—— ? ——

  It was working.

  Emrick spun his wrists, and a glowing thread snapped out. The newest creature to assault his domain stumbled to its knees as the razor-thin wire cut through what acted as an Achilles tendon. With another twist, a whistling steel thread followed and caught its throat.

  It struggled and tried to pull the thread away. Its fingers halted the progression of the metal for just a moment, then its head tumbled to the ground.

  They were getting smarter.

  But the pile of corpses in the passage only grew.

  The movement above caused Emrick’s eyes to snap up. He barely saw the glint of the bolt that whistled across the gap.

  “Thanks for the assist.” Dravlen’s voice echoed over their party link.

  “Two more coming.”

  “I see them. One to your far left, Jorik.”

  Emrick refocused as he moved through the passage. With each second, he was growing more proficient at moving himself with his threads. He had never considered this a possibility, but the thrown hammers by that traitor had made him try it.

  Now he was shifting through the air as his hands whirled, tightening and loosening threads. His higher vantage let him spot the creature that was practically crawling on the ground. The damned thing was trying to use the chunks and corpses to hide his approach.

  With a snap of thread, the prone being let out a pitiful moan as it died where it crawled.

  Emrick’s eyes scanned for more, but it seemed only one had gone for the attempt. It almost looked like the rest had been scared by the death of their fellow.

  Emrick had a bad feeling.

  “Something is happening; they are backing off.” He quickly sent the other two.

  “SHIT.” Was Jorik’s response as the sound of something thudding into flesh echoed from above. A thud closely followed from behind the wall. “Gah!”

  “Not good. Emrick, Jorik, just got hit… SHIT!” The sound of stone shattering came from Emrick’s right.

  “EMRICK, WATCH OUT!” Dravlen screamed in his mind.

  Emrick’s hand shot to his side as he yanked a spool. His body rocketed to the side.

  A massive ballista bolt sailed past, inches from impacting him. It skipped across the snow before coming to rest dozens of yards from the inner wall.

  Emrick didn’t have time to think. He released the tension and fell, then his hand snapped out, and he was pulled to the right.

  Another bolt flew past.

  “Emrick, Jorik took one of those bolts right to his leg.”

  “I’m……FINE.” Jorik’s voice snapped through the link. “Help me get back to the wall.”

  “You’re out of the fight. They were already climbing when I jumped down. Emrick, we need to retreat.”

  Emrick glanced back quickly, then pulled both hands to his chest. His body shot up as another ballista bolt flew under him.

  Above him, he heard the scraping of metal on stone. The horde had changed its attention to the now undefended walls.

  “Dravlen, get Jorik out of here. I will slow as many as I can.”

  “Emrick, I’m fine, we can retake the–”

  “They are coming over the wall, Emrick. Better move deeper into the passage.” Dravlen cut off Jorik’s protests.

  “GAh, DAMN, Dravlen, stop!”

  Emrick glanced back to see a struggling, bleeding Jorik being dragged by Dravlen.

  “No more talking. Use that damn weapon of yours, you’re too damned heavy for me to move at any significant speed.”

  Emrick caught the glint of metal from the corner of his eyes. He yanked his spools and shot further up, bringing his body nearly level with the top of the wall. The ballistabolt sailed under him.

  “May fortune gaze upon you.” Dravlen’s solemn voice echoed in his head. “Good luck, Emrick.”

  Emrick spun his fingers around the spools. His body jerked forward and down. He hovered in the centre of the bloody corpse-strewn passage.

  It had only been three minutes.

  That was all the time they had managed to buy.

  Behind him, he heard the crack of Jorik’s crossbow and pained bellows and war cries.

  The army was advancing over the wall.

  Emrick twisted, dodging to the right. Another ballista bolt shot past. He twisted again, as a second one followed almost immediately after the first.

  They were getting faster.

  Outside the outer wall, Emrick saw the horde of creatures increasing in size.

  Without the threat of Jorik’s rapid-firing weapon, the line of beings advanced.

  Sweat glistened as it rained from Emrick, as his body jerked from one side to another. Bolt after bolt chased him.

  Then the creatures began to swarm the passage.

  Emrick’s smile went wild.

  They were overeager.

  He practically flew through the air as he put one of the creatures between him and the hillside, raining down death.

  “Hello.” He said to the startled fur-covered beings. “I see you were anxious to join my masterpiece?”

  Threads spun out from Emrick and enveloped the arms and legs of the creature, halting its attempt at attacking.

  Emrick pulled in close.

  *THUD*

  A bolt burrowed through the creature, and it let out a whimper.

  *THUD THUD*

  Two more cut off its cries.

  Emrick breathed deeply as he rested for the few seconds the body gave him.

  Then his hands twisted, and he rocketed backwards as the fourth bolt caused his fleshy shield to explode in a red mist.

  —— ? ——

  “WHY CAN’T YOU HIT HIM!!!” Maelis screamed at his shoulder. His good mood from watching the guard take a bolt and then falling off the wall had faded.

  We are trying. He moves so quickly.

  “Don’t you have more of those weapons? Why aren’t they firing?”

  Our vessels are still assembling them. They are not skilled enough to go any faster.

  “Fine.” Maelis snarled as he looked out at the inhuman display the worthless tailor was showing. “I will fix your incompetence. Don’t let any of your ‘vessels’ get in my way.”

  Maelis turned and sped up the mountain. At first, he had been intimidated by this monstrous creature, this hive mind, but the damned thing showed such incompetence.

  At least it didn’t seem to lack bodies.

  But they didn’t have the time for this. Maelis had seen that big oaf charge past the wall. That moron was no doubt already at the damned inventor's lab.

  Soon, the damnable barrier would go online, and their plans would be delayed.

  His sprint accelerated as he made his way up the mountainside.

  Not if he had anything to say about it. Only one person was slowing their advance.

  He would skewer that annoying tailor if it were the last thing he did.

  —— ? ——

  Emrick yanked on the spool. The massive bolt nicked a thread next to him, and the vibration sliced a new cut into his palms.

  Sweat dripped from the man as he dodged back and forth.

  He had thought he was going to be able to keep this up for the full ten minutes.

  Then he would figure out his next move.

  He had even gotten a brief break as the bolts had paused for dozens of seconds.

  But then they had returned, one after another, and they never stopped. Their tips glinting in the growing sunlight, as they flew towards him, never-ending.

  Their pattern was consistent, predictable, yet ground his stamina into the floor.

  Emrick had no thoughts of escaping this death trap anymore. His only goal now was to survive as long as he could.

  Seven minutes.

  That’s how long he lasted until the first bolt managed to hit him.

  It had caught his foot as he dodged. The pain had been beyond excruciating. His entire foot was just gone.

  Emrick had fallen and ragdolled through his threads, screaming in pain as he fumbled and tried to regain control.

  Perhaps fortune was watching him, as the action caused the next three bolts to miss.

  The tailor had recovered, then twisted the spool to his side. His body had shot up, legs first into the air, dodging the fourth bolt.

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  With an effort of will and one or two screams, Emrick sealed the fountaining stub of his leg with the legendary thread.

  He had pulled himself to the side, desperate to survive. But he was too slow. His other leg vanished in a mist of blood and gore.

  Pain became his new reality as he sealed his thigh.

  “Three.” He spat, yanking himself to the side. “More.” A bolt whistled past. Emrick spun his fingers. “Minutes.”

  He released tension and dropped as another bolt sailed over.

  Another minute passed as he dodged, weaved, and shot from one section of the passage to another.

  Bellowing roars of creatures came at him from all sides. Now there was a mass of them on either side of the passage. Yet, they had stopped trying to assault his web. Any effort to do so merely gave Emrick another shield to rest behind.

  He was just a tailor.

  But in this passageway, he became more.

  Emrick was the weaver of death, the one who sewed death and destruction to all who dared approach, at least for the next two minutes.

  None would pass through his web of violence. His final masterpiece. None wo–

  Emrick slipped. The blood from his fingers had made the spools too slick.

  He had miscalculated. A bolt whizzed into the gap, and Emrick screamed as three of the fingers of his left hand were shorn away.

  This was the end.

  Emrick knew it the instant the thread fell from his grasp. There was no time to recover. The pattern of the last two bolts meant the third would strike true.

  His eyes closed, and his remaining fingers reached anyway.

  Emrick knew where the next thread was. Three seconds away.

  Such a short period of time, yet also an eternity. One that would bring him to the afterlife.

  Over the clatter and bellows of the battle, he heard it.

  Wind singing over stretched thread.

  Beautiful.

  He had never grown tired of that sound. He never could explain why. The sounds of tension, of snipping scissors, and rustling fabric. They sang to his soul.

  At least in his final moments, Emrick would get to hear at least one of the beautiful sounds from his life.

  …

  He couldn’t even have that, apparently.

  Emrick’s blood boiled as the last sound he heard was a bellowing moron.

  “EMRICKKKKKKKKKKKK”

  That. Stone. Addled. Moron.

  Couldn’t even let him listen to the whispers of his threads in his final moment.

  Emrick’s eyes flared with rage as they snapped open. He decided then and there that he wasn’t just going to pass on. He was going to stay in this mortal realm as a spirit to haunt that idiot who drowned out the sound of his glorious craft.

  The thread touched his skin. Emrick pulled tight as the three seconds ended and his body rocketed to the side.

  No bolt.

  No death.

  But the pattern? What had…

  His eyes shot to the inner wall. Barreling towards him was the moron himself. Bolts rained down on him, but the thurgen sidestepped and glowed with a greenish brown. Stone sprang up around him, and bolts slammed into them.

  The giant had left a trail of stony cover from the inner wall to where he was now. Stone walls formed from his skills.

  “Hold on, Emrick! I’m coming for yer’!” Kurda bellowed as his fist shot out, dazing one of the horde. The man had made over half the distance to Emrick, but his progress had slowed. The lumbering creatures had all turned their attention.

  What the hell was this fool thinking? Hadn’t he promised to let Emrick find his own way back?

  Of course. There was no way Emrick was getting out of this on his own.

  Emrick shifted reflexively to the side, but no bolt flew towards him. The ballista had found a new target for their attention.

  Kurda grabbed one of the big, hulking creatures and grunted. His muscles bulged as he lifted the flailing enemy into the path of the next round of bolts.

  This left him open to counterattack by other enemies, and Emrick saw a blade cut into the thurgen’s shoulder.

  Kurda’s advance had been completely stopped.

  “I got yer’ Emrick!” the man shouted despite his situation. “Just hold on!”

  Damned fool.

  Emrick’s mind raced as he tried to figure out a plan. The attention of the enemy had shifted to the new foe, but that was only temporary.

  He had less than a minute left on Boslow’s thread. His left leg was missing, his right foot a stump, his left hand a bloody mess. Only his pointer finger and thumb remained.

  There was no way he was running to Kurda, despite the horde having forgotten him.

  Emrick’s eyes flashed as an idea came to him.

  His hands blurred as thread gathered around him. Stone creaked as he moved himself nearly outside the outer wall. Threads were pulled tight, nearly snapping as they were wound to the extreme. Pain echoed up from his left as his remaining two fingers bore the tension. Emrick let out a grunt of pain as he wove rainbow thread and sewed the stumps on his hand shut.

  “I’m just as much a fool as Kurda is,” Emrick said with a wild grin.

  He twisted his hands, and his body rocketed towards Varnholt. Wind flattened Emrick’s sweat-drenched hair as he went airborne.

  “KURDA!” He yelled as he flew through the air, rainbow and steel threads trailing him like a comet trail. “YOU DAMNED MORON!”

  —— ? ——

  Maelis paused, momentarily frozen in disbelief as the eyes of the vessel he watched through took in the sight. The tailor shot through the air, then that damned hypnotic thread lashed out and circled the neck of the vessel.

  Maelis snapped back to his own body, and he screamed, hands holding his throat. As useful as being able to watch through countless bodies was, it wasn’t just sight that transferred through the link.

  He wheezed as he shook himself. With a hiss, he demanded the phestun transfer him back to another vessel.

  Which resulted in him stumbling to his knees a moment later, fingers frantically trying to rip the threads from his body.

  “No, you fucking idiot, move me to one that ISN'T the next in line to be slaughtered by that mad tailor.”

  The phestun obliged, and Maelis was now watching from atop the wall.

  Hatred and frustration boiled in him as he directed the phestun with his thoughts and borrowed eyes. Ballista bolts followed moments later, directly where he had focused.

  But it was too fucking late.

  That damned tailor, that damned stonemason, they were both getting away. The horde chased after them, but had to slow as they encountered steel thread after thread left in the pair’s wake.

  The Tailor rode the thurgen’s back, like some living trap-laying backpack. That thurgen, Kurda, dashed from between the stone walls he had summoned on his way in. Behind them, glittering metallic lines were woven between them.

  “Make your vessels hold their fucking weapons out to cut through the damned threads!” Maelis roared through his piloted vessel.

  He watched as the creatures pursuing the pair each lifted their weapons. The action was delayed, like the instructions went out in a wave, the ones closer to the outer wall reacting first.

  Maelis clenched his will and snapped back to his body.

  “You worthless, pulsing pile of flecked dung. How in all the hells are you reacting so slowly?!” Maelis screamed at the parasite on his shoulder.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be some nightmare? A creature that consumed the thinking beings of an entire world? How are you this incompetent?!”

  The phestun was silent for a long moment.

  It is difficult to control our vessels through the glowing gate.

  Maelis stomped over to one of the creatures manning the ballistae. Metal flashed as his hammer danced into his grip.

  *THWACK*

  The vessel stumbled to the ground, dazed from the blow. Maelis screamed in anger as he once again brought his hammer onto its head. The creature's skull caved in, and blood and bits spewed out.

  Blind rage took him as he slammed his hammer over and over. Everything at and above the vessel’s shoulder turned into red paste.

  Heaving, Maelis turned to meet the dull amber eyes of another vessel that took over the operation of the ballista.

  “What?” Maelis growled. “Do you mean, it’s difficult to control through the glowing gate?”

  … Our main mass has not yet come to this world.

  “And why…” Maelis asked, his voice burning, “Not?!”

  … We were waiting until the area was safe.

  *CRACK*

  Maelis slammed his hammer into the knee of the vessel closest to him. The new creature stumbled, its eyes now level with Maelis.

  “You’re TELLING ME,” Maelis screamed. “That the reason we are failing this assault is because you’re hiding like a fucking coward?! Bring your ‘mass’ here now!”

  Maelis spun back to face Varnholt. Curses exploded from his mouth as a pillar of glowing energy shot into the sky.

  “Fuck! You see?! They succeeded in bringing the barrier online!”

  We will move ourselves to this world.

  Maelis’s frustration hissed past the melted remains of his lips.

  “You had better.” He watched the energy of the barrier expand and surround the town, touching down at the edge of the inner wall. “Because now we have to wear that damned thing down. Train every ranged weapon on it. Your incompetence has cost us so much time.”

  Yes, servant of our master.

  Maelis heard the sound of wailing voices behind him. He turned towards the portal and watched with interest.

  That interest turned to disgusted horror at the sight.

  The portal bulged, straining like a wound being forced open.

  Dozens of arms exited the portal, their fingers grasping at its edges, the rock around it, anything they could grab.

  They bulged and pulsed as they pulled.

  As they strained, a swollen green pulsating mass emerged into the world. Layers of green, fibrous tissue wove between bulging chunks of muscle and bone. As if countless living beings had been sundered, then stitched back together.

  Veins like thick cords pulsed across its surface, their green light reflecting off the snow. As it pulled itself further into the world, thick root-like growths erupted from its underside. They speared into the rocky mountainside, and the flesh lurched forward. The tendrils seemed to be emerging from the centre of the mass, and Maelis could barely spot a glowing beating ‘heart’, as one root-like growth shot out and stabbed into the stone, before being covered by the undulating mass.

  Countless faces, those of the beings it had consumed, looked out in all directions as it pulled itself inch by bulging inch.

  The air around Maelis grew wet, a sour metallic stench filling his nostrils.

  We have come.

  Around him, vessels straightened and began moving in flawless synchronisation.

  “Well…” Maelis said, his voice shaky. “Good.”

  He turned away from the mass.

  We will move closer. We shall see if that ‘barrier’ extends under the earth.

  The ground shook, and stone cracked as the pulsing mass moved down the mountainside.

  Maelis watched it go, relief pouring into him. Every fiber of his body screamed at him to get away from that thing.

  He shook his head.

  This creature’s incompetence had still cost them. Maelis fixed his gaze on the now stable barrier.

  “Start firing,” he commanded the vessels near him.

  As one, they moved.

  —— ? ——

  Golden light enveloped the underground lab as sweat dripped from Serel’s brow.

  They had done it.

  The barrier was online.

  She slumped into a chair, her emerald eyes turning to the other side of the room. Brian had passed out as soon as he had moved Zerathis’s body onto the flat rune-etched plate in the basement.

  It had been a prototype he had been designing. The plate could be set on the ground and would deploy a barrier large enough to protect one person.

  A design that the man had nearly destroyed in his despair. Apparently, he had tried to convince Kaelalin to take it with her. But at that time, it was the only functioning example of the barrier Varnholt had.

  Kaelalin had shot down Brian’s insistence that she take it. She had pointed out that he would need to reference it to get the main barrier running.

  She hadn’t been wrong.

  Yet, Brian had regretted it. In his mind, he probably thought that she might not have perished if she had brought it with her.

  Serel shook her head.

  This world was heartless.

  At least that small barrier would save another life. Her eyes studied the flashes of energy that bounced within their containment. The small barrier would need to be charged again soon.

  With a groan, she stretched in the chair.

  Footsteps echoed into the lab. A moment later, the door creaked open as a tall frost-kin stepped into the room.

  “I found rations upstairs… and our tea.” The royal frost-kin guard, Pralgof, said to her. “I think that… Inventor Kaelalin would want you two to keep up your strength.”

  Councillor Serel nodded to him. “Thank you. I agree, I believe Kaelalin would have chastised us if we didn’t use it.”

  Pralgof slowly nodded, handing her a bar and a cup. He then set another set on a crate and nodded towards Brian. Serel dug into the ration bar with famished abandon as soon as he left, taking sips of the blue tea to help her swallow it. She was glad no one from her world could see her undignified display.

  The guard and his two companions upstairs had been invaluable. They had met the trio and then demanded that Kurda hand over Brian. The big man was about to protest when Pralgof had pointed out that they were fresh and would free up the thurgen to perform other duties.

  Surprisingly, the man had agreed. Serel had thought he would insist on carrying Brian all the way to the lab.

  They had made their way here, Brian explaining to Serel how to go through the doors. Then, while he was moving Zerathis to the plate, he had snapped off direction after direction on how to start the barrier.

  Serel had listened and thanked the heavens that her keen mind had been able to grasp the concepts. It helped that Brian broke down every step.

  She had channelled the energy from countless Aethra crystals and cores into the barrier. The whole process reminded her of guiding the lights of her people.

  Her worries that she wouldn’t be able to accomplish the task had faded as the barrier sparked to life.

  Serel took in the marvel of magical ingenuity.

  It was truly breathtaking.

  The barrier sparked.

  *BAWHM*

  —- WARNING —-

  > AREA UNDER ATTACK

  > Location: Varnholt Artisan Enclave - Northern Wall

  > Description:

  >> The barrier surrounding the town is under assault by hostile forces.

  >> Barrier Status - 72%... 71%...

  ——————————

  “Whaaaa?!” Brian bolted upright. “Gahhhhhh my head.”

  “You ran your mana dry.” Serel groaned as she rose. She picked up the food and drink Pralgof had left and handed them to Brian. “Eat, drink. It seems our enemy will not let us rest.”

  Brian’s eyes scanned the air, then nodded solemnly as he scarfed down the bar. He chugged the tea, then turned his attention to the barrier.

  “We have to give it as much energy as we can.” His bones cracked as he stretched.

  “Let's get back to work.”

  >> Barrier Status - 70%...

  —— ? ——

  — AUTHOR NOTICE —

  Lord, I forgot how much I dislike making ads for stories. If anyone is a RR ad guru, or knows of one, send them my way.

  I have gotten into the editing for book 1 of Doomed and Damned. Thanks again to everyone who posted edit suggestions. (Lord, between edit suggestions and my editor, I have... 1200 corrections to make? GAH!! Needs to be done, though. )

  Next week's chapters are some of my favorite I have written. :)

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