Voidchaser, chpt 23, part 2

Here's part 2 of chapter 23.  I hope you like it, let me know what you 
think.

- Sebastian

	She tried to scramble to her feet but felt herself gently lifted in one 
smooth motion.  Reanyn crossed the room in two bounds and pushed her 
into Nym's arms.  "Get her out of here, now!" he shouted.  "I'll get 
Windhook!"
	Nym nodded once and sprinted for the door, holding her as if she 
weighed no more than a doll.
	The whir-chuck of a crossbow being fired sounded behind her, 
accompanied by a human scream.  A bolt flashed by the dracon, burying 
itself in the wood of the doorframe as they passed through.

					*	*	*

	Reality blurred.
	In an instant the room and the sounds of fighting were hushed, and 
Hyrund found himself... elsewhere.
	He was on a vast dusty plain, with a strange dull-orange orb hanging 
overhead, tinting everything red.
	Of Tavras there was no sign, but Hyrund knew he was here.  He could 
sense him; feel the malevolent force of the man's incredible mental 
power.
	There was a rumbling beneath his feet; Tavras was approaching, his 
first attack would soon come.
	Hyrund concentrated, and an obsidian tower came into being on the spot 
where he stood, growing out of the ground like a living thing, the sand 
and dust swirling away from it.  Up and up it went, with sturdy ramparts 
and graceful buttresses.
	Hyrund stood on the ramparts at its top, surveying his work.  It was 
good; the tower would hold.  It was not invulnerable; nothing here could 
be, not against someone as powerful as Tavras.  But it would hold.
	"YOU WILL HOLD ME?"
	The voice came from everywhere at once, accompanied by a thunderous, 
rolling laugh.
	"YOU ARE NOTHING!  AN INSIGNIFIGANT WORM TO BE CRUSHED BENEATH MY 
BOOTS!  YOU DARE TO CHALLENGE ME?"
	And that quickly, the first attack came.  A tremendous roar shook the 
earth, and Hyrund watched it crack and separate into a yawning chasm.  
The chasm spidered its way towards the tower, opening beneath it, 
widening.  The tower began to lean dangerously, suddenly unsteady in its 
foundations.
	Quickly Hyrund counterattacked, using his will to change the structure 
of the tower.  Thick buttresses arced out and out like spiders legs, 
seeking firm ground, steadying the tower.
	No sooner had Hyrund managed to stabilize the tower then the second 
attack came.  A thundering herd of black insect-like creatures the size 
of elephants came storming across the plain from all directions, 
surrounding the tower.  They made a terrible screeching noise as they 
approached which deafened and stunned Hyrund, and the tower shook as 
they began scaling it, their razor-sharp claws digging into the obsidian 
as if it were soft mud.
	Hyrund willed defenders into existance; hundreds of twelve-foot tall 
humanoids made of diamond and armed with gemstone pole-arms.  They 
rushed to the ramparts, meeting the attackers with a fearsome crash as 
they came up the tower.
	Hyrund looked up, and saw the sky was darkened with other attackers.  
Blue-green wyvern-shaped creatures on the wing, heading for where he was 
standing.  As he watched, the front rank dipped into a dive, straight 
for the tower.
	He threw up a hasty shield, and the tower grew a covering dome which 
the fliers struck, but it was a flimsy structure, hastily constructed, 
and the creatures clawed their way through it.
	Hyrund pulled some of the already beleagured defenders from their task 
of repelling attackers at the ramparts, and they faced upwards, weapons 
poised, waiting for the fliers to break through the dome.  The first 
flier did so, and tumbled down.  The defenders made short work of it, 
but the second came soon afterwards, then the third and fourth, and 
more, and more, until they were falling like rain.
	The gigantic insect creatures, meanwhile, had gained a foothold in 
several places on the ramparts, pushing the diamond defenders back.  
Hyrund tried to call more into being, but he was finding it more and 
more difficult to concentrate.  His defenders were losing ground, and 
the attackers were clawing their way to where he stood.
	Just then there was a blinding blue-white flash accompanied by a 
resounding  CRACK!  Hyrund found himself on his side, his feet knocked 
out from under him, nearly stunned.  Fifteen paces away, two of his 
defenders had been vaporized; the place where they had been standing was 
now a scorched indentation in the obsidian, lined with rubble.
	A second bolt of lightning arced down from the sky, striking a clump of 
three more of Hyrund's defenders, twenty paces away from him.  One 
moment they were fighting off attackers; the next they were gone.
	Hyrund fought to his feet.  I'm losing, he realized.  I have to do 
something!
	Lightning continued to strike down, about once every three seconds, 
each bolt unerringly finding a clump of Hyrund's defenders and 
obliterating them, leaving behind only a scorched pit in the obsidian.
	Hyrund thought furiously.  Tavras was simply too powerful; he was 
maintaining three separate attacks at once.  All he could do was try to 
maintain his defences, and those were failing quickly.  Perhaps if he 
went on the offensive, forced Tavras to the defence...
	"KNOW FEAR, WORM!" came Tavras's booming voice from the empty air 
around the tower.  "YOUR DESTRUCTION IS AT HAND!"
	Hyrund focused his will, concentrating on the dull-orange sun above.  A 
moment later and a fiery phoenix emerged from it, streaking downwards.  
It would find Tavras's center and attempt to devour it; it was the most 
powerful attack he knew.
	The phoenix screamed as it plummeted, but before it had reached the 
halfway point the red sands opened up and a gigantic winged serpent 
surrounded by blue fire emerged, streaking upwards.  The two met in 
mid-air with a roar, fighting, clawing, biting.
	The phoenix screamed in agony, and Hyrund watched in dismay as the 
fiery serpent ripped one of its wings off, devouring it.  With a wail, 
it plunged earthwards, its flames dimming as it fell.  By the time it 
crashed lifelessly onto the plain, its fires had gone out.
	My most powerful attack, thought Hyrund, certain now that his doom was 
at hand.
	His defenders were all but overwhelmed now.  A few yet remained, 
fighting in pockets here and there, but the greater part of them had 
been ripped asunder by the endless waves of attackers or the merciless 
bolts of lightning.  Three had surrounded him and were fighting to keep 
back the attackers.  He saw that they would be overwhelmed within 
moments.
	He focused his concentration, tried to will more defenders into 
existance, but nothing happened, and he realized that Tavras had cut him 
off from his source of psionic power.
	He cried out in frustration, trying to reach his source, encountering 
the shield Tavras had woven.  As he watched, his three remaining 
defenders went down before the attackers, torn to pieces.  One of the 
insect things paused for a moment, looking down at him in malicious 
triumph, then its claws descended on him, ripping, piercing, tearing, 
and Hyrund screamed.  And kept screaming.

					*	*	*

	Barundar was rolling on the floor, grappling with one of the two 
dizanter.  Like all of its kind, it was a tall being, entirely encased 
in strange plate armor which was covered in razor sharp spikes and 
edges, and though Barundar had his hands locked on the creature's 
throat, squeezing for all he was worth, he appeared to be getting the 
worst of the exchange, for he was already covered with light cuts.
	The other dizanter had skewered the little crossbowman on the end of 
his pike, and was lifting the still-screaming human up, letting gravity 
and the human's weight slowly impale him.
	Reanyn raced for the bar, but the second dizanter dropped its pike at 
his approach, sending it and the human who was skewered on it to the 
floor.  It leaped at Reanyn.
	Reanyn side-stepped a lightning fast kick and blocked a knife-hand 
strike to his throat.  He lashed out in a series of strikes and kicks 
which the dizanter deflected or dodged in an equally quick series of 
blocks and moves.
	The two moved like dancers, striking, blocking, kicking, ducking, 
spinning... until the dizanter managed to snatch a handful of Reanyn's 
shirt.  It dragged Reanyn into its embrace, plainly attempting to impale 
him on the spikes that lined its armor.
	Reanyn allowed himself to be pulled forward, using the dizanter's 
momentum against it.  He struck hard with his fist at the creature's 
abdomen, and the armor there crumpled under the blow, forming an 
indentation.
	Plainly surprised by Reanyn's strength, the creature let go its hold.  
Reanyn caught its wrist as it backed, twisting and pivoting, and the 
dizanter went flying off its feet.
	Reanyn's foot lashed out in a lightning kick, and the dizanter went 
tumbling into the far wall, hitting hard and going down.  It was stunned 
momentarily, not permanently injured, but Reanyn had no time to make 
certain of the kill.
	He took a step to where Barundar and the second dizanter wrestled and 
struck out again with the knife edge of his hand, connecting hard with 
the side of the dizanter's helmet.  Again a small dent appeared where 
the armor crumpled under the impact.
	The dizanter was more surprised than hurt, but the distraction gave 
Barundar the advantage he needed.  With a roar, he hurled the dizanter 
away, so that it crashed into a nearby still-standing table.
	"Get out," shouted Reanyn, already leaping the bar and heading for the 
back room.  "They're dizanter!  Even you can't handle two of them at 
once!"
	"But Windhook-" protested the giff.
	"Leave him to me!"
	Reanyn didn't look back to see whether the giff obeyed or not.  He 
sprinted through the doorway and into the next room.
	He pulled up short, staring at what he found there.  "You!"
	The man who held Jarren Windhook smiled.  "Me," he said simply, and 
opened his palm.  A fist sized sphere flew from it, straight toward 
Reanyn.  Its surface was black, but spiderwebbed with cracks which 
pulsed with a red light, as if the interior of the sphere held some 
fiery substance.

					*	*	*

	Nym sprinted out of the entrance, running full out.  With his four 
legs, the dracon could move much faster than a man, especially when 
galloping in a straight line.	
	A shot rang out nearly the moment they exited the building, and a tiny 
'spang' cracked into a nearby block of stone, raising a little spray of 
dust.
	Nym instantly changed directions, veering off to the right and heading 
for a pile of large blocks near the building.  "Bloody hell," he 
murmured.  "There are more of them, and armed too."
	A moment later and they had reached the pile and sheltered between it 
and the wall of the building.  Nym set her down and crouched to make 
himself a low target.  "Keep down," he said, snatching the torch from 
her hands and hurling it away into the darkness.  "No sense in us making 
ourselves targets for them."  Tianna was surprised at the sudden 
darkness which swallowed them both.  She had forgotten she was even 
holding the torch, and was amazed she had managed to keep her grip on it 
during the battle.
	Nym had unlimbered his arquebus.  Now he rested its butt against his 
shoulder, standing and taking aim into the darkness.
	For a moment he stood there, still as a shadow.  Then he fired, the 
weapon roaring.  Instantly he crouched again, refilling the powder 
chamber, tamping it down, reloading a new ball.  "Got one," he said 
quietly.  "But there's more of them.  Eight or nine, at least."
	Tianna stared out into the darkness.  To her eyes it was absolute; she 
had no idea how the dracon could have seen anything out there at all.
	Behind them the building quivered and rocked with an internal 
explosion.  Gouts of flames roared out of suddenly-created holes in the 
roof and walls, illuminating the entire area brightly.  Table-sized 
chunks of wall went flying, some crashing down near where they 
sheltered.
	The force ofthe concussion knocked the wind out of her.  She flinched 
back from the sudden light and heat.  "Great Abyss!" she said, hardly 
realizing that she spoke aloud.  "If Barundar and Reanyn were in there 
when that happened..."
	The roaring flames died down almost as suddenly as they had appeared, 
fading to a few small fires on the roof and a dim flickering from within 
the shattered building.  There were a few smaller fires scattered around 
the building; chunks of wood and debris hurled from within during the 
explosion, still burning, and by the light of these smaller fires, 
Tianna could see out in the darkness.  There were men out there, five or 
six that she could see, most armed with crossbows.  The ones she could 
see were picking themselves up off the ground; apparently the explosion 
had caught them by surprise, and they too had lost their footing.
	Nym, though, had not.  He did not reply to Tianna's statement, but 
there was a grim look on his face.  He sighted down the barrel of his 
weapon and fired again, and one of the men silhouetted by the dancing 
flames screamed and collapsed.  Immediately the dracon crouched again, 
reloading.
	There was a strange groaning sound to Tianna's right, near one of the 
large chunks of stone that had been hurled from the building.  A 
humanoid figure lay prone there, motionless.
	At first she thought it was someone who had been badly burned or 
disfigured, but as her eyes adjusted to the dim light she saw that it 
was not a human at all, but some alien and terrible insect-like 
humanoid.
	It was tall, taller than a human or elf, maybe ten feet in length, with 
an iridescent exoskeleton that glittered in the uncertain light.  There 
were sharp-looking spikes at the shoulder and a razor sharp blade 
protruded from each forearm as well as the head.  The head was a mix of 
insect and humanoid - two large compound eyes and a pair of mandibles, 
but in the same place where a human's eyes and mouth would be.  And set 
into the center of the forehead was a glowing blue gem, which pulsed 
weakly with light.
	One of the dizanter?  It was about the right size and shape, and no-one 
really knew what they looked like under their armor.  Whatever it was, 
it was in bad shape.  It was scorched all over from the flames, with 
large tears in the exoskeleton at the chest, abdomen, and right leg 
where muscle tissue could be seen beneath.  Its wounds oozed blood - red 
blood, like a human's.
	As she watched in disbelief, the wounds began to knit themselves, the 
exoskeleton closing over them and stitching itself together.  The thing 
groaned again, and Tianna grabbed up a nearby rock.  Whatever it was, it 
didn't look friendly, and if it could heal that quickly...  Tianna 
crawled towards it, keeping low.  Maybe she could bash the thing's head 
in while it was still helpless.
	"What are you doing?" asked Nym as she raised the rock to strike.  "Put 
that thing down, and leave him alone!"
	"What?" she asked, shocked.
	"Reanyn, you fool girl.  That's Reanyn!"  The dracon turned, raising 
his arquebus again, aiming out into the darkness.
	Tianna lowered the rock slowly, staring at the creature in disbelief.  
This thing... Reanyn?
	Even as its wounds completed their knitting, the creature's form 
rippled, changing, metamorphosing.  Skin replaced chitin; hair appeared, 
the compound eyes were replaced with elven eyes... In moments, Reanyn 
lay before her, his clothing torn nearly to rags.
	Of the terrible wounds that the creature had born there was no sign, 
but his face was smudged with soot and his eyes were closed.  His 
breathing was shallow.
	Tianna stared at him in a mixture of revulsion and fascination.  So 
this was his secret; the reason he had been dismissed from the Fleet.  
The reason he was listed as an impure.  
	"A living weapon," she said aloud.  But that couldn't be right; the 
living weapons had been bio-engineered for the first Unhuman War, 
hundreds of years past.  Reanyn had served in the Second Unhuman War, 
not the first.  He wasn't old enough to be a living weapon.  But what, 
then?
	"Don't touch him," said Nym.  "He'll heal faster if he's left alone.  
Bad enough he's hurt, but if he wakes up with you cradling him in his 
arms..."
	Tianna straightened from where she was bent over Reanyn, about to 
protest that she had hardly been 'cradling' him, but her eyes widened 
with surprise.  "Look out!" she cried, pointing over the dracon's 
shoulder.
	Nym whirled.  A human male had vaulted over the rubble, sword held 
high, and was coming down on him in a killing blow.  Nym swung his 
arquebus like a club, catching the flying man on the side of the head 
with a resounding crack and sending him tumbling away to land in a heap.
	But a second man was right behind the first, striking with a dagger.  
The arquebus fell from Nym's hand as the man landed atop him, sending 
them both sprawling to the ground.  The dracon had caught the other 
man's dagger hand at the wrist, and the two wrestled for the weapon.
	Tianna came to her feet to help, but two more men came sprinting over 
the pile of stones, one bearing a crossbow and the other a pike.
	The one with the crossbow landed right in front of her.  "Hello, 
sweetmeat," he said, leering.  "How about a kiss?"
	The man with the pike raced to aid his companion, raising his weapon to 
spear Nym from behind.
	A shot rang out from Tianna's left and the pikeman groaned and toppled 
backwards, blood spattering from a hole in his forehead.
	The crossbowman whirled.
	A fifth man stood at the edge of the pile of rubble.  As Tianna 
watched, he lowered the starwheel pistol he had fired and stepped 
forward.  He was a young man, probably not yet into his twenties, but 
there was something about his eyes...
	The crossbowman raised his weapon and fired.  His aim was true, but the 
young man merely leaned, making the movement seem lazy and contemptuous, 
and the bolt flew past him, skittering off the rocks behind.
	The crossbowman snarled, dropping the crossbow, and unsheathed a 
wickedly-curved shortsword.  "Die!" he yelled, attacking the newcomer.
	The younger man merely waited, calmly.  When the other man had 
committed himself to the attack, he shifted, just slightly.  The 
swordstroke came down, but connected with nothing.  The younger man 
lashed out in an incredibly quick move, seizing the swordsman's wrist 
and sending him flying.  Somehow he managed to take the sword from him 
at the same time, and struck once with it as the swordsman stumbled 
past.
	The swordsman was dead before he hit the ground.
	The younger man reached Nym's side in two quick steps.  The man the 
dracon wrestled with was on top, pushing the point of the dagger nearer 
and nearer the dracon's throat.
	The young man reached down and gripped Nym's assailant by the hair, 
pulling his head back.  Calmly, he used the sword he had taken to cut 
the man's throat, then stood.
	The man gurgled once in surprise and pain.  Then his eyes glazed with 
death, and Nym hurled him away, clambering to his feet, panting.
	The young man tossed down the sword, crouching and taking the starwheel 
pistol from his belt again.  Quickly and efficiently he began reloading 
it.
	"Who are you?" Tianna asked, staring at him.
	"The name's Jack," he said.  "Twilight Jack."

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