Tallah

"I don’t suppose we can end this here, Era? All of us going on our way?” It was a lie. The girl knew it. So did Tallah.

A sharp breath drew in whatever illum she could muster. It burned within and drew attention to her tender wounds. Whatever healing Anna had offered was imperfect at best. Part of Tallah suspected cruelty.

Only a single limiter left aside from the one on her neck and the boy’s bangle. It would be next to useless after the earlier exertions. Silver chafed on her skin as power flowed by unrestricted, difficult to shape and wield.

The two creatures mutated in front of her eyes, growing more terrible by the moment while she struggled to breathe in the illum she needed. The girl’s state of mind showed in full as the beasts grew and shifted their stance, deadly predators grown into nightmare, crooked abominations. Their spikes and the clawed tips of their feet promised evisceration if her focus slipped.

Would these be as formidable as the hunter from earlier? Somehow she doubted it. Still, they were large, armoured, and ferociously armed, more than enough to pose a serious challenge. Whatever resources she could still bring to bear… that was a different matter.

I can help, Christina assured her. I am not recovered, but I can provide some aid.

I cannot. I need rest. Bianca had been exerting herself in full all throughout events. Little wonder the ghost wouldn’t be much help now, reduced for the time being to a passive support.

No time like the moment to commit to suicidal ventures.

“Vergil, on Sil. Defend until I relieve you.”

“Aye aye, boss lady.”

A choke point like the tunnel was ideal for fighting off a superior enemy, but a trap if said enemy blocked escape. Spiders in front, fire in the back. Some creatures braved the inferno and trickled out of the room to cut off even that retreat. Erisa’s face shone in various states of creation on every body that survived the flames.

They’d need to fight through the beasts and reach the forest beyond, get some clearance and then disengage back to the library to recover and maybe plan. She drew a breath, held it, released.

A bad plan trumped no plan.

Tallah opened with a salvo of lances. Sure enough, they were intercepted and dismissed by barriers, the spiders moving in on pumping legs, claws and fangs bared and glistening.

These lacked the same terrifying abilities of the earlier one when another lance hit home, slipping by the barriers in a way the earlier beast had easily avoided. It made things simpler, though her fatigue twisted odds in the wrong direction.

Vergil dove in front of the first, axe in hand, swinging wildly at the human girl growing out its back. Sil moved behind him, much steadier on her feet now that she had command of her barriers. Where the spider swung its claws at the boy, she defended.

One enemy focused on the boy, one on Tallah. More at their backs.

Prodding Anna’s strength brought back only an indignant rebuttal. The ghost refused yielding any of her illum or ability, and the knowledge was already faded from Tallah’s mind. With Christina providing her support and Bianca spent, Anna could run amok if she wished. The knowledge brought a cold shiver down Tallah’s spine.

See to your battle, Amni. I will keep you alive for the time being. Demand nothing more.

A polite sending to the origins, in short. Fire and lightning would need to be enough. Electricity buzzed on her back and crackled across her arms.

Erisa descended upon her. Tallah registered distantly the sounds of axe bouncing off hard shell, Sil cussing in response as Vergil fought. Her own problems became immediate as the creature closed the gap at a gallop.

She should’ve killed these beasts the very first moment she’d laid eyes on them.

Too late for should-haves. She dove under a killing swipe and blasted out with her lances, too close for fireballs. The armour on the thing was too thick for fireflies, its eyes too many, not even counting the girl’s baleful glare.

Fire washed over the spider and it roared in a deep mix of fury and hunger. Its legs shot out and it was simple luck that had her stumbling and rolling beneath its swipes.

A tonne of monster atop her, punching down. She fired lance after lance upward, the air overheating with the assault, her aerum running out. Two. No, three lances managed to pass past the barriers only to wash off the carapace. With her limiters nearly destroyed, it was hard to estimate if she was using enough power or not.

Erisa raised her bulk and slammed down. Tallah rolled away between two legs dug into the soft earth to escape the crushing force of all that spider bearing on her. The girl reeled lighting-fast and whirled in place, claws churning the ground as they slammed into Tallah.

She grabbed onto the first leg, body wrapping nearly whole around the trunk-like limb. Christina sent lightning up through it, wreathed the girl in phosphorescent light.

It brought a satisfying scream from the mutant, and a wild bucking as it tried to shake her off, all its limbs spasming, its roar distorting into pained howling.

Tallah fired her lances again, pushing hard. This time they passed straight through to rupture the armour. Smoke billowed out from every open orifice on the creature, and the simile of Erisa riding atop it burst into flames like an effigy. She screamed in very human terror and anger.

It still came for her, swiping madly to seek and impale her. Tallah released her grip and tried to stumble away. The beast burned and thrashed, punched and swiped. One swipe sent her flying, back hitting the wall with a crunch. Claws raked the stone in a wild bid to pin her. A desperate lance hit a barrier. The next got past and speared the fleshy, burning girl.

It wouldn’t die! She fired twice again in a panic, both lances missing the wailing half-corpse rider.

She didn’t see the claw swipe. If not for a barrier saving her, it would’ve taken off her head.

Sil called out, “Little help here?” Her voice rose in panic somewhere to the left, where the second spider was fighting, but Tallah could spare no attention.

She extended her arms and dressed her foe in flames. It streamed out of her wild and uncontrolled, like the first channelling of a pyromancer blooming. No time or energy for finesse.

With a crackling like wood snapping, the creature collapsed, its legs burned to kindling. The air stank of burnt hair, charred meat and offal, and much worse things.

She dared a breath of overheated air and reeled at the taste of the ash.

Vergil slammed into her from her blind side, toppling her into a roll. They halted against the smouldering corpse.

“Tallah!”

She rose in time to see the second beast—Erisa bled atop it from a constellation of cuts and lacerations—pinning Sil beneath its great bulk. The creature’s lower abdomen twisted forward and white silk bound the struggling healer.

“Up, boy! Up!” She fought to disentangle herself from Vergil’s splayed form. He groaned and forced himself upward, a nasty cut bleeding on his face. His eyes regained focus and he struggled to get up and help her the same.

Erisa crouched for a heartbeat, then jumped in an arc to stick to the wall. She took off at a skittering run, Sil tied in a bundle beneath the giant bulk, held fast against its abdomen.

Bianca reacted before Tallah had completely extricated herself from beneath Vergil. A tether bound them both to the fleeing spider and they were yanked up into the air after it, nearly smashing their heads against the tunnel’s walls.

Get yourself together, Bianca whispered urgently. I don’t know how long I can hold you to her.

A lance would see Sil burning like wax, wrapped in all that. They shook and bounced on the invisible line, the spider running breakneck across Grefe’s outer walls. Tallah caught a flash of the forest beneath, but not much else as the creature dove back into the city, squeezing through passages nearly too small for it.

Grefe rushed by in a blur of statues, rooms and gaping drops.

Vergil held a death’s grip on his axe. With his free hand he held onto her, face grim, eyes unwavering from the escaping spider. If this was the boy, or the dwarf, she couldn’t say but was glad for his composure. It kept her from dipping into panic.

“Pull me close,” she demanded.

I can’t. She keeps hacking at my tethers.

They were dropping farther and farther behind, the creature moving too fast through too many passages for Tallah to suggest release and chase on their own. She was certain Erisa would escape through some hole somewhere before they even managed orientating themselves.

Columns rushed by, a blur of white and grey, no longer recognisable as anything but danger.

Tallah, I am nearly spent. I need a decision.

“I know where she’s going.” Vergil squeezed on her shoulder, as if he’d heard Bianca.

She saw it between the rushing scenery. A structure of webs that dwarfed the rest of the city, like a nest hanging above the abyss, anchored to the depths of Grefe by thick struts of webbing.

Tallah?

“Are you sure?” she asked, feeling Bianca’s grip slip from Erisa’s bulk. “If I let go, we’re done.” She had to scream above the rush of the wind and thunder of heartbeats beating against her eardrums.

“I’m sure,” Vergil screamed back.

Bianca released the moment Tallah nodded, angling them with a final pull towards a yawning window. She and Vergil hit the ground rolling, protecting one another’s heads as they smashed through thick webbing holding tight pottery and ancient furniture.

They were both back on their feet moments later, rushing out to see Erisa swinging towards the gargantuan castle of webs.

The city was different here.

“We’ve gone farther in,” Vergil said. He was breathing hard, still feeling the rush of the fight. His bleeding had all but stopped, covered up by dust-heavy webbing.

“Not the worst of it.” She drew in power and what came to her call felt similar to the maze, a mess of stagnant illum poisoned by some ancient violence. It served, but it did so wilfully, like ice water in her veins turning to molten slag. “This place keeps on giving.”

At least they seemed to have reached the far end of Grefe. Beyond the castle there was the wall and some strange sculpture. Not an angel for once. Just some kind of caverns dug into the rock, strange patterns adorning their centres as they framed the nest.

“That’s an engine,” Vergil said, slack-jawed. “Tallah, that is a star ship engine.”

“I don’t follow.”

He pointed to the strange sculpture. If she understood the distance right from them to the thing, its actual size would’ve been about as large as a district in Valen.

“That is a star ship engine!” he repeated, voice growing manic. “It’s from a SPRAWL. I know it. I’ve seen the vids a hundred times.” His gaze swivelled to get in the whole of it. “This was Panacea’s ship. Look, it says so over there.”

She squinted but couldn’t make out anything on the far wall, at least not with her poor eyesight. After a moment’s rummaging in her rend, she produced her glasses and indeed saw writing on the side of one of the structures. The letters were alien.

“I can’t read it.”

“It says Panacea on it, SPRAWL-001 beneath. It’s part of her ship.”

It was all very interesting, but Sil’s fate was of more interest.

“Bianca, are we going the right way if we head into that place?”

Yes. I am not completely certain, but it’s within reasonable estimation. Give me some moments to recover and I will aid your descent.

All the same, she needed a moment’s rest as well. Her head throbbed and every muscle ached with the effort. She cast about the room they occupied, worried about whatever else might be coming their way.

“You’re talking to ghosts?” Vergil asked, still staring at the far vista.

“Yes. They need rest, same as we do.” She sat down heavily at the foot of a statue. Even here, they littered the walls with their endless empty stares. At least they were all staring upward and not down at her.

Rhine was perched atop this one, sitting astride its shoulders, idly swinging bare feet. The soles were bloody. Without the rush of immediate danger, Tallah studied her sister and wrinkled her nose at the wraith. No, she had to remind herself, this was not Rhine, in spirit or in flesh. This was something else and she’d give it her attention in due time. Not now. Distractions would see Sil dead.

Or worse.

She shook her head clear of grizzly thoughts.

“Do you think she crash landed here?” Vergil asked, refusing to sit. “Is that how humans came to Edana? Are we… aliens here? I mean… I am. Are you?”

Now that was a thought to distract her from both Rhine’s unpleasant presence—a suspicion began forming but it’d resolve itself later—and the gnawing worry of what was to happen to Sil.

More interestingly, the webbed structure was not actually made of webs, now that she had a proper look. It had existed there before the spiders, given the bridges connecting it to the rest of the city, and the massive support structures build beneath it. Not a castle, not really, but definitely something that held a particular importance to the people that had built Grefe. Given the gargantuan engine behind it, she supposed it could’ve been some place of worship… or maybe research?

“Please stop talking.” She cradled her head to fight back the aches exploding in her temples. “Every time you open your mouth, another mystery gets added to this city. I have had quite enough wonder and am halfway tempted to level the place.”

He drew breath to speak. Maybe to protest. Then suddenly shouted, “Look! Over there!”

Dizziness flared when her eyes shot up to follow the line of his arm. Erisa’s massive shape was crossing one of the bridges, followed by a group of black-bodied spiders, nearly as large as the girl’s mount. She groaned. More of the things to fight through—

No! The spiders were harassing Erisa, leaping onto her, swarming by her feet. These were the Oldest’s brood, come to their aid. Against a creature like that, they weren’t to fare well as it quickly became apparent.

“No rest for us, it seems.” She drew herself up and Vergil hefted his axe.

Bianca rose from her short meditation, tethered Vergil to her, and launched them over the lip of platform. Equations brushed past her conscious mind, forces and vectors to guide them in quickest fashion to their destination.

Watch out! Behind us!

Anna’s sudden burst saved their lives. Bianca twisted them in the air and the fireball blasted past them to explode just meters away. Overheated air slammed them off trajectory to crash back into the city.

More come. Same attack line.

This time the warning had come in proper time. Vergil was already moving, distancing himself from her at a loping sprint, eyes darting up into the high galleries to find their attacker.

She spun in place, snapped her fingers, and met the bombardment with pinpoint accuracy, loosing a barrage of her fireflies. Each ball of flame detonated mid-air, close enough that the shock waves shook the platform she stood on.

There were more heading down. At the wrong angle?

Realisation dawned with frightful clarity as she turned and sprinted away. Explosions rocked the platform and the distance to the inner building suddenly felt like leagues. The old bastard had planned it well!

She wouldn’t reach safety in time. Stone cracked and split, the world shook, and she began pitching into the black.