Infernal Father of Mine (46 page)

I raised an eyebrow. "I don't get
it."

She pointed to what looked like a large pile of
ebony lumber. "Those are self-building mage platforms, but I can't
spare anyone to set them up." She looked at my mother. "Alysea, I
need you, Nightliss, and Ivy on those platforms. We need all the
help we can get."

A bloodied Templar jogged from the front line.
"We're unable to stop the dreamcasted sentinels. Our attacks have
no effect on them."

"The brain," I said, looking at Dad. "We have
to destroy it." I suddenly remembered something. "Elyssa, remember
what my minder said?"

Her eyes widened. "We can try to summon our own
minders." She looked at the only entrance to the chamber. "But how
will they get in?"

"We'll figure something out," I
said.

"Do it," Elyssa said. She pulled out her phone
and issued commands, explaining how to call the minders.

"Soon as we figure out how to get them in, I'll
give you the signal," I said.

"I'll get Ivy and Nightliss," Mom said, and
raced away.

Dad and I dashed over to the pile of
unconstructed mage platforms and took several. Each one looked like
an ordinary chunk of lumber. I touched a symbol on the surface, and
tossed it on the floor. With a loud clacking noise, the wood
unfolded itself, shooting upward until a square platform with a
ladder balanced atop a tripod. It stood no more than twenty feet
high, but that was probably all the height someone with a staff
needed.

Dad grabbed a handful. The two of us ran behind
the line, throwing up platforms until we were out of them. Arcanes
on the ground climbed the structures. From their height advantage,
they were able to easily pick off targets from a distance. I saw
Mom, Ivy, and Nightliss mounting platforms behind the center of our
line.

Some of the Nazdal had taken to scaling the
walls, probably hoping to drop behind our lines. The Arcanes picked
them off as they tried, sending charred corpses falling back into
the midst of the monsters below. But the Arcanes were already
tired. No matter how many monsters they killed, more popped out of
the woodwork.

I climbed to the top of one of the platforms
and looked down at the battle. Some of the ghouls and Nazdal were
still fighting among themselves. Others tested the Templar line
only to be hacked to bits. I quickly saw the biggest problem—the
sentinels. As the Templar messenger had mentioned, the dreamcasted
warriors had no problem crushing any resistance. Swords did nothing
to them. Arcanes blasted the faceless mannequins with all forms of
magic to little effect.

Even though the sentinels numbered less than
fifty, they formed a coherent line that was cleaving through our
forces like they weren't even there, and the Nazdal were taking
full advantage of the breach.

"We need our minders," I said to Dad. "But how
will they get through?"

He joined me atop the platform. "We'll make a
hole."

"How?" I nodded toward the only way into or out
of the arch room. "It's more crowded than a strip club on
payday."

I heard a blood-curdling howl and spun around.
At least forty people appeared through the portal in the Shadow
Nexus. With them were the biggest nastiest-looking dogs I'd ever
seen. No, not dogs—hellhounds. I recognized the shapely blonde
woman leading the group, my dear Aunt Vallaena.

"That was fast," Dad said. He waved his sister
over.

"Hello, nephew," she said to me in her usual
reserved tone.

"Howdy." I looked at the horde of hellhounds
tagging along behind the other Daemos.

She raised an eyebrow. "So, how may we serve
the cause?"

I suddenly realized she was asking me. "The
Nazdal are breaching our lines right behind the sentinels." I
pointed them out. "We need help holding the line. The problem is
nothing we've done can contain those things."

Dad explained to her about how they were
dreamcasted. "Don't even waste your time with them. If you can
control those crawling freaks, that would help even
more."

She nodded. "Very well." She raised a fist, and
the Daemos manifested into demon form, bodies bulging with muscle,
horns and tails sprouting. Some of them had blue-hued skin. One of
the females looked almost purple. All of them looked badass.
"Onward!" Vallaena shouted. The hellhounds howled, and they charged
the hole.

Some of the Nazdal looked at the oncoming demon
spawn, and something like surprise or fear finally registered on
their ugly faces. The Daemos mowed through the enemies who'd poured
through the breach in the line slashed by the Sentinels. Templars
roared and cheered. But the line wouldn't hold long unless we did
something about the sentinels. Even now the dreamcasted soldiers
were harassing another part of our lines. The Daemos could help,
but they couldn't be everywhere at once.

I spotted a large Nazdal racing up and down the
line of his troops, probably rallying them. He wasn't as huge as
Maloreck, but between him and at least three others I spotted
organizing their ranks, we were about to have another big problem
on our hands. The sentinels had effectively stopped the Templar
push. Nearly twenty yards filled with enemies stood between us and
stopping up the entrance to the chamber.

Vallaena and the Daemos raced up and down the
line, shoring up the weak positions, but for the Templars to push
forward, the sentinels needed to be gone for good.

A light bulb lit in my head. I clambered down
the ladder and stood next to my father. "Remember your earthquake
trick back when Montjoy banished us? Think you can use that to
break a hole in the wall?"

"These walls look thick, but we can give it a
try."

The two of us sprinted across the open ground
to the back of the chamber. I saw Elyssa rallying the troops where
the sentinels had broken and scattered the ranks.

"How did you do that fiery hand out of the
ground trick?" I asked as we ran.

"It's like summoning hellhounds. Instead of
forcing a minor demon into a hellhound form, I give a more powerful
demon a chance to reach out and touch someone." We reached the back
wall. He tapped on it and frowned. "Elyssa was right when she said
the wall is thick and magic resistant. It's going to be a hard nut
to crack."

Dad knelt and braced a hand against the
obsidian floor. "Hope this works." He closed his eyes. For several
seconds, nothing happened, or at least it seemed that way. I felt a
tremor in the earth behind me and spun. A thin crack in the rock
ran from the portal and grew in our direction. I stepped to the
side as the anomaly raced past me and beneath Dad's kneeling
form.

The fissure met the wall. A tremendous grating
noise overwhelmed my ears. Chunks of rock burst from the ground. It
sounded like a giant sledgehammer striking rock over and over
again. I clamped both hands over my ears. After all this racket I'd
be lucky if I didn't need hearing aids. I fought to keep my feet as
the ground trembled and shook.

Sweat poured off Dad's face. A grimace peeled
his lips back to reveal clenched teeth. "C'mon, damn it." Chips of
granite fell from the wall, but so far only a hairline fracture ran
up its surface. Just because the walls were magic resistant didn't
mean they were magic immune.

I drew upon Murk and channeled a thin wedge
into the hairline crack. Ultraviolet energy flashed along the tiny
rift, filling it. I imagined the energy solidifying and expanding.
A tremendous weight settled onto my shoulders and dropped me to one
knee. It was like trying to break a mountain in half by prying it
open with my fingertips. I heard the straining and cracking of
rock. The infernal forces Dad employed slammed into the wall again.
The crack widened an iota.

Once again his underground battering ram
slammed into the weak point. The instant it made impact, I sent a
burst of energy into the breach. Dozens of cracks formed a spider
web across the surface. Ultraviolet Murk flooded the small
fissures, straining and pushing. I drew upon Brilliance and as Dad
slammed the wall, fired a burst at the center of the damaged wall
section. Most of the energy splashed harmlessly away, probably due
to the magical resistance.

It didn't matter. With a snapping groan, a
section of the wall collapsed into rubble. Dad panted. Whatever
magical force he'd employed raced back into the portal, leaving a
small fissure behind.

"Whew." He wiped away sweat with the back of
his hand. "I didn't realize summoning an elemental demon would be
so hard here."

"An elemental?" I asked.

"They're more like spirits, really, but you do
not
want to mess up when you summon them." He stepped toward
the hole in the wall and whistled. "This thing must be ten feet
thick."

I shoved some of the larger chunks of rubble
out of the way to reveal a hole large enough for a horse to walk
through. "What happens if you lose control of an
elemental?"

"In the case of an earth spirit, you might just
get buried alive."

I shuddered. "I don't know if I want to learn
how to do that."

He slapped me on the back. "We're part demon.
We have it a little easier than human Arcanes."

I stepped outside and felt my butt cheeks
clench. The wall of the arch room faced the quarry pit. Only a
ledge about a foot thick offered room to move. Thanks to the
pounding we'd given the wall, a good portion of the ledge outside
had crumbled into the quarry. Pressing my back firmly to the wall,
I edged along the ledge to the left. "Hopefully we can go in
through the quarry entrance."

Dad gripped my sleeve. "No way. All the Nazdal
and ghoul reinforcements are coming from the pit. That door will be
jammed with enemies."

I looked at him and tried not to look down.
"What do you suggest then?"

He motioned his head to the right. "The front
door."

"We'll have to run all the way around the
building."

"Better than forcing our way through an angry
mob of monsters." He sidled to the right.

I sighed and followed. It took several minutes
of pant-wetting ledge walking to reach the part where the arch room
curved back to wide-open ground.

The fortress stretched into the distance. It
would take twenty minutes just to race around the perimeter. I
aimed a hand at the surface and shot a strand of Murk far up the
wall. "Take my hand," I told my father. "Whatever you do, don't let
go."

We locked grips. "What now?" he
asked.

"Jump off the cliff on the count of
three."

"You sure know how to have a good time," he
said with a grin.

We counted down and jumped. I willed the
aetherial rope to stretch as we plummeted toward the bottom of the
quarry. Ten feet off the ground, we slowed and stopped. With
tremendous force, the rope shot us upward. We flew up the wall and
landed on the ledge.

Dad was beaming. "Can we go again?"

"Let me clean my pants first," I said,
surveying the top of the fortress.

Large turrets with huge crossbows occupied the
flat roof, forming a grid. Jarvis obviously took his fortress
building way too seriously. We picked an aisle leading to the front
and ran between rows of turrets. Unfortunately, the further we ran,
the weaker we became thanks to the distance between us and the open
arch. By the time we reached the front of the massive building, Dad
was puffing. I had less problem thanks to my newfound abilities,
but picking up my father and running wasn't an option.

When we reached the front edge of the fortress,
Dad gripped my shoulder. "Look up there," he said, pointing to the
sky.

At first I thought I saw a small cloud
descending on the fortress. As it grew closer, I realized it was a
flurry of minders swooping down toward us. One of them detached and
floated toward me. A tentacle reached out and touched my
head.

The cavalry is here,
Minder Justin
said.

I almost whooped but didn't want to draw the
attention of any enemies that might be lurking nearby.
The
sentinels are tearing us apart. Can you and the other minders
dreamcast something to keep them at bay? We made a hole in the rear
of the domed building.
I pointed toward it.

You got it.
My minder detached and led
the others toward the opening.

I dared to hope we might actually survive
this.

"They're here to help?" Dad asked.

"We have a chance," I said. "Let's
go."

I found a stairwell leading down. We quietly
made our way to the ground floor. The main entrance lay a few yards
to our left. We went right, racing through the maze of kill zones
Jarvis had shown us. No sentinels manned those positions now. Since
the threat came from inside the fortress, Serena apparently hadn't
bothered to fortify the approach.

As we ran through and gained proximity to the
Shadow Nexus, Dad and I grew stronger. I was thankful Jarvis had
given us such a thorough tour of the facility. Even though the
layout was sterile and monotonous, we managed to take the same path
our imprisoner had led us through and arrived outside Serena's lab.
Ghouls and Nazdal packed the back left side of the huge room, their
numbers flowing in from the corridor that led to the quarry
door.