Jonathan Moeller - The Ghosts 08 - Ghost in the Mask (27 page)

“Wait a moment,” said Komnene, taking a jar from the shelf. “This will…”

Claudia turned towards the back door, and gray smoke rippled over it.

A pair of Dust Shades drifted through the wall.

“Get behind me!” said Corvalis. “I don’t have any weapons that can hurt them.”

Harkus loosed a pulse of silver light from his rod. He destroyed the first shadow, and then the second. But three more Dust Shades glided through the back wall, followed by four more. Caina and Kylon did not dare turn their backs to address the new threat, not while more Dust Shades came through the front door.

Claudia lifted her hands and sent a volley of white sparks into the shadows. She managed to destroy three of them, and Harkus unraveled a fourth, but the rest drifted closer. Claudia focused her will, summoning more power, but realized she would not be fast enough…

“Your sword!” shouted Komnene, and grabbed Corvalis’s wrist. He looked at her in annoyance, and the old woman smeared white grease from the jar down the blade. Before he could react, she snatched a candle from the table and pressed it to his sword. 

The grease caught fire, stinking yellow smoke rising from the blade.

The Dust Shades closed around them. 

“Strike!” said Komnene. “Do not hesitate!”

Corvalis obeyed her at once, lashing his burning sword through one of the Dust Shades. The strange yellow fire spread through the immaterial creature, and it dissolved into nothingness. Corvalis’s eyes widened in surprise, but he kept up the attack, destroying two more of the Dust Shades. Claudia caught her breath and summoned more arcane power, and flung another burst of sparks.

They were holding back the Dust Shades.

But for how long?

###

Kylon struck right and left, his frost-wreathed sword cutting through Dust Shade after Dust Shade. 

There was no end to the damned things. He did not dare use the full extent of his sorcery in the limited space available. He could make himself stronger and faster, but he was trained to unleash his strength in the chaos of a battlefield, not in this cramped shop. Too much power, and he could accidentally cut down one of his allies. 

Fortunately, the Dust Shades were not powerful foes, even if their touch was deadly. Kylon’s mind raced as he fought alongside Caina. Who had unleashed the things upon Komnene’s shop? Anashir, perhaps? No – the most likely culprit seemed Maena. The Moroaica’s disciple must have followed them to Komnene’s shop, realized her most dangerous foes were all in one place, and summoned the Dust Shades to kill them. 

They had to get free. Komnene was a physician, but her shop had become a death trap. If they did not find more room to manuever, sooner or later the Dust Shades would overwhelm them. 

Caina stepped back, dagger raised before her, and glanced at the ceiling. Kylon wondered why she was doing that, and then remembered how she said no one ever looked up.

The ceiling rippled with gray smoke. 

“Beware!” shouted Caina. “They’re coming from above!” 

Four Dust Shades dropped through the ceiling. Caina wheeled and slashed her dagger through two of them, the blade burning white. Kylon joined her, his sword turning the other two shadows into frozen dust. But a fresh wave of Dust Shades poured through the front wall. He pivoted to face them, his sword a white blur. 

If they did not get out of the shop, they were going to die.

An idea came to Kylon, and he drew upon the sorcery of water and air, filling his muscles with speed and power. 

“What are you doing?” said Caina. 

“Breaking down the front door,” said Kylon. A Dust Shade reached for him, and he slashed his sword through it. “When I go, follow me.”

He braced himself, took a deep breath, and threw himself forward with all the speed he would muster. His blade sheared through three Dust Shades, and he slammed into the front door. It shattered beneath the weight of his charge, and Kylon stumbled down the steps and landed in the street. He saw more Dust Shades hovering over the cobblestones, heard screams and the sound of running feet. 

The shadows closed around him.

But here, in the open street, he could use his full power, and he had a far better chance against the Dust Shades.

Hopefully Caina would use the opening he had made.

Kylon fought, slashing through shadow after shadow.

###

“Corvalis!” said Caina. “The door!” 

Kylon’s attack had shattered the shop’s front door, drawing off the Dust Shades. Corvalis nodded and destroyed another Dust Shade with a quick thrust from his smoking blade. Komnene hurried to Caina’s side, while Claudia and Harkus walked backwards, flinging sparks and pulses of silver light into the shadows. Caina hurried into the street, helping Komnene down the stairs, and saw Kylon whirling and slashing, destroying Dust Shade after Dust Shade. Corvalis, Claudia, and Harkus backed out of the shop a moment later, sparks still erupting from Claudia’s fingers. 

“Back to back!” said Caina, and they moved into a circle around Komnene. Screams came from the nearby streets and alleys. It seemed the Dust Shades had been loosed into the streets of Calvarium. But why? Was all of this simply to kill Caina and the other Ghosts?

“We need to find whoever is controlling those Dust Shades,” said Harkus, loosing another blast of silver light from his rod. 

“Claudia,” said Caina. “Can you trace the spell upon the shadows?” 

“I…I can try,” said Claudia. “At least, I think I can.”

“Do it now,” said Caina, driving the ghostsilver dagger through another Dust Shade. They had gotten lucky so far, but the Dust Shades needed only a single touch to kill. 

And to judge from the screaming, it seemed quite a few people had learned that the hard way.

###

“I’ll watch you,” said Corvalis.

Claudia took a deep breath, cleared her mind, and closed her eyes. She worked the spell to sense the presence of sorcery, and felt the icy power of the Dust Shades around her, the cold necromancy animating them. They were the echoes of violent death, created through murder, their touch empowered to kill. 

And she felt the faint strands of power binding each of them, linking the creatures to the mind commanding their attacks. 

Claudia probed the threads, following them back to their source. A web of threads covered the Dust Shades, a web centering…

Her eyes snapped open. 

The web centered upon the roof a three-story house across the street. She tightened the focus of her spell, and detected the presence of masking sorcery. Whoever commanded the Dust Shades stood atop the roof of that house, concealed by a spell. Claudia thought she could unravel the spell. 

Or could she launch a surprise attack instead?

“Harkus,” she said. “There, on the roof.” The Venator’s silver rod destroyed the Dust Shades by unraveling the spells upon them. Could his rod also dispel the cloaking spell? “Whoever is controlling the shadows is up there, hidden with sorcery.”

Harkus leveled his rod, and Claudia began another spell, summoning all the power she could hold. The pulse of silver light washed over the roof, and the air rippled.

Maena Tulvius appeared atop the house, eyes wide with surprise, a Dustblade in her right hand. Claudia flung her spell, her will and power transformed into a hammer of psychokinetic force strong enough to blast the sorceress from the rooftop. But Maena made a sweeping gesture with her free hand, and Claudia’s attack dissipated. 

Maena was stronger and more skilled. But she looked so young. Where had she acquired her power?

###

Caina destroyed another Dust Shade, and the rest of the creatures backed off, moving into a circle. 

She saw Maena standing atop the roof of a nearby house, her gown rippling in the wind, a Dustblade clutched in her right hand. The burns on her face had healed. Undoubtedly the Moroaica had taught her how to heal wounds with stolen life energy.

Maena beckoned, and the Dust Shades backed off, moving into a circle around Caina and the others. 

“This is your doing?” said Caina, pointing the ghostsilver dagger. “How many people did you kill with those creatures?”

“Oh, several dozen, I imagine,” said Maena. “Maybe even as many as a hundred. The Dust Shades, alas, are quite easy to outrun. But with the proper tools, they’re easy to make. How many more do you think you can fight off?” 

“Shouldn’t you be more worried about Anashir?” said Caina. 

“Anashir is a fool,” said Maena, “and the Moroaica will deal with him when she is ready. But you, Ghost, you and your pet assassin and his idiot sister…I am going to deal with you.”

“Why?” said Claudia, bewildered. “I never even met you before you came to Calvarium.”

Maena laughed, her green eyes wide. “You still haven’t figured it out? You don’t know who I am? Or what the three of you did to me, how you reduced me to…this?” She waved a hand over herself. “But it doesn’t matter. My revenge will be just as sweet if you die in ignorance. Kill them!”

The mass of Dust Shades surged forward. 

###

Kylon drew on the sorcery of water and air and charged into the Dust Shades.

He cut a path through them, the shadows unraveling into frozen dust beneath the touch of his blade. Behind him he heard the others struggling, saw the flashes of light as Claudia cast her spells and Harkus used his enspelled rod. But Kylon drew on his power and jumped, the strength of his water sorcery propelling him into the air. 

He struck the house’s second story, catching on to the shutters of a window. Another moment to brace himself, and Kylon jumped off the wall, using all his power over air and water to enhance his leap.

His momentum carried him to the roof, and Maena whirled to face him, her eyes wide with surprise. She slashed with the Dustblade, its bloodcrystal flaring, and Kylon parried. He stepped back, intending to run his sword through her, but Maena thrust her free hand. 

Invisible force slammed into him and threw him backwards. He tumbled over the edge of the roof and caught it with his free hand, dangling over the street forty feet below. 

###

“Harkus!” said Caina. “Crossbow!”

Harkus raised his crossbow, slamming a bolt into the weapon and drawing back the crank. Kylon held Maena’s full attention, but if Harkus could put a crossbow bolt into sorceress, it would end the battle. 

Kylon stumbled back, dangling over the street. Maena loomed over him, the Dustblade raised to strike. Harkus leveled his crossbow and squeezed the trigger. The bolt slammed into Maena’s belly and shattered in a spray of sparks, destroyed by the power of her warding spell. Yet the force of the impact knocked her back, her eyes wide with surprise.

Kylon heaved himself back to the roof, and Maena screamed and threw out her hands. Force erupted in all directions, ripping hundreds of tiles from the roof and flinging Kylon into the air. He spun head over heels, righted himself, and landed in the street, and Caina sensed the power of water sorcery absorb his fall. 

“Perish!” Maena screamed, casting another spell. “All of you, perish…”

A blast of white fire ripped through the street. It passed through Caina, leaving her untouched, but tore a score of Dust Shades to wispy shreds. 

Talekhris strode towards them, his expression grim, his tattered coat blowing around him. The silver rod of a Sage gleamed in his hand, and Caina sensed arcane power spiking around him, more and more.

A hint of fear went over Maena’s expression.

“Come, slave of the Moroaica!” said Talekhris. “You could not even defeat these children! Do you think you can face me and live?”

Maena threw the Dustblade into the street and ran. At once the Dust Shades lost their coherence, drifting in different directions. Caina ran forward, her eyes on the Dustblade. If those Dust Shades were not stopped, they might wind up killing half of the population of Calvarium. 

Caina came to the Dustblade, the weapon’s bloodcrystal flickering with green light. She dropped to one knee and drove her ghostsilver dagger into the bloodcrystal. The Dustblade loosed a hideous metallic scream. The bloodcrystal crumbled into black ash, and the blade withered like a leaf tossed into a fire.

The Dust Shades rippled and vanished. 

Caina let out a long breath and got to her feet, wiping the sweat from her forehead. Kylon shot past her in a blur, and she realized he was in pursuit of Maena. 

She turned and saw that Claudia, Corvalis, Komnene, and Harkus were all still alive, thank the gods. Corvalis shook his sword, the last of the yellow flames fading away.

“What the devil did you put on my sword?” he said. “Not that I object. Your timing probably saved our lives. Did you cast a spell on it?”

Komnene chuckled. “I did not. I smeared grease upon the blade and set it aflame. The grease was made from the graveflower, a plant that grows in the Arthagi lands beyond the Imperial Pale. It is useful for treating fevers and delirium, but the Arthagi believe that when burned, it drives away evil spirits.” She tapped her cane against the street. “Apparently, they were correct.” 

“Apparently,” said Caina, and Kylon returned from the alley. “Did you catch her?”

Kylon shook his head. “I think she used that masking spell again. If I had Claudia’s help, I could find her, but likely she has fled back to her camp by now. What did you do to her? She seems absolutely determined to see you dead. She hates you…and Corvalis and Claudia, as well.” 

“I don’t know,” said Caina in frustration. “I would swear I had never seen her before Calvarium.” 

She turned as Talekhris limped closer, his expression grim.

“Sage,” said Harkus with a bow. 

“Good timing,” said Caina. 

Talekhris nodded, his blue eyes fixed on the damaged roof, and rubbed his hand over the stubble on his chin. 

“Can you track her?” said Caina. 

“Aye,” said Talekhris, “though I can’t strike at her from this distance.” His eyes narrowed. “She’s…fleeing back to her camp, I think.”