“It appears the boomers turned out to be a critical addition to our defenses,” Kalindinai remarked. “I’m hearing they have three corridors bottled up. The magical enhancements our coven assembled on them have the Baronians and Kriar struggling.”
“At least some good news,” Bannor murmured.
“The attackers have too many soldiers in this press for there to be any good news,” King T’Evagduran said as they neared the top of the steps.
“I would say our best bet would be for me to avatar with Gaea again,” he said. “But our powers together would only make a difference outdoors where we could get at large numbers of the enemy. Otherwise we’d have to bring the citadel down on them.”
“If all seems lost, we will still entertain that option,” the King said. “I want these foul aliens gone from our lives.” He paused at glanced at Marna. “Present company excepted.”
The Vatraena made a grim smile. “I understood the sentiment. I feel that way myself.”
At the top of the steps, Bhaal snarled a challenge. The sound and the posture of the blue-haired Lokori caused a bolting Quasar and Eclipse to screech to a halt, burning plasma-swords and side-arms trained on the ululating knight of Gaea.
“Don’t attack,” Marna ordered.
Quasar’s jeweled features tightened and she swallowed and she stepped back. Frowning, Eclipse dropped the point of his sword. “Counsel, we must move quickly, before we are cut off.”
“Let them corner usss,” Bhaal purred. She opened and closed her hands, claws clicking and sparking with power.
The whole group staggered as another crash rocked the structure. A swarm of Baronian regulars came pouring through the gallery toward the stairwell.
“Dark! Dark! Dark! ” Eclipse cursed, firing into the group that charged the narrow doorway.
Bhaal did not move but stared with golden unblinking eyes at the onslaught. Around her, the rest of Marna’s guards leaped up the stairs and took positions to cover the doorway with energy fire.
Heart beating fast, Bannor surged up the steps in their wake. With the power of the garmtur he began ripping and tearing at magical threads. Daena laid about with her nola smashing groups of attackers back and tangling up their advance. King T’Evagduran, Janai, and Ryelle all transformed their shaladens into bows and started pelting the troop mass with arrows hurled by the strength of eternity. The three valkyries stood guard over their backs, spears ready and wings spread to shield them should enemies somehow get behind. Kalindinai summoned her staff and together she and Senalloy sent scorching blasts of fire and electricity booming down the hall. At his side, Sarai gestured and stone spikes erupted from the floor into the ranks of the hoard. A swing of her arm sent shards of sharpened stone shrieking into the faces of the oncoming enemy.
“Whoa,” he breathed.
“Forgot I could do that, didn’t you?” she remarked wiggling her eyebrows.
“Actually, yes,”
In a matter of moments, a carpet of blood and bodies covered the gallery floor.
Through it all, Bhaal stood like a statue as shots flashed past her. The enemy knives, axes, and weapons that came at her she batted aside with contemptuous swats of her claws. She simply stared intently at the churning Baronian formation like a hungry mongrel eying a huge flank of fresh meat.
“That creature is unnerving,” Bannor heard Eclipse mutter.
Unable to advance under the withering barrage of Kriar weaponry, shaladen and nola might, the Baronians must have decided to bring up their juggernauts because four of the monstrous brutes came bellowing out of formation.
Spells, arrows, and plasma bolts rained ineffectually on the hulking things as they pounded toward the narrow stairwell. Behind these living battering rams the regrouped Baronians advanced at a run.
Bhaal leaned forward. She let out a blood-freezing yowl and lanced into the oncoming creatures. The first dread seemed to explode as severed hunks of gold flesh went in all directions. As the beast went down, a red pulsating aura surrounded the Lokori and she seemed to grow. She speared the other dread in the back that tried to bypass her. Yanked it back toward her and sheared away its head with a slash.
Splashed in black blood, Bhaal let out another ululation as the monster’s power became hers.
The other two dreads fell on her, pounding and tearing. Their vanguard tied up, the Baronians tried to salvage their aborted charge, racing around the occupied Bhaal.
The gallery became a killing ground as the enemy tried to storm the power of five Shael Dal, six kriar elite, four elder warriors, two ascendants and the all-mother herself.
Gaea watched the clash with a grim expression, her white glowing eyes filled with anger and sadness. Blasts of magic and weapons came at them but deflected from a green barrier several paces from her outstretched hand.
Two on one did little to even the odds for the dreads trying to defeat Bhaal. Gaea’s silver metal coating and the life force of two juggernauts fueling her body, the Lokori took the punishment and sundered her enemies in an obsidian rain.
She stood over the corpses bathed in gore, writhing as mystic energies leeched into her body, making her skin glow as if she were on fire. The Baronians that tried to pass her fell into shreds.
“Give me your lives,” she moaned toward the enemy that had come up short on the far side of the gallery. “Come, let me feast on the life that flees your ripped carcasses.”
Something shimmered for an eyeblink on her right. The Lokori’s hand flashed out. A sphere of color flared around a body and went black. A Daergon Kriar, dressed in stealth armor, his face impaled on the ends of her fingers twitched and writhed, the plasma sword in his hand fizzling out.
Bhaal looked back to Gaea. “I may have these, yes?”
“Any that attack you, you may have,” Gaea pronounced.
The Lokori ripped her claws up through the warrior’s skull in a gout of white that made Bannor look away. The Kriar defenders all turned their heads, even Quasar.
“Abomination,” Marna muttered.
“They brought this on themselves,” Gaea said.
The Baronian commanders were no cowards, but the blue-haired demon was a truly harrowing creature. As Bhaal moved forward they ordered their soldiers back.
The gallery floor was so littered with bodies it was impossible not to step on a fallen soldier. In some places they were three deep. The smell of blood, burned flesh, and torn bodies made Bannor’s stomach want to hollow itself out. If he had to guess there were more than a hundred; maybe twice that.
“I’d dare we have their attention now,” Senalloy said, picking her steps carefully with her sword held out in defense. “It should draw some of the press away from our defenders.” She looked back to the T’Evagdurans. “Keep your weapons ready. Some of them may not be dead.”
Bhaal waited at the threshold into the corridor on the far side. She flicked the remnants of the battle off her claws, and surveyed the area with burning eyes. Marna’s thanes moved up but stopped well away from her.
Bannor moved a little ahead of the others, careful to stop behind where the ancient creature had paused. Blood matting her thick hair, and dripping down her silver skin-tight armor, the Lokori cast her gaze down at his feet then raised her chin and grinned, lips parting to show her elongated incisors.
She sniffed at him, nostrils flaring. “No fear.” She licked her lips.
He stared at the creature feeling queasy despite his ability to control his instinctive reaction to something so wild. “There’s a trap isn’t there?”
Bhaal raised an eyebrow, the corner of her mouth quirked. She looked down the hall, and rocked her head in the direction they needed to go. “They make hidden magic.” She blinked, clicking her tongue against her teeth. She sighed and stretched like a cat and leaned back against him, and made a dismissing gesture in the direction of the hall. “Make us chase; trap us—crush us.”
Bannor didn’t know what to make of this creature suddenly being willi
ng to touch him, especially not in anger. He glanced to Sarai who had stopped well back from Bhaal. She frowned at him as the bloody female rubbed her shoulders against his chest, the way a cat might brush up against his leg.
He didn’t know why, but he had a history of wild things taking a liking to him.
“I don’t see the trap she’s talking about, Mother,” he said glancing back toward Gaea. “I’m inclined to believe her though.”
“Believe it,” Senalloy said, stepping up by him. “It’s a standard tactic.”
Bhaal tilted her head and looked up at the silver-haired Baronian woman. She unwound from around him and slid up to Senalloy and sniffed. “They are your tribe,” she cast her gaze at the corpses at their feet. She sniffed again. “Your scent is not like theirs.” She drew closer, sniffing. “You smell of Mother.”
Bannor guessed that must be why she was friendly all of sudden. He had Gaea’s power, he had her scent. The Lokori was drunk with the green mother’s energies, almost exploding with the life-force stolen from the dreadnaughts.
Senalloy eyed the Lokori the way she might an overly friendly serpent—one with a deadly bite.
“I’m going to cast a spell,” she said.
The Lokori stared at her with glowing eyes.
Senalloy’s hands traced glowing patterns as she went into a sing-songy chant. The light around her fingers grew brighter with each vocalization. With a yell she thrust a palm forward sending a ball of cracking energy down the corridor. Tendrils of blue-white magic licked out from the sphere, rasping against the walls floor and ceiling, casting a brilliant illumination on everything as it passed.
As the magical construct passed midway of the corridor, glyphs etched into the walls and floor became outlined, their surfaces burning bright red.
“Aie,” Kalindinai murmured. “Those are powerful. How did they scribe those so fast?”
“Some of the elite specialize in such traps,” Senalloy murmured with narrowed eyes. She looked back to Marna and the King and Queen. “We have to bypass this and keep our own forces out of there. That would take me a long time to dispel, and our time is better spent regrouping.”
Gaea frowned. She looked to Marna. “How safe is warping now?”
The Matriarch shook her head. “Bad. The Daergons will have gates focused here, waiting to snatch the first entity silly enough to try any kind of teleportation.”
“Even the shaladens?” Janai said.
Marna made a dubious expression. “I wouldn’t advise it.”
“No,” Ryelle put in. “Tal and Megan told me shaladen summoning when fighting Kriar was inadvisable.”
“Then let us use a practical approach,” the King said. He turned from the corridor put his hand in the corner. Careful of the corpses, he counted off three paces. “Sarai can you make us an opening here?”
Bannor’s wife-to-be smiled. “Done,” she answered. She stepped over to the spot indicated and pressed her palm against it. The stone made a gurgling sound. Sparks danced around her arm as the granite opened up and formed a squared off opening tall enough for any of them to pass without ducking.
The space opened up looked into narrow hollow that was obviously an unused part of Kul’Amaron. If Bannor had to guess, it looked like a buttress the builders had never gotten around to filling with rocks and mortar.
“This will take us under,” King T’Evagduran said, shining the light of his shaladen down the area. Another blast made him wince. “Go.”
“Bhaal,” Gaea said. “If you please.”
The Lokori sighed and skipped forward, claws snapping and glowing as she extended them. She dropped into the narrow space and stalked forward.
Marna’s thanes followed the Lokori into gap, dropping down to the dirt and gravel surface. Bannor jogged to catch up, giving Sarai’s shoulder a squeeze as he ducked in. Daena followed close on his heels.
“Sen,” he heard the King say behind him. “You and Sarai bring up the rear and close the opening after you.”
The Baronian nodded.
Bannor kept his attention focused forward but listened for the activity behind. He heard the jingle of valkyrie armor that signaled the burly warriors of the Aesir had dropped down. After a few moments longer, he heard the rumble of the rock cavity being closed by Sarai’s elemental powers.
He didn’t care much for the single file arrangement of their team. He glanced back past Daena, seeing Eclipse, then Marna and Dulcere, Gaea, Kalindinai, Ryelle, Janai, and Jhaan. He saw the glinting of Quasar’s jeweled face. She was serving as the rear guard for the royals. Behind them would be the three valkyries, Sarai, and Senalloy.
“Right at the next fork,” King Jhaan said.
Rumbles made debris and dust rain down from above. Bannor glanced to the thousands of tons of fortifications hanging over their heads. He swallowed. “Pick it up. Pick it up.”
At the head of their procession, Bhaal turned right without prompting. The creature’s animalistic exhibitions made it difficult to judge the Lokori’s true intelligence, but he bet she was far smarter than anyone imagined. Much of her actions were gauged to intimidate, to make herself seem even more powerful than she was.
“Two more intersections,” the King relayed. “Then left.”
The path that they were following appeared to be between levels of the citadel foundation. They were going roughly in the same direction as they would if they had been in the corridor above. He would have thought there would be hordes of vermin scrambling around in his huge space, but there was nothing—only dust and stone chips. Even muted by the thick stone, the sounds of battle seemed loud, the stone trembling with the power of the attacks being exchanged.
“Battle intelligence is favorable,” Jhaan said. “We’re doing well,” Jhaan said. “Having nearly everyone together worked to our advantage. We’re the only stragglers.” He looked back. “Sarai, push up to the front with Bannor.”
The group struggled in the narrow space, continuing to move while allowing Sarai to skip ahead in the line. He felt a wash of relief when Daena turned to let her pass and Sarai took his hand.
Another rumble created a fresh rain of debris. He felt Sarai’s hand tighten on his. “I want out of here,” she murmured.
“Definitely,” he agreed.
Bhaal turned left but stopped after only a half dozen steps. A giant piece of granite had dislodged from higher up and had blocked the passage. The Lokori slashed away a few melon-sized hunks of stone with her claws but it became obvious it would take too long. She looked back with gold glowing eyes and raised her chin.
The Kriar thanes looked back as well. In their time at the citadel, the Kriar had come to understand the different powers of the people who defended Kul’Amaron. Sarai gave his shoulder a squeeze and slipped past him and around the thanes to stand by the Lokori.
The blue haired creature leaned down to sniff Sarai. “Smell, goood.”
Sarai kept an eye on Bhaal and placed and hand against the blockage. The Lokori blinked at her, showing her fangs and sniffing. After a few instants the rock glowed and softened, flowing down into the passage and spreading out ahead of them.
The Lokori tilted her head as Sarai finished and leaned closer, sniffing around her abdomen. His wife-to-be leaned back, but kept herself still so as not to startle the creature.
Bhaal’s brow furrowed. “You have little one?” She grinned. “Make Mother happy, yes?”
“Yes,” Sarai said in a careful tone.
“I watch you,” Bhaal said, pointing to her eyes. She turned and swayed through the debris and continued down the gap.
Sarai stayed next to the wall, and let the three Kriar thanes continue past her. Bannor slipped next her and took her hand.
“Why does that make me feel uncomfortable?” she murmured.
“Because nobody sane wants that creature watching them,” Daena said behind her.
They advanced up the gap until the opening branched two directions. The overhead clearance made it nece
ssary to crouch down to move. From the pounding above them, Bannor guessed they were beneath a passage. From the volume of the sound the fight must be directly above.
“Go about five paces up to the right,” the King said. “That should put us in the hall near the infirmary.”
Bhaal scrambled on hands and feet a little past the location, listening to the sounds. Without question they were under the battle. The stone blocks shook above them, particles of dust being vibrated off them. Getting up into that hallway with a fight in progress would be tricky.
“We’ll need to time this,” Jhaan said. “Several of our defenders are in a holding action but the front of the battle is very liquid.”
Sarai looked up and raised her fingers to touch the stone. After a few instants she frowned. “They’re right on top of us.”
“Sar,” Daena said, green eyes glowing brightly in the gloom. “You open it. I’ll go first and clear the way.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded.
Sarai looked to her Father. King T’Evagduran pressed his lips to a line and cast a look to Gaea.
The green mother smiled. “Kumiko, please be careful,” she said.
Daena bowed her head.
“I’ll inform the defenders to watch for us and provide cover as they can,” Jhaan said.
Daena turned to Sarai and crouched down. “Do it, I’m ready.”
Everyone else in the tight space braced. He drew a breath feeling his heart speed. He would have to leap up and assume battle form once he had footing.
“On three,” Sarai told Daena.
The young ascendant brushed back her auburn hair and opened and closed her hands.
“One,” Sarai murmured. “Two—three!”
Unlike the other times Sarai had opened the stone, there was no time to be tidy or quiet. She slammed her hand against the low stone ceiling and the surface exploded with a roar.
As they knew, the enemy had been directly overhead. Sarai’s savage eruption of the floor sent a collection of dreadnaughts, Baronians, Kriar, and mecha flying. In the wake of that blast Daena leaped up and sent a cascade of nola power down the corridor.
Screams of surprise, the clang of metal crashing together, and the shakes of bodies and equipment colliding resounded through the citadel structure.
Reality's Plaything 5: The Infinity Annihilator Page 33
