Resurgence of Ancient Darkness (9 page)

Each magus was holding a staff personalized to himself alone, as was his hood. One of them, whose hood was a deep red color, raised a staff that had the color of driftwood and the likeness of a comet. He said, “My brothers, we are finally free to rule again!”

An evil cheer came from those gathered there; the kind of sound that made even the bravest warriors quake in their boots. Another magus with a deep blue hood had a staff that looked like it was made of bones and was topped with a skull from some unknown beast; he said, “True, Rubius, but the curse failed to stop the rebirth of the wizards.”

Rubius cackled, “Yes, Thazure. That it did, my very pessimistic friend, and that is unfortunate, but they are not a threat to us now.”

“What do you mean?” asked Thazure.

Rubius grinned with a mouth full of razor-sharp fangs that belied his vaguely human-looking head. “They are far too weak to face us.”

“That will change,” responded Thazure.

Rubius laughed and waved his staff over the table. The surface of the table shifted from solid and ancient-looking wood to a highly-viscous silver liquid. Another wave of his staff, and the liquid began to spin faster and faster. As it spun it took on a bowl-like shape, dipping in the center and rising on the outer edges. Soon images began to form in the pool, images of events
all around the universe. It seemed nothing was hidden from their view.

“Look … ” said Rubius.

“I do not see anything of importance,” said Thazure.

“Exactly!” called out Rubius with a vile chuckle.

Thazure and the others looked on with amazement. It was clear they had no idea what was causing Rubius such joy. Rubuis, meanwhile, was almost beside himself with excitement as images flashed by faster and faster in the pool.

“Rubius, control yourself! What is the meaning of this?” said Thazure.

“We survived, and they did not! We won!” he called out.

Almost as one, they all turned and watched the pool in amazement, and slowly they seemed to understand and join in Rubius’ excitement. Everyone, that is, besides Thazure.

“It is much too soon to know that,” he said.

“We live!” cried out Rubius.

Thazure waved his staff over the pool and an image came up of Grandmaster Vydor. He said, “So does he!”

“That baby of a wizard is of no concern,” said Rubius, and with a sharp sweep of his hand the image was gone.

“Babies grow up,” said Thazure. “Strike him down now, while we can.”

“No,” said Rubius. He drew back to his full height, and silence fell over the room. He waved his hand over the pool and several more faces appeared. “We are alive again, but we are a long way from our full power. We must continue with our plan and take no digressions. We will only have this one chance, and if it fails we must return to the shadows forevermore.”

The coldness and authority in his voice made all the other magi in the room fall back in fear. Even the brazen Thazure seemed to be pacified by the speech.

“What is our next step, then?” asked one of the other magi.

“We must continue the harvest and build ourselves an army,” said Rubius. “But we must do it in secret.” As he said that, the image in the pool shifted, and a planet came into view. “There is where we will begin.”

Shadow sent us all away from his fight with the demon, and once we were clear I stopped and gathered everyone. I was completely unsure what to do next.

“Master, what are your orders?” asked one of the Dark Knights.

I was still in shock. Shadow gave me command. I could not believe it! He never left me in charge, not even in easy simulations, never mind live combat like this! I had served with him in this navy for years, and never once had he recognized me for command. The pressure on my shoulders was suddenly immense. “Which way did they go?”

“Master Flame, we did not see them leave, but the place they were most likely to head towards is main engineering. From there they might be able to keep us from obtaining control of the station.”

“Then let’s head there. You two, take point. Rigal, take rear. Let’s move quickly. I don’t want them to have a chance to dig in,” I said. More accurately, I wanted to prove myself to Shadow. If I could handle these pirates without his help, that would show him I was worthy of more responsibility.

The Dark Knights moved ahead of us and set a hard pace through the corridors. I used our telepathic network to help Rigal stay with us, as we were practically running to keep up. As we came around a bend in the corridor I saw the Dark Knights drop behind some cover. “
Take cover,”
I sent across our telepathic network, and then moved to join the Knights. “What’s up?”

“Master, they seem to have made a tactical error and are down that corridor to the left. It is a dead end, and we can use this entrance as a choke point,” said one of the Knights.

“I thought the intelligence we had on these guys said they were smart,” I commented.

“Yes, it does. Master, either we overestimated them, or this is a trap,” he said.

I raked my mind hard trying to figure out what to do with the information. If they were being stupid, then this was a perfect chance to take them down. If not, it might be the perfect chance for them to take us out. “
Think, Flame! Think!”
I thought to myself. “
What would Shadow or Bill do?”
Then it occurred to me: every time Shadow hit a tough spot, he asked advice of those around him whom he trusted. “What do you suggest?” I asked the Dark Knight.

“We set up movable barricades and slowly move down the corridor, making sure to leave someone behind to guard our backs. I suspect it is a trap, but we need to draw them out,” he said.

“I could send some smashers ahead of us,” suggested Ferran. “That way they would set off any traps before us.”

“It will be a simple matter for me to seal off this intersection with energy barriers,” said Rigal. “If they mean to come after us and trap us in the corridor, the shields will buy us the time to turn the tables on them.

“Perfect. Let’s do that, then!” I said. I was not really sure if it was a good plan or not, but everyone else seemed to like it. I would much prefer us to run down the corridor casting mage bolts as fast as we could. As good as that plan sounded, I had to admit their plan did seem a bit safer.

Once Rigal was in place, Ferran summoned his smashers and sent them ahead of us as we slowly worked our way down the corridor. I could not make out what was at the end of it, as it was too dark, but I knew once the smashers reached the end we would have our answer.

We received our answer sooner than expected, as blaster fire erupted out of the darkness and slammed into the smashers. They kept walking, largely unaffected by the attack. We continued to press forward using a movable barrier and the smashers for cover.

As the smashers were about to reach the source of the blaster fire, several mage bolts leapt out of the darkness and destroyed the smashers. They were almost immune to mundane blasters, but highly susceptible to mage bolts, it seemed.

“Return fire!” I ordered. Suddenly it dawned on me that there was a very real danger to the lives of the people under my command. If I gave bad orders, it would not just be Shadow’s disappointment that I would face. People would die.

The Dark Knights’ weapons lit up the hall with brilliant flashes of light, but for some reason the blasts did not pierce the darkness. The bolts merely entered into the darkness and vanished.

“What is going on?” I asked of no one in particular.

“Master, I think they have some kind of magical darkness covering their position,” said Sharalyn, a fellow pyromancer that was under my personal tutelage.

“Hmm, I think you are right,” I said.
So now what?
I thought to myself. We could not be effective against targets we could not see. Judging by their attacks, they could see us fine, so that gave them all the advantages. “Do you think we can charge their position?”

“No, Master. They could easily gun us down as we approached,” responded one of the Knights.

“What about a grenade?” I asked.

“Master, this corridor is too narrow. The blast would be channeled right back at us,” he said.

I looked again at the darkness and wondered how they were creating it. It seemed to swallow any light we sent at it in a very unnatural way. “Of course! It’s an illusion!” I exclaimed. “And that is
my
game.”

Suddenly there was something I could do. This was in my realm of expertise. I cast Disperse Illusion on the darkness, and instantly the end of the corridor was visible. There were about ten men hiding behind barriers, controlling blasters mounted on the barriers from behind the safety of their screens.

“
There! Him! The magus is our primary target!
” I sent. “
Everyone, cast! NOW!”

Now that we had targets to see, all at once our wizards began casting their mage bolts. There was a massive wave, blindingly bright, of pure energy in various forms flying down the corridor all at once. The mage bolts tore through their defenses and slammed into their bodies, sending them flying. All at once the enemy went from having the clear advantage to a scattered pile of broken corpses on the floor.

“That might have been a bit of overkill,” commented Ferran. He looked visibly shaken by the carnage in front of him.

“I guess so,” I responded weakly while trying to keep my stomach from jumping out of my throat. “Check for survivors,” I said to the Knights. It still sickened me to kill, even though I knew we had no choice.

Moments after the Knights had verified that all enemies had been eliminated, Shadow appeared and collapsed against the wall. “Well done, Flame,” he said through struggled coughing.

I propped him up against the wall and made him drink one of Shea’s potions. Immediately color returned to his face, and his breathing eased. “I need to get you to sick bay,” I said as he passed out.

“Knights, we need to get Shadow back to the Nevermore,” I started.

“Master, we are close to main engineering. We should go there. From there we can disable the station’s defenses and the Dust Dragon should be able to safely pick us up.”

“Okay, then let’s move out. Same set-up as before: Knights on point, Rigal on rear.”

As we quickly moved through the station, I wondered if we had found all the pirates yet. Most reports had them numbered at close to thirty, but so far we had only found about twenty bodies. That could mean as many as eight or ten more were hiding somewhere.

I knew that Shadow would want us to search the station and verify that we had found them all, but I couldn’t think about that until I had him safely on his way back to the Nevermore.

Ferran carried Shadow while we pushed hard through the corridors. I knew that we would not be able to keep up this hectic pace for much longer, as everyone was already showing signs of being worn out. “
Knights, hold up,”
I sent to the Dark Knights.

Once we were regrouped I said, “We need a safe place to rest. How far are we from engineering?”

“Master, maybe another half-hour or so. We should push on. We are too exposed here,” said one of the Knights.

I looked everyone over, and they were clearly exhausted. “No, we rest here for fifteen minutes. Everyone, eat some of your rations and drink some water. If engineering is being held by the remaining pirates we will need our strength.”

“Master, there is wisdom in that, but we should find some place more defendable,” said the other Knight.

“Is there anywhere nearby that would do?” I asked.

“Yes, a weapons locker, Master. It’s not far from here, but it is off our path and will add some travel time to engineering.”

“Then take us there,” I said.

We reached the weapons locker without incident, and it was larger than I expected. Our entire team fit comfortably inside, and it was fully stocked. We set guards to watch the corridor and did our best to rest for a while. While we waited, I watched over Shadow. He was sweating profusely and murmuring something, but I could not figure out what. “We need to get him help.”

“Yes, Master. The doctors on the Nevermore can help him. Until then it is best he sleeps,” said Ferran.

This was getting worse. Not only was I now responsible for the lives of the entire team, but also my husband’s life was completely in my hands. I could not fail. I had to be perfect, but I had no idea what I was doing.

“Master, it’s time,” said one of the Knights, and we quickly pushed out.

It was not long before we reached engineering, and as we came around the corner to approach it weapon fire slammed into our group. We all dove for cover, but whatever weapons they were using punched easily through our barriers, forcing us to fall back.

“Status?” I called out.

“Master, two wounded, and our portable barriers are completely destroyed,” said Ferran.

One wizard and one knight down severely weakened our group. “Is there another approach we can take?”

“No, Master. They seem to have engineering designed to withstand a siege. It is heavily fortified and defended with high-powered automated pulse cannons,” said the unwounded Knight.

“How do we get in, then?” I asked.

“We need to blow a hole in their defenses, Master. Based on my scanner readings, I think there are only three men in there. All we have to do is get in, and we should be able to overpower them.”

“What do we have that can do that?” I asked.

“Wait, Master. With all due respect, I think there is a better option,” said Ferran.

“Tell me, then,” I said.

“Master, you can cast an illusion to cover our approach. We can then climb over the barrier and take the fight to them.”

“But if I fail, we will be sitting ducks in the corridor, and they will mow us down,” I said.

“Well, I don't think you will fail, but if you do Rigal can buy us time to escape,” said Ferran.

I thought about it for a while and then looked to the Knight, who merely nodded. Eventually I came to the conclusion that Ferran’s plan was the best option. “Okay, Rigal and I will make the walk down the corridor. If we succeed, I will destroy the guns, and you charge in to help. Ferran, if I fall, you take over.”