“Maybe no route exists,” said Yowtgayrr.
With a shake of my head, I shrugged. “You may be right, but the area we started in connected to the next one. I’m hoping the roadway is for speed and convenience, but if not, we’ll fight at the door as we discussed.” Yowtgayrr nodded, and I held up the orange dumbbell. “Take us to the next complex over, one that will lead us to the road behind the Dark Queen.” The guide vibrated its acceptance of my instructions. I smiled and held it aloft. “Follow me.”
The guide led us down a long hallway, bordered with red, orange, and green doors, and brought us to a set of wide, brown double doors. I stopped and held up my hand. “The last set of brown doors I went through… Brown means the apparatus behind the preer, intense greenish-white beams of energy that fire between two horn-like things. When they fire, a strong pull, like walking against a mega-tide, or sideways gravity, grabs at you, even if you are in another room. I don’t think it’s too dangerous—I mean, it won’t pull you off your feet or anything.” With that, I turned and flung the doors open, revealing a long, wide hall with more brown doors and a smattering of white.
We peeked inside the first white door. Behind it was a square room, about one hundred yards on a side. There was a podium filled with electronic doo-dads, switches, sliders, monitors, and buttons, but the interesting thing was the raised platform in the center of the room. A reflective material coated the floor of the platform, and thick black cables snaked from its side and into a conduit in the floor.
“No time for this now, but after we deal with the queen, this place looks promising,” said Jane.
“Yeah?”
“It’s the transporter pad out of Star Trek, right? Beam me up, Scotty.”
“Plenty of time to figure it out when there isn’t an army chasing us,” growled Althyof.
We followed the guide, running down hall after hall, closing the doors behind us. Most of the hallways were long and straight, but all the junctions between the different sections hid in an innocent-looking room behind an innocent looking door—a door painted a different color from the set associated with that section.
At last, we reached a long hallway on a perpendicular course to the one we’d started in, and the guide took us to a garage door instead of yet another hallway.
“All right, so what’s the plan?” asked Jane between breaths.
“Meuhlnir, what do you know about these black-clad Isir guards?”
He shook his head, tugging his beard. “Not a thing. She had no such units in the war.”
“I take it we want to keep the little blue guys far away from us?”
“As much as possible, yes.”
“Okay. Here’s the plan. When we come out, we keep the Dark Queen and her rearguard between the Plowir Medn and us.” I squinted my eyes and looked through the detached part of my consciousness. “Everyone is looking up at the cul-de-sac. Hel is in her bear costume, and Luka is playing wolfman. I don’t see any other oolfa with them… Meuhlnir, how will the Plowir Medn react? Will they sweep around and flank us?”
“They are a breed that thrives on chaos. From what I know of them, they will enjoy watching our sneak attack wreak chaos on the queen’s forces. Beyond that, I can’t predict.”
“Althyof, if they engage, I want you and Jane to try to confuse them—keep them distracted.”
“Yes, fine,” said Althyof. “I will watch for them, but keep in mind that my style of battle is fluid.”
I nodded and turned to Yowtgayrr. “You know what I need you to do.”
“I know what you want me to do,” said Yowtgayrr, which wasn’t an agreement to do what I wanted him to do—guard Jane—but it was as good as I would get from him.
“Meuhlnir and Veethar, you’ve fought the Dark Queen before, so you know her tactics best. Will she stay out of it? Hang back to command?”
“No,” said Veethar. “She will bring the fight to us.”
“If she can, she will deploy her guard and come at us with fury,” added Meuhlnir.
“I will need your help. I’m not sure I can stand off both of them at the same time.”
“I can handle my brother,” growled Meuhlnir.
Veethar glanced at Meuhlnir but nodded slowly to me. “I will assist you with Hel.”
“I will fight in bear form,” I said.
“Oh, look at you,” said Jane with a smile. “Big-man!”
I grinned and shrugged. “I’ll need to leave my gear in the garage, and if push comes to shove, we retreat here and use the guide to run away again.”
“Why aren’t we doing that now, again?” Jane asked with a wry smile.
“Your wings are sexy.”
“I’ll wing you, in a second…”
For the third time, I took off my gear and put it with my pack. I got down on the ground and started my Kuthbyuhrn triblinkr. This time, as the prayteenk began, an intense pain settled between my eyes—like an ice pick straight through the ocular cavity. The prayteenk stuttered and reverted.
“What’s wrong?” asked Jane.
“Headache,” I said, hands rubbing my eyes. “As soon as the prayteenk started. It…”
“What?” asked Althyof. “It what?”
“The second time gave me a headache too, but it wasn’t as intense. It was…hard to make the change.”
Althyof grimaced. “This isn’t good, Hank. This pain is your—”
“No choice,” I said, chopping my hand through the air. “I can’t fight the two of them and their silly friends without it.”
Meuhlnir shook his head. “This from the man who fought a dragon without the cloak, without the enchanted pistons?”
“Pistols,” murmured Jane.
“Hank, it’s not worth risking—”
“I don’t know what else to do,” I said.
“We can fight as we fought before,” said Meuhlnir, putting his hand on my shoulder.
“What chance do we have that way?” I shook my head. “No, we either do this with me in bear form, or we run now.”
“We could run,” said Veethar, but he wouldn’t meet my eye. “Maybe that’s for the best.”
“All we can do is try. If I can’t make it, we run.” Before anyone could say anything, I started the triblinkr again, set my face in determined lines, and gritted my teeth against the ache in my head. Icy pain lanced through my skull, growing in intensity as the change progressed. I squeezed my eyes shut and forced myself to think of Kuthbyuhrn’s mighty shape. With a savage, stabbing pain in the center of my head, the prayteenk lurched forward. Every little sound threatened to derail the change, to distract me from the intense focus I needed. It was as though I’d worked around the clock and afterward, had to perform brain surgery.
My mind tried to snake away from the task, bringing up memories of better times, throwing the songs around, visions of home, anything. I felt wrung out, used up. My head felt stuffed with cotton, and my mind kept lurching away, staggering like a drunk toward paths of whimsy. Every one of my joints throbbed with the threat of the pain to come.
“Get ready,” said Althyof. “He’s almost finished.” When he spoke, pain pulsed through my ears, as though someone had boxed them. I groaned, but it came out sounding more like a bear growl. I ground my teeth together and found they were fangs and that my jaw was the elongated U-shape of a grizzly bear.
“Is he okay?” asked Jane.
“Your guess is as good as mine. He’s—”
“Stubborn?”
“I was going to say: ‘not ready for this,’ but stubborn works just as well.”
The room was suddenly far too small, and claustrophobia itched along my nerves. I made the peculiar grunting-bark that meant “hurry up before I lose it.”
“He’s ready,” said Althyof.
I gathered my limbs underneath me as Jane bent to hit the switch. The door rolled up, the tiny drive unit loud in my ears. As soon as the door opened wide enough, I launched my bulk through the door, exploding out into the street
with a roar. My mind was still mush, it still wanted to drift away, but this time, the prayteenk felt fragile—as though losing the slightest iota of concentration would mean reverting to human form.
The Dark Queen’s rearguard forces were to my right, and I altered my charge to slam into the back of the warriors in black. Keri and Fretyi snarled and leapt after me, tails held stiffly out behind them. The others poured out of the garage after me, Jane flapping into the air, Althyof singing and dancing, leaving Meuhlnir and Veethar to bring up the rear in mundane, two-legged fashion. Of Yowtgayrr, there was no sign.
“Luka!” yelled Meuhlnir.
As I hit the rear line of troops, I glimpsed Luka’s head snapping around until his eyes locked onto his brother’s. The Dark Queen spun, and when her eyes found me, they widened, and she roared in her pathetic imitation of a bear. I answered her as a bear would, with a spit-slinging roar of my own. Her Isir warriors backed away from us, and Keri and Fretyi advanced a few steps, bodies tight and low to the ground. I stood on my hind legs and roared at the Black Bitch again. I wished I could speak—that I could hurl the hateful words in my heart at her—but roaring at her and smelling the fear was almost as good.
Luka sprinted toward Meuhlnir, growling and snarling. Meuhlnir stood his ground, glaring at his brother with fury. He lifted his hammer and flung it at Luka’s head. Luka side-stepped and sneered without breaking his stride. A small smile broke across Meuhlnir’s face, and his lips moved. The hammer whistled in a short arc and started back toward Meuhlnir, but since Luka was between them, the hammer bounced off the back of his head, staggering the oolfur.
The queen screeched and charged at me, and I held my arms wide. Keri and Fretyi lunged out of the way, and, as she passed them, leapt and sank their fangs into her flesh. She whirled and flung them away from her with a savage snarl of her own. She stood almost as tall as I did on my rear legs, and though she was much heavier than in her human form, she did not have the bulk I did. I careened forward with a roar. She leapt at me from six feet away, but I caught her mid-leap, and the pups leapt on her from behind once more. She writhed and snapped her jaws, tried to claw at me while she arched her back, but I kept my grip and squeezed.
Althyof’s trowba infused me with strength and helped with the pain splitting through my head. He was to my left, and Jane hovered above him, pointing with her spear. Althyof nodded and whirled closer to the line of Isir warriors.
Veethar approached, his eyes wild and yellow, his face set in grim lines. He lunged, stabbing Hel in the side, ramming his sword to the hilt.
Hel shrieked and scourged my back with her claws. The pain burned as if the wounds had been inundated in salt, and for a moment, I lost concentration and the prayteenk…slipped.
It was all the opening Hel needed, and she slammed her thickened skull into my jaw, sending me reeling with stars filling my vision. I staggered, fighting for balance, and the Black Bitch screamed and, with a barbaric back-handed blow, sent Veethar flying head-over-tail across the road.
Keri screamed in pain before he, too, went flying. Fretyi held on, snarling the whole time, digging for purchase into her back with his claws. She whirled in a circle, trying to reach the varkr pup. One of her black-armored guards raced forward and knocked Fretyi to the side with his shield.
Hel growled deep in her throat and made as if to charge Fretyi. I roared my best challenge and charged her on all fours, paws thundering like cannon on the road’s surface. I hit her broadside at full speed, arms stretched wide to wrap her up like a linebacker sacking a quarterback and spun her to the ground. Visions of the fight with Vowli flooded my mind, and I bucked and butted her with my head, trying to expose her throat. I stomped down on her shoulders with my front paws, flattening her to the road, and dug in with my claws and pressed with my hind legs.
Something skipped off my left hip, and pain sawed up my back. Keri snarled like a wild animal, and a black-clad warrior spun to the ground next to us, Keri on top and going for his throat with all the varkr ferocity the pup could muster.
Jane screamed, and the distinctive pinging sound of her shield rang over the battle. With an explosive sound, Hel’s guards flew across the road and rained down like hail.
Althyof’s trowba rang in my ears, tearing at my attention. The sounds of battle flooded my ears, the varkr snarling, Meuhlnir and Luka cursing one another.
I butted at Hel’s chin and, when her head snapped up, lunged at her throat. She made a gargling sound and screamed a very human-like scream. I sank my fangs into her throat, cutting off her scream with a squawk. Somewhere behind me, an oolfur howled and pounded toward me.
Luka.
He barged into my ribs, hitting hard enough to lift my legs on his side from the floor. I wormed my jaws farther around Hel’s throat like a dog chewing a bone. Luka howled and screamed, slashing at my exposed flank with all his strength.
Agony fastened its teeth on me as my blood flowed down my flank. There was a furious sound of dogs fighting, and for the moment, Luka disappeared from sight. Hel’s claws raked across my shoulders, and her overly long human legs thrummed beneath me. I squeezed my jaws together with all my might.
Somewhere behind me, Jane screamed in misery, and I lost my concentration.
In half a breath, the prayteenk reversed, and I was shrinking, losing fur and strength apace. I rolled away from Hel, eyes darting around, looking for Jane. Two of the Plowir Medn held her pinned to the wall six feet off the ground with a flickering light the color of decomposition and decay. “Keri! Fretyi! Go to Jane!”
I crawled toward her, the prayteenk fading from my body, replaced with the pain of my curse, and the pain of my fresh wounds. Fatigue washed over me, and I had to fight to keep moving. Althyof whirled past me, glancing my way, screaming his trowba in discordant tones. Yowtgayrr appeared from nowhere and slammed into the two Plowir Medn, whirling and striking out with his blades like a deadly spinning top.
The disgusting greenish-black light surrounding Jane died out, and she sagged toward the road’s surface, but Yowtgayrr caught her as though she weighed nothing more than a light breeze and set her on her feet. Her eyes snapped to mine, and she waved me toward the garage. I shook my head and kept crawling toward her on my hands and knees. I didn’t have it in me to fight the triblinkr, to force another change. Yowtgayrr turned to face the approaching warriors in black, and in a wink, disappeared.
Again, my wife waved me away and with a certain grace, leapt into the air and spun in a tight turn to hurl her spear at the ranks of Plowir Medn that were charging toward us. The spear changed into a golden lightning bolt and zipped across the battlefield, only to deflect off an oily smear in the air. “Aftur!” Jane yelled, holding out her hand, and the spear leapt to her hand. “Go!” she snapped over her shoulder at me. “Arm yourself! I’m fine!”
Keri raced up to my side, blood dripping from a long claw mark down his side, took my wrist in his mouth, and pulled. “Okay, okay,” I said and changed directions.
I made it to the garage and collapsed in a heap, breathing hard. Keri licked my face. “You could get me a beer,” I croaked.
Keri cocked his head to the side and wagged his tail uncertainly.
Once I had dressed and slung my gun belt around my hips, I strode back out into the street, full of gunslinger swagger and squinty eyes. “All I need is a poncho, a cheap cigar, and the door of a stove, and we’ve got this thing won,” I croaked with an abortion of a laugh.
Keri’s head flipped to cock in the other direction, and he whined a little.
“Tell you later,” I said. I threw a wink at him over my shoulder and walked back out into the battle. Too tired for bear-fu, let’s see how these motherfuckers deal with gun-fu, I thought as a flinty smile spread across my face.
The two Plowir Medn flowed around Althyof’s graceful dance like water, parting to avoid thrusts of his daggers, coming back together to present a united front. Kunknir snapped up without conscious thought, and I gave myself to t
he battle.
Kunknir bucked twice, hot lead from its barrel hurling the two diminutive Plowir Medn into the wall behind them, dead before their feet left the ground. A great uproar sounded from their friends on the other side of the battlefield. Althyof grinned at me and tipped a wink, spinning away to confront the black-clad Queen’s Guard once more. Jane flew above him, but her flight seemed unsteady, exhausted.
“Don’t overdo!” I yelled at her.
“Look who’s talking!” she yelled back.
My gaze left hers, scanning the battlefield as a master strategist might. Luka had Meuhlnir backed against the wall, and Fretyi and Veethar harried Hel, enraging her more each second.
I squeezed off two more rounds from Kunknir and, at the same time, pointed Krati at Luka. “Koolulyows!” I shouted, and a ball of golden lightning the size of a basketball raced across the road and slammed into Luka’s back. His muscles spasmed for a moment, joints locked, and he staggered away from his brother, looking dazed. Meuhlnir raised his eyebrows at me but grinned. He recovered his ground and sank into a battle crouch, whirling his hammer around his hand and beckoning Luka.
The Dark Queen roared in frustration and lunged at Veethar, but it was only a feint. She swept Fretyi into the air with her other arm and threw him fifteen feet through the air. His head pounded into the pavement, and he yelped in pain. Keri ran out of the garage and sprinted toward his brother.
Rage pounded in my temples as both pistols came around to point at the Black Bitch, and I began to fire them in tandem. I walked forward in that all too familiar cop-shoot-and-walk gait. Rounds burst out of the pistols’ muzzles, and brass flew around me like snowflakes in a blizzard. Her body jerked and jittered with the impact, the momentum of the slugs pushing her back and away from Veethar. She screamed in pain and turned her back toward me, but I kept right on emptying my magazines into her back.
Luka roared in anger, and I darted a glance his way, but he was no threat. Meuhlnir had him down on one knee and had started bashing him in the head with his hammer. My eyes snapped back to Hel, and Kunknir’s slide locked back. I kept up the barrage with Krati while I used Prokkr’s ingenious belt to change magazines.
Blood of the Isir Omnibus Page 94
