to do any major warping.”

  “I’m sorry about your team.”

  “I’m sorry about yours. Here,” she reached behind her and pulled out my gauntlets,” you can put on these. They should help regulate your body temperature.”

  Dr. Oleson did not protest the idea. They were a bit too big for her slim arms, but the cushioned interior could modify its size to some extent. Vasilissa scanned me and discovered similar microtech as those found in Emory’s bloodstream. I could have ordered my own microtech to attack the invaders (something they should have done automatically), but guessing that the command would either be ignored or activate a hostile response from the trespassers prevented me from enacting the option. She also tactfully informed me that I looked ill. I had no interest in seeing my physical state through her vision, but my companion did tell me that my eyes were red from burst blood vessels. Some bulging, blackish veins also made my face appear a little swollen. All available precautions were taken against the risk of me snapping. Vasilissa kept my rifle, the doctor wore my blade-accommodating gauntlets and had ownership of my pistol, and my ability to warp was nullified by the lack of soil and vida. Despite this overhanging fear we all had about me, I also needed to prepare for a future fight. Whether I could be trusted or not wouldn’t matter at some point. Vasilissa would ultimately tire and she would be forced to take us to shore and switch the bulk of the arcanist responsibility to me. To refill my vida as fast as possible, I forced myself to fall asleep by activating the microtech with the proper dozing chemicals. The odd energy rise and burning discomfort I felt prohibited me from sleeping on my own volition. As I waited for the sleeping aids to take their effect, I couldn’t stop myself from envisioning a hacked version of me murdering Vasilissa and the doctor. Would I bury them under a mountain of sand and rock? Would I send a spiraling column of sand down their throats? Maybe I would use my bare hands? It ended up taking an unhealthy amount of anesthetic to persuade the Sandman to work his magic.

  Chapter Seventeen

  I don’t remember dreaming, but I did become aware of a dull, relentless sensation in my inert state. It felt as though gravity had amplified its pulling power by ten times. If the iced ground had been yanked from under me, I would have sunk like an anvil to the boggy, nebulous underbelly of this world. As was always the case in Ember, the insight was mixed with another profound impression; the sense that I yearned for such a thing to happen, as though the sea floor was holding something that I didn’t yet know I desired. The subconscious disposition was interrupted when the iceberg’s sudden up and down jostling upset my light sleep. Before the ice flow was able to settle, a muffled thud reverberated from the underside of the craft, breeding another round of rocking. There was a split second when I wished for the frozen floor to break so I would be free to dive to the uncharted depths, but it was replaced by guilt when my inner voice resumed its control over my conscious.

  Assiduously standing up, I said, “Vasilissa?”

  “No immediate threat,” she replied with conviction. “I shaped spikes underneath this structure and I can keep warping more for a while, so that should buy us some time. In any event, I’ll begin to moving us a little closer to shore, just in case.”

  Whatever was striking the vessel didn’t seem too concerned about Vasilissa’s maced defense. The pummeling occurred in near instantaneous intervals and a few were rousing enough to make me think that the glacial ship would capsize. There were some other hits where I could actually hear long cracks being made. Vasilissa’s skill,
however, banned any ruinous event from befalling, promptly fixing any threatening fissures before I could see them. Still, as my final comrade had pointed out, the danger was not in the immediate. The extra effort she was spending on repair meant less time floating out our wait. Occasionally, gurgling moans bubbled up into the chamber, presumably produced by the creature-missiles. Then, five minutes since the start of the subaquatic battering, the thuds started coming from the air-exposed sections around and above us.

  After another ten minutes of this loathsome experience, Vasilissa asked me, “How much vida do you have?”

  “Maybe a quarter of my reserve.”

  “Yeah, I’m around the same. I say we head to shore now and make our stand. I don’t want to become entirely useless by wasting everything I have here.”

  “Fair enough,” I replied, knowing full well the feeling of inadequacy, “but I’m guessing the land horde has been moving with us.”

  Foreseeing what I was about to suggest, she said, “I know. I’ll move us as fast as I can to the north and hopefully gain some separation before making landfall.”

  Our barge began picking up speed in increasingly perceptible fashion. This had the added benefit of decreasing the poundings beneath us, not so much as we were moving faster than the marine life, but was more likely the result of the powerful current being warped in the immediate vicinity. The doctor dolefully returned my gauntlets and pistol to me when I asked for them. Risking giving an opening to a machine’s tendrils, Vasilissa warped open a narrow crevice to evaluate our situation. Our enriched eyes pierced the dominate night and we learned that the tenacious army was indeed tracking us a hundred yards away. The land they ran on was flatter than the sea, promising us no sufficient cover for an entire horizon. The eldrick pushed her skill and the craft to its utmost, and even she couldn’t hide the strain. It actually must have been a comical sight for anyone seeing a cone-shaped iceberg racing through the sea with no visible propulsion. She gradually angled us toward the shore, successfully granting the craft some distance from the imp mass. Affirming that the moment of truth was seconds away, Vasilissa handed me my rifle. I don’t know if she was uneasy about it, but there was no hesitation in the act.

  A leap away from the rock-strewn beach, with the first wave of the horde 150 yards to the south, I heard the roof and wall shatter all at once. This was a deliberate feat ordained by the eldrick. A hail of icicles shot outward, with Vasilissa’s goal of impaling as many of the bats as she could. It was a productive endeavor. Dozens of the bats sustained torn wings and plunged into the water, several crying out a sound that resembled a human choking on a hairball. This action helped to clear out the sky directly above us, but a glance higher up revealed more incoming flocks. To check for any cloaked enemies that may be near, Vasilissa warped up an embankment of water on either side of us and pushed it inland to create a miniature tsunami. The trial showed our most dangerous enemy was at least not right under our noses. We thus leapt into the waist high water and wadded to shore.

  “Try to always keep between us, doctor,” instructed Vasilissa. To me, she said, “I’ll take care of the ones by the stars and you handle the runners.”

  So began our stand. Of course, we didn’t literally just stand there. We hustled northward, hugging the ocean’s respirations as we did. Ammo was starting to become a real problem at this point. I had less than two blocks left, including the one that laid half consumed inside my rifle. I didn’t know how many Vasilissa had, but the fact that she recommended I take on the land-army told me she knew I had more slugs to expend than she did, given that it took fewer bullets to neutralize the flimsy, less plentiful bats. We eliminated many with the distance in our favor, but for every suicidal being we eliminated, another was able to gain that extra foot. We permitted a few of the shitheads to come closer than the others, giving us the opportunity to warp a dense piece of ice or Ember soil to impale their flailing bodies to the ground. The first time I warped fetched an unexpected feeling; one of geniality. I no longer sensed that I was encroaching on this blighted land. Instead, there was an irrefutable acceptance that gushed into me, making it easier to warp every time I snatched up some dirt. It was akin to shedding some heavy training weights in the middle of a marathon. I only wished to live long enough to discover if this was a good or bad thing.

  “Fuck,” I said.

  “What is it?” asked Vasilissa.

  I sent her what I was seeing. The ground horde was being handed some sense of strategy by their wardens. A chunk of the churning storm had detached from the primary pack and started to flank us. There were far too many for me to halt them. If I concentrated on the flanking branch then the closer main division would quickly overrun us. The best I could do was fire the intermittent salvo.

  On the thought-comm, I said, “Take the doctor before they cut us off completely.”

  “That’s not how it works, rookie,” she responded more crossly than I ever heard from her before. “I’m your superior and that means I get to decide who sacrifices themselves next, and I’ve determined that we should all fight and die together. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “No, ma’am.”

  I doubted I could have given them much time anyway. We were soon surrounded by skulking laughter issued forth by hundreds of pairs of beady, yellow orbs. Vasilissa and I were back to back, the doctor between us and the halcyon ocean. I handed Dr. Oleson my pistol, which she procured with a twitch of her body. When the primary throng loomed less than twenty yards out, the creatures began applying their warping capability, throwing jagged spears of rock and hurling breakers of sand in our general direction. I occupied myself in countering these blitzes, but even the easier to warp soil was not enough to cancel out all the attacks.

  When a flicker of an opening presented itself, Vasilissa and I synchronized our efforts to warp some of the native land and sea. I warped as thick a domed wall of soil as I could manage in the brief pause, while my partner brought in some water to create a frozen wall of her own, inlaying it within mine. Once I detected that an ample amount of the infernal marionettes were in range, I burst the wall of rock and sand outward as brutally as I could, bashing back dozens of the fiends. The wall of ice followed my example the very next instant. With the terrors temporarily abated, we regathered our respective elements and molded the same form of defensive volley. The tactic was effective in repelling them for two similar undertakings, but at great cost to our vida reserve. The end of the third elemental charge gave us some space to actually fire our weapons, which included the doctor. She shot wildly, but it was still adequate enough to hit a few of the teeming imps. It was here Vasilissa’s rifle was sapped of all its ammo. She discarded it and switched to her pistol. Just as we were sculpturing our fourth domed defense, our suit’s transmitter picked up a transmission.

  A voice speaking an advok dialect stated, “This is Admiral Son-Vervik-Son of the Munnum. Does anyone read me?”

  As I worked to strengthen the earthen encasement, Vasilissa responded, “Yes, captain! All known survivors of the expedition and the rescue squad are in my position. We require immediate aid from an enemy horde surrounding our coordinates.”

  “We’ve already locked on to your position. Support is on its way. Keep your asses tight.”

  A half minute later and a deafening roar rumbled the ground for a twenty unabridged seconds. Even enclosed in our suits I could feel the outside temperature rise considerably. I perceived a severe reduction in the volume of enemy movement right after this sonorous event. An additional fabricated earthquake lasting about ten seconds virtually eliminated all ground activity. I let my fortification crumble. We then saw a smoldering landscape, the product of a precise particle-beam weapon from an orbiting ship. There were still several dozen imps left standing near our position, but they were motionless, reminiscent of a previous occasion. Vasilissa and I used our pistols to neutralize the biological statues. Out of relief and fatigue of every kind, Dr. Oleson had fallen on her knees
and stared up at the smoking night sky. Her lips were soundlessly moving, likely thanking the Sacred for the respite.

  “We’re clear,” said the equally relieved eldrick. “Thanks for the assist.”

  “We’re sending in a dropship for pickup,” said the admiral. “Do you require emergency medical attention?”

  “The basics will do for now, admiral. Have you located the Wanderer?”

  “Yes, its emergency jump brought it into our territory. It was heavily damaged, but the helmsman survived and was able to repair the ship enough to send out a distress signal through our channels. The draken is now under our care. He mentioned the possible presence of unidentified enemy vessels and so my fleet was ordered to secure the area and liberate any survivors. Do you mind informing me who this enemy is?”

  As we waited for the transport to reach us, Vasilissa transferred what data she could to the admiral and succinctly clarified what she could about our experiences, including having to apprise them about my compromised situation. A roughly W-shaped, dark purple conveyance was touching down nearby. Since the craft was meant for large scale troop deployments, it was twice as large as our shuttle and lined with small railguns on all sides. As we boarded the rescue craft, I let my gauntlets drop to the ground and handed my weapons to Vasilissa. There were no advok onboard the ship, but there was a supply cache under the columns of cushioned seats. I gave Dr. Oleson a nutrient boost via a medical syringe. The admiral listened to the eldrick’s summary without breaking in to ask a question, only speaking until she had finished.