Pride x Familiar (62 page)

Her smile turned sad for a heartbeat, but then
she reached out and touched my cheek. “We need to sort out the lies
they put in there.”

I think my heart stopped beating for several
seconds.

I clearly lost focus for at least that length of
time.

When I regained my awareness, Helena was nodding
slowly.

Her voice was tender, yet determined. “I promise
you, we’ll get you sorted out.”

My lack of trust must have been clear for her to
see.

But oddly she made no further attempt to
reassure me.

Instead, she said something that temporarily
derailed my thought processes.

Helena gazed over my body critically, one
eyebrow raised high.

“I must say, while you have a splendid figure,
it’s clearly lacking for one gifted with a Valkyrie Armor.
Especially for someone as pretty as you, who can summon the
Valkyrie Maiden.” She shook her head in clear disappointment. “No,
this certainly won’t do.”

“Huh?” I realized my fear was making me breathe
quickly, and I wondered if this was the reason Helena wasn’t making
sense to me.

Helena pursed her lips for a short while. “Tell
me Melanie, how large would you like them?”

I blinked slowly. “How large would I like
what?”

Helena sighed softly and clicked her tongue.
“You’re breasts, silly. How large would you like us to make them
grow.”

I stared at the beautiful young woman, wondering
how we ended up discussing my breasts.

But now that she’d made such an offer, I found
it hard to think away from it. It was a struggle to keep myself
from seriously considering her offer as a genuine one.

It was tempting beyond belief.

The thought of finally filling out a swimsuit, a
bra, and a nice dress….

I lay my head back down on the gurney’s pillow.
“Do I have to give you an answer now?”

Helena shook her head as she brushed back loose
strands of hair away from my face. “We’ll have plenty of time to
discuss it later, once we’ve cleared out your head of any disloyal
thoughts you might entertain.”

I shivered, and fear overwhelmed me.
“Disloyal…?”

She leaned closer and whispered huskily. “Don’t
worry. The new Melanie Cardwell will be a picture of loyalty and
devotion to her Pride. She won’t ever, ever think of betraying them
again.”

I squeezed my eyes shut and tried hard not to
whimper.

I prayed for salvation into the darkness behind
my eyelids, but received no answer.

(Celica)

Anton called me over the Fragment Link.

*
If you can hold her still, we can take her
down. We can fire the main reaction cannon at her!

*Anton, if you do that you’ll burn away half
the air in the habitat. Don’t fire the main guns!

*
Mistress, at this rate she’ll kill
you.

*
Anton, we didn’t come here to slaughter
innocent people.

I clenched my teeth as I fought off the
Avienda’s tremendously powerful swing. Surrounded by a
piercer-field her lance cut into my barrier-field as though it
offered no more resistance than cheese. But the two swords held,
and I was able to divert the energy of her swing, and force her off
balance.

That in itself was an odd thing to say, since
the both of us were flying madly around each other. But the net
effect was that she overshot and couldn’t swing at me again until
she came round for another pass.

I breathed easy for a heartbeat, then charged at
her before she could recover.

The Black Camellia warned me I was pushing the
field emitters to the limit.

My barrier-fields had weakened steadily over the
last few minutes.

My only defense was a strong offence, but the
Avienda was getting better and better at cancelling out the
piercer-fields around my swords. It was growing harder for me to
breach her barriers and land solid strikes.

I swung at the Avienda with practiced strikes
that knocked her spear aside, and gave me the opening I needed.

A direct slash at the pilot.

For one horrified moment, Fallon stared at me,
completely defenseless.

Then she grinned as the Avienda fired a golden
blast of light into the Black Camellia.

I thought she was only equipped with four
quantum reaction cannons.

I was wrong.

I’d mistaken the two narrow wing-vanes that hung
off the Avienda’s back for maneuvering effectors. They flexed
around the Avienda’s body, reminding me of scorpion tails, and
fired at the Camellia from point blank range.

In a hurry, the Black Camellia raised its
quantum reaction barrier-field.

The air between me and the Avienda flared
golden, nearly as bright as a solar flare.

Then my reaction fields shattered, and I felt
the Black Camellia’s effectors shut down to avoid further
damage.

I fell away from the Avienda, falling a thousand
feet, dropping back down to the relatively empty ground of a grassy
parkland.

Anton’s voice filled my head as I touched ground
then bounced up on a levitator field.

*
Celica, what are you doing? We can’t fire on
her if you’re on the ground.

I watched the Avienda fly toward me.

Fallon’s Warlord didn’t fire it’s cannons, but
she came at me swinging.

She was getting better at it, but again my
superior sword play deflected her away.

*
Anton, open the trans-space breach. Get out
of here.

*No way, Celica. There is no way we’re
leaving you behind.

Floating mere feet of the ground, I charged the
Avienda again and again. With two handed swordsmanship, I had the
edge on her despite the twin bladed spear she wielded. My sword
skill was also well above hers.

But I was growing weary.

My concentration was failing me little by
little, and there were times I felt myself on the edge of losing my
over-clocked state.

*
I can’t defeat her, Anton. I can’t get away
from her. You need to leave without me.

*Celica—they will kill you! And Falken will
kill me if I return without you.

I knocked Fallon’s spear aside, and while wary
of her scorpion cannons, I succeeded in breaching her barrier field
and stabbed my right sword at her. It was a desperate gamble, and a
lucky break. The blade penetrated into the skeletal framework of
the Avienda, narrowly missing Fallon’s flank by centimeters. But
with the pierce-field around the blade at maximum, it grazed her,
and Fallon screamed in sudden agony.

I ignored her cry and pushed the blade deeper,
then I slashed diagonally downwards, cutting through the black
alloy like a welding torch through snow.

The Avienda staggered, but generated an
effect-field that was strong enough to boot me away from her as
though I’d been kicked by a mythical titan.

The Black Camellia tumbled backwards into a row
of trees, taking them down with its uncontrolled passage.

When it came to rest, I struggled to concentrate
and mentally control its levitator fields. Somehow I managed to get
the Warlord back on its feet. I looked about frantically for the
Avienda and saw it standing some hundred feet away.

The black mist surrounded its flanks. The mist
swirled and moved with a ghostly quality, as though countless
spirits inhabited it. As I watched, the damage I’d inflicted upon
the chevron chains connecting the left leg to the Avienda’s spine
began to repair.

Feeling resentment at having my hard fought work
undone by the mist, I gathered up the Black Camellia, and launched
myself at the Avienda with all the speed and power I could
muster.

This time I would damage that Warlord beyond
repair.

I noticed that while the Avienda was quickly
healing, the wound to Fallon which now dyed her flank red, was
not.

The girl’s face was a mask of rigid pain.

And burning fury.

The black mist blossomed all around her,
shrouding her completely from my view.

I slashed through it with my right blade, my
arrival dispersing it, but the Avienda was gone.

What the Hell? Where did she—?

A cold chill surrounded me, and a blow from
behind sent the Camellia and I tumbling forward along the
ground.

Barrier-fields cushioned our jarring roll.

Structural-fields strengthened the Camellia so
that it wouldn’t break.

But my vision swam and my head rang like a gong.
My concentration faltered. A heartbeat later I fell out of my
over-clocked state.

I must have bitten the inside of my mouth
because I tasted blood.

I couldn’t get the Camellia to rise to its
feet.

With the Warlord on its hands and knees, I
looked up and saw the Avienda standing a few feet before me.

Fallon’s fury was undisguised now.

“They told me not to kill you,” she grated out
through clenched teeth. “But I have trouble following orders.”

I saw the Avienda’s foot swing up. The kick
connected with the barrier-field protecting my body. The field took
the blow and shattered a heartbeat later.

The impact knocked me and the Camellia into the
air, and over onto its back.

I couldn’t scream, and wondered if my chest had
been crushed.

Air wheezed in and out of my lungs, and the lack
of oxygen was making my vision grey out.

A clawed hand reached down and grabbed my torso,
its fingers easily wrapping around me, and I felt myself lifted
into the air.

My legs were still attached to the Black
Camellia, so the rest of the Warlord was also hoisted upright.

I thought my legs would tear apart under the
immense strain, but then I felt the cold chill of the black mist
surround me, and in heartbeats the Black Camellia receded into the
mist.

I was left dangling in the air, held aloft by
the Avienda’s clawed hand around my torso.

“Let’s hear you scream,” Fallon growled.

The claws around me tightened, digging into the
Khan-skin I wore.

The material held, but my body was another
matter.

I felt my ribs bend under the growing
pressure.

“Scream,” Fallon yelled.

The first of my ribs broke.

I had no choice but to scream.

#

(Simone)

Caelum stared at the rock wall that was once a
doorway.

I said, “It must have closed while you were
inside and I was trying to reach you.”

He nodded absently, then shrugged nonchalantly.
“Well, if the door closed it’s a good bet the security systems are
back online. That means those cannons will fire on us the moment we
walk out of here.” He shrugged easily. “No problem.”

“Eh?” I stared at him wondering if I’d heard him
right. “Caelum, we’re trapped in here.”

He gave me a sideways look and smiled
confidently. “Trust me. It’s not a problem.” Looking about the
spherical interior of the chamber, his smile faded. He pointed over
to a point on the balcony surrounding the Vault. “Simone, I want
you to walk over there. Give me some room.”

I frowned at him.

Seeing my reaction he smiled at me once more.
“Simone, do you trust me?”

“Yes, I do. But Caelum that’s a rock wall.”

“Do you trust me?”

I hesitated, then cleared my mind and my heart.
“Yes, I trust you.”

“Then be a good girl and stand over there.”

A good girl? A good girl?

He kept looking at me with an amused,
unconcerned expression.

“Ah, damn it,” I blurted out in a fluster, and
walked over to where he indicated.

Damn him. When the Hell he did he become so
cocky and self-assured?

When I turned round, I felt a chill spread
across the chamber.

The wispy black mist that heralded a Fragment or
Artifact manifestation surrounded Caelum’s body.

When it faded many seconds later, he stood
within the armored, skeletal frame of a Warlord that was akin to
the Black Camellia, yet unlike it in many respects. It was black
with white wing-vanes and armor panels. It appeared larger than the
Camellia. It was certainly broader across the shoulders, and its
legs were structured differently.

It took a few moments for me to accept the
incredible revelation.

Caelum had a Warlord.

Somehow, during his time inside the Vault, he
had bonded with a full Artifact, and it was one of the most
powerful Artifacts in existence. This I knew from what my mother
had imparted upon me.

I saw seven wing-vanes hanging off its back,
fluttering gently up and down like leaves caught in a breeze.

I remembered Celica’s Warlord only had five
wing-vanes, and something my mother told me came to mind.

With seven wing-vanes could this be one of the
legendary Rho-Khans my mother had spoken of?

Caelum and the Warlord walked over to the rock
wall. The Warlord placed a black, clawed hand on the surface of the
wall.

I felt the air vibrate and my ears began to
ring. Clamping my hands over them, I watched the surface of the
rock wall ripple like water for many, many seconds. Without warning
a large section of the wall, roughly a dozen feet high and wide,
crumbled around the point where the Warlord made contact with it.
The shattered rock was blown out into the half-domed
antechamber.

Cautiously I lowered my hands from my ears, and
noticed that silence had returned to the interior of the Vault’s
chamber.

Caelum turned to me, and beckoned me over with
the Warlord’s right hand. I saw that it was only his legs that were
attached to the machine. The rest of his body was free and
upright.

“Come on,” he called out.

I won’t say I wasn’t afraid, but he insisted I
hurry over, so I gathered my courage and quickly ran over to
him.

The Warlord’s two hands picked me up, and I was
lifted into Caelum’s waiting arms. A heartbeat later he was
carrying me princess style, with my arms thrown around his
neck.