Refuge: Book 5: Angels & Demons
Page 30
"It's that damned undead thing," growled Paul. "That bastard of an Emperor."
"We need to stop him," yelled Levine, looking to his two companions. "We need to stop him, now."
"But how?" asked Kurt, gripping his sword, and wishing that it was a bow.
[I'm at the tower,] came the voice of Jackie in his head. [I'm going to try to get in and get to the gate mechanism.]
[Get to the top of the left side tower,] sent Kurt, [Stop the son of a bitch up there.] The communique took less than a second, not even interrupting the conversation going on between the three on the outside of the wall. Kurt had told her what he wanted and was sure she would try her best. And that was all he could do.
"I don't know," said Levine. "But we need to try."
The ancient immortal started running toward the gate tower, not waiting to see if anyone was following him. In an instant, Kurt and Paul were on his heels. Levine had two thousand years of life over his younger companions. Two thousand years to grow more powerful. He was up to eighty kilometers an hour in seconds, his full sprinting speed. Kurt could get up to just over sixty KPH, Paul slightly less, but they struggled to go as fast as they could.
Another ball came down on the goddess, smashing into her and driving another cry from between her clenched jaws. The red continued to struggle, and more of the red ichor flowed from between her teeth.
"Stop," yelled Levine.
The Emperor looked down at him, a grin on his face. Kurt looked up into the face of the creature and could see through the illusion to the rotting flesh underneath. It left a sick feeling in his stomach and increased his determination to destroy it. But how? The Emperor was at the top of the tall tower with smooth dwarven-stone walls that looked to be unclimbable.
"We will destroy you, just as it was foretold," yelled Levine, his powerful lungs amplifying his words as he shook his fist at the creature. "You know it. Soon we will be standing over your decaying body."
The Emperor tilted his head back and laughed, and then turned his burning eyes on Kurt, the one foretold to be his destroyer. He pulled his hand back and launched another ball of force, this time aiming it at the German immortal. The shimmering ball slammed into the earth, raising a cloud of dust around Kurt. He covered his eyes from the dust, the only part of the attack that actually did anything to him. At least they had distracted him enough to have him throw some of his energy their way, and not at their dragon ally.
However, they still couldn't figure out how to get to him as he turned his angry eyes back to the gold dragon.
Chapter Twenty-six
Mashara felt a shiver of fear as he looked down on the three immortals, the beings who had what he wanted: eternal life without having to court death, and the one he had recognized from the images he had viewed in the globe, brought forth by his now missing Orc slave. The one that would destroy him before he could complete his transformation.
He reached back and triggered another spell, throwing a ball that could obliterate an elephant at the selected immortal. The shimmering ball struck the ground, blasting earth into the air and seemingly blotting out the immortal. In several seconds, the dust had settled enough that he could see the immortal was still standing there, forearm over his eyes.
He was into the speaking of another spell when a voice spoke in his mind.
[You fool. They are immune to magic. All you are doing is wasting energy. Energy you could be using to rescue my messenger. If you want immortality, destroy Metalafolis, you idiot.]
Mashara felt anger and fear warring within him. He was no one’s fool, not even a god's, but Bothar could carry through on his threat. Without the blessing of Bothar, he would not complete his transformation and live forever.
His angry eyes flashed back at the gold dragon, and he brought his hand back, mouthing the words to the spell, determined to use his anger to launch the most powerful ball of force ever.
* * *
Jackie stopped and crouched below the short barrier that separated the walkway at the base of the wall from the bridge over the moat. There were small forts, really no more than blocks three meters on a side, with arrow slits giving the people inside the ability to fire over the bridge. She didn't know what was in those forts. Just bowmen, or heavy engines that could send a shaft through even the best armor. Something like that might not kill her, but it could incapacitate her for a considerable amount of time, and even drop her into the moat to feed the crocodilians.
Looking up over the meter and a half barrier, she was able to see the inner side of the block. No door, and no door on the one facing her, so she had to assume they were entered from within the tower. There was a small gate leading onto the inner wall walkway, but going through that gate would put her in front of the forts and whatever weapons they had.
Only one thing for it, she thought, moving to the side and leaping into the air, the bottoms of her feet clearing the top of the fort and landing on the roof. There was no entrance here either. Looking over she could see that the inner gate between the towers was closed, and she doubted she could get through that metal portal. Fire might actually cut into it, but it would take her over an hour to cut enough away for her to get through, and she didn't think that the people in the towers would give her that time, and they didn't have to open the gate to get to her.
[I'm at the tower,] she sent to Kurt, questing for his mind and finding it. [I'm going to try to get in and get to the gate mechanism.]
[Get to the top of the left side tower,] sent her lover, at the same time giving her an image of her target. [Stop the son of a bitch up there.]
Jackie could see the image of the enemy Emperor as he stood on the tower throwing magic at something. She didn't know his target, but from the emotions coming over her lover's link, she knew it was important to stop him from striking at it.
She looked up the side of the tower, only seeing smooth stone with no hand holds, but there was a small balcony with an open door about ten meters up. An Ellala stood on that balcony with a bow, his attention locked on the battle going on between the dwarves, Dark Elves, and his people. Jackie pulled her long dagger and removed the Conyastoya climbing rope from the pouch on her side. The rope was no thicker than string, but stronger than the strongest silk, able to support ten times her weight. But it would only work if she had it anchored to something. She checked her dagger, making sure that the side prongs on their spring ejected mechanisms was ready. The purpose of the blade was to puncture the body of an enemy, then extend the prongs to cause maximum damage when jerked out, but it could work as a grapple if it was stuck into the right object. Such as the Ellala above.
After tying the rope to the handle, she examined the balance again. Satisfied that it was as good as she was going to get, she whistled to get the attention of the Ellala, who leaned over and looked down on her. His eyes widened and he pulled back the arrow notched on his bow. Jackie flung the dagger with all her strength and it whistled through the air, the weighted blade leading. It hit right where she had aimed, into the lower throat of the Ellala, sending him falling back with his life's blood spurting out along the cut. She pulled on the rope a few times, trying to set the blade, satisfied that it was not going to come out, at least not instantly.
She was sure she weighed more than the lightly built elf. She was almost six feet tall and muscular for a woman. Her kind, the immortals, had a greater density of bone and muscle than other humans. She wasn't sure the Ellala wouldn't come over the wall and drop her back to the roof of the small fort. It probably wouldn't harm her, and definitely not permanently, but it would thwart her plan of getting into the tower, and from the urgency of Kurt's transmission, she thought she had to get up there fast.
The immortal crouched down, her eyes locked on the rope. Now she was happy that she didn't have gauntlets, as they would have made it more difficult to grip the rope. With a final thought, she sprung into the air, much as she had done to get to the top of the fort. Her hands reached the rope almost five mete
rs above her launch point. She closed them with a tight grip and scrambled up, hand over hand. She could feel the body of the Ellala sliding up the wall of the balcony, looked up to see part of the body come into sight. She frantically pulled, getting one hand on the balcony wall as the body of the elf came tumbling over. It struck her shoulder on the way down, and she had to pull hard to get her other hand up before she tumbled downward. The body of the elf struck the roof of the fort with a smack, and she was sure the sensitive hearing of the people inside would have heard that.
With a jerk of her arms, she was over the wall and landing on the balcony. Shouting voices came up from below, letting her know that her kill had been discovered. There was no time to look down and see what was going on. She needed to get moving, before the way to the top was barred by something she couldn't slaughter.
She was through the door to the balcony in an instant, the hilts of both blades in her hands. A door to the side of the circular room she found herself in was flung open, a confused Ellala warrior coming out to see what the alarm was about. Ice ended his life in an instant, slicing into his shoulder and crystalizing his internal organs. The man died without a sound other than the crackling of ice. The woman avoided the falling body and stopped to look around, getting her bearings and finding the stairs going up against the far wall of the twenty by twenty meter circular chamber. She could hear movement from above and below, the clanking of chain and high pitched voices. If she had been anything other than an immortal human, she would have been looking for somewhere to hide. Because she was immortal, she decided to attack in the direction she needed to go and leapt to the stairs, going up as fast as she could run.
A quintet of Ellala were coming down, and they shouted when they saw her, weapons thrust ahead. Jackie knocked the first sword point aside with Fire, then thrust Ice into the throat of the elf. The skin crackled to a stiff frozen state, the neck cracked, and the head fell off. There was no blood; every open artery and vein was clogged with ice. Two of the Ellala recoiled back, while the third stormed forward in anger. The recoilers had made the proper decision, as Fire struck down the one who continued the attack.
A blast of lightning came up from below, flowing through her body like a gentle tingle, but the electricity hit the two Ellala ahead of her like the blast of killing energy it was, dropping the two elves to the floor with smoke rising from their armor. Jackie leapt over the bodies and turned in time to knock aside a glowing spear point that was thrust toward her back.
I don't have time for this, she thought, willing herself back into overdrive. Her blades went into a blurring whirl, and the four Ellala coming up from below panicked as the blades, crackling with energies, drove into them. Two, including the spear wielder and the mage, went down to her blades; one on fire, the other shattering as he hit the stone steps. The other three turned tail and ran back down the stairs, not willing to face the killing machine that was coming at them like a demon of their worst nightmares.
Jackie huffed in a breath of relief, allowing her body to slow down, hoping it would cool. She was already having trouble remembering some things about her family, her past, evidence that she had already suffered some neurological damage this day. She didn't like playing with her memories, but others were risking much more.
There were only three more Ellala on the way up, passing through three levels, until she reached a door that she thought must lead to the roof, and a confrontation with probably the most powerful creature on this material world.
She hit the metal door at a run, hoping that it didn't have a locking bar on it. Since it had one on the side of the stairs, not set in its brackets, it seemed a good bet. The door was flung open, and she stopped in her tracks as the people on the roof turned her way. All had shocked expressions on their faces, with the exception of the man in the ornate armor. He turned with an expression of rage on his face. At first, it looked like another of the very young faces of the Ellala. Then under her sight it transformed into a rotting image of something already dead. Or if not dead, right on the verge.
Beyond him was the field of battle. There were bodies everywhere, and smoke rose into the air from countless fires. Demons, akin to what she had seen in the tunnels, were swirling through the air in battle with creatures that had the look of angels. Dominating the field were two of the largest dragons she had ever seen locked in a death struggle. One was red, one was gold, and it didn't take a degree in dragonology to know which was good, and which evil.
"Kill her," yelled the Emperor, turning his back on her again as if she was not important, and there was something else that demanded his attention. Something like the dragon battle going on.
The eight warriors on the tower started for her, weapons ready. These Ellala were not fools. They seemed to realize what she was, and they weren't going to rush in to their deaths. However, their lord and master had ordered that they kill her here and now, so they were committed to do so. Just as she was committed to getting to the Emperor and stopping him from winning this day.
* * *
Kurt stooped and picked up a rock, checking the weight and balance in his hand. He looked up at the Emperor as that creature went through another spell casting. He wasn't sure how many more hits the goddess could take before it fell, but he didn't think she could take too many more.
The immortal reared back and put all of his strength into the motion of speeding the rock toward the Emperor. He had always had a good arm with great accuracy, and some of his American friends had commented on how he could have been a baseball pitcher. He had greater strength these days, and the projectile whizzed through the air right on target. Or, since he had aimed for the head, close enough. The rock struck the Emperor in the right shoulder, the hit rocking him back. His left hand flew to his shoulder, and from the expression on his face it had obviously hurt.
Paul and Ismael grabbed stones and threw them with just as much power as the German, without the accuracy, as both missed, but still they accomplished something. The Emperor ducked down and lost his concentration for a moment. He popped back up just before Kurt could throw his next stone, shouting out some words and making a motion with his left hand. Kurt flung the rock at the evil bastard. His eyes narrowed as it hit something and slowed to a crawl, falling as it lost the velocity to continue in a flat trajectory.
"He has an inertial field," yelled Levine, throwing his own rock and watching it do the same thing as Kurt's.
An inertial field lost some energy for every object it stole energy from. If they threw enough rocks, they could eventually overcome it. How many? Probably more than they had time to throw.
It was all up to Jackie now.
* * *
"Can't we get through that gate?" screamed Gregor, glaring at the dwarven priest, Garios.
"Eventually," said the priest, rubbing his forehead beneath his helm. "You have to understand. That is the best dwarven steel, probably a foot thick. It's going to take some power to knock it down, unless we can get inside that tower and open it from inside.
That had been the plan, when they saw no easy way to break down the gate on the outside. They hadn't thought that the main tower fort might have an inward facing gate that was just as strong as the outer gate. In retrospect, it made sense. They were defending against a quick strike that might try to take the gate.
"Dammit, Colonel Smith got in there," growled the Russian.
"Through the balcony up there," said Izabella, pointing at the protrusion ten meters up above the small fort. The door up there was now closed, and it looked to be the same material as the gate. Even if they could get up there, they would face the same problem as they did down here.
"Watch out," yelled a dwarf, and arrows zipped down from the slits in the tower, mostly bouncing off hastily raised shields. A long spear sped from one of the small forts, spitting a dwarf, passing through his body and puncturing the one behind him.
"We need to either do something or get the hell off this bridge," said Izabella.
"We might have something here," said Garios, crouching down near the immortals. He glanced back to where a quartet of dwarves were struggling to carry a large barrel of something.
"An explosive device?" asked Izabella, an expression of confusion on her face. "I didn't think that explosives worked here."
"It's not really an explosive device. But it is something your engineering wizard came up with, using what we have. And according to what he said, it should be very powerful."
"And how far do we have to be from it when it goes off?" asked Gregor, feeling a bit nervous about being close to a device that might be able to turn him into vapor. He was pretty sure that he would not survive such a disaster, and did not want to find out for sure.
"Will it go off if something hits it before you emplace it?" asked the Polish woman.
"I don't think so," said the dwarf, his brow furrowing. "But I truly don't know."
"Nothing ventured, nothing gained," said the woman. A cliché, but nonetheless true.
"Let's do it," said Babich. "And then let's get under cover."
* * *
I don't have time for this, thought Jackie as she swung both blades in a rhythm into the first two Ellala that came at her. Both blades struck, one a killing stroke, the other glancing from a blade with a shower of icy sparks. That blade continued in and struck her in the left hand, slicing deep, leaving her little finger hanging from a shred of flesh.