Steel, Fire, Honor and Ruin
Chapter 16
leap of faith
Location: Albion… wherever the hell that is…
Day 54
Maria Shepard squirmed in her bindings as she cast a glance to the near Mako sized rock that had just fallen from the sky. What the hell had thrown that? And did it have big teeth?
"Quick experiment," she said, looking over at the two remaining skeleton warriors still standing guard over her. The one on the right had her phalanx and locust tied to its belt. "If I said I was going to burn through these ropes and take my guns back in about ten seconds… what would you both do?"
Both skeletons pulled their swords out and readied their shields.
Maria nodded. "Okay then. There is some intelligence inside those skulls after all."
She charged her body with biotic power and then sent out a tightly condensed burst around herself. The ropes tying her down disintegrated in a blink, followed by the steel chair buckling in half from the force of the wave.
This caused Maria to fall on her ass with an 'oof!' in a most unbecoming way for humanity's first Spectre. The two skeletons came at her swinging forcing Maria to roll away and their swords struck the ground. She gathered more biotic power and pulled the shield out of one's hands and followed that with a cryo-blast from her omni-tool. The super-cooled drone snap froze through the skeleton's chest plate reaching its boney chest. When the skeleton took another step, its body broke in half. The second skeleton was already stepping over its fallen comrade, so Maria gathered biotic power in her hands and lifted that skeleton off the ground. She brought him up to the ruined ceiling, then pulled it back to the ground with a resounding smash. The skeleton's body simply broke apart at the impact, sending bone and armor in all directions.
"Easy, peesy." Two skeletons down with little effort. If the vampires were going to be a problem, it was good to know that at least their servants were less of a threat.
Maria stepped forward to retrieve her weapons but stopped when the skeleton she had frozen and broken in half suddenly moved. Its torso, still largely in take, reached out and grabbed its sword, then started pulling itself across the ground and toward Maria.
"Ooookay." She sent a warp at it and shattered the skull. It stopped moving after that.
Well then. It appears that the skeletons were just a little bit more determined to finish the job when compared to Reaper husks. If she pumped enough lead into a husk's body, it at least had the decency to die and stay dead.
Maria picked up her locust and phalanx and returned them to her belt. It felt good having them back. Just before she turned to leave the ruined building she stopped, picked up one of the skeletons' sword belts, buckled it around her waist, then retrieved one of the discarded swords.
Someone had taken her Reiksguard blade and she didn't know who yet. This would be a convenient replacement. On a hunch, before sliding the sword into the sheath, Maria took a practice swing through the air. The blade became lighter in the swing and took on a faint white glow for a few moments before losing it and returning to normal steel again.
"That's what I'm talking about," she said with a smile as she sheathed the magic glowing sword.
That smile disappeared when she heard the sounds of battle coming from outside. Whatever had thrown the boulder was still bellowing, as were its friends. She could make out three or four separate calls. One was already too many for her and she hadn't even seen them yet. Swords striking swords, shouts of anger and desperation, all of it filled the night.
The big question, was Maria better off with these 'locals', or should she just make a run for it? That vampire, Markos von Carstein, had killed the crew of the wolfship and most likely taken the warship with his own forces. Knowing the vampire and the powers at his disposal, if Maria did find the ship again it was probably still crewed by the reanimated corpses of Captain Leonardsson and his men. The thought of seeing them now made her stomach lurch.
She wouldn't know what to do until she got her bearings, so Maria squared her shoulders and walked out of the building and into the night.
It was dark, but the moons cast their glow across the ground. The normal one high in the sky. Its ugly green counterpart partially hidden along the horizon. Maria found herself within a village, just as ruined as the building she had been prisoner inside. There were stone roads, nearly overgrown. Houses broken apart into rubble. Other buildings barely standing. A few looking almost as complete as the one behind her, at least before the boulder smashed it.
One thing stood out in the ruined town. A wide courtyard was in front of her. Standing upright in the center of the courtyard were six stones, each carved into tall spires. They stood around twelve feet tall and were evenly spaced out into a circle about twenty feet in diameter.
She could see the air faintly twisting around each individual stone. That couldn't bode well. Magic stones standing in ominous circles within a ruined city.
A block down the street to her left Maria witnessed another boulder fall from the black sky and crash through two homes. The rock then rolled through a line of soldiers packed tightly in the street. No one screamed or even flinched at the destruction. It was then Maria realized nearly all the soldiers in the street were undead. Ahead of the group she could see torches being carried by the living. She couldn't make out their affiliation, honestly she could barely see them, but Maria could here them shouting and fighting the skeleton warriors. A quick glance down the street on her right showed the same. Undead fighting the living.
Maria jogged around the stone ring and through the courtyard. The center of town was strangely empty. Every street she looked down was packed with fighting. Markos von Carstein had seemingly pulled everyone he had to fight off the attack.
A group of horses came ridding up the street quickly coming up on Maria. The vampire of the day was leading the group. He had a column of soldiers behind him marching back toward the center courtyard.
Maria tensed and had a hand on her locust as Markos rode up. They had appeared from the dark so quickly she hadn't had the time to duck into one of the broken-down buildings surrounding them.
"Ah, Maria. Good that you're here." He brought his horse to a stop in front of her. She couldn't help but shy back. The horse was as unnatural as the being that rode it. The creature was solid black, but its eyes were red. It hadn't run across the broken street; it had crushed the ground beneath its hooves. The way it stood now, looking at her, Maria saw both life and death. The horse would try to stomp her at a moments notice, but only after its master gave the command. Its eyes were angry and yet unsettlingly blank.
It also had visible teeth. Sharp teeth.
Markos had a splatter of blood across his face. "We're going to lose the town," he informed her. He looked annoyed over the whole thing. "There are too many men. And they have five giants going mad –"
"Giants?!" Maria repeated.
"Yes, giants. Yelling and smashing everything in sight, and I don't have the means to kill them all." Markos twisted in the saddle to quickly glance over his shoulder, then turned back to her. "My forces can hold them at bay while we make our escape. You're coming with me Shepard."
Her suit's tech armor activated around her body. "Am I? From the way you explained it, all I need to do is stand against you here, and in a minute, I'll have the cavalry come to rescue me."
Markos laughed out. It was cruel and mocking. "You'd be right, if we were standing here two-thousand years ago. But that much time isolated on this island land has changed everything living.
"The druids' minds have muddled from constant exposure to mushrooms and tainted magic. The giants have gone dumb and stupid from inbreeding. If you want to risk your life trying to reason with that lot while in the grip of a drooling giant, then be my guest."
The horse stomped beside Maria. She had to crane her neck now that Markos towered over her. He leaned down in the saddle and locked eyes with her. "I need you alive Shepard. I need you coherent and in one piece when I deliver you back to the Count. This far from civilized land, ridding beside a vampire is your only chance now."
He wasn't lying. She didn't have his ability to sniff out lies, but she knew he wasn't lying now. He might be exaggerating the state of the locals, but he would keep her alive as they tried to get back to the Empire.
"So Albion is an island?"
"A rather large one. A few hundred miles of Norsca's western shore. I arrived with four ships. Now with a wolfship I have five. They are anchored together off the coast. But first we have to get there."
Maria's mind flashed back to the sailors. "I'm not setting foot on the wolfship now."
"I accept your terms." He offered her his hand. "Life or death, it's time to choose."
Maria looked at his outstretched hand. The sounds of battle still echoed around them, but much closer now since they started talking. Another loud bellow was quickly followed by the sounds of splintering wood and shattered stone. Except those sounds were too close. The riders behind Markos jerked in their saddles shouting in alarm.
And then the buildings beside them exploded.
Shrapnel of stone and wood flew into the street, straight into their group. Maria saw Markos knocked out of his saddle right before his horse crashed into her chest. Debris filled the air around her as the horse's body carried her with it, until they both fell to the ground. Her tech armor burst away as the weight of the black beast crushed down on her chest. What remained of the buildings rained back down.
Her head was ringing as a trickle of blood ran down her scalp. She had felt the brick that clipped her. But that hardly compared to the several hundred pounds of horse now laying on top of her. A dead horse, she reasoned, noting the lack of the animal struggling. Her right arm was trapped against her chest, and every breath she fought for drew less air in as the animal's weight settled on her.
She was suffocating. Her left arm was free, and Maria pushed for all she was worth to gain the inch she needed to draw breath. She desperately started pulling on her biotic power. She'd need to blast the horse away.
That's when another bellow filled the air, and Maria got her first glimpse of a giant as it set a huge, and bare, foot down in the street she had so recently been standing on.
It had to be at least sixty feet tall. It looked like a man, and had the proportions of one, but its arms were unnaturally long and stretched down to its knees. It was fair skinned but covered in dirt and grime. The head was bald. It had thick and overgrown eyebrows. Layers of what looked like brown leather were crudely sewn together and covered its chest in a vest. The same leather was fastened together to form pants spotted with holes and tears. The giant's mouth opened wide revealing only a spattering of teeth as it shouted again and raised one of his hands high above his head.
In the giants hand he held a thick tree truck, with what looked like another boulder crisscrossed with rope tied at the end, to form a crude like club. He swung his club down and Maria witnessed dozens of skeleton warriors careen through the air. The swing was so wide that another nearby building was destroyed.
Maria was forced to take the biotic energy she had been gathering to lift the horse and instead raise a shield around herself as a particularly large portion of rubble headed for her. She strained as the weight of the ruined building shattered against the barrier. When the pieces fell away Maria let her arm drop and gasped for breath. She'd need to start over now, and she'd have to do it fast.
Because the giant was looking down at her. He had noticed the blue shimmer of her biotic shield. Even as Maria struggled, he lifted his leg and brought his foot to hang directly over her.
The sole of his foot was covered with dirt and had bits of stone as big as her head stuck into the skin. She gasped for breath as her biotic power slipped away from her. Too late. There wasn't enough time.
The foot came down. Maria screwed her eyes shut just as she felt something coil about inside her chest and pull.
Suddenly, she fell. She had a strong feeling of vertigo as she gulped in a lungful of air and forced her eyes back open.
Markos von Carstein kneeled over her as she lay half on the ground and half in his arms. A cloud of black smoke hung above the grass around them, then drifted away to nothing.
The Drakenhof Templar stood, hauling Maria up with him, and he set her aside on unsteady feet.
"Any reason you couldn't do that yourself?" he griped.
Somebody wasn't getting a thank you. "Your horse is dead," she said, stepping out of his grasp.
"I know. I liked that horse," and Maria could her an actual growl in his voice. "Pure bred Sylvanian stock. I had him brought across the sea with me. What a waste…"
She watched as he took a few steps toward the giant, who was only standing two dozen feet away at the most. Around the vampire Maria witnessed the air thicken and gather about. It swirled around him from his feet to his head, but strangely his hair didn't even ruffle at the current.
He was calling on his magic, she realized. Might as well start recognizing it for what it truly was.
The magic swirled around his body and as more of it began to gather it filled the space above and around the vampire. Maria watched with wide eyes as the air began to take on a deep reddish hue. Markos was speaking but her translator couldn't identify the words. He then stretched his arms wide, and with physical effort, pushed them forward, driving the magic toward the giant in a single massed wave of power.
The red hued air struck the giant and continued to wash over him like water flowing over a boulder. Markos shouted the last word of his spell and immediately after the giant bellowed again, this time is pain.
Maria unconsciously took a step back from what she was seeing. The giant's skin was being eaten away by the magic, exposing the tissue and muscle beneath, which just began dissolving as well. She watched as the giant's body wasted away at impossible speed. The tall creature thrashed around, slapping its mighty hands against itself as though it could wipe away Markos' power.
The giant's last act as its flesh was entirely eaten away was to raise the mighty club high over its head in one last swing. The bones in its arm snapped away before it could strike, and the club fell to the ground with a crash. The giant's skeleton only remained standing a moment longer, and then it too crumbled in a heap, dead and gone at last.
A loud 'pop' echoed across the ruined city. At the sound the red air at Markos' commend vanished in an instant. The vampire reacted as though struck and staggered back a step. But he just turned and strolled back to Maria's side with a smug grin on his face.
"And to think those druids once commanded more magical power on this island then the entire realms of man today," he scoffed with a shake of his head. "I take one of their precious guardians from them and all they can manage in return is to give a slap on the wrist. Oh how the mighty have fallen."
Maria's gaze was still locked to the spot a giant had once stood. The only spells she'd seen so far had been between the damsel and the skaven she encountered back in Bretonnia. Green lightening and angry plant life had nothing on the power of death she just witnessed.
Maria had enough common sense to understand the power of this world's magic. Hell, she had read about what it could do back in Nuln. But seeing it firsthand was another thing entirely. Biotics were prized and horded by every species in the galaxy for the destructive potential they could unleash on a battlefield.
Biotics had nothing on a competent magic user of this planet.
It was crazy now that she thought about it… but everyone who knew about the subject had said she had magic. And even if she didn't fully comprehend how, she did survive her fight against the dark elf black dragon thanks to it.
A small tingle of excitement filled her. If she could learn to truly harness this power, what would the future hold for her?
Markos strolled past her. "Come. We still need to escape to the shore and reach my ships."
The surviving knights that had escaped the giant's wrath rode up to Markos and Maria. The one in the lead, another vampire Maria could see that now, had another black-haired horse ready and Markos hauled himself into the saddle without effort. A second vampire pulled a horse forward for Maria, but she was in no hurry to leap on its back.
She stared at the thing. "You have got to be joking."
It wasn't a living horse. It wore armor much like George had, but this horse was literally nothing but a skeleton with a saddle on its bock.
Markos spun his living horse around to face her. "We make do with what we must Shepard. My will binds the dead together, and as long as it lasts, this mount will out pace any living horse you can find.
"But its your choice of course, my lady," he added with a smirk. "If you think you can run alongside us all the way to the coast then be my guest."
The vampire holding the reins of the skeleton horse for her smiled showing his fangs, amused at the thought. Bastard. Markos could mock her, but this guy hadn't earned the right. She swiped the reins from his hand and hauled herself up into the saddle.
"How do I work this thing?" she asked.
Markos chuckled. "Treat it as though it were living, which it technically is. Its mind may be bound but its natural instincts remain." He turned his own horse back to the center of the town, away from the fighting. "Come now. We ride for the coast."
Maria spurred the horse forward and the skeleton between her legs responded. Together, she, Markos, his vampires, and a few skeletal knights on their own undead steeds rode back to the center courtyard and the building she had so recently been held prisoner inside. Around them they could still hear the sounds of steel striking steel and the occasional bellow of a giant as the creatures destroyed more run-down buildings and crushed the undead soldiers.
Just ahead, Maria could see the stone circle coming into view. And that's when the wind suddenly picked up, lightening flashed across the clear night sky, and the ground shook. Markos pulled his horse to a quick stop, Maria doing the same directly beside him. He was glaring up at the night sky and the lightening streaking across above their heads.
"Nagash's Blood!" he growled angrily. "What is it now?!"
The lightening flashed once more and struck the stone circle that stood before them. The wind howled and died just as suddenly. Two of the stones standing tall side by side began to glow with a faint white light. Maria could see the air begin to shimmer between them. It grew thick and continued to solidify until she could see nothing beyond the barrier.
Correction. She could see beyond it. Except it wasn't the town behind the circle she was seeing now. Dark human sized shapes began to come into focus. And that's when the shapes came running out of the opaque doorway.
Beastmen. Angry, shouting, they poured out of the stone circle seemingly from thin air. A horde of beastmen that took no time to acknowledge their new surroundings, and just started attacking everything in sight. Which right now was a group of skeleton warriors that had been waiting for their return.
A top his horse beside her Markos starred at the inhuman creatures as the herd continued rush through the magical opening and tear into his forces. In a sudden burst of movement, he drew his sword, and before she could react, had it at Maria's throat.
"Who are you?!" he demanded. His fangs were out and a shadow of something flashed over his furious features. It didn't look human.
"What are you talking?" Maria held very still and prayed the dead horse would do so as well.
Markos snarled and pressed the blade against her skin. "We are done playing games woman! Tell me who you really are! No wonder your magic is so strange. Tell me what dark powers you serve! Tell me! Or I'll slice your throat and leave you choking on your own blood!"
His eyes bore into hers. Behind his voice Maria heard the strangest sound, and it took her a moment to realize what it was. Markos von Carstein, the Drakenhof Templar, veteran of a war fought over five-hundred years ago, was worried. He was scared of something.
"Markos," Maria said as calmly as she could, "I don't know what you're talking about. I don't know what's going anymore than you do. I'm lost and out of my depth here. I'm not lying, you'd know if I was."
Her heart raced. She had just watched him turn a giant to dust. If he wanted her dead, Maria wasn't entirely sure she could stop him.
One of the vampires behind them urged his horse forward. "Markos! We must get out of here! Cut her throat or don't, but we cannot stay!"
A bellowing behind them helped drive the point home. Markos and Maria both looked back to see another giant just as it crushed the last few skeleton warriors hopelessly standing against it. The sixty-foot-tall behemoth shouted to the air as the locals ran through its legs and toward their group. Most were wearing nothing more than furs and had only clubs and axes in their hands, but they made up for it with sheer numbers.
Giants behind. Beastmen in front. What a night this turned out to be. Just this morning Maria had been on the wolfship still sailing for Ulthuan.
Markos withdrew his sword from her neck. "We settle this on the boat then." He turned in the saddle. "Riders to the fore!" he shouted. "Cut us a path through the mutated beasts!"
The few skeletal knights in their group rode forward with lances raised and swords drawn. They formed a line seven riders wide and two lines deep between the beastmen and their master.
"Stay by my side," Markos commanded Maria, still looking extremely pissed off. "I can't keep you safe if I don't know where you are. And you don't want those beasts getting a hold of you any more than the giants."
Keep her safe? Maria supposed he would. The Count he served wanted her back after all. But the recent turn of events and his mood didn't inspire a lot of confidence. She was screwed no matter who got a hold of her.
Ahead of them the beastmen continued to run out of the magical doorway created between the stone pillars. She stared at the shimmering air and the dark shapes beyond still waiting to come through. That implied a place where the beastmen were coming from.
And one could travel through a doorway in either direction, right?
Markos' horse reared up. "Ready!" he shouted. "Charge!"
The skeletal knights lowered their weapons and raced toward the beastmen and skeleton warriors still in combat. A moment passed to give them room, and then Markos urged his own mount forward. Maria followed right beside him, along with the rest of the vampires. She could hear them all drawing their own swords too.
All of them broke into a gallop. Despite being nothing but a skeleton, Maria's horse pounded the ground beneath its hooves and kept the pace. She hoped Markos hadn't been joking when he said his will would keep the horse's bones together, because the line of beastmen was coming up fast.
The skeletal knights in front of them hit hard into the line of fighters. More than one crashed to the ground by the sheer weight of numbers before it, but most of the riders carried through. Maria urged her own horse to follow directly behind the largest opening. More beastmen spilled into the gap before she was through, but her horse rode them down without hesitation. It was just like when she had ridden George through the beastmen that had attacked her back in Middenland. Their furred bodies and crude weapons bounced off the heavy armor platting protecting its skeletal frame.
One of the goat-headed beastmen managed to grab a hold on the saddle. Its eyes were mad, and it opened its mouth revealing sharp teeth as it let out an angry bray. Even as it bounced along, it managed to raise an axe above its head and take a swing at Maria.
She pumped a warp directly into the things face before it could complete the swing. Its headless body lost its grip on the saddle and fell back to the ground, to be trampled beneath the hooves of the horse.
Soon after Maria and the remaining riders all broke through the beastmen lines to emerge on the relatively calm far side of the stone circle. A few of the beasts chases after them, but the vampires easily cut them down. Markos brought his horse to a stop as he swiped his blade down and behead a lizard-faced beastman beside him.
Maria pulled the reins to bring her own dead mount to a halt just behind him. She looked around to see that only eight of the original fourteen skeletal knights had survived the charge. At the rate Markos was losing this battle she wondered if he had enough forces left to crew the boats he had waiting.
"Shepard!" he called out, his horse pivoting under him as he dispatched another beastman. "You alive?"
Maria ignored him. Her entire concentration was fixed on the two stone spires that created the doorway for the beastmen to surge through. Even as more of the creatures exited the shimmering air on the opposite of the pillars, Maria could no longer see them as they exited. Instead, all she saw now was open space with a clearly visible horizon. A few dark shapes moved beyond, but they were ignoring the doorway.
She was seeing the opposite side of the magical barrier. It acted as an entrance and exit from either side depending which direction one took.
This was her chance. Vampires. Beastmen. Giants. Or a semi-empty looking field through a magical portal leading god only knew where.
Maria snapped the reins and kicked the dead horse beneath her. It took off at her command straight for the two stone spires.
"Shepard!" she heard Markos shout from behind her. "What in the name of – Stop! You don't know what you're doing!"
Understatement of the year, she thought. But Maria had made her choice, she had no intention of turning back now. Her horse was at a gallop and the doorway was only a dozen feet ahead when suddenly, it stumbled, and then broke apart from underneath her, sending Maria careening over the broken bones and loose armor, and then rolling across the ground.
She groaned as she pushed back up to her knees. That had hurt. Markos had said his will kept the horse together. Guess it was stupid of her to assume he'd let her go without a fight.
"Maria!" She looked back to see Markos start ridding toward her. "Don't!" Was he actually worried for her? Or just worried over the whole thing happening around the?
Either way, Maria ignored him as she got back to her feet and sprinted for the stones. She ran for all she was worth and then jumped the remaining distance straight through the shimmering portal.
/ooooooo\
Location: Unknown
Day: Unknown
Maria Shepard was flung out of the other side of the magic doorway screaming. She hit the ground and rolled, coming to a stop cradling her arms around herself, and buried her forehead into the cool grass beneath her. Her entire body had felt like it had been on fire and she cried with tears leaking out the corners of her eyes as she breathed heavily. Her whole body shook as she pressed her face deeper into the grass. The scent of the earth helped calm her frayed nerves.
She forced herself to take steady breaths. "You're alive," she whispered to herself. "You're alive. You're alive." In the back of her mind an image of something receded away. She couldn't remember what it looked like now, but the mere thought of it returning sent a terrifying jolt through her and she whimpered like a scared child.
"No." Maria grit her teeth and pushed the fear away. She was a goddamned marine and humanity's first Spectre. Things feared her, not the other way around. As she got a hold of herself, the world around her began coming back into focus.
The first noise she recognized was the screams of the dying.
Adrenaline spiked through her as Maria pushed back up to her feet. Wherever she was it was no longer night. The sun was out but the sky was grey with solid cloud cover. Winds blew strong and the sound of thunder filled the sky. Lightening flashed.
Looking around, Maria discovered she was inside another stone circle. But the circle in Albion paled in comparison to the one she found herself inside now.
There were again six stones spaced evenly around the open meadow at least a hundred feet in diameter. But these stones were enormous. Each had to be nearly a dozen feet wide and stood sixty feet high; as tall as the giants had been. They were solid black in color and a green haze hung close around the height of each.
Between the two stone spires closest to Maria the air hung thick, creating the doorway she had crossed. Beyond the near opaque veil of magic she could see the beastmen rushing forward and disappearing through the magical barrier.
The beastmen that were part of the huge army that now surrounded her. That's where the screams were coming from.
Maria found herself in the center of a bloody battle. Beyond the stone spires she saw the colorful uniforms and banners of the Empire. Nearly all were a mix of red and white, the colors of Reikland's troops. Cannons boomed and muskets popped, as lines of swordsmen and halberdiers held against the bestial savagery of the beastmen horde.
There were giants here as well. Horribly deformed like their smaller brethren. Crashing through the Imperial lines and swinging mighty clubs at anything in their path. She watched a pair of griffons dive with piercing screams out of the sky and collide into the two nearest of the behemoths. She could see the blood being spilled even from her spot between the stones.
A flash of black lightening originating from the top of one of the stone pillars struck out toward the ground and ripped through the Imperial lines. Men screamed and the ground was scorched as the lighting tore through at least a hundred soldiers before a wave of fire erupted above their heads, shielding them from the black lightening.
Maria stared with wide eyes as the umbrella of fire then swirled tightly together and grew into a huge ball of flame. The fireball was unleashed into the air back toward the black stone, but when it got close the flames struck the green mist barrier and fizzled away to nothing. The stone only seemed to darken and swallow even more light into itself.
A guttural roar far to close for comfort had Maria spinning on the spot with her locust already in her hands.
Near the center of the hundred-foot-wide stone circle stood a dozen soldiers fighting more of the beastmen. Three were still on horseback, the others on foot. The roar had come from a group of minotaurs that had climbed up the small hill the stone spires stood upon and decided to join the fight.
Two of the minotaurs spotted Maria. One had a giant cleaver in its hands. The other, a wide axe. They roared again and charged her, their hooved feet digging into the grass. Now that she had been spotted, some more beastmen hollered up at the sky and started running towards her from the opposite direction. She was going to be surrounded and swarmed if she didn't reach the Empire soldiers fighting in the center of the circle.
The beastmen were closer. She shouldered the locust and pulled the trigger, sending a stream of bullets into the group. She killed a dozen before she almost forgot about the damned thermal clip overheating.
Mentally chiding herself, Maria clipped the submachine gun on her belt and started running for the Imperials. One of the beastmen threw a spear into the air with a crazy degree of aim forcing Maria to raise a barrier or be skewered. Her tech armor came to life immediately after and she launched a warp into the beastman's chest, killing him instantly.
"Maybe Markos knew what he was talking about," she panted as she ran. Hindsight being what it was she might have been better off with him.
The two minotaurs were just about on her now and coming up fast. Maria kept running as she reached for her heavy pistol. Taking aim on the cleaver wielding minotaur she thumbed on the aiming laser and fired a pair of shots at his head. The first took off his ear, the second struck his forehead. The beast's momentum kept him moving even though he was dead, then his body fell, and its horns dug deep into the ground causing the body to roll over itself.
Its partner, as if he wasn't pissed off enough already, roared and raised his axe above his head in a two-handed grip.
Then he chucked it at her.
"Oh shit!" Maria had to dive to the ground to avoid being cut in half. As it was, the haft of the axe still struck her shoulder, sending Maria tumbling across the grass. It felt like her shoulder had been dislocated, but her tech armor was still active telling Maria it wasn't as strong a hit as it had felt. Still hurt enough for her liking.
She rolled to her knees just in time to see the minotaur lower its head, clearly intending to impale her on its horns.
Maria didn't have enough time to do much else but raise both her arms and fill the air between them with enough biotic energy to create a solid blue wall. The minotaur struck the barrier, literally, head-on. She felt the collision in her brain there had been that much force behind it.
The minotaur however fared worse. Both its horns snapped away under the impact and it staggered back, clearly stunned, as it struggled to stay standing on wobbly legs. Before Maria could do anything else one of the remaining mounted Imperial knights came ridding by and slashed the minotaur with his sword, decapitating the creature with a single swing.
Maria used the time he bought her to yank out her pistol and shoot a few more beastmen that were getting to close.
The knight came ridding up to Maria as she got to her feet. His horse was huge, just as big as George had been, and just as heavily protected by, now blood covered, solid metal plates. The knight was wearing a full gilded suit of silver armor, with a helm that hid his face and had a collection of white and red feathers sticking out the top. Red and white ribbons wrapped over his shoulders and hung down his chest and back. On the knight's chest plate directly over his heart was a red cross.
He was a Reiksguard Knight in all the splendor and glory of their order.
As Maria looked at him she'd couldn't help but note that his armor and sword also appeared to be glowing with a faint golden light.
"Friend or foe?" the Reiksguard demanded of Maria as he brought his horse to stand facing her. Perfect position to run her down if she answered incorrectly.
Which she wouldn't. She wasn't stupid.
"Friend!" Maria said quickly, remembering to reply in Reikspiel. She shut off her tech armor. "I can help you fight the beastmen!"
He sheathed his sword as the horse stepped up beside her. The Reiksguard offered her his hand and Maria grasped it. He helped her onto the horses back and then spun around to ride back for his comrades still fighting in the center of the circle.
"You are not a Reiklander," the Reiksguard said over his shoulder. "You were seen emerging from the barrier. Help us defeat these cursed devils and know it will buy you the goodwill you'll need when you explain yourself later."
Blunt but fair. She liked him already.
"Works for me," she replied. "Why is your armor glowing?"
"That's the wizard's work. We need to keep him alive. The battle goes poorly. If we fail here, the day may be lost."
Just then another bolt of black lightening streaked out from the top of one of the stone spires straight toward the center of the circle and the group of men fighting there. A second before it struck a golden wall of light came to life above their heads. The black bolt struck it and fractured, arcing in all directions, burning the grass and the beastmen unlucky enough to be caught by the storm of energy.
One of the arcs of lightening snapped out at Maria and the Reiksguard. She didn't even have a chance to shout out a warning before the bolt struck them.
The next thing Maria knew she was laying flat on her back. It sounded like she had cotton stuffed in her ears as all the noises of the battle were muffled. Her whole body ached but she pushed herself up so she sat on the grass.
Felt like the time she had taken a missile to the chest. She had done it on purpose, with a fully formed barrier, in order to protect those unshielded behind her, but it wasn't an experience she had ever wanted to repeat.
Her head began to clear as the sounds of fighting came back in full force. Maria looked around for the Reiksguard and his horse. She found both on the ground a few feet from her.
Neither were moving. The horse was missing its head. Only a burnt stump of flesh was all that remained above the neck. The Reiksguard had suffered just as much. His armor no longer glowed. The front of his chest plate was melted away, and the flesh underneath was gone. Maria could see into the knight's ribcage. Other than that, he looked perfectly fine. The feathers on the top of his still closed helmet waved in the wind, entirely untouched.
Both the horse and knight were dead, and the only reason Maria hadn't joined them just now was because there had been just enough flesh and armor between her and the black lightening.
What a stroke of fucking luck.
Maria sat and stared at the Reiksguard's closed helm. She hadn't even seen his face. Here was a knight who saw and fought the worst the world could throw at the Empire, but he had seen her kill only a handful of beastmen and so he had no problems extending her a hand, allowing her to fight beside him. She was wearing her collector armor. He had seen her biotics. He had seen her weapons. He had seen her come though the portal. The level of trust there was mind boggling.
And now he was dead.
The only other person on the entire planet that had shown Maria that much trust and placed that much faith in her on sight alone was the Bretonnian damsel she had met back in Parravon. That striking woman died just as quickly as this knight had.
She sat entirely still on the grass staring at the Reiksguard's body and felt something wet sliding down her cheeks. Her shoulders didn't shake, she made no sounds, but the tears fell all the same. She realized she was crying in the middle of a battlefield. She hadn't cried since the collector station.
A cold fury washed over her and that's when Maria felt something click inside her heart and mind. When she took her next breath, it felt like the first breath she had ever really taken in her life.
The air around her was alive with energy and she felt it all. She felt the small sparks of power that were the Imperial wizards embedded throughout the Reikland army. The largest of all dwarfed the combined might of those paltry mages and stood only a few feet from her position in the center of the stone circle. It had to belong to the wizard the Reiksguard had mentioned. The power there was staggering.
But even that was nothing when compared to the malignant forces emanating from the six tall spires. She could feel the hate and evil radiating off the stones, lending their dark strength to the beastmen who could wield magic just as well as their human counter parts. There was one standing a top each of the six stones.
That's what the Reiksguard had meant when he said the wizard was the best hope. The thousands of men and beastmen dying all around her were nothing when compared to the powers she felt now. Armies were nothing compared to what she felt now. All that energy, light and dark, floating in the very same air she was breathing, just waiting for someone to reach out and take it.
So she did.
It was like working a muscle she had never used before but was so like her biotics that for Maria it felt almost instinctual. She mentally reached out to the winds of magic and directed much of the flow back down to herself.
The wind struggled. Maria could feel the sorry specks of those around trying to retain their own grasps on the power. The six mutated mockeries of human life a top the stone spires resisted the most. Maria laughed at their attempts. Their minds were less than primitive. It was like asking an Asari maiden to fight a seasoned Krogan Battlemaster.
The beastmen wanted the power? Fine. Maria directed the winds to flow into them. At first the creatures celebrated their victory and greedily drew on the power. As they continued to gorge, Maria felt their minds begin to flicker in panic. There was too much power now, and they tried to stop. Panic turned to desperation, and each attempted to sever themselves from the winds. Maria brushed aside their feeble attempts and flooded their bodies with energy.
She couldn't see it, so far below the tops of the stones, but she felt it when each of the heads of the six beastmen mages exploded to pulp. She had killed them all. It felt good. One of them had been responsible for killing her Reiksguard.
Those nuisances out of the way, Maria once again redirected the winds of magic to feed her growing strength.
During all this time, she had still been sitting on the grass as fighting continued around her. She couldn't see it, but she knew when one of the beastmen got behind her and swung a rusty sword for her neck.
The blade was a hair's breadth from cutting her when Maria directed the winds to her aid. She had already done it once before after all, when the black dragon had almost eaten her back in Marienburg. A thick cloud of black smoked enveloped her entire body, and when the beastman's blade should have sliced her neck it instead passed harmlessly through the smoke.
The creature then jerked rigid as a sword was plunged through its back and erupted out its chest.
Maria stood behind the beastman as she pulled her sword free. The blade in her hands continued to glow with a faint white hue now that it had spilled blood.
Another beastman charged her with a furious shout and swung a small axe. She caught the axe with her sword, then raised her free hand. Instead of a biotic attack, she directed the winds of magic. A dozen tendrils of black smoke erupted from her outstretched hand and plunged through the beastman's chest. With the simplest thought, Maria directed the tendrils to each pull in a different direction.
The beastman's body was torn apart as the tendrils of smoke obeyed, coating Maria with a spray of the creature's filthy blood as the chunks of flesh fell to the ground.
Disgusting, she thought as she tasted the blood on her lips. But it was highly effective.
She spun around to face the center of the stone circle, where Reiksguard still fought. She also felt the commanding wizard's mind as he tried to understand the sudden shift of power in the winds of magic. He wasn't fighting to restrain the winds, unlike the beastman mage he was currently dueling.
Maria witnessed one of the Reiksguard get knocked off his feet as a trio of beastmen closed in for the kill. He was doomed. No one was close enough to save him from the mutants.
Curious, Maria pulled on more power from the winds. Could she reach him in time?
A flash of black smoke and Maria was suddenly standing in front of the downed Reiksguard. She caught the sword of the left beastman against her tech armor and forearm. The right most beastman's axe she stopped with her sword. The center beastman took his axes, one in each hand, and drove them down at her shoulders. The axes stopped short when they hit the biotic barrier she raised between them.
Huh. Would you look at that. She did reach the Reiksguard in time.
In another puff of black smoke Maria vanished, only to appear standing behind the three beastmen. She cut the head off one. Sent another flying back with a biotic warp to the chest. And then she paralyzed the last with an overload burst from her omni-tool.
Which gave her all the time in the world to drive the point of her sword through its skull.
This was right, she thought as she pulled the sword free. This was how the world worked on its most fundamental level. The strong survived. She had learned that lesson on the streets of Earth and it still proved true on this planet.
If she was strong, she could protect herself.
A cry of pain drew Maria's attention. She witnessed a minotaur pull his axe from the bisected body of the Reiksguard in front of him.
If she was the strongest, she could protect everyone.
Maria reached out to the winds of magic and pulled on every current. The stone pillars didn't like sharing their power. Maria didn't care and took from them anyway. Around her the winds raged and cascaded down into her body like a waterfall.
She remembered what Markos had done back on Albion. It seemed prudent with the multitude of minotaurs and beastmen surrounding her.
She took the magic at her command and let it flow out around her. Black smoke billowed out from her body at impressive speed and enveloped every living thing fighting inside the six stone pillars. The Reiksguard panicked at the loss of sight, and she could feel the wizard try to push back against her work, so Maria altered the fog and allowed everything human the freedom to see through the smoke.
This still left the beastmen blind. They brayed and roared in confusion as the unhindered Reiksguard made short work of putting all the dark beasts to the blade. In seconds, Maria had turned a pitched battle into a stunning victory.
Blood coated the ground and from somewhere Maria could hears the faintest sounds of laughter. She dismissed the smoke with a thought, and with it the beastman mage stood visible.
The creature was taller than the average beastman, but still only looked any other member of its feral kind. A goat's head with long curling horns, a man's body, and the waist and legs of a goat. It wore a number of rags fashioned to look like a cloak that hung down from its horns and covered its body. In one hand it held a bloodied axe. In the other it held a staff with skulls of multiple species tied to its length.
It met her eyes as its lips peeled back in a snarl. The creature knew what kind of threat she was. She watched as the beastman opened itself and grasped each of the six stone spires and the power within them. The thing began to chant in some sort of gruesome sounding imitation of words as the green mist surrounding the black stones peeled away and were sucked into the mage's body. The clouds above darkened and swirled about. Black lightening was called down and struck the beastman's outstretched staff and axe.
Maria couldn't help but be in awe as she watched the winds of magic respond to the beastman's call. It was strangely beautiful. So much power at one's fingertips. She knew the creature already had the capability to snuff her life out in an instant, and there wasn't a thing she would be able to do to stop it. But still the beastman chanted. No, it wasn't going to just kill her. It was going to wipe out the entire human army still fighting around the stone circle. It was going to send a message to the civilized world that its kind were supreme, and soon nothing would stand when he and the army marched forth. Ruin would be all that remained.
Would this be her someday? Could she learn to control that much magic? She wouldn't find out if she let the beastman complete his plan. The crude mage thought Maria was going to fight it on equal terms. Magic against magic.
The idiot.
Maria reached for her locust and shouldered the submachine gun. Someone with a strange sounding voiced shouted from behind her in warning.
"Stop! Don't shoot!"
Maria pulled the trigger anyways. The thing had to die. She needed to spill its blood.
The bullets tore through the beastman's skull. The lifeless body fell to the ground, and its hold over the storm of power was released.
She replaced the gun back to her hip with a smile on her face. Job done. Competition gone. Now she could set about killing the rest of the beastman army. So much blood waiting to be spilled.
And that's when the sky exploded.
/ooooooo\
A wave of solid air with the speed and strength of a bomb detonated outward from the center of the stone circle. It drove Maria and everyone else around to their knees and was quickly followed by a sonic boom that deafened her.
The winds of magic thrashed above Maria's head. She huddled against the ground as more explosions continued to randomly pulse out from the sky above. Each one felt like a hammer strike against her skull. Her chest twisted painfully as the magic that had so recently been hers to command tore from her body. Her ears and nose bled as another wave of air struck her again.
Around the stone circle the Reikland army and beastman war herd cried out at the discharge of magical energy. The humans in clear pain and suffering. The war herd bellowed with untapped ferocity now unleashed and fell on their helpless victims with renewed bloodlust.
Maria rolled on the ground and forced herself to look upwards. Where once there were clouds, now there was nothing but a black hole sucking all hope and life from the world.
She stared at the thing hanging in the sky. How? What was it? Had she caused that? It was like looking at the end of the world.
The black hole sent another deafening explosion across the clearing.
Maria cringed but could see the dark force of the six black stones feeding the hole in the sky. Their power was helping the black hole to grow even larger.
She had controlled that power only moments ago, she'd do it again.
She forced herself up to her knees, only to be knocked down by another blast. But Maria struggled harder and found her footing. Extending her arms outwards towards the stones she reached out and found the magic. As soon as her mind touched the power she screamed. It hurt so much, it felt like dying. But her grip on the magic held, and Maria began yanking it back down to earth.
The stone spires welcomed her assistance. They didn't like their energy being stolen from them. What little bit of power they could spare was sent deep into Maria and lent her strength.
Later on she'd have to examine how she knew the stones had feelings and desires, but right now she was to busy trying not to have her body torn apart at the seams.
Even as Maria struggled, from behind her she could her a voice gain volume and intensity. A figure wearing a gold leather jacket and red robes walked, actually walked, through the storm and passed Maria she struggled just to remain kneeling. She knew instantly that it was the wizard the Reiksguard had told her about.
The man held his left arm high and in his grip was a crafted golden staff that radiated a power that hurt Maria's eyes even as she refused to look away. He walked to stand just a few paces in front of Maria, shouting at the top of his lungs in a language she didn't understand. The staff in his hands continued to glow brighter and brighter, in direct challenge to the black hole that devoured the light greedily.
What power the beastman mage had flaunted so proudly was nothing compared to what this wizard was now calling upon. Maria did her best to control the spire's magic, but she couldn't help but wonder what, if any, help she was providing.
The wizard thrust his staff even higher into the air, and a golden light came down from above, piercing through the center of the black hole. The dark mass above them roared with new wrath at the afront to its power. Maria felt the stream of blood continuing to pour out of her ears and nose. She struggled to maintain her grip on the magic, but it felt like she was moments from being swallowed.
"Let go!" the wizard shouted over his shoulder and she knew he was talking to her. Well he was the one who knew what he was doing, she was barely conscious at this point.
Maria released her hold over spires' magic and hugged the ground as the sky shook. The wizard shouted again and then thrust his staff into the earth. His entire being was filled with a golden light that grew to blinding intensity.
The golden light burst from him in all directions and traveled over the ground at speed. Maria tensed in preparation for the light, but when it passed over her, she felt nothing but comfort. For a split second, all her aches and pains vanished. Her mind was clear. As the wave of golden light passed her by the feeling vanished just as suddenly at it had appeared.
The golden light passed through and enveloped the six black stone spires and proceeded to encompass the entire lands around. The Reikland army was entirely unaffected.
The beastman war herd was not so lucky.
As soon as the wave of golden light touched a single hair on their bodies, no matter the creature be it giant, goat thing, lizard thing, minotaur, or some other hideous monstrosity, the creature was struck immobile and its body turned to gold.
It took less than twenty seconds for the wave of light to wash over everything around the six spires of stone. In its place stood a shell-shocked but jubilant Reikland force, and a new forest of solid gold beastmen statues.
Still on her knees Maria looked around the stone circle. The few surviving Reiksguard were getting back to their feet. From beyond the stones she could see and hear the Reikland soldiers cheering at the victory.
And speaking of stones. The six tall spires were dormant. Maria could still sense the dark magic still deep inside them, but it was beyond her ability to grasp.
In fact, she had lost all connection to the winds of magic. The meadow was entirely empty of the power. She felt hollow without it filling her up, but at the same time relieved. Her mind now clear of its influence, she knew that it had altered her way of thinking to a dangerous extent.
Not that she was complaining. That power had let her destroy her enemies.
It had also ripped a hole in reality, so, you know, take the good with the bad, she supposed.
The wizard turned and walked to stand just in front of Maria. The glow around him and his highly detailed staff had lessened considerably, and she finally got a good look at the man.
Or didn't. His gold jacket and red robes covered his entire body and almost seemed to shimmer in the light of the now clearing sky. The jacket had a high collar that rose up behind his head, and his red robe wrapped tightly around his neck, hiding the skin beneath. Long leather gloves covered his hands. Around his waist was a thick leather belt that had a number of small bags and glass vials tied to it. Around his neck hung a golden amulet that somehow drew what little magic she still felt away from her.
And his face. Well, that was why she still didn't get a good look at him even though he stood right in front of her. His head was completely enclosed in a golden mask. The mask had been crafted to take on a serious and solemn expression. The eyes of the golden mask had been painted black, adding just enough menace to make someone uneasy. Arrayed on the top of the mask were five golden spikes. They stuck out much like the crown on the top of the statue of liberty's head that Maria had seen when she and Kasumi raided Hocks' vault.
She could hear him breathing heavily behind the mask but how he was drawing in breath she'd never guess. The mask looked very solid from where she sat.
"And you are?" he asked, his voice sounding deeper and oddly metallic coming from behind the mask.
Maria's brain was still trying to play catch-up.
"You turned the entire beastmen army to gold," she said.
"I did," he replied.
"How'd you do that?"
"Very carefully."
Maria looked out over the golden statues. "How big was the army?"
He turned his head, following her gaze. "It numbered exactly twenty-three thousand, four-hundred and two beasts."
Maria looked at him. "You know the exact number?"
His impassive mask met her gaze. "Yes. I had to count their bestial minds and separate them from the human ones when I decided to turn them all to gold. Otherwise no one would be living within this glade."
Oh my god, he's serious. Maria felt like laughing and crying at the absurdity of it all.
"Who are you?" he asked again.
There was no way in hell she was giving her name out without knowing who she was dealing with first. She still didn't even know where she was yet. Somewhere back in the Empire most likely but she had to tread carefully.
"Could you please first tell me who you are?" Maria asked as politely as possible as she stood back up on wobbly legs.
The wizard said nothing for a few moments as his mask just watched at her.
Then, "I am Balthasar Gelt."
Maria stared at him as the name finally registered with the one she had learned in Nuln. Then she started laughing. It couldn't be helped. This was her luck. She was born with it and stuck with it until her dying day. She looked at his serious golden mask and couldn't help bursting into more laughter, and even she knew it had taken on a slightly hysterical tone but, whatever, it felt good.
Balthasar Gelt was the Supreme Patriarch of the Colleges of Magic. He oversaw all the magical schools within the Empire. He reported directly, and answered only to, the Emperor and was the man's foremost expert on all things magical in the world. This man was known to be extremely intelligent and wise in his field. He wore the mask because of some sort of magical accident that happened years ago; Maria was fuzzy on the details.
Every eight years the Colleges' current patriarchs, or matriarchs depending on the gender, came together to decide who would be in charge. Those who wanted the position stepped forward and then proceeded to duel the others until only one person remained standing. Most of these duels were not fought to the death, just like standard rules throughout the Empire, but accidents happen, especially with magic involved.
This meant that, right now, Balthasar Gelt was the most powerful human magic user in the entire world; and he had only reinforced that fact today by saving Maria, the Reikland army, and probably the entire surrounding province from oblivion.
Maria was just calming down and getting a hold over herself when a large white horse dropped out of the sky to land behind Balthasar Gelt, flapping his white and black wings as he trotted beside his master.
Oh holy mother, this was absolutely, positively fan-freaking-tastic! Maria doubled over laughing again and nearly collapsed to her knees as she got another look at the Supreme Patriarch's famous pegasus, named Quicksilver.
"I feel like I'm missing the joke," Balthasar Gelt said as he ran his hand through the feathered mane of his mount.
Maria straightened back up and took a few steadying breaths. She had to wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes, but she figured she only just managed to smear most of the blood splatter covering her face.
Oh, wasn't she a sorry sight in front of one of the world's most powerful spellcasters. Come on, Maria! Get a grip now! You're not out the woods just yet. How are we going to play this one?
"I'm sorry," she managed between a few stray laughs, "its been a very trying day so far, and I'm just now realizing that it might not get any better from here; but, hey, what the hell? I'm just to tired and stressed to care at this point."
She straightened up and held her hand out toward the Supreme Patriarch. He didn't hesitate and returned the handshake. There was the confidence of a man who could vaporize his opponents with barley a thought.
"Nice to meet you Balthasar Gelt. My name is Maria Shepard. I am a Spectre in the employ of the Citadel Council, and a former Commander of the Systems Alliance. I am not originally from this planet and just sort of fell onto your world. I'm been traveling the old world and trying to get back to my home for the last fifty-four days."
Gelt released her hand. She wished she could see the face behind the mask.
"It looks like I'm lost again," she finished with a sigh. "Could you please point me toward Ulthuan."