“When you're done staring, we need to get moving.” Ludwig was at the door and had it a small gap open. “Right now, we can make it to the maintenance shafts. We can discuss who is and who isn't ruler of the emprie another time!”
Lia gulped and nodded.
“You heard him. Let's move,” Lillians said.
Lia pushed herself to him, mostly because she wanted to evade everyone’s gazes.
“Lillian Saggitarius is still playing games,” Ludwig whispered next to her, before pushing himself out into the corridor. Lia blinked and followed him. She had had the same thought, but she couldn’t imagine what the former queen intended with that announcement. Maybe it had to do with faction politics among the pirates?
The four captains were the next to follow them, then the former donar, Eclaire, and the principal.
“I’ve observed how the zombies operate,” Ludwig explained in her direction with a soft voice. “There’s a gap of a few minutes between each team. That should be enough for us to reach the maintenance shaft.” He turned away from her. “We don’t have much time.”
They floated through the eerily silent corridors, and after Ludwig’s explanation, no one dared to talk. Lia had no idea where they were, but her heart hammered, and it got worse every time she pushed off of the curved wall.
“There,” Ludwig whispered and aimed at a door on the outer edge of the ring. He tapped at a panel and the door opened in short order. He gestured at them to enter, and Lia floated first into the small space. She noticed the hole and the ladder too late and Lillian crashed into her.
“Get down, quick!” Ludwig urged.
Lia couldn’t react as fast as she felt the small burst of gravity that pulled her down the hole. Or at least she assumed that was down. Without any markings of what was up and what down, and the only sure indicator – gravity – missing, it was hard to keep track of where she was.
Lillian and the others followed a moment later. It didn’t take long and the light of the corridor vanished, and only very dim lights illuminated the ladder in front of Lia, a ladder that slowly moved past her face.
“Be careful.” Ludwig’s voice came from somewhere behind her. “There might be people in the shafts. Most likely non-mages.”
Lia looked in the direction she was floating. If they met any non-mages, there shouldn’t be a problem. They were unaffected by whatever Fornax had done.
For several long seconds she simply floated along the ladder before she could somewhat make out a ground below her. She reached out with her hands to stop her movement gently, only to feel and see a bit of gravity once more. Lillian just did enough that Lia had a sense of bottom once more, and allowed her to get out of the way before the rest of their group landed.
“Whereto now?” the fall captain asked, after landing on the ground.
“Follow the corridor to the left. Skip the next two ladders leading further down and wait at the third,” Ludwig instructed from above. Lia nodded and followed the corridor. It had a very slight curve, one that was almost imperceptible.
It felt like an eternity until she saw the first ladder going down. A time frame that felt even longer because no one dared to talk. It was eerily quiet, and Lia wished that she wasn’t at the front of their little group. She wasn’t a leader, and certainly no queen.
Things changed, when Lia thought she heard whispers echoing through the tunnel. Lillian pulled her back, and Ormo and Winter took the front spot. It made her feel a bit better, but she wondered, why now.
“Hey,” she heard someone say sharply, then more murmurs she couldn’t understand. But a moment later there was a brighter spot down the tunnel and half a dozen people stood there. They had raised some strange contraptions that looked like large pistols and aimed at them.
“Are you with the zombies?” one of the strangers called.
Ormo raised his hands. “No, we’re unaffected.”
“What’s with those donar with you?”
Lia immediately had the feeling that the man was aiming at her.
“I’m not affected either,” she quickly shouted back. She almost feared that Lillian would chime in with her being the new queen, but for once, the woman didn’t say anything.
The people lowered their makeshift weapons. “What are you doing here?”
“We’re trying to reach the docks,” Ormo disclosed. “We’re trying to evacuate some people, and maybe start to recapture the station.”
“And how are you going to accomplish that?” the front man asked. He had a severe angular face. A growing beard and a scar made him look harsh but experienced. “We couldn’t even shoot nails at them, and we lost a few of the maintenance crew.”
“We’re still working on that,” Ormo replied and stopped as he reached the wall, not coming too close to the armed maintenance workers. “But we have the means to free affected donar from their mind control. Some of them might join us in helping free the others.”
“Bah.” The man spat and the globule hit the wall next to him. It made Lia feel nauseous. “They’ve completely lost their minds, and if it really were this easy, you wouldn’t be here.” He narrowed his eyes.
“Right.” Ormo sighed. “We need them alone in order to free them. And their groups are growing more intelligent, which is why we need to get to the docks. We need the possibility to retreat at any time.”
“And with what ships? All of them have left already, trapping us here.”
“Oh, we have at least one ship docked right now,” Ormo answered with a grin. “The one we arrived in.”
“And who are you?”
“I am the summer captain of the FAE. You might know us as pirates.” Lia almost felt Ormo’s grin, but she could see the maintenance worker’s eyes go wide. “Now, will you come with us, or do you want to stay here?”
The maintenance workers looked at each other, then finally their leader shrugged. “We don’t care, as long as we can get off of this hell hole.” He shook his head and completely lowered his weapon. “Rescued by pirates. Not sure what to think anymore.”
“Politics like to appear black and white,” Ormo said and continued on. Winter, Lia and Lillian followed. When they reached the maintenance workers, one of them leaned in to the others. “Hey, isn’t that the former queen?”
Lillian didn’t answer and acted as if she hadn’t heard anything. No one confirmed their suspicions, and they continued on. Lia glanced back at them and they followed after Ludwig.
Ormo stopped when they reached the ladder down and looked at her, and then past her at Lillian. The former queen gave a short nod and Ormo grabbed the ladder, turning around and pulling himself down into the hole. Winter followed immediately.
Lia sighed as she grabbed the ladder. She was next. Since there was no gravity, it was no problem to turn on her head, but it was still strange to see the rest of the group upside down. She tried to ignore the sight and pushed herself down. As she moved into the hole, she realized that she should practice her magic. She could push herself with a bit of wind, or maybe even create a field of gravity as Lillian had done. Maybe not the right now, but when they arrived at the bottom. Orphelia had practiced on her own all the time, and Lia had to learn the basics fast. Especially since she wanted to help Lillian free the other donar.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Close to the ground, Ormo reached out to Winter, and a moment later, Lia saw the telltale signs of magic being used. The little flows of energy in the air slowing the two in front of her and then the black mist of gravity allowing them to land gently. The gravity pulled her down, too, and she managed to land almost effortlessly as well.
While The two pirates helped the rest land, Lia walked further into the left corridor and then tried to conjure her own little winds. She tried to replicate how the strand of magic looked that Ormo had conjured, and she was suddenly pushed back. Winter caught her.
“Is there a zombie down the corridor?” the pirate captain asked alarmed.
Lia shook her head and allowed Winter to put her back on her own feet. “Just trying to get a grasp on my own magic. Seems like I used to much power.”
“The imperi at the academy learn the basics control over the course of several weeks.” Ormo looked at her for a moment. “And then fine control during the rest of their education.” He sighed and turned away from her. “It’ll take time.”
Lia frowned and bit her lower lip. They didn’t have time. She … didn’t have time. “I need to learn this. Now.”
“I understand where you’re coming from,” Ormo started, only to be interrupted by Lillian.
“I’ll try to teach you some of the basics when we reach the docks.” The former queen put a hand on her shoulder. “But you’re right. You should experiment a little with how much mana you can safely use to create a gust of wind. Though I guess you already know that it should be less than what you just used.”
Lia nodded and bit her lower lip. She thought she saw Lillian and Omor exchange a few glances, but she ignored them. She had to tone down the amount of mana, create a far thinner thread than before. The last time she had used the amount that she’d offered any imperi if they would’ve used air mana. Maybe Lillian was right and they lost a lot of power simply by having two people involved in the whole process. When she had a strand of mana that was only half as thick as before, Lia tried again. A gust of wind pushed her forward, far gentler, maybe just a fourth as strong as before. She could probably tone it down even more …
“Is everyone here?” she heard Ludwig ask. “Good, go in the direction Lia is already floating and stop at the next maintenance door to the left.” Lia grimaced. That cut her practice time short. Nonetheless, she pushed herself off and in the indicated direction. Meanwhile she halved the strand of mana once more and practiced pushing herself around a little. It was fun, something Orphelia would’ve loved to do. The thought dampened her mood immediately and she overshot the door she was supposed to stop at. She immediately used magic to stop and turn around, using too much mana on her panic and she almost shot into Lillian who stopped her with another gust of wind.
“That’s enough now,” the former queen chided her. “No more magic until we’ve reached the docks.”
Lia sighed and rolled her eyes. “Yes, mum,” she answered. Lillian stared at her with wide eyes, but she didn’t say anything. Omor and Winter overtook her and stopped directly at the door, Fall directly behind them. They waited for the rest to arrive.
A moment later, Ludwig and the maintenance workers stopped next to the door. Lia gulped.
“We’re now as close as possible to the docks as we can get,” Ludwig explained. “We’re at the edge of the crystal market. From here we need to get to the dock, and I am sure that the zombies will do everything to stop us. If we can, we should subdue some of them. We also need to keep John and Sam as far away from the zombies as possible.”
Everyone nodded.
“The pirates should take point. Lia, please stay with me. We’re securing our escape from behind.”
Lia pressed her lips together, and nodded.
“I guess your crew knows to defend your ship?” Ludwig looked at the pirated, who nodded. “Then we’ll retreat there for now.” He took a deep breath and nodded to Omor. “Let’s go.”
The pirate opened the door and looked outside, then he waved the rest to follow him and stepped through the opening. They were between two stalls on the market place. From there she could see the central fountain and what was left of the teleporter. Water floated in smaller and larger droplets through the air.
Lia didn’t see any of the zombies, and it seemed far too quiet. That was until she was pushed forward. “Above!” Lillian shouted. Lia tried to turn. The zombies floated in the large space above the market place, several of them already forming spears of something solid. Several worked together to create a large sphere of fire, the yellow glow of the flames vanishing as air swirled around the fireball.
“Go!” A strong breeze pushed them out of the way and sort-of toward the docks. Then a field of gravity pulled them down. Lia hit the floor with her back, and saw that several of the zombies were pulled down, too, disrupting some of their magic.
“Run!” Lillian shouted, and the maintenance workers ran past her. Lillian helped her up.
“Forget the plan of subduing one of them,” Ludwig shouted and led the way. Lia stumbled after him.
“Give me access to your mana,” Lillian said, still holding her hand. There was something in the former queen’s voice that brooked no argument. Lia complied, offering her strands of mana. Heat hit them from behind, and pushed them both forward. Spears of metal and crystal whizzed past them.
They reached the three stair steps that denoted the end of the market place and the beginning of the docks.
“Omor to the Lagrange.” Lia looked up as they ran toward a closed airlock. “Open the airlock, we’re coming in hot.”
As if to underline his comment, Lia felt something warm directly behind her.
“Summer, I can’t do this alone!” Lillian shouted. Lia saw how the pirate captain turned around and then she saw it, too. A pale blue glowing ball of plasma descended toward them. The heat distorted the air. Lillian pulled on her strands of air and fire mana. Strands of mana battled in the air, some of them trying to push the ball toward them, holding it together, while others tried to dismantle the sphere, and push it back. A moment later, more strands joined Lillian’s.
“Lia, push against it yourself. Do what you did in the maintenance corridors!”
Gulping, she hesitated, but the heat was closing in on them. Finally she formed her own strands of air mana and pushed against the ball coming toward them, stalling it out. Her mana was dropping fast.
John and Sam appeared next to her, and redirected the incoming solid projectiles.
“All we have to do”, Lillian said next to her, panting, “is to outlast their mana pools.”
The air between them burned, and with all the strands of mana fighting for dominance over the elements, lightning crawled over the sphere of burning death, making the air smell of ozone. When Lia thought her mana would bottom out, the fire slowly dissipated, and the heat disappeared as fast as it had come.
She felt exhausted, but the zombies on the other side were exhausted as well.
“Retreat to the …” Omor stopped when Ludwig and Fall shot past them. The two men shot past two zombies and hit them on the back of their head. It altered the course of the zombies and those of the two attackers as well. They reached the ceiling of the market place and pushed themselves down, following the two they had hit. Solid projectiles shot past them, but they were slow and small.
Somehow both of them caught the now unconscious zombies and pushed toward the airlock once more.
“What are you waiting for? Get to the ship!” Ludwig shouted, and Lillian pulled her forward. The queen was still generating a bit of gravity, but only for the moment they needed to push themselves toward the airlock. It was open. Lia hadn’t even noticed when it had opened.
She felt some relief, when she entered the tunnel toward the pirate ship this time, and she heard the hiss of the lock closing behind Fall and Ludwig as they entered with the two captured zombies. She also felt something akin to normal gravity when they finally set foot on the Lagrange.
“Their coordination is on an even higher level than I thought.” Ludwig passed her and put the unconscious girl next to a wall, then he turned toward Lillian and Lia. “Free these two as soon as you can.”
Lillian nodded, and Lia looked at the peaceful sleeping zombie.
Sam closed in on her, reaching out with a hand, but he was stopped by Ludwig. “The mind control is transferred by touch. You have to wait until she’s free.”
The timid donar looked away from her and to Ludwig. It was almost as if he wanted to cry at any moment now, but he just nodded.
Lia took a deep breath, and started to notice that her whole body shivered.
“I’ll get you something to drink,” Winter announced. “It should help with your mana regeneration.” Then the white haired woman disappeared down a corridor.
“Can we even win?” Sam asked.
“We can,” John answered. “We have to.”
Fall simply nodded, while Omor looked stoically at the airlock of the ship.
Lia looked at her shaking hands. This wasn’t what she wanted. Somehow she had used her magic to keep the others and herself safe. Barely. Magic shouldn’t be used to attack people, it was there to help them. That’s what she believed deep inside herself. Which is why Fornax had to be stopped. Somehow.
“Summer captain?” The ship’s intercom system flared to life. “We need you on the bridge.”
“What is it?” Omor pushed herself toward the stairwell.
“The imperial fleet is coming, and Admiral Horologii is hailing us.”
“Finally,” Ludwig murmured, and followed the captain. “Where has he been this long?”
“I don’t know, if this is good or bad,” the queen whispered, and pulled at Lia’s hand. “Come. You might be needed.” Then she turned to the maintenance workers. “Bring the two zombies with you, and make sure they stay unconscious.”
Lia heard the people behind her murmur, but they complied.
“What’s with us?” John asked.
“You can come, but make sure that you stay away from the still zombified donar,” Lillian warned them. Then they walked the slightly familiar path toward the bridge.