Katta had mentioned the hint of Darkness in her power, and while that initially concerned Vantra, she now appreciated the knowledge, because she used it to swallow the brightest of the Light glare. Instead of blinding whiteness, they could actually see the paved streets they took between broken wooden fences, warped wrought-iron gates, and crumbling, whitewashed buildings.
Spots still danced within her perception, but better than no sight at all.
They reached greater destruction, which slowed their step. They waded through shattered poles, collapsed walls, sagging roofs, and charred and ashen debris scattered across the dirt. Small chunks of sculptures and the remains of fountains littered the area, and Vantra set an extra layer on the ground-facing side of her shield to prevent anything from breaking through. She did not want harm to come to Kenosera or Yut-ta because they stepped on a spiky shard of wood or a slicing edge of shattered stone.
Damp filled the air, and the same uneasy sense she felt with the rain descended. Did the moisture contain the nasty stuff? If so, it did not inhibit the Light-blessed.
“Look out!” Janny yelled.
Her shields broke into spinning shards and she squeaked as changelings jumped from behind a collapsed wall. They grabbed the two living beings and one shoved a sword into her throat.
The shard flashed, as bright as the Light-blessed’s power, and the mercenaries jerked away with an instinctive need to protect their eyes. Janny attacked as Vantra formed another shield around Kenosera and Yut-ta, slapping layer after layer on top.
A sword slashed her from shoulder to waist, leaving a thin coat of something clinging to her essence.
Clear Rays burst from her before she consciously decided to use it. The nastiness burned away, and the weapons the changelings held caught fire. They shouted, confused, flinging the steel away as the magic ate through the edges, leaving pitted metal behind. Janny took advantage, impaling the nearest spirit before they turned Ethereal, slicing up from their tummy and cutting them in half. The act earned her a seething glare from her opponent as they melded their essence back together.
White-shirted, blue-vested men flew into view. An enemy howled a warning, and they turned to run, but their Ether forms struck shields that did not let them phase through.
“Vantra?” one asked. She raised her hand and nodded. “Good.” He pointed to the right, and she peered into a building that had a hole running straight through it. “Jare took off after a changeling guard protecting a rufang. We think he’s a Wiiv shaman—he has a red cloth wrapped around his middle and hundreds of overlapping black circles painted on him. Hrivasine has an army down here, so stay alert. We almost have them beat, but there are stragglers.”
“Thank you.”
He grinned. “We should thank you. We haven’t had this much fun in centuries.”
His companions whooped. Janny laughed and headed the way he pointed.
“We came upon a brush trap at the entrance,” Vantra said. “Be cautious. They might have more of them.”
He nodded. “Thanks for the warning. It’s another thing to add to the magic ick down here.”
True enough. “And we had to split, so there’s another group of Merdia pirates looking for Kjaelle. One of them goes by Llel.”
“We’ll keep an eye out.”
She turned to Ether form and sped after her companions.
Vantra’s worry about finding Jare ended as they reached a singed trail that led into a half-collapsed tunnel entrance beyond the fighting. Debris from the ceiling continued to sprinkle the ground, creating clumps of stone, sand, and dirt. She strengthened the Sun shields as Janny investigated.
“This isn’t stable,” the pirate said. “But it’s short.”
Hurrah?
Vantra took the rear, urging the nomad and hooskine to hurry. She could phase through a collapsed ceiling, but they could not. They arrived on the other side just before the earth shook from the cavern battle, and the tunnel finished its collapse. Kenosera and Yut-ta hurried away, coughing on dust, and she did not much like its feel, either.
At least it did not trap any of them, but they could not return that way if they needed an escape route.
The new cave was smaller, with bright tarps nailed high on the walls and sloping down to poles that either leaned away from the road or had collapsed. They covered tables and chairs, and semi-hid doors leading to dark interiors; restaurants? Bars? Interesting. How many umbrareign did they feed down there, or did they only serve mist?
Smoke hung in the air, and Kenosera and Yut-ta did their best to cover their faces with their clothing. They still choked, and Vantra layered the shielding differently, hoping to keep more of the ashy particles away from them. She had yet to control a finer mesh, but hopefully what she formed worked for them.
The charred dirt turned left at the crossroads, and the damage increased. Entire structures still burned, and the thicker smoke fouled the area. Several black streaks exploded outward from deeper holes; they slowed down to avoid falling in as they wove around them.
How much energy was Jare expending? How much longer could he continue? Vantra’s worry intensified as they hit another enormous cavern, this one with the sounds of water. A ramp the size of a street rose to the top of a concrete barrier, bluish-green magic racing across it in a wavy pattern. Flashes of light from above illuminated the railing, but not long enough to know whether it was wooden or metal.
They ran up, using logs hammered into the dirt for traction. Vantra was happy she no longer had to worry about breathing; her living self would have collapsed before reaching halfway, and then refused to budge until she had drank water and rested.
She raced onto the barrier and wished she had topped it a step or two later; blinding Light stopped her, and no amount of darkness she shoved into her shields kept the stark white out of her perception.
A roar followed; she blinked, tears clouding her vision—why did she have to cry, unlike every other ghost in existence? A shadow swung back and forth, sparks blazing into the air from strikes.
“There’s Kjaelle!” Kenosera hissed. Vantra squinted in the direction he pointed.
Down the dirt slope from them sat a torch-lined dock with several small boats moored to posts. Each vessel had an outboard engine on the back and oars clamped to the sides, an odd combination. Blocking most of the view beyond a rocky overhang was a giant figure four times Vantra’s height; dark fur covered them, from the top of their unicorn head to the end of their spiked tail. The long neck transitioned into a thick torso, a thinner midsection, ending in cat-like claws. The hands had nails longer than her forearm, which scraped against the Light shield Jare and two others held.
Combining different animal fragments was a demanding endeavor because muscles and bones had to work together. The dead had an easier time creating amalgamations than the living because they did not have to worry as much about viability, but even then, off-center and oddly shaped constructs made movement arduous or unmanageable. That the enemy made the form work astonished her.
The giant and their smaller, cattish companions protected a group getting into five boats; Vantra caught a flash of bright red and assumed that was the shaman the Light-blessed spoke of. She did not have to guess where Kjaelle was; the flurry of writhing and head-butting and screaming gave her away.
She clutched the shard, triggered Ether Touch, and flew to the Darkness acolyte.
She sped through a being—ew!—and their wisps clung to her as she brought the Sun object up, then slammed it into the cuffs confining the elfine’s ankles. Hot metal and spell burst from the strike, and she had a moment of dread that she harmed her friend before those carting her dropped her and backed away, shrieking. The restraints must have had some essence-harming magic attached to them, which affected those they splattered.
Kjaelle rolled, and Vantra nailed the wrist cuffs.
One shriek died; Janny swept her sword through the man Vantra had sailed through, and he collapsed, discorporating. She slapped a shield around him to keep him confined.
“Who the—” a woman with two wooden sticks in her bun began.
“What are you doing?”
She recognized Yeralis as his furious scream overrode the woman. He swiped the air with a hand, the other plastered to his face as he tried to recover his appearance. His hair waved as wildly as his fury, giving him a stark, senseless quality.
“Discorporating the barnacles,” Janny shouted. She pivoted and sliced through his midsection.
“Don’t you dare touch me!” His essence flickered while it separated. He had enough energy to fuse the parts, but Vantra did not think he would remain viable if struck again. “Do you know who I am?”
“Don’t care,” Janny said, revisiting her strike. Her sword bounced off a shield, and she growled, grabbing the hilt in both hands to keep it in her possession.
Kjaelle rose, and Vantra could feel Darkness rise with her. The woman frowned and stepped back, then flung a barrier between them before turning and racing for the boat already taking off. Kjaelle rammed into the protection and it broke, but not in time to stop Yeralis from following. He yelped as he attempted to trigger Ether Touch, failed, missed the departing vessel, and splashed into the water, cursing. Another sped past him; bodyguards snagged his collar and yanked him into the bed without care for his being.
“GOT ONE!” Kenosera shouted as he flung the mooring into a nearby boat.
The three of them ran and jumped on board as the giant changeling turned, and their howl vibrated the air.
“Should be a neigh!” Kjaelle yelled at the beast as Kenosera pushed the vessel from the dock with his feet and Yut-ta started the motor. They took off, avoiding the strike of claw, and the waves that followed carried them further away from the beast.
The giant changeling took three steps before another blinding Light-blessed attack forced Vantra to look away.
“Kjlat,” Kjaelle muttered as they sailed into the path the Light spell cut through the dark fog beyond the outcropping. Vantra peeked behind; the giant was shifting as the smaller changelings kept Jare and his companions busy. A reptilian head that resembled an ankis formed, and she clutched the shard to her chest; ankis swam underwater. They planned to give chase.
