1
- Mareliux-
“Behind you, sir!”
The warning comes at the last moment. I spin around and slash blindly at whatever is coming at me. It’s a Vyrpy, big and sleek, running fast on the ceiling while swinging his big ax at me from above.
The ax edge hits my sword and seems to pass right through it. But Bellatriz is a legendary sword, the only one of her kind, and she knows how to deal with this. She shifts her phase to be simply not there for a tiny split second, before her crystal blade comes back into existence while inside the ax head. The ax shatters with a sharpbang, pieces flying everywhere. One of them grazes my brow before it continues on its way, spinning and making an uglyzhing-noise as it goes.
“No need to worry,”the sword says in its flat, feminine AI voice. “This is barely a battle worth my time.”
“Could have fooled me,” I say tightly as I slam the edge of my shield into the Vyrpy’s head.
At the same time, Caret’ax hacks his simple steel blade into the enemy’s back. The Vyrpy gives off a sigh and drops from the ceiling, landing limply on a console.
I wipe the blood off my forehead, suspecting it’s my own. “Thanks. I thought we got them all.”
Caret’ax turns his back to me, sword held ready to defend against any other last-minute ambush. “They always save someone for a final assault— look out!”
Another Vyrpy that I was sure was dead suddenly springs into life right at Caret’ax’s feet.
Three of my men throw themselves towards us to protect against the sneak attack, but they have no chance to get here in time.
Nor do I have time to swing my sword.
The slick and sinewy alien enemy thrusts his long metal spear at my bodyguard from floor level.
On instinct, I look inward and gather the impossibly thin thread of sheer will that lies ready. The world slows down around me, but only a fraction. Already the needed focus is making me wince. But I steer the invisible thread of pure intention through the air, having practiced this many thousands of times through the years. It curls around the deadly alien spear and yanks it out of the Vyrpy’s hands, turning it back on him.
A blue flash lights up the whole room when the tip touches his arm, followed by a sharp thunderclap as the extremely highly charged spear kills its owner with a bolt of high-voltage electricity.
The Vyrpy collapses to the floor, smoking and smelling of charred grease.
“Vreeg!”Caret’ax curses in his own guttural language. “Murderousfiend!”
“It was his job to be murderous.” I take a step to the side to steady myself after the exertion. The Syntrix is reliable, but the great concentration I need for it to work takes its toll right away. Especially when I have to do it suddenly and forcefully.
The other soldiers check that all the Vyrpy we think are dead or unconscious actually are harmless, then pull away.
“I think they were it,” I conclude after a few heartbeats with no attack. “But they almost got us.” Blood stings my eyes, and I wipe it off. “Correction — that first onedidget me.”
Caret’ax gives me a quick glance. “That’s not bad, sir. I’ll get you a medic if you want.”
I smile tightly at the distaste in his voice. He never liked battlefield medicine. Or any other medicine. “Oh, I think I’ll survive this, Caret’ax. Any warrior knows that there’s only one thing that can make a victory sweeter, and that’s coming back to camp with a visible, but harmless wound.”
“Perhaps,” my bodyguard rumbles in his heavily accented Khavgrese. “I always preferred having no injury at all. Thank you for deflecting that attack, sir. I sometimes wonder which one of us is the bodyguard and which one is the prince.”
“You maybea prince, for all I know,” I point out. “You are the most secretive man in the Empire. But in battle, we’re comrades in arms and nothing else.”
I replace Bellatriz in her sheath and quickly inspect my shield. There’s a bit of Vyrpy blood on the edge, which has been slightly bent. The shield stays mercifully silent — unlike my sword, it has no ancient AI installed to control it properly. I can’t imagine how Bellatriz would have whined if I’d bent any part of her blade.
“But your policy of not being injured is wise,” I continue, brushing down my armored pants. “I shall consider adopting it.”
Caret’ax gingerly picks up the electric spear and examines it. “I wish you would, sir. But I think you just proved that practicing using the Syntrix may have certain advantages.”
I look around with satisfaction, conscious that the men are always noticing what I’m doing. “Certain advantages indeed. Well, this mission is accomplished. At the cost of several of our legionnaires. We shall honor them properly.”
Still, this is not a great victory. We have simply taken back theKerberux, a warship that the Vyrpy had stolen from us some weeks ago, and which will now require months of repairs.
