Chapter 8

“We have a new creature,” Seer Melanie announced.

“Any clues as to what it’s for?” Roxanne asked looking at a squat bulbous form, somewhat reminiscent of a hippopotamus.

“It has a complex biotech sensor suite built into its nervous system; I suspect it’s an advanced form of tracker. However, there are a few oddities about it too which might merit an investigation from the medic Mages as the body appears to have a number of folded appendages attached, the use of which is obscure.”

“Let me know if one leaves their encampment and moves to an area where we can get a good look at it,” Roxanne ordered.

“Yes, Mage Roxanne.”

“John, I want you to escort the medic Mages to the proximity of this fortress and see if you can pick up any information on any higher Orcs. The base seems big enough, so I suspect there may be one or two,” Roxanne ordered, pointing to a base set in what I considered to be the Alps and the Brenner Pass.

“Yes, Mage Roxanne,” I replied and sent a mental summons to my squad.

“Not quite team John,” Mage Xi greeted me once we picked up her charges and headed towards where Melanie had set up a portal for us.

“No, but we’re still damned good,” I chuckled, getting grins off Kate and Clara.

“I was about to say I miss the good old days, but really, they weren’t that good,” she chuckled ruefully.

“No, but we survived, many didn’t,” I nodded.

“True, so many friends lost.”

“Best get on with this, before we get too maudlin.”

“Yep,” Xi replied as we went through the portal.

It took two hours of careful trekking to get us within scanning distance of the fortress, mostly using the chameleonesque attributes of our Mage armour to avoid detection in the snow-covered Alps.

“Reminds me of Rathcroghan, only without the overkill,” I murmured as we carefully observed what had to have been a squid fortress, now converted for the use of the Orcs.

“I’ll take your word for it,” Clara replied in quiet tones. “I can’t detect any higher Orcs though.”

“A Land-boss or two, nothing higher. They mostly just appear to be waiting for something to happen,” Xi confirmed.

“Might just be a blocking force to prevent squid armies from easily linking up,” I mused.

“Or they just think they’ve won and are just marking time until their follow up forces move in.”

“That too,” I nodded.

“We’re finished here anyway, John. There’s nothing really for us to learn.”

‘Could you port to the Texas site and observe one of these new creatures that’s moving out into the open?’ Seer Melanie broke in.

‘Yes, just give us time to reach the safe portal spot,’ I replied, getting nods off the squad and medic Mages.

An hour later we were through the portal and in what I considered the Chihuahuan desert, roughly near what would be Roswell on our Earth, preparing a hide ready to enable us to examine the new creature, taking our usual care in facing something new.

“Bit exposed here if we need to retreat,” Clara observed.

“With a bit of luck we can move through those valleys until we get to the safe spot,” I shrugged, not particularly happy myself.

It was almost an hour later before we detected the creature and the medics began their passive scans.

“Dangerous,” murmured Xi. “It’s scanning for heat, electrical energy, CO2, water vapour, sound and light too.”

“Well, we’re cloaked and shielded for those,” I replied.

“Going to try a slightly more active scan.”

The second Xi did that, the creature came to a halt and I felt a host of detection scans passing over us as it appeared the creature could detect quantum resonance.

“It’s a Mage finder,” Xi announced. “And it knows something is here scanning it!”

“Has it summoned help?” Kate asked as she cocked her weapon with an audible click.

“No. Shit! It heard you!” Xi cursed as the creature began running directly towards us, its seeming bulk belying its extreme speed.

“Take it down!” I yelled as I felt Clara and Xi blocking all communication channels.

“It’s armoured!” Xi warned as two shots were deflected away.

“Now you tell me,” I muttered. “AP now, Kate. I’ll try to distract it,” I finished by drawing my swords and attacking.

It was then that the bunched folded appendages whipped out to almost three metres incredibly fast to slash at me. To add to my problems, they were also barbed in a similar manner to the tentacles on a Humboldt squid. Fortunately I’d speeded up my reactions and reflexes and was barely able to dodge the tentacles, my rapier flicking out to skewer its jaw, though not seriously injure it. Still, it had the desired effect as I now had its full attention. It tried to literally shred me with the tentacles. I only just held my own at keeping it at a distance. There was a loud bang as Kate blew a hole through it with an armour-piercing bullet, though this in no way slowed it down. I was now joined by Ilzik as we struggled to contain the beast whilst all the Mages now attempted to shoot it, often narrowly missing us and it as the thing was incredibly fast. I’d just avoided one tentacle when another raked down my arm ripping the flesh open despite my armour before Kate finally took it down with a shot to its nervous system.

“Dear Lord, add that one to the bumper book of things for Mages to avoid,” I gasped as my body recovered from the extreme pressures I’d put upon it.

“Definitely some form of magical being hunter,” Xi added as she hurried towards me.

“Yes,” I nodded before a sudden rush of nausea took over me and I began a slow collapse to the ground.

“John!” Xi screamed as she raced towards me as I finally blacked out.

“He’s coming round,” I heard a distant voice say.

“Thank God for that,” came a reply in a lovely lowland Scottish accent.

“What...” I croaked out before swallowing desperately to try and get some moisture in my mouth.

“Relax, John,” came the second voice that I now recognised as belonging to Mage Roxanne.

I felt a straw being slipped into my mouth. “Slow sips, John,” came the voice of Xi, who had spoken first.

“Why can’t I see?” I asked carefully.

“The barbs on that creature are coated with a very nasty slow-acting toxin ... well, slow-acting to a human anyway, utterly deadly to an Orc,” Xi explained. It also induces extreme photosensitivity; hence I switched off your eyes for the duration. Another couple of days and I’ll restore your sight, John.”

“Did we get away alright?”

“Yes, barely, we think the creatures give off a natural homing signal, and when it stopped, the Orcs came running,” Roxanne replied.

“No evidence?”

“None, we even brought the bloody monster back with us to study. Xi calls it a psionic eviscerator.”

“Nice,” I shuddered.

“We’ll soon figure out an easy way to take one down,” Xi added.

“We’ll have to; I seriously never want to have to do that again.”

“What else have we learned?” Roxanne asked.

“Well, they aren’t Orcs or derived from them. They’re a completely alien genome with a whole host of bio and techno adapations to what must have been a pretty deadly predator to begin with.” Xi went on giving a verbal and mental description of the creature, including a few weak spots.

“We’re going to need a sniper of some kind with the teams,” I noted.

“Yes, taking one out at a distance is the safest way to bring one down, although I’m adding a Gorgon to each team as well. Also head shots are useless, there’s nothing in the head to damage. The brain and all the essential systems are encased in an armoured container in the creature’s torso. Fortunately, so far they only appear to go out alone and the Drow are avoiding their pens at night as I believe they’ll take down anything but one of the higher Orcs if they aren’t around.”

“I suppose you could blind one,” I mused.

“Their eyesight is rather poor, they navigate via a series of other senses, few of which would be easy to block, indeed many of the countermeasures would attract the Orcs.” Xi explained.

“Deep penetration explosive rounds,” I shrugged, using my Mage powers to make the room appear as normal in my mind.

“Should work,” Roxanne nodded. “Damn things have their own shield built in as well; they’ll shrug off any magical attack, which confirms in my mind that they were designed with one purpose in mind, to take down magical beings.”

“I’ll let you have visitors now,” Xi announced. “Your fan club awaits.”

Clara, Kate and Ilzik came straight in at Xi’s summons, followed by Brianna and Elpida and immediately they all, except Ilzik, told me off.

“You are a formidable warrior, Mage John,” he finally said when he could get a word in edgeways.

“Not a Mage yet, still got loads to learn,” I chuckled, having come to like Ilzik a lot, despite the history of the Drow war.

“Not that much really, John. Just the curse mantras but not till 2025 for them, Council rules,” Roxanne replied, surprising me greatly.

“But you’ve got way more abilities than me.”

“That’s just experience, not ability as such. It’s why I can kick your arse in martial arts and fencing.”

“Oh...”

“Same with Morgana.”

“Kind of figured that,” I chuckled.

‘Just keep studying and experimenting ... though not here. You’ll soon begin the synthesis of your abilities into a contiguous whole. After that, it’s just a case of waiting till your service is over.”

“I thought there was still a lot to learn.”

“There is, but you have all the basics now. The rest is just study and experimentation, not discovering the next new thing, not unless you make a breakthrough, which I wouldn’t put past you.”

“See, John,” Ilzik chuckled. “I will train you in our cloak and you will be a formidable Drow as well.”

“I am not getting involved with Esira!”

“Ah, my sister just has a passing fancy for strange meat,” he chortled, making me blush.

“I’ll arrange a date for him and Esira after this mission, if she’s still keen,” Brianna added with a smirk.

“Don’t you start!” I snorted, making her laugh even more.

“I believe Esira would appreciate that, she has strange tastes, but is a good woman,” Ilzik replied with a broad grin to Brianna.

“She’s quite delightful to talk to,” Brianna acknowledged.

“Arrange my life for me why don’t you,” I groaned.