Lost Lamb Page 20

  I broke my spell and staggered onto my feet. The fire was still raging around me and so I ended it with a bit of entrophic energy, snuffing the flames out with a momentary deep chill.

  “Thanks,” I muttered to Gerald. Giving thanks to a childhood rival was never easy.

  Our momentary victory was broken by a skittering sound.

  From the end of the hallway we saw more of those things peeling around a corner. Two of them upon the ceiling, and three or four on the ground. Their human eyes locked onto us as their alien bodies began to surge forward in a sickening display of inhuman anatomy. A legion of lobstermen.

  They shrieked, we ran.

  Chapter Twenty

  Running was hard. Wizards sat around reading notes and doing experiments. Mortal things like cardio were well below us.

  That had been the theory anyway but, after a few minutes of fleeing at full speed, I had to admit I was wrong. Cardio was something all wizards needed to invest in if they didn't want to be torn apart by lobstermen from the abyss. As it was, we barley managed to make it into one of the stairwell.

  I didn't bother closing the door, the lobstermen would make short work of it. I just focused on following Gerald's led, hoping he was running in a meaningful direction.

  Running being an optimistic word. We jumped down the narrow ledges between the stairways. It saved a second or two which was very much needed. The lobstermen flooded the stairwell after us. They were rather bulky in nature, unable to take corners with any real elegance. The narrow stairway had them crawling over one another trying to catch us.

  I turned around and summoned a gushing stream of water. It froze in place along the entire corner not to far away. There was no time to stand by and watch my handwork though I did hear a crashing as they slid upon the freshly made ice.

  Snarling and biting, they eventually regained their pursuit of us until we arrived on one of the sublevels. It looked no different from the others, but Gerald seemed to think otherwise. He rushed to large steel door and began to work at a metal keypad, punching digits into it with haste.

  Our new found enemies were hot on our heels.

  The moment one of them shot around the corner, I brought up my staff and shot off a lance of ice.

  Its tough shell wasn't enough to keep the enchanted crystalline from cracking it apart. The point impact, mid chest, sent shell flying off and forced the creature to fumble backwards onto a crowd of his friends. That slowed the rest down for half a heartbeat. They crawled over their fallen, crushing him under their weight and muscle. A legion of claws and muscles advanced.

  Focusing the nearest one, I sent it flying backwards with simple kinetic energy, “Gerald!”

  He ignored me, continuing to try and open the door while they swarmed.

  I focused everything upon my ward, illuminating it into a visible aura of ocean blue ice. The creature brought its full strength down upon me, pounding and shredding at the barrier with claws and brute strength.

  A small needle of pain appeared in my mind as I was forced to use my life force to maintain the barrier.

  Attrition was the name of that pain. It would be there for weeks, healing slowly as the life force I expended was slowly replenished. That was assuming we lived through the day.

  A hand grabbed the back of coat and yanked me through the doorway and onto the cold ground.

  Gerald lowered his staff at the horde of beast and unleashed a white flamed inferno. Screams erupted from the dark creatures before they were silence by Gerald pulling shut the door. He pressed a button along the wall. A dozen different mechanical reinforcing bars locked in place, securing the entrance. I could also feel a slight shift of gravity as a powerful ward was put in place over the door.

  I let out a sigh of relief.

  The day was far from over but at least I wasn't lobster food. Gerald must have shared my opinion as he slid down the door and gave me a weary thumbs up. I returned the gesture.

  “This is the safe house?” I gathered enough strength to push myself up and take a look around.

  The safe house wasn't what I'd expected. I thought there might have a small metal bunker and a few wards but this was clearly something else.

  A vast expanse of blackened space extended outward so far as I could see with only the occasional wall or pillar of stone to break up the monotony. I suspected that we were no longer in Seattle. A transdimentional portal to another plane, a pocket dimension, would certainly be a wise place to set up a final stronghold. It would be hard to create an anchor point as one needed to know the location before creating a portal or teleporting.

  As for the more practical implications, it meant that we should expect anything. Another dimension was not at all dissimilar to another planet. There was a different pressure as well as heavier gravity. The air was probably safe. The elders might have been a bit brutal but they were efficient and certainly wouldn't have made an extra dimensional safe house if it would just get everyone killed. Then again...wizards had a habit of overlooking the obvious – such as swords not being useful against heavily armor targets.

  I shrugged off that last thought and got back onto my feet, brushing off dust from my pants and ignoring the pain from my throbbing burn wound, “This place is...”

  “Amazing,” Gerald said.

  I glanced back at the doorway we came from, it was still there and built into the side of a stone column in a manner that looked ridiculous.

  “I was going to say dark, scary and a bit excessive but amazing works.”

  “There's a building not far off,” he gestured off in the distance to a path that was lite by the glowing of some orange crystal.

  The two of us began making our way through the new dimension that I decided must have been underground. There was no light in the sky. It was true that, by traveling to whatever world or dimension we now walked upon, things such as the endless sky might have ceased to be. I found the notion rather terrifying in a existential manner, how could there be no sky and no stars? If it were all stone and dirt then there must be something above. Except that I knew, academically from my studies, that such places did exist. Worlds where entire common notions didn't apply and where magic had taken to rule.

  Suffice to say we kept along the path, walking the dry earth that was cracked from lack of moisture. It reminded me of a canyon that had once been an ocean trench. That brought another question to my mind. Did it rain in this place?

  My thoughts distracted me from catching sight of a man who was poised not too far away. He was standing under one of the crystals, his form just outside of view. Gerald elbowed me and nodded toward the sight.

  A justicar's coat and a wizards staff brought a good deal of relief to my mind, maybe we weren't too late.

  “Alfonso,” Gerald said with a bit of relief and began to make his way forward to the man.

  I grabbed Gerald, holding him back. I might not have noticed the man first, but I did see the slight glint of something was lurking in his robes. A hint of blood.

  “Look. Just below his arm,” Gerald did so and stiffened.

  Gerald took a step forward and pointed his staff at the man, “Alfonso. Speak now or...I'll have to assume you're dead.”

  Dead was a dangerous thing with the abyss opened and an apparent summoner on the loose. Each corpse that was created had the potential to become an enemy. Possession by ghastly spirits was rather uncommon on the normal day, but this was a far from a normal time.

  That threat seemed to have an affect.

  The justicar shifted a bit under his robes and his hands jerkily unclasped causing the staff to fall to the ground. Through gloved hands, a number of sharp claws could be seen and with a blur of motion, Alfonso jerked his head upward. Rotting flesh lurked beneath his cowl. It looked as though the man had been dead for months with bone being exposed and his skin was dry and stretched.

  A dull green glow of a necrotic spirit could be seen lurking in what remained of his eyes. It stared at us and smiled.


  “Hm... I must be slipping,” the justicar's corpse said in a raspy voice that was doubtless made possible by magic. Certainly the voice didn't come from Alfonso's body, the neck had been torn clean out, “A few more steps and you could have joined your friend, Gerald.”

  The thing turned its eye to me, “Ah, you must be that child that Ysetoil spoke of... to think that such a pretty thing would be capable of exorcising a spirit. What has happened to the world, a woman using magic. Disgraceful.”

  Sexist ghost. Not that surprising given that most of the elder spirits were hundred, if not thousands, of years old. I responded by showing him just how much magic I could use. My staff lowered and fired a brilliant crystal at deadly speed.

  The thing chuckled and fell to the ground on all fours, evading the blow and taking up some sort of mutated battle stance.

  Gerald followed my attack up with a beam of energy. Its radiant heat, flickered against my battered ward. It shot near to the thing, but it spun about with inhuman speed before leaping up onto the pillar it had been standing near. There it clasped on and skittered around to the dark side before either of us could fire off another spell.

  We could hear the vague sound of movement from the darkness. It was jumping around above – repositioning itself now that the element of surprise was lost. Gerald and I pressed out backs to one another and moved forward, towards the light, our weapons extended.

  A voice came from somewhere out there, “Mageling. I believe it is time for a rematch.”

  Ethan.

  It was his voice, or rather, his voice possessed by the dark intellect of the eater. I'd banished the creature not long ago but apparently such things were only a minor setback. No doubt Harold had taken the spirit and put it back into Ethan's body before binding it to his will once more.

  It made me sick. Such things were a gross violation of body and spirit. I knew that well. There was also the issue of what that meant for-

  “Jessica,” Ethan's mutated voice spoke, “I'd been willing to let her live, me and the mortal had a sort of deal. A shame you had to come along and ruin all of that."

  "I won't lie. I did enjoy devouring her, I'm an eater of families after all, and their love was so true. Oh the fight he put up. Trying to resist as I tore apart of her frail body. The taste...hm, I think you will taste better.”

  Jessica and Ethan. A tightness gripped my chest as I realized his words.

  Perhaps they would have have been better off if I'd never moved to help. Jessica would certainly be alive. The eater had wanted her as a hostage to make Ethan obey his commands. Now it appeared the eater was fully under Harold's command. It had no need for Jessica and she was now dead. Most likely in the stomach of the one she had loved.

  I thought back to that moment, when they'd been reunited after I'd broken the possession. Ethan had been a monster and Jessica hadn't cared. Love.

  There was no burning hatred within me. Just a cold logic. I was going to kill Ethan's body and then Harold. I didn't care why he had done this. It was beyond redemption.

  A bitter laugh escaped my lips, “Congratulations. You can kill a defenseless mortal. Is that suppose to frighten me? Ysetoil was it?”

  The eater snarled, “Do not speak my name meat.”

  “Ysetoil, it is,” I replied, “Dearest Ysetoil. Why is a weak spirit, such as you, even worthy of being summoned? Demons or shades I could understand but what use is an eater? Such brutish, unintelligence. You take pride in killing mortals – it's honestly laughable.”

  “Your arrogance is laughable,” the thing said from just outside the light, “I've been hunting flesh such as you since the first days of man. I am the hunger in your stomach. The dark thought of evil that turns love to hatred. I am the teeth – those that rend your flesh the moment you drop your guard. I was summoned to kill. It is my purpose.”

  “Flare,” I whisper to my brother.

  Gerald took my meaning, clearly having had similar thoughts.

  He put his staff up and launched a ball of fire above us. It rose into the air about thirty or so feet before bursting into a thousand small pieces of fire that rained across the expansive darkness, away from us.

  The illuminated room brought a sense of existentialist dread as I saw no sight to the darkness – no ceiling. Just a bland expanse that seemed to go ever onward and the occasional stalagmite coming from the earthen mounds that slightly overhung.

  Just beyond where the rim of darkness had been, the eater sat.

  Ethan's twisted body looked rougher than I remembered. His skin had stretched even thinner, allowing me to see the muscles under the skin with each minor twitch of movement. More than that, it had taken an unhealthy darker tint, and where his arm had once been severed, a new one grew. It was larger than the other arm and covered with tumorous masses as though the thing had grown rapidly and out of control. I doubted that the eater would be able to make use of Ethan's body for too much longer. It looked as though it were about to fall apart any moment.

  A wolfish smile crossed its lips. I didn't smile back. I just attacked.

  I'd been channeling energy into my staff since we began making our way though the darkness. It was dangerous, like walking around with a loaded gun, but sometimes walking with a loaded gun was a good idea. This was one of those times.

  I aimed my staff, right at his smile, and coldly stated the words, “Nix.”

  Tendrils of ice shot out my staff. The channeled power took the form of three separate beams that cracked the sound barrier as they spread forward.

  They clung upon the damp, humid air, collecting and freezing moisture as they went, finding a path to my target. Even the eater, with its inhuman reflexes and strength, had no chance to evade all three of my attacks. When they were within a foot or so of the target, they spread to different angles, sharpened to a deadly point and slammed home.

  Ysetoil didn't dodge. He brought his massive hand upward and shattered one of my attacks with a sweep of his hand.

  The other two hit home, skewering the abomination in place. Black blood sprayed across the ground. The lances of pure ice ran through and impaled upon the ground, pinning Ysetoil in place for the moment.

  I began channeling more energy, ready to unleash another torrent of arcane power.

  “Is that all?” Ysetoil growled a challenge.

  “No.”

  Ice was my favorite state of water. It was cold and malleable, able to take form to suit my needs. A lance of ice wasn't going to kill a supernatural beast. I knew that. It hadn't been my intention. The next spell was what I intended to use for that purpose. The eater was busy clawing itself out, unable to move or escape the ice that was already in his body. It was a fundamental trick of cryomancy to expand ice. A master of the art, which I arrogantly considered myself, could greatly expand the mass of ice, rapidly.

  A word of power and the tendrils began to expanded at an explosive rate – doubling in size and then once more. Three small tendrils turned into great roots of ice that stood as tall as a man and the eater had two of them within its body.

  With a frantic pace, Ysetoil tried to break the ice.

  The eater even managed to get one out of its body as the expansion continued to make its way towards it. Ysetoil would be too slow in removing the final one.

  I dared to let the faintest flicker of a smile come to my lips. I might not have been able to bring Jessica back or to even truly free Ethan from the eater's body. But I could cause it pain. For the moment, that was good enough.

  Then the expansion stopped.

  My smile faded. Confusion took hold as I looked at my staff, wondering if something had gone wrong with my spell. It seemed unlikely. Expansion was a fundamental art and one I'd done a thousand times in my short life.

  The eater seemed confused as well, though he didn't pause in confusion as I had. It tore apart the last lance of ice and made itself clear of the tendrils.

  “Cath, what happened?” Gerald asked while still watching my back.
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  “I don't know.”

  Chapter Twenty One

  “Of course you don't,” a new voice said. It echoed off of the endless chambers of the room, concealing its speaker.

  “You of the elders have never been taught to fight a true wizard. The notions of nullification are beyond you. Rather ingenious of your leaders. If you never learn to fight a wizard, it is all the more easy to control you.”

  I recognize the voice but not the tone with which it spoke.

  Gerald confirmed my suspicions, “Harold?”

  Laughter. Ugly and indulgent, “Harold? No. Harold was a name that you of the new world would understand. A quaint little lie that would help me blend into your midst. It, like all things in your sphere, is short and bland. You may call me Harold. If only for the few minutes left in your life.”

  “What have you done!” Gerald demanded. I keep my eyes focused on the eater which scrambled behind a pillar for cover, “Where are the others? The children and the wounded? I cannot believe you such a monster as to have killed them all.”

  “Kill them?” a 'tsk' sound came from the voice, “I came to liberate the children from ignorance. I will raise the youth from this place and give them a proper education in the service of a just cause. It will be by the hands of your own youth that the doom of the elders will arrive. Assuming your kind survive the war that is to come.”

  Indulgent, he was suffering for a case a severe case of gloating, “What do you mean? You bind a few spirits and what? Kill some mortals? How does that create a war?”

  “A few spirits?” he let out a laugh, “Oh sweet child, I've been working on this project since before you were born. A project funded by all the major players of the land. Each one of them gave me artifacts and power, asking me to summon things for them. The dragon, your elders and even the mortals who've become aware. Your cold war gave me the means. Each side wanted a new weapon, an army of spirits and each of them paid me for the same tool.”