Chapter 26 #3
An eerie moan wafted from the back wall, and the lighting in the laboratory dimmed, as if dark clouds had gone over the sun. It still blazed in the blue sky above the canyon, but something affected its brilliance.
Another gust of wind tore at Syla’s hair and clothing and almost knocked her spectacles off her nose. Beside her, Teyla cursed and flattened her hand to her face, afflicted with the same problem.
Syla considered climbing down to be more protected from the wind, but the creatures swarmed the area now, and the lower part of the bed wasn’t that high off the ground. Though still on his feet and swinging his mace, Fel had been pushed back against it.
Several yards away, Vorik plunged his sword into the head of another bug-lizard and looked toward them.
He’d already downed four, his raw power and magical blade effective on the storm god’s creations, but there were so many.
Dozens. Even though they’d come down different aisles, they were all angling toward the bed.
Toward Syla. She couldn’t tell if they were focused on the moon-marked Teyla as well.
One started up what Syla thought of as the headboard of the bed.
Teyla dropped her magnifying glass, picked up her sword, and leaned off the canopy to whack it.
Though the creatures didn’t dodge or parry, they could take a beating.
Like Fel’s mace, Teyla’s blade couldn’t pierce their armored scales.
It kept climbing, and she had to draw back to avoid its long darting tongue.
Another blast of wind gusted through the laboratory, and Teyla fell against Syla.
Syla grabbed her pack and pulled out the hunk of ore. As the bug-lizard crested the canopy, she took the glowing teal lump in both hands and cracked the thing on the head. Beside her, Teyla leaned in to jab at the creature’s eye with her blade.
That proved a more vulnerable target, and the sword tip pierced it, thick fluid spattering them as the orb burst. Syla struck the creature again with the ore, the teal glow reflecting off the polished white marble of the bed.
The bug-lizard didn’t go flying, but it did fall back to the ground, head and tail flexing as it hissed its displeasure at them.
More creatures appeared in the aisles. How many were there?
Vorik must have realized they were specifically after those with moon-marks because he ran and sprang past several, bypassing them to reach the bed.
As another great wind threatened to knock Syla flying, the darkness grew even more pronounced, the sun now blocked out completely.
A black cloud formed in the center of the laboratory.
Unaffected by the wind, it spread, stretching twenty feet high and equally wide.
Something amorphous and vague but undeniably ugly formed in the center, with a pair of glowing red eyes appearing in the middle.
The figure made Syla’s stomach twist, and she couldn’t resist the urge to look away.
Who dares intrude upon the storm god’s chamber? came a booming telepathic voice from the center of the cloud. All who are uninvited shall be destroyed.
Was that the storm god himself? Or a magical version of him that had been left behind? It matched what the religious texts said of the gods, that they weren’t themselves human and were difficult to look upon.
“The pillar responded to my touch,” Syla called over the wind that whipped about as she held up the back of her hand. “We thought that was an invitation.”
More creatures started climbing the bed, tongues flicking as they hissed and tried to reach Syla and Teyla. But Vorik had made it to the base and joined Fel. One by one, he knocked away the climbing creatures.
Syla caught him glancing at the amphora that she’d been forced to leave below.
Maybe it crossed his mind that he might snatch it while she was distracted, but he might only have been worried that it would be destroyed in the battle.
Either way, he put his back to the bed and focused on defending Syla and Teyla.
Who dares intrude upon the storm god’s chamber? the voice from the cloud repeated. All who are uninvited shall be destroyed.
“I don’t think whatever that is has the ability to chitchat,” Teyla said.
“Darn.” A creature coming up a post opposite Vorik and Fel made it to the canopy, and Syla bashed it on the head with the ore. “I was so hoping for a witty conversation with a mad god.”
Though she struck true, the bug-lizard hung on to the bed, and its tongue flicked out, slapping her wrist with burning pain. And the antennae—she’d forgotten about them. One snapped like a whip, and its flexible tip caught her in the jaw.
As she jerked back, fearing the creature would climb onto the canopy and do more damage, Vorik ran around the bed and leaped for it. He ripped it free, and it dropped to land beside him, tongue flicking. Not hesitating, he drove his sword into it.
“Thank you!” Syla wiped warm blood from her jaw and grimaced at her wrist. The tongue hadn’t broken the skin, but an angry red welt stung, and she believed the venom she’d worried about was a real threat.
“You’re most welcome, Your Highness.” Vorik spun to help Fel, knocking aside one of three creatures rushing him at once, trying to take him down so they could climb the bed.
All who are uninvited shall be destroyed, the ugly shape in the cloud said for the third time.
The wind picked up, swirling around like a cyclone, and a force like a battering ram struck Syla in the chest. She hadn’t been holding on, and it sent her flying across the laboratory, over creatures and crystals, and far away from her comrades.
When she struck a wall, she hit hard enough to knock the air out of her lungs, dazing her. Even the strap attached to her spectacles wasn’t enough to keep them from flying off. They struck the ground and skidded away as more wind blew.
Cursing, Syla scrambled after them on hands and knees as her stunned diaphragm made it hard to breathe, terrifying her. But losing her vision would be almost as bad.
As she rushed after the skidding spectacles, the dreadful wind kept knocking them farther from her grasping fingers. It was as if an intelligence guided it.
The world around her was nothing but a dark blur, save for movement.
The movement of many things. More of those creatures.
Were they heading toward her? Disoriented, she didn’t know if she was going toward the bed or away from it.
And what of her allies? Had they also been knocked across the laboratory?
Her knuckles brushed the lenses, and she snatched them up.
Something pulsed near her head, and she twitched, lifting an arm in case an enemy meant to attack.
No, it was a small crystal, growing up like a flower out of the floor.
Other crystals glowed in niches carved into the nearby rock wall. And in that large niche, was that…
Syla reached for the spherical silver orb growing on a slender crystal stalk before catching herself. It was as the scroll had described, the third component, identical to the large outer spheres of the shielders themselves, with two divots on its surface to represent the eyes of the moon.
If the orb was alive, as the text had suggested, might it defend itself?
Or offer some magical backlash to whoever tried to pick it from its stem?
Glowing drops of water like dew coated its surface and seemed to run up from the base of the stalk, from within a fuzzy blue substrate growing atop the stone in the niche.
An itch from the back of her hand signaled her that those droplets were more dangerous than dew. Everything the mad god had touched was. To brush one might hurt her. Or kill her.
In the laboratory behind her, battle noises continued, and the storm god’s likeness railed against invaders. Scurrying sounds suggested some of the creatures had located her new position and were heading her way.
“Syla?” came a call from the front of the laboratory near the bed. Vorik.
She opened her mouth, almost calling her position, but now that she had located the orb, should she reveal herself? What if Vorik leaped over, sliced through the stalk, which could be vulnerable to his powerful magical sword, and snatched the third component before she could?
One of the bug-lizards came around a counter and into view, tongue flicking out, beady black eyes focusing on her. With eager hisses, it headed straight toward her.
With the orb on its stalk less than two feet away, Syla wrestled with indecision.