Silence - Chapter 36

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* * *


The Harrowings flew silently, perfectly hidden from their prey as they wheeled through the Void. Their flesh was one with the nothing around them, their eyes as inky black as the Void from which they were born. Their minds were clear, only concerned with food, blood, and Mana. The truth of their existence was infallible: eat, or be eaten.

Closer they flew, gliding without movement, their talons poised to strike instantly. The small, strange things that squirmed upon the rocky surface had no chance. Their form was vivid against the darkness, writhing worms of unusual construction, but they leaked Mana at a tremendous rate. The Harrowings gathered, nearly a thousand of them now, a deadly, invisible tornado of restrained violence just waiting to be set loose. The flock leader drew closer and shrieked. That was the signal.

The Harrowings dove. The worms, however, stretched out toward them as if embracing their death. Wing after wing, the angular predators found themselves bound to the writhing tendrils, unable to escape. A low, almost echo-like groan shook the air and knocked the last few to the rocky ground. Tendrils snaked out and captured them too.

Then the ground opened up, and teeth bigger than any of them emerged from the sundered earth. Shrill screams tore through the black before being silenced by the closing jaws of a mountain. The Corrupted Narhollow fed.

But it was not enough.

The flesh and Mana the anemic Harrowings provided were...adequate for alleviating the constant pain of its Need. A hollow had bored through its center, an emptiness that was never filled, a Need never truly met. It fed on everything it could, even the rocks that littered the endless dark. Yet despite its constant pain, it grew stronger with every passing cycle. Its flesh was less rocky than before, and more of the red tendrils had burst from its once impenetrable hide, even as huge scales formed in patches along its massive length. The creature knew it had been altered though it barely remembered life before the Need had found it, before it had become one with the essence of eternity.

Even now, in the dark corners of the beast's mind, a discordant whisper sent soft susurrations across its being. The whispers promised things, concepts that the beast did not entirely understand...but it was growing. Learning. And from that learning it discovered the purpose of its Need, and the ache in its immense, unending belly called out for one thing.

The boy.

He carried what it Needed. What it Desired more than food, or drink, or Mana. An ineffable burr upon the Void, a piercing chord that should not be in the black, one that resonated so clearly with itself. He had vanished many cycles ago, consumed by the dark so completely that the beast feared its Need would never be met.

Then, though it had moved many leagues away, it felt it. The boy had stepped back into the dark. Its Need swelled as the beast tasted the boy's Mana.

With a keening groan, the creature banked and began the long process of turning around. It had no choice.

It must eat.


* * *


Felix found his new ship to be better than the one he'd taken from Bridgven, and it responded to his Will far easier. He settled against the Control Node as he left behind the dwindled residents of Echo's Reach, refusing to look back any longer. It hurt too much. Better a clean break—as clean as could be managed, at least.

The Manaship shot off into the dark, pushing through the shifting rock islands at speed. He knew the direction to head, because the former captain of the ship had provided Felix with some upsetting intel. After some coercion, the man had told Felix that Nokk was headed their way. "To personally oversee the destruction of the town, and the capture of some mage," he had said.

"Destruction? Why? Why does he do this?" Felix had demanded. The captain had only given a mad laugh and spat at him.

"Captain Nokk will end you! Or he'll let his lieutenants face you instead! You'll not survive against a one of them! Bridgven alone could kill you in an instant, her spectral scythe—"

"She's already dead," Felix had growled. The captain had boggled at him, his mouth working silently. "And so are you."

So now Felix raced against time and distance, pushing the Manaship forward and considering the beginnings of a plan. He looked back, this time over the stern rail, where a thick tendril of rainbow-tinged white Mana was streaming out behind them. Felix adjusted the flow through the Node, dialing in the aperture as he wove among the floating islands.

"C'mon, work," he muttered.

The Mana came from the ship's reserves, located at the lowest deck, where a series of artificial Mana bladders stored a chunk of Mana to help supplement the ship's movements. He had discovered them by accident, through the Control Node, but had immediately crafted an idea. Felix tweaked the aperture again, releasing a touch more of the reserved Mana into the Void behind them. It lingered, floating among the stones like a serpentine trail of rainbow light. Frustrated with a lack of progress, Felix added a touch of his own power to the mix, threading a ribbon of shifting, sparking light into the flow. It was obvious to any who saw it, Felix's Mana being thicker and more vibrant, and immediately there was a response.

Harrowings and Tenebril emerged from the stones around them, the creatures slipping between cracks of rock like hibernating bears in spring. They followed after the ship, only a few so far, snapping at the trail of liquid light.

Again you vent your Mana! You are putting us—me—in danger. I will not have it!

The Maw was again in his face, pressing her skeletal hands at Felix like a fishmonger chasing a thieving cat. Affinity or not, Felix felt nothing from the Pirmordial; he wasn't sure if that was bad thing, however. Madness glinted in the Maw's pupilless eyes, almost as strong as the hunger that dogged its every feature.

"Get over it or get out of my head."

The Maw snarled at him, its face less Human—or Nym—than ever before. Why do you do this?!

"I'm done running. What happens if they follow me to another settlement, or another? More people dead? Or maybe they just catch me when I'm tired and sick of the chase. Run me into the ground. No. I'm going to them. This is ending today, one way or another."

Setting the hounds to course, indeed, the Maw murmured, its snarling visage fading back to a considering one. And what then, Unbound? Let's say you survive. What happens next?

Felix didn't answer its question, only stepped on the gas.


* * *


The longer he drove, the more Manaship Pilot sang to him. It was a murmur of knowledge that had been somehow stuffed into his brain by the System, dim as it was out there. The idea of it made him uncomfortable, but Felix couldn't deny that it was useful.

Moving a ship the size of his new one—a galleon, if old pirate movies weren't failing him—took an exceptional amount of Mana and Willpower. His Alacrity, which Felix had assumed had a supporting role in the manipulation of a Manaship, turned out instead to be a major factor. Something tickled his brain, telling him the effort to move a galleon should have beggared him, draining his impressive Mana pool to nothing in less than a few miles. But Alacrity was his Harmonic stat for "feats of the Mind" and it proved to be a force multiplier. By his rough estimation, every point in Alacrity reduced the amount of Mana needed and increased the effect of his Will on the ship.

Ultimately, it meant he was fine. He could pilot the galleon for days at a moderate clip, or half of one at its highest speed as he was now. Up ahead, he could see the mountain, called the Horn on both maps. It was small, but growing fast as his galleon ate up the distance. It was faintly darkened by the Void stuff around him, but it was far less concealing than a thick fog.

Felix glanced behind him, counting the shapes in the dark that fought greedily over the galleon's trail. It might be enough. Maybe. Pit cried out from the crow's nest, and Felix adjusted their course. First we climb the mountain and then we end this. One way or another.


* * *


"Man the ballistae! I'll not be taken by surprise!" Captain Nokk shouted to his crew. They leapt to obey, pulling pins and adjusting the massive crossbows on their tracks. It was an ingenious addition, the tracks, allowing the ballistae to be moved up and down the deck with relative ease. He needn't worry about turning broadside on an enemy, instead moving his weaponry to the fore or aft to accommodate their targets. "I want green death rained down on him the moment you see this putrid village!"

I'm coming for you Felix, Nokk thought with relish. He fingered the puckered scar a Tenebril had given him these weeks past, that Felix had given him. You thought you could hide, but no one gets the better of Captain Nokk!

In the distance the Horn loomed, a massive stone formation, likely the biggest in their area of the Void. It was still leagues away, but appeared larger than his own fortress. The various pirate crews used it as a point of navigation, with a few folks even trying to hold it as territory a century back. Nokk could still see the pieces of their fortifications, crumbled to shards of bone and twisted leather higher up the mountain. For it was mountainous, bigger than many peaks Nokk had seen on the Continent. It was a place of meetings and departures; many a raid had first gathered here before haring off after their foes. From here, a proper privateer could find his way to just about anywhere, and when they returned their holds would be fat with loot.

He laughed, and the Nixie didn't care that it sounded a little mad. After the damages that boy had done to his flagship, Nokk was pissed and eager for revenge, but he did not discount the riches these birds seemed to possess. While the Nym had gotten away in the chaos of their last encounter, he had sent two of his best to track him. And track him they did! To some village, one that dared to hide from him!

Nokk scoffed at the thought. Already his men would have raided the village, taking more meat for their engines and leaving it little more than a pyre. He was early awaiting the haul. Still, Nokk would not be truly satisfied until he saw the terror in that boy's eyes as he lashed him to the Fury's Mana engine. And by Avet's broken teeth, I will!

"Captain."

Nokk twisted, his grey face flushed with the prospect of certain victory, and grunted. "What do you want, Veris?"

His second, Veris was a sensible woman, Dwarf or not, and she'd never interrupt him for useless drivel. She squared up next to him, her handsome face marred by the geometric tattoos she'd laid down. "Captain, Celat is in a mood."

Nokk noticed for the first time that his silent, Elven assassin was following Veris. The Elf's fingers fairly flew, flickering through shapes and signs too fast to catch. Nokk had never bothered to learn handsign. Had enough trouble with common script, and no desire to complicate his life. This is why he had subordinates: they did the learning for him. "What in Avet's black eye are they saying now?"

Veris followed Celat's hands and facial expression with increasing tension. "Celat says Bridgven should have been back by now. The village is not far, perhaps a dozen leagues from the Horn."

"Ah, which has just crested the horizon," Nokk said, adjusting his tricorn hat. His gray skin stretched into a broad, sharp-toothed smile. Celat glanced at his teeth once, nervously. That others found Nokk's smile disturbing only pleased him more. "If the woman is not back within the glass, then I'm done waiting. I want this boy and his allies to burn, and I mean to see it myself."

"Aye, sir," Veris said, lowering her eyes.

Captain Nokk walked away from her with a satisfied grunt. It was always good to remind others that you were their better. It prevented them from getting ideas. Captain Nokk knew his people well, and a firm hand is what they craved despite their whining. Three hundred years as captain and not a single mutiny.

"Voidbeasts! Starboard side! Two leagues away!"

Nokk followed his barrelman's pointing fingers, and just barely he could make out the roil of black on black. Movement for sure, but he questioned whether they were coming closer or not.

"Aye, they are, but they look to pass below us," came the answer. Veris was again at his side, peering into the dark. Those tattoos of hers shimmered faintly, enhancing her eyesight. "Not a one is takin' a different path. Strange, that."

"More's the pity," rumbled a voice. Korm Rocksplitter, an Ogre and Nokk's strongest arm, he stood from the nest of weapons he had been cleaning. The Ogre was twice as tall as the Captain, but his eyesight was far worse, and he squinted into the black like a man struck blind. "I need somethin' ta kill."

Nokk patted the Ogre on the thigh—the highest point he could reach comfortably. "You'll get your chance, Korm. You've only to be patient."

"Shoulda gone with the bard. Least she seein' action," Korm muttered. Nokk heard and decided to let it pass. The Ogre was his ace in the hole, all his lieutenants were, so a little leeway now and again wouldn't hurt anything. "I am not patient."

Nokk shook his head, but understood Korm as few did. He too was a man of passions. Fine foods, riches, pleasures of the flesh, all these things were the draw that kept Captain Nokk breathing each day. Even in the Void, there were spots of light. For Korm, that was violence, pure and simple.

Wouldn't mind a touch of blood myself, Nokk thought as he grasped the hilt of his cutlass. Soon enough.


* * *


They lay within the shadow of the Horn, though the term shadow was misleading. Every exterior of the Void was equally lit by a sourceless light, bright as day without casting a single shadow. Interiors, however, were not. They required magelights and torches to see beyond the darkness. It was a quirk of the Void that Felix barely thought of any longer, and he hated it. So, instead of cooling their heels in the dark cast by an enormous mountain, Felix wedged their Manaship behind a jagged outcropping beneath the Horn, like the stone roots of a massive tree. And then they waited.

And waited.

Time enough to think on the choices that led him to such a place: poised on the edge of violence, ready to take on who knew how many Void pirates. He snorted at the idea. What a life I'm leading. Imagine if I hadn't gotten on that yacht, if I hadn't gotten into that fight. This time, his snort was contemptuous. The Void sucks, but so did working for ten dollars an hour. At least here I've got a dog.

Pit preened, catching his thoughts. There was little that did not pass between them anymore. A consequence, maybe, of Companion Pact becoming Etheric Concordance. Felix scratched the chimera's cheek, just below his ear, and his hind leg began to slap against the deck.

They're here, the Maw stated. It swirled down from on high, passing through the downswept crags like a ghost. The flagship and six others, each of a size with yours.

"Right," Felix said with a swallow. Pit growled, his hackles rising, and he pawed at the deck. He was ready to fight, but Felix had never questioned that. He was less sure of the Maw. "Don't interfere."

I wouldn't dream of it, Felix Nevarre. It smiled at him, but there was an ocean of animosity in its swirling eyes. You seem dead set on this course of action, commonsense be damned. Just don't die, Vessel. I have uses for you yet.

"Encouraging," Felix said, his lip curling. "We'll see."

When Felix turned away, he could almost hear the creature's teeth grinding. It was childish, but he enjoyed it regardless. He placed his hand on the Control Node again, focusing his Will.

Forward. Faster.

Mana thrummed from his core, sparking and flaring, a thunderflame that twisted through his channels and burst from his right palm. The Node soaked it up, driving it down into the Mana engine, setting its strange sigaldry into fervent motion. The galleon bucked, leather sails snapping taut with unfelt winds while the rigging strained against the pressure of it all. The ship dipped forward, down and around the stone outcropping, and then up, up the side of the Horn.

Faster!

They rocketed upward, nearly vertical, tearing through the Void as fast as he'd ever gone. The entire galleon was shaking almost as hard as the other had through the rock field, but it was working. Distantly, he heard the screaming cry of the pirates. We've been spotted!

Instead of stopping or swerving, he forced the ship to move faster.

Faster!


* * *


"Captain! Attack from below!"

The call was confusing at first, but Nokk leaned over the railing, expecting to see a gaggle of Tenebrils coming for them. Instead there was a Manaship—one of his Manaships—and it was racing up from below fast enough to ram them apart. The ship was still a half league out, but it was rising fast.

"Positions men! Battle comes!" Veris shouted. Nokk however, was squinting into the dark, trying to make out the lone pilot.

"It's him! The treacherous Nym!" Captain Nokk gripped the railing hard enough to crack it. "Kill him kill him! Korm!" A stomp beside him and the Ogre was looking too. He looked excited. "You will get your fill of battle, Korm! Our prey comes to us now!" Nokk looked at his crew, and he felt his skin aflame and feverish. He didn't care. He's here! "Artillery! Reposition!"

"Repositioning!"

The clank-clank of the ballistae moving filled the dark. His men rushed, shifting all of the ballistae forward, through hinged railings, and over the edges of the deck. Until they pointed down.

Nokk held back a gleeful laugh. "Fire at will!"

Green flame ignited below them, and the simultaneous twang of eighty drawstrings was a concerto of sublime construction. Nokk capered a little dance before thrusting himself half over the railing.

"Reload! Fire again! And again! Fire until there's nothing left!"


* * *


They approached the enemy at speed, and were more than halfway to them before a volley of green flame bolts dropped to meet them. Somehow they had fired down at him, despite being oriented the entirely wrong way. They fell well short of his ship, but Felix gritted his teeth. He hadn't expected that, and doubted they'd miss a second time. "Pit! Behind me!"

Growling and reluctant, the tenku scrabbled behind Felix's body. The deck was pitched at such an angle, only his claws were keeping up from falling. And Felix had a death grip on the Control Node, leaning his body all but parallel to the deck itself.

This is idiotic! Why are you charging them directly? the Maw shouted at him.

"Because we only have one shot at this!" Felix growled at it. "And talking is considered interfering!"

The pirate fleet swiftly altered its positioning, all seven ships rearranging themselves, the smaller galleons dropping elevation as a crew worked its sails and engine. They weren't in position to fire on him—thank god—but they would be soon, and he still had the Hippocamp's Fury to worry about. There was a resounding twang-pop sound over the creak of his ship, when suddenly the Void between him and the pirates was utterly filled with green fire. Bolts the size of spears dropped like burning stones, trailing tails of curling fire as they plunged down toward him.

"Brace!" Felix bellowed. "Pit! Converge!"

White light flashed just as the first bolt ripped through the mainsail. The leather burst alight and the halyard above was shattered in twain by the explosive impact of three more.

Faster!

The ship shook, the hum of engines now a scream, a shriek, a banshee's wail that was almost louder than the field of flames that engulfed the prow of his stolen ship. Bracing against the Control Node, Felix hurled himself free of the craft with an almighty leap...but not before he gave one final command.

Below, the vast remainder of the ship's stored Mana dumped behind it. A brilliant rainbow haze of sterile, undifferentiated Mana bloomed below, kicking the ship violently upward. Felix's legs were hit, and his body sent careening up into the Void...

...into the sights of the Hippocamp's Fury and its multitude of ballistae.

"FIRE!"

Spears wreathed in a verdant inferno descended, too fast, too many. Felix could only pull at his core, at the Skills that hung within him.

Reign of Vellus!

Relentless Charge!

Blue-white lightning shot ahead of him, a cone of kinetic lightning that bent the ballista bolts askew. But not all. Two hit his arm and chest, driving the wind out of his lungs and pain deep into his flesh. Even through Pain Resistance.

Relentless Charge!

Relentless Charge!

Relentless Charge!

He gasped out the last, his channels spinning Mana to join with his Stamina as he blurred upward again and again, serpentine to avoid the volley of vile spears that sought his heart. But it was too far, and there were too many bolts. His Perception caught the glint of several ships coming around, broadside to him, their own weapons leveled.

Pit shrieked in frustration, pain, and worry. Felix echoed him, spinning through the Void, no closer to Nokk's flagship. He couldn't stop there. He had to reach the Fury, no matter what. Another bolt struck him in the lower back, and the volleys from two separate galleons were loosed. But he refused to let it end there.

He refused!

Without knowing what he was doing, Felix reached for the ship above. He Willed himself, as he would a Manaship, he Willed himself to move...and it was so. With a blurring of vision, Felix shot upwards faster than ever before, faster than Relentless Charge and Reign of Vellus combined.

Bastion of Will is level 44!

Energy spiked within him, a vicious pain, but Felix hadn't the presence of Mind to bear it. He hurtled—fell, almost—straight up toward the Hippocamp's Fury, too fast for the ballista bolts to catch him. His Mind was still focused on the plan, however. Felix released his Mana, more than ever before, trailing from the Gates in his knees and feet until it spread like a widened fan beneath.

The voidbeasts behind him, hidden in the dark, screamed in savage hunger. They raced after him, peeling away from the Manaship with clear reluctance and mounting bloodlust. Green fire rained down on them all.

Wrack and Ruin!

Wrack and Ruin!

Wrack and Ruin!

Wrack and Ruin!

Four orbs of dark acid shot out from Felix's hands, draining a large chunk of his Mana. They hit the hull of the Fury and drilled through it just ahead of his own hurtling form. He braced, but pain still tore at him, jagged edges lacerating his shoulders and forearms. But then he was through, and he landed heavily on the bottom-most level of the flagship.

"Holy shit, that worked," he muttered. Above he could hear the clomp and clatter of boots on deck, and some even closer. He'd breached the forward chamber in the lower decks, and all around him were crates and barrels, and there was only a single exit. "Pit."

A flash of light and Pit reemerged from his Spirit, landing heavily on atop two wobbling barrels. Felix pointed to the exit. "Guard the door. Frost Spear anything that comes through it."

Pit chirped brightly and set himself.

While he did that, Felix moved to the next stage in his plan. He crouched over the hole he'd made, laying his hands along the jagged edge that pulsed with a spastic green-gold light in his Manasight. He could feel it, the power in the craft, but it was muted compared to accessing the Control Node.

Hmph.

Felix rolled his eyes, but didn't even look up at the Maw. Instead, it rotated around him, until its feet were firmly in his way. "What."

Nothing. You said I wasn't to speak.

"Great, then we're in agreement." He stood and walked through the Maw, clamping down on his Will to avoid the spasm of disgust that rolled through him. His only consolation was the surprise on its stolen face. Then the thudding above increased, and Felix could pick out shouts from beyond the far door. "Pit, they're coming. I think we're gonna have to fight our way through to the stern. You ready?"

Pit growled in agreement, a revving engine powered by a thrumming bloodlust and anger. Felix hadn't realized before, but the tenku was just as upset about Bateo as he was. He hadn't even considered it.

"We'll make them pay," Felix agreed. "For Bateo."

Hawk! Bateo!

The door ahead slammed open, and chaos unfurled.