Ilyssa

The enemy is clustered around the entrance to one of the storage sheds--five soldiers and their commanding officer. They must be holding their captives inside. So far the Helbender crew doesn’t seem to have been spotted sneaking up through the shadows into cover behind a rail loading platform.

Razha sets Reverie down in a little notch on top of the platform, resting it on the ebony wood beneath its barrel, and puts the officer in her sights. It’s hopeless range, though. Beside her, Maris has his shotgun in hand, Nadia and Zal have their rifles at the ready, and Annia its crossbow.

Razha pulls her gun back and ducks back behind their cover. She indicates Annia and signs, “Sneak around the back side along the track. Wait for my signal.”

Annia nods and slips around the corner, keeping its head down.

Razha indicates Maris and signs, “I want them back there, behind that.” She and Maris poke their heads up enough for her to point out the large metal bin across from the storage shed, in front of a water tank suspended up on a short metal tower.

He nods, pulling a ceramic grenade from his bandolier.

She sweeps her index finger across Zal and Nadia. “Back me up. On three,” she signs.

Then a loud metal banging comes from the shed. She looks up to see the door forced open and the soldiers in a state of shock.

“Ah fuck!” one of them shouts. “He’s blighted!” He takes a step back.

“You don’t catch blight just from touching a man! Go deal with it, coward!” the enemy officer yells.

He takes a step inside, and there is a scream of pain and a spray of blood out the door. Seconds later, a gunshot follows, but it comes from inside the shed. Lein Koronova rushes out, charging the nearest one with a rifle and bayonet.

The soldiers take aim at Lein. Razha jumps up from her cover. “Three!”

As they turn and see her, she fires into the air, so as not to hit Lein by mistake. But it catches the enemy’s attention, and Lein attacks in their moment of distraction. His target sees him coming and parries him with his own sword bayonet. Lein steps back into the darkness of the shed, luring his opponent in after him.

Razha ducks behind her cover and opens her chamber to reload, while Zal and Nadia take shots, hitting nothing. As they drop down, the enemy’s volley flies over their heads. “Maris!” she says.

He runs out along the front side of the platform, setting a burning match to a fuse. The officer raises her carbine, she must not have fired with the others. Maris dives to the ground as she fires, letting his grenade fly as he falls. She misses. The officer and her two remaining men run to take cover behind the metal bin. They’re safe there when the bomb goes off.

Then Razha sees the flash of sparks as another small object strikes the ground and rolls toward Maris--the enemy had a similar idea just when Maris threw his bomb.

“Cover!” she shouts. She and Zal and Nadia drop down behind the concrete. Maris, lying prone, rolls under the platform just as the bomb explodes. Razha reaches over past Nadia and pulls on Perra’s shirt sleeve. “Medic!”

“I’ll go check on him!” Perra says. He crawls underneath the platform.

Razha slams her chamber shut and vaults herself up onto the platform. She raises her rifle high and pulls the trigger. A small, bright red fireball erupts from the barrel. It strikes the side of the giant water tank, and as it does, a boom echoes across the surrounding the valleys. The explosion tears open the side of the tank and the water floods everything below it.

The three enemies rush out away from the torrent, but they see Maris emerge from his cover and aim at them. They duck back behind their metal shelter just as he fires. A hail of metal fragments strikes the side of the metal bin. He grips his barrels and turns the bottom one up to the top, against the chamber, then pulls the hammer back and fires again. By the time they can come out of hiding, they are soaked. Their weapons will be no good.

Razha drops prone to reload, and Nadia and Zal jump up onto the platform and fire another volley at the enemy. One of them hits the side of the bin and the nearest soldier shouts, dropping his rifle to clutch his arm, it must have ricocheted and struck him.

The officer picks up the wounded man’s long rifle and charges forward, bayonet ahead, while the others follow a few Length behind. Zal and Nadia draw their pistols and fire at them. But the smoke is getting too thick to see well, and they hit only the ground, stirring up even more dust.

Razha sticks a white cap on the nipple of her gun and slams the lever down. She fires. The officer dives behind the cover of the far end of the platform while a blast of extremely cold air blows over her head. Its force knocks the soldiers behind her off their feet, and the icy blast freezes the water coating them instantly. They are immobilized, frozen in place.

Before Zal and Nadia can finish reloading, the officer climbs up onto the platform, charging at Razha. Razha, with her sword bayonet affixed to Reverie, runs ahead to meet her in the middle. They thrust their blades at each other and both turn them at the last second to parry, locking their swords together.

The officer is a woman--with light brown eyes and blonde hair, cut short in the style of male officers. Those eyes are familiar. Razha breaks away and jumps back a step. “Ilyssa?!”

“What?!” the officer says. She falls back into a defensive posture.

“No fucking way,” Razha says.

“It can’t be!” Ilyssa Karrys says. “But you’re dead!”

“Never seen a ghost before?” Razha says. “I see you’re still licking Imperial boots, or are they licking yours now, like you like?”

“You know this Imperial swine?” Nadia says.

“Y’all go make sure the others are safe,” Razha says. “I’ll handle this one.”

“Good luck!” Zal says. They and Nadia break away and regroup with Maris and Perra to run toward the storage shed.

Razha stares into Ilyssa’s brown eyes. “You traitor, I dreamed of the day I’d gut you alive!” Razha lunges at her with her bayonet. She parries and steps forward to strike back. Razha blocks her attack.

“So you are the Black Death?!”

“What did you expect? What other life is there for a changeling in this Hel you’ve helped create?!” She closes another Length and raises her weapon to slash at her opponent.

But Ilyssa blocks her bayonet with the body of her gun--its blade is stuck in the wood. She twists the weapon, trying to wrench Razha’s from her hand. But Razha realizes this and turns her momentum around on her. She overcompensates, and both of their weapons slip from their grasps to crash down on the platform a few Length away.

Razha sees Ilyssa’s eyes glance at the fallen weapons. She draws her knife and rushes in. Ilyssa catches her by the wrist as she pulls her own combat knife free. Razha sees her in time and reaches up to catch her. The knife grazes her hand, but she gets hold of Ilyssa’s wrist. With their arms locked together, they struggle against each other, moving together side to side.

Razha looks up beyond her opponent and sees Lein emerge from the shed, blood dripping from his bayonet. Kalen follows, with the other soldier’s rifle in hand, and Kurri behind her, just as Nadia and Zal and Maris reach them.

“You’ve lost, Ilyssa! Your underlings won’t come to your defense now!” Razha says as her comrades run up to join her.

But her words are drowned out by the drone of propellers and the low hum of a reactor. Bright electric lights suddenly shine down on the platform from the airship rapidly closing in.

“Sorry to not give you a fair fight, but it’s you who are outnumbered!” Ilyssa says.

“Who said I fight fair either?!” She kicks Ilyssa in the stomach and releases her wrist. She loses her grip on Razha and stumbles backwards. Razha shouts, “Annia!”

Annia stands up from its cover on the back of the platform with its crossbow raised. The weapon’s arms fly forward and the bolt hits Ilyssa in her thigh, coiled wires trailing behind. She drops, convulsing with the electric shock.

The airship’s anchors crash down to the grey soil and brown-coated reinforcements slide down their cables.

But from behind, they hear metal wheels grinding against the railroad tracks. A little handcar screeches to a stop, blue sparks flying from its wheels, with Elliv pulling on its brake handle. He and Ketha and Krev are on board, along with a huge barrel affixed with some kind of electrical device--mission accomplished.

“All aboard!” Ketha says.

Razha picks up her Reverie and runs for the cart. Zal runs after her and jumps on board. Annia pulls a lever on its weapon, cutting free the cables tying it to its enemy, then runs and jumps onto the cart. Razha watches as her comrades board after her--Nadia, stopping to pick up the Imperial officer’s carbine rifle--then Maris, Perra, Lein, Kalen, Kurri...

“Nisho! Where’s Nisho!” Razha says.

Kalen puts her hand on Razha’s shoulder. “They have him! He’s up on the ship!”

“Damn it all!” Razha looks up at the airship. “We can’t get to him. Let’s go!”

Elliv pulls up on the great handle of the handcar, and they start moving the opposite direction, away from the ship and the soldiers.

The enemy takes a parting shot at them, but they are already out of range. Ketha and Krev shoot back, but before long they’re out of sight, gliding downhill across the strip mine. The last thing Razha sees is Ilyssa Karrys rising to her feet, alive.

Annia yells an indecipherable sound. It signs, “Not enough power left to finish her!”

“I should’ve made certain,” Razha says. “Too late now.”

Elliv and Maris work on moving the cart, and they follow the rail around the remains of the mountaintop. But a minute later, the roar of the discordium engine catches up with them. The airship is gaining on them, its twin silver hulls gleaming red in the light of the lesser moon Hel.

“Come on, ain’t we had enough?” Maris says.

With a flash and a sharp crack of thunder, a bolt of lightning strikes just below them on the mountainside. As the thunder echoes in the valley, a tree limb crashes down the slope. It didn’t seem natural, too convenient. Razha looks up to the airship and sees a figure in white standing on the edge of the open lower deck, white sparks still flying from its hand.

“Fuck this.” Razha takes a silver flask from her bandolier and loads the mixture into Reverie’s chamber, finishing the load with a silver cap. “Cover your ears.”

She pulls the trigger and a lightning bolt of her own arcs from the end of Reverie’s barrel with a boom louder than any gunshot. It veers off course and strikes one of the long metal rods protruding from the sides of the hulls. The ship draws closer to them.

Kalen crouches down beside Razha and takes a shot. Krev on her other side follows it up with his own. But the ship is still far out of range for their rifles, especially aiming from a moving platform. Soldiers on deck take cover at the oncoming fire, but the wizard stands its ground undisturbed. It makes a motion with its arms and a white glow radiates from its hands.

“Everyone, down!” Razha drops prone onto the metal platform as another bolt of lightning flies over their heads. Disoriented by the deafening noise, Razha stands up on one knee and looks around her as she pours silver powder into her chamber. They’re coming around the edge of the strip mine. Just ahead is the black depths of the slurry pool.

Razha places another silver cap beneath her chamber and slams it shut as their cart rides past the deep blackwater. She raises her gun up high and pulls the trigger. As blue sparks fly from the action of her gun, the whole black pond beside her seems to light up faintly, and a blinding flash appears along with thunder that shakes the mountain. A huge bolt of lightning arcs from her gun up to the ship. It strikes one of the four propeller nacelles, and the ship veers off course as the propeller comes to a halt. The thunder echoes through the valley below them.

“Boys! Fast as you can get this thing!” Razha says.

They pump the handle as hard as they can, and combined with the steepening downhill slope, they outpace the wounded airship and lose sight of it around the side of the mountain.

“What the fuck was that, Razha?!” Zal says.

“Heh. This sort of alchemy, some say ‘magic,’ discordium amplifies its effects. Enough of it, and even being nearby can affect the reaction. Dangerous place for them to fight me.” Razha looks around. “All accounted for?”

There is Elliv and Maris, pushing them to yet faster speeds, with Krev helping them now. There is Kalen, reloading her rifle, and Perra, treating Lein’s wounds, while Kurri sees to the cut on Razha’s hand. Zal and Nadia are at her side. Annia returns its crossbow to its resting place on its back. Ketha looks out over the mountainside at the dark valley below. On the front end of the cart is the bomb, fastened in place with rope.

Her comrades are all here, but Nisho, entrusted in their care, is lost.