Grand Game 582: Allaying Suspicions

The single glance I cast over my rear was enough to assure me that things were faring as well as they could with the brotherhood. Duskar’s cavalry company was already sheltering behind the much-expanded silver dome, and even the infantry were nearly within its reach.

The brotherhood’s farspeaker communication network was ablaze with chatter and had been so ever since the first communication I’d overheard. And even though I listened with only half an ear, I could not fail to hear the furious questions being lobbed back and forth as the huntmistress and her subordinates tried to make sense of what they were seeing.

A hydra roared.

The sound rose from so shockingly close I felt the ground beneath vibrate. Swinging my head back around, I found myself face to face with a large stygian. There was no time to dodge or weave psi, so I did the only thing I could. I ducked my head, protecting my eyes.

Six gargantuan jaws locked down on the scruff of my neck and tugged—hard.

I did not budge. Not an inch.

Even the hydra’s prodigious strength was no match for my elder form’s defenses. Raising my head and baring my teeth in a vicious snarl, I battered the creature away with a massive paw.

You have stunned a 147 stygian hydra for 5 seconds.

With a startled hiss, the nether creature’s jaws unlocked as it sagged senselessly beside me. Paying the hydra no further heed, I studied the vicinity anew. Despite the ease with which I’d defeated the stygian, its attack was a timely reminder. Notwithstanding the nagas’ flight, I was still inside a stygian swarm—one bent on killing me. 

I could not afford to grow careless.

Stepping over the downed stygian, I fixed my gaze southward. I needed to contact Kartara, but I also needed to draw the void tree as far away as possible from the more vulnerable brotherhood, and the best way to do that was to pursue the fleeing elites.

“I’m going after the nagas,” I told Ghost as I broke out in a run.

“Alright,” she said uncertainly. “But what about the void tree?”

“He will follow me,” I replied confidently. “But if for some reason, he doesn’t, unmanifest. Don’t risk unentangling with the thing. Clear?”

“Clear,” she acknowledged.

“And don’t engage the brotherhood either,” I warned. “They don’t know we are on their side yet, and I don’t want to risk antagonizing them further.”

“I won’t,” she promised. “Good hunting, Prime.”

“Thanks, Ghost,” I murmured, and shadow jumped.

You have teleported into a level 234 stygian naga’s shadow.

✵ ✵ ✵

You have killed a level 234 stygian naga with a fatal blow.

“NO… YOU… WRETCHED… CREATURE. STOP!”

Raising my head from the bloody corpse at my feet, I stared skyward. Just as I had expected the young void tree had altered his course and was flying southward as fast as he could. Still, I judged it would take the stygian Power at least another minute to catch up to the fleeing nagas and me.

Plenty of time to thin their numbers further.

Slinking forward, I went in search of my next victim. While I did, I listened more fully to the babble of voices on the farspeaker link.

“…telling you. This is our chance,” Duskar was saying. “We have to act now, while it’s still distracted.” 

“There’s no reason to attack the harbinger just yet,” Cait protested. “Just look at what it’s doing. It’s killing the nagas faster than we can. By the Powers, it has already slain eight!”

“It’s a trick,” Duskar scoffed.

You have killed a level 227 stygian naga.

“Make that nine!” Cait crowed.

“I hate to disagree, Dusk,” Senzo said quietly, “but whatever is going on is no trick. Fiona and I have analyzed the corpses, and there can be no doubt: those nagas are truly dead.”

“Then something has driven the damnable thing mad,” Duskar growled. “And anyhow, the harbinger is still dangerous. We should kill it while we still have the chance.”

“On the contrary, we should capture and study it,” Cait objected. “I highly doubt that the harbinger is mad. But if it were, imagine what we could learn from it!”

“Capture it?” Duskar laughed. “That’s insane.”

You have killed a level 233 stygian naga.

“Insane?” Cait asked sharply. “Are you sure you want to—"

“We will not try to capture the harbinger,” Kartara said, cutting across the chatter. “Duskar is right. Attempting to do so will be too dangerous.”

“But—” the nether witch began in protest.

“Enough, Cait,” the huntmistress snapped. “Heg, an update please.”

“We’re in position,” a voice I didn’t recognize said. “The last infantry squad is now safely under the dome.”

“Excellent,” Kartara murmured. “Now, people, enough about the harbinger. We know what it is doing. But what about the void tree? Anyone care to hazard a guess as to what it has in mind?”

Momentary silence.

You have killed a level 230 stygian naga.

“It appears to be fleeing south,” Senzo ventured finally.

“Or it’s trying to lure us into an ambush that way,” Duskar muttered.

“Why bother, though?” Cait asked. “Even with the dome, our mental defenses are not strong enough to resist the tree’s influence. It should be able to break through before we can do more than scratch it.”

“True,” Kartara mused. “Unless…” I could almost sense her frown. “Unless it's injured,” she finished. “Senzo?”

“Checking with Fiona now,” he replied.

Another drawn out pause.

“Fiona has managed to analyze it,” the spymaster reported back eventually.

“And?” Duskar demanded impatiently.

You have killed a level 218 stygian naga.

“It’s definitely injured,” Senzo said. “But nowhere near enough for it to be fleeing. It still has around half its health.”

“Only half?” Kartara wondered. “Did Fiona manage to get an exact read?”

A pause, then, “Yes. The young void tree’s health is at sixty three percent.”

That number caught even my attention. Pausing in my rampage through the nagas, I raised my eyes skyward once more and inspected the floating Power anew.

A young void tree’s health is at 63%.

Well, well, I mused as my own analysis confirmed the brotherhood diviner’s results. At the end of our initial skirmish in sector 18,240 the stygian Power’s health had been at fifty seven percent. I had assumed he would have restored himself in the interim and had not bothered reanalyzing him since.

So, why hadn’t he?

“Why hasn’t it healed itself?” Duskar asked, unconsciously echoing my own question.

“It can’t,” Cait pronounced, “not while it is floating, anyway. A void tree’s roots must be grounded in order for it to feed off the mists.” 

Thank you, Cait, I whispered to myself. 

The nether witch’s words, however, called into question my own strategy and left me wondering if it was wise to let the void tree land. If my foe couldn’t heal himself until he was grounded, what else couldn’t he do while airborne? 

Was it time to change tack?

“Then Havick wasn’t entirely full of nonsense,” Kartara said in a contemplative tone. “He was able to harm the void tree—and appreciably.”

“Too bad he isn’t here,” Duskar growled.

I couldn’t have asked for a better cue to join the conversation. “Oh, but I am,” I said, speaking into the farspeaker bracelet for the first time. 

Stark silence followed my pronouncement.

I waited patiently, having anticipated their reaction. Using the farspeaker bracelet was a risk, but not an appreciable one anymore considering the new distance between me and the void tree. 

Despite his rapid approach, the stygian Power was still hundreds of yards away. That distance was the only reason I had risked the earlier telepathic communication with Ghost—or let her manifest in the first place—and now it should also serve to keep the void tree from eavesdropping on my conversation with the brotherhood.

“Who is this?” huntmistress demanded sharply.

“Come, Kartara,” I said gently. “You know who it is.”

“Havick?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you hiding?”

“I’m not.” 

I could have told her where I was, of course, but it was better if the brotherhood worked it out for themselves.

“Kartara,” the spymaster called abruptly. “I didn’t mention it earlier, not thinking it pertinent, but now…”

“Just spit it out, Senzo,” the huntmistress snapped. 

“Fiona thinks there is something amiss about the harbinger,” he reported. 

“Amiss how?” Kartara asked testily. Clearly events were moving fast enough that even the huntmistress’ temper was fraying.

“She isn’t sure,” Senzo replied. Then, as if sensing his leader’s growing impatience, he added hastily, “There is nothing wrong with its analyze data. It’s perfect. But it has not used any death spells nor its tail to attack. Not once.”

 I chuckled. “My tail. I will have to remember that. Note to self: use it more, or pretend to.” Unlike a real basilisk’s tail, my own wolf form one was not an offensive weapon.

Kartara inhaled sharply. “You are the harbinger,” she stated flatly.

“I am.”

“Nonsense,” Duskar declared. “Havick can’t be the harbinger. It’s a trick—and we all know what sort of tricks the void trees can play. This must be another one.”

“This is no trick,” I replied adamantly. “If you don’t believe me, have a look at the rift.”

“What about it?” he growled.

“It’s closing.”

“Another lie,” he snarled.

“It’s not,” I insisted. “Check your Game messages, you’ll see. According to my own alerts, the rift will seal in exactly one minute, fifty-three seconds.”

“By damn,” Senzo murmured. “He’s not lying. It is closing.”

“See? I told you. The rift is closing—courtesy of the work me and my allies performed on the other side. Now, is that enough to allay your suspicions, Duskar? Or can you imagine a scenario where the void will go to all the trouble of killing its own creatures and abandon its claim on an entire sector just to deceive you?”

It was not Duskar who answered however but the huntmistress. “We believe you,” she said with a finality that the others did not fail to miss.

“You’ve shapeshifted into a harbinger?” Cait asked in awe. “How is that possible?”

“Well, I haven’t, not really. I’m a doppelganger.” I was fairly certain Kartara had already worked out this bit for herself given the discrepancies Fiona had observed now and during my previous incarnations as Havick, and I saw no reason not to reveal the truth anymore.

“The doppelganger ability is a tier six one,” Kartara said evenly.

“It is.”

“Then you are a Powerful Initiate,” the huntmistress said. 

Her pronouncement set her subordinates muttering in consternation again, but the brotherhood leader didn’t sound all that surprised herself. But then again, I’d given her plenty of clues: my use of vanish, my ability to confound their diviner Fiona, and last but not least the netherstone—an artifact that could only be obtained by slaying a stygian Power.

“I’m guessing you worked out that much before today,” I murmured.

“I did, but it’s a matter for discussion at a more opportune time.” A pause. “Right now, I’m more interested in what you intend on doing about the void tree.”

“Kill it,” I said succinctly. “Are you with me?”

The huntmistress didn’t reply immediately, but when she did, the eagerness—and hunger—in her voice was undisguised. 

“Oh, we are. We definitely are.”