Bannor studied the hall along with her, dipping into the senses of the garmtur.
He considered for a moment.
She narrowed her eyes.
She switched to hang from the other hand, then glanced back at the door. She focused on the shaladen and pressed her will into it the way he had taught her. The weapon formed into a flat circular ring looped around her arm. She then swung hand over hand to another projection closer to the sidewall and braced her feet against the surface.
It was a long throw, at least twenty paces in tight confines.
She slid the ring down to her fingers and adjusted her grip. Bannor took that moment to memorize her every detail with the garmtur, taking hold of her threads so that he could feel her even when she wasn’t touching the weapon.
The little G’Yakki coiled up and let fly. For him, his ability to see anything went dark as he left contact with her skin.
He counted to ten, and hoped to Gaea that he was where he needed to be and that this would work. He visualized her pattern and impressed it into the void around him. When he first woke up in this state, he didn’t know what the emptiness was… now he did. He was a shaladen wielder, still linked to the weapon, only now he was on the inside.
Bannor pushed his will outward, desiring, needing, Vera to come to the weapon.
After a few instants with no response he detected a resistance, something hindering his efforts. He exerted more of the garmtur on the space around him, urging—demanding the weapon to comply.
A golden sheen flickered through the emptiness surrounding him.
Had it worked? Had it failed? He had no concept of time. Should he keep trying?
Vision returned. Vera was looking at a new segment of corridor. He sensed her breathing fast, and her heart racing.
The area where the G’Yakki now stood looked completely different from the trapped tunnel through which they arrived. The hall had a hexagonal shape, with segments demarked every few paces by wide silver metal seams. The bluish-gray walls had a smooth glossy appearance, like polished marble, especially in the way veins of lighter colored material laced the shiny surface.
Vera shifted her boots on the smooth surface, making sure of her footing. She transformed the shaladen into a short blacked blade with a long hilt and attached cord which she flipped around behind her and over her left shoulder.
Keeping an eye to the corridor behind her she padded forward, the air rapidly going from muggy hot to arid cold. Ahead, Bannor felt his impressions of the genemar growing stronger. The hum of the power artifice faded behind them to be replaced by a low chugging sound that remained constant. The walls themselves vibrated near the places where the segments were joined, giving the impression that they were somehow inside of something moving.
The passage ended into another, and Vera edged up to the intersection glancing down the left branch. Kriar dressed in gray armor, stood near an entry a short distance down. They didn’t seem to be on alert, though Bannor knew the calm demeanor of these creatures—it took a lot of tension for it to show on their faces.
Vera slowed as the passage ended in a massive door. Four Daergon Kriar soldiers wearing heavy armor stood guarding the portal.
Bannor didn’t think they’d be pulling the same trick again.
He felt Vera frown. Her gaze looked up at smooth walls and back down the passage the way they came in.
Time for another gamble. They needed the guards to open the door, what they needed was the proper incentive.
He felt her quiver. She drew a breath and he felt her relax. He didn’t know this lady well, but she was a warrior in every sense of the word. He eased the garmtur into her nola, strengthening, reinforcing raising the level of joining until her eyes could see all the threads that he sensed.
Vera made a noise, something like a gulp or a swallow, and her heart speeded.
Vera had tremendous focus, she did not question or waver, but did as directed.
he said.
He felt her focus on the shaladen, drilling into its depths and finding him. Bannor reached out and joined spiritual hands with her, letting his nola flow through her being, letting the pattern of his tao intertwine with hers.
she thought, wonder now filling her.
With the garmtur all twined through her nola, with his assistance she tentatively found and took hold of their threads.
She reached out a hand, narrowing her eyes. She made a coming gesture with one-finger, little more than a twitch really. However, she was both a garmtur and a G’Yakki, synchronized wi
th a shaladen and the power of eternity. Even that little twitch translated to a lot of power.
The guards in front of the door jerked as something slammed against it from the other side with muted clang.
She reached out her other hand and twitched another finger. Another thud vibrated the door.
The Kriar turned to look.
Vera complied.
Wham.
Wham.
Wham. Wham! Wham…
To himself, Bannor winced. That had to be hurting, but these thugs deserved it.
The sound from the other side of the door didn’t carry, but the frantic howls on the comms were becoming audible. He didn’t need to speak Kriar to recognize the cursing of the two Kriar acting like drum mallets against that armored surface.
How ruthless were the Daergons? Would they let two of their own get turned to jelly against that door?
The agitation of the guards continued to rise. They had looked back down the hall to their position multiple times, and had pulled out devices. The hesitation to open the door had increased the volume and desperation of the two guards being pummeled inside.
He felt perspiration beginning to dampen Vera’s forehead, her heart was humming as she kept up the pressure, varying the way she manipulated their hapless decoys. Fortunately, neither Kriar had been able to focus enough to teleport away… or possibly transport was sealed off beyond the door which was equally as likely.
Finally, the screams for assistance seemed to shake the lead guard enough to disobey orders. He directed two of the four to cover the hall and began to work the door lock mechanism.
At this point, he didn’t distract Vera further, but let the woman focus on what she obviously knew so well, stealth and tactics.
When activated, the heavy valve slid up into the ceiling. As a crack opened in the metal the clanging and yells grew loud. While he had come up with the strategy, it appeared the Vera had plans of her own. She made a twisting motion and sparks flared off the floor surface as one of the decoys splayed against the floor. With yank the hapless enemy launched through the growing gap beneath the door, knocking aside the guards opening the door and slamming the left watcher to the floor.
Another yank sent the other decoy against the remaining watcher.
At the same time Vera launched forward even as the alert Kriar must have realized what must be happening.
As an assist, Bannor grabbed the threads of the nearest guard and slammed him down across the threshold as the little G’Yakki dived through the gap.
Vera flipped up to her feet as she slid underneath, grabbed the threads of the door block and shoved him outside, then grabbed the door with the garmtur and slammed it down with a crash. In a single swift move she transformed the shaladen into a huge mattock, and swung it at the door side, concentrating the shaladen’s power and that of the garmtur.
The nearly impervious material crumpled under an impact that shook the whole corridor, bending and deforming the door and the track that allowed it to be raised.
Panting, Vera leaned on the weapon long enough to catch her breath. She transformed the weapon back to a blade and sprinted down the passage toward the feeling of the genemar. In this section, the metal had a reddish tint, the pathway itself being uniform, roughly twice as wide as it was tall. Long lines of blue crystal lined the walls spaced a few hand-widths apart. The limited illumination in the area grew and faded, and the every surface vibrated with the reality-bending power of the Jyril weapon hidden somewhere close.
The corridor turned and after a short distance, sections of the wall became long crystalline windows looking into a chamber lit with a greenish pulsing light.
The Daergons had taken no chances with the genemar and four more warriors in armor were guarding the door. These apparently alerted by the ruckus caused by their break in.
Vera started to rush forward.
She slid to a stop after only a few steps.
Reality's Plaything 5: The Infinity Annihilator Page 48
