“
I'm impressed.”
“
Don't be. I'm far more impressed with how you've managed to survive.”
“
Why?” Tionne was puzzled. It was the first time that she and Nerillia had compared experiences.
There was something ridiculous about their confessional moment. They were standing on the porch of the
safe house, watching blood wraiths lay waste to the capital city of the Human Imperium, yet their conversation was as easy and natural as ever.
“
Because I was able to sequester the emptiness I felt. You've lived with that lack all your life. It's hardened you in ways I can't imagine.”
Tionne thought about that. She'd never really seen it that way, but she supposed that Nerillia was right. After all, she'd never tried to block out the emptiness, just find ways to temporarily fill it. To find things that made her feel whole. Tonight, standing here watching Dragonfell fall, she felt more whole than she'd ever felt in her entire life. She felt almost drunk with it.
Hinges squealed in protest behind them and Greneks stepped out from inside the darkened safe house, cutting off their conversation. His long tapered fingers were folded under his chin and his huge eyes seemed to drink in the madness around them.
“
Is time for you to witness the marvel, yes. High Priest to have his leg back. The white one commands it.”
“
Well,” Tionne said with a giggle. “Let's not keep His Holiness waiting.”
She dropped her arms to her sides and let Greneks take one of her little fingers in his tiny hand. The gnome led her back inside and the Lamiad followed.
Zarfensis stood in the center of the room. His mechanical leg was no longer a twisted mass of blackened metal and melted rubber. It was an armored work of art. The meticulous craftsmanship of the appendage was obvious. There was a faint metallic whine when Zarfensis moved the leg and the articulated claws at the end of the foot sheathed and unsheathed themselves at his will. Even Tionne could see that Greneks hadn't just repaired the leg, he'd improved on it tenfold.
“
Congratulations, Your Holiness,” she said, her voice earnest. The Xarundi’s jaw dropped in the equivalent of a grin.
“
Yes, whelp, I am whole again. I've heard the screaming in the city and I know your part of the plan is already underway. You've done well. Now, we finish this and claim our due rewards.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Tiadaria would have been happy if all they had to follow was the sound of screams. As it turned out, they were able to follow a trail of bod
ies as well. They'd come across three more corpses, each in worse condition than the last. Some of them were missing large sections of torso or head. The blood wraith was growing, just as Adamon had predicted. They needed to find it, and find it fast.
“
This way,” Tia said as another scream pierced the night. She grabbed Wynn by the arm and drug him into the dark alley.
“
Just once, I'd like to fight in broad daylight,” he complained between breaths. “Maybe against some nice bunnies, or a fearsome deer.”
“
Careful what you wish for, Wynn.”
They left the alley and found themselves on the wide lane that wound through Dragonfell, serving as both the main street and the central market. Market Street ran the entire length of the city, north to south, with a large square in the middle. Merchant stalls that would sell all manner of goods and services in the daylight lined both sides of the street, long abandoned for the night. Tia glanced this way and that, irritated that her line of sight was broken by so many obstacles and so many irregular shapes. Anything could be hiding out there and they wouldn't know it until they were on top of it.
She slipped into sphere sight, hoping that she might be able to catch a brief glimmer of the wraith. Tia thought that it probably was sentient enough to try and hide itself, but it couldn't hurt to try. She scouted up and down the quiet street but saw nothing. With a sigh, she slipped back into the physical realm.
She stood in silence, both hoping for and dreading the next scream that would give them a location for their prey. They stood there several minutes and heard nothing. Wynn was shifting back and forth on his feet and Tia wanted to scold him, but she dared not make a sound. They listened some more and still heard nothing that would give them a nudge in the right direction.
If it hadn't been for that all-encompassing silence, Tia wouldn't have heard the soft whisper of a slipper on the cobblestones. She whirled, just in time to face the monstrosity that had been sneaking up behind them. Tia cursed her lack of foresight in not drawing her weapons earlier. Now the wraith had hold of both of her wrists and was pushing her backward toward one of the empty stalls. There was no doubt that it wanted to pin her down and consume her as it had done with its other victims.
The blood wraith drove her into one of the stalls, the rough wood digging into the small of her back. Tia was bent backward over the edge of the stall and she couldn't get her foot between herself and wraith. There was a sickening crack as Wynn brought his staff down on its skull. Turning to face a new attacker, it loosened its grip just enough that Tia could spin away from it and draw her scimitars.
Tia shifted into sphere sight, hoping that her heightened speed would give her the upper hand against the wraith. As she turned to strike, the wraith whipped out a long tendril, wrapping it around her ankles and pulling her legs out from under her. It was fast! She hit the cobblestones hard and her breath left her in a whoosh. She rolled to her stomach, still gasping for breath. She got up on her knees, trying to crab crawl away. The blood spirit's grip on her tightened and it started dragging her across the stones.
A quick glance over her shoulder spurred Tia into a more desperate struggle. The wraith's tendrils had multiplied, reaching out to trap her. Its eyes glittered with dark menace. She wondered what had happened to Wynn when a cone of flame lit up the night. The fire passed between Tia and the wraith, severing the tentacle. It lost its cohesion, turning to liquid and splattering on the street.
The quintessentialist, using his staff as a lance, drove it into the wraith's chest. It split down the center like a cracked egg, spilling sickly grey entrails at Wynn's feet. He jumped back as if the offal were on fire. The wraith careened into another stall, shattering it and sending slivers of wood flying.
The body gave a massive heave and then was still. Wynn ran to Tia and offered her a hand, pulling her to her feet. They spread out and flanked the unmoving body. Wynn glanced at Tia and she nodded, giving him a gesture to flip the body. He worked the tip of the staff under the ungainly mass and rolled it over.
It was just a husk. The wraith's essence had left the host, leaving a twisted pile of flesh in its wake. Wynn stepped back and summoned a globe of light, suspending it above them. Wet slapping sounds echoed across the empty street as the wraith scurried under the stalls and away, south along the road.
“
Damn it!” Tia ran after the wraith and Wynn followed, his globe of light trailing along after them like a child's kite.
Reaching the large Market Square in the center of the city, Tia pulled up short. She spun in a circle, her eyes ranging around the square.
Sphere sight or normal sight, it didn't matter. The wraith was gone. How could it have gotten away so fast?
“
What now?” Wynn asked, coming up behind her.
“
How did it get away?” Tia kicked a rock and sent it skittering across the road. It hit the opposite curb, bounced away, and fell into a slit in the street. They heard a faint splash and looked at each other.
“
Great Gatzbin's gonads!” Tia swore. Wynn interrupted her by grabbing her elbow and pointing down the road.
“
There! Look!”
The lanterns that lined the streets cast pale yellow circles of light on the stone street at regular intervals. The wraith was crawling out of a similar drainage slit further down the road. Back on the road, it propelled itself forward on its tendrils with a speed that had to be seen to be believed.
Tia grabbed Wynn's still outstretched hand and pulled him along behind her. She heard him gasp and knew that he'd come to the realization she'd had only a few seconds earlier. The wraith was heading straight for a squat grey stone building just off the main avenue. The Hospital of the Lyr. Providing both care and education for healers in training, the hospital would be an ideal feeding ground for the wraith.
The hospital was surrounded by a low wall, but its purpose was ornamental, not defensive. Between regular knockouts for aqueducts and sewers, there were probably a hundred places or more that the wraith could get through the wall. Tia and Wynn weren't so lucky. They had to race along the edge of the wall until t
hey reached the heavy ironwood gate that opened into the compound.
The gate was shut for the night and the screaming in the city had the guards on edge. As they came skidding to a stop in front of the entrance, the guard on duty nearly impaled Tiadaria with his spear.
“Open the gate,” Tiadaria panted between breaths. She dug her hand into her side, trying to ease the pain of the stitch in her side she had acquired during their headlong rush. “There's a blood wraith loose on the hospital grounds.”
“
I'm sorry My Lady, the hospital is--”
Whatever objection the guard had formed was promptly forgotten when a piercing scream shattered the night on the other side of the gate.
“OPEN THE GATE!” she roared, and the guards stumbled over themselves to unlatch it and slide it back along the rails. Tia and Wynn slipped through before it was fully open and stopped in the center courtyard.
There was a huge marble fountain in the middle of the courtyard and they couldn't hear anything over the steady streams of water that poured into the pool. Another panicked scream from ahead of them solved their problem and they set off after the sound as fast as dared go.
The cries echoed off the face of the hospital and seemed to bounce around the grounds, making it difficult to know exactly what direction to run. After two mistakes, they finally homed in on the sound and turned the corner between two short buildings.
Topiaries dotted the side yard of the compound, their pale white flowers glowing in the moonlight. There was a small meeting area in the center of the yard, paved with flagstones and circled by a number of stone benches. Tionne was backed against one of these benches and the wraith was scurrying toward her.
Tiadaria had little time to wonder why Faxon's missing journeyman was inside the hospital grounds. She saw the terror on the girl's face and had to act. Tionne's green eyes were wide and round, showing far too much white as she cowered against the bench. She was frozen in place, unable to stand or run.
She raced toward Tionne but she knew she wasn't going to make it in time. Not even the power of the Quintessential Sphere could bridge the distance between them or the lead the wraith had on her. Wynn stopped running abruptly and Tia tried to turn to him as her momentum carried her another few steps.
A ball of flame shot past her, near enough for her to feel the incredible heat of the conflagration. Wynn's spell missed its mark, slamming into the ground to the left of the wraith. It exploded, the shockwave spinning the spirit across the courtyard. Tia wasn't waiting for it to recover. She darted forward and snatched Tionne by the wrist, ignoring the burn of link shock.
“
Run!”
Tia shoved Tionne hard toward the door to the hospital building and followed. They had nearly reached the door when a massive black shape materialized from the darkness. A blue eye glowed. Tia screamed and tried to check her momentum. She searched frantically for Tionne and saw that the girl had turned, stopping behind Zarfensis.
Tiadaria's blades flashed as she circled the Xarundi. She dared a split-second glance across the courtyard. Wynn was still battling the blood wraith.
Tia danced into range of the huge Xarundi. She stabbed and sliced, looking for an opening. She found one and took it. The tip of her sword slit the flesh on the upper part of Zarfensis's right arm, staining the end of her blade. Zarfensis roared, and sprang.
She gathered the power of the Sphere and leapt over Zarfensis's head. It was a trick she'd used before. Here, at Dragonfell, the night the Captain died.
The Xarundi was ready. His huge hand slammed into her midriff as she passed over him. Tears sprang to her eyes. Her landing was anything but graceful. She slammed into the ground, the blades jarred from her grasp by the force of the impact. Her chest burned and Zarfensis was advancing. She struggled to roll up onto her feet.
Zarfensis's eye turned toward Tionne and Tiadaria seized the moment. Ignoring the pain, she rushed to recover her swords. The ring of metal on stone caused the Xarundi's attention to turn back toward Tia.
They circled each other warily, Tia's blades at the ready, the Xarundi's claws unsheathed and ready for the attack. She saw the muscles in his leg bunch and heard the servos whine in the prosthetic. He'd leap at her and she'd be ready. She turned, ready to unleash a terrible backhanded swipe that would, with a little luck, be fatal.
Tia thought she had it timed perfectly, so when she unleashed her full fury and hit nothing but empty air, she was thrown off. Zarfensis had preyed on her confidence. He stood well back from where she had anticipated him, his hand raised in the final gesture of a spell. The ground under her boots softened and she sank shin deep. The more she struggled against the muck, the tighter it seemed to grasp her, until she thought it would shatter every bone in her feet.
Zarfensis bore down on her. She resolved to meet him with the points of her blades and cocked her elbows, ready to stab at the last possible moment. Before she had a chance to carry out her plan, a fireball slammed into the High Priest, sing
eing his fur and sending him sailing away from Tiadaria.
Wynn stood atop one of the benches in the center of the courtyard. With his staff in one hand, he held the blood wraith at bay. In his other hand, he cradled another ball of flame. This he hurled at Zarfensis as the High Priest recovered from the assault and tried to return to where Tiadaria was trapped. Tia found that by moving agonizingly slowly, she was able to extricate herself from the trap an inch or so at a time.
The High Priest attempted to spring on Tia again, but another fireball from Wynn's hand made him shy off. Apparently deciding that the swordmage wasn't worth the effort, he instead turned his attention on the quintessentialist. Tia glanced at Wynn and saw that he was in frenzied combat against the wraith. She dared not risk breaking his concentration even though he was in grave danger.
Forcing herself to take slow, deliberate movements, Tia managed to get one foot free before Zarfensis closed the distance to Wynn. She wanted to wrench her leg free and go to the rescue, but knew that she'd never make it with a broken foot. There was a soft pop as Tia pulled her foot free of the morass.
Even though she was free of the Xarundi's trap, there was nothing she could do for Wynn. The blood wraith was becoming frenzied, having nowhere to run, it had become even more aggressive. Zarfensis was closing on him and Tionne was just standing there, watching.
“
Wynn! Look out!”
Zarfensis was nearly on Wynn now. He was trapped from two sides. The blood wraith pulsed menacingly, its tentacles of blood quivering in the night air. Even with the benefit of the Sphere, there was no way she would be able to reach Wynn in time.
A strangled cry bubbled up from Tia's chest as the wraith struck. It skittered forward like a spider, throwing tendrils toward Wynn and trying to entangle him. He swept the still flaming staff across the spirit's path, severing the appendages and turning some of the blood to steam. The wraith seemed to back off, quivering as if uncertain what to do next.