Home > Darklight 7: Darkfall(8)

Darklight 7: Darkfall(8)
Author: Bella Forrest

A group of at least twenty hunters, armed to the hilt with their gem gauntlets, headed for the camp. Their armor looked sturdier than usual, with a thicker metal. In our absence, it seemed that the Immortal Council had produced more skimmers and improved their armor. My mind flashed to the image of the harvesters being herded back to the city. Irrikus must have forced everyone available into submission in order to prepare for this assault. That absolute cretin.

The image shook again, but this time, it was the walls around the camp giving a mighty tremor. Our window focused closer to the camp’s wall. The watchtowers caught my eye as their guns powered up with crackling light. During our first attack on the camp, we’d taken great care not to damage them. Good thing we did.

I watched in awe as a few columns of metal filled with golden orbs shot up from the top of the protective barrier wall. Reshi and the others had been busy. They’d clearly designed a few more mechanisms for the camp’s defenses. The columns rose until they were the same height as the watchtowers. The circles grew bright with light and then fired, simulating the gem blasts from Reshi’s tech.

The skimmers dispersed to avoid the shots. Shouting from both sides added to the chaotic scene. I shook my head in disbelief. They took over the whole camp and adapted it. My nerves couldn’t stop the grin that came across my face. Hell, I was worried, but I felt proud.

Like sparks rising from hot embers, golden structures lifted off the ground and glinted gloriously beneath the soft soul-lights. A troop of mechanical jaspeths rose up. Reshi, bless her, had built more in our absence, although they were much smaller than her first jaspeth. The largest jaspeth came to the head of the formation, leading it. I could scarcely make out the form in its saddle, but my gut said Reshi was operating it.

My mind raced. Was this merely the first wave in the attack from the Immortal Council? Twenty hunters on skimmers was a fraction of what we saw being marched across that plaza in Itzarriol. Or was Irrikus planning something else for his army? My eyes caught the white blur of a skimmer. They’d improved the design; the pilots, mostly makers and wildlings, flew these skimmers easily with one hand and shot their own weapons at our allies. The hunters behind them manned gem blasting cannons twice the size I remembered from the battle at the Hive. A small mechanical jaspeth fired at one of the new skimmers. An angry red explosion obscured our view. The arbiters, for their parts, let out murmurs of surprise.

“Such violence,” Xiu whispered. It was with a detached interest, but her eyes grew worried.

Dorian let out a grunt of agreement. “It is, in fact, a war, as we said. That’s why we need to get back there.” I nodded, partially listening but trying to focus on the unfolding scene. I had no idea how many casualties our allies had suffered so far. We should be there on that battlefield. Even though the camp looked okay for the moment, they would sustain losses. That skimmer fleet looked nasty.

I made out Kono’s dark face on the back of a smaller jaspeth, as he dodged a gem blast from a skimmer. Another mechanical jaspeth jetted toward him, piloted by one of the wildlings from the grassy plains. Together, they took out the skimmer with a combined blast from the jaspeths. More gem blasts, bright shots of yellow and gold, fired from the walls.

Another skimmer plummeted to the ground, leaving eighteen of them behind.

“Your friends seem to be doing quite well,” Ruk remarked. “That Reshi could give any arbiter a run for their money in terms of innovation.”

Awe passed through me, temporarily dampening the fear and urgency inside me. Our friends had done incredible things while we were gone. I never doubted their skills, but I worried about leaving them in mid-battle with the sides tipped. They came out on the other side stronger than ever. Sen let out a concerned hum. The sound made the hairs on my neck stand to attention.

“What?” I asked. From what I could see, even in the dim light, our side was winning. The hunters numbered less than twenty. The smoldering remains on the ground from the two crashed skimmers let off thin plumes of dark smoke, which suggested no survivors. So. My eyes passed across the arbiters. Why do they look worried?

“There’s more to it,” Xiu announced. “We can sense other beings nearby. They’re waiting to attack… They appear to have used some sort of cloaking magic to hide themselves. I may be able to register their signatures for you on the window.” A dull buzz filled the room as the arbiter gritted her teeth with effort.

Suddenly, tiny flames of supernatural light flickered into existence. The shapes appeared to be monstrously large hunters… and they were waiting behind the back wall of the camp. Were they planning on scrambling over the wall?

That’s it. The hunters in skimmers were engaging the camp at the entrance to draw the defenses toward that side. I flinched at the idea of invisible enemies waiting for them. It would be a massacre.

Xiu stepped forward to the image. “Take a good look. We’re losing the window.” Dorian and I soaked up the image of the battlefield, still raging with the hidden enemies on the back side of the training camp. The vision flickered and faded for the last time. The window dispersed. A gray mist began to fill the room, curling and collecting in the corners.

“We have to go now,” I demanded. “Our friends have no idea what’s going on.”

Dorian gave a sharp nod. “Invisibility has never been an ability among the hunters we fought. We need to warn them.”

Xiu turned to us, her lips pressed together tightly. “You’re being rash,” she warned. “If you go now and die in battle, then who will fight Irrikus? Shouldn’t you preserve yourselves for the big battle?”

Frustration engulfed me. “Not a chance. We need their help to defeat Irrikus. We left them hanging in the last battle. I refuse to do it again.” I swallowed a lump of pain at that discomforting thought. Two or three months without a word from us while we jumped through hoops with the arbiters. They’d probably reasoned we were dead, since we had been gone so long. It hurt me to know that they were still fighting, and I wasn’t even there to support them.

“Do you have a plan?” Xiu asked. Her gaze fixed me to my position. “Your emotions are getting the best of you. The Immortal Council won’t fall merely because you wish it to happen with all your feelings.”

Dorian and I always came up with something in the end. Wasn’t that good enough? I caught his eye. A muscle flexed in his clenched jaw. His fingers twitched. We both wanted to go, now. My legs itched to run, but there wasn’t exactly a portal to jump through.

“Yes, our plan is to win.” I kept it blunt and drew up every logical point I could grasp in my racing thoughts that might help in an argument with the arbiters. “You may think we’re being emotional and rash, but we need the training camp as base for this operation. Dorian told you earlier that it’s strategic, but it’s more than that. This camp is the only viable place to plan an invasion of Itzarriol. It’s close enough to the tear to monitor anything passing to and from the Mortal Plane.”

That hadn’t always been the case. In my mind’s eye, I saw the flaming Hive plummeting into the waters below. We’d had to destroy the only remaining refuge for vampires in the Immortal Plane and evacuate them to unknown lands among humans. How could I not go and fight for the last stronghold we had?

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