Shining world, p.28
Shining World, page 28
“I’m coming!” The Seer gauntlets made a ringing sound in my ears. Normally, I only heard that after using them. Something wasn’t right.
Mizow had Corax in a rear chokehold, but he stood and flung her over his shoulder. Her battle tail stopped her from rolling too many times, then attempted a weak counterattack. Both the Tyton woman and her symbiont were wounded.
“You should have negotiated!” I shouted at Corax, then took the only clear shot I’d had for several minutes.
Both Seer gauntlets flared to life. The beams of raw energy I sent at him merged into one and erased the color of the scene with their brightness. He was nothing but an afterimage for a full second.
When it was done, I rested my hands on my knees and fought to catch my breath. I’d never unleashed that kind of power. A corridor of missing trees stretched all the way to a hillside that now displayed a crater of scorched earth.
My vision returned. Mizow crawled backward, groaning with every movement. Her tail lashed around a tree stump and pulled to help them get clear of the destruction.
Corax turned slowly to face me. He was brittle, like a collection of ash and positive thinking. Horror exploded in my chest. How could he be alive? How could he turn in my direction?
All around him were pieces of the smoking carapace his people used to board starships. The genetic augmentation had snapped over him at the last second. I remembered the blur of motion but still couldn’t believe it mattered.
“I was a Seer creature, Noah Gantz,” Corax said, then crumbled to the ground. Each piece of him that tried to break his fall exploded into dust.
All thoughts of winning or losing vanished as we rushed forward in search of the antidote.
33
Five million years later, I felt Mizow’s hand on my shoulder as I knelt over the remains. Corax was unrecognizable. His form was stuck to the ground now. Three of his hands were missing. Others were melted into grotesque shapes.
It didn’t help that my world was spinning, and I wanted to pass out. The Seer devices, all of them, were whispering in a language they’d developed just for me. I wasn’t sure what the words were, but I knew they were saying I’d finally cashed a check I couldn’t cover.
My bones hurt. I felt like I was the one lying in a pile of my own ash.
“Noah,” Mizow said. “Answer me.”
“I’m sorry.”
She wrapped her arms around me and held on for a long time. Leana and Solen were there. I could sense their presence.
“Take him,” Mizow said.
Her tone was commanding, and I assumed she was speaking to her warriors. To my surprise, Leana and Solen led me away from the scene. We moved slowly and stopped often. They talked to me, but understanding the words took too much energy.
They sat me on a blackened tree branch wide as the trunk. Behind me was a steep hill. Ahead of me only a few meters was Mizow squatting over Corax.
“She only gets one chance, I think,” Solen said.
Leana agreed. She sat beside me and put one arm around my shoulders as we watched the Tyton pray.
Time passed. Mizow put away all of her weapons, removed her gauntlets, and evened out her breathing. Then, when I was seriously wondering what she was doing, she dug her bare fingers into the lump of charcoal that had been Corax’s torso.
Seconds passed. We held our breath.
Mizow stepped back abruptly and seemed to cradle something small in one hand.
“I think this must be it, though I dare not open it,” Mizow said.
Solen and Leana went to her. I nearly fell over without their support.
“Is that a vial?” Leana asked. “Or a data drive?”
“It is a container,” Mizow said. She looked my way and appeared as desperate as a child about to lose her parents. “Can you take us back to Glemdanogis?”
“Are there any Cavots around to help us?”
The women searched the wasteland and said nothing.
“That was a joke,” I lied. “I feel fantastic. Invincible even. Like Kirk Russell in Big Trouble in Little China.” I slapped my hands together and ignored the throbbing pain this caused. “Let’s head back. This train is already ten minutes late.”
“We really need to watch this movie he keeps talking about,” Solen said to Leana and Mizow. Both women nodded, pretending to be serious about actually following through with the promise.
I stood, steadied myself, then clicked my heels together. “There’s no place like Glemdanogis.”
Nothing happened, of course. The Seer devices required concentration and commitment. I needed time to recover.
“Should you check on your warriors?” I asked. “Maybe some of them want to come with us.”
“Noah,” Mizow said. “You stared at Corax for nearly an hour. I checked on my people, mended wounds, and received many volunteers. How many can you take?”
“I’m not sure. Four is the largest group I’ve managed,” I said.
“My warriors will follow in starships,” she said. “Take me to my husband. He has a lot of explaining to do.”
They gathered near me. I activated the boots and focused on the exact location we’d come from. Landing aboard Kayan would have been better, but I wasn’t sure how reliable that option was. I’d gone aboard an Azok once, but under much different circumstances.
“When we get there, take Mizow to Kayan. I may not be up to it,” I said.
“You won’t be.” Solen exchanged glances with Leana and Mizow. “We already discussed this.”
I gave them a thumbs-up, then activated the Seer device.
Dreaming felt nice. Traveling from Tyton VIII to Glemdanogis was like a three-week luxury cruise. Instead of constant sparring and other training, we indulged in spa treatments, endless rivers of ice cream, and all my favorite movies and music.
Or that was what it felt like. My mind was protecting me, and I was thankful. I understood none of it was real because there was no anytime breakfast.
Waking up sucked because I wasn’t aboard Kayan and there would be no crèche to patch me up. Instead, we stood in a rubble-strewn neighborhood of Divonia that I barely recognized. Infrequent explosions sounded in the distance. I heard small-arms fire and saw the occasional Gleam airship race overhead.
That was good news, I thought. Leana’s people hadn’t been totally annihilated.
Would the Skylar continue their hunt for the HoC and the enclave of their elders?
It looked like that was exactly what they were doing.
“I’ll make contact with Joav and the regulators and through them, the Gleam commanders,” Leana said. “Solen will continue to reach out to Kayan.”
“Let me try.” My words slurred.
“Rest. Drink this.” Leana gave me plain water. For a hot second, I’d hoped it would be the super juice she gave me the last time.
No dice. That stuff was hard to come by, apparently.
A column of Gleam soldiers marched by. They looked amazing, but their tactics were ancient. Maybe this was a travel formation. Civilian work crews followed. All seemed determined.
“Where are they going?” I asked when Leana came back from meeting with important people.
“There is a battle raging around the primary exit from the Palace of Stairs. The enclave and their HoC sponsors emerged just in time to fight the second wave of Skylar assault troops.”
“Nice of them to pitch in,” I murmured, then finished off the water.
“It didn’t appear they wanted to engage their enemies,” Leana said. “My contacts at the front say the HOC from the caverns and the Skylar enclave seem intent on slipping away while we do all the fighting.”
“What about the rest of the HoC?” I asked, curious about the many factions that existed.
“Gone.” Leana chuckled. “Suddenly, no one wanted to admit they had ever supported the Hand of Chaos. Harsis is an officer in the Glemdanogis Defense Force now. Stay here while I check in with Solen and Joav.” She was walking away as she talked.
I lacked the energy to follow her or care much.
A wet nose pushed into the side of my neck. “Noah,” Scratch said.
When I turned to hug the beast, Ryn was there. Her head, arms, and one of her legs were wrapped in bandages, and she still had a hospital ID tag on one wrist.
“I found my gear and slipped out,” she explained. “The hospital is really full right now. They needed my space, so I left. What in the stars happened to you?”
“Seer artifacts,” I said.
“I wouldn’t use them if they did that to me.” She looked around at the bustling city. “Everyone is acting weird.”
“What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “These people want to fight back but don’t know how. They march around asking people what to do.”
“Don’t look at me.” I held up one hand to show how badly it shook. “Pretty sure my blood sugar is low.”
“Or you fried your nervous system using that Seer crap,” Ryn said. “Dump that stuff. It’s bad for you.”
“I killed Corax with it.”
“Really?”
“Mizow dug the antidote out of his ashes, I think.”
Ryn frowned. “Now I’m confused. How did Mizow get here from Tyton VIII. You didn’t bring her, did you? No wonder you look like you died twice. Solen told me one time that the Seer devices almost kill you every time you use them.”
“That’s why I avoid it,” I said. “Can we talk about something else? Where is Solen? She was trying to contact Kayan.”
“I’ll look for her. You stay here and rest. Scratch, let’s go.”
“Go,” Scratch said. “Stay, Noah. Feel better.”
“I’ll try, you crazy mutt.”
They disappeared into the commotion. My back hurt from sitting in one position for too long, and my butt was going numb. I stood and walked slowly. No one had really expected me to just sit around.
Moving toward the sound of fighting took time. I stepped aside when troops or police units passed, then again when support teams followed. That was interesting. There always seemed to be teams of engineers and medics following the Gleam units.
“Noah, where are you?” Solen asked in my helmet. “I told you to stay put.”
“Sitting was making my back hurt.”
“I will make the rest of you hurt. Mizow is on her way to Kayan. Chool, Hash, and some others liberated the leviathan, and she is on her way.”
“That’s good news.” I leaned on a wall of ruby glass. Walking no longer seemed like a good idea. The sound of fighting was around the corner. Of course, I had thought the same thing for two blocks.
“Give me your location and heading, and I will meet you,” she said.
I complied as I ran one hand over the smooth surface of my resting place. The buildings here were amazing. My surroundings fascinated me for long moments.
How had I come so far without remembering it?
“Are you okay?” asked a Gleam man. “Take a drink of this. Should help you stand straighter.”
I sipped juice from an ice-cold container and thought it was the best thing in the universe. “Thanks. I drank too much. That stuff is expensive.”
“No worries, off-worlder. I can get more once the invaders are sent back to wherever they’re from,” he said. “Where are you headed?”
“I want to see the fighting.”
He swallowed and seemed nervous. “You better drink the entire flask. Are you one of the double-red-marked’s friends? I heard she had a band of aliens she adventured with.”
“Leana-seven-hax-tro,” I said.
“That’s her. I am surprised someone like you knows her full name. That’s rare. She must really trust you. Most non-Gleams call her Leana Brightness. Even some people around here use that name.” He ran out of things to say and shifted from foot to foot. “Will you be okay, stranger?”
“I’m feeling better already,” I said, then stopped him before he could back away. “You do understand that the red mark is just a mark, right?”
“Well, sure. Every family has one. My uncle is red-marked and is everyone’s favorite. Great at family cookouts,” the man said. “Loads of fun.”
I was fascinated by the idea of a Gleam family cookout, but I let the man go. He flinched each time there was an explosion nearby and looked ready to dive under a ground car when an airship raced low overhead.
My strength returned slowly. I reminded myself not to get cocky. “Kayan, are you there?”
She didn’t answer, but a light appeared in my helmet HUD. We had a connection. The ship was busy or had another reason for keeping quiet.
“Solen, can you read me?”
“I can see you as well,” she said. “Turn to your right, but not too much.”
I pivoted until I could see the Altion woman across a complex intersection. There were no vehicles in it now. First-aid tents had been erected around the fountains. Wounded soldiers were carried inside them at regular intervals.
We met in the middle. “Did Ryn find you?”
“No. Was she looking for me? I thought she was still recovering in the hospital,” Solen said.
I removed my helmet and massaged my temples. Ryn and Scratch had been real. I was certain of it.
“Stay close,” Solen said. “I’ll escort you to the front since you can’t be trusted to stay away.” She contacted Leana and then Joav by radio. “Be on the lookout for Ryn and Scratch. They left the hospital.”
“Will do,” Leana said. Joav also acknowledged the message.
Keeping track of everyone felt like a chore. Solen stayed with me until we found a safe place to watch the fighting. There was an aura of spectacle around the Palace of Stairs. Camarin Fi-ton led his Skylar warriors from the front. There weren’t many, but they gave the invaders a hard time. Gleam troops weren’t sure what to make of the man and his fighters, so they gave them room.
The HoC agents didn’t fight much. I spotted them gathered around Braylin and wasn’t impressed with their skill or their bravery. Smoke rolled through streets where the rival Skylar forces clashed.
“I wish we could trust Camarin,” Solen said. “Good allies make all the difference.”
“Has anyone told them Corax is dead?” I sat down and leaned my elbows on my knees. “That could turn the tide of the battle.”
“We’ll work on delivering the message,” Solen said, then talked to local commanders via comms.
Leana, Joav, Ryn, and Scratch joined us a while later.
“This is a good place to watch,” Ryn said. “Decent view and adequate cover. But don’t you want to run down there and get into the action?”
“Not today, kid. My give-a-shit meter is bottomed out.”
Joav and Gleam officers came to us for advice. Solen and I schooled them on warfighting tactics and strategy as best we could. Night fell, and I slept behind a concrete barrier. The Skylar clash never let up. They didn’t seem to tire or lose heart no matter how bad it got for either side.
The larger problem was the surprising number of reinforcements each force produced. More and more enclave soldiers emerged from the stairs. Ships landed again and again.
I was getting sick of the entire situation.
34
“Beware of dawn on Glemdanogis,” Solen said when I finally awoke. “Put your helmet on and adjust your visor settings. Wouldn’t want you to go blind.”
“Thanks.” I felt no better but pretended I did. “Give me some good news.”
“Wozim is responding to the antidote Mizow brought him, though she may kill him once he’s recovered. You know how Tytons are,” Solen said. “They are sending Chool with every warrior who can fight. I think they want you to be in charge when they get here, so you better eat something and get your act together.”
“What about the Skylar child and the Reach hostages?” I asked.
Solen looked shocked. She’d forgotten the hostages.
I surveyed the battlefield and noticed the intensity of the conflict had lessened. Either there were fewer Skylar soldiers fighting, or they were growing weary of battle. That could mean peace talks we weren’t invited to, and that could mean they put aside their differences and were now united against us.
“You are thinking too much,” Solen said. “I can see the smoke coming from your ears.”
“Stop stealing my jokes,” I said, then waved away imaginary smoke. “We need to recover the Reach hostages and maybe the Skylar child.”
“Why maybe?”
“What do we really know about her? She could be right where she belongs,” I said.
“Why don’t you walk down there and ask them?” she said as Leana and Joav joined us.
Ryn and Scratch were snoozing nearby. My waking up hadn’t obligated them to do the same.
I stared at the twisted battle lines around the subterranean exit. There were a few vehicles that had been brought up by means no Gleam I knew would or could explain. I strongly suspected the existence of an equipment lift. Regardless of my suspicions, it seemed the enclave had left most of their war machines behind.
“How did they get out of there?” I asked Solen.
“Not sure. I followed them for as long as I could, but they disappeared. The Palace of Stairs is more complex than you might guess—almost a city unto itself.”
“Have you seen Camarin or Braylin recently?” I searched with every optic in my Kayan helmet but couldn’t locate either of the leaders.
“You think they slipped away in the night?” Solen asked.
I shrugged.
Leana and Joav began calling their military contacts to warn them.
“Ryn, wake up,” I said.
“Awake!” Scratch yowled as he forced his eyes open and struggled to his feet.
Ryn stretched both arms toward the sky and gave me a big smile. “Good morning, sunny time.”
“Yeah. Good morning. Why didn’t you stop Camarin and Braylin from escaping?” I asked.
She laughed and shook all over as she stood up. The kid woke up well. Who knew?
