Courageous Page 20

  A second green beam blasted against my shield, and the defense field collapsed. As I gathered the energy to create a portal, crackling arcs of green lightning sparked from around Treggen, sending countless volts of electricity through me. Now, the thing about being electrocuted is that when all that current is passing through your body, your muscles contract. That meant that I didn’t let go of Treggen, but my concentration was sufficiently broken that I couldn’t fly anymore, either.

  As we plummeted toward the ground, it occurred to me that Treggen, his spirit safely nestled inside the phylactery made of celestial metal, wouldn’t take any damage from this fall. I, however, would wind up as nothing more than a wet bloody splat on the ground below.

  The fear overtook me, and instead of flying, or even having my descent slowed, the Anisa Amulet glowed, and a giant feather pillow made of shimmering green energy appeared on the ground beneath me. As I hit with a whuff, I lost my grip on Treggen, and he rolled away, much faster and more controlled than he should have. Was he able to drive that thing somehow? The pillow faded from existence, and I found myself on my hands and knees in the freezing cold snow.

  “You should be gibbering in terror right now,” Treggen snapped.

  “Too bad you aren’t a comic book fan, Treggen,” I said, standing and brushing myself off. “Otherwise, you’d have known you couldn’t stop me.”

  “Oh, Corinthos,” Treggen said as the phylactery floated back into the air. “You are truly the grand master of self-delusion. I don’t need to stop you. You’ll let me go of your own free will. Free as a bird.” He actually started humming the Beatles song of the same name. “Never particularly cared for that song, actually,” he mumbled to himself.

  “I am not letting you go, asshat.”

  Treggen snapped back to his normal self. “You might think differently when your incapacitated friends are overrun by the wight horde that’s advancing on them.”

  I spun and saw he was telling the truth. A group of a dozen wights had come from the surrounding forest and were advancing on Petra and the others. Each wight was equipped with a pocket cannon, and in unison, they put hands to holsters. Still held in the grip of their fears, my friends were defenseless. I snarled and turned my back on Treggen, flying at top speed and delivering a massive punch to the closest wight. The blow transferred nearly all my momentum to the undead, which was launched off its feet and sailed backward into the woods. It bounced off a tree trunk and didn’t get back up.

  Behind me, Treggen was laughing, and green shadows danced around me as a small explosion boomed. When I looked, Treggen was gone, but greasy black smoke drifted through the air where he’d been. God dammit. I channeled my frustration into fighting the wights advancing on my friends. Comic-book-inspired uppercuts and right crosses dispatched the undead, which didn’t even seem like they were trying to fight back. With Treggen gone, the terror that had paralyzed my companions vanished. Megan’s shots struck home, Billy moved with a sort of fluid grace, and Herb’s necromantic blasts laid waste to the undead. And Petra, thankfully, was no longer a statue and was punching the wights so hard they sailed back twenty feet.

  “Gears,” I said, as the last wight crumpled to the ground, “can you get any readings on that spot where Treggen was?”

  Billy’s eyes filled with static. “Whoa,” he said. “Vinnie, we need to get out of here right now. There’s a level of radiation here that’s not safe for human life.”

  “How bad?”

  “You’ve got maybe ten or twenty seconds before you absorb a lethal dose.”

  “Shit.” I took a gamble that Petra and Gears would be safe. The former because she was made of rock, and the latter because infragillium blocked radiation ten times better than lead. I grabbed Megan and Herb, threw each of them over one of my shoulders in a fireman’s carry, and shot straight up into the sky.

  “Okay, Vinnie,” Gears’s voice said in my ear, “you should be safe at that altitude. Meet Petra and me about a quarter of a mile down the street.”

  I touched down a few seconds later as Gears and Petra came sprinting up. Both the mech and my girlfriend could run at speeds close to sixty miles an hour, so a quarter of a mile was nothing to them. “Everyone all right?” I asked.

  “Initial scans show that the three of you did absorb some rads,” Gears said, “but it’s within safe tolerances for human life. You were fast enough, Vinnie.”

  “Well, that’s a relief,” I said.

  “What did Treggen do back there?” Megan asked.

  “Some kind of gamma radiation, unless I’m mistaken,” Gears said.

  “Was Treggen trying to create a Hulk?” I asked.

  “Certain undeath spells can trigger that sort of radiation,” Herb said. “Necromancers who want to put people into zombie states sometimes use radiation to rot their bodies and minds, and make them easier to compel as undead.”

  “Then that’s something the celestial phylactery could do,” I said. “Croatoan preferred wights, but he raised other kinds of undead, like that scada-whatever it was that could teleport him.”

  “But there were extradimensional wards all over the place,” Megan said. “And didn’t you tell me that Croatoan’s shell had been damaged so it couldn’t teleport anymore?”

  “Yes, but twenty bucks says that Treggen’s been busy repairing the phylactery’s… systems, I guess? Croatoan spent a lot of his time asleep, knowing that he just needed to wait for Caulborn to go to Anatiel, and then he’d be free. Treggen’s taking a more active approach to things.” While I was in Tartarus, Hades told me that some of Croatoan’s powers would be absorbed by the phylactery, and so when Treggen moved in, he gained access to those, too. And he’s apparently been quite the overachiever in learning how to use them.

  “That doesn’t answer why he was able to teleport from a warded area,” Megan said.

  “I’ll bet the radiation erased the wards that were against extradimensional energy. That means I can track where Treggen went, but I need time to do it, and I can’t stand in a hot zone like that.”

  “So, let’s pop back to Olympus and have Alexis fabricate you a radiation suit,” Gears said.

  “Gears, you’re brilliant.”

  “I know.”

  It was a little frustrating that my friends were using my resources better than I was, but it made me all the more grateful to have them around. A quick portal back to Courage Point, and the suit was underway, with an estimated completion time of three minutes. Once the suit was done, I created a portal for myself back to the house on Dudley Road. Treggen’s radiation burst had melted the snow in a fifteen-foot area down to the grass, and steam still rose from the spot. Naturally, I was standing smack in the middle of it.

  It seemed the radiation was toxic to all forms of life, because the grass and nearby trees were already turning brown and wilting. Even the house a hundred feet away seemed to be warping; the building seeming to groan as it twisted on its foundation. Gearstripper’s voice came through the suit’s headset. “All right, Vinnie, the radiation’s at fatal levels, but your suit’s integrity is holding. Do your thing.”

  “Here we go,” I said, and stretched out with extradimensional energy. I found the thread that Treggen had left behind and began tracing it. It wove around and around, and the longer I followed it, the more my stomach sank. Treggen hadn’t needed this much energy to go anywhere on Earth. He must’ve gone to another dimension completely. My first thought was the Bright Side, where he’d once led armies of hobgoblins and trolls, but this was overkill even for that.

  Which made me think of the Citadel. This much energy would’ve been needed to go outside time, and Treggen would’ve known how to get there. I’d seen a chronometer mounted next to the Mieso Amulet on his phylactery, so it was possible that was what had happened. About a minute later, I found the end of the ext
radimensional thread. “Damn,” I said. “I hate when I’m right.”

  I portaled back to Courage Point and began stripping off the suit as I addressed my companions. “Okay, Treggen’s gone to the Chroniclers’ Citadel, which means he’s making a move on the Tempus. We’re not going to have much time, so are we ready?”

  “Ah, Vincent,” Mrs. Rita said, walking into the room. “I am glad you are back. Are you close to discovering where Treggen is?”

  “I just figured that out, Mrs. Rita. We’re getting ready to go after him now.”

  Mrs. Rita raised an eyebrow. “Just the five of you?”

  “Well, Cynthia’s not up for more fighting, and Jake should stay with her, so yeah. It’s not like I have an army at my disposal.”

  Now both of Mrs. Rita’s eyebrows went up. “No? You do not know a dragon and a clan of kobolds who would be willing to fight alongside you?”

  “I don’t want to endanger the kobolds, Mrs. Rita. I can’t protect them like I once did.”

  Mrs. Rita put a hand on my shoulder. “Vincent. Your concern for your friends is admirable. But we are talking about time itself being rewritten. About people being erased from existence. Do you think your kobolds would prefer to hide in Cather’s lair, playing card games, or do you think they would like the chance to make a difference in this battle?”

  “Well, when you put it like that…”

  Mrs. Rita glanced at the clock on Alexis’s screen. “Go. I am certain you can be back here in less than five minutes.”

  And that was about how long it took. I had barely told Cather and the kobolds what was going on before the entire clan had mobilized for war. Kleep and Jeal, my high priest and Prime Liberator, barked out a series of orders and the clan assembled into ranks and armed themselves with daggers.

  In the minute it had taken the kobolds to gear up, Cather had changed clothes and reappeared wearing a studded leather tunic and a kilt. “Is that—”

  “The ensemble worn by Mel Gibson during the filming of Braveheart? Why yes, Vincent, it most certainly is. I think it quite the appropriate choice given the circumstances, don’t you think? It’s just a shame I don’t have any blue paint for my face.”

  I just smiled and portaled us back to Courage Point. Once there, I conjured a tin of blue paint and tossed it to Cather. The dragon was positively beaming as he smeared it over the right side of his face. As he did that, Mrs. Rita said, “Are you ready to create a portal for us, Vincent?”

  “Us?” I said. “You’re coming with us?”

  “It is time,” she said with a nod.

  For the first time, I felt like we might have a fighting chance. While I didn’t know exactly who or what Mrs. Rita was, I’d seen her tear through upyr like they were nothing, and watched bullets and knives bounce off her skin. Mrs. Rita was a badass the likes of which most people have never encountered, and I for one was grateful she was on our side.

  “Thank you,” I said, and she smiled back at me. It was then that I noticed how Cather and the kobolds were staring at her. The kobolds’ expressions were ones of absolute awe. It reminded me a bit of their reaction the first time they’d seen me. Even Cather’s eyes were wide, and he gave a little bow to her as she walked past. She patted a few of the kobolds on the head, and those touched reacted like the girls in those old films from when the Beatles first came to America.

  “Okay,” I said to Cather. “How do you know her?”

  “Not now, Vincent,” Cather said. “We can talk of Messesrhitha later. Now, we have to save time itself.”

  “All right. Is everyone ready?”

  Nods and yesses all around, and I Opened a portal to the Citadel.

  Chapter 19

  We came out in a room that I’d never seen before. Unlike the lavish, nearly opulent office the Tempus worked in, or the retro-styled apartment that Wheatson lived in, this was a pure white corridor. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, everything was perfectly clean, and so bright it hurt to look at. The air was dry, and there was a faint hint of antiseptic in the air.

  “It’s like a giant clean room,” Gears whispered. And that made sense. The last thing you’d want was for something to contaminate time itself. I’d seen firsthand what that could be like, and it wasn’t something I ever wanted to go through again.

  Everyone drew their weapons, though there was no immediate threat.

  “Gears,” I whispered. “You picking up anything?”

  Billy shook his head. “There are a ton of overlapping energy signatures in here, Vinnie. It’s blinding all my sensors. We could be completely alone, or surrounded.”

  “We’ll have to do this the old-fashioned way, then.” To Jeal, I whispered. “Take three others and scout the corridor ahead.” Jeal nodded then pointed at three other kobolds, and the group of them turned invisible.

  We gave Jeal and her scouts a thirty-second head start, then followed after them as quietly as we could. The other kobolds fanned out around us and then also turned invisible, leaving me leading Herb, Megan, Petra, and Gears, with Cather and Mrs. Rita bringing up the rear. I understood why Gears’s sensors were out of whack. I could feel currents of temporal and extradimensional energy swirling around me, so strong that it threatened to give me vertigo.

  Jeal appeared in front of me, bringing me up short. “Lord Corinthos,” she whispered. “There is a chamber ahead. A man is bound to a chair with silvery chains, and Croatoan’s ball hovers above him.”

  “That’s Treggen in there, not Croatoan,” I corrected, “But he’s just as much of a douche. Did you see anyone else in there?” Jeal shook her head. “Great, turn invisible again, and the rest of you stay that way, too. I’m sure Treggen knows we’re here, but I’d rather he not know just how many of us he’s dealing with.”

  I led the group into the chamber, a massive spherical room. This was just as bright white and clean as the corridor, but there were also bands of metal that ran the full perimeter of the chamber, all pulsing a soft blue. I could feel tachyon energy radiating off of them, feel how it governed time. It was an amazing thing to behold, but I couldn’t spare any time to admire it.

  Just ahead, the Tempus was chained to a wooden chair, Treggen hovering over his shoulder, exactly as Jeal had described, but what got my attention was the massive hourglass on the raised dais behind them. It was at least thirty feet high and fifteen feet across, shimmering golden sand flowing from the top. This was the central hourglass, the artifact that governed time itself. This was the relic that La Place’s demon had corrupted, and what Treggen was trying to taint now.

  “Treggen,” I called, “release the Tempus.”

  The Tempus’s head snapped up. Tears stained his cheeks, snot was running from his nose, and his eyes were bloodshot. Christ, what the hell had Treggen done to him? I gave myself a kick. Dumbass, he’s exploiting the Tempus’s worst nightmares. The Tempus’s expression held no recognition of me, his face was a mask of pure terror and raw fear.

  Treggen drifted in front of the Tempus. “Ah, ah, ah, Corinthos. This is the end of the line for you and your little friends.”

  “You know, for someone who doesn’t read comic books, your dialogue is spot on for a D-list supervillian.”

  “Corinthos, I will not miss you. I’d like to say you have been a worthy adversary, but the truth is, you’re nothing but a punk who occasionally gets lucky.”

  “Occasionally? I’ve stopped you every time, asshole. Today won’t be any different.”

  “You and what army, Corinthos?”

  “This one,” I said and snapped my fingers. The kobolds appeared all around me, balls of flame burning in their hands, some of them assuming dragon form. On the platform, the sand in the central hourglass turned purple as the Tempus convulsed in his seat. Something about the sand was wrong; obviously the color had changed, but as I looked,
I saw that some of the sand was flowing back up into the top of the hourglass, while other grains hung in mid-fall. In response to the changes in the hourglass, the bands running around the room changed from blue to a sickly yellow.

  “As if your little ‘army’ mattered,” Treggen scoffed.

  I really didn’t like the way that sounded, but before I could reply, a sharp intake of breath from behind me caught my attention.

  “Vincent,” Petra gasped, staggered forward, and collapsed against my shoulder. Despite the fact that Petra is made of living stone, she felt light as she buckled against me. Way too light. “Something’s wrong. Something’s very wrong. I don’t feel…” Her voice became very faint. “I don’t feel…” Her body became translucent, her mouth still moving, but the words inaudible. She shimmered, and her body suddenly appeared as if she were made of pixie dust and confetti.

  Then she was gone.

  No.

  “And so it begins,” Treggen said cheerfully. “Time is being edited according to my designs. Which of course, means your merry little band of misfits will never come to exist.”

  I ripped at the tachyon around me, willing time to bend, willing myself to tear Open a portal to the past where I could save her. But the central hourglass’s pull on time was stronger than mine, and it, or rather Treggen, wasn’t letting me change history. Damn everything Doctor Who and Back to the Future had taught me about crossing my own timeline, I was going to go back and stop that from happening. I flared the tachyon, desperate to get Petra back, but nothing happened. I fell to my knees, my soul freezing inside my chest.

  I just stared at the spot where Petra had been. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t think. She was gone. Undone, no chance to fight back. Everything inside me was shutting down. No tears came, no fear, just a dark, cold hatred swelling inside me. In less time than it took to draw a breath, I was ready to explode. I didn’t have words. Swearing at Treggen wouldn’t avenge Petra. I wanted him dead. Now.