by CM Raymond
Julianne nodded, then knelt to the ground and raised her hands. She grabbed ahold of Lilith’s feet, and as her eyes went white, the room turned to red.
Pain, pain, pain. Then peace.
Julianne floated in a sea of calm red.
“Welcome to my mind, Julianne. I’m glad you made the journey.”
The voice was strong, and it seemed to come from every direction.
“I wish it was a more pleasant trip,” Julianne said. “Your barrier nearly killed me.”
“It is the work of the creature swarming my body. It was designed by Laughter, a former colleague of mine, and pleasantries weren’t her number one priority.”
“I don’t feel anything now.”
“Good. Then my attempts to block its influence on you are working.”
“Thanks, I guess. That can’t be easy.”
“It is not,” Lilith responded. “But before I wound up here I spent several centuries in a cave. Hospitality is a virtue I try my best to respect. Thank you, by the way, for staying Hannah’s hand. Your instincts are sharper than her dagger. Cutting the creature from me now would result in my death.”
“I thought as much. I’ve had some experience with Hyrrheim’s invasive species.”
“You are referring to the mind-fuckers?” Julianne could feel a hint of humor in Lilith’s voice. “Yet another elegant term devised by the human mind.”
Julianne couldn’t help but laugh. She was in another world, having a psychic conversation with the most powerful being she had ever encountered, with the fate of Irth hanging in the balance. And yet, Lilith still found space for sarcasm.
She held priorities Julianne could get behind.
“Hannah won’t be happy when I tell her you’re stuck like this. There has to be some way of saving you.”
“There is,” Lilith responded. “And with you all here, it just might be possible. The creature on me now is half of a whole. The simplest way to explain it is that it’s siphoning power from me and sending it to its other half.”
“Let me take an educated guess at where its other half is,” Julianne quipped.
“Zeke. It’s how he’s been able to open and close rifts at will. He’s not powerful enough to do it alone, and I was too powerful for the mind-fuckers. So he thought of this. It’s not unlike a plot his former student used to build the airship.”
“Adrien.” Julianne spoke the name like a curse.
“Even with his mind twisted, Zeke is clever. His ability to learn, even from those he taught, is his greatest asset.”
“What happened to you two?” Julianne asked. “With your powers, how was it that this world got the best of you?”
Lilith grew quiet for a moment. “I wish I could say that it was pride or cowardice or even laziness that resulted in our downfall. Vice should always result in defeat. But it was our compassion that did us in. Laughter, my former colleague, excelled in using her enemies’ virtues against them—a trait I am afraid this world adopted.
“Laughter’s second in command, General Bile—a twisted, broken creature—planted a trap for us. He enslaved a number of this planet’s peaceful creatures and was executing them one by one. Zeke charged in to save the enslaved creatures, and they turned on him. They were under the mind-fuckers’ influence. Zeke knew they were innocent, and he refused to kill them. But there were too many for him to subdue, and he in turn was taken.”
“Let me guess. Evil Ezekiel was the one who tricked you.”
“Yes. We have always been close, even during my years trapped without form. But now, with my new body, we have become...closer.”
Julianne caught Lilith’s meaning and declined to ask any questions about that.
The Oracle continued, “He was able to hide his change from me until it was too late, and I became a prisoner once again.”
“Well, not for long,” Julianne said. As Lilith spoke an anger started building inside of her. The twisted nature of this world was too much. In Julianne’s mind, using love to grow evil was one of the worst crimes imaginable. It had to be stopped. “What do we do?”
“The solution is simple, but I’m afraid that won’t make it any easier. You must sever the link on Zeke’s end. But to do this you must first free his mind. Free his mind, and he can save me.”
“We can do this.” Julianne’s voice rang with confidence. “Don’t worry. We won’t leave you here.”
“Thank you, mystic. I can sense your power, and beyond that your resolve. But you must make me a promise before we part.”
“Anything.”
“I don’t want to die,” the Oracle's voice whispered. “In some ways, I feel as if I’ve only just begun to live. But I refuse to let my power continue to harm your world. If you can’t save Zeke, if you can’t save me, then end us both. At least then I’ll know the damage I’ve done to the universe will be finished.”
“I promise, but—”
But before Julianne could finish, she felt a great pull behind her, as if she had fallen into a fierce river. The world swirled, and Lilith’s presence departed. With a gasp, Julianne opened her eyes. She was back on her knees before Lilith’s body—where she had been this whole time.
“Well?” Hannah asked. “Is she OK?”
Julianne nodded, regaining her focus. “I know how to save her, to save both of them. But we need to find him first.”
“Uh, guys, I don’t think that will be a problem,” Arryn called out.
Julianne looked up at Arryn who had climbed up the stone wall to peer out of a tiny window near the ceiling. The young druid’s face was drawn tight.
“He’s here.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Hannah watched the druid drop to the ground. The look on her face was grim.
“How bad is it?” Abbey asked
“Well,” Arryn squinted like she was doing math in her head. “You’ve got your brain-washed Founder. And with him are four of the meanest looking Skrima I’ve ever seen.”
“Don’t forget the general,” Julianne added. “He’s here too; I can feel him.”
“I didn’t see him, but you’re probably right,” Arryn answered. “And another thing, the Skrima are armed.”
“What? I’ve never seen that before,” Hannah said. “What a lovely development.”
“I’ve seen that armor before,” Arryn said. “Before coming to the summit, I had a little run-in with a douche of a duke. Saw a bunch of freaky armor like that in his basement. It looks like Ezekiel has been making friends on Irth.”
“He’s been planning for this,” Julianne said.
“So what’s our plan?” Astrid looked to Hannah as she asked. “We could hole up here. Try and defend the place. These walls would make for pretty thick barriers.”
Hannah looked at the four warriors with her then to Lilith. She walked over to the old blocks and placed her hand on it. “I hate to disagree with you Astrid, but I actually think these are pretty shitty walls.”
“Really?”
“Oh yeah,” Hannah said. “All this heavy stone. I think they’d make far better projectiles than they ever did walls. What do you think, Arryn?”
The young woman smiled, then her eyes turned pitch black. “There’s only one way to find out.”
As she spoke, Arryn pushed her arms forward. Dust rained down upon their heads, then a loud groan filled the air. The wall in between them and their enemy began to shake, then buckle.
Then with a crack it blew outwards.
Ancient stones flew with the force of a cannon ball and the druid’s aim didn’t disappoint. Two large Skrima, one shaped like a man but three times the size and the other vaguely bull-like but with wings instead of legs took huge chunks of wall in the chest and face respectively.
Ezekiel pushed his staff outward and blocked the rest.
“Ah, so I see you haven’t given up playing the rebel,” he yelled. “Good. I’ve been itching to see what these new Skrima can do up close. I hope you like them. They’ll soon be
pouring through rifts all over Irth. And following them will be an army of scavengers. We’ll take anything that will be of value as we rebuild Hyrrheim into a paradise. Then burn the rest.”
As the old man spoke, Hannah and her team stepped through the gaping hole in the temple wall. She marched toward her mentor, undeterred by his threats. Her allies each marked a Skrim and fanned out.
“You may have lost confidence in Irth, Zeke, but I haven’t. Anything you send through will be resisted tooth and nail. And regardless of what happens to us today, I guarantee that you won’t be around to see your grand invasion. I’ve got a spell with your fucking name on it.”
Ezekiel’s lip raised in a snarl, but instead of replying, he simply snapped his fingers.
The Skrima by his side charged.
Hannah and her friends did the same.
Arryn wasn’t lying when she said the Skrima were nasty. Each was large and seemed made of pure muscle. But even worse, intelligence glimmered behind their eyes. These weren’t your run of the mill grunts like they had kicked around for years. They were warriors.
And they happened to be well armed.
Steel helmets and breastplates covered what their natural armor didn’t. They carried huge axes and wickedly pointed swords.
Luckily the warriors from Irth were prepared for a fight.
Arryn ran toward the winged-bull who seemed to have recovered from her surprise attack. The beast took to the air and began swooping down like a flying battering ram.
Steel rang on steel as Abbey engaged a four armed Skrim wielding four blades, each unique from the others. Abbey’s sword moved with speed and precision that would have made Karl proud as she parried and dodged and returned attack.
Julianne held her staff patiently in front of her, letting a Skrim with the tail of a snake and the body of a man make the first move.
Which left Astrid to deal with the giant. It held in its hands the piece of temple wall that had knocked it on its ass. But with barely a grunt, the wall crumbled in its grip. Hannah could see the thing’s crooked smile peek out from beneath a helmet the size of a church bell.
The way Astrid swung her rope-dart, it was clear she intended to ring that bell.
These Skrima were nasty, brutish, and aimed to make short work of Irth’s defenders.
Hannah felt a pang of fear for her new friends, but that quickly disappeared as she saw them move to action, grim determination on their faces. These were not the kind of women to bend easily, and they certainly weren’t the type to break in the face of a bully. And at the end of the day, that’s all her mentor had become.
It was time for Hannah to show him what she had become.
While the fight raged on around her, Hannah darted forward, her body moving with unnatural speed and grace—a gift from the Matriarch’s blood. Ezekiel responded with this own tricks. He slammed his staff into the dirt, and the ground exploded in front of her. Razor sharp rocks like giant spears blasted up toward the red heavens. She pivoted around them with ease, finding safe footing among the attack and closing the distance between them.
Disgusted, he threw away his staff and raised his right hand toward her. It was covered in red mossy looking vines. Just like the ones on Lilith’s chest.
Then, the vines started to glow blue.
Hannah raised a shield just in time to block a blast of pure etheric energy. Her magic protected her from most of the damage, but the force of the attack knocked her back on her ass.
Ezekiel raised his hand and blasted again.
Hannah rolled to the left, barely dodging his attack. She felt a wave of heat pass over her as red soil filled the air. Without looking, she pushed herself to her feet and ran at him. Another blast, and then another pounded the dirt. Ezekiel was relentless in his desire to see his former pupil wiped from existence.
She was fast, but not fast enough. Blue energy clipped Hannah’s shoulder, sending her spinning before she hit the ground hard. She struggled to her feet for a second before collapsing.
Ezekiel stepped over her as she flopped onto her back. His hand pointed at her chest.
“You stupid, insignificant speck. I’m the greatest wizard that ever lived. I created magic. I created you. Did you think you could take me on alone?”
Without giving her a chance to answer, Ezekiel fired point blank. The burst of blue energy shot out from his arm—and passed through Hannah’s body like it wasn’t there.
Hannah smiled. Then her body disappeared.
Before Ezekiel could move, a hand slipped around his neck. It held a silver knife.
“How?” he sputtered. “You’re not powerful enough to fool my mind.”
Hannah was still smiling as she whispered into his ear. “Good thing I’m not alone.”
As the red dust cleared, Ezekiel saw a woman before him. She wore a blue robe and her eyes were covered in white.
“The mystic bitch.”
“And not just her.”
He turned to see the other warriors walking toward him. Dead Skrima littered the ground behind them.
“Hold him down,” Julianne said. Her eyes were still white. “This will not be pleasant.”
Ezekiel thrashed like a wild man, and it took the combined strength of Astrid, Arryn, and Abbey to restrain him. Julianne sat by his head, her hands were placed on his temples. Her magic kept his magic in check, but it wasn’t enough to sedate him fully.
Hannah stood over him, knife in hand.
“Okay,” Julianne said. “I’ve done this once before. But that time it was only one mind fucker, and it was newly implanted on a small child, not a dozen of them, and not on the fucking Founder.”
“Just tell me what you need,” Hannah said.
“You need to cut them off, one by one. They won’t be happy about it, and neither will Ezekiel. While you’re slicing the physical connection, I’ll sever the mental, and repair what I can of his mind while we go. Get one wrong and we might scramble his brain. The rest of you, try to keep him as still as possible.”
Everyone nodded while Hannah kneeled down to go to work.
Saying Ezekiel wouldn’t be happy was an understatement. The man tossed and fought with the strength of someone twice his size. But the worst part was his shouting. He screamed every insult he could think of at the women. His words were personal and painful, but the women didn’t budge.
While she cut, Hannah began to speak.
“Do you remember our first night together in the Tower? I tried not to show it, but I was terrified. I knew then that my life would never be the same. You healed my brother. And then on the night he died, it was you who comforted me. You who let me know that everything would be OK. You were with me when we faced Adrien. You gave me the strength to be better than him. You were with me as we took off across Irth. You were with me when we saved Lilith, when we saved the world. It was you Zeke. You took a girl from the Boulevard, a nobody. A thief and a liar. You made me the person I am today. You showed me who I could be. That day in the alley, those men. They saw me as nothing more than meat. As Unlawful scum. But you saw the truth. You saved me in more ways than one. And I’m here for you now, Zeke. This time, I’m going to save you.”
At first her words could barely be heard over his screams, but as the procedure continued the balance began to shift. Finally, what felt like hours later, the last Skrim was removed. The wicked red light that shone in Ezekiel’s eyes began to fade. And slowly, his snarl relaxed into a contented smile.
He looked each woman in the eyes, before landing back on Hannah.
“I am so sorry.”
Hannah dropped the knife and draped her arms around him.
“It’s okay,” she said. “Everything is going to be okay.”
Removing the leech on his arm was easier, now that they had Ezekiel’s full cooperation. And within no time, they had freed Lilith from her chains as well. They both looked ready to collapse, but not before hugging each other.
Astrid smiled as she looked at them. D
espite everything that had just happened, all that the old man had done to them, Lilith and Hannah held no anger toward him. He was as much the victim here as they were.
Suddenly a cool chill went down Hannah’s spine. “Uh guys, as much as I’m loving this reunion, I think we’re forgetting something.”
Arryn looked at her. “What? You mean the fact that we’re trapped here until Lilith gets her strength back?”
It was true—none of them were powerful enough to tear a rift back to Irth except Lilith. And despite her imposing form, the Kurtherian looked like she could sleep for a month.
“Not that.” She drew her rope dart out again while she spoke. “We’re forgetting about—”
“General Bile,” the voice said from behind them.
She turned in time to see Abbey striding toward them, pushing a tall robed figure in front of her. The thing looked like it wanted to bolt, but Abbey’s sword was unwavering.
“Caught this bastard trying to jump ship—metaphorically speaking.”
Bile was tall—even taller than Astrid, but other than that it was hard to tell anything about him. The robe covered all but his face. His eyes were bulbous and veiny, and darted around in terror.
“Woah,” Arryn said. “He’s a freakin’ giant.”
Hannah moved closer, Ezekiel leaning on her for support. “I think you’ll find looks can be deceiving. Abbey, if you will.”
Abbey reached up, grabbed the Skrim’s robe and pulled. It fell to the ground.
Standing in front of her was a Skrim that looked like Boone when he stood tall. Except on his head rested a tiny, stunted creature. It’s head was huge compared to the rest of its body, which was draped down the Skrim’s face and neck.
“Ugh, what the hell?” Arryn’s voice was full of disgust.
“You will all bow before me!” the General yelled, its eyes bulging even further.
Astrid stepped forward, reached up, and grabbed him, ripping the grotesque creature off the other Skrim. As soon as it was free, the Boone-like creature turned and bolted off into the desert. Astrid watched it go before returning her focus on the General who dangled from her hand.
