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Chapter Fifteen
It didn’t take long to figure out why the
Lokori terrified the Kriar. One or two are
bad enough but large groups… Being inside
a meat grinder is safer…
—Liandra “Wren” Kergatha,
2nd Princess of Cosmodarus
The guttural sounds of the downed Lokori made Bannor’s skin prickle. The hacking winded sounds of gasping intermixed with the creature’s obvious laughter were anything but reassuring. Around him, the other savants stiffened. Their armored bodies grew taut as they stared at the blue-haired creature. Unmoved as always, Senalloy continued working her magic to finish healing his wounds.
He winced as the pulsing globe of glowing water manipulated by the Baronian’s magic began to swirl, churn and move like a thing alive. Thin strands of glistening material flowed out of the mass and he felt an icy tingling in his midsection.
“Whoa, that’s creepy looking,” Azir murmured. His attention going to what Senalloy was doing. He knelt by Bannor and put a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”
He nodded. He found it strange. It was the first time he ever recalled Wren’s brother ever directly addressing him. He needed to keep his attention off what the healer was doing.
“Azir,” he said.
Wren’s brother looked down at him. “Yeah?”
“Your sister, she—she cares about you. I think—I think she’s just a little jealous.”
The man grinned and brushed at his dark hair. “Pretty obvious, huh? Don’t worry. I’m not really mad at her, even if she is being a witch. I’m smart enough to know why. She’s more upset with me than I am with her. It’s my fault. I tease her a lot.”
Bannor swallowed. “Good.”
The sounds coming from his abdomen were ghastly, it didn’t hurt, but the word ‘strange’ didn’t even begin to capture the weird sensations as magically manipulated liquid flushed the toxins and hardened blood from his insides. Ziedra, Wren, and Daena each glanced just once at the procedure paled and made visible effort to look elsewhere.
The Lokori, on the other hand, sobered and focused on the procedure with intent fascination.
“Damn,” he murmured. “That blue-haired killer makes my skin crawl.”
“There,” Senalloy determined. “That should be good enough.” He felt a warmth spread through his body, and a gold illumination swelled out of his skin. A quivering went through his abdomen as he felt flesh shift and he heard the peculiar slurping sound of flesh undergoing accelerated healing.
After a few moments, Senalloy let out a breath. “Okay, let’s try to avoid any further injuries, shall we?”
He blinked and stared up at her. “Yes, thank you.”
The Baronian woman gestured and the already blood stained water flowed in a stream over her hands. She rubbed them together in the stream until they were clean. “Lay still for a little bit and give your body a chance to recover—that was pretty harsh.”
He nodded.
Senalloy rose to her feet and turned toward the Lokori.
The blue-haired male narrowed his eyes as she stared at him.
“Wren, while I think it’s a good to try to gain whatever advantage we can. I think little can be gained from this creature other than what he’s already shared with us.”
The blonde savant glanced over. “What has he shared?”
“Smell,” Senalloy said. “Any disguises we use must account for our scent.” She tilted her head. “Their communication too. They have a meta-language that utilizes a combination of sound and arcane soul-speak.”
“Soulspeak?” Ziedra said. “You mean like Daena? Is that how he understands us?”
“Yes. I felt it when he lost his temper. Apparently, they possess a weaker form of that ability.”
“That’s pretty hard to fake,” Wren said. “At least Daena can understand them.”
“So, what are you saying, Sen?” Daena said. “What do we do with him?”
The Baronian shrugged. “Tie him up. Kill him. Anything that will prevent him from intentionally or unintentionally informing his peers of what we plan to do.”
“And what are we planning?” Wren asked with an arch expression.
“If you’re determined to go in there, and given the way you spoke, it seemed fairly certain. Then we need to disguise ourselves, get close, break into that chamber, get those materials and make a run for it.”
Bannor pushed himself up to a sitting position. He rubbed his bare stomach and looked down at the jagged line of reddened scar tissue across his torso. The injuries to his leg, side and arm didn’t seem to be troublesome anymore. He started getting back into his damaged armor while listening to their discourse. He also kept an eye on the Lokori who listened with narrowed eyes.
Wren glanced back at Daena and pointed to him. “Dane, help Bannor get back on his feet.”
Keeping an eye on the Lokori, the auburn-haired girl slipped over and together she and Azir helped Bannor to stand. She reached up and touched his forehead. “How come Ziedra’s magic wore off?”
He touched his head, realizing that the warmth there had vanished. He shrugged. Rolling his left shoulder he tested the movement of his arm and side. Senalloy was an amazing healer. He found it strange that someone who so obviously enjoyed battle was so gifted at nurture as well. Senalloy picked up the damaged shaladen shield and handed it to him with a reassuring nod.
He accepted the weapon with a bow to her. He pushed his will into the device, visualizing it whole once more. With a soft hissing sound the material reshaped itself back into the configuration of a solid shield.
Ziedra leaned toward them noticing what Daena had remarked on. Her brow furrowed. “I’ll fix that in a moment.”
He started to say something and there was a crackling sound inside his head. Then a voice hit him so loud it made him stagger and grip his ears.
He frowned. He glanced at Senalloy. The Baronian’s attention was on the Lokori. The creature might not be a threat to Wren or Daena when they were prepared, but an instant of inattentiveness would result in someone getting seriously injured or killed. He had no explanation. Did the Lokori interfere with the telepathy? Otherwise, it must be Senalloy—she was the only one that possessed both the power and knowledge to block the shaladen. Though telepathy had been cut off, his condition had still been communicated to the Shael Dal. That was a hint in itself.
he told her.
He sighed.
He felt her break the connection.
The Lokori scowled at him, and rumbled something in that other language.
Daena folded her arms and glanced over at Bannor. “He seems to think that you are a blasphemer speaking in the goddess’ holy language.”
Wren leaned back and brushed at her blonde hair. She glanced at Bannor with a raised eyebrow. “Oh ho, so that’s why they get so hacked off. It’s only to be used by clerics to speak between themselves and the goddess.” She narrowed her glowing blue eyes. “That might be used to our advantage.”
“I think I know where you’re going,” Ziedra said with a smile.
“I have Sarai going to get Gaea,” he s
aid. “I anticipated that we might be able to get somewhere with the goddess putting in a good word for us.”
The blonde savant nodded. “Perfect.”
The Lokori watched them with a suspicious expression. He did not try to retreat or approach. He had obviously gotten the hint that while they were alert he would only be punished by Wren’s skillful mêlée or Daena’s control of metals and falling force.
Bannor felt a tingling spread through his entire body and a deep feminine voice resonated through him with a power that made his bones seem to vibrate.
He swallowed. Since they had released Gaea from the subpaths, he had never felt her so strongly. He guessed it must be her already enormous power being magnified through the shaladen. It took a moment to compose an answer and think coherently.
Gaea did not immediately answer. In the background, he felt Sarai and her disquiet over what he had just reported.
As he stared at the creature, he felt an icy thread reach through his insides.
The Lokori stiffened and its gold eyes widened.
He blinked. For an irrational instant, his heart leaped at the word ‘avatar’. Then he got control of himself again. Gaea wouldn’t hurt him. He drew a breath.
Pushing down his trepidation, he relaxed and closed his eyes, thinking of Gaea, of her love and acceptance, of gathering her into himself. The power of the all-mother surged through the shaladen and into his body in what seemed to be an unending flood of strength.
It was as if a beacon of light shone rays of light out of his chest, flooding the reddish atmosphere with a cascade of pulsing magical effervescence. Heart speeding, a flush of heat went through his limbs molding and reshaping them, turning his flesh green. His stomach churned and his skin abruptly seemed too tight.
He realized he was no longer alone in his body.
Gaea was in him. Surveying the crimson sky and rolling landscape with ancient eyes and sagacious intellect. It felt like he could move if he wanted, but it would take effort. The all-mother definitely had the reins and he was mostly an observer in his own body. She looked down at their hand and flexed armored fingers, the black composite still stained with the dried blood of his injuries. He felt a flare of anger surge through their combined psyche making his muscles tense.
The Lokori, already wide-eyed, fell forward, forced to catch himself.
The others all stared at him wide eyed.
“Bannor?” Wren said. “I said contact Gaea—not bring her here.”
They tilted their head with a raised eyebrow. He spoke and the sound echoed and seemed to fill the space around them. “Daughter, could it be you do not want me around?”
Wren sighed. “Of course not, I was simply hoping we could accomplish this without outside assistance.” Her brow furrowed. “Is Bannor still in there?”
“Of course,” they answered. He turned to the Lokori. “Kas dormigor, you are known to me, as are all my children.”
The creature winced like he’d been slapped.
“Dormigor, all of those here are my children and friends. They speak with my voice, and do my will.” Gaea took several steps forward out of the screen and looked down on him. “Do you understand?”
The Lokori made a choking sound.
He felt a twinge of irritation go through his body. The goddess sensed his doubt and frowned. “I did not hear you.”
The Lokori growled. His body vibrated. Bannor knew what was coming but his control of their body was so tenuous. Gaea knew nothing about combat or the threat this creature posed at close range!
The blue-haired creature erupted into motion, impossibly sharp claws hissing around to cut them in half. Gaea experienced no alarm or even concern, Bannor’s view of the landscape turned gray. The threads of the universe blazed into his consciousness. With those lines came songs and harmonies, textures, patterns, sensations and several other distinct perceptions overlaid on his senses.
Their combined body moved only a fraction of a step and lifted an armored knee into the path of Dormigor’s arm well inside the arc of those deadly talons. The Lokori’s wrist slammed home with a crack and rebounded.
Bannor heard himself let out a hiss, hands patterning, slipping outside the follow-up strike, stepping past and driving an elbow into the back of the Lokori’s head with a crunch.
He took hold of the top of the shield. The shaladen flared and morphed with a rasp of crackling magic, becoming two matched swords that they whirled into guard position with a flourish. Face down in a gouge in the turf, Dormigor growled and started to turn. She came down on his back with one knee. She stabbed her double swords into the dirt crosswise on either side of the Lokori’s neck and pulled the sharp edges down tight. The creature grunted in pain, realized his apparent danger and stopped struggling.
The team’s cries of concern and surprise were just now registering in their ears.
Gaea sniffed and looked at Wren sidelong. “What?”
The blonde savant let out a heavy breath. “You scared me.”
You scared me too. Bannor thought at the goddess.
“My apologies, as an avatar within the body of one of my children, I am no-where near as clumsy or helpless.” She focused on the shaladen which crackled and surrounded the Lokori’s throat causing him to gag. The result left a solid handle with which she levered the creature up while pinioning one of his arms with her free hand. “I have access to the powers and skills of all my children. As we discussed this morning, because they have a tao, Su’Ko Tai and her brothers and sisters are nearly as much my children as the rest of you.”
Dormigor began to struggle again. Gaea pressed her will into the shaladen. Magic crackled making the Lokori twitch and gasp as power licked around him like angry insects. “Did I neglect to mention how stubborn Lokori are?”
“Mother, you didn’t really tell us anything except to avoid them,” Wren said with a scowl.
“Oh,” the all-mother winced. “I guess you are right. I was rather hoping it would not come to this.” She let out a breath. “I can keep Dormigor under control but since he does not seem to want to believe it is me, his cooperation is both unlikely and dangerous.”
“So what do we do with him?” Wren asked.
Gaea tightened her grip on the shaladen, and pressed her will into it again. Energy surged, the Lokori’s back arched as powerful magic cascaded through him with a rasp.
He went limp. She caught up the creature’s slumping form and withdrew the shaladen before lowering him to the ground. She transformed the weapon back in an armband on his arm.
“That should keep him from being a nuisance.”
Daena put hands on hips. “Mother why didn’t you tell us about the avatar thing?”
Gaea shrugged. She relaxed her power some of the echo of their voice softened to normal. “Well, given the current situation, it only would have worked through the shaladen. It did not occur to me as something necessary, especially if this pla
ce was empty. This is something of an inconvenience for Bannor. It is his body after all.” She tilted her head, gaze fixing on the auburn-haired savant. “Does that mean you would have been willing to be my avatar?”
Daena blinked. “Uhhh. I guess.”
“It is done. I am here.” She looked down at her hand. To herself more than anyone else she said. “I must figure out how to get these abilities while in my normal form—quite useful and rather… exhilarating.”
Wren raised an eyebrow. “Well, maybe we better get to the shrine in case there’s a limit to how long Bannor can be your avatar. That’s a lot of power. It’s like when I had all the first ones inside of me. It nearly burned up my mother’s body.”
He held out his hands, feeling the patterns in the air and the soil. His heart picked up tempo and warmth spread through his body. With a pulse of energy and a thrum that made the air shudder, he rose up off the ground and hovered on a shimmering column of force. “Lead on,” they said.
The others stared at him with wide eyes.
Wren recovered and pushed into the air vapor trails spiraling from her hands and feet. “Stay high, we haven’t figured out a way to see them yet.”
One by one, the others also rose in pursuit of Wren.
Gaea and he watched them rise, feeling a glowing sensation of pride and excitement. After a few moments of reveling in the sight of her children in flight, they thrust forward after them with a hum of pulsating nola power.
You sure do enjoy this. He thought to Gaea.
Just remember I want my body back. It’s the only one I have, so we need to be careful.
The group arced down off the hill and down toward the lake. To Bannor it was unnerving. He didn’t particularly like flying, but he had spent so much time doing it recently that he had become comfortable with it. Being in the air and unable to control their path made the dread come back. Especially with the ecstatic all-mother in charge of their flight, slipping and sweeping around the other savants as they streaked across the lake.
Reality's Plaything 5: The Infinity Annihilator Page 22
