Chapter 28

  The plasma blast of the {blunderbuss} launched the self-proclaimed hero Arnaut down the street away from Dalex. His body disappeared into the night and Dalex resumed his charge toward Hitasa. He didn’t make it far before he came up against another ambush. Two more soldiers appeared in his way, these more reminiscent of what he had seen at Sitoa’s execution.

  The pair skidded to a stop and drew swords. Were they still able to track him even on the ground, or was the city just overflowing with Castreier’s goons? It seemed remarkable that he could so quickly muster a large force to chase down his quarry, but maybe Dalex had underestimated the man’s resources. Going forward, he would have to take more precautions.

  For now, he barreled toward the two beastkin soldiers, disinclined to give them the time of day. He swung the business end of the {blunderbuss} between the two of them, intent on taking them both out with a single wide blast and plowing on through.

  And then the two-story brick house on his right began to topple into the street. It came down so quickly that it almost collapsed on top of him. He retreated a few paces as it exploded against the cobblestone, blocking his path forward. Behind him, he heard the sound of more shattering brick, and looked back in time to catch one of the houses he had just passed collapsing in the same fashion.

  Not only did Castreier’s people know where to find him, but they also knew exactly where he was going. He was trapped, except, of course, that he could…

  A voice from above interrupted his train of thought. “You certainly pack a wallop, Dalex of the Expedition Seven!”

  Dalex looked up to see Arnaut standing on the roof of an intact building, staring down at him, totally unharmed. He was flanked by another beastkin soldier that appeared to be panting from exertion. Maybe he had been the one to collapse the buildings.

  “And you can take a hit,” Dalex shot back. He had thought for sure the blast of the {blunderbuss} would be enough to break even Castreier’s defenses. If these people were capable of tanking such impressive hits, why did they struggle so mightily against mutts? Why wasn’t this guy out with the hunters instead of following on Castreier’s coattails?

  “I ask again that you surrender,” Arnaut called. “I will not be so easily dissuaded from your capture.”

  “I appreciate that you’re a hard worker, but I don’t really feel like playing heroes and villains with you.”

  Dalex pivoted, firing the {blunderbuss} in Arnaut’s direction. He blew the beastkin soldier off the roof, but Arnaut was lightning quick. He dodged the plasma blast with a flourish and somersaulted off the roof, diving toward Dalex with the tip of his sword leading the way.

  Dalex tried to get off another shot, but he was too slow. Arnaut reached him before he could aim and pull the trigger and his sword plunged straight for Dalex’s heart. The point scrapped over solid {adamantine}, pushing Dalex back with the sheer force of its impact but not piercing his defense. He felt the same tremor as before, resounding through his ribcage as if he was standing next to a booming subwoofer. Dalex wondered what the enchantment “my sword batters bones” would do to a person without {adamantine} armor.

  Arnaut’s sword had a nasty bite, and its wielder knew what he was doing. He danced back from Dalex with another salute. His posture didn’t seem particularly surprised not to have dealt a killing blow.

  “I must say, this comes as quite a shock,” Arnaut said. “No man or beast has ever withstood a jab from Post.”

  “Sounds like you’ve been jabbing the wrong people.” Dalex let go of the {blunderbuss} and summoned {Skull Anchor} again.

  Arnaut hummed in appreciation. “I was hoping to see that again. Your axe is famous among Castreier’s men.”

  The two men circled each other, weapons at the ready. Dalex heard Seventh’s voice in his ear. “Why are you engaging him with edged weapons?”

  The [android] was still nowhere to be found, and Dalex didn’t answer her.

  He wasn’t confident he could hit such a quick target with any of his lower yield projectile weapons, and the higher yield ones might do too much damage to the buildings around him. Maybe Arnaut and Castreier were fine destroying the homes and businesses of random Batulan-bar citizens, but Dalex wasn’t about to cross that line.

  Deciding it was better to attack than block, Dalex made the first move. He swung {Skull Anchor} down at an angle, chopping across Arnaut’s torso. Arnaut performed a vertical jump that would make a cat green with envy. Dalex’s axe passed beneath him. The hero swiped at Dalex's neck as if to chop his head off, but his blade bounced off the armor.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  If Dalex wasn’t careful, he might be in for death by a hundred cuts. This guy was too quick. They repeated the same dance twice. Dalex tried to anticipate how Arnaut would dodge, and swipe so escape was possible. Every time, his foe slipped out of reach and struck back with ease, chipping away at Dalex’s armor with every blow.

  Obviously, a big heavy axe wasn’t going to work. He needed something a little easier to use.

  Dalex let the axe dissolve and summoned a new weapon from the {astral mortar}, the {solar lens}. Arnaut let it happen, watching curiously as something akin to a flashlight the length of the {blunderbuss} appeared in Dalex's hands. Apparently, Arnaut harbored a lot of confidence that, whatever Dalex did next, he could handle it.

  "You have quite a few different toys," Arnaut said. "How do you manifest them without defining a word of power?"

  Dalex shrugged. "My internal monologue is just very loud."

  "Once you come to your senses and surrender, I would love to know where you publicized your abilities. Castreier and I couldn't find any record of you on Gaia Eta, but we haven’t investigated the libraries of any other worlds yet."

  Dalex rested his new weapon in the crook of an arm, pointing its prismatic tip only enough toward Arnaut that he wouldn’t immediately identify it as a threat. “All of you bastards love to talk, don’t you? I mean, I can jape with the best of them, but I think you, Castreier, and Michel just love the sounds of your own voices. Most of the time, you just spout drivel.”

  Arnaut’s shoulder slumped just a little. Dalex bet, if he pulled up the man’s helmet, he would find an offended frown.

  “Personal attacks are hardly called for.”

  “Noted,” Dalex said, and he flipped a switch on the back of the {solar lens}. A continuous beam of light erupted from the prismatic tip. It struck the cobble, melting the stone and scorching the earth beneath. Arnaut braced, drawing his sword into a defensive stance. Dalex swung the beam toward him. Arnaut deftly fled from it, but, with a laser pointer, it was impossible to miss him. Arnaut sliced at the beam with his sword, succeeding only in melting the blade off just above the guard.

  The beam hit Arnaut full on. It connected with whatever invisible barrier protected him and repelled him, flinging him back into the remnants of one of the collapsed houses. He disappeared with a splash of broken bricks and dust, buried under the debris.

  The beam kept moving, slicing back up the street at an angle and cutting through the remaining intact buildings flanking Dalex on the right. It carved through the brick and stone architecture until it pierced the roof of one of the buildings and lanced up into the sky. Dalex disengaged the emitter, and beam vanished.

  A red-hot streak glowed across the line of homes. Dalex heard someone shouting within. Fear coursed through Dalex. Had the beam struck someone inside?

  “{Truesight},” he said, and a filter fell over his vision. A pulse went out from his armor, shooting harmless high-frequency light through the windows and other openings. The light bounced back to the armor, revealing the interior of the buildings like a radar sweep.

  Dalex could suddenly see through the walls hiding the building’s occupants. He scanned the areas with damage, looking for anyone that might be injured or dead. The buildings were mostly empty. Perhaps the residents had fled when the fighting started. Two beastkin huddled on the bottom floor, holding each other tightly. The beam had passed directly over their heads but had not struck them.

  For the moment, it didn’t look like anyone was hurt. The best thing Dalex could do for them was get away.

  With Arnaut still stuck in a pile of rubble, either dead or incapacitated, Dalex cast {fly} and took to the skies again. He needed to find Hitasa and get her to safety. His armor still tracked her through the city. She was almost to the western edge of Batulan-bar, still running full tilt on her powerful elven legs.

  Mere seconds after Dalex was airborne again, the hair all over his body stood up. The lightning caller was still active and could see him again. He tried to stay low, just skimming the tops of the buildings, but the feeling of being tracked didn’t go away.

  He passed over another street and a whip of fire lashed up from below, wrapping around his left ankle and yanking him downward. The pull wasn’t powerful enough to rip him all the way out of the sky, but he descended enough to crash into the side of a shop, bouncing off the stone fa?ade and hovering upside down two stories off the ground.

  He tried to keep flying, but the pull continued. Looking down, he realized the whip was still coiled around his ankle. He summoned {Finger Eater} and used the sword to slice at the whip. The blade cut the cord, but two more whips appeared, catching him around the stomach and neck.

  “You’ve gotta be ki–”

  The power of two dedicated soldiers brought him crashing down to street level. Suddenly, four of Castreier’s beastkin pounced, beating him with swords and hatches. Each weapon emitted some kind of fiery or icy effect, adding magical lethality to the pummeling. Out of the corner of his vision, he saw the durability of his armor slowly ticking down.

  69.7, 69.2, 68.9.

  Dalex surged to his feet, lashing out at his assailants with {Finger Eater}. He cut one of them across the chest and the others leapt back, escaping his reach. A hail of arrows rained down on him from above. Another four soldiers occupied the surrounding roofs, drawing and loosing their bows with speed and accuracy. {Wall of force} easily deflected the missiles, but the persistence of Castreier’s goons was growing more and more irritating.

  And then Dalex heard a grating voice from the street behind him.

  “You didn’t think you would be rid me so soon?”

  Dalex swung around to see Arnaut again, his same unmelted sword in his hand, stalking down the road toward him.

  “I thought maybe you would take the hint, yes.”

  Arnaut halted several yards away from him. The archers ceased their fire. Additional beastkin appeared on the roofs, and even more flooded onto the street to surround him. Dalex counted forty soldiers, and more were arriving every moment. It seemed the entire city had been filled with enemies, and all of them were converging on his location.

  Dalex checked Hitasa’s location one more time. She was still running. It seemed no one felt the need to stop her. Every one of Castreier’s relentless hunting party had eyes only for Dalex. It was probably better that way.

  “Well, well, well,” a new voice echoed through the chill night. “That’s quite a rat I see caught in my trap.”

  Castreier walked out onto the closest roof overlooking Dalex on the street. He set one foot on the ridge beam and stared down at his quarry, eyes full of satisfaction. As usual, he didn’t wear any armor, just a perfectly tailored black doublet and dress trousers. To Dalex’s disappointment, he looked totally uninjured after his encounter with Hitasa’s {charm of protection}, which was also par for the course.

  The sneer on Castreier’s lips deepened. “I’m glad we’ll finally get the chance to talk, face-to-face.”

  https://www.patreon.com/wjeffersonsmith