Reality's Plaything 4: Savants Ascendant Read online

  “Whoa, Tymoril, it’s me—Bannor! Easy! We’re just going to help Kalindinai and the King!”

  The dragon bit down on the blast of fire she was going to release. A dread leaped up and slammed a hit into her chest. The dragon clawed the golden creature down and swatted it aside. The fins on her head bent forward and the dragon made a rumbling murmur. Her scales turned from red to a rainbow of shimmering hues. She made irritated swipes with her claws, tail, and feet to clear the attackers from around her so she could look up at him. Kegari murmured and stared with golden eyes the size of war shields.

  “Girls, you’re doing an amazing job—just beautiful!”

  Kegari made a murmuring sound. He understood the question.

  “I’m fine—yes, I know I’m different.”

  Tymoril turned her head and raised her head to sniff. She made a rumbling. She blinked her eyes and flicked her head fins. Two more dreads continued their assault and she slammed them away.

  “I’m glad I smell good,” he told her. “We’ll talk after, all right?”

  Both dragons nodded and focused back on dispatching the persistent dreadnoughts.

  “Are those reptiles in love with you?” Senalloy asked in an incredulous voice. “I’ve never seen such mooning in all my life.”

  He coughed. “It’s a long story.”

  “I bet,” The Baronian chuckled. “I’ll get through this fight just so I can hear it.”

  They ducked down and up a passage heading to the second level. There they found dozens of dead Baronian regulars, and here and there the damage from of pitched battle with elites. They came across the remains of two more slain dreads.

  He found himself impressed and thanked his luck for having warned the citadel before the powerful weapon was used on them. Apparently, the planning staff had come up with a way to deal with the creatures. As they topped the stairs heading into the second level he saw part of the reasons for the defender’s successes. Teams of four to six members, one Kriar, one Baronian elite, and two or three valkyrie. That gave each team a time savvy elder with eons of battle experience, an expert in Baronian tactics, and the wild immortal power of Aesir war maidens. Well thought out, and obviously well executed. They saw some valkyries tending each other’s wounds. When facing such foes, it was impossible to escape totally unscathed. A group of defenders challenged them.

  “Ho there,” a valkyrie yelled pointing a flaming sword at them.

  Bannor stopped and floated down to the floor. Senalloy set down next to them.

  A huge lanky woman with brilliant red hair swayed forward. She couldn’t be anything other than a Baronian. “Sen, is that you?”

  She pushed a hand through her silver hair and nodded.

  “Damn, Girl, you look like hades,”

  “Dread got the drop on me,” Senalloy said. “I was trying to protect the princess.” She looked around. “What’s the situation?”

  The Baronian glanced to her Kriar counterpart.

  The gold skinned warrior checked something on his wrist.

  With the Felspars, dragons, allied Baronians, and valkyries as resources to counter the attacker’s magic, the Kriar commanders had come up with a great defense. With their vast experience and the insight of a couple dozen mages they must be making the Baronians pull out their hair trying to come up with some kind of gain.

  The five dreads sent into the basement must have been a ploy. It might have worked too, if he hadn’t been there to thwart it.

  He guessed at the Kriar’s rank, the skill implant gave him some vague impression of the military hierarchy. “Belkirin, we ran into five dreads in the lower vault, they were trying to get at the princesses. We put up a temporary defense, but they’re alone down there.”

  The Kriar nodded. He snapped his fingers and made a coming gesture to one of the other Kriar.

  The other Kriar thumped his hand over his heart and dipped his head. He gathered a few valkyries, and one of the allied Baronians and the whole group trotted off.

  The Belkirin looked to him.

  Lord? When did he become a lord? “I’m just here to help. I’m pretty good against those dreads if you need the assistance.”

  the Belkirin answered.

  “That I have,” he said. “Who do I report to?”

  he looked at the device on his wrist. He tapped his comm. He paused. He looked at Bannor.

  “I’ll do what I can.” He floated up off the ground.

  “Bannor,” Senalloy said looking toward the team heading down the stairs. “I’m going back to make sure Sarai and the others actually get where they’re going.”

  “Would you? That’s great! Thank you.”

  She nodded and jogged off to catch up with the other group.

  He focused back on the task of getting rid of the Baronian menace and headed back toward the stair that led to the third level. As he moved, he touched Marna’s communication crystal and called Sarai.

  “Star, can you hear me?”

  She responded after a short pause. **My One, is everything okay?**

  He turned a corner and proceeded down a hall, in the distance he heard more fighting and the thrum of Kriar weapons. The smell of blood was heavy in the air as he floated past the corpses of more than a dozen Baronian regulars. This whole thing was a mess.

  “I’m told your parents are safe—but I haven’t seen them for myself. According to the officer I spoke with, they were moved to the ghost vault because the Baronians were targeting them specifically.” He paused at a corner. The walls were blackened and scored. He found more blood and evidence of battle. The conflict sounded closer now. “There’s still a lot of fighting,” he continued. “They’ve actually started driving them back. A team is coming to take you to be with your parents. Now, this is important, don’t let them in though until you know for certain Senalloy is with them. Keep her with you.”

  He could feel Sarai’s concern. **Is there something wrong?**

  “I—” He frowned and let out a breath. “It’s my war instinct. There’s something not quite right, I just don’t know what it is yet. Be alert and call me the instant you think something is amiss.”

  **Okay.** She sighed. **I know I keep saying I love you. I guess because I don’t know what else to say.**

  “I love you too. You and Vhina are always in my thoughts. Okay, I need to focus now. Stay safe.”

  **I will.**

  He stopped. Shields, swords, and coats of arms chattered on the walls, shuddering from the blows of super-mortal creatures being struck. Why did he suspect that something was going on? What evidence did he have? There was nothing here the Kriar wanted. Or was there? He trusted Marna, but that didn’t mean there weren’t subordinates working at cross-purposes. He simply didn’t have enough information. The Vatraena did have rogue elements attempting to assassinate her—but she wa
sn’t here—she was barely even an interested party. Maybe he was just getting jumpy, sensing problems where there were none.

  He picked what seemed like the most direct route and drifted down the hall. Another thing occurred to him. He needed to check in.

  Bannor focused his mind and concentrated on Wren.

  The blonde savant responded almost instantly.

  He landed, stepped into a niche, and leaned back in the shadows.

  she told him.

 

 

 

  She paused.

  Damn, she knew him well.

 

 

  There was a pause.

 

 

  He leaned out of the shadows and drifted down the hallway, glancing both ways at each intersection. Why was he being so cautious? He knew where the battle was.

  He could sense the Baronians, the dreads, and the mixed teams of Kriar and valkyries. Where were the Felspars? As powerful as they were, why hadn’t he seen at least some of them down in the holding action. Sarai didn’t mention anything having gone wrong, or that relations broke down. Lady Cassandra was going to be a significant participant in some of the magical defenses. Strange.

  He came to a split and a stairwell leading up. The sounds of battle were less than a stone throw away now. He started up the stairway when something grabbed him from behind.

  Bannor’s heart thudded and he spun in the air grabbing for his axe.

  The huge dark-haired woman thought at him holding up her hands.

  He pulled back his attack. It was one of Aarlen’s silver-eyed daughters. He noticed three more figures back in the shadows of the alcove.

  the same woman telepathed to him.

  He allowed her to pull him down to the end where two gold girls bearing a strong resemblance to Cassandra waited with another dark-haired female who was the mirror image of the one who caught him. Two pairs of twins—interesting.

  the huge woman asked. Even in his first one shape he still had to look up at her. She and her sister towered over the gold girls who were dressed in red Kriar security uniforms.

  He nodded in response.

  she said. She gestured to her dark haired double. She gestured to one of the girls.

  A chilly hand seemed to grip his insides, and the back of his neck prickled. Obviously, they were using telepath for a reason. Though he never telepathed with non-savants, he assumed his first one adaptations and her abilities would accommodate. he thought to her, the same way he would a savant.

  she answered, apparently hearing his thoughts. Hand on his shoulder she leaned toward the hallway. Then slid closer to them.

 

 

 

  She winced as though in pain. <—and we’re in the middle.>

  * * *

  Chapter Twelve

  Coup

  « ^ »

  Strong, yes I was strong, frighteningly so. Isn’t it ironic that I was almost immediately thrown into a situation where brute force wouldn’t help a whit?

  —Bannor Nalthane Starfist,

  Prince Conjugal of Malan

  Coup. What in hades? Why here? It made no sense. Standing in the darkened alcove, the smell of battle thick in the air he cursed his typical luck. It was always something. He stared up at Aarlen’s two dark-haired daughters clad in deep indigo blue. Studying them, he couldn’t help but flash on Damay’s remark about ‘nothing subtle’. That certainly applied to Sindra and her sister Drucilla. They were big in every possible dimension while remaining jaw-droppingly attractive. Nothing born naturally looked like that. They wore bodies that must be as artificial as his own. The form-fitting carapaces they wore only made their unreal proportions more obvious. As the woman pushed a hand through her waist length hair he noticed the D’klace assassin’s tattoo on her wrist. Unreal, and very, very dangerous.

  He focused on the two smaller women. Except for the bright auburn hair, they looked like Kriar. From their threads and age he assumed they, like their brother Radian, were Kriar raised as humans. Dressed in red combat armor similar to his, the two girls would be impossible to tell apart without using his savant senses. While not having the obviously-synthetic beauty of the Aarlen’s daughters, they were believably attractive with sleek well-trained bodies. Their threads told him that they possessed the powers of the far older Kriar he had met including the ability to see and travel through time.

  Had he heard right? Their mates? He glanced between them. He must have, because he saw strong interpersonal threads woven between them. How did those youngsters get involved with these ancient killer courtesans? That was probably quite a story.

  He leaned back and glanced down the corridor and up the stairs toward where he heard the sounds of battle. No one coming. He turned his attention to them, he hoped they could make this fast. The face of this standoff could change in heartbeats.

  He swung his gaze to gather them all in.

  Cassin came forward and leaned close.

 

 

  he said.

  Cassin glanced at her sister who raised an eyebrow. Obviously, they expected more resistance.

 

  Her dark eyes widened.

 

  Cassin hit her jeweled forehead with her fist.

  He frowned. Where were they going with this? He leaned back and checked the corridor again. This place was moderately safe, but he had creepy sense of something sneaking up on them.

  The Kriar girl scrubbed her hands in her auburn hair.

 

 

 

 

  The revelation hit
him in the forehead like a hammer.

 

  Sindra put a hand on his shoulder. She frowned.

  <—but because he’ll out the coup and the collaboration,> Bannor finished, shaking his head.

  Cassin continued.

 

 

 

  She raised her chin. She paused and her voice dropped.

  The thought made his whole body go icy.

 

  He rubbed his fist against the bridge of his nose. The battle continued to pound in the hall. Those dreads weren’t going anywhere, not if they didn’t want to.