Reality's Plaything 4: Savants Ascendant Read online

  The layers too seemed to break apart and slow. The edges of every object, each line and shadow defined and highlighted with diamond edge precision. The blurriness of his thread-sight cleared, and the threads and colors of the universe vanished. Sights, sounds, smells, force, energy, they no longer appeared as artifacts in his vision but as knowledge. Deep down, he felt those many shards of himself somehow capturing and filtering his perceptions. How would he function now if he couldn’t see the threads?

  He focused on Wren. Almost faster than his own desire, he sensed her heartbeat, her concern, her impatience and fascination. Facets of her seemed to pour into him, the pulse of her nola, the taste of the Kriar artifice magic sheathing her body, down to twitch of muscles in her stomach.

  It was so much faster. He really was seeing everything simultaneously. It was like thumbing through the pages of book. The problem remained that there were so many pages!

  Beside him, Ziedra hummed. “Whoa, this… this…” She let out a breath.

  Marna thought into their minds.

  Bannor wasn’t sure what the Kriar Matriarch did, but he felt it. Marna’s presence flooded out through the magical links tying Ziedra to everyone else. Each person she touched seemed to themselves begin connecting to everyone else. With each mind added, the perceptions and awareness of the members of the group became sharper.

  He wasn’t sure how long it took, but when it was done, all of them, from elder to youngster was staring at themselves and around the room in wide-eyed wonder.

  “Wizard,” Daena said floating up off the floor and doing a slow turn. “Damn, and I thought I saw pretty clear before.”

  Tal pulled the shaladen off his shoulder and moved it in a slow path in front of his eyes. “Oh yeah, I can work with this.”

  “Excellently done,” Loric said.

  “Thank you, Marna,” Bannor said to the Vatraena.

  She nodded to him. “Truly a pleasure.” She looked around obviously enjoying the increased perceptions. “I learned a great deal.” She turned to Dulcere stepped over and put her arms around her daughter.

  The other Kriar stiffened in surprise, but after a moment put her arms around her mother.

  “Hush,” she told Dulcere. “You needed to be held, that was obvious.”

  Dulcere sighed and put her head on her mother’s shoulder. She drew a breath.

  Quasar watched the embrace with a raised eyebrow, lips pursed and chin raised. After a moment she looked away as though the sight hurt her. He glanced back to Eclipse. The Kriar male was studying Quasar. Bannor didn’t need the powerful perception to see that Eclipse still cared a great deal for the jeweled female.

  A rattling shriek echoed through the room, the sound so loud it made Bannor and others grip their ears. The sound rose and fell in a sharp pulsation that made his bones vibrate.

  Quasar pulled something off her belt and thumbed a control. The vicious sound died. “The Baronians have made their first gate drop,” she announced.

  “All right,” Eclipse said. “We’re already sense linked. Marna, myself, Quasar, and Dulcere will direct the base automation. All you need to do is spot and tie up the enemy. Keep engagements brief and don’t get pulled out of the defense perimeter.”

  Ziedra flitted over to Wren and Azir and quickly cast the flying magic on them. Gold gleaming diamonds of magic flared into being on their foreheads.

  “I have keyed all the mecha and artifices in the tower to everyone here,” Quasar said. “You are free to use any resource you find, and I have left presents on nearly every balcony. If you deplete a tool, find another, I have left stashes everywhere.” She stepped out of the group and pressed her foot on a protrusion in the floor. With a rumbling hiss, two huge racks bristling with items ground up on either side of her. “Keep moving. You will find allies aplenty that will respond to your needs.”

  “Damn, Quasar,” Tal grinned. “You’re crazy, but I like it.” He snatched a big weapon off the rack and threw a belt of the something over his shoulder.

  His wife Terra followed him and the two of them flew out the balcony.

  Tal’s voice echoed in their minds.

  Aarlen ordered.

  Bannor glanced down at the little Mark VI on his side and looked at the far more massive artifices on the rack. He stepped up among the others and grabbed the heavy weapon off, wrapping the sling around his arm. The heft was much like a crossbow with a stock and trigger.

  “You sure you know how to use that?” Dominique asked, taking one for herself.

  He looked down at it. “Point and pull the trigger, right?”

  The pale woman laughed. “Yeah, pretty much.”

  “I’m slow, but I learn,” he blew out his cheeks.

  He saw Daena had grabbed several items and was already flying off the balcony. Verifying he was still covered by Ziedra’s flight magic, he willed himself after the young savant.

  He streaked out the opening with surprising speed. Ziedra’s magic had grown considerably in strength—in fact he felt stronger. Across the artificial sky of Quasar’s demesnes he saw the unmistakable white contrails of things moving at high speed. As he focused and that alien but familiar instinct analyzed what he was witnessing he just had to blink. Those things were moving not ten or twenty times as fast as galloping horse, but hundreds of times that speed. It was like spirit travel only they were taking their bodies with them!

  He glanced down to the lake and stream studded landscape laced with tangles of trees. They were so high up. He slowed to a stop a little behind and below Tal and Terra who had come to a halt.

  Around him the rest of the team were spreading out, taking positions above, below, and to either side of him.

  **Watch the flanks,** Dulcere advised. **Some may try to circle round and come in from the far side of the valley.**

  His heart raced. He pulled the bolt back and heard the big weapon whine up to power. He cranked the power setting and put the weapon to his shoulder. It was time to send a message to these Baronian marauders. He took aim at the front most of the approaching vanguard. Time to put these savant senses to work. Wren was the sorceress of aimed things. He was already bonded to her through his Garmtur and Ziedra’s magic. He reached out to her across the distance, feeling her nola, embracing his sister and making his desire known.

  Wren smiled in his mind and looked out through his eyes, guided his hands.

  He swallowed, hardened his heart, threw his will into the Garmtur and pulled the trigger. The heavy weapon roared, vomiting forth a massive blare of power. The blast seemed to curve as it met the speeding target in a thunderous blaze that became a rain of flaming debris.

  First blood.

  A cheer echoed in his mind and ears.

  **Watch for Phalanx suits, they’ll be interspersed with the Daedalus units,** Eclipse warned in his ears.

  “Good shot,” Dominique complimented.

  “Just lucky,” he shook his head with a smile. “Just as likely to have shot off my foot.”

  The pale woman rolled her golden eyes. “Riiight.”

  Around him, the big weapons were roaring, filling the sky with white-hot blasts of charged mass. Two more suits dropped from the sky like smoking embers.

  He touched Marna’s communication crystal behind his ear and spoke across the distance to his love. **Sarai, the attack has started here, watch yourself. Wren and Azir are safe. Love you.**

  **They’re attacking here too,** the terse answer came back. He felt the urgency in her voice and it made his chest tighten. **Love you, stay safe!**

  Damn. On the main communications channel he told everyone. **Sarai says they’re attacking at Kul’Amaron too.**

  **Not unexpected,** Aarlen said in an even voice. **Keep your focus here.**

  Where were the stealth suits? Had their spotting of the advanced scouts made the Baronians rethink their use? No. They would just defeat being
seen by adding something else to camouflage their presence.

  He blinked. The Kriar had defeated his seeing them with a simple tactic back in the park.

  The water.

  **Watch the streams and lakes!** he cried. **They—**

  A dozen armored forms were already spearing up into them from below…

  * * *

  Chapter Seven

  Savage

  « ^ »

  I fight to survive. I take no pleasure in conflict. I get no thrill from cheating death. Every time I’m forced to kill it leaves a black spot on my heart. To save my friends and loved ones I will do whatever is necessary with no hesitation. Still, it eats at me sometimes…

  —Bannor Nalthane Starfist,

  Prince Conjugal of Malan

  There was no time to think, only to react as figures that appeared only like heat ghosts in a desert fired at them from the lake water below. Cries of surprise and warning blared from the comms and yelled aloud. Flinching back, Bannor slashed across their path with the garmtur. Snaring hundreds of primal threads and bursting them like rotted rope under pressure.

  Some of the racing figures veered off, some exploded in fiery blasts, and others became visible and dropped like birds stunned by a lucky sling stone.

  He had only an instant to be surprised by the effectiveness of his defense. His heart slammed in his ribs and agony crashed into his brain so hard he couldn’t focus to operate Ziedra’s flight magic. Doubled up and clutching his head, air whistled in his ears.

  “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa there partner!” He heard Dominique yell above him.

  He yanked to a breath-stealing stop as something caught hold of his weapon belt.

  “What the…?” Tal let out.

  “Damn,” Aarlen yelped. “Get those two!”

  Bannor heard the big weapons roar, and the thrum of magic. Two more explosions were followed by the crackling of fire and the splash of water far below them.

  “Spit, he is frelling fast,” Algernon remarked. “What did he do?”

  “Hey, a little help here,” Dominique called. He felt her get a hand under his arm and around his chest. She heaved him close, her hot flesh pressing into his back. “Bannor? You okay? What’s wrong?”

  He felt a hand take his right wrist and a neck wedge up under his armpit. “He just backlashed himself,” he heard Daena’s smooth echoing voice say right by his ear. “He’s done it before.”

  More weapon shots fired.

  **Algernon, Euriel, Vanidaar, Azir, fall back and watch the flank,** Eclipse ordered. **Aarlen, take Marna and Damay and keep picking on those Daedalus as they come into range.**

  “Brother, you okay?” Wren asked. He heard the hum of air. “Bannor?” Her voice sounded much closer.

  It had been a long time since he had felt backlash this bad. Striking those powerful psyches with their bodies sheathed in that potent armor had been like thrusting his arm and mind into the path of a lightning bolt.

  “Get his head up,” Wren said.

  Daena and Dominique disentangled his arms and Wren pushed against forehead forcing his neck up. She levered his eye open with her thumb. Searing light stabbed into his mind and he moaned in torment and flinched away.

  “Oh, ow,” Wren clucked in sympathy. “He lashed himself good. I swear Bannor, you hurt yourself worse than some of our enemies!”

  He only groaned in response, unable to form coherent words against the sensation of screws being cranked into his skull.

  Weapons continued to shriek around him.

  “Nonna,” Wren called. “Can you fix backlash? Bad backlash?”

  “I could—” the goddess’ words were interrupted by a blast. She grunted and something hissed and crackled. “I could try.” She finished.

  **Daena,** Dulcere ordered on the communications. **Get him to a balcony. Wren, Dominique, Idun we need you on task.** Bannor heard two sharp high-pitched quavers echo in his ear. **Medic to the penthouse balcony. One for treatment.**

  **Acknowledged,** a low raspy voice responded.

  **Go. I’ll cover you.**

  Dominique broke away from him, leaving him in Daena’s arms. “You’ll be okay, Partner,” the pale woman said. “Watch yourself Daena.”

  “I will,” the young savant answered.

  Wind filled his ears as Daena carried him back to the tower. “Bannor, you have got to be more careful,” she told him.

  He didn’t try to respond. The only thing important was holding his skull together. It felt ready to fly apart. Every beat of his heart seemed ready to make his head explode.

  The communications of the rest of the team resonated in his ear, orders, acknowledgements and expletives. The conflict had developed so fast.

  The battle crashed around them like a storm. The weapons of the tower itself had begun to shoot now, these much larger engines of destruction sounding like rapid claps of thunder.

  They set down on the balcony with a thump.

  There was a whine followed by a thudding and Bannor heard Daena gasp. Something clicked and rattled. A deep metallic voice came from close by. “Peace. Combat medical technician Hiram responding for aide.”

  “Sorry, you scared me,” Daena responded, her voice still shaking. “Where do you want him?”

  An object thumped down on the balcony. “Lay him there,” Hiram said in that hollow voice.

  Weapons roared nearby and something shrieked out from the side of the tower. An instant later a blast shocked the air and Bannor felt the warm hiss against his face.

  “Yie,” Daena muttered. “Are we safe here?”

  “The balcony is shielded,” Hiram answered.

  Daena pulled Bannor around and let him slide down onto something soft that crunched as he lay back on it.

  Bannor heard that whir-thump, then another heavy impact. He felt a presence loom over him. A humming came close then cold metallic objects pressed against both his temples.

  “Pardon my saying it,” Daena said. “You don’t look much like a healer.”

  Bannor heard a creaking overhead. “It is difficult to heal a fallen soldier—” Something hummed close to his ear and a cold object touched his neck. “If you cannot clear away the enemies to administer treatment.”

  More blasts shocked the side of the tower, making the material under his back vibrate.

  “Damn, they are getting close,” the girl said in a worried voice.

  Hiram made a rumble like a catapult shot rolling around in a barrel. “He has moderate synaptic trauma, and heterotrophic charge instability.”

  Daena raised her voice to be heard over the shriek of weapons and the blare of explosions. “And you can fix that, right?”

  “Affirmative. Beginning treatment…” The Kriar healing artifice murmured and clicked, its bulk moving around him. Though he couldn’t open his eyes against the pain, he could feel the mass of the artifice as its heavy steps vibrated the balcony.

  Another item pressed against his neck, this time warm, and he felt a sharp pricking sensation and a hiss that made him flinch. Something big and metallic engulfed his left wrist and pressed down with a firm pressure. A tingling raced through his arm and spread across his body.

  By stages the pounding in his head lessened and the hammering of his heart slowed. In a few moments more, he was able to blink the tears away. He looked up into Daena’s glowing green eyes and was forced to flinch back as an explosion blasted right beside the balcony. Flames and soot blossomed against a barrier that gleamed blue and winked out as the energy of the attack dissipated.

  “Whoa,” he muttered.

  Daena knelt next to him hands over her head. She straightened up. “Yeah, scared me too!”

  “There was no danger,” Hiram echoed.

  Bannor focused on the origin of the voice and recoiled again.

  Hulk was the first word that came to mind. The Kriar combat healer was a metallic construct that resembled a massive three pace tall human with no skin. Its legs were bigger than Bannor’s torso c
onstructed of thick pivoting rods that ended in clawed gripping feet that reminded him of a dragon’s foot. The torso was covered in plates thicker than his wrist. Long arms thick enough to hold up a bridge ended in broad elaborate hands with four-jointed fingers. The head, which was armored like the rest of the body was fronted by a surprisingly human face. Large expressive brown eyes looked out from beneath a ledge of a brow. The nose was a heavy wedge over a broad thick-lipped mouth. It was amazing to Bannor how something made of metal could appear so alive. The eyes blinked, the mouth creased, and the brow furrowed as it looked at him.

  “Better, yes?” Hiram asked, turning his head to one side.

  He swallowed and nodded. Forced to wince as another blast smashed against the side of the tower.

  As he looked at the creature, which appeared more like a Kriar version of a golem, he realized why Daena said it didn’t look like a healer. Massive weapons jutted from mounts on his back, and the handles of broad cleaving swords thrust from either side of his torso.

  Daena rose to her feet and helped Bannor up. He still felt dizzy but able to function. All the objects in view had a kind of fuzziness to them that told him that Hiram’s curing was a quick measure simply to get him on his feet again.

  “How do you feel?” Daena asked him.

  He rubbed his face forced to shy back from another attack striking the shields. “Gah! Better. Damn.” He focused on Hiram again. “Thank you, Hiram.”

  The creature nodded and grinned. “Aiding allied sentients is my pleasure.” The creature sobered and straightened to its full height. His eyes flashed gold and his hands balled into fists. The weapons on its shoulders whined out of their enclosures and pivoted to aim at something above the balcony. “You may wish to step behind me.”

  Bannor and Daena scrambled out of the way as the weapons on Hiram’s shoulders whined and began a rapid spinning, then erupted in blare of pounding shots that shook the balcony. Three Daedalus suits hissing at the platform ran into the barrage, the metal encasing the Baronian warriors shattered and melted in the hail of energy. The destroyed figures fell past the balcony, trailing tendrils of blood, sparks, and smoke.