SoulQuest (31 page)

“It feels strange to be down here,” she said. “When I first met Zarim, I thought he was little more than a petty thief. And now, although not much time has passed since that day in Serenity, I find I’ve arrived at a completely different conclusion.”

“Just means yer a terrible judge of character,” said Swul.
 

She looked up, startled at the barb, but her own lack of self-esteem caused her to believe those words. After all, she had once looked up to Vortai. And the man who turned her into this was a man met on her travels from Tarzu, a man she thought loved her, but in reality saw her as nothing more than prey.

“I suppose so...”

Swul walked towards her, plucking the cigar from his jaw as he did. “Don’t do that.”

She looked at him, eyebrow rising and lips scrunching as she tried to discern his meaning. “I’m sorry? Do what?”

“Don’t play the self-pity game.”

Her head dropped and a forlorn nod followed. “You’re right. You were friends for a long time, I only knew him shortly. It’s hardly fair of me to—I’m sorry.”

Swul waved off her statement with a swish of his hand. “Oh shut up, you really think it’d bug me that yer upset over Zee? You got me wrong, sister. What I meant is you got more strength in you than y’ realize.”

Reyche almost laughed. “I’m sorry, but I think you have me confused with Liran or Ekala.”

“Nah, I’m talkin’ about
you
. I heard about the way you handled yourself in Erlik. An’ I saw what you did to Vortai’s little buddy in the cathedral.”

She stepped away from the body, hugging herself. “That...wasn’t me. It was the...creature inside.”

“Maybe so.” He approached her, his wings raising him up to her eye level. “But like it or not, that creature? It’s part o’ you now. When I was first exiled, not a day went by I didn’t think of severin’ my wings or chopping the points off my ears. But eventually, I came to terms with who I am. You’re gonna have to do the same.”

“And when did you finally do that?” asked Reyche.

“When we went to Nephelm to get the Soulstone,” said Swul.

She looked at him. “Wait, wasn’t that shortly before I met you?”

He grinned and shrugged. “I never said it would happen overnight, did I?”

Reyche began to laugh and Swul couldn’t help but join in. Behind them, the glow of the four Soulstones grew in intensity. Green bolts crackled around them and a chain of energy emerged from the center of each. Swul and Reyche stopped their laughter when they realized something strange was happening. The Soulstones were now linked together, the trail of power converging on the vacant fifth slot, and from there arcing to Zarim’s body, which now had a glow around it that matched the stones.
 

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“Hell if I know.”

The conjoined energy trail in the fifth slot grew ever larger, forming into an orb-like shape itself. The orb of green light slowly started to become solid, growing from the center out, until its surface had a gem-like appearance identical to the other four Soulstones. And the moment it did, Zarim’s eyes opened and he breathed in with an alarmed gasp.
 

“Zee!” Swul threw the cigar on the ground and his wings threw him at his friend, and he wrapped his arms around Zarim, nearly strangling the newly-acquired oxygen from his lungs.
 

“O-okay, buddy, don’t kill me all over again!” said Zarim, struggling not to laugh.
 

Reyche stepped on the still-lit stogie and smiled down at Zarim. “Welcome back.”

“Hey Reyche, thanks,” said Zarim. He suddenly appeared as if he’d misplaced something. Zarim searched around his body and evidently didn’t find what he was looking for. But when he turned and saw the four-pointed star with the fifth Soulstone in the center, he sighed with relief.
 

Swul, meanwhile, had gone to the stairwell and shouted up. “Hey! Get your worthless butts down here! He’s back!”

It didn’t take long for Tanus and Liran to charge down the steps. Tanus, as usual, remained fairly stoic, but even his rock-like face managed a broad smile, the likes of which Zarim had never seen on the old soldier. Liran’s reaction was more surprising, however. In an uncharacteristic show of emotion, she rushed towards him and embraced him in a similar manner as Swul. At first, Zarim wasn’t sure if she was being affectionate or attacking, but once he understood her purpose, he relaxed. When she broke away, Tanus came up to him and simply offered his human hand.

“Good to have you back.”
 

Zarim gripped Tanus’ hand in his own and gave it a slight shake, accompanied by a smile. “Good to be back. But where are Ekala and Nasam?”

The smiles started to fade at this. Zarim looked between all of them and asked, “what’s wrong? Did something happen to them?”

“After we got out of Erlik, Ekala jumped ship,” said Swul. “Went off on her own to who-knows-where. An’ who’s Nasam?”

“She must have found him on her own...I just assumed...” Zarim shook his head. “Forget it. How did you guys get out of Erlik? What happened to Weiss?”

“Tanus used some of that Dreadnought trainin’ to get ‘em outta there,” said Swul. “An’ as for Weiss—”

“Felidae justice,” said Liran. “She is no more a problem.”

Zarim’s mood darkened. A part of him, a part he thought he buried long ago, wanted to bubble to the surface, to admonish Liran. But he knew it was useless. He put Weiss in that situation, he pushed her to the limits and that was something he would have to live with. Liran simply did what she thought was right at the time, and had their positions been reversed, he could hardly say he would have acted differently.

“Zarim? Are you all right?” asked Reyche.

He flashed a false smile. “Just a little shaken up. Coming back from the dead will do that to a guy. The important thing is we’ve now got all five stones and we can finish this once and for all. All we need is Master Quand.”

“That’s a good point, actually. Where is he?” asked Tanus. “I don’t think there’s any way he
couldn’t
have heard Swul.”

Zarim finally stood from the spot his body had been laid and proceeded up the stairs. As he walked into the main temple area, he called out his mentor’s name. “Master Quand? Got some good news if you’re...”

His voice trailed off when he saw Master Quand kneeling forward, using his arms to hold himself up. Zarim approached, laying his palm on Quand’s back. “Master...?”

“I sensed your return...but around the same time, I sensed something even greater.” Quand finally looked at his pupil and for the first time, Zarim saw something in the old man’s eyes he’d never seen before—fear.

“What happened?” asked Zarim.

“You’ve made him desperate, my son,” said Quand. “And I fear that has made him far more dangerous than we ever could have expected.”

Swul took one last drag of his cigar before dropping it on the temple steps and crunching it beneath his boot. He held his favored battle-axe, resting it upon his shoulder. Tanus stood behind him, checking the battery charge on his gun-arm, while Liran continued to extend and retract her claws, working the muscles that enabled her to do such a feat. Reyche stood beneath the shade of the temple’s overhang, tugging the hood of her cloak to envelop her face completely in shadow.
 

“What’ve we got?” asked Swul.

“We could be looking at an invasion force,” said Tanus. “Might not be full-scale, but certainly a few Dreadnought squadrons. Weiss’ death isn’t likely to have made us any friends.”

“If he expects an apology, he shall wait for quite some time,” said Liran.

“Not at all,” said Tanus. “Far as I’m concerned, you did what I only
wish
I could have done.”

“Whaddaya say, boss? Got a plan?” asked Swul, glancing at the entrance.

“Plan?” Newly-invigorated, Zarim stepped forth from the temple and descended the set of stairs. His pistol and sword were both holstered and hanging from his belt. “If we’re dealing with Dreadnoughts, I say Reyche and Liran pick them off one by one, try and ambush them as they come into the city. Swul, you and Tanus are our big guns, time for you to prove it. You’re the primary line of defense.”

“And you?” asked Tanus.

“What do you think?” asked Zarim. “Vortai’s mine.”

“Well get ready, ‘cause here they come,” said Swul.

Over the horizon, indeed a ship had come into focus. It was a fairly large transport airship, no weapons, but no doubt it carried more than a few infantrymen. It only served to amplify Vortai’s desperate situation. He didn’t have the time to assemble the full might of the Dreadnoughts, not without raising questions from Ra’kad. All he could manage was a squadron that, although likely formidable, was only a fraction of the army’s true strength. Zarim knew that gave them an edge.

“Get ready,” he said.

The Dreadnought squadron descended from their airship by parachute, coasting down to the surface of Xanadar. Upon entering the city limits, they stalked through the streets, but found no one around. The crew of the Excalibur made it a point to hide away all the citizens as soon as possible so they wouldn’t get caught in the crossfire.
 

Many of the buildings in Xanadar were built from white marble, which made it easy for Liran to blend into them. She followed along the rooftops, trying to determine which targets to strike first. When two Dreadnoughts turned down a corner and examined the vacant street, she found her first opportunity.

Dropping behind them, she grabbed the Dreadnought closest to her, wrapping her arm around his face to muffle any attempts at crying for help. She held him to the ground, applying pressure to his windpipe. His legs and arms frantically went into a spasm, but Liran kept a firm grip until he suffocated. With the remaining Dreadnought, who had yet to notice her presence, she could be more direct. Liran tackled him from behind, tearing his helmet from his head and slicing his throat open with abandon. Once the deed was done, she quickly ascended back to the rooftops, intent on finding new prey.

Reyche mostly kept to the shadows, sneaking up on them from behind. Whenever a Dreadnought moved into an alcove or fell back, that was when she struck, quickly dragging him or her into the darkness. During these encounters, however, only she ever emerged victorious. For the most part, she simply incapacitated her victims, but on occasion, she emerged from the shadows wiping crimson drips from her lips.

These forces, however, were mostly intended to distract, for the true source of power was with Vortai and his servant, Graf. The behemoth held his flail over one shoulder and over the other was Ekala. Vortai hovered along the ground. They came from another angle, avoiding most of the traps set up by Liran and Reyche. And the opposition they met was not what they expected. Tanus stood at the entrance to the large temple, his gun-arm primed and ready to fire. His steely eyes focused on Graf.

“Time for round two, big guy.”

“Settle this,” said Vortai, his power raising Ekala’s unconscious form from Graf’s body. The behemoth took the flail in hand and begun swinging it. “We did this once before. Didn’t work out so well for you.”

“Back then, I didn’t have help.” Tanus stepped aside from the entrance and Swul emerged, holding the axe with one hand and allowing it to drop into his free hand.
 

“So, yer the guy who killed Oberon,” he said.
 

Graf chuckled. “Care to make something of it?”

“Damn straight I do!” Swul charged, hefting the axe. Graf knocked the faerie away with one blow and saw Tanus descending the steps, raising his gun-arm.
 

“I owe you a debt,” he said as he fired a charge.
 

The impact was more than Graf had expected, but not enough to slow him too much. He recovered without any hesitation and rushed Tanus, swinging the flail at him. Tanus was thrown when the flail’s heavy end struck the steps of the temple, practically obliterating them. He rolled on the cobblestone street, releasing two more blasts that staggered Graf, but didn’t slow him down significantly.

Swul managed to come back from his blow and flew straight at Graf, swinging his axe in a wide arc that actually pierced the brute’s thick skin, leaving a deep, red gash across his back. Using speed that seemed impossible for his size, Graf snatched Swul out of the air and held him within the palm of his hand. He held the faerie to the ground, putting immense pressure upon him.
 

Tanus raised his gun in protest, but this only made Graf smile.

“Back off, or else his head pops,” said Graf.
 

Tanus had Graf within his sights, but hesitated. He knew from their last battle that Graf was strong enough to withstand the power of his blasts, yet he couldn’t simply allow the monster to kill the man who’d become his closest friend.
 

One of the Dreadnoughts had managed to get past Reyche and Liran, and he snuck up behind Graf. Tanus could see his approach and noted the weapon he held—not Imperial issue, and it made him smile. He knew who was under that helmet and the Dreadnought jumped, his hand latching onto the leather straps that crisscrossed Graf’s torso. By the time Graf noticed the intrusion, the Dreadnought was already on his back. While still holding Swul, Graf dropped the flail and tried to grab the interloper. When that didn’t work he began to bucking like a wild horse, hoping to throw the imposter off his back.

Tanus tried to keep Graf within his sights. If ever he had a chance to fire, now would be it. But Graf’s frantic movements kept throwing Swul into the line of fire. Any attempted shots might take out his friend instead. He watched the Dreadnought struggling to raise the long cane he held and saw it flare with energy. The Dreadnought drove the pulse sword into Graf’s neck. The body of the hideous creature seized in pain and Graf fell over, hitting the ground with enough force that the earth trembled at the impact.

The Dreadnought flipped from Graf’s fallen body and landed on the ground. He removed the helmet, tossing it away in a grand gesture, revealing the masked face of Templar beneath.