Serial Saturday: "Clan of Outcasts" Season 3, Part 35: "Bring An End"

 

Part 35

"Bring An End"

The Roque was a scene of blood, bandages, beds and more people and activity than it had seen in a decade.

The shielding runes laid by the Nysir siblings held strong, admitting no one but those in the company of their friends and allies. The Great Hall held row upon row of cots, full of wounded soldiers waiting for Brinley and Tessa to come and tend to them. Injured and disabled soldiers entered, shuttled in with the assistance of Quilla and Nyella, while restored and rejuvenated soldiers took the underground passageway back out to the forest to rejoin the fray.

A thudding sound like a furious hailstorm rattled the roof, and Tessa glanced up warily. "What is that?" she whispered.

Brinley saw the flutter of small, dark wings and heard the ugly croak. A thought from her, and Bronn charged up the stairs with a heavy bark, charging and swiping at the crows that had somehow slipped inside.

"How did they get in?" Tessa demanded, but Brinley could only shrug.
"My guess is that they must have worn down the defenses at the very top of the building, and they can slip through the chinks one at a time, since they're so small."

The lady of the Roque shivered as she finished bandaging a soldier. "If only Polaris were here," she whispered. "I hope he can fend off Mallory and get back in time."

Denahlia stirred and sat up in her bed, ignoring the bursts of odd colors over her vision, and the pain lancing through her arms because of the damage to her implants. "I've got to get out there," she muttered to herself.
Tessa rushed over and stopped her from rising altogether. "You're not going anywhere!" she said. "You haven't fully healed yet."

The former Hunter groaned. Neither Tessa nor Brinley understood the technology so closely integrated with her body. They could clean and patch up wounds, but without electricity, they couldn't restore her implants. She flopped back with a sigh. "At least when the implants were in my eyes, I could still use my body!" she complained.

Out on the rooftop, Seline darted back and forth on her powerful white wings, slashing and batting at the intruding crows. A few had slipped past her reach, but she had no doubt that the others would take care of them. At least these ones weren't turning into vicious armed men as soon as they landed; she figured it must mean that the power to shapeshift resided with Mallory alone, and that without her focus and direction, the crows stayed crows, although they fought with beak and talon as well as they could.

The forces on the battlefield clashed again, but this time, Seline watched as thick walls of ice grew and partitioned off areas of the wide grassy plain, often with enemy soldiers trapped inside. She could sense the magic spells being cast by not just one, but two Mages, further away, perhaps defending the Gate. Thick bolts of lightning ricocheted through enemy soldiers in bright spiderwebbing patterns. Seline drove away scores more of the squawking, dark birds, but their activity had only attracted the attention of more swirling hordes, as the trapped soldiers turned into birds and flew toward the vulnerable Roque.

"Someone help!" Seline called out, willing the request out to any Gifted who could hear her and respond.

The lightning streaked closer to her, but Jaran wouldn't be able to strike at them from a distance. Seline felt dozens of tiny, sharp talons grip the tops of her wings, as fierce beaks pierced the membrane through her protective feathers. She recoiled with a pained cry as the weight of them cost her altitude. She was going to fall down the front of the building, if they kept tugging on her in this way.
"Seline!" Jaran called out from below the Roque. "I'm coming!"

He let out a concentrated burst of lightning, and used the energy as a sort of stepping-stool. It stayed in place long enough to boost him off the ground, and as he released another energy burst in front and higher up, he could step again without falling. In this manner, Jaran made it all the way up to the rooftop, where he could spread his arms wide and dispatch nearly all the crows at once with branches of lightning.

Seline landed with a pained grimace, her wings hanging limp from her shoulder blades.
"Thank you, sire," she said softly.

Jaran's hands crackled, and he glanced down to where he had stood only moments before. "I've had the idea that I could use the lightning to climb stuff before," he mused, "but I've never gotten to test that theory out. I guess I know that it works!"

Seline watched his hands and shoulders spark, and thought about the sparks coming off of Denahlia and her cousin. She seized Jaran's hand. "Good thing you're here," said the Angel. "Because I have an idea." Mentally, she sent a communication up to the man riding the dragon over the battlefield. Markus, report to the Roque immediately. I have something that will help you. And tell Denahlia to come up to the roof as well.

Moments later, Hadrian swooped out of the grey sky and landed on the stones. Markus couldn't climb safely off her back, so Hadrian reached with her foreclaw and gently lifted him to the ground. Denahlia arrived, shuffling slowly with her arm slung limply over Brinley's shoulder.
"What's going on up here?" she asked.

Seline grinned. "I think I have a solution for restoring the implants in both of you to full power." She pointed to Jaran. "I can harness his lightning and send it into you both, which should give you the boost you need." Her fingers played over his palm, and Jaran watched tiny tendrils of light unfurl from his skin, coursing toward Seline like threads being pulled from a tapestry. Seline nodded. "There's enough power here to increase your abilities beyond what they were before."

Denahlia hesitated, as Brinley backed away with a wary glance at the lightning. "You mean, like Jacking?"
Seline shrugged. "Only this time, it won't be something uncontrollable, because it's not exactly a Gift--just augmentation."

Jaran frowned and studied Denahlia closely. "Wait... so you're not Gifted?" he looked between the two cousins. "I thought your super-human sight was a power just like my lightning."
Markus glanced at his cousin and gave her a small nudge. Whether their minds communicated unspoken thoughts, no one else could tell, but Denahlia sighed.
"Your brother knows, so I might as well tell you also. Your Majesty, I have a confession to make. There is a dereliction of my duties as Harbor Watch that I have been hiding from you."

Jaran blinked, and his expression hardened. "What? When? How?"

She bowed her head. "One year after you were crowned King, I was drawn--abducted, really--to another dimension, another world. My homeworld, actually. I found out that it was the place where I was born, and that I had been born without sight. In an effort to correct the issue, they had made special implants for me--but what they didn't know, and I was never fully aware, was that their technology, while distinct from magic, was not quite unsusceptible to its influence. Therefore, when my parents fled that world and came to The Realm, they saw that my implants behaved just like a Gift, and so they never told me any differently, so I grew up thinking that I'd always lived in the Realm, and that the strange thing I could do with my vision was a Gift from Juros' Angels."

"Someone brought you into another system of worlds just to tell you all this?" Jaran asked. His mind spun to think that everything he knew about Denahlia, the Hunter of Outcasts, was not altogether true.

Denahlia shook her head. "The reason I ended up there was for another purpose entirely, but it is of no consequence. What you need to know is that my eye-implants malfunctioned on this other world, and in the process of my recovery, I requested that they change the location of my magic-infused implants to my wrists, and give me non-magical implants for my eyes instead." She raised her hands before her. "That's why I look different, and I use my Gift differently now."

Markus slowly worked his way over to his cousin's side, easing his broken mechanical leg with every step.

Jaran stroked his chin. "You say this happened a year after the coronation?" he considered the implications. "How long were you gone into this other world?"

Denahlia watched his face earnestly. "A year," she confessed. "It took that long for the people hosting me to find a wizard strong and skilled enough to send me back to The Realm."
"A whole year?" Jaran blurted. "But then... that would be about the time you started placing all manner of new and strange devices all around the kingdom, and the White Castle."

Denahlia nodded. "I brought those things back with me. Since my implants had the same source as these things, I knew I could build defenses into every area of the Realm that only I could control. Things fell apart quite a bit while I was gone," she admitted. "And although I have tried to make up for it, they're not quite back to what they once were, and I have no one to blame but myself."

The King nodded solemnly. "At least you have the good sense to take responsibility for the consequences," he said. "I forgive you, and I want you to know I still trust you to do what's best for The Realm."
Denahlia smiled a little, and nodded her head.

Seline gave a little cough. "Are you ready?" she asked the cousins.
Markus stood as straight as he could manage. "Ready!" he said.

Seline prompted Jaran, who strengthened the pulse that the Angel directed into Denahlia's wrists and Markus' injured left side. Both cousins gave sharp grunts of pain, but when Seline released the pulse, they staggered back and panted for breath.
Denahlia recovered first, staring down at her hands, clenching and unclenching them.
"How does it feel?" Jaran asked.

Denahlia ran her finger over the smooth, healed skin where her implants rested in her wrists. "It feels... more..." she whispered.

A flick of her hand produced a glowing holographic gauntlet, and when she clenched her fist, the disc of glowing light grew and expanded to encompass her whole body. "A shield!" Denahlia gasped. "Cool!"

Markus tested out his restored leg, even going so far as to lift his right foot and balance his whole weight on his mechanical side. A quick jog in place to test the response of the joints, and he raised his hand, flexing his arm pistons the way he would to shift into gun mode. Barrels and bullets clicked into place, and Markus fired on a circling crow overhead with pinpoint accuracy. "That's cool!" he gushed.

Denahlia scurried over to the edge of the balcony. "I want to try something," she said quickly, extending her hands and beckoning to something.

The ground rumbled, and the Golem appeared, staring down at Denahlia. She gestured with her hands, and the lights on the Golem's chest flickered and blinked for a moment, then held steady.
Denahlia lifted her right hand. The Golem raised its right hand. When she raised her left hand, the Golem repeated the motion. She waggled her hands back and forth, dancing from foot to foot while sticking her tongue out.
The ground shook even more as the Golem repeated the motion in real time, opening its mouth and roaring so loudly that Markus' aural implants squealed with feedback.

Denahlia grinned and turned back toward the group, holding up her hand to "pause" the Golem. "Check it out!" she gushed. "I can fight with this avatar without even leaving this rooftop!" To prove her point, Denahlia clenched her fist and pounded to the ground, close to where a squadron of Crow soldiers were attempting to infiltrate the Roque's defenses. The Golem's fist crushed them flat.

For his part, Markus sent Hadrian into the air, and used his improved implants to connect with her senses. "This is awesome!" he said. "Now I can see what she sees, and I can tell her where I want her to go!"

Jaran clapped him on the shoulder. "Good! See if she can find Trevon--he disappeared from Gybralltyr City while we were fighting off Mallory, and she's looking for him right now. We want to find him first."
"Yes, your Highness," Markus responded, and Hadrian banked in the sky, swooping in wide arcs over the battlefield.

Denahlia sent the Golem stomping across the swarming troops to find him as well, enjoying the sight of mown-down troops that would allow their allies to get to safety.

"There he is!" Markus cried, as Hadrian came to a stop over a corner of the battlefield close to the side of the island nearer to the cove.
"Hang on," Denahlia grunted, "I'm having a hard time getting Stompy over to you."

"It looks like the White Castle soldiers have him surrounded!" Markus announced. "He's trying to fend them off, but--wait! Hey!"

"Send it to me!" Denahlia left the Golem standing at the side of the battlefield inert, while she received the visual data from her cousin.
"Does that seem wrong to you?" he asked.

Denahlia watched Trevon gesture and freeze two or three soldiers in their tracks, while turning another to stone. Yet another soldier fell victim to writhing, grasping vines exploding from the ground. "Those are different Gifts than the ones he used against us!" she gasped. She looked at Seline. "We thought Mallory had made him into a Shadow... but he's using multiple Gifts! Can he do that?"

Seline's face froze in fear and deep concern. "We never knew the extent of the experiments she ran on him," she murmured. "If it's true, and he has the capacity to use the Gifts of anyone around him... that's not good."
"Oh no!" Markus suddenly flailed wildly with his hands. "We've been spotted. Get out of there, Hadrian!"

A massive rumble shook the mansion, as the gigantic Golem exploded in large chunks of shrapnel and sparking machinery.
Denahlia reeled backward with a cry, collapsing to the floor of the balcony.
"Denahlia!" Markus gasped, dashing toward his cousin.

Jaran stiffened and strode toward the balustrade. "Azelie!" he gasped. "She was almost hit by a piece of machinery. Markus, can you find her?"
Markus left his cousin in the care of Brinley, and sent Hadrian the directions to find the telepathic Queen.
"There she is!" Markus nodded as he and his dragon located her. "She's safe, and staying out of reach of any of the enemy soldiers, sire."

Jaran smiled as he strained, as if he could see Azelie on approach. "She's clever--she can use her Gift to make them forget they've seen her." His smile dimmed. "But she worries that she can't make it to the front of the house without being attacked. The battle is pretty fierce down there."

"Wait! Look!" Denahlia cried, pointing to the forest on the side of the battlefield. "It's moving!"
"Well... I'll be..." Jaran gasped, watching as the trees swayed and groaned as if in a hurricane-force gale, although hardly any wind blew at all. "They're moving the forest!"

Sure enough, on a lower-level cliff beside the Roque, Tristan and Javira stood side by side, shifting whole trees from the forest and transplanting them into the middle of the battlefield, disrupting the fighting and providing additional protection for the mansion. Jaran watched as Javira left off shifting trees to gesture toward the side of the mansion. A double-row of hedges and thorns sprouted up, wide enough for a single person to walk through without touching the sides, but too thick and tall to penetrate from the outside. The path she carved led straight to Azelie, giving the Queen a straight, clear shot toward the mansion's entrance. As Azelie came closer in, Javira closed up the hedge-way behind her, trapping any soldiers who attempted to follow her.

Azelie sighed with relief as she passed through the magic wards and into safety. Nyella and Quilla were among the first to greet her with warm embraces. "Queen Azelie, you made it!" Nyella gushed.

Azelie followed her from the entrance way and into the Great Hall, where she saw Brinley, Raedyn, Velora and Sir Landis, along with a good portion of the White Castle's army--recovering quickly, thanks to the healing skills of the Gifted, but not quite ready to return to fighting, given the extent of their wounds. Bronn trundled back and forth with a basket of warm towels strapped to his back.
There was just one sensation that Azelie felt, whom she did not see. "Where is Zayra?" she asked Velora.

The Alpha pointed to an upper landing, near a window. "She won't leave that spot," she said.
Azelie crept up the stairs to her sister-in-law. "Zayra?" she said softly.

Zayra stared at the battlefield, now littered with ice and trees and machinery from the destroyed Golem. Tears trickled down her face. With a long sigh, Zayra steeled herself, wiped her cheeks, and when she turned to Azelie, her expression had hardened with keen determination that would not be refuted. She drew herself up, the way she had done so many times as Queen, and declared to Azelie, "This fighting has gone on long enough. We have defended against Mallory, only for her to attack us more and more. I'm done simply standing by and resisting."

Azelie reached for her mind, but found no purchase in her thoughts. "What are you going to do?" she asked.

Zayra glided down the stairs with elegance and grace, an unstoppable force in herself, the belt of vials still slung over her shoulder. "I'm going to bring an end to this once and for all!"

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