Chapter 27

  Dalex waited in the dark on the open grassy plains north of where the canyon hid the city. He watched the sky and the bright spheres of the other worlds orbiting this realm’s sun. They weren’t as luminous as Earth’s moon, but they were close enough to stand out as larger than the distant stars. A cold night breeze made Dalex rub his shoulders and shiver. His armor could block the wind and provide heating if he wanted it to, but he liked the feeling of being exposed to these mild elements.

  In his peripheral vision, the system in his armor {scried} the perspective of a {scout golem} traveling through the tunnels connected to the mutt den. An escort {attack golem} followed closely behind it, keeping watch for an ambush. Since Dalex and Seventh had left the den, none of their {golems} had seen so much as a fluffy mutt tail, but they remained vigilant for the possibility. The mutts couldn’t all be gone, though Dalex hoped he had killed enough of them to foil whatever plan the enemy {far realmers} had in store for the region.

  Seventh sat quietly on the ground, her eyes closed as she monitored all of the other {golems}. They had six teams exploring the tunnels, and the more ground they covered, the bigger Seventh’s estimation of the entire network became. There were even tunnels directly under Batulan-bar bearing the paw prints of recent mutt activity. Luckily, the golems had finished exploring that section of the network and determined that none of the tunnels exited into or near the city. It seemed as if the mutts had dug them by pure coincidence without any real interest in Batulan-bar itself.

  From Dava’s mouth, Dalex knew the mutts would attack cities directly, but perhaps that was just byproduct of their other behaviors.

  Dalex wondered just how much of Gaia Eta was permeated with mutts without the residents knowing they were there. Were the mutts looking for buried {adamantine} or was this part of some other worldwide operation? While the {golems} hadn’t come across any mutts yet, neither had they discovered any deposits or stockpiles of the precious metal.

  Seventh opened her eyes and looked up at him. “Both payloads are ready. Launching now.”

  “Nice,” Dalex said. It was starting to get too cold, even for his adventurous spirit.

  A minute later, a new light appeared in the sky. It split apart to become two lights and suddenly two canisters from the {void stalker} slammed into the ground. Dalex approached the closest one and it opened to reveal a reem of white paper, covered in branded plastic film that he recognized.

  “You didn’t have to give it the same packaging as an office supply store,” he said.

  “You asked for a modern Earth ream of paper in 8.5 by 11,” Seventh said.

  “I guess I did. Does that mean the pens–?” He cut himself off as the second canister opened, revealing a dozen plastic blue-capped pens with see-through ink reservoirs. The name of a major United States-based pen manufacturer was printed on the side of each one. “Hitasa isn’t going to know what to do with these. And I don’t want to have to explain what ‘Bic’ means.”

  “Hitasa is obviously intelligent enough to write with one of these pens.”

  “I know, I know,” Dalex said. “I was exaggerating. Next time, though, I think it makes more sense to mimic the paper and writing tools of this realm.” Though he had yet to see either in the flesh. “My fault, not yours.”

  A beep sounded in his ears. The {scried} picture from the exploring {golem} disappeared and red text took up his vision.

  Dalex stared at the message for a few seconds, not sure what it meant. Had one of the {attack golems} finally come across a mutt? Then the wind kicked up again and he remembered where he had seen that item name before.

  He grabbed the pens from the canister and slipped them into a pocket. “Hitasa is in trouble. Seventh, can you carry the paper?”

  Not waiting for an answer, he cast {fly} and took off toward the city. His armor engaged to block the wind and help him concentrate. A second alert appeared with more information.

  Castreier! And the man was alive and on the run, even after the {charm of protection} had gone off. Whatever barrier protected him was clearly more powerful than those protecting his soldiers.

  How had he tracked down Hitasa and Dalex so quickly? Michel must have done some snitching. Dalex would have to pay him a visit later.

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  “There is no need to rush,” Seventh said. “Hitasa’s vitals are elevated but stable.”

  As he flew, Dalex couldn’t see if the [android] was following him by air or still waiting back on the ground. She obviously wasn’t experiencing the same urgency.

  “That’s good to know,” Dalex said, “but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Besides, I’d like to pin this guy down if I can. He’s proving to be quite the stalker.” In anticipation of a fight, he added, “{Status}.”

  Dalex’s armor hadn’t fully self-repaired yet, and he didn’t know exactly how effective the weapons of this world were against {adamantine}. He wasn’t particularly worried they could hurt him, but he still wished he could pin down their true capabilities.

  He angled toward a glow emanating from the dark outline of the canyon. A few seconds later, he was over Batulan-bar, studying the hodgepodge of lamps keeping the city lit in the early hours of night. His armor spotted Hitasa’s location, working on the assumption that she and the {charm of protection} were still together. It outlined her position with a blue circle. She was a block away from the Cantering Colt and moving west.

  Dalex descended toward her, scanning her surroundings for movement. It was late enough that there would be fewer local citizens out and about. If anyone was following Hitasa, they would be easy enough to spot.

  New lights flared in the city. The air around Dalex stirred with energy. He felt goosebumps all over his body and the hair on the back of his neck stood up. The lights grew even brighter and he realized they were actually getting closer, not more powerful. He stopped midair and watched them slowly come up to meet him, resolving into churning balls of fire.

  “Fireworks?”

  “Highly doubtful,” Seventh said. “I recommend evasive action.”

  Dalex pivoted in the air just as he was struck by lightning. A flash of light blinded him. He felt a tingle all across his body. His vision returned and a slight daze settled inside his skull. When he turned his head to look up and check for thunderclouds, his vision swam. The night sky twinkled back at him, totally clear.

  Michel’s lightning spell hadn’t felt anything like that.

  “Are you going to move?” Seventh asked.

  Just as she spoke, the fireballs reached him, a stream of them splashing one after another against {wall of force}. Dalex felt the heat of their explosions, the fire radiating hot enough to melt steel. He flew west, parallel to the ground, dodging the rest of the stream. When he looked down, he saw another volley of fireballs reaching up to find him. They flew in a straight line. As long as he wasn’t dumb enough to float in place again, they wouldn’t hit him.

  “How do they know I’m here?” Dalex asked. He was still a good thousand feet off the ground. A single human against the night sky would be essentially invisible.

  “Unknown,” Seventh answered. “But I can confirm at least twenty attackers.”

  “{Detect enemies},” Dalex said. The spell followed the linear trajectory of the fireballs back to their origin, picking out nineteen hotspots. Each of them had been responsible for two bursts of fire. Whoever struck him with lightning was harder to spot without any obvious origin for the spell other than the sky.

  And then he felt the energy in the air again, his hair rising in anticipation. A second lightning bolt zapped him from above, momentarily blinding him and increasing the fuzzy feeling from the first strike.

  “They’re just going to keep doing that, eh?”

  As long as he was airborne, his attackers could see him. He zoomed toward the ground, checking the status of his armor.

  The fireballs hadn’t reached past {wall of force} to touch him directly, but two lightning strikes had been enough to take off roughly four points of durability. He was working with a different breed of spellcaster than Michel.

  Dalex dropped below the level of Batulan-bar’s buildings and settled gently onto the street, trying not to attract attention or damage the cobblestone. That Castreier and his goons could track Dalex in the air was alarming enough. He didn’t want to make his landing zone any more obvious than it needed to be.

  He jogged through the city, moving steadily toward Hitasa’s position. She was only a couple of blocks away, still alive and on the move. The strength lent to Dalex by his armor meant he would catch up soon. He rocketed down the street, passing late-night pedestrians. Most of them were focused on the light show fading in the night sky. They didn’t notice Dalex until he passed them by, leaving a gust of wind in his wake.

  He slid into an intersection, shifting his weight to change direction without slowing down. A figure in plate armor stood in his way, holding a sword out to the side. The soldier put a gauntleted hand to the ground and shouted, “Renteta shocks the land!”

  The cobblestones of the street bulged up in a great hump and rushed toward Dalex in a wave of rock and dirt that built and built until it threatened to break like an ocean swell. Dalex skidded to a stop and jumped back from the wave just as it broke, heaving a wall of debris toward him. Rock shrapnel consumed the intersection. It bounced off of Dalex’s {wall of force} but pulverized everything else around him.

  When the chaos died down, a thick haze of dust settled over the street. Dalex couldn’t see two feet in front of him. The creaking and moaning of the disturbed buildings around him confused his hearing.

  He cast {detect life}, and he could suddenly see through the dust. Warm objects stood out in bright orange against a cold blue background. Dalex saw the outlines of the buildings looming around him. Their occupants, as well the few streetlamps that were still lit, glowed hot. And there was a bright orange soldier covered in the blue of cold armor charging Dalex with a sword held high.

  “My sword batters bone!” the figure screamed, dust billowing around him.

  Dalex summoned {Skull Anchor} just in time to block the incoming blade with the axe’s metal handle. The impact sent a tremor through his body, jarring his bones and numbing his hands. He jumped away again, putting his back up against the wall of a stone building.

  The dust cleared. Dalex’s vision flickered back to normal. His assailant stood at the center of the intersection, studying him. The figure’s armor was different from any Dalex had seen before, and nothing like the soldiers Castreier had surrounded himself with in Hitasa’s hometown. It was more ornate, with golden trim and a fiery crest on the breast plate over the heart. The helmet hiding the figure’s face didn’t provide any space for beast ears, and no visible tail poked out of the back of the armor.

  This was a human, a man judging by his build.

  The soldier extended his sword until the tip was level with Dalex’s eyes. “Dalex of the Expedition Seven, by the authority of Great Lord Jean Castreier, and, under the eyes of my god, the Winged Inferno, I demand that you surrender and submit yourself for judgement.”

  This man seemed different from Castreier or any of the other humans Dalex had faced so far.

  “Let me think about it,” Dalex called back. “May I inquire who’s asking?”

  His opponent straightened, bringing the broad edge of his sword up to his face in a salute. “You have the honor of facing Arnaut Edmond Gasceny, hero of Gaia Gamma, hailing from the noble city of Angars.” He dropped back into his sword stance, prepared again to fight. “I implore you again to surrender.”

  “You know, I don’t think I will.”

  Dalex reformed {Skull Anchor} into his {blunderbuss} and shot Arnaut in the chest.

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