Insidious Insurrection (Overworld Chronicles Book 14) Read online

  We crept around one of the eateries near the center of the village and nearly ran into a pair of patrolling Daskar. Elyssa held up a fist and I pressed myself against the building. Shelton and Adam mimicked me.

  Elyssa pointed to Shelton and Adam and made a circling motion then gripped my arm and motioned me to come with her. She and I crouched and padded quickly after the targets. We caught up to them before they turned the next corner. Knocking out fully armored soldiers wasn't easy. Elyssa would have brought her wrist-mounted lancer, but she'd run out of the knockout darts.

  That meant we'd have to do this the old-fashioned way.

  Elyssa sneaked up behind the one on the right and in one fluid motion gripped the helmet and jerked it up while I mirrored her actions on the other Daskar. The pair shouted in surprise and spun toward us before we could deliver the knockout blow.

  When they faced us, Shelton and Adam burst from cover behind them. Green energy lanced from their staffs and clubbed the soldiers on the backs of their heads. The seras slumped to the ground, black hair spilling across their faces. Even though I'd known their faces would resemble Nightliss, I still had to repress a shudder.

  It's like looking at ghosts.

  I didn't know if I'd ever get comfortable with it, but I couldn't let their appearance sway me from beating their asses when the situation called for it.

  Adam and Shelton grabbed the helmets and Elyssa and I carried the limp bodies back toward the forest. Illaena and Tahlee's groups waited for us with four more unconscious forms. Eor and his gem sorters gathered the Daskar and carted them off toward the ship where they'd be stripped of armor and secured.

  "The civilian village is cleared," Illaena said. "If they were checking in with someone, we do not have much time before they notice."

  "I'm counting on it," Elyssa said. "You should return to the ship. Be ready when you see my signal."

  Illaena nodded. "It will be as you say." She turned and led the other Mzodi back toward the Falcheen.

  Elyssa ran a hand over her equipment—sai swords, her light bow—and confirmed everything was still in place. Then she reached into the fanny pack she wore on her side and pulled out a tube of lip balm which she smoothed over her lips.

  "Got a tissue in there?" Shelton said. "My nose is runny."

  Elyssa didn't bat an eyelash as she whipped out a fresh sheet.

  "Wow." Shelton took it and noisily blew his nose into it. He wadded it up and chucked it into the underbrush.

  Adam shook his head slowly. "Litterbug."

  "Better I litter than sneeze while we're being sneaky," Shelton said. He flipped a compacted staff in his hand and holstered it. "I'm ready for phase two."

  Elyssa zipped up her pack and nodded. "I suspect the other Daskar will have noticed their patrols aren't checking in by now."

  We jogged back into the village and made our way toward the military sector. I spotted a squadron of Daskar lift off from the command center and head in our general direction, their ultraviolet wings blazing against the blue sky. Elyssa led us to the closest practice field and stopped.

  She pulled the magic bow from her back. "Give them a light show." With that, she launched a bright red arrow toward the Daskar. It zipped far to their right, but it got their attention lickety-split.

  Adam and Shelton fired spells and I channeled a bright white beam at the enemy. Everything fizzled about a hundred yards out except for Elyssa's light arrows which lost altitude and fell back to earth where they vanished in a flash of light against the ground.

  Another group of Daskar launched from the command center. I recognized the silver armor of Zero alongside Two's red and Thirteen's blue. Instead of helmets, they wore visors that covered their eyes. Somewhere in the distance, an alarm wailed. Another squadron appeared from the north.

  "Holy unionized unicorns," Shelton breathed. "That looks like more than thirty Daskar."

  I counted out loud, pointing my finger at each one like a teacher taking a headcount. Elyssa beat me to it. "Fifty-one," she said grimly. "There must have been more working on the malaether gems in the Northern Pass."

  "Well, your plan worked." I backed up a couple of steps. "It looks like they're all coming for us." I really wished our brooms had been in working order for this part. I felt like a field mouse beneath diving hawks. While I could channel wings, I wouldn't be able to fly nearly as well as the Daskar in their fancy flight armor.

  Zero made a series of hand gestures. The other squadrons angled toward our north and south flanks, then stopped and hovered in position about a hundred feet off the ground and maybe as many yards away. Zero kept on coming. He landed lightly on his feet, a shimmering shield of Murk emanating from the gem on the palm of his left armored glove.

  He flipped the visor up on his forehead and stared at us. "You will surrender or we will be forced to kill you."

  I held out my hands helplessly. "Actually, I was going to say the same thing to you." I jabbed a finger toward the north. "We've got a big problem with you blowing up the pass."

  Zero looked comically confused. "Why should we surrender? Four of you cannot prevail against us."

  "You might be surprised." I did my best not to look worried even though my heart pounded like I was a teenage virgin in a porn store. "How about we settle this with a good old-fashioned duel? If I win, your forces surrender. If you win, we'll surrender."

  Zero didn't crack a smile. Instead, he looked at Shelton and Adam. "I am only offering you surrender because you have two of the Eden Arcanes with you. We have need of their services."

  "Hey, my work ain't cheap," Shelton said. "I hope you're paying better than minimum wage."

  The Daskar leader's forehead pinched, but he plowed forward anyway. "I will be a kind master to you if you surrender. Otherwise, we will have to resort to unpleasant methods." His voice didn't hold an ounce of bluster or threat in it. Instead, it sounded as if he was reading off a grocery list.

  He looked so familiar, but I still couldn't place the face. Whose soul fragment does he have? "It's for the foundry, isn't it?" I hoped my words threw him off balance and nearly grinned when I saw his shield waver along with his concentration before he shook it off.

  "How do you know of the foundry?"

  "I know that you were made by a man from my world." I was bluffing, of course. It might have been Cephus, but this seemed like a good chance to wring some information from the seraph. "A man named Victus and a demon spawn who worked with him."

  Zero's eyes widened. "Can your Arcanes replicate his work?"

  Elyssa stepped into the conversation. "I thought Kohval took the foundry personnel with him to Tarissa. Why do you want to make more of your kind?"

  He glanced back at the hovering squadrons. "That is none of your concern."

  There was something subtle in his voice, a tremble my demon super-hearing picked up. "Wait a minute—this is personal isn't it?"

  Zero backed up a step. "I have given you every chance to surrender. Will you take it, or must I do this by force?"

  I sensed an opportunity, a chink in Zero's armor that I tried once more to exploit. "Zero, if you and your people surrender and join us, we will help you with your foundry." I held out a hand imploringly. "We can do this without violence."

  "I cannot betray my oath." Zero squared his shoulders and wings blazed to light on his back as he rose into the air. "We will try not to kill you, Arcanes."

  "Sounds totally reasonable," Shelton shouted. "We'll try not to cut off your nuts with a stray spell, how's that?"

  Zero rejoined Thirteen and Two. He held his hand, palm flat, then closed it into a fist and pulled it down. The Daskar swarmed into arrow formations to the south, the north, and the west. Zero flung out his fist.

  The Daskar attacked.

  Chapter 11

  "We gotta work on your peace talking skills." Shelton whirled his staff. "I thought we might get out of this one without a throw-down."

  "I want Zero alive," I said. "He's different
from the others, and I want to know why."

  "Is he the only male you've seen?" Adam asked.

  Elyssa shook her head. "No, I've seen other male golems, though not many. None of them looked like Nightliss."

  "It's not his gender that makes him different," I said. "It's just a feeling."

  The Daskar closed in. A hundred yards. Malevolent energy gathered in their palms. Seventy yards. Fists aimed toward us. Fifty yards. The Daskar opened fire.

  Elyssa launched a blazing red arrow straight up into the air. I threw up a dome shield and deflected the first salvo of fire. The squadron from the north closed into firing range and hit the shield from that angle. Every blow felt like a sledgehammer to my brain.

  "Damn these guys hit hard!" I winced as another volley rained down.

  Elyssa's arrow exploded into fireworks.

  The Daskar pummeled my shield, driving me to my knees. "I can't hold on much longer." My head ached and my brain felt like a hippo was using it as an easy chair. The Murk shield cracked. Zero and his squadron hovered twenty feet away and hammered it. More cracks ran through the shield and the vice around my brain ratcheted tighter and tighter.

  I clenched my teeth and roared with effort, but it was simply too much. The shield shattered.

  Shelton flung a volley of sizzling blue discs at Zero while Adam whirled his staff overhead. White bubbles coalesced at the end of his staff and floated up into the air. He looked like a kid with an oversized bubble blower. The Daskar were too busy dodging Shelton's attacks to see the bubbles at first.

  Elyssa gripped my arm and helped me up. "Run!"

  We took off to the east, the only clear way out of there.

  Zero shouted. I turned back and saw his squadrons falling back into formation after avoiding Shelton's attacks. Just then, the bubbles burst into a kaleidoscope of colors. Blinding light strobed in all directions, as if someone had tossed a truckload of disco balls into the air. I turned away to preserve my retinas and heard the Daskar crying out.

  "Where the hell is our backup?" Shelton shouted. "I could really—" He stopped in his tracks as another squadron of Daskar streaked in from the east and came right for us. "Are you kidding me?"

  Elyssa grinned. "Right on time."

  The new squadron flew over our heads and engaged the enemy group from the north. A loud hum filled the air and the Falcheen burst into view, its hull only a few feet above the tops of the trees. The weapon gems burst into light, webs of energy flying out and snaring Daskar. The immobilized soldiers fell to the ground, unable to fight free.

  Yellow paint streaked the arms of the Mzodi in Daskar armor, allowing the crew of the Falcheen to avoid their own people.

  Adam pumped a fist. "My weapons enhancements are working perfectly!"

  Shelton raised his staff overhead and whooped. "Get wrecked, bitches!"

  Elyssa took me to the side of a domed building and made me sit down as the battle raged behind us. I eased onto the ground, panting, my head pounding.

  "I should have fired the arrow sooner," Elyssa said. "I just needed them to feel overconfident."

  I waved off her concern. "It's fine. You fired almost right away." I spotted Shelton and Adam watching the fireworks overhead, occasionally adding their own to the battle. "I hope Shelton feels a little more confident after this fight."

  Elyssa frowned. "What's the problem?"

  I sighed. "Performance anxiety. He feels useless against the Seraphim."

  "I know how he feels," Elyssa said. She stroked the light bow. "When the Atlanteans gave me this, it felt like I suddenly had some power in this world."

  I touched her cheek. "Babe, you have power everywhere." I took a deep breath. "I feel better now. Let's go help the others."

  The element of surprise had already proven decisive. Nearly half the Daskar forces were down, rendered immobile by the energy webs fired from the Falcheen. Zero, Two, Thirteen, and a handful of others were the only ones left flying. Zero raised a fist and circled it. The tattered Daskar forces formed up around him then turned tail and fled toward the Northern Pass.

  "That's right!" Shelton shouted. "Run away, you wimps!"

  A massive ball of blazing energy coalesced atop the sentinel towers near the command center. I magnified my vision and saw a Daskar aiming the spherical gem Elyssa and I had seen earlier toward the Falcheen. Illaena must have seen it too, because the Falcheen banked hard to port. The sizzling energy beam struck a tall building to the south, shattering it into crystalline rubble.

  Another of the tower weapons lit up and fired, followed by two more. Buildings exploded. The Falcheen strafed side to side, but it wasn't fast enough to avoid so many weapons. A blast slammed into the aft section. The hull cracked. The ship spun wildly.

  The Mzodi in Daskar armor stopped pursuit of Zero and streaked toward the sentry towers. Though they hadn't had a lot of practice with the armor, they proved too nimble for the sentry tower weapons. Malevolent energy flashed and the first tower weapon went silent.

  "I hate not having a broom," I growled as we raced on foot toward the towers. Zero and the others streaked unhindered into the Northern Pass and an uneasy feeling coagulated in my stomach. The super-soldiers seemed too duty-bound to make an escape. Since they couldn't kill us, that meant only one thing.

  "The sentinel towers are only buying time," I said. "Zero is going to blow the pass."

  Shelton huffed and puffed. Adam had already fallen behind, holding his side. Neither were able to match Elyssa's and my supernaturally enhanced physiques.

  "Go as fast as you can," Shelton gasped. "I'm done." He stopped and bent over, hands on knees.

  I looked at Elyssa. "Ready for warp speed?"

  "Three, two, one." Her legs blurred and Elyssa leapt forward.

  I gave it everything I had, caught up, and passed her. My long stride ate up the ground. I was fast, but not as fast as the flying targets. Zero and pals already had a generous lead, but I refused to let it dampen my efforts.

  The Falcheen swooped up from behind another building and blasted a sentinel tower with a full-on broadside from its light cannons. The charged weapon gem in the tower exploded. Light cascaded in a ring around it, slicing through nearby structures. Crystal towers shattered and fell in on themselves.

  The ship veered out of the path of another blast from the last tower. The Mzodi in Daskar armor silenced the enemy there before they could fire another shot.

  I touched the pendant on my shirt. "Justin to Falcheen. Come in, Falcheen."

  "This is Tahlee. Go ahead."

  "I need pickup. Zero is headed to the Northern Pass." I gulped a breath. "They're going to blow it."

  "On the way." The ship dipped lower. A long shimmering rope dropped from the side, dragging the ground behind me. Elyssa caught the rope as it passed by her, and scrambled up a few feet. I grabbed it when it reached me.

  The Falcheen climbed upward, matching the altitude of Zero and gang. Two Daskar reversed course and flew straight at me, fists out like they were superheroes. They zipped beneath weapons fire from the ship. Ultraviolet blazed from their fists, splashing against the hull just above Elyssa's head.

  "They're trying to cut the rope!" I shouted.

  "Catch me if I fall!" Elyssa said, and wrapped her leg around the rope. She let go with her hands and pivoted upside down. In one smooth motion, she unfolded her light bow, nocked a blazing arrow and loosed it at the nearest Daskar.

  It punched into the narrow seam between the chest plate and arm protection. The Daskar screamed and spun out of control, blood trailing behind. Elyssa hadn't paused to see if her arrow hit and had already launched another at the second target.

  The other Daskar dove to catch her comrade and the arrow missed. The pair fell together until the injured one regained control of her flight armor. I took advantage of the moment and fired a watermelon-sized fist of Murk into the back of the injured soldier. It did the trick and knocked the breath out of her, causing her and her comrade to spin out of co
ntrol.

  They plummeted toward the ground, slowed at the last minute and bounced across the grass practice fields, coming to rest in a heap. I spotted Shelton and Adam going toward them and hoped my friends could handle the grounded Daskar.

  Elyssa holstered her bow and gripped the rope to right herself.

  "That was mighty fancy," I said.

  She grinned. "It was kind of badass, wasn't it?"

  "Totally gnarly, dudette." I looked ahead and saw Zero and gang a hundred yards in front of us. We were gaining quickly, but they'd already reached the malaether gems.

  A flash and a boom rumbled from far below. Aether crystallized and crackled at the bottom of the gorge. A shockwave rocked the Falcheen as another gem erupted. The Mzodi in Daskar armor opened fire on Two and Thirteen. The two Daskar zipped around our fire and closed in on the Mzodi with expert precision.

  "Our people can't take them," Elyssa said.

  It was obvious our newbies were outmatched by the Daskar Wonder Twins, but the Falcheen couldn't open fire without risk of hitting our people. Zero was already at the next gem. He hit it with a beam of Murk and zipped upward before the malaether explosion rocked the boat again.

  "Climb!" I shouted to Elyssa. "I've got an idea." She is not going to like this.

  Elyssa nodded and shimmied up the rope fast as a greased snake on a waterslide. I brute-forced my way up, hand-over-hand, and leapt over the railing. The moment my feet hit the deck I raced for the front of the ship, channeling aether and concentrating on my back until I felt an itch in my shoulder blades.

  I motioned toward Tahlee as I raced past the bridge toward two giant crossbows bolted to the deck near the bow. "I need you to shoot me off the ship!"

  The first mate's eyes flared. She looked at Illaena for guidance. The captain scrunched her face like she thought I was crazy but was apparently used to my shenanigans and nodded.

  "What in the hell are you doing?" Elyssa said.

  I flashed a grin. "Trust me."

  Tahlee ran with me to the prow. "Where am I launching you?" she asked.

  I zeroed in on Zero and pointed my finger toward the next malaether gem affixed to the cliff wall. "Right there."