The Iron Altar Series Box Set One: Books 1 to 3

by Casey Lea

  A soft tinkle from behind made Amber jump. She spun and her cloaking field slid over her skin before settling again. She saw only ice, a pale cave that was still shrinking in the low light. There was another noise and this one sounded like something cracking. She peered more closely and saw shadows moving in the ice face behind her. She turned and ran, scurrying over the frozen floor to skid into a proper corridor. She tried to accelerate, but her feet shot from under her, and she cannoned into the wall.

  Something crunched and Amber hoped it wasn’t her, as she sprawled against a wall too stunned to move. The ice seemed to undulate under her in a gauzy white dance and she gulped acid back down her throat. She gritted her teeth against any more and tried to move.

  The passage was almost completely blocked by bulging glacial walls. Only a twisting chute of open space followed the path of the corridor. Perfect for penguins, but no one else. Amber grimaced, but she wasn’t going to let a sore head and queasy stomach stop her. She concentrated hard, until she could focus and two dark holes in the ice pressed against her sharpened into something more. Eyes.

  Amber gagged and scrabbled along the wall. She had to claw at frozen cloth that blocked her escape, until it flaked under her nails and the head holding those sunken eyes bobbed toward her. She made another strangled noise and managed to crawl away from the corpse, but her boot caught in the rigid hem of its robe and she dragged it after her. The back of its tunic ripped free from the ice and the dead mermaridian sprawled across the passage. She twisted away from it, falling onto her back and felt its nest of bones snap under her feet. She kicked out wildly and the corpse flew from her heel to crunch against the passage behind her and slide down it, a piece at a time.

  Amber gulped for air and kept on moving, her eyes on the body while she backed up like a spider, on palms and heels, feeling for the passage behind her. She had to reach the link. She slid backward through the iced arteries of the ship, terrified the disintegrated creature might somehow resurrect itself, but the gruesome thing made no further move. It wasn't a zombie at all, just a desiccated shell held together by frozen clothing, the remnants of an ice plague feast.

  The tunnel felt frigid and harder than teeth under Amber’s hands, despite the protection of her dark energy shield. She managed to find her feet and took a few staggering steps, then fell back with a yelp to fishtail along the passage. She skidded on her butt and sudden splintering sounded from behind. Cracks appeared in the walls around her, racing her through the foggy glow.

  Amber stopped trying to brake and pushed herself faster instead, sliding the entire length of the corridor. Near the end she gradually slowed to a shaking halt. Was something still following her?

  She gulped and closed her eyes. No, that wouldn't help. She opened them so wide it hurt and bushed her fronds until they scratched her throat, but there was nothing.

  Stupid, stupid. This was no time for panic. Part of Amber tried to point out that panic was highly appropriate, but she ignored it, to pull herself upright again. She had to dig her fingers into the undulating ice framing the doorway at the end of the tunnel. She dragged herself upright and hung from her hands, while her feet scrabbled to and fro like pendulums on the frosted floor. She finally found her balance, but then stood listening for another long minute. All was silent. She started off again, one foot in front of the other as quiet as a cat, to ease herself round the door frame and into the main link. The nest was very close. She was going to make it.

  There was a figure in the snow tunnel ahead, slumped on the frigid floor. It stirred, lifting its head and Amber slid to a stop. She stayed very still, but it seemed unaware of her. She saw the curve of broad shoulders bunching when it tried to stand. It turned to one side as it pushed itself upright and she recognized a familiar silhouette.

  “Nikareon.” Amber accelerated with reckless speed and skidded down the link toward the Beserk. Her relief was more than sweet. The idiot was still alive and she wasn’t alone. She reached for him exactly when he turned and reached out for her.

  Amber screamed.

  Nikareon was gone. Glazed eyes stared blankly past, while arms heavy with ice cut at her. She dug in her toes, but it was too late to stop so she ducked instead. Razor-edged hands slashed past with a whip crack sound and she threw herself forward, aiming between the zombie's feet. It reacted fast enough to kick out at her and caught her as she flew past.

  Amber grunted and cannoned into another icy wall. Gods that hurt. Weren't zombies supposed to be slow? Clearly not when they managed to hijack a Beserk’s body. She looked over her shoulder to see a leg falling at her and tucked up her knees just in time. A club-like foot carved into the floor to send a spray of ice over her.

  The sharp patter on her shield made Amber's gut freeze, but the rest of her kept on moving. She pushed off and skidded along the link, slipping and sliding on the ice sheet floor, while it rippled with every stride of the thing chasing her. Frigid air ripped through her throat and a shadow fell over her, growing to cover the ice ahead. Zombie Nikareon was catching up.

  Amber searched the link as she fled, looking for, well, anything, but instead she saw a snowy mountain blocking her path. It shifted, to become a pile of limbs and spiky hair. She desperately tried to brake when it rose in front of her, but slipped onto her back again, while long arms reached for her. Stalactites dripped from its white fingers where nails should have been and a travesty of Falkyn opened its mouth in a dry, gasping cry. An answering call lifted her hair in a cold breeze from behind when the Nikareon zombie answered.

  Amber threw herself sideways with a sobbing gasp. She rocketed on her stomach toward her only hope of escape, a dark opening in the endless glacier surrounding them. A side passage was barely visible ahead. Its opening had been shrunk by encroaching ice until it was scarcely big enough for her to fit, but her speed saved her, driving her into the tunnel in a spray of hail.

  Something smashed against the entrance behind and cracks branched through the ice around Amber. The floor folded upward under her, but then everything was lost in an avalanche roar and bitter cold swept her away, further into the passage and into darkness.

  ***

  Amber had no idea how much time had passed when she finally woke to the dull blue world of the plague. She squirmed against a weight that made it hard to breathe and more snow slid over her, burying her in cold and panic. She flailed around with arms and legs she could hardly feel, clubbing her way free from her frigid prison. She finally slid from the white wall now blocking the passage and back onto the smooth ice of the tunnel floor. It actually felt warm, so she must be in a very bad state indeed.

  Another possibility occurred to Amber and she stopped clawing her way forward. Perhaps the snow felt warm because the ice had already infected her? Was she changing without even realizing it? Sliding down the slope of possession to become a mindless zombie? She groped for her com, scraping frost from its surface and stealing some of its precious dark energy to run a scan. She huddled over her wrist and waited, ears strained for any sound from the tunnel ahead.

  The computer seemed impossibly slow and Amber had to hug herself to stay still and quiet. Where were those drakking results? The ice was still moving, cracking and settling around her, until her nerves were as frayed as old flex. A lump sheared off the avalanche face behind her to roll past and she briefly levitated from her huddled position, before settling again. Come on, come on. Amber started to rock, but the cave around her finally began to quieten. The creaks and groans faded to be replaced by silence. To her horror that was worse, and she had to clench her teeth against a whimper.

  A soft chime from the com almost made Amber cry out. She frowned at the results, struggling to focus and a sob finally escaped. She was still herself. Badly frostbitten and hypothermic, but uninfected. It seemed her dark-matter and energy armor was still protecting her. She wanted to stay huddled where she was, buoyed by the fleeting warmth of relief, but need drove her to her feet. She still had to send this plague b
ack where it came from.

  Sliding forward flat-footed, Amber began to skate, slipping from side to side and moving deeper into the cold. The dim ship’s lighting continued to filter through the packed ice as a blue haze, while each breath clouded around her. It remained eerily quiet and she was almost relaxed when she chose a choked corridor leading back toward the nest.

  The entrance of her new passage was almost totally blocked, by an icy spit jutting from the wall. Amber had to sidle sideways, edging past the hard knob of crystal that narrowed the path. She looked into the frozen mass she was working past and stopped.

  It was a mound of bodies, carelessly piled and left to ice over. Her hands flew to her mouth and she whimpered through them. The corpses must be mermaridian, the remains of Lamidia’s crew, but they seemed impossibly small, little more than desiccated shells. Dozens of sad mummified faces, stretched in silent screams, stared accusingly at her. This must be all that was left when the plague drained its zombies dry.

  Amber shuffled desperately fast around the base of the cairn. She pushed herself free, but something crunched underfoot while she did so. She looked down in time to see a clawed hand turn to dust and threw herself backward, falling to the ground with jarring force, but didn’t stop, scrabbling away on hands and heels. It was almost impossible to find any purchase and her escape was nightmare slow.

  It stopped abruptly when Amber backed into a frozen wall hard enough to see stars. Oh no, the tunnel must be blocked. She looked around wildly and realized she had reached a corner. The passage kept going to her right and she had to stifle a laugh. This was no time to slip into hysteria.

  Amber planted her feet under her, digging her heels into the rippled ice where the wall and floor met, before carefully rising. She had to use her nails to stand straight, clawing her way up the ice sheet behind her, but she succeeded. She stopped and leaned back to let her head rest against the wall, despite the frigid damp that filtered through her struggling com field. She just needed to rest for a moment.

  Cold quickly spread from Amber’s head and down her aching neck to be joined by drops of water falling from her hair. She knew she should move, but she was still so tired. Surely another moment couldn’t hurt. She balled her hands into fists and sudden pain pulled the world back into focus. She looked down at her right hand, frowning at it for a minute before it slowly uncurled. Blood streaked her fingers and had pooled around the middle nail, which was sitting far too high. She must have torn it pulling herself upright and not even noticed. Numb extremities did have some advantages.

  Amber reached across to press the nail back into place and saw a reflection of her hand in the ice behind her. The mirror image was crystal clear, but the hand it showed was very pale. Far too pale and there was no blood on it.

  Amber looked up and behind her very slowly, to stare straight into Misty’s face.

  The girl was trapped, sunk deep into the ice wall and Amber screamed again. She couldn’t help it. All of the day’s horror welled from her throat. That despairing screech fell behind her, as she fled back the way she’d come. She slipped and scrabbled, running blind until she collided with another chill face and collapsed.

  Amber crouched on the floor, huddled around herself and began to rock, until her hair stirred in a draft. She instantly stopped moving, but there was only silence and the air grew still once more. She was panicking over a random breeze.

  The cold gnashed at her fingers, but she levered herself upright. She blinked in an effort to see through her own breath and shuddered when she did. She was back beside the mound of mummies. She gulped and stepped carefully away, but then stopped. The Harvesters crumpled in their icy hill looked very different to poor Misty. Why hadn’t she noticed earlier? Her brain must be as frozen as any zombie.

  Yes, that was it. These creatures weren’t simply encased in ice, they’d been sucked dry. Amber reached out to lightly brush a withered hand rising from that freeze dried tomb. It crumbled at her touch, sifting to the floor as a fine powder. These Harvesters would never be zombies again. They’d suffered the same fate as everyone on Gratuity and been totally stripped of energy. They weren’t simply frozen, they were drained at a cellular level. She studied the ash on the floor more closely. Possibly down to the atomic level. Nothing recognisable remained.

  It seemed the Harvesters had failed to guard the ice as well as it wished. They’d been replaced by a more successful model of zombie. Her friends. And Nikareon of course. Amber strode back to the wall where Misty was encased to study the girl more closely, with less blind panic.

  The chick seemed far from her best, but also very different to the crumbling remnants of Lamidia’s crew. She was far more solid and looked like a frostbite victim who’d been frozen alive. Would it be possible to revive her? Like thawing a piece of steak? Amber tapped her lips and leaned closer to the ice window between them.

  That was when Misty’s eyes moved and her milky gaze met Amber’s. There was no pupil to be seen, but still the whites moved. They rolled to track Amber and the ice wall standing between the couple split. A spasm passed through the creature’s pale hand as if it wanted to form a fist, and the glacier cracked around it. A fissure darted up the iceface, opening in front of the zombie to set it free.

  It punched out at Amber and its fist smashed through the last of the ice, so that she felt the chill when its knuckles brushed past her jaw. She threw her head back and her body followed. She was on the floor again, scrabbling over blocks of ice, while the monster demolished its chrysalis behind her.

  Amber turned and scrambled on through a haze of hail, managing to find her feet as she went. She staggered away, through the ice being sprayed by the Misty zombie, but finally managed to reach smooth ground. She started to skate on shaky legs, digging the tip of each boot in deep enough to get purchase. It worked surprisingly well and the sounds of pursuit fell away behind her. She slid on alone through the silent cold.

  A coughing roar echoed from the glassy walls, but it came from ahead.

  Amber didn’t stop and didn’t even hesitate. If she was going to do this she couldn’t afford to slow down and she definitely couldn’t afford to think. She had to keep going, so she powered on, to shoot back into the blue haze of the link.

  Falkyn was waiting for her.

  Or more accurately the brain using his body was waiting for her and this time it had Falkyn crouched low, with his arms spread wide. There was no way Amber could slide past his feet, so she raised her wrist and shot him instead. The last of her dark energy was a streak of purple punching into his chest. That dull lightning spun the monster sideways, but its iceblock feet were still impossible to pass. She glanced down at her com and made a decision.

  Amber stole extra energy from her shield, making the cold bite deeper, but she hardly noticed. Her attention was on the zombie when it swung back to face her. Its mouth gaped in a hoarse roar at the same moment that she shot again. This time her blast bored into the ice above, to slice through a cluster of stalactites.

  The daggers fell, slicing down and Falkyn screamed. He disappeared in a pile of glassy shards and Amber stopped, staring in horror. Her heart ached and she threw herself down to dig into the pile, seeking her friend, until a groan reminded her of the other zombie.

  Amber sprawled forward and a pale arm split the air over her with a crisp whistle. She bit her lip, but abandoned her crazy search for Falkyn, to crawl across his icy mound instead. What the hail had she been thinking? Her friends were gone. She made it over the pile of rubble, pursued by groans and cracks, when the Nikareon zombie stamped over its comrade. She looked back to see flecks of ice spray from its knees with each lumbering stride, but despite its inflexible joints it quickly cleared the obstacle to loom over her.

  Amber tried to accelerate, but her palms and feet slid uselessly, making it impossible to escape. She crawled on in a nightmare effort to flee, while milky eyes judged the distance between them. She dug the tips of her boots into the ice just in time to skid
away from a scything hand.

  The zombie swung so hard it buried its fist in the icy wall. It tried to pull free, but its entire forearm was trapped and the creature gave a rasping howl of frustration. That chilling cry was answered.

  Amber glanced back and jerked to her feet. Trinity was chasing her. The three zombies lumbered closer from the far end of the link. She gritted her teeth and skated on with her shoulders hunched, waiting for something to slam into them. Instead, there was a noise like tectonic plates colliding and the floor shimmied hard enough to make her fall.

  Amber rolled as soon as she hit the ice, slithering onto her back to face the zombies, but her pursuers were down. She cowered and covered her ears while the clash of their collision continued. The monsters had been hit by... an iceberg? No, by the Falkyn zombie finally finding its feet. It must have surged upright just as its fellow monsters were trying to get past.

  Multiple legs and arms flailed together, smacking into each other as four different forms struggled to rise. The zombies had become pale beetles wriggling on their backs, while their heavy limbs clattered together like plaster casts. Amber looked more closely at the blank faces banging into each other and recognised them all.

  Amber stopped shaking and pushed herself upright. She turned away from the horror that used to be her friends and started to skate, sliding toward the nest. The noise behind her increased until it sounded like an avalanche, but she didn't look back. Instead she concentrated on staying upright, but before she'd gone far she unexpectedly stopped slipping on ice. The floor grew rougher and water sprayed from her boots, so she started to run. Within a few strides she was sprinting through puddles. Water splashed high, making her gasp, but she didn't stop. She ran all the way to the nest and halted at its entrance, bent over and breathing hard.