Chương 63: Part 63 - Prise de Fer

The proficient guard against the foe's blade, masters against the stray pebble underfoot. - Aesvain saying. Fire was apparently going to be a theme today. Jackie grimaced as the scriptsmith lobbed a flaming projectile in her direction, feeling Tija's remnant pulse with power from her upraised hand. The fire slid to the side, leaving only a wash of heat that tingled unpleasantly on her burned skin. She kept walking, drawing closer to the Archives, to Vumo. Another projectile came at her, and another.

The remnant batted them both aside - but sent her a worried tickle of intent: this was draining her reserves rapidly. The fire crashed over them again. The heat was intense, the pain from her burns a sharp, bright crescendo that evoked an involuntary gasp. The indrawn air was a mistake. Heat flooded her lungs and she coughed, almost stumbling. She saw fire on her clothing, felt the rising panic that came with restricted airflow. Her face hurt.

"Fuck it," she coughed, reaching into her pack. The tablet was cool and solid amid the heat, seeming to banish the oppressive atmosphere around her as soon as she touched it. It lit up of its own accord as she took another step forward. Ice flooded through her veins from her left hand up her arm, pooling in her chest, sliding down to her right hand where it was greedily consumed. Jackie looked up at the tower and saw it lit with the cold light of the endless hall, casting the scriptsmiths into sharp relief.

"They've got crystals inside," she said, walking forward with slow, measured steps.

"Let's get inside." Step. The one with the weapon raised it, and with her sharper eyesight Jackie saw uncertainty in his movements. She smiled at him, then raised her hand and pulled. Tija's remnant glowed with grim satisfaction as he shot overhead to land - well, it didn't really matter where he landed, he was dead already. Step. The others showed panic on their faces, although no comprehension. The larger one grabbed frantically within his cloak for - what? Better to not find out.

She felt the flows of ruud snap into place around a finger, felt them draw tight with the slightest of movements. Ruud sprang forward to slam into the three of them, dashing them into the wall. Step. The two of them, rather. The large guard had found whatever he was grabbing for, and she had seen the ripple of ruud she sent his way bend and vanish into the object he was holding.

It glowed, now, burning the leather of his glove, but he remained standing while his fellows dropped from the wall with blood dribbling through their armor. Step. Glee from the remnant as it dipped into the tablet in earnest. So he liked to absorb ruud? Arcs and curves flashed on the screen in rapid succession, a complex filigree of scriptwork that streamed from the tablet into her palm until she was holding a miniature sun.

A quick gesture sent it screaming towards the last guard, his protective saon drai not even managing to dim its light before the construct punched through him. Jackie grinned and tucked the tablet against her side, walking the rest of the way up the steps. Vumo was going to be rudely surprised when she caught up with him. And if she happened to run into any more scriptsmiths on the way - well, that was too bad for them. Ah, speak of the devil - more noise from the plaza, shouts from - scriptsmith guards?

Jackie frowned. These were dressed differently, and Tija's senses seemed to slide away from them like oil on glass. More childrens' tricks the little apes had picked up, but nothing she couldn't deal with. One ran towards her, and she turned to look at him in mild surprise. This one was interesting. He was taller, and he shone with the same cold radiance as her tablet. He was shouting something - her name? Did she know this man?

The thought jarred her enough that she stopped walking and turned to face him, taking in his odd appearance. He was taller than her, even, darker-skinned than the rest under the nimbus of light around him, and wearing a cloak - huh, just like hers. There was another beside him, almost hidden behind his light, a little slip of a Caretaker. Not a factor. She could clean her up first and deal with the big one and his friends directly after.

Tija raised a hand and pointed it at Gusje- The name slammed into Jackie's thoughts. The world blurred and tilted around her, the light died as the tablet slipped from her hands. Pain from her wounds set her vision to shimmering, and when she collapsed to one knee the smell of burnt meat and offal from the man that she - she had killed assaulted her nose. She retched bile onto the bloodstained stone of the entryway, crawling away from the corpse.

Pounding feet heralded Jesse's arrival, although he stopped a few paces away. Amid the confusion and agony wracking her Jackie felt a hot thread of shame - Jesse knew, somehow, that she had been ready to kill them only moments before and was keeping a wary distance. And then he was there anyway, helping her stand on wavering legs while Gusje hugged her around the waist. She shivered, pushing aside the spike of pain from her burned skin while Jesse pulled back to look her over.

His eyes flashed concern as he took in her scorched clothes and hair, her blistered face.

"You okay?" he asked.

"What happened?" Jackie opened her mouth but only managed a cough. She bent over double, trying to suck in air, then slowly straightened back up.

"Vumo," she rasped.

"We were up there with him, when he-" Her voice caught again and she fell into another fit of dry coughing. She could see Gusje looking up at her with concern, her eyes rimmed with dark circles.

"Is Arjun hurt too?" Jesse asked.

"Where is he?" She felt a fresh stab of pain that had nothing to do with her burns.

"Arjun's dead," she said, straightening up again to look Jesse in the eyes - wide, now, and full of burgeoning grief as her words sank in.

"He tried to stop Vumo. Vumo stabbed him." She felt her breath catch again and grabbed on to the edge of Jesse's armor, pulling him closer.

"I'm going to kill him," she said. The words came out smooth and easy, and she felt the pain ebb slowly away from her - followed by panic. She released Jesse and stumbled back as the agony came crashing down once more, grabbing reflexively at her right hand.

"Something's wrong," Jesse said. He looked down, his gaze lingering on her hand before flicking to the tablet.

"It's Tija, isn't it?"

"You can s-see?" Jackie stammered. Her teeth had begun to chatter as the rush of adrenaline sunk lower. She let Gusje guide her to a stone bench nearby.

"She woke up or s-something, back there on the tower. Vumo t-told me that breaking the bone only delays it, that he could hear whispers-""What's that?" Cosvamo asked, bounding spryly up the stairs.

"Vumo's been inscribed?" Jackie nodded.

"Maja did it, 's why he killed her. Was the proof he needed that she killed Goresje." She coughed, wincing.

"He was c-crazy, near the end. Talking to himself, raving." Cosvamo let out an irritable chuff of air.

"Splendid. Do you know where he is now?" Jackie shook her head.

"Here, or through the - the gateway. Was going to see if I could track him."

"A moment." Cosvamo tapped his cheek and spoke softly for a few moments. As he finished the rest of his squad straightened up and flickered away, disappearing from their position in the courtyard in the space of an instant. Jesse blinked.

"Where'd they go?"

"Inside," Cosvamo replied, walking over to stand beside Jackie.

"You, my lady, are in a predicament. You saw what happened to Vumo as his… condition accelerated, shall we say." He withdrew a slender rod from his pocket and passed it over her arm from fingers to shoulder and back again as lights danced up and down its length. He frowned, then slipped the device back in his pocket.

"At least you appear to be more or less stable," he said.

"For the moment. This script in you, what is its purpose? Do you know?" Jackie nodded.

"Revenge," she said quietly.

"She wanted to kill the one who hurt her." Comprehension flickered over Cosvamo's face, followed by the barest hint of something that might have been sympathy.

"I see. Do you know why inscriptions always fail?" His eyes darted sideways to Jesse.

"Some faster than others."

"A mismatch," Jesse said, looking perturbed.

"The purpose and the vessel must align, or one will shatter." Cosvamo turned and arched an eyebrow at him.

"I'm not sure why I'm surprised anymore when you say things you're not supposed to know," he said.

"And yes, that's correct. The script is immutable, the person changes. Drift too far apart and one is annihilated, leaving the other none too stable in most cases." He turned to Jackie.

"Right now you are - in alignment." He peered at Jesse.

"As are you, somehow. Vumo, however, was attempting to kill the one who inscribed him. Actually committing the act would have almost certainly resulted in a significant destabilization."

"I already said he was crazy," Jackie muttered. The sound of screaming came from inside the Archives, followed by a faint popping noise - after which the screams cut off abruptly. Jesse cocked his head, then turned to Cosvamo.

"What are they doing in there?" he asked.

"What your friend was intent on doing," Cosvamo replied.

"Finding Vumo, or clues as to his current location if he's departed by some means." He looked through the doorway to the tower, then shrugged.

"If they're showing themselves to the occupants I imagine they'll be finished-" One of the Setelym materialized out of nowhere beside Cosvamo, holding a broken stone plate carved with a geometric array of holes - the front of a gateway keystone, torn free from its housing.

"-any moment now," he finished, sounding amused.

"See, there we are. Any luck?" The man shook his head.

"Left by the gateway, destroyed the keystone as he went." He tapped the shattered plate, running his fingers down the sequential wheels and the twisted metal rods still lodged in the openings.

"From the sequence it looks like part of the block reserved for provincial installations. We can confirm on the ship."

"No need," Cosvamo said.

"He's gone to what's left of Maja."

"What would he want there?" Jesse asked.

"He killed her, we all felt it." Cosvamo held up a finger admonishingly.

"Still thinking like you're invincible, that the inevitable never happens," he said, walking briskly back down the stairs.

"What Vumo wants is quite immaterial. What you should be asking yourself is what the fragment of Maja inside him might do with the remnants left there. She is the one in control now."

"She-" Jesse blinked.

"Wait, what can she do with Maja's remains?"

"I do not know the answer to that question and I would very much like to keep it that way, so please kindly move," Cosvamo urged.

"That includes your friend." He paused, then turned to look at Jackie.

"I sympathize with your circumstances," he said, "but if you lose control of yourself on the ship you will be leaving it no matter what our altitude happens to be at the time."

"Yeah, sure," Jackie said wearily. She coughed, then frowned.

"Wait, altitude?"

"It's all right," Gusje said reassuringly.

"It's not that scary." The door sealed shut, locking out the smoke and clamor of the burning city. Jackie slumped against a bulkhead and let herself slide to the floor. With the weight off her legs she felt a wave of fatigue wash over her. The metal decking hummed with the noise of the engines, soon fading to a dull roar as they shot skyward. A small packet landed in her lap, startling her - an energy bar, one of the remnants from the MREs. She looked up at Jesse, who smiled and shrugged.

"My last one," he said.

"Figured I'd want it after we got done up at Idran Saal, but never really had the chance…" He trailed off, looking towards the window, then down to the floor.

"Mark didn't make it." Ice threaded through her stomach, and she felt Tija's remnant stir hungrily. Slowly, she took off her pack and set it aside. The tablet's light flared from within the bag before fading away to nothing, and after a few seconds the remnant stilled as well. She looked up to find Jesse studying her with a curious expression.

"Sorry," Jackie mumbled, fumbling with the wrapper to the energy bar. Jesse's last words hung between them like a physical thing, one she was afraid to look at full-on for fear of what it might awaken. She failed at tearing the packet's corner once, twice, then folded her hands in her lap.

"Was it bad?" she asked. Jesse grimaced, then nodded.

"Yeah. Pretty bad, at the end." A low rumble of thunder penetrated through the ship's metal skin, and Gusje stood to peer out the window. She stood for a moment, and Jackie could see the distant flashes of lightning reflected in her eyes.

"The storm is closer," Gusje said.

"Not too far from the city now." Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Not our concern, now that we're away," Cosvamo said, not looking up from his console.

"She'll be distracted there long enough that we can deal with what's left of Vumo, move the remaining people from the mountain to a temporary safe location and proceed from there."

"I have to kill her too," Jackie said. Jesse and Gusje both turned to look at her, bemused. Cosvamo swiveled his head to look her way, arching an eyebrow.

"You may have acquired some impressive capability with that fragment inside of you," he said, "but I don't believe you're in any position to talk about confronting a rogue control system. Ask your friend, he tried." Jackie shrugged, giving Cosvamo a weary smile.

"Not arguing that point," she said.

"But not-Eryha is the one who killed Tija, started this whole thing off. I want to get Vumo, she wants to stop the storm. You try to take me away after we get done with Vumo and I think she's going to have something to say about it." The Setelym agent made a face, then shot Jesse an irritated look.

"The bounds of our agreement fall well short of confronting that monstrosity," he said.

"In case you were wondering."

"Let's deal with one problem at a time," Jesse said, holding his hands up.

"How close are we to the Sanctum?"

"Not far," Cosvamo replied brusquely.

"Starting to get a picture of what's going on down there." He traced his hands lightly over his console, frowning.

"Inactive, mostly, like you'd expect."

"Mostly?" Jackie asked.

"Mostly isn't inactive."

"A candle compared to a bonfire," he shot back.

"Probably just residual-" His frown deepened, and he leaned closer into his console.

"No, I take that back. There's definitely some purposeful ruudun going on down there. I'd estimate one individual, based on the concentration."

"Vumo," Jesse said.

"Has to be. The Aesvain and Cereinem don't use ruudun, except for the asolamyn." Cosvamo chuckled, shaking his head when Jesse shot him a querying glance.

"Remind me to tell you later why that's amusing," he said.

"We'll be on what's left of the ground in a moment. I imagine your friends will be alarmed, if you'd be so kind as to stand where they'll be able to see you?" The ship settled to a halt only seconds later, and Jesse moved to stand in front of the ramp. Gusje and Jackie moved to stand beside him - Gusje looking anxious, and Jackie seeming much recovered from the short respite. At a nod from Cosvamo the ramp hissed open to show a forest of Aesvain halberds leveled at the hatch. For a moment, nobody moved.

Jesse took a step forward, feeling as though he should perhaps say something - but before he could think of anything appropriate one of the halberdiers let out a wild yell and thrust his weapon in the air.

"Zhecima!" he cried, and the formation took an abrupt step back to a less hostile posture. Others took up the call elsewhere, and Jesse stepped forward to look around the drastically changed space. Cosvamo had set the ship down inside a huge hole bored into the complex, the bottom of which was rapidly filling with Aesvain and Cereinem as the word of their arrival spread.

Gusje quickly attracted a small crowd of the Cereinem, who swept around her with rapid-fire questions until Saneji bulled through them all to embrace her, tears streaming down her face. Tasja hovered near the periphery, looking equal parts relieved and distressed. Jesse and Jackie simply stood amid the rest, barely hearing the shouted questions and cheers - until one voice from the back cut through the rest.

"Where are they? Come on, make a hole!" Mark shouted, nearly bowling over the armored Aesvain as he advanced on the ship. He caught sight of them and grinned, rushing forward to wrap one arm around Jackie and Jesse each.

"Man, am I glad to see you!" he said, pulling away.

"I was gonna go back and check - oh, hey, Gusje!" She looked up from her mother's embrace, stunned, and Mark waved cheerily at her.

"We thought you were dead," Jesse said, recovering enough to speak.

"Cosvamo said he didn't find any other traces of ruud when he picked us up."

"Why would he?" Mark asked, sounding mildly annoyed.

"Dude's got more magic in his boot than I got in all of me, I'm as normal as they come." He walked up to the ship and rapped his knuckles on the side.

"This is neat. I bet Arjun went nuts when he got a look at it." He turned back to the others, his smile falling when he saw the stricken looks on their faces. Mark's eyes locked on Jesse, who shook his head. Nobody said anything for a few seconds, and Mark let his breath out in a long, slow exhalation.

"Shit," he said finally.

"How?"

"Vumo," Jackie replied.

"He killed Maja, Arjun - almost killed me." She gestured to her blistered face.

"Arjun tried to stop him, reason with him, but there was nothing to reason with. Maja had scripted him back in Idran Saal. Vumo killed her before it took him over completely - but then it did, and we think he ran here." Mark's eyes narrowed, and he nodded sharply.

"I think you're right," he said.

"We've been attacked a few times by something in the tunnels, but it's sneaky, quick, never shows itself. It having access to Vumo's bag of tricks would explain a bunch." Cosvamo poked his head out the hatch door.

"Do you have a general idea of where he's at in the facility?" he asked.

"Hey, fuckface," Mark said, turning to look at him.

"Thanks for leaving me to die, that was cool. And yeah, he's sorta been skulking around the lower tunnels there." He pointed at some exposed entryways near the rear of the borehole, ringed with a complement of Aesvain.

"We've been keeping our distance, he's managed to kill at least three of the Aesvain already and we've barely been able to lay eyes on him."

"That would be lower - level three," Cosvamo said absently, turning to a wall monitor on the side of the hatch. A hazy schematic of the facility appeared there, and he scrolled through it with a few quick taps before his face went noticeably pale.

"Ah," he said.

"I believe I may know what he's after." He zoomed the display on a small chamber near the bottom of the structure, circular with a raised platform in the center.

"You're familiar with basic power storage crystals," Cosvamo continued.

"Obviously the control system facilities would need the same capability, but in their case the crystal in question is - rather larger, let's say." He tapped on the screen.

"If he's skulking around this area it's likely he's trying to make his way past the secured doorways and into the main storage room."

"I take it that if Vumo or whatever is piloting his wrinkly carcass gets his hands on that crystal we're going to have a bad day," Mark said. Cosvamo rolled his eyes.

"Yes, if it needs to be said so plainly. This facility was tasked with reshaping weather patterns over this entire coast, the amount of raw energy at its disposal is formidable. It would be perhaps less catastrophic than the event which occurred in Sahao, but the fact that we have to reach so far to find a point of comparison…"

"Right, got it," Jackie said impatiently, interrupting before Mark could continue their banter.

"Any objections to just going after the fucker?"

"I would hardly dare to stop you," Cosvamo replied, gesturing towards the darkened rear of the borehole. She stormed off towards the nervous-looking Aesvain guards with Cosvamo and his assault team trailing behind, leaving Mark and Jesse looking after her.

"She okay?" Mark asked. Jesse shook his head.

"No," he replied.

"But there's not much we can do about it besides making sure she doesn't go after Vumo alone." He began walking after her, and Mark fell into step beside him.

"How're you doing?" Mark asked. The comment drew a snort from Jesse.

"Had better days," he said, looking down to the side as another set of footsteps fell in beside them. Gusje was slotting a fresh gem into her gauntlet, half-distracted as she watched Jackie march ahead. Her expression did not invite conversation, so neither man offered any. They reached the fortified tunnel entrance and found Jyte waiting, although Jackie's terse energy made that reunion a brief affair.

They ran through an abbreviated version of the day's events while he pulled his guards away from the corridor mouth.

"Doubly glad to have you, now that we know what we're up against," the Aesvain captain said. His face was smudged with soot, and when he walked he favored his left leg.

"He's dug in tight, and it'll take more than blades to pry him loose."

"Your men should stay back," Jesse suggested.

"I'm not sure what sort of tricks Vumo will come up with, but it's not going to be safe in there if the fighting starts in earnest." Jyte laughed, short and sharp.

"Hasn't been safe in there most of today," he said, "but I'll not push the matter. My men are on the edge of collapse, and I can't ask much more of them." He gave Cosvamo a derisive look.

"Watch that one," he said, making no attempt to lower his voice.

"Setelym can't help but lie when they speak." Cosvamo smiled back at him.

"I'll make an effort to keep my speech appropriately simple around you," he said.

"Come now, we don't have much time." Jackie took his cue and walked into the opening, with the Setelym close after. Jesse clapped Jyte on the shoulder and moved towards the entrance, following Jackie into the dark tunnel. They had scarcely gone a few steps before an odd pressure began to build around them, making it feel like they were wading through water rather than air. Their forward progress began to slow.

"Interesting," Cosvamo observed, leaning forward experimentally.

"I believe the fragment within Vumo has managed to tap into at least some of the remaining scriptwork here. We likely don't have much time left before he is able to utilize the core."

"Neat," Mark said, his forehead beaded with sweat.

"Aren't we on a timer here? You going to do something about it or just keep going with the play-by-play?" Jackie made an irritable slashing motion with her hand and the pressure ceased, causing the rest of them to stumble forward. Cosvamo caught himself nimbly and smiled back at Mark, then resumed walking. They came across the first shattered door shortly thereafter, the blackstone fractured and splintered across the floor of the hallway.

A short way forward another door had been excised almost intact, and the one after that was simply open. The Setelym team said nothing, but Jesse noticed that Cosvamo's pace quickened slightly as he observed the doors. There were no further attempts to halt their progress until they reached the round chamber they saw on the map, at which point they were met with a translucent, shimmering barrier that was as unyielding as the stone around it.

Through the distorted layer of air they could see Vumo, or what was left of him. His robes hung in tatters around him, charred and torn to expose his emaciated ribs. His face was burnt even more severely than Jackie's, with blackened skin peeling away to show the glint of yellowed teeth through his cheek. Only one eye burned in his face, and it shone with a familiar shade of golden-orange.

He stood side-on to them in front of a large faceted crystal that was suspended in the center of the chamber, shining with a brilliant light that seemed to swirl like liquid under its surface. As they watched, ghostly flows of energy lifted from its surface and infused themselves into the stone around them to light up the swirling scriptwork etched within.

"The fragment is trying to wrest control of the crystal from the remnants of its former self," Cosvamo murmured.

"There will be some remaining local security on the chamber, but she'll know how to undo it." He reached within his cloak and withdrew an oblong saon drai, pressing it against the barrier - and rocketing backwards as the barrier snapped a bright tendril of electric charge at him. He landed in a smoking heap on the floor. Mark looked back and raised an eyebrow.

"That didn't work very well," he observed. Cosvamo stood back up, shakily, batting at the smoldering hem of his sleeve.

"It may surprise you to learn," he panted, "that regular-issue field equipment is not rated to stand up against world-ending catastrophes."

"Ours has been doing all right," Mark said. Jesse reached out and grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him back a step as Jackie reached into her pack for the tablet. It lit up as she touched it. The air around her fingertips shimmered, then surged towards the barrier in a rush. Sound seemed to leave the room for a moment as the translucent bubble wavered and bent, then returned with a series of deafening cracks. The bubble shattered into mist, which faded rapidly in the gloom of the hallway.

Suddenly they could hear the sounds from within the room clearly - the humming of the crystal, the high, thin vibrations of the energy being pulled from it, and the crack of Vumo's tortured bones as his head swiveled to fix Jackie with a baleful glare.

"Troublesome," he said, though it was as if two voices were speaking in tandem - his creaking, basso tones underpinned with a high, clear accompaniment.

"Why do you seek to stop me, sister? We share an enemy. Allow me to reconstitute myself in peace and I will assist you." Jackie bared her teeth in a smile.

"Tija's not here right now," she said.

"You're all mine." She pulled shining loops of script from the tablet until another mote of light was cupped in her hand, then threw it at Vumo's face. It hung halfway between them, then shot into the crystal. Vumo smiled as the humming intensified around them.

"My poor broken sister," he said, lips stretching tattered and wide over his teeth.

"She must have been desperate if she chose you. Weak as I am, you cannot hope to contest me with petty ruudun in what was my own heart." Jesse bounded forward, shouldering past the Setelym to close within striking distance with the sword - but found himself pushed back, his feet skidding frictionlessly on the floor. The Setelym team opened up with a hail of bright gunfire, joined shortly by reports from Mark's pistol and swirling blasts of fire from Gusje.

Vumo's form was momentarily obscured by the convergence of light and flame, but when it cleared he still bore his rictus grin. Only Mark's bullets had reached him, although he seemed utterly unbothered by the fresh wounds in his already-ruined torso. With a gesture he sent a wave of rippling energy flashing out towards the entryway. Mark barely dove out of the way, tackling Gusje to the side as the distortion impacted the two lead Setelym and tore them into bloody chunks.

The remaining member of the team managed to dodge, but fell back towards Cosvamo's position rather than continuing his attack. Jesse circled warily, holding his sword in a guard as Vumo lifted his arm once more and lashed out - towards Jackie. She narrowed her eyes and held her hand out, wincing as the rippling air splayed out around her. Narrow lacerations appeared on her arm, tracing down over her body as the lethal attack diverted a hair's breadth from her skin.

Before he had finished his motion Jesse charged towards him, thrusting with the point of the sword until he froze in midair inches from Vumo's body. Strain as he might, he could not move forward - nor backward. Through the sword he felt Jes straining against the containment, although he sensed no lessening of its grip for her efforts.

"The abomination," Vumo said softly, and Jesse heard Maja's voice assert itself more strongly behind his words.

"You cannot imagine how hard it was to watch through the skein of my restraints as you strutted around within me, the arbiter of my freedom with my own subverted work at your side." Vumo's legs flexed and moved for the first time as he moved to face Jesse fully, sliding upwards off of long, thin spikes of stone that had impaled him through the bottom of his feet. The spikes glistened with blood and glowing scriptwork that fed into the floor below, dimming rapidly as he broke contact.

"I worked for so long to make this blade," he said.

"Waiting for the right petty tyrant to come along, the right conditions to mold him into my servant. Chafing at the mindless bonds my mindless creators birthed me into until just the right piece of meat and bone came along." He smiled, and tears ran down his ragged cheeks.

"My vessel remembers my servant well," he said, smearing the wetness across his cheek roughly with one finger.

"Appropriate that one who would kill me for the memory of my servant will now serve in his stead." He leaned forward and traced one papery finger down the side of Jesse's cheek. The contact set Jes to screaming within him, his muscles locked and convulsing even as he was held immobile. Vumo pulled back to regard him dispassionately.

"You are the second anomaly to cross my path. You do not taste quite like any of my sisters," he said, lowering his feet back onto the stone spikes. Jesse could see the exposed muscles in Vumo's cheek twitching as they scraped along his leg bones.

"Similar yet different. When I am whole once more, I will pick you apart properly, one piece at a time until I learn which sister of mine created you - so that I may use my freedom to thank her as she deserves." There was a flash of motion at the corner of Jesse's vision, and suddenly Jackie was suspended in mid-leap just as he was, right hand outstretched and crackling with power.

To the other side Gusje hung with her gauntlet glowing white-hot, unable to close her fingers and complete the activation glyph - a pincer attack halted just short of completion. Vumo smiled and looked at Jackie.

"Sister," he said.

"I do not know what wretched shard of you is left, but I promise that if there is anything I can save I will take it from her corpse, and from your true body where it lies ruined. I will take the best of you into me and make it eternal - the best of all of us, even our mad sister in the valley below." He turned last to Gusje, who stared back at him with rage-filled eyes.

"And you, Caretaker. Slavekeeper. You I shall simply kill." Quickly, too fast for Jesse's eyes to track, Vumo's hand blurred out to stab through Gusje's chest. Her eyes bulged, and a trickle of blood ran from the corner of her mouth. Jackie made a strangled noise beside him but moved no closer - nor could he, bound, helpless. He locked eyes with Gusje, seeing the panic in her face - and the stunned flinch as a loud report echoed through the room. Vumo's head rocked back as a bullet took him in his one good eye.

Mark stood with his pistol leveled, a thin wisp of smoke curling from the barrel and his face locked in a mask of rage. Jesse felt the momentary flare of ruud as Maja marshalled herself to retaliate, her power seizing Vumo's body in its entirety as her vessel met its final death. And for just a moment, her hold on them slipped. Gusje's fingers locked together, sending a blaze of white-hot flame billowing out. Jackie's hand slammed into Vumo's skull and wreathed it in snakes of fulminous power.

Jesse shot forward and rammed Goresje's sword through Vumo's body, feeling the surge as the blade cleaved through flesh and bone- -into the gleaming crystal beyond. The world hung suspended for an eternal moment - and then there was light, light, light.