Outlaw magic, p.18
Outlaw Magic, page 18
There wasn’t much love on that street as Alec and his familiar fought. Both were soon covered in blood and the remains of grubs, but the creatures continued coming as if completely undaunted. The tide around the Alterers’ headquarters finally began to ebb as the greater part of the monsters turned from their objective, seeing and moving toward the two fighters in their midst.
That was the Broken’s greatest mistake. The moment they left space between their mass and the front gate of the Alterers’ forge, a wave of pure flame filled the street.
Firemane soared across the thoroughfare, his metallic armor gleaming in the bright lights. The armored tail Alec had so admired after seeing the dragon’s transformation flashed like the world’s largest whip, sending dozens of worm monsters flying through the air like ragdolls with every blow. They landed against the fronts of buildings, pinged off the high, cavernous ceiling—everywhere they could land, they did, and usually in an explosion of gore.
“There’s my baby!” Eleira howled, laughing over the sounds of chaos and carnage. “I was wondering when Firemane was going to join the fight!”
Together, the trio rained down magics unseen for centuries on the army of worms. Alec’s flames, the dragon’s swings and metallic charges, the demoness’s rage and walls of ice—they cleared away hundreds of the creatures with each blow, freezing them and burning them and ripping them to shreds.
Alec lost track of time within the writhing mass. Jaws snapped at his flesh, but the Bloodcloak around his shoulders kept him safe from the monster’s poison. Every time they got close enough to strike, it hissed around him and sent him sailing down the street to a safe space, ready to mount another attack. The creatures never gave up, however, even as their numbers finally began to thin after what felt like an eternity.
Finally, there came a moment where Alec turned to fight an enemy and found none. Maggots covered the empty street, along with shreds of flesh where the final wave of the worm monsters had been torn to bits. Grimacing, Trystara charged up her wings and washed the whole wretched pile of leavings toward an open boiler, using her power to blow the offal right into the flames.
“I can’t believe it,” Alec said, looking down at his hands. They faintly trembled where they held the Diamondspear, blood that wasn’t his dripping from his fingers. “We beat them. There was an end to their army after all…”
The barrier of brambles split apart. Eleira walked through, looking very much unlike Alec and the two familiars. The elf girl had hardly a hair out of place and looked completely unruffled as she strode toward the Alterers’ forge.
“You did it,” she said, beaming at Alec. “Now come on—we’ve got to shut down the forge before that deer headed woman mounts a second attack. Though why she’d want to stop us from helping her, I have no idea…”
Alec didn’t know either, but he wasn’t about to sit around considering it. More of those fiends could spill from the cracks in the cavern walls at any moment. They needed to shut down the forge and end this, once and for all.
Just inside the building, Alec found Maimonides and Viya kicking at the wall of ice Trystara had conjured. A quick strike from the Diamondspear (infused with a bit of fire) slashed through the thick barrier, freeing both gnome and dark elf. They slid down the melting entranceway Alec had opened, joining the group.
Viya looked positively entranced. “That was the most amazing display I’ve ever seen!” the dark elf enthused, holding onto Maimonides’s hand much tighter than a mere friend ought to. “I know Alteration Magic can make familiars much more powerful than normal, but still—you fought like the Archon himself, Alec! Trystara and Firemane must be the most powerful creatures in all the kingdoms!”
“Thanks to your magic,” Alec said, following the dark elf further into the building. “It’s a pity we have to shut it down.”
“Yes, but it’s for the greater good,” the dark elf said firmly, striding into the large chamber Alec remembered visiting earlier. “If this power comes at the price of innocent life, then no amount of magic is worth it. Later, once we’ve safeguarded the city, Maimonides and I can investigate if there’s any way to replicate the effects Ru’un and I discovered without causing negative effects…”
Maimonides looked like he was looking forward to that process very much. “I believe it’s certainly possible,” the gnome said, giving Alec a significant look. He knew that Alec’s natural magic was what had imbued Trystara with the Element of Ice, not any process invented by Viya. “Perhaps I could even remain behind here with you while Alec and the rest of the group meet with the Inscribers in their city? After all, you are such pleasant company…”
“Oh, Master Maimonides!” The dark elf giggled into her fingers. “Well, if you insist, I’ll be forced to accept! In fact, I simply insist you allow me to provide you with the sort of hospitality my city is famous for!”
Told you, Trystara mouthed at Alec, wiggling her eyebrows.
Only one door remained between Alec’s party and the forge itself. The great mechanism of Job’s Bet connected itself with the heart of the island, within a room of metal and wires that reminded Alec of the subterranean chamber where Brutus had taught him stealth and magical combat. Viya put her hand to the door to open it and watched as it slid to the side soundlessly, revealing a colossus of crystal machinery.
A single figure stood between the party and the forge.
Antlers spread from either side of her head.
Diamondspear, the being known as Shikasta whispered into Alec’s skull. Why do you continue to hurt me?
Next to Alec, Eleira fell to her knees. Maimonides and Viya soon followed, completely overwhelmed by whatever messages the deer headed woman beamed into their heads. Only the familiars, Trystara and Firemane, seemed completely unaffected by the creature’s powers.
Alec clutched at his temples, trying to shrug off Shikasta’s influence. “I’m not trying to hurt you!” he yelled at the woman, his gaze blurring as the pain coursed through his veins. “I’m trying to do what you want!”
He heard the faintest snicker from deep within the deer woman. How could YOU know what I want? Were you here when this finger of rock first emerged from the depths? Did you see the first seabird land upon its shores to hunt for game? Witness the first clutch of eggs laid in the reeds by a turtle? Were you here at the beginning of my island, Diamondspear!?
Each word it spoke felt like poison in his veins. His grip on his weapon faltered, and Alec stumbled forward onto his knees. The Bloodcloak went mad across his shoulders and back, clutching at him like it was trying its best to urge him forward.
It wasn’t the first time his garment had had this reaction to the deer headed woman. What on earth was it trying to tell him?
“You wanted me to stop the magic,” Alec gasped, pointing at the forge. “The Alterations. I’m trying to stop them…”
NO. The single word rang like a bell in Alec’s mind, cold and clear. I wanted you to never touch it. You do not understand, Alec Diamondspear. You are a child playing at the edges of safety, believing he is plumbing unknown depths. Your hopes, your dreams, your pathetic war on Chaos and Baldir Diamondspear—I have seen all of these. And I care not for them.
Alec’s friends writhed along the floor. He felt as if he were soon to join them—and if that happened, he’d never be able to get back up. Shikasta would finish them off, one by one.
A single question filled Alec’s mind, giving him the strength to speak. “Then what do you want?”
In response, the deer headed woman laughed.
And dissolved.
Into a writhing mass of maggots.
I am that which was here from the beginning, the thing chorused in his brain. It spoke with thousands of voices—tens of thousands. All burbling, all guttural, all utterly horrid. Alec no longer needed to wonder why the worm creatures had all seemed to recognize the Diamondspear, or why they regarded the death of their fellows with no more note than they would clipped fingernails or toenails.
They knew the Diamondspear because they’d seen it before. They didn’t care about death—because they were all one creature. The same creature.
Shikasta.
The Broken.
When they touched the magic that is my essence, I was shattered, the being chorused, and Alec knew all his effort outside had been for naught. He hadn’t exterminated a thing. Your people made me broken. They broke me.
The pile of maggots rolled themselves into a ball, headed straight for the forge.
And now I will be reformed.
Chapter 17
Alec Diamondspear screamed.
He screamed because he’d lost—because even though he’d fought with everything he had, using more power than had been seen in the magical world for centuries, he’d been playing right into his enemy’s hands all along. The creature known as Shikasta had never been a deer headed woman who sent hordes of worm monsters from cracks far beneath the soil—she was those worms, and the deer headed woman as well. Each of the creatures Alec fought was but a tiny piece of a massive hivemind, a legion of horror that could never be completely erased until every constituent part of the whole had been destroyed.
All of his plans had merely opened the door for the monster. As his friends writhed in pain and mental anguish next to him, Alec feebly reached for the Diamondspear lying on the concrete next to him, praying its battle fury would allow him to resist the creature’s power.
Shikasta, who now had revealed herself as a writhing ball of worms, moved slowly across the forge’s floor, heading steadily and surely toward the great mechanism of the forge itself in the back of the chamber. It moved with a herky jerky motion like nothing else living on the face of the world, shimmering and shivering like a living bowl of jelly as it gurgled toward its destination.
Alec and his friends were powerless to resist. But two members of the party seemed completely unaffected by the monster’s aura. Trystara and Firemane, Alec and Eleira’s familiars.
As the creature rolled across the floor, leaving a trail of grubs and slime, Trystara took flight. She landed between the monster and the machinery smoothly, spreading her icy wings as if readying herself for an embrace.
“Not so fast,” the demoness growled, extending her claws to their full, vicious length. “You might be able to speak these mere mortals into submission, antler head. But we familiars are made of sterner stuff!”
The writhing ball of worms wriggled slowly, making a horrible scratching sound that formed itself into words. Move away, those words rasped. Move!
“Not happening, bug-brain,” Trystara said. “You want the magic? You’ve got to get through me first!” The demoness glanced at a point above and beyond Shikasta’s head. “And I brought a friend with me, too.”
Just then, Firemane arced over the monster’s head. The dragon had embraced the full, evolved limit of his power, and his scales were half covered in thick plates of shining metallic armor. Eleira’s familiar tossed back his head and roared, flames pouring from his throat as he blocked the way to the fount of power.
The two familiars stood side by side, faintly glowing with power in the darkness. Alec looked up weakly from his position on the floor, his heart rising with a sudden hope. Surely the monster couldn’t fight her way past both of his familiars. Even if she was forced to battle her way through the pair, it would likely weaken her enough for Alec and his friends to recover and rejoin the fight.
The ball of maggots slowly reformed into the deer headed form of Shikasta. The horrid scratching noises that had been echoing through the damaged chamber raised in volume as the creature regained solid form, transforming into something that shocked Alec to the core of his being. The hair stood up on the back of his neck.
The deer headed woman was laughing.
You think you can oppose me? She spoke without moving her lips, the words beamed into the heads of all around her simultaneously. From the way Eleira, Viya, and Maimonides jerked against the floor, Alec could tell they all heard exactly the same thing inside their skulls that he was hearing. You are wearing my garments, creature.
Trystara glanced down at her leather outfit. “I wasn’t aware these belonged to you,” the demoness said with a toothy grin. “You want them? Come and take them.”
The deer headed woman’s antlers tilted to the side. You think to use my own powers against me? I am inside you, demoness. And inside your elf girl’s dragon as well.
A look of confusion spread across Trystara’s face. She glanced down at the tendrils wrapped around her arms and legs as if seeing them for the first time, connecting the power Alec had put inside of her with the same power animating the Alterers’ forge.
“Wait a second—”
Shikasta stretched out a hand. Return.
Both Firemane and Trystara crumpled. The armored plates on the dragon’s scales and the tendrils around the demoness’s limbs glowed a vicious black, so dark that they resembled holes in the dimly lit space of the forge. The same dark glow infiltrated Trystara’s eyes, dimming the red shade of her irises as she fell to her knees.
Fools, the deer headed woman snickered. You cannot dismantle the Master’s house with the Master’s tools. Give me back my power…
“No!” Alec forced himself up onto his elbows. Even that small amount of movement was enough to make him dizzy before the psychic assault of Shikasta’s power. “Let them go! Stop…!”
Shikasta did not stop. Both familiars writhed in pain as the black glow spread, infiltrating their bodies until it became hard to tell where the power ended and the flesh of the familiar began. Firemane roared, jet black flames erupting from his mouth as thick veins of obsidian power spread across his scales.
Alec’s eyes widened in horror. Shikasta wasn’t merely content to stop his and Eleira’s familiars—she was corrupting them into foul beasts, turning Trystara into the very animal she’d feared being treated as for so long. Something twisted in Alec’s guts at the thought, and a sudden surge of energy entered his body.
He stretched out a hand—and tugged. Grasping for the Element of Ice within Trystara’s body, he pulled the energy from her tendrils as quickly as he could, discharging it into one of the crystals at his belt. The tendrils around her arms and legs dissolved, cracking like old icicles in a thaw as they broke into tiny pieces.
The black scrawl retreated from Trystara’s gray flesh. The power left her, and with it, Shikasta’s influence. The demoness tipped to the side, drool trickling from the side of her mouth as she rested her burning cheek against the cool stone.
The deer headed woman twisted, glaring back at Alec with a hateful gaze. So you saved one, she said coolly, beaming the word psychically across the forge. Good for you.
Trystara gasped as the last of the black scrawl left her body. One leg kicked out madly against the stone, her body just barely holding on. He’d saved his familiar—but he didn’t have enough strength to do the same with Firemane. He tried all the same, reaching for the armored plates on the dragon’s body to rip away the Element of Metal the Alterers had given the familiar.
Firemane reared backward and fired a beam of darkness at Alec and his friends.
Alec’s fingertips dug into the stone beneath him. Even so, he was just barely able to hang on. Had all of the dragon’s heart been intent on hurting his former owner, instead of the torrent of confused emotions that roiled within him, every member of the party would have been killed on the spot.
Instead, the dragon soared into the air, flying over Alec and his friends’ heads. Eleira cried out, stretching out a hand toward her best friend in the world, but her pleas for the familiar to stop fell on deaf ears. Now a creature of darkness, the dragon disappeared through the door of the forge and into the night.
“Where... where did you send him, you monster?” Eleira sounded even weaker than Alec, but some of her strength had begun to return.
To the hole in the bottom of the world, the deer headed woman said with a shrug. Once I absorb this power, I shall retreat there and reform myself. Once I am fixed, the foundations of this world shall tremble. Chaos. Order. Light. Dark. These words will mean nothing at all.
As Alec watched, the deer-headed woman strode to the machinery. Nothing could stop her now—every obstacle between herself and the core of the gears had been stripped away, leaving the lane clear for her to absorb the power. In a way, it was almost poetic—after all, this ability had been the key to shattering her in the first place—but the uses Shikasta would put that energy to were perverse in the extreme.
Streams of energy flowed from the forge into Shikasta’s outstretched hands. They were of all colors simultaneously and no color at all—in shades that Alec could only perceive while he was looking at them. A single glance away made the memory of the shades dissolve, like dew upon morning grass.
Yes... YES! Shikasta’s form shimmered, wavering between woman and monster and back again. Healed at last, at long last—
A double-bladed axe swung down, severing both of Shikasta’s hands at the wrists.
As the deer woman screamed, a short, stocky figure stepped from behind a pillar. Runic symbols coated his weapon, a match for the dark tattoos covering every inch of his exposed skin. Alec Diamondspear had seen the dwarf named Ru’un at home in his forge, secure in the knowledge of a hundred generations of heraldic elemental power.
He’d never seen this man at war before. The sight of it stunned him.
“Begging your pardon,” Ru’un said in his characteristic halting speech. “But this is my forge!”
Shikasta stared down at the ruin of her hands and shrieked. The severed limbs transformed into maggots on the stone, which Ru’un deliberately stepped on as he stared the monster down.
My power doesn’t work on you, the deer woman hissed, reforming new hands out of some of the maggots comprising her form. You are broken in a sense too, are you not?
Ru’un shook his head. “Not in the slightest, monster. If you want to touch my forge, you’ll be coming through me!”
