by R S Penney
The sound of gunfire made her flinch.
Azra was using the recoil to gain speed. She had probably shattered a few windows. Delarac would not be pleased. Was it wrong to take pleasure in that?
Flying with her arms stretched out, the sword blade catching the light of nearby lamps, Desa allowed herself a smile. Wind resistance was already reducing her velocity, but that was fine. There was no need to use the coin again.
Buildings slid past beneath her. She noted that each one had a flat roof. Yes, That will do nicely.
Using her belt buckle for a gentle descent, Desa landed atop a boarding house. She took a deep breath, then turned around to face her enemy. She had left the Sink active so that Azra could find her.
The other woman bellowed, her legs flailing as she dropped onto the rooftop. She hit hard, stumbling a few steps and nearly falling flat on her face.
“You know,” Desa teased. “If you had learned proper flight techniques, you might not have suffered such grievous injuries when I threw you off the train. Shall we do this? Or do you need a moment to catch your breath?”
Azra shrieked.
Gunshots rang out, startling the servants who kept Delarac’s guests from running, but they were far off. On the other side of the house. Somehow, Tommy suspected that Desa was involved.
The servants flinched but quickly recovered, turning their attention to the three intruders. Hard, uncompromising eyes fell upon Tommy. Their leader, a spindly man with gaunt cheeks and a leathery face stepped forward.
“Must I repeat myself?” Adele asked, speaking with a thousand different voices. “Kill them!”
The servants raised their pistols.
Instinctively, Tommy and Kalia stepped forward, the sheriff shielding herself with an iron bracelet while he triggered the Force-Sink in his pendant. CRACK! CRACK! CRACK! Guns flashed, and bullets stopped dead in front of him. Three, four, five.
Miri retreated through the broken window.
He and Kalia followed, spreading out, taking cover on either side of it. Several shots whizzed past him, streaking through the empty ballroom and out the door on the other side. Over a dozen servants – most of them armed – and all loyal to Adele. This would not be easy.
Miri and Kalia huddled against the wall on the other side of the window. Tommy shared a glance with his love. She wasn’t the least bit afraid. He wasn’t sure how he knew, but he knew.
Miri aimed around the corner and fired. Thunder split the air, and when it faded, Tommy heard the moans of some poor man who had been hit. Well, that was one down. Only thirteen more to go.
“Incompetent fools!” the chorus snarled. “Kill them! Kill them! Kill them!” Odd. Why wasn’t Adele doing the job herself? A few blasts of lightning would be far more effective than bullets. Why not just lash out with her power?
Maybe she can’t, Tommy noted.
But what was stopping her? Did it have something to do with the black tentacles? She seemed to be feeding on Delarac’s guests. Perhaps that was a process that, once started, could not be stopped. Which meant…
Which meant she was vulnerable.
Fishing a small coin out of his pocket, Tommy tossed it around the corner, into the backyard. He felt it land in the grass, then triggered the Force-Source. Several people cried out as they were thrown back.
Taking the opportunity, Kalia pointed her gun through the window and fired twice. “Got one!” Her face twisted into an ugly scowl. “Missed the other.”
“Trigger your Sinks,” Tommy growled. There was no need to specify which ones. He drew an arrow from his quiver and nocked it. Sensing his intentions, Miri and Kalia covered him by firing a few shots.
He spun into the open, pulling back the bowstring, and what he saw terrified him. Most of the servants were closing in on the window. Several were down and bleeding out. Others were lying in the grass, victims of his Force-Source. But that wasn’t the worst of it.
Adele had a liquid tentacle extending from each arm, black ooze creeping over the bodies of two aristocrats that she consumed. Some of the others were trying to flee now that their guards were otherwise occupied, but they had nowhere to go. The stone wall that surrounded this house stood over ten feet high.
His moment of hesitation nearly got him killed. One of the servants noticed and aimed his pistol.
Tommy released his arrow.
He quickly spun back into cover and triggered the Gravity-Source he had created five days ago. Everyone started screaming. Servants, guests, Adele: they all howled when they felt the arrow’s irresistible pull. Maybe it was Tommy’s imagination, but he could swear he heard them clawing at the grass as they struggled for purchase.
Protected by their Sinks, Miri and Kalia peeked around the corner and fired into the backyard. Tommy needed no such protection. He had exempted himself from the arrow’s effects.
Drawing the pistol on his right hip, Tommy cocked the hammer. His aim wasn’t so good with guns, but that didn’t matter very much when all of his targets were anchored to the ground.
He stepped into the open and found a pile of bodies in the grass, some in livery, others in fine suits and gowns. They all tried to crawl away, but the arrow held them tightly in its grip.
That would do.
So long as they were trapped, he could focus on Adele without having to harm any of the bystanders. Drive her out of the city, Desa had said. Mercy would do the rest. Well, he was happy to play his part. But where was Adele?
To his shock, she came striding out of the shadows with a peal of vicious laughter, seemingly unaffected by his Gravity-Source. Her eyes were as black as pitch. “Thank you, Tommy,” the chorus sang. “That makes things much easier.”
Almighty, no!
How could he have been so stupid?
Adele stretched her arms toward the pile of bodies, both transforming into streams of oily sludge. Sludge that flowed over guests and servants alike, devouring them. “No!” Tommy screamed.
He aimed his gun and fired several times, loosing each slug with a clap of thunder. Adele didn’t even try to stop him. She just let the bullets rip through her, focused on the task at hand. Bodies liquified under her touch, transforming into a mass of black goo that she greedily sucked up.
Closing her eyes, Adele licked her lips seductively. “Mmm,” she said. “Now, that’s more like it.”
“Almighty forgive me,” Tommy whispered.
Adele tossed her head back, laughing as the tentacles retracted. “And now,” she said. “I make my debut.”
Azra flowed across the rooftop, twirling her blade as she moved in close. Her mouth quirked into a smile. Such glee in those yellow eyes! She swung at Desa’s neck.
Desa hopped back, barely avoiding the cut, but Azra wasn’t done. The other woman came forward with a fierce, downward slice. It took everything Desa had to get her sword up and block the strike.
She retreated, trying to hold back the assault. Whatever Adele had done to Azra’s body had made her stronger. Which made sense. Bendarian had also gained strength from his transformation.
Growling, she kicked Azra in the stomach, forcing the woman to back off. Desa jumped, spun in the air and kicked out behind herself. A swift blow to Azra’s chest made her retreat again.
Whirling around, Desa landed with a grunt and then raised her blade up in front of her face. She advanced on her enemy.
The momentum changed when Azra hammered her with a series of brutal, overhead strikes. Each one landed with the fury of an avalanche. Desa’s muscles burned every time she parried.
With a quick, sideways dash, she ran for the front wall of the building. She had to get away from here. Take a moment and formulate a plan. It dawned on her that she did not have to kill Azra; she only had to keep her busy.
That was it!
Once the others confronted Adele, she would flee. Then Mercy could do the rest, and Desa could rejoin her friends. They would regroup and deal with Azra together. She just had to survive a little longer. Wit
h a thought, she ordered her belt buckle to drain gravitational energy.
Desa leaped, propelling herself across the road. She flipped over in mid-flight, then killed the Sink for half a second to adjust her vector of descent. Yes, that would do.
She landed on the front wall of a gray building with skinny, rectangular windows, a near-perfect twin to the one she had left behind. She felt the approach of a Gravity-Sink before she saw Azra hurtling across the street.
Of course, the other woman lacked Desa’s finesse. She landed about one story down, her arms flailing as she tried to steady herself. It took her a moment to regain her balance, and she nearly dropped her sword in the process.
Desa took one step forward, which meant pushing herself off the wall. She began a quick descent to her opponent, the distance between her and the building growing.
Azra looked up, sensing her approach.
Clutching her weapon in both hands, Desa bared her teeth and swung hard. Steel bounced off steel with a ring that echoed through the night. The other woman tried to retreat, but the lack of gravity resulted in her flying off the wall as well.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Their blades collided again and again as Azra floated backwards. She had to feel the ground creeping up behind her, but she didn’t seem to care. The kill was all that mattered. Or rather, it would have been all that mattered if she wasn’t on the defensive. Fighting in this way kept her at a disadvantage.
Desperate and frantic, Azra stretched her hand out, releasing kinetic energy from her ring. The blast hit Desa like a gale-force wind. The ground receded, Azra giggling when she alighted on the sidewalk.
Curling up into a ball, Desa somersaulted through the air. She killed her Sink and landed atop the roof with her arms spread wide, the sword held tightly in her right hand. “Is that the best you can do?” she hollered.
Snarling, Azra launched herself upward.
Desa waited.
The other woman popped into view, briefly killing her Sink to halt her ascent, and then Desa kicked her. Thrown backward, Azra went soaring across the street.
Desa followed soon after, triggering her Sink and using a powerful leap to close the distance. Winded and dizzy, Azra seemed only half aware of her. Time to end this once and for all.
With a sweeping horizontal cut, Desa tried to behead her opponent. Blade met blade as Azra deftly parried it.
Screeching like an angry cat, she turned belly-up and kicked Desa with both feet. Hard. They flew apart, streaking toward buildings on opposite sides of the road. A wild wind sang in Desa’s ears. Somehow, she could sense the impending collision.
Tucking her legs into her chest, she flipped over and pressed her boots against the brick wall. She compressed like a spring, then pushed off with all her might.
Azra was coming at her, raising her sabre for an overhead strike. Blocking that would be difficult. And there was no avoiding it. No way to change course.
Or was there?
At the last second, Desa killed her Sink for an instant. Just enough to let herself fall a few paces. She grabbed Azra’s ankle and hung on for dear life. The other woman pulled free, but the change in momentum sent her face-first into a building.
Bending her knees, Desa slammed her feet into a wall and then bounced off of it, flinging herself back the way she had come. She twisted around to find Azra floating near a four-story boarding house. The woman was stunned.
Desa came up behind her, spun Azra around and pinned her against the wall. She pressed the edge of her blade to the other woman’s neck. “You’ve lost,” she breathed. “It’s over.”
The instant she finished speaking, the ground began to shake. The city trembled, buildings groaning as they were jostled by a powerful quake. What was this? She had never heard of tremors in this part of the country.
Azra opened her eyes. “No,” she cooed. “You’ve lost. It’s too late.”
Too late?
The enormity of Desa’s mistake settled onto her. Once again, she had been played. This had been a distraction, but not for Azra. For her. But how? Adele fled whenever she was overwhelmed; that was her way. Two Field Binders and Miri, the woman who had killed a Field Binder: that should have been enough.
Exploiting a moment of hesitation, Azra shoved her. Pain surged through Desa as she crashed into the building across the way. She didn’t even bother to fight back; right now, she had larger concerns.
She used her Gravity-Sink to lower herself to the ground, nearly falling over when her feet touched the pavement. Leaping from rooftop to rooftop would have been faster, but with the city shaking, that was unwise.
Dropping the sword, she turned and ran for Delarac’s home.
Every step was a labour. The earth was a bucking horse, trying to throw her off. She heard people screaming. Somewhere in the distance, a man shouted for everyone to stay calm. Desa wasn’t quite sure if she agreed with that. It seemed to her that a little panic was in order.
What was Adele doing?
A sudden jolt made her stumble, arms reeling as she tried to keep her balance. She fell over, barely catching herself, and then pushed herself up again.
Grabbing a nearby lamppost, she used that to steady herself and then pressed on. Were the others all right? Was Kalia all right? Desa didn’t know what she would do if she lost her love.
Step by painful step, she made her way back to the wall that surrounded Delarac’s home. She was almost there when the quake abruptly stopped. She wished she could say that was a good thing.
Wasting no time, she pulsed her Gravity-Sink and leaped over the wall. Then she was scrambling through the grass, bounding for a mansion with shattered windows. The poor brown horse was still tethered to his fallen carriage, but Midnight tried to calm him. She was tempted to stop and free the beast, but something told her that she couldn’t spare the time.
She burst through the door, rushed under the balcony and into the ballroom. She charged across the dance floor and through the shattered window. That was where she found Kalia, Miri and Tommy. Mercy be praised! They were all right.
A woozy Adele stumbled backward through the grass, her face lighting up when she saw Desa. Pulsing, black veins crawled up her arms, slithered over her face and sank into her eyes. “Ah,” she said. “I’m so glad you could bear witness.”
Her voice.
Desa knew that chorus all too well. She had heard it before, at a farmhouse on the road to Ofalla. It was the voice of Hanak Tuvar. “Bear witness to what?” she demanded.
The veins faded from Adele’s skin. When they were gone, she looked normal again. Well, normal for her, anyway. She still had a scaly hand and coarse, black hair, but there was no visible change apart from her eyes.
Those were now windows into some infinite nothing. The space between universes. The void that Mercy had shown her. “The culmination,” Adele said.
“Of what?”
“Everything we’ve been through together.”
Desa strode forward with her fists clenched, her gaze fixed on the other woman. “What did you do?”
Adele was about to speak, but a jagged crack ran up her neck and over her cheek. The sound it made was like glass crunching. A second crack joined it, intersecting with the first, and then a piece of Adele’s face fell away. It was as if she had become a woman made of porcelain. The hole it left behind was another window into that eternal emptiness. “This vessel was nothing but an incubator,” Hanak Tuvar said. “I grew within it.”
Miri raised her gun, but Desa thrust her arm out to the side, forestalling the other woman. Bullets would do no good here.
Cracks spread over Adele’s body, a web of them stretching over her face and down her arms. Even her feet began to fracture. A jagged shard fell out of her forehead, leaving only darkness in its place. “I am the void,” Hanak Tuvar said. “That which existed before the aberration that you call a universe. That which will remain long after you have been extinguished.”
More flakes dropped
away, leaving holes in Adele’s neck, her arms, her face. Even her scaly hand began to disintegrate. “This one craved adulation,” Hanak Tuvar went on. “Worship. A disgusting human motivation. Easily manipulated. I whispered in her ear through the gaps in my prison. Her and countless others.”
Desa stood there with her mouth agape, a ragged breath pulling its way out of her. “How many?” she whispered. “How many did you influence?”
“Thousands,” Hanak Tuvar boasted. “Adele was the first to discover how to release me. Her last thought before I consumed her was a desire to tell you that she is sorry.”
“No, we are sorry,” Desa countered. “Long ago, our ancestors traveled between universes. In so doing, we trespassed in your domain. We disturbed you. And for that, we are deeply sorry. Let us go, and I promise you it will never happen again.”
Adele laughed, shaking her head. “Foolish child. Do you think something as insignificant as you could ever trouble something like me? Your presence in ‘my domain’ was nothing more than a curiosity. Regardless, I will exterminate your species.”
“Why?” Desa whispered. “We are no threat to you.”
“Because it would amuse me.”
Adele staggered, lifting a hand to her chest. The cracks spread over her at an accelerated rate. She couldn’t last much longer.
Grabbing Tommy and Miri by their sleeves, Desa pulled them back onto the patio. Kalia joined them there, the four of them huddling against the house’s back wall. Would it do any good? She had no clue what to expect. Hanak Tuvar was about to make its first appearance in ten thousand years. For all she knew, its arrival might destroy the city. But if that were the case, trying to run would be pointless.
Adele’s body shattered like a vase struck by a hammer.
And darkness exploded from it.
The End of Part 1
Part II
