Alchemist (26 page)

Their vision was
dazzled by blue and silver flashes as they entered the cave mouth.
The twelve guards at the entrance had retreated inside, fearing to
be struck by the freakish lightning that danced in the air to the
east. But Terry and her friends knew that it was not a mere
storm.

The air was hot as
they emerged into the open and Terry could feel the static in her
bones and nerves, setting them to tingle. The copper taste in her
mouth grew bitterer and bitterer with every step closer she took
closer to the electrical disturbance.

As they reach the
top of a small rise, less than two hundred yards from where the sky
shimmered, there was a brilliant white flash. Spots of light danced
across Terry’s vision as she was momentarily blinded. But once the
kaleidoscope of colours had subsided she found herself instantly
regretting it.

Fissures in the
sky began opening all across the plains, each one depositing a
Monoglyph. Fallo appeared by his daughter’s side as the shower
began. His face turned to horror when he realised that they were
not his troops returning home.

Turning toward the
thirty-foot wide cave mouth, he roared; a thunderclap that caused
Connor, Faye and Darius to cover their ears; the sound both
piercing and terrifying. It rocked the three friends to the
core.

The first
Monoglyphs rose, its broken armour glinting in the dazzling silver
lights that danced all about it.

“They’re not yours
are they?” Connor asked Lyle not taking his eyes off the warped
creatures that began lining the valley before them.

“The three closest
to us have been dead for years.” He replied, making no attempt to
hide his fear.

A thousand cries
thundered up through the throat in the earth behind them.
“Necromancy!” Fallo spat. His delicate robes shredded as he began
to transform. The others looked at each other, unsure of what to
do.

Then the sound of
thunder came from beneath their feet, distant at first and then
right behind them. From the cave mouth the primeval Alchemists
poured, racing over every rock and every inch of the ceiling. They
swarmed, thousands of them in mere seconds. The Monoglyphs had
already begun to move in their direction and Terry decided that it
was time to move.

Fallo, now fully
transformed, towered over them. He tilted his head back and roared
his war cry, before flinging himself at the nearest Monoglyph. They
went crashing to the floor as The King began tearing into limbs and
armour with his deadly claws and tentacles.

Primeval and
normal Alchemists flooded passed them. Connor lit up like a human
torch. “I’ll attack from the air.”

“Watch yourself!”
Terry shouted over the din of a million running feet. He gave her a
nod and took off. Lyle turned and called out. Two primeval
Alchemists ran up to him. Sliding to a halt, they bowed to him and
the princess. He looked at Terry. She deftly climbed onto one of
their backs; up and on in one fluid motion. Her movements had been
so fast and so elegant that if looked as though she had ran up his
leg.

“I am coming too.”
Faye said, striding up to Lyle. He nodded. “After you.” Fearless of
the deadly creature that she would ride into battle on, the water
elemental slung herself up and onto its back.

Darius stood close
to the primeval Terry sat on, but seemed to fearful to get any
closer.

“Are you coming or
not?” she shouted down, growing impatient.

“Yes!” he replied,
hurrying over. He looked up and down the leg the primeval offered
him as a ladder. “How do I get up?”

Terry rolled her
eyes. Without order the primeval Alchemist roared and grabbed him
with a large clawed hand before dumping him behind Terry. Darius
screamed as he sailed through the air, landing hard on his backside
behind Terry. “If you don’t want to fall off, hang on to me, but
when I’m gone you’re on your own.”

Darius did as he
was bid. “Where are you going?” he asked. The question went
unanswered as the primeval rushed forward into the throng of the
swarming insects.

Directing the
primeval with a series of clicks, Terry steered him towards one of
the larger Monoglyph’s who was making light work of the swarm
attempting to grapple it to the floor. Ripping one from his
shoulder, the giant grabbed it by both ends and wrenched it in two;
silvery snakes and dark entrails glistening in the flashing lights
of the renting sky. Throwing it aside, the Monoglyph kicked at
others that tried to scale his legs. He then crushed one underfoot
with a heavy stamp. The scream of the Alchemist as its guts burst
and its bones shattered forced Darius to cover his ears. He felt
sick. He had never heard a noise so terrifying in his life.

As they grew
closer, Terry steered the primeval around the rogue Monoglyph
rather than toward it as the swarm did. Five metal spikes appeared
along her arm as they manoeuvred around it. Taking aim she fired a
volley spikes at his head. The Monoglyph reeled, lifting its arm to
cover its face from another shot. The Alchemists on the ground
ceased the opportunity to swarm the towering giant again; something
he did not take kindly too by raking his skin and batting the
Alchemists away. Terry stood, nearly causing Darius to fall. She
climbed up the primeval’s neck and with a swing, it sent her
soaring upward. Blades ejected from the underside of her arms as
she fell toward the Monoglyph’s back. Plunging them forward, they
pierced the armour. She began the arduous climb upward as the
Monoglyph continued to swing and swipe at the primeval Alchemists
that swarmed about its feet.

Making it to the
top, Terry ran behind the Monoglyph’s head. Two long, narrow,
blades with hooked ends rose out of the armour on the underside of
her elbows as she raised her arms. Grabbing the hooks, she swung
the blades round. The tips whistled through the air from the
motion. Drawing her arms back, Terry plunged the swords into the
giant’s temples. The Monoglyph screamed; his wail akin to rolling
thunder as he stumbled about. Terry was thrown around as the dying
creature thrashed about - her grip of the blades the only thing
keeping her on. Just as suddenly as he had started, he froze. Terry
wrenched the hooked blades free, swinging them back into their
rightful place as the giant began to slowly tilt to one side. Then
it fell. She threw herself into the air as the towering being came
crashing to earth.

She curled into a
ball, her plates locking as she hurtled toward the ground. A spout
of sand and rock flew in all directions as she hit the floor.
Unrolling, she groaned and shook her head. Terry took stock of the
battle around her as she stood. The fissures in the sky had ended.
The Monoglyphs – if you could call them that – were heavily
outnumbered. She was suddenly distracted by a brilliant, isolated
cobalt flash in the corner of her vision.

It struck a
Monoglyph on the side of the head, exploding in a shower of fiery
embers. The Monoglyph reeled. Throwing up its arm, it responded by
flinging a cascade of metal spikes. Connor wheeled to the right,
avoiding the line of fire. Breaking into a blaze of brilliant white
and blue light he dived at it. He flung a blinding white fireball
before him, forcing the Monoglyph to shield its eyes against the
glare. Sparks reigned off its metal features as the blast struck
home. Screaming, it reeled round, clawing through the air for the
elusive fire elemental. Connor sped by overhead like a firework,
reigning down another volley of fireballs on the injured giant.

Meanwhile Lyle dug
his teeth into a fallen Monoglyph’s arm, raking at the exposed
flesh on its elbow. It kicked and screamed as other primeval
Alchemists crawled over it. Peeling back his jaws, Fallo plunged
his fierce fangs into its neck. The Monoglyph shuddered for a
moment then grew still.

Another stomped
across the landscape, kicking and swiping whoever stood in its way.
Suddenly it found its feet stuck fast. Looking down, veins of ice
spread across its metal hide like an unstoppable rash. The
Monoglyph raked at its freezing skin, but the ice continued to
spread unabated. Finally it froze solid, like a giant ice
sculpture. Connor threw a fireball from across the distance,
sending it exploding. A shower of a million glittering shards of
ice fell to earth. Abandoning the remains, the ice melted into
droplets and raced toward each other. Forming into a solid mass,
the water moulded itself in a human shape before finally
solidifying into Faye.

A flash of colour
at the edge of her vision caused Terry to turn. Toward the horizon,
upon a high rocky plateau, another fissure rippled. Without
hesitation she took off toward it.

Cursing at the
sight before him, Edward turned back toward the fissure. A hot
searing pain exploded in his shoulder. He screamed, reaching a hand
to it. His fingers came away sticky, covered in blood. He reached
and wrenched the spike free as he turned, only to be sent flying to
the ground.

Straddling Edward,
Terry grabbed his collar and pulled his face up to meet hers. She
weighted her legs on his arms to pin him down. “What have you
done?” She demanded, over the noise of war below them.

His thin lips
peeled to form a sinister smile. “Hello princess.”

Terry struck him
across the face with a gloved hand, bursting his lip. “You’re going
to tell me or I’ll keep you alive and torture you for as long as it
takes.” She shook him violently. “You’re not running away this
time!”

He smiled through
crimson teeth. “And you can torture me for as long as you like,
because sooner or later this body will die.”

She slammed his
head against the rock, causing him to winch. She struck him again.
“Where the fuck have you been hiding all these years?”

He laughed. Terry
punched him again, once then twice. Blood poured from his smashed
nose.

He chuckled as
crimson trails sprouted from all angles of his face, black in the
night. “You’ve got stronger.” Terry punched him again. “You’re
turning into your father.”

Grabbing large
handfuls of his collar she pulled him close once more. “And if I
don’t kill you first he fucking will.”

He burst out
laughing again, a hysterical bark. “I should have known you would
have come back here. No one else here would have been smart enough
to put together all the signs of a rift. They would have been
totally unprepared for an attack like this.”

She shook him
hard. “Digging up our dead and reanimating them? You really are one
sick bastard.”

“It didn’t take
long to do and I can easily go get more.” He smiled through bloody
teeth.

Terry’s wrist
blade slid up. She pressed the tip to his throat. “You failed. You
couldn’t ambush me here, you couldn’t start a war between my father
and the Southlands and you couldn’t get the fire and water peoples
to fight either. When are you going to learn, you will never
win!”

His smile
vanished, replaced by a cold, deadly stare. “I didn’t do any of
this, you did. This only started because of you. You killed my
wife.” His eyes narrowed. “Now I will destroy everything you hold
so dearly.”

Terry’s eyes
widened. “What are you talking about?”

His gaze narrowed.
“I saw you...”

Terry dug the tip
of the blade into his skin, drawing a thin trickle of blood. “Your
wife was killed by the Kamari you sick fuck.”

He spat in her
eye. “I saw you! I saw you do it!”

Withdrawing the
blade she punched him again. “I did no such thing! She died trying
to protect you when the Kamari came to arrest you for what you had
done!”

A roar caused her
to glance away, long enough to allow Edward to melt away into black
smoke. “No!” she shouted, running toward the fissure but it
vanished before she could reach it.

She couldn’t
believe it...she had been so close to catching him again. Alone in
the dark, she slammed her metal fist into the ground. “Damn it!”
she screamed.

******

The King paced the
council hall. All seven hundred of the colony’s councillors had
been summoned. Very rarely did they all gather in the one place at
the same time. But the attack had put the entire underground city
on edge. As a result the large, round table that dominated the hall
did not have enough seats to accommodate everyone. A lot of them
were forced to stand. They waited patiently for the King to speak
first.

He turned first to
his daughter, who sat nearest to him. “Are you certain that is what
he said?”

“Yes.” She
shrugged. “That’s why it didn’t make any sense.”

“He thinks you
killed his wife and that is why he wants our nations to go to war?
And that is why he wanted you dead and why he attacked my colony?”
He repeated loudly, looking at her for confirmation.

She nodded.

“My Lord.” Lyle
raised his voice. “It is possible wherever he has been all this
time has done something to them.” He sighed. “Or perhaps the
electro-magnetic blast we used on him nine years ago did...
something.”

Connor spoke next.
“At least we now know why all this stuff has happened.”

Lyle looked at
him. “It still doesn’t explain where he has been for the last
decade.”

The councillors
began muttering amongst themselves. The King raised a hand and the
hall fell silent once again.

“Councillors,
fifty two of my people died this evening. I have despatched fifty
regiments to guard all the entrances to the colony and a further
forty to strategic positions within a thirty mile radius of the in
all directions against the chance this happens again.” He turned,
glancing around them all.

“One hundred and
eight deceased Monoglyphs attack us this night.” His eyes found his
daughter, then the rest of them once more. “This necromancy was
created by the war criminal, the Phantom, Edward. I have every
reason to believe that there will be further attacks. If you notice
or hear anything unusual, you must report it to me or to General
Lyland immediately.”