Chapter 124

It took three javelin missiles to crack the gate; even then there was no back blast into the room beyond simply a slow collapse. As soon as the last part of the gate hit the ground, a mass of Drow came charging out of the gap and rushed towards us, weapons drawn. What they hadn’t considered was that to do so they had to get through the Null zone and this exposed them to the 50-cals and the miniguns we had set up to cover our advance. For the Drow it was a disaster. Well, for those Drow in the charge, and for their leadership, it was a sign of their fate to come. Yet many remained inside their final retreat and prepared to sell their lives dearly.

Once the initial surge had ended, Arch and Roxanne led the counter-charge as our teams poured into the entrance even as the Seers shut down the Null field with a series of controlled explosions via a radio transmitter. The room we were entering was huge; nearly a thousand Drow remained. Plus Oonagh’s remaining Daoine Sidhe courtiers in their adamantium armour in stark resplendence to the Drow’s dull linked mail. To the rear I recognised a few of their leadership as well as a bevy of Daoine Sidhe of Oonagh’s personal guard surrounding a still arrogant looking Oonagh.

The two sides smashed into each other as a general melee began. The Drow were now very much on the back foot with some having lost heart at seeing their initial wave destroyed as easily as snuffing out a candle. Yet there was no way for them to offer surrender, surrounded as they were by other fanatical assassins. Even so some on the edges managed to do so and were rapidly removed from the chamber by the few spare warriors we had remaining, usually from amongst the wounded who, though healing slowly, were not totally incapacitated.

My team were in the thick of it as usual and trying like mad to keep Kate and I alive as we fought to keep the press of Drow away from them and the deadly nature of the Null bullets, which were, more often than not, able to punch through one Drow and into the one behind. Other Mages and allies were not so lucky and the floor became littered with our dead and wounded. Our healers risked their lives to drag friend and enemy from both the edges and within the melee to some form of safety. They were guarded sullenly by Mage Clarence and his two aides, having been ordered by Morgana, on the threat of death, into assisting.

Finally we broke through the crush and charged the thin line of Daoine Sidhe courtiers in their gleaming adamantium armour as the other teams to our flanks widened the gap. The Daoine Sidhe fought magnificently in their hour of desperation, yet they too began to fall to our blades and the occasional well placed shot as their line was gradually whittled down by our now unstoppable advance.

The remaining Drow leadership joined the attack at this moment only to be faced by Morgana, Arch and Roxanne and forced immediately onto the defensive as the three Mages skills were by far better than the Drow’s own. Yet still they helped delay the inevitable as they diverted some attention away from the attempts to get at Oonagh. However it was only a delay, eventually the last of their leadership fell to the impressive sword skills of the three Mages and we were able to continue our advance through the remaining defenders who seemingly now had the wind taken out of their sails, many throwing down their arms and getting down on all fours in surrender.

Kate and I had torn into the last line of Daoine Sidhe, Oonagh’s personal guard, dodging their blades and using a variety of parries and moves to expose them to a deadly blow from an unexpected attack. Whilst Pierre, Clara, Mila and Adsila reloaded and nulled up bullets to aid our advance and, if truth be told, took more of them out than Kate and myself.

For the first time I saw fear in the eyes of Oonagh as her own personal guard fell to our blades and bullets. Finally with a vicious parry and lunge I broke through the line of Daoine Sidhe and moved towards Oonagh.

“You think this will bring you victory, Nemesis?” she snarled, drawing a thin adamantium dagger from a pocket universe, using it to penetrate a globe of some sort in her hand before diving through a sickly glistening wormhole created by it.

I didn’t even hesitate. Somehow I knew destiny was at hand and I followed her through even as it closed and landed in a controlled crash ... somewhere else.

I had expected to land in S’a a’Fae, but this was like nothing I’d ever seen before and I couldn’t even scan beyond what appeared to be a labyrinth of tunnels and walls beyond measure. Nor was I able to identify the materials used in the walls as it was totally opaque to my senses. I could, however, detect Oonagh to a certain extent and also knew she could detect me though I could not see her and there was no clear path between the two of us.

“Ah, John. You made it,” came a familiar voice.

“Jerry?”

“Oh yes.”

“What’s the deal?”

“The endgame.”

“And what do I have to do?”

“Only one will walk out of here today. That one will have made a series of choices that will have implications for this cluster of worlds you call the civilised Earths.”

“Why me? I’m not in the same class magically as Oonagh.”

“Don’t mark yourself down, John. You’ve thwarted just about every plan she’s made. She’s already planning on what to do next and if she’s successful in the task laid out before you both, it will leave her in charge ... eventually.”

“What’s the task?”

“You’ll figure it out.”

“And if I win?”

“Róisín, a child, a life.”

“The others?”

“The cure you’ll get for Róisín can be duplicated. It will cure the others.”

“Seems a bit lopsided. She gets to rule the universe, I get my Róisín back. Surely she should get more?” I chuckled.

“Good luck, John. We’ll speak again, if you are successful.”

Jerry’s voice, for that’s all it was, went silent and I considered my options. So far it looked as simple as kill or be killed. I had my pocket universes, so food and water wasn’t an issue, though I could use energy conversion to make my own if necessary. I also had my blades and my Ferfrans semi-auto with a grenade launcher.

It was then that I noticed the labyrinth was moving and remaking itself as doorways and passages opened and closed seemingly at random. I also noticed there was now a pathway to Oonagh, though I chose not to pursue it, there was still too much I didn’t know. I did find out that my semi-auto wouldn’t work, though physically I couldn’t find a thing wrong with it. Still knowing I was playing by Heaven’s rules had made me check and I was thankful to Jerry for getting in touch and setting off my suspicions.

So, blades and magic, and as I knew Oonagh was a formidable Mage, that meant getting in close with a blade. Then again, my Null amulet didn’t work but the one built into the blade of my rapier did, so scrap that plan. I was going to have to sneak up on her and keep her distracted enough so as not to fry me on the spot.

Finally when I was ready I moved out to where I had last detected Oonagh. I could no longer detect her, but was willing to bet I could track her. For all it was not lit, my magical senses had the area looking as if in daylight. That, plus I was using a multiplicity of magical senses, enabled me to observe what was going on around me.

As I hadn’t a clue as to what Oonagh was doing, or whether she’d been advised as well ... though I had my doubts on this, her nemesis comments for one made me suspect she knew what was happening.

With the walls moving, I had to be careful, though they didn’t move particularly fast ... well, not yet, that remained to be seen. I was however picking up occasional echoes of something else, though every attempt to scan it failed due to there being nothing there to scan. Still being naturally paranoid under such circumstances I wasn’t taking anything for granted and wasn’t just keeping an eye out for Oonagh.

I finally reached the area where Oonagh had been and observed it from a distance, using the chameleonesque aspects of my armour to blend me into my surroundings. Yes, she had been there. I could see footprints in the dust, though no sign of Oonagh. Still, I thought, carefully does it and I slipped forward slowly and stealthily, making no sudden sharp movements, letting the armour do its job. I carefully slid the edge of my rapier forward to touch the edge of the area where Oonagh had been present and discovered that I had been right to be cautious as the floor erupted with a staggering amount of swirling, spinning, single-edged molecular thin blades that would have cut my armour (and me) to shreds.

This I simply observed, cataloguing the various energies and forms the magic took, for, as with all Mages a new way of using magic was always worthy of study, particularly if you had no one to teach you. The other reason is that this may have only been a distraction for another more subtle attack. For the moment all I could do was study it and see if there was a hidden trap within, waiting for me to do something stupid. Finally, having got what I wanted from the spell, and being able to detect a hidden under-spell beneath its workings, I carefully threw a stone into the effect and watched in understanding as the entire room became a balefire trap forcing me, despite my shields, to move back from the intense heat generated by the trap.

Deciding that patience was indeed a virtue, I waited until the heat had gone down to a stage where my shields could cope before advancing carefully. There was, of course, no trace of where Oonagh had gone; everything was a fused mass creating an almost glassy surface which, at times, cracked loudly under my feet. Carefully looking around I could see four doorways, including the one I’d come through, and I moved over to them one by one and observed carefully for any signs of Oonagh’s passage.

I found traces in two of the passageways, so, being somewhat contrary, I headed down the one not showing any signs of Oonagh even as the labyrinth remade itself around me.

‘So, you can spot the obvious, ‘ came the attempted humour of the telepathic voice of Oonagh, which didn’t give me any clues as to where she was.

‘What? That you’re an idiot?’ I replied sarcastically.

‘I have ruled my people for over 100,000 Earth years. I hardly think that makes me an idiot, ‘ came a cold chuckle.

‘Really? Every decision you made led you to this point – uplifting my ancestors to sentience and slavery, eating their flesh, attempting to destroy their cities and towns, even in defeat, attempting to subvert the Azurans to aid your ‘return’ when you really needed competence, rather than barbarity?’ I replied breezily. ‘Face it, in everything you attempted, you sowed the seeds of your eventual failure; even to the extent of getting me involved in your destiny, when anyone with a modicum of common sense would have avoided me like the plague.’

‘We are supreme, meant to rule. We are Daoine Sidhe!’ came a snarling reply. ‘I do not fear you!’

‘The Daoine were the rulers of S’a a’Fae.’ I replied. ‘They enabled the evacuation of the Fae to Tír na nÓg. The Sidhe were their guardians and finally their executioners in a revolt to put them at the top of the food chain. They took the name Daoine Sidhe as a mark of their superiority not respect, to mask the fact that they were little more than a pack of rabid murderers. As for fearing me, it strikes me as something sensible to do when facing something you describe as a Nemesis.’

‘You lie!’ came back a mental scream.

‘Why would I lie? I’ve met an actual Daoine, rescued him and the last remaining Fae from S’a a’Fae. We know what happened. We know what the Daoine Sidhe are. Why do you think your people have rejected that name?’ I replied, being a little liberal with the facts and getting nothing back but silence.

‘You are but a Nemesis in name only. Your power is feeble and your death cannot come soon enough, according to the ancient prophesy of the first Daoine Sidhe!’ Oonagh eventually snarled.

‘In other words they foretold their own demise, ‘ I chuckled, feeling her seething anger, yet also coupled with fear too, as the truth of my mental message hit home.

I had by now completed a scan of the areas I was heading into and had surmised that all they did was redirect anyone in the labyrinth back into the centre.

Hence I decided to see what was in the centre, rather than try to find a way out. During this time I lost track of Oonagh, or rather she did not attempt to contact me again as she no doubt went back to setting traps. To that end I wasn’t particularly bothered as I was using the passageways to loop around and approach the centre from a direction I knew Oonagh hadn’t been in.