Blood in the Fire (Timelaws Trilogy) (18 page)

“It sounds like you’re violating the Timelaws just by telling me this,” Melissa accused.

“Temporary immunity,” I replied. “It’s complicated.” A shiver ran up and down my body and caused me to shudder. I could no longer ignore it: something was happening to me in the cave.

However, Melissa was not yet done with her questions. “Okay, so presuming what you say is true, even if the wizards do try to change the timeline, whatever they do should be undone when the Timelaws are restored.” I didn’t have time to answer all her questions.

Be patient Liz,
I reminded myself.
You traveled to a forbidden time and endured freezing temperatures while being hunted on a hostile wizard planet to deliver this message. You’re going to get through to her.
“No, Melissa, Not if…” I was cut off when a sharp pain jetted up my back. The dining room faded from view.

“Not if what?” Melissa asked. “Wait, you can’t leave now, you…” Her voice disappeared, but I imagined she had probably capped the sentence with a choice expletive.
What was going on?
The spell was forcing me back to my body.
Why?
I inhaled sharply as another piercing pain erupted from my thigh and shot down my leg.

Had the wizards found me?
A milky vision began to cut through the blackness. The image of the cave pushed its way into my senses with alarming speed. The experience made me dizzy as I tried to blink the vision into focus. Warm and cold waves washed over my shivering body as throbbing pain continued to pound on my back and thigh. Another sharp blow landed on my stomach and I felt my body lifted up.

“Elizabeth,” Anton yelled in alarm.

“Ahh…” I yelled in pain, but my scream was cut off when I landed with a hard thump. This last attack was enough to bring me back to full awareness. My eyes shot open. The sight before me filled me with both relief and heart-sinking terror. It wasn’t a wizard.

Sharp, exposed teeth and blood thirsty red eyes glared back at me. The creature, about the size of a wolf, snarled and crouched down. Green flaring scales covered its body and his long pointy tail swished back and forth with excited anticipation. My blood dripped off the five claws on its front left paw. It prepared to leap.

HMSS Ingeniur – November 2184

Mark

“Tamer, full power to secondary shields,” Anton ordered.
What happened to the primary shields?
Anton wasn’t pausing for questions. “Anthe, find me someplace where we can hide the ship.” And I thought 'hiding' was the reason we’d gone to that asteroid field. I looked below me to the corner seat where Anthe was working her screen.

She was the other reason I avoided the bridge. Seeing someone else in Liz’s body made my heart pound. Like, it put this weird, angry feeling in my chest. Every swift move of her small hands, her strong voice, the way she kept brushing away her hair with frustrated motions because she lost bobby pins faster than the manufacturing plant could make them: those things belonged to my sister. Anthe didn’t have the right to act like she was Liz. She wasn’t.

“Their ship’s fast,” Anthe warned. “We’ve got maybe five minutes.”

“Five minutes before what?” Luke asked. He tried to sound brave, but I could hear fear in his voice.

I peeled my eyes away from Anthe and resolved to avoid looking her way again. “Before things get ugly,” I said. “Come on, you’ve watched enough Star Trek to know that. Better question: we have two kinds of shields?”

“Primary shields defend against normal attacks. Secondary shields are for magical attacks,” Tamer explained. His hands continued to manipulate the lights and symbols on his display. At the top right corner of his screen were some flashing symbols in big bright red. Looked like a warning sign in some foreign language. Luke shifted uncomfortably next to me. His gaze was focused on Tamer’s screen too.

“Put them both up!” I suggested.

Tamer smiled. “Aye, Mark.”

“Oh,” I said. I’d hoped my humor would cut through some of Luke’s edge, but I probably could have dumped a bucket of ice water on his head right now and it wouldn’t have wiped that stunned look of his face. I wondered how he’d react to me starting a game of tickle-monster.

“We can’t teleport away?” he asked. It was more of a plea than a question.

“They’d follow us,” Tamer replied. “We’re going to have to fight them at some point. Personally, I’d rather do it with a big bad ship on my side.”

“Tamer’s right. They’ve picked up more speed,” Anthe announced. “Running’s not going to be an option for much longer.”

I turned back and studied Anton. His expression dimmed when he heard Anthe’s news. Lips pressed together and his eyes grew sad. Then he set his jaw and with a voice that conveyed both confidence and resignation. “Alright, then we stay and fight.”

Anton’s voice finally drew Luke’s gaze away from Tamer’s screen. He’d heard it too. I wanted to tell my brother to lighten up and enjoy the ride. What was the point of being part of a space adventure without a suspenseful, high-action ship battle? Somehow, my throat seemed to lock up, though. Anton’s voice and Luke’s reaction to it had trapped the joke inside me and I couldn’t figure out where it went. Though Luke didn’t say it, his eyes conveyed a single pleading question:
Just how ugly would this get?

As for me, I wondered how many jokes I’d have to produce to get him through it. That was, if I could figure out where my sense of humor had run off too.

Elizabeth

I lumbered to my feet. Halfway up, searing pain from my thigh forced me to stumble, but I braced myself on the cave wall behind me. The creature snarled to show its displeasure as my mind raced through my options. I could stop the animal with magic, but every ounce of power I used was more time I would have to spend on this planet.

The creature let out another snarl but didn’t advance.
Why not?
I met his eyes and he curled his lips in a show of fierce aggression. Then he arched his back and rippled all the scales on his body. Light from the fire reflected off each wave of scales in turn and sent swells of green-orange light shooting across the cave walls. The effect made him appear even bigger and my heart started beating a jitterbug. As a final show of power, he opened his mouth and let out a hiss-like shriek accompanied by a clear view of his primed white teeth. I got the message. My gaze shifted to Naimi, still perched on her rock. In my peripheral vision, I noticed the creature crouch back down, still prepared to pounce, but perhaps not if I didn’t provoke him.

“Okay,” I said very quietly. My eyes remained focused on Naimi as I took a single sideways step toward the cave exit. “I didn’t know this was your home. Just let me have Naimi and I’ll be out of your hair… scales.”

He followed my steps with his keen eyes as I edged closer to the cave exit. The only problem was retrieving Naimi. She was right next to him and I was fairly certain I would lose a hand if I made a grab for her.

“Alright, you’re not going to let me get behind you, are you?” I asked the creature. “Come on, turn around so you can see me better.” I took another cautious step as I circled him. He snarled and crouched down lower. For a split second, I thought I might have made a mistake and then he erupted from his crouched position. Teeth exposed and claws outstretched, he flew through the air toward my head. I toppled backwards, trying to avoid him, but it seemed too late. As his head flew past mine, he twisted his neck to face me and projected another angry shriek inches from my nose. He was closed enough to bite. Then his front paws made contact with the wall. With panther-like agility, he pushed himself off the rocks, twisted his body and positioned himself directly in front of me.

I had been warned; he would not be made to move again. Fortunately, I had fallen to where Naimi was within reach. I grabbed her, rolled over, and darted out of the cave, leaving behind a trail of blood and one last shriek from the unwelcoming creature.

***

I wasn’t able to run very far. Every step sent a ripple of pain echoing down my leg. The arm not holding Naimi was wrapped around my clawed abdomen and I could feel warm blood running down from my upper back, behind my right shoulder.

“Do you have enough magic to heal yourself?” Anton asked. I looked behind me to see him shadowing me. His eyes examined my wounds with a look that made me feel naked. I could manage a partial heal.
But then what?

Cold air bit at my skin as I considered returning to the cave. Perhaps warmth was reason enough to use my power. “No,” I said. If I kept using my power to survive, I would never get out of here. The planet’s security system had located Melissa in record time. My knowledge of its search patterns had helped me till now, but my time was running out.

“If nothing else, I don’t want you thinking I’ve gone soft,” I joked. “I just got taken down by a kitty.”

“Well, ‘kitty’ didn’t play fair,” Anton replied. He pointed to my torn sleeve; a suggestion that the fabric could be used to do a better job of containing the injury than my hand. “You don’t have even a little power to curb the blood loss?” he asked.

I shook my head and tore away the damaged sleeve. “It’s time to make a stand,” I said. I smiled at the irony of what I’d just said at a time when I could barely stand at all. It didn’t matter. As terrifying as the thought was, healing a body that would be disposed of was not the best use of my powers.

I wrapped the sleeve once around my midriff and struggled to tie the knot. A shiver of cold and pain ran down my spine as another gust of wind tore through my thin clothes and pounded on my exposed wounds. I took another step forward, but this time the fire in my leg was too much and it crumbled beneath me. Anton reached out to catch my shoulders, apparently forgetting he was a hologram. His hands passed through me as I landed in the dirt.

I squeezed my eyes shut as the throbbing from the claw marks across my waist united with the sting from my leg and back. At last, when I felt I could breathe again, I looked up to see Anton kneeling by my side. His expression was more tortured than mine. “I guess this is as good a spot as any,” I said.

Without moving, I reached out with my mind to the security system. As I’d suspected, it was connected to a planetary network of information. A lot of the databases were blocked; even so, there was a vast span of unsecured, public communications. I mentally submitted a search for historical databases and was instantly rewarded with more options than I could have imagined. Better yet, they were editable.

”I have an idea,” I told Anton. Actually, it was probably the dumbest, most harebrained idea I had ever put into action. And that’s saying something.
I checked the security system. It was about to located me.

“I’m going to introduce myself to the wizards,” I announced.

HMSS Ingeniur – November 2184

Luke

In the past few minutes, the other ship had done a lot of growing. Transformed from the small spec in the grid view into a massive egg-shaped vessel that moved across every corner of our ceiling and beyond. In fact, it moved so much, I still couldn’t get a good look. All I could make out was a white hull with many, many rows of lights.
That’s one heck-load of decks,
I surmised as our own ship rolled and pointed my feet toward where my head used to be. Stomach swam and lurched with every turn, dive, and flip. Still Anthe continued to dance our ship around theirs in incomprehensible patterns. If these were the piloting skills she’d learned from my sister, I was sure as hell gonna see to it Liz never got a driver's permit.

“Their bombarding the hull with infrared radiation. A lot of it is getting through our shields,” Tamer said.
How could he sound so calm?
That didn’t sound like calm news.

“Infrared radiation?” Mark asked. “Is that worse than other kinds of radiation?”

“It’s heat,” I replied. “Like what you get from the sun.”
Why attack us with heat?
I couldn’t see any beams or rays extending from their ship to ours. Shouldn’t have expected any I guess. I did, however, see a couple of torpedo-shaped objects zoom right above us.

“Can you divert some coolants from the engine to our hull?” Anton asked.

“To some sections yes, but I don’t know if it will be enough,” Tamer replied.

“Enough to do what?” Mark asked. He sounded scared. Hard as he tried to hide it, I could feel the fear radiating from the chair next to me.

“Do it,” Anton ordered. “Supplement cooling with a spell if you have to.” I wished he’d answered Mark’s question.

Tamer was more amenable. “Our outer hull is made of a carbon fiber composite,” he said. “It’s more conductive than pure carbon fiber, and they’re using that to their advantage. Soon, the high temperatures will weaken the ships internal structure. And it will fry us in the process.”

I felt the blood drain from my face as I imagined our bodies getting baked alive. Now I knew why Anton had kept his mouth shut.

Suddenly, our ship shook as though it had barreled into an asteroid. I listened for the sound of an explosion, or something breaking, but my ears were met with silence.

“Shields held,” Tamer said. I heard Mark let out a sigh of relief.

“They’ve sent mines and torpedoes everywhere,” Anthe said. “I’m doing my best to avoid them, but these parts are getting crowded.”

“Tamer, want to clear a path?” Anton asked. “Detonate their weapons with our own if you can.”

“Why would you make the outer hull more conductive?” I asked.

Mark had a more practical question. “And you don’t have shields to protect against heat because…?”

“Of course we can handle heat,” Tamer retorted. “This isn’t a standard weapon.” The egg-ship took a dive from directly above our heads. I finally got a good look as the massive, dome shaped surface came crashing down. At the last possible moment, I felt as though my chair were pulled out from beneath me and our own ship began a similar dive. Then we rolled to the side and the other ship fell past us and out of view. Thank goodness for the seatbelts.

“The power required to fuel that monstrosity and its weapons is enormous,” Tamer continued. Guess Mark’s comment must have hit a sore spot. My cousin closed his eyes and took a breath to calm himself. “I’m, sorry Anton,” he said. “My abilities aren’t enough to curb that kind of heat transfer.”
Oh.

Anthe nodded. No one, save myself and Mark, had even looked up at the egg ship when it barreled toward us. They were all buried in their individual screens. Above us now was just a plain view of stars and darkness, but our ship continued to heave and roll and brake and accelerate. My lunch would find its way out of my stomach if we kept up these evasive maneuvers much longer. As if speaking to himself, Tamer replied to the remainder of my question. “The increased conductivity allows us to better defend against electricity or what we call lightning bolt weapons.” Then he looked up from his screen for what seemed like the first time in ages, and he turned to Anton. “This ship has one of those and their ship hull is carbon fiber.”

“Anthe?” Anton asked.

“Confirmed,” Anthe replied.

“Should I fire?” Tamer asked.

“Abso-damn-lutely. At will,” Anton said. “Anthe, steady her out. Give Tamer a good shot.”

“I know Liz’s tricks,” Anthe replied as her hands jived across her console and a sly grin grew on her face. It was Liz’s grin, the one she’d get when she knew she’d just outsmarted someone. A nervous smile edged Mark’s features too. The image of our sister’s ingenuity gave him hope.

Then, suddenly, I felt as though I were being lifted out of my chair again. I hate down. The other ship came into view. No more than a small, bright spec in the distance―maybe miles away. That kind of distance didn’t mean much out here. It started to grow, and I realized that this was what it must feel like to face an oncoming train.

“Firing the bolt and low frequency mag pulse now,” Tamer said.

“Ten torpedoes coming in,” Anthe warned. She might as well have been announcing afternoon tea.

I felt Mark’s muscles stiffen as he braced for impact with the other ship. On the grid still up at the front, I saw a small ship facing a volley of incoming projectiles and one large red dot. The small ship was us. In a moment, there wouldn’t be any way out; we’d be surrounded.
Move, Anthe!
I wanted to yell. But for once, our ship remained stationary.

A bright white light erupted in my peripheral vision and I turned to see a lightning bolt shoot toward the incoming egg-ship. They continued to close in on us. I thought I detected the floor start to drop away again, but Anton’s voice erupted, “No. Take the hit, Anthe. This could be our only shot.”

Our ship froze. Then suddenly, a loud rumble swelled all around us. Everything began to shake. Seemed an avalanche was burying the ship. I thought I would be thrown right through my seatbelt as the quake jolted my every bone. The egg ship was still coming in. I squeezed my eyes shut and gripped the armrests with white fists.
Please, God, no
, I prayed. My heart raced through my throat as I anticipated that final blow. Instead, the rumble quieted. I looked around, expecting to see broken metal, frayed wires, and damaged consoles.

“No hull damage,” Tamer reported. “But primary shields are down.”

No damage? That sure as hell sounded like damage to me.
I had imagined the whole ship being torn in two. The other vessel must have changed course before we collided.

“We’ve nearly bypassed shield resistance,” Tamer said.

Our enemy came out from underneath us. Suddenly the sight of them sickened me. I saw Mark’s face and realized he felt the same. “We’ll get them,” I said. He stiffened his jaw and nodded.

“We’ve done some damage to one of their infrared projectors,” Tamer said. “But others are still emitting.”

“Our hull temperature is at 2000 degrees Kelvin and rising,” Anthe confirmed. As if it had heard her, our ship responded with the loud groan of hot metal being forced to bend against its will. The foreboding sound seemed to come from everywhere at once. It cut to my core and paralyzed my muscles with fear. This ship really was about to tear itself apart.