64 LXIV. | 'The crack of Thunder, the pulse of Fire...'

Roman tore through the air like a missile, and Karkash was clearly prepared to receive him, no doubt having been warned by his reaper.

Roman didn't need an introduction. Garovel had of course provided the details of Hector's past encounters with this man, and ever since Roman heard that Karkash could also fly, he'd been expecting to end up in single combat with him.

They were both alteration users, and they were both highly mobile. The only thing left unclear was the degree to which Karkash could control his lightning. If Hector was able to divert it with the natural conductance of iron, then Karkash's control couldn't be too strong, but from Garovel's account, Karkash could also hone his lightning well enough to even cut through flesh like a blade. This, combined with the knowledge that the man had recently achieved emergence as well, made Roman think this fight would not go as smoothly as the one against Hanjir.

Honestly, though, a part of him had been looking forward to this. He'd never been one much for battle, but recently, he'd found himself growing restless with his power.

Childishness, Roman knew--an immature impulse to test out his still relatively new strength. But still. There it was. And if he had no choice but to fight this time, then perhaps there was no harm in learning to enjoy it a little. And besides, the extra motivation had helped him practice.

'Don't stop moving and don't stop attacking,' said Voreese.

'I know,' said Roman. His arm fought against the pounding wind force as he sent a shock wave ahead of himself--his own flight speed added to it like a bullet fired from the nose of a plane.

Karkash responded in kind. Lightning cut into the shock wave before it reached him. The clash made the air erupt. Frantic waves of sparks shot out in all directions.

Roman banked right hard, and he saw Karkash following suit. Another shock wave, another surge of lightning, another furious explosion. And again. And still another time. They followed each other higher up, exchanging attacks as Roman gradually forced his way closer, swirling around each explosion, ignoring his own battered body because Karkash's couldn't be in much better shape.

When he was finally within range, Roman threw his fist out and surrounded Karkash with a pressurized cage. It certainly wasn't enough to stop the man, but it slowed him for a moment, and Roman took the opportunity to move in even closer, a shock wave already flying ahead of him.

Karkash deflected it with another burst of lightning, but he was too close to the explosion this time and got caught up in the blast. He flew off course, toppling through the air.

Roman gave chase, preparing a bath of fire with a trembling hand. The flames poured forth on another shock wave.

But instead of struggling to steady himself, Karkash seemed to embrace his downward tumble, and it became a broad, swooping maneuver. He moved down and away from the fire, which burned up harmlessly after going too far. And then Karkash was flying up toward Roman again, smoothly sliding past the next stream of fire and retaliating with fresh lightning.

Roman was already covering himself with a fiery shock wave as he swerved right. Fire and lightning clashed. The explosion rocked the air and threw sparking embers across the sky, obscuring Roman's view of Karkash.

Karkash veered around the explosion. Roman expected more lightning to accompany the man and so immediately launched another shock wave at him, but perhaps Karkash had anticipated as much, because there was no such lightning to be found. Instead, Karkash flew up and over, avoiding the shock wave before raining blue bolts from above.

A branch of lightning caught Roman's left arm, making him grit his teeth and muscle through the seizure. In an instant, he swiped the air with his right arm and returned an enormous shock wave. Karkash must not have expected such a quick response, because it barreled into his torso.

Both men lost aerial control and started falling. Roman's body seized up as the electricity coursed through it, and Karkash's chest had caved in on itself.

They recovered nearly in unison, and abruptly found themselves staring each other down.

A tense quiet arrived as they got a good, long look at one another, both reluctant to make the first move again. Roman might have guessed from the man's name that Karkash was different from the other Abolishers present, but the attire made that point rather clearly. The long, slender coat with a black sash was certainly not Atreyan fashion, nor was it something Roman had seen any of the other Abolishers wearing--though admittedly, he'd only seen three, and perhaps Desmond's butler disguise didn't quite count.

'Still okay back there?' said Roman, eyes still locked on Karkash as he floated.

'Yeah, don't worry,' said Voreese.

Hoyohté, the crow on Karkash's shoulder, took the lull in combat as an opportunity to speak. 'Who are you people? Why must you stand in our way?'

'Why do you have to fuck with our country?' said Voreese.

'We are honor-bound,' said Hoyohté. 'We are all servants of the Void--even you, though you may refuse to acknowledge it.'

'OH!' yelled Voreese, reaching for that obnoxious tone again. 'WELL, OKAY, THEN! IF THE VOID WANTS EVERYONE DEAD, THEN THAT'S FINE!'

'I do not expect you to understand,' said Hoyohté.

'NO, SERIOUSLY!' said Voreese. 'TELL ME MORE ABOUT THE FUCKING VOID! I'M IMAGINING IT AS A GIANT, INVISIBLE ASSHOLE IN THE SKY! IS THAT ACCURATE?!'

'I suppose I should expect no less from heretics, but will you even refuse to identify yourselves out of warriors' respect?'

'IS IT PUCKERED OR GAPING?!'

Hoyohté said nothing more as Karkash started moving again.

Roman knew that negotiations would have just been a waste of time, and Karkash didn't look especially fazed by Voreese's words, but even so, Roman had to wonder if it was wise, attempting to anger a man who could throw bolts of fucking lightning.

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Helen had thus far only managed to develop one real use for her calcium transfiguration power, as the learning curve for it had proved too steep for anything more. Epidermal calcification was all she had, a means of hardening her skin.

It was a simple enough idea but not at all easy in execution. Despite calcium itself being fairly tough on its own, Helen could not simply replace the surface layer of her skin with the stuff, as it would naturally react with the other elements below and reduce her flesh to a bubbling, melting mass of decidedly useless goo. So to prevent that from happening, she needed to make calcium carbonate--a mineral also requiring carbon and oxygen. Both of those elements were readily available in the human body and indeed, the skin itself, but learning to bond them together with her transfigured calcium had been a grueling exercise in patience and concentration. It took a rather precise application of mental pressure, and she'd only recently been able to get it down.

Combined with the fact that, in all of her thirty-three years, she'd never been in a fight until a little over two months ago, Helen was admittedly feeling disadvantaged in this whole ordeal.

Still, she had refused to stand by and let these three gentlemen do all the work. Enhanced strength and regeneration were useful enough on their own, and if nothing else, she could at least help to divide the enemy's attention.

Perhaps it was tactically unwise, going into battle herself like this, but to her mind, it was worth the risk. In the worst case scenario, Abolish would kill her here and then leave the country for fear of the Vanguard, at which point, Atreya would primarily be left in the hands of David, William, Gina, and Lynnette. And she trusted those hands.

So here she was, gambling for the optimal outcome. Though, from what Mehlsanz and Voreese had said, it was pretty safe to bet on Harper Norez.

An immense flash lit up the battlefield, making Helen squint and shield her eyes. Then just as suddenly, the light vanished, taking more with it than expected. It took Helen's eyes a moment to adjust and another moment to understand what she was seeing.

An apparent hole in space stood where Harper was--a black dome in the middle of the forest. Presumably, Harper was still there somewhere, having stopped the movement of light within, or bent it perhaps. It would surely buy the man a few seconds of confusion, but not likely more than that, because as Helen understood it, reapers could still see souls regardless of light, and, Helen suspected, so could servants--provided their soul-synchronization was strong enough.

Conall posed the greatest threat to Harper, so it was rather obvious that Harper would attack him in the darkness--which was perhaps why Harper didn't. Instead, when the veil of darkness lifted, it was Tessa he was in the midst of attacking.

As for herself, the Queen worked alongside Hector to keep Conall occupied.

An enormous iron slab gathered high above Conall's aluminum shelter. It crashed down with full force, not breaking the no doubt soul-strengthened aluminum but still sending impressive cracks through it.

Helen took that as her cue to begin whaling on it. Each punch broadened the cracks and made the aluminum tremble. And she broke through, but a second barrier was already waiting for her. And it had spikes.

This one was truly just a wall, though, not a dome. Hector raised an iron platform on the other side and flung Conall up and over.

Conall spun in the air, seeing Helen and Hector below, as well as the iron sword flying toward his gut. The man encased himself in aluminum. The blade shattered on impact and knocked Conall farther away, into a group of still-standing trees.

They pursued. The Queen held her hand out toward Hector as they ran, and he created a sword for her.

The strained light of the forest darkened even further as metal appeared above her head. For a moment, it was difficult to tell whose it was, but she didn't have to guess.

"That's not mine!" said Hector.

'Split up,' said Mehlsanz.

Helen ran right, and Hector ran left. The aluminum crashed down between the trees. Conall probably would have liked to follow the attack up, but the man no doubt realized by now that Harper would tear his comrades apart without him. And that was the game here. They didn't have to defeat Conall--only distract him.

Helen spotted Conall again and chucked the sword with all her strength. It flew straight and true. Conall was forced to shield himself again, allowing Hector a few moments to circle around. A horizontal pillar shot out of Hector's gauntlet with a pointed tip.

Conall launched himself up with an aluminum pillar, clearing the treetops for a fresh view of Harper, where he took the opportunity to make fresh shelter for his comrades. Another iron sword shattered against his aluminum coating and knocked him away again. As he fell, he retaliated once more.

A flurry of aluminum spikes flew toward Helen. She took refuge behind a burly tree trunk, which did manage to stop the spikes but only just. The wood was left skewered in multiple places, sharp tips poking out through splintered holes.

Then Karkash reappeared, swooping low over the treetops. Roman was not far behind, though he was missing an arm now.

Hector raised an iron spire to catch the imminent lightning, but it didn't work. The lightning eagerly went for the aluminum spikes instead, making Helen's tree explode.

The impact knocked her off her feet, countless scraps of wood tearing into her.

Helen made a fist and punched the dirt in order to give herself the leverage to climb back to her feet. Her regeneration was already pushing the chunks of broken wood out of her flesh, and she could feel her shattered bones reforming.

As her ear drums restored themselves, she heard more explosions, quite close. They sounded like Desmond's, being preceded by that distinct and low sizzle. She could feel drops of rain as well, few and faint, perhaps just now starting to fall.

'Hurry,' said Mehlsanz. The reaper was not without her wounds, either. Thin plumes of white-and-black smoke rose out of the ghost's backside and upper right arm.

Helen rushed back toward the battle.

And from that point, it was utter mayhem.

Every combatant was present again. All hope of keeping formation was lost in a mad scramble. Lightning hacked Hector's arm off. Flames engulfed Andres. A shower of yellow crystals riddled the Queen with holes before an iron wall rose to her defense. A beam of light claimed one of Karkash's legs. A forest fire devoured trees in the background, and no one was in any position to stop it from spreading, but perhaps the rain would render that unnecessary.

'I can hardly tell what is happening!' said Helen. She bounded out of the way of another swarm of crystals.

'We're slowly losing ground,' said Mehlsanz privately. 'And it's about to get worse. I sense six new souls approaching quickly from the direction of Rendon, and given the situation, they're probably Abolish, too.'

An iron spire shot up next to Helen, and then lightning crashed against it. She squinted against the blinding flash while struggling to maintain her concentration. 'Should we retreat?!'

'Maybe,' said Mehlsanz, 'but we probably wouldn't get away--on your right!'

The top of the tree next to her erupted, making the whole thing groan and topple over. Helen leapt out of the way. 'There must be something we can do.' She went to work on her arms, focusing and flexing in order to reestablish the calcium carbonate. Her peachy skin turned pale white as it hardened, cracking here and there.

'It's not over yet,' said Mehlsanz. 'I suspect Harper is holding back.'

'Why would he possibly be--?' She had to break the question off as she was abruptly confronted with Andres, who seemed just as surprised by the encounter. She struck before he could and punched him hard enough to make her calcified skin crumble.

Andres went toppling through the air and took a tree down with him.

'Just be ready to run,' said Mehlsanz. 'If I'm right, then things are going to escalate very quickly.'

-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-

Harper scowled as another aluminum wall rose to Tessa's defense.

Even with Roman and Karkash thrown back into the mix, the battle saw little in the way of progress--which was unfortunately still in Abolish's favor. They probably just wanted to buy time for their comrades to arrive from Rendon, at which point they would merely try to overwhelm Harper. Such was Darsihm's assessment, anyway.

Conall and Tessa were the core problem, Harper knew. Conall's mirrors needed to be broken down at close range, but that was where Tessa's destruction power excelled. If Harper rushed in to smash through, she would be there with her unstoppable attack. And all the while, the other Abolishers were attacking more or less as they pleased, probably trying to catch him off guard.

He just needed an opening, a foothold, and he was sure that he would be able to make up all of his lost ground.

Then Roman fell out of the sky, crashing down at a low angle and skidding across dirt and stone right in front of Harper. Roman's body was in tatters, bones sticking out of his flesh, limbs hardly seeming to function. But his right arm still worked. And that was enough.

Undeterred by the reflectivity of aluminum, Roman's shock wave smashed through Conall's barrier, leaving Tessa suddenly exposed.

Harper immediately capitalized, and a beam of light tore the woman asunder.

Now was the moment, he felt. The close range threat was gone for now. He still wasn't sure where Tessa's reaper was, so he just moved against Conall next.

Karkash was busy trying to kill Roman while Hector stood in the way again, and the Queen was still trying to occupy Conall's attention. That only left Desmond and Andres for Harper to deal with on his way to Conall.

Wait. No, it didn't. That other woman was still missing.

'This is--no, behind you!' said Darsihm.

Nola Pauls was there, crouched and reaching for him. A beam of light would have taken her head off if not for the aluminum faceguard. Instead, she was merely flung back, but not before she succeeded in melting Harper's right leg into the rock below.

He was suddenly immobile, stuck fast above the knee while his left leg could achieve no leverage to pull himself free. He struggled as aluminum walls shot up around him, encasing him completely. From the sound of it, Andres was adding an outer layer of sulfur crystals, too.

His mind raced. Even with all his years in the service, here and now, he still had to fight the urge to panic. If he didn't break out right now, Abolish would certainly overwhelm the others. And then they would gang up on him.

There was no other choice now. He'd fallen for the enemy's feint. And hell, even breaking free of this cage wouldn't be enough. More Abolishers were en route, and there was no telling what fresh problems they could present.

Harper's jaw muscles tensed in the darkness. He closed his eyes and concentrated. He could already feel the first stage of the transformation taking place. 'Warn the others,' he told Darsihm.

The reaper didn't require an explanation. 'You know I can't do that without also alerting the enemy.'

'If we accidentally kill one of them--'

'We've committed our allies to memory. Trust in our instincts, Harper. It's all we can do now.'